Paul O'Neill

The title of this article is ambiguous. Additional meanings are listed under Paul O'Neill (disambiguation) .

Paul O'Neill (2001 or 2002)

Paul O'Neill (born December 4, 1935 in St. Louis , Missouri , † April 18, 2020 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania ) was the 72nd Treasury Secretary of the United States in the cabinet of George W. Bush from 2001 to 2002  .

Beginnings

Paul O'Neill was born in St. Louis in 1935 and grew up in Pittsburgh, also where he later lived. In 1954, he graduated from Anchorage High School in Alaska with his future wife, Nancy. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics from California State University and a master's in public administration from Indiana University . He and his wife had four children and twelve grandchildren.

Career

O'Neill started out in the civil service as a computer systems analyst for the Veterans Administration , an agency that organized veterans' relief projects, where he served from 1961 to 1966. In 1967 he joined the Office of Management and Budget and worked there as deputy director from 1974 to 1977. After President Gerald Ford lost the presidential election in 1976 , O'Neill moved to the International Paper Company in New York City , where he was vice president from 1977 to 1985 and then president until 1987.

In 1988 he was appointed Secretary of Defense in the George Bush Cabinet , but declined and proposed Dick Cheney for the post. O'Neill then joined an advisory committee on education with Lamar Alexander , Bill Brock, and Richard Riley . Under his leadership, the group recommended national standards and unified test standards.

O'Neill was chairman of the board and board of directors of Pittsburgh industrial giant Alcoa from 1987 to 1999, and resigned as chairman in 2000. Under his leadership, the company was able to increase sales from 1.5 billion US dollars in 1987 to 23 billion US dollars, with Paul O'Neill's fortune rising to an estimated 60 million US dollars.

He was also chairman of RAND Corporation in the late 1990s . In 1995 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Finance minister

Signature of Paul O'Neill on US $ banknotes

O'Neill was proposed as Secretary of the Treasury by George W. Bush and designated Mark Weinberger as his attesting Minister of Taxation. O'Neill was particularly noticeable for his comments that were often critical of the government and for a tour of Africa with singer Bono .

A report commissioned by O'Neill as minister in 2002 estimated the future budget deficit at over US $ 500 billion and highlighted major future difficulties, provided that the policies of the time were adhered to. In addition, the findings were omitted from the 2004 annual budget report published in early 2003 .

The disagreement over tax policy led to his resignation in 2002, to be succeeded by John W. Snow .

O'Neill died in Pittsburgh in April 2020 at the age of 84.

literature

• Ron Suskind : The Price of Loyalty. George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill , Simon & Schuster, New York 2004, ISBN 0-7432-5545-3 .

See also

• Downing Street memo

Web links

• Paul O'Neill in Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)