President Trump has decided to pick a fight with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The specific harassment tool is a lawsuit alleging malfeasance in the administration of the Fed’s rebuilding program (actual buildings, not financial structures). In a speech January 13, Mr. Powell restated his commitment to defending Fed independence. [Apologies for the link instead of embedding. For whatever reason, iFrames don’t seem to be working.]
Honestly, I would not make a single change to this. Just under two minutes, concise, factual, and to the point. For what it’s worth, I fully support Mr. Powell and am happy with the job he’s done (overlooking that episode early in the current Trump administration).
Mr. Powell was appointed Chair in 2018 by President Trump during his first term. He was reappointed in 2022 by President Biden. His term as a member of the Board of Governors ends January 31, 2028, two years after the end of his term as Chair. Historically, there has been only one other Fed Chair — Marriner Eccles — who, on expiration of his term as Chair, finished his tenure as a Board member.
[The following indented paragraphs are AI generated by this Google prompt: fed chair returned to governor after term ended. Resulting link https://share.google/aimode/Z3LgmSTeS4vGdmBbP]
Yes, one former Federal Reserve chair, Marriner Eccles, remained on the Board of Governors as a regular member after a president declined to reappoint him as chairman.
In 1948, President Harry Truman chose not to reappoint Eccles as Fed chairman due to policy disagreements, particularly regarding post-WWII inflation and interest rates.
Instead of resigning from the Board entirely, as is the typical custom for departing chairs, Eccles stayed on as a governor until 1951 to help defend the central bank’s independence and manage the ongoing conflict with the Treasury Department that ultimately led to the 1951 Treasury-Fed Accord.
This historical precedent is frequently cited in discussions surrounding the current situation with Jerome Powell, whose term as chair ends in May 2026, but whose separate term as a governor extends until January 2028.
