Bernard Baruch

Bernard Baruch (1870-1965), American financier and economist, whose theories about wartime economies and industry earned him a reputation as consultant to four presidents.

Bernard Mannes Baruch was born on August 19, 1870, in Camden, South Carolina, and educated at the College of the City of New York. In 1896 he became a member of the brokerage firm of A. A. Housman & Company, in New York City. After an exceptionally successful business career he was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to serve on the advisory committee of the Council of National Defense. The council was created to ascertain what critical materials the U.S. would lack in case of war with Germany. In 1917 Baruch served on the Allied Purchasing Commission, which had charge of all purchases made in the U.S. for the allied governments. During World War I he was chairman of the War Industries Board. While directing the work of the latter board, charged with converting industry from peacetime to wartime production, Baruch exerted great influence on the economic policies of the U.S. After the war, he was a member of the American delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.

Baruch was often consulted by Presidents Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover on economic matters. As a confidential adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Baruch played a considerable part in drafting the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. In 1943 he served as adviser to the American statesman James Byrnes, war mobilization director. In 1946-47 Baruch held the post of U.S. representative on the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission. He died on June 20, 1965, in New York City.

Baruch's numerous publications include American Industry in the War (1941), A Philosophy for Our Time (1954), and Baruch: My Own Story (2 volumes, 1957-60).