George A. Eddy

George A. Eddy (June 15, 1907 – April 13, 1998) was an American economist who served in the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department between 1934 and 1954. He was in Harry Dexter White's Division of Monetary Research. Between 1948 and 1954, he was Chief of Division for the Treasury's Gold and Silver Exchange Stabilization Fund.

Background George A. Eddy was born in New Jersey on June 15, 1907. From 1921 to 1924, he attended Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, and received his BA from Yale University in 1928. (He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa there). He studied at Harvard University from 1930 to 1933, when he received an MBA. At Harvard, his interest lay in macroeconomic policies, specifically the U.S. deficit and prosperity via stable prices.

Career

Government service In December 1933, Eddy became assistant to the Economist and Vice President at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He worked as a research analyst for the Division of Research and Statistics at the U.S. Treasury (1934–1936). He returned to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 1936, where he worked in its Research Department until 1939, first on Far Eastern affairs, later on domestic finance and business issues. After a brief time as a columnist and reporter for the Journal of Commerce in New York City, he returned to the Treasury (still in 1939) as a senior economic analyst in the Division of Monetary Research.

Accusation and clearance

In 1954, Eddy was suspended from the U.S. Treasury as a security risk. At the time, many Treasury employees came under suspicion of communist sympathies. The suspension arose from his associations with and open support of alleged communists, including Lauchlin Currie, Harry Dexter White, V. Frank Coe, Robert C. Barnard, Emile Despres, William Ludwig Ullman, Harold Glasser, Solomon Adler, and William Henry Taylor. Eddy's papers formed a major source for Treasonable Doubt by R. Bruce Craig.

Writings

Articles; "Security Issues and Real Investment in 1929," The Review of Economic Statistics (1937) "The Present Status of New Security Issues," The Review of Economic Statistics (1939) "A Modest Inquiry into the Nature and Necessity of Deficits," The Review of Economic Statistics (1939) "A Program to Improve the Monetary System of Saudi Arabia" with Raymond F. Mikesell (1948)