Peter George Peterson

This article is about the Pete Peterson who was a U.S. government official during the Nixon administration; there is also a Pete Peterson who is a former Florida Congressman and ambassador to Vietnam.

Peterson's official portrait as Commerce Secretary

Peter George Peterson (born June 5, 1926) is an American businessman, investment banker, fiscal conservative, author, and politician whose most prominent political position was as United States Secretary of Commerce from February 29, 1972 to February 1, 1973. He was Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations until retiring on June 30 2007, after being named chairman emeritus. He is the Senior Chairman of the private equity firm, the Blackstone Group. In 2007, he was ranked 165th on Forbes 400 Richest Americans with a net worth of $2.5 Billion.

Biography

Peterson was born in Kearney, Nebraska, to Greek immigrant parents and is married to Joan Ganz Cooney. He received an undergraduate business degree from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University, graduating in 1947, summa cum laude. He joined Market Facts, a Chicago-based market research firm, in 1948^[1]. In 1951, he received an MBA degree from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, before returning to Market Facts as an executive vice president.

He joined advertising agency McCann Erickson in 1953, again in Chicago, where he served as a director. He joined movie-equipment maker Bell and Howell Corporation in 1958 as Executive Vice President. He later succeeded Charles H. Percy as Chairman and CEO, positions he held from 1963 to 1971. He has been a director of a number of other corporations.

In 1969, Peterson was invited by philanthropist John D. Rockefeller 3rd, CFR Chairman John J. McCloy, and former Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon to chair a Commission on Foundations and Private Philanthropy, which became known as the Peterson Commission. Among its recommendations adopted by the government were that foundations be required annually to disburse a minimum proportion of their funds.

In 1971, Peter Peterson was named Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs by U.S. President Richard Nixon. In 1972, he was named the Secretary of Commerce, a position he held for one year. At that time he also assumed the Chairmanship of President Nixon’s National Commission on Productivity and was appointed U.S. Chairman of the U.S.–Soviet Commercial Commission.

Peterson was Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers (1973–1977) and Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb Inc. (1977–1984). Known at Lehman Brothers as "Aristole the Greek" for dominating any forum with endless monologues about who he knew.

In 1985, he co-founded the prominent private equity and investment management firm, the Blackstone Group, for which his current position is Senior Chairman.

Peterson swearing in first woman officer of the NOAA.

In 1992 he was one of the co-founders of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan citizens' group that advocates reduction of the federal budget deficit. Following record deficits under President George W. Bush, Peterson commented in 2004: "I remain a Republican, but the Republicans have become a far more theological, faith-directed party, not troubling with evidence."^[2]

In February 1994, President Bill Clinton named Peterson as a member of the Bi-Partisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform co-chaired by Senators Bob Kerrey and John Danforth.

Peterson also serves as Co-Chair of The Conference Board Commission on Public Trust and Private Enterprises (Co-Chaired by John Snow).

Peterson is currently Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, commencing from 1985 when he took over from David Rockefeller. He also serves as Trustee of the Rockefeller family's Japan Society and the Museum of Modern Art, and was previously on the board of Rockefeller Center Properties, Inc..

He is founding Chairman of the Peterson Institute (formerly the Institute for International Economics), renamed in his honour in 2006, and a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development. He was also Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York between 2000 and 2004.

See also

• Private equity
• Blackstone Group
• David Rockefeller
• Council on Foreign Relations
• Peterson Institute

References

Additional References

Ken Auletta, Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman (Random House, December 12, 1985) ISBN 1-58567-088-X Discussion of Lehman Bros internal war between Peter Peterson and Lewis Glucksman - Glucksman hating Peterson for being arrogant and having no Wall Street experience (Peterson was not from Wall Street but was former CEO of Bell & Howell). The book details weak experience of not only of Peterson but mediocrity of many Lehman partners who stand about in suspenders while Glucksman trading crews made all the profits.

External links

• Biography from Blackstone Group
• The Concord Coalition biography
• Brandt 21 Forum biography
• A Crusader in Clover: Pete Peterson, Enemy of Social Security, Counts Journalists as Friends A 1997 profile from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.
• In a letter to Peter Peterson, Dean Baker criticizes Mr. Peterson's position on the solvency of the Social Security program.

Interviews

• Conversation with a Conservative: Peter G. Peterson An October, 2004 article from Mother Jones
• Transcript: Bill Moyers Interviews Peter Peterson
• The Tri-Deficits: Why They Matter and What to Do About Them
• Audio-Interview with Peter Peterson by German Journalist Wolfgang Blau, a.k.a. Harrer
  Deutsche Welle, November 2004 (English interview with short German intro)

Writings

• "Old habits must change", The Banker, 03 January, 2005
• "Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It", 2004
• "Gray Dawn: How the Coming Age Wave Will Transform America -- and the World"

United States Secretaries of Commerce

Secretaries of Commerce & Labor: Cortelyou • Metcalf • Straus • Nagel Secretaries of Commerce: Redfield • Alexander • Hoover • Whiting • Lamont • Chapin • Roper • Hopkins • Jones • Wallace • Harriman • Sawyer • Weeks • Strauss • Mueller • Hodges • Connor • Trowbridge • Smith • Stans • Peterson • Dent • Morton • Richardson • Kreps • Klutznick • Baldrige • Verity • Mosbacher • Franklin • Brown • Kantor • Daley • Mineta • Evans • Gutierrez

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