Baruch, Bernard Mannes, << buh ROOK, behr NAHRD MAN uhs >> (1870-1965), an American financier and statesman, served as an unpaid adviser to every President from Woodrow Wilson to Dwight D. Eisenhower. His most influential position was as chairman of the War Industries Board during World War I (1914-1918). He continued as an adviser to President Wilson during the peace negotiations. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Baruch chairman of a committee to suggest laws to mobilize the economy in the event of war. President Harry S. Truman appointed him U.S. representative to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission in 1946. Baruch suggested a plan for UN inspection of atomic energy production.
Baruch was born in Camden, South Carolina, on Aug. 19, 1870. He moved to New York City in 1880, and graduated from City College of New York. He took various jobs, starting at $3 a week. He had a keen mind for finance and loved speculation. He joined a Wall Street firm and later bought a seat on the Stock Exchange. Baruch wrote two autobiographical works—My Own Story (1957) and The Public Years (1960). He died on June 20, 1965.
