Paul Volcker, 82, has been influencing world events for a very long time. His influence is the product of his courage, rock-solid integrity and unshakable commitment to the public good.
Paul is best known for his service from 1979 to 1987 in the job I now hold — chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. He took office at a time when high inflation was eroding Americans' faith in their economic future. Under Paul, the Federal Reserve took painful but necessary steps to defeat inflation and restore price stability. The Federal Reserve's conquest of inflation in the early 1980s set the stage for decades of economic growth and stability, and inflation remains low today.
Whenever difficult issues required a leader of unquestioned integrity, the nation, indeed, the world, turned to Paul. Those issues have ranged from resolving the unclaimed bank accounts of Holocaust victims to reforming the accounting profession after the corporate scandals earlier this decade. Today, as chairman of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, he is a strong and vigorous force for financial reform.
Bernanke is the chairman of the Federal Reserve