Burns, Arthur Frank (1904-1987), an economist and educator, was chairman of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve System from 1970 to 1978. He served as U.S. ambassador to West Germany from 1981 to 1985.
Burns was born on April 27, 1904, in Stanislau, Austria, and came to the United States with his parents when he was 10 years old. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Columbia University. He was associated with the National Bureau of Economic Research from 1930 to 1969. Burns taught economics at Rutgers University from 1927 to 1944 and served as professor of economics at Columbia from 1944 to 1969.
Burns was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1956. In 1969 and 1970, he served as counselor to the president under Richard M. Nixon. Burns was coauthor of Measuring Business Cycles (1946), and he wrote other books on economics. Burns died on June 26, 1987.
