Having served as Chairman of the Advisory Council to
President Kennedy's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities in the early
1960's and later as an outspoken member of the National Alliance of Businessmen,
G. William Miller (1925-2006) was appointed Chairman of the Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve by President Carter in 1977. As Fed Chairman he worked
closely with the White House planning a joint assault on inflation by government,
private industry, and labor groups. Appointed Secretary of the Treasury
by Carter in 1979, Miller's plan was to find the fundamental causes of the
country's economic problems and attack them. He successfully convinced Congress to extend unemployment
benefits and encourage private investment by cutting taxes for individuals.
Sec. G. William Miller
Everett Raymond Kinstler
Oil on canvas
1981
56 ¾ x 46 x 2”
P.1981.1
Miller had a long-standing commitment to jobs programs
and promoted good relations between Carter and the AFL-CIO. He was described
as "a feisty little guy, with a boyish grin and a broken nose, and that
spontaneous, optimistic American attitude that trouble is inevitable but
everything is possible." Miller resigned at the end of Carter's term.
About the Artist
Artist of more than thirty Cabinet portraits, Everett
Raymond Kinstler (1926 - ) began his career as an illustrator and cartoonist, but
he quickly achieved prominence once he turned to portrait painting he quickly achieved prominence. He
is represented in numerous collections around Washington and by eight portraits
in the Treasury Collection alone. When President Carter left office in
1980, he revoked his regulation barring the commissioning of painting Cabinet
portraits. G. William Miller's portrait, painted by Kinstler in
1981, was the first of the new era of governmental commissioned portraits.
