Background
Heller was born in Buffalo, New York, to German immigrants, Gertrude (Warmburg) and Ernst Heller, a civil engineer.
( Walter W. Heller was Chairman of the Council of Econom...)
Walter W. Heller was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers throughout President Kennedy's Administration and during the first year of President Johnson's. Here, in a book of immediate importance and great vision, he examines the profound and rapid changes that are taking place during the 1960's in American economic policy. In this decade economics has come of age, and the Keynesian revolution has been completed. The economic health and stability of the nation are now among the President's major concerns. The need to formulate policy in this area has thrust the political economist into a new and leading role as Presidential adviser, and Mr. Heller is in a unique position to offer an inside account of these developments. In his first book since leaving Washington to return to the University of Minnesota, he describes the emergence of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson as practicing economists, evaluates their economic policies, and sketches the patterns that are being established for the future. He tells how the grip of economic myths and false fears has been loosened in the government, with the result that economic policy is focused on sustaining prosperity without inflation, on speeding economic growth, and on realizing the fruits of true fiscal abundance. Finally, Mr. Heller for the first time discusses in detail his own plan for revenue sharing, a new method of enlarging the flow of Federal funds to the states. The plan offers the exciting promise of a stronger fiscal base for our federalism, not only by expanding the present system of Federal grants, but also--when the demands of Vietnam relent--by developing new forms of fiscal support for state and local government. Parts of this book were delivered by Mr. Keller as the Godkin Lectures at Harvard University in March 1966.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006BR2MM/?tag=2022091-20
economist university professor
Heller was born in Buffalo, New York, to German immigrants, Gertrude (Warmburg) and Ernst Heller, a civil engineer.
AB, Oberlin College, 1935. Doctor of Laws, Oberlin College, 1964. Master of Arts, University Wisconsin, 1938.
Doctor of Philosophy, University Wisconsin, 1941. Doctor of Laws, University Wisconsin, 1969. Doctor of Letters, Kenyon College, 1965.
Doctor of Laws, Ripon College, 1967. Doctor of Laws, Long Island University, 1968. Doctor of Humane Letters, Coe College, 1967.
Doctor of Humane Letters, Loyola University, 1970. Doctor of Humane Letters, Roosevelt University, 1976.
After attending Shorewood High School in Shorewood, Wisconsin, he entered Oberlin College in 1931, graduating with a B.A. degree in 1935. Heller received his masters and doctorate degrees in economics from the University of Wisconsin. As a Keynesian, he promoted cuts in the marginal federal income tax rates.
This tax cut, which was passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress after Kennedy's death, was credited for boosting the U.S. economy. Heller developed the first "voluntary" wage-price guidelines. When the steel industry failed to follow them, it was publicly attacked by Kennedy and quickly complied.
Heller was one of the first to emphasize that tax deductions and tax preferences narrowed the income tax base, thus requiring, for a given amount of revenue, higher marginal tax rates. The historic tax cut and its positive effect on the economy has often been cited as motivation for more recent tax cuts by Republicans. The day after Kennedy was assassinated, Heller met with President Johnson in the Oval Office.
To get the country going again, Heller suggested a major initiative he called the "War on Poverty", which Johnson adopted enthusiastically. Later, when Johnson insisted on escalating the Vietnam War without raising taxes, setting the stage for an inflationary spiral, Heller resigned. In the early phases of his career, Heller contributed to the creation of the Marshall Plan of 1947, and was instrumental in re-establishing the German currency following World War II, which helped usher an economic boom in West Germany.
Heller joined the University of Minnesota faculty as an associate professor of economics in 1945, left for a few years to serve in government, and returned in the 1960s, eventually serving as chair of the Department of Economics. He built it into a top-ranked department with spectacular hires, including Nobel Prize winners Leonid Hurwicz (2008) and Edward C. Prescott (2004). Heller died in Silverdale, Washington.
( Walter W. Heller was Chairman of the Council of Econom...)
Member Carnegie Commission on the Future of Public Broadcasting, 1977—1978. Trustee Oberlin College, 1966—1978, 1985—1987, German Marshall Fund, College Retirement Equities Fund, 1968—1972, Lupus Foundation American, Inc., chairman national campaign committee. Fellow: American Academy Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, American Economic Association (distinguished, vice president 1967-1968, president 1974).
Member: National Bureau Economic Research (director, chairman 1971-1974, 1982-1983), International Management and Development Institute (associate), Skylight (Minneapolis), Alpha Kappa Psi, Beta Gamma Sigma, Phi Beta Kappa.
Married Emily K. Johnson, September 16, 1938 (deceased ). Children: Walter P., Eric J., Kaaren Louise.