Sprinkel, Beryl W.: Files, 1985-1989

Council of Economic Advisers

Chairman

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Scope and Content Note

While nominated in February 1985, Sprinkel was “acting Chairman” until his confirmation in June 1985. His collection contains material dating from that time and has some material he brought with him from the Department of Treasury.

This collection was arranged in 1991 and re-arranged in 2013.

This collection consists of 12 series. The series are: SERIES I: Subject File; SERIES II: Domestic Policy Council; SERIES III: Economic Policy Council ; SERIES IV: Organization For Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); SERIES V: Meetings; SERIES VI: Chronological File; SERIES VII: Correspondence; SERIES VIII: CEA Staff Memoranda; SERIES IX: Speeches; SERIES X:Trips; SERIES XI: Press File; and SERIES XII: Margot Machol Chronological Files

Series List

SERIES I: SUBJECT FILE

SERIES II: DOMESTIC POLICY COUNCIL

SERIES III: ECONOMIC POLICY COUNCIL

SERIES IV: ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND

SERIES V: MEETINGS

SERIES VI: CHRONOLOGICAL FILE

SERIES VII: CORRESPONDENCE

SERIES VIII: CEA STAFF MEMORANDA

SERIES IX: SPEECHES

SERIES X: TRIPS

SERIES XI: PRESS FILE

SERIES XII: MARGOT MACHOL CHRONOLOGICAL FILES

Biography

Beryl Wayne Sprinkel was the Department of Treasury Undersecretary for Monetary Affairs from 1981-1984. President Reagan nominated him as the Chairman of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President. He was confirmed by the Senate in June 1985 and remained until the end of the Reagan administration.

Beryl Sprinkel was born on a family tobacco farm near Richmond, Missouri, on November 20, 1923. He served in the Army as a tank gunner in World War II and he fought in the Battle of the Bulge at Celles, Belgium. He enrolled at the University of Missouri intending to major in music and become a band director when a persuasive economics professor convinced him to switch his major. He then earned a degree in economics from the University of Missouri.

He studied and taught at the University of Chicago, where he earned an M.B.A. and a Ph.D., and immersed himself in the monetarist ideas of the Nobel-prize winning economist, Milton Friedman. A monetarist, is a branch of economists who believe that money supply — and only the money supply — determines the rate of economic growth and inflation. In books like Money and Stock Prices (1964) and Money and Market: A Monetarist View (1971), Mr. Sprinkel strove to explain the implications of this economic philosophy.

Sprinkel worked at the Harris Trust and Savings Bank of Chicago from 1952 to 1981, rising to executive vice president. Then Donald T. Regan, Mr. Reagan’s choice to be secretary of the Treasury, chose Mr. Sprinkel to be his undersecretary for monetary affairs. Mr. Regan said he wanted “the best monetarist I can get.” While at Treasury, Sprinkel was the principal negotiator on issues of Third World debt and the financing of the International Monetary Fund and other international lending agencies. He also played a role in encouraging the Japanese to open their capital markets to American investment.

Mr. Sprinkel gained a reputation for outspokenness, criticizing the Federal Reserve and foreign economic officials, as well as apostles of supply-side economists who thought tax cuts were the answer to every economic question. He took a tough line on loans to debtor nations, even ones in crisis.

In February 1985, Mr. Sprinkel was nominated as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Reagan had considered abolishing the Chairman, while the position remained vacant since the departure of Martin Feldstein in 1983. Mr. Sprinkel played down his new role, saying Mr. Reagan had an “amazing” knowledge of economics and was “his own chief economic adviser.”

In 1987, Sprinkel was a contender to succeed Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, but the job went to Alan Greenspan. Sprinkel announced his resignation as Council chairman, but Reagan rejected it. He also elevated Sprinkel's post to Cabinet-level status.

Sprinkel oversaw the booming economic times of the second Reagan administration. His advice and influence with the President helped to move the economy past the collapse of the stock market on Monday, October 19, 1987. Sprinkel had been warning for some time about the possibility of a stock market crisis. When it occurred, he persuaded Reagan to agree to negotiate with Congress on higher taxes and to keep all markets open. These actions were perceived by Wall Street as positive moves regarding the economy and the situation calmed and eventually reversed the crisis by the end of the Reagan administration.

After stepping down from the Council of Economic Advisers in 1989, Dr. Sprinkel returned to Chicago where he served as a consultant on a number of boards. Sprinkel died at the age of 85 from Lambert-Easton myasthenic syndrome, a rare neuromuscular disease on August 22, 2009. He is survived by his third wife, Lory Reed Sprinkel, one son, two stepchildren, and 10 grandchildren.

Record Type

Textual

Last Modified Date

2025-03-31

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See Also

Sprinkel, Beryl W.: Papers, 1981-2001

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Sprinkel, Beryl W.: Files, 1985-1989

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