Letter to Marriner Eccles Asking Him To Remain With the Federal Reserve Board as Vice Chairman

Dear Mr. Eccles:

Shortly after I became President you offered to resign as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and said it was your feeling that the Chairman, who is designated by the President, should serve at his pleasure. I told you then and on other occasions that there was no one I desired to appoint in your place.

You will have completed your present term as Chairman on February 1, your appointment as a member of the Board continuing until 1958. As I explained to you last week, it is now my preference to appoint a new member of the Board to fill the vacancy created by the death of Vice Chairman Ransom and, when confirmed by the Senate, to designate him as Chairman.

This decision, as I assured you, reflects no lack of complete confidence in you, or dissatisfaction in any respect with your public service, or disagreement on monetary or debt-management policies, or with official actions taken by the Board under your chairmanship. All who are familiar with your record recognize your devotion to the public welfare and the constructiveness that has characterized your leadership in the Federal Reserve System.

Therefore, I urge you to remain as a member of the Board and to accept the Vice Chairmanship so that the benefit of your long experience and judgment will continue to be available and so that you may carry forward legislative proposals now pending in Congress dealing with the important problems of bank credit as outlined in the President's Economic Report to Congress, as well as with other matters in the interest of a sound banking system and a sound economy.

Sincerely yours,

HARRY S. TRUMAN

[Honorable Marriner S. Eccles, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, D.C.]