:''Alternative meaning:
Paul O'Neill (baseball player)
Paul H. O'Neill
Paul Henry O'Neill (born
December 4, 1935) served as the 72nd
United States Secretary of the Treasury under
President George W. Bush. He resigned in
December 2002 under pressure from the administration, re-emerging as one of its harshest critics in
January 2004.
Early history
O'Neill was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He met his wife at Anchorage High School in
Alaska, where they both graduated from in 1954. He lived on the military base there with his parents. He received a
bachelor's degree in
Economics from
California State University, Fresno in
Fresno,
California, and a
master's degree in
Public Administration from
Indiana University. O'Neill and his wife Nancy (who was born on
September 11) have four children and 12 grandchildren.
He began his public service as a computer systems analyst with the Veterans Administration, where he served from 1961 to 1966. He joined
United States Office of Management and Budget in 1967, and was deputy director of OMB from 1974 to 1977. After President
Gerald Ford lost the 1976 election, O'Neill took an executive job at the International Paper Company in
New York City. He was vice president of the company from 1977 to 1985 and president from 1985 to 1987.
In 1988, he was approached by president
George H. W. Bush to be
Secretary of Defense. O'Neill declined, but recommended
Dick Cheney for the position. Bush then pursued O'Neill to chair an advisory group on education that included
Lamar Alexander,
Bill Brock and
Richard Riley. Under O'Neill's leadership, the group recommended national standards and unified testing standards.
O'Neill was chairman and CEO of
Alcoa from 1987 to 1999, and retired as chairman at the end of 2000. His reign was extremely successful, as the company's earnings increased from $1.5 billion in 1987 to $23 billion in 2000 and O'Neill's personal fortune grew to $60 million.
In the late
1990s, O'Neill was made chairman of the RAND Corporation.
Bush Administration
O'Neill was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by
George W. Bush. He selected Mark Weinberger to be the assistant secretary for tax policy. O'Neill was a somewhat outspoken member of the administration, often saying things to the press that went against the administration's party line, and doing unusual things like taking a tour of
Africa with singer
Bono.
A report commissioned in 2002 by O'Neill while Treasury Secretary suggested the
United States faced future federal budget deficits of more than
US$ 500 billion. The report also suggested that sharp
tax increases, massive spending cuts, or both would be unavoidable if the United States were to meet benefit promises to its future generations. The study estimated that closing the budget gap would require the equivalent of an immediate and permanent 66 percent across-the-board
income tax increase. The
Bush administration left the findings out of the 2004 annual budget report published in
February 2003.
O'Neill's private feuds with Bush's tax cut policies led to his resignation in 2002 and replacement with
John W. Snow.
Book: The Price of Loyalty
:''Main article:''
The Price of Loyalty
The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill ( Order:
ISBN 0743255453), a 2004 book, described the Bush administration during O'Neill's tenure. Written by former
Wall Street Journal reporter
Ron Suskind (Pulitzer Prize journalist), the book says Bush's economic policies were irresponsible, Bush was unquestioning and uncurious, and the war in Iraq was planned from the first
National Security Council meeting, soon after the administration took office.
O'Neill was critizied for his claims that Bush had wanted an invasion of Iraq so early in his term, but the current
Downing Street Memo - if proven accurate - supports the position of O'Neill and
Richard A. Clarke, both former members and now critics of Bush's administration, that indeed such planning was taking place.
In a July 25, 2001
International Herald Tribune article he shared a comment on the theory of an inevitable financial "contagion" in global financial markets. And the theory that investors at the time would retreated from emerging markets because of their worries that the financial crises in
Argentina and
Turkey may spread to
Brazil and elsewhere. Mr. O'Neill said that this view was a "
fashion" and that "we need to retire that fashion like the
hula hoop." "With a magnifying glass, you couldn't find a connection between Turkey and Argentina, except maybe in people's minds," and that in a well-managed global system, investors would not pull back from loans in emerging markets simply because of such isolated troubles.
External links
O'Neill, Paul Henry
O'Neill, Paul
de:Paul O'Neill
fr:Paul O'Neill
nl:Paul O'Neill