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Letter Accepting Resignation of Arthur F. Bums as Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers.

November 13, 1956

[Released November 13, 1956. Dated November 12, 1956]

Dear Arthur:

While I have known for some weeks that your departure from public service was imminent, I confess to being unprepared for the actual receipt of your letter of resignation. In view of the personal factors involved, however, I have no alternative but to accept it as you requested. This I do with great reluctance.

You have made a unique contribution to the labors of this Administration in the area of economic growth and stability where our efforts have been rewarded with gratifying success. Your intellectual proficiency and skill, together with your strength of character and resolute spirit, have in a special way enlisted economics in the nation's service. And you have done so in a manner which demonstrates that economics and equity can be allies and not antagonists. If the day ever comes when sound economic policies fail to serve the ends of social justice, our form of society will be in grave jeopardy.

I have been pleased with the manner in which the Council of Economic Advisers, under your leadership, has been re-established as a vital center of economic intelligence, as contemplated by the Employment Act of 1946. The wide respect in which the Council is held today, not only in the Executive Branch but throughout the government and the country as well, is ample evidence of your work in this regard.

My best wishes accompany you as you return to private life. My own personal sense of loss is eased by the knowledge that you will be available to help us from time to time in the days ahead.

With warm personal regard,

Sincerely,

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

Note: Mr. Burns' letter of November 12, 1956, follows:

Dear Mr. President:

When I joined your Administration early in 1953, I did not expect to remain in government service for more than a year or two. I have stayed much longer.

It has been a pleasure as well as a great privilege to work with you during these eventful years. By giving the Council of Economic Advisers every possible encouragement and opportunity to bring economic knowledge to bear on the Nation's problems, you have honored and enlarged the scope of the economist's profession.

You know of the personal factors that prompt me to submit my resignation. If suitable arrangements can be worked out in time, I should like to leave by December 1.

I shall take with me precious memories of a government directed with exclusive regard to the enhancement of the Nation's strength and the welfare of its people.

With every good wish for your happiness and the continued success of your Administration, I am,
Respectfully,
ARTHUR F. BURNS

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Letter Accepting Resignation of Arthur F. Bums as Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233894

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