Paul O’Neill, who was Secretary of the Treasury during George W. Bush’s first term, died on Saturday April 18 of cancer at the age of 84, said Indiana University, one of his first donors.
Known for his outspokenness which could cause turmoil in the financial markets, Paul O’Neill had resigned after only eleven months as head of the Treasury in December 2002.
"The Price of Loyalty", a very critical book
A year later, he denounced the inner workings of the Bush administration, including the influence exerted on the president by the then vice president, Dick Cheney, in a hot book titled The Loyalty Award.
He wrote there that "George W. Bush was like a blind man surrounded by deaf people" at meetings of the Council of Ministers, and admitted having disagreed on a number of decisions, starting with the package of major tax cuts, a key measure of the president which he had denounced, in a word when he was still in post, the major risks of worsening deficits.
Double experience of public and private
A former politician, the ex-secretary of the Treasury held various high-ranking positions in the budget office under the chairmanship of Richard Nixon and Gérald Ford. He left the administration when Democrat Jimmy Carter came to power to make a name for himself in the private sector. First CEO of International Paper, he later took over as world leader in aluminum, Alcoa.
This double experience of the public and the industrial world had made him an ideal candidate to take the post of secretary of the Treasury in the team of President Bush.
O’Neill retired to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Alcoa’s headquarters are located. It was there that he died from cancer. With his wife for sixty years, Nancy, he had four children, twelve grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren.
