Robert Vincent Roosa (June 21, 1918 – December 23, 1993) was an American economist and banker. He served as Treasury Undersecretary for Monetary Affairs during the

Kennedy administration John F. Kennedy's tenure as the 35th president of the United States, began with his inauguration on January 20, 1961, and ended with his assassination on November 22, 1963. A Democrat from Massachusetts, he took office following the 1960 p ...

. He believed the

U.S. dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...

should be the world's leading currency and reference point because the United States was the leading political and economic power.

Early years

Born in

Marquette, Michigan Marquette ( ) is a city in Marquette County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 20,629 at the 2020 United States Census, which makes it the largest city in the Upper Peninsula. Marquette serves as the seat of government of Marquett ...

, he studied at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, receiving his A.B. in 1939.Richard D. Lyons
"Robert V. Roosa Is Dead at 75; Served as U.S. Treasury Official"
''The New York Times'' (December 25, 1993). Retrieved May 21, 2011 He received a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

but due to the outbreak of war in Europe did not attend Oxford."Ornaments on the Tree"
''Time'' (January 6, 1961). Retrieved May 20, 2011 Instead, he remained at Michigan, taking M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in 1940 and 1942 respectively. Between 1939 and 1943, he taught economics at Michigan,

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served in London as assistant to

Charles P. Kindleberger Charles Poor Kindleberger (October 12, 1910 – July 7, 2003) was an American economic historian and author of over 30 books. His 1978 book ''Manias, Panics, and Crashes'', about speculative stock market bubbles, was reprinted in 2000 after the ...

in the

Enemy Objectives Unit The Enemy Objectives Unit (EOU) was formed in the United States during the Second World War to identify targets for strategic bombing in Nazi Germany. The team, consisting of economists, was one section within the Office of Strategic Services. Worki ...

, identifying potentially valuable enemy targets.

Postwar years

From 1946 he worked at the

Federal Reserve Bank of New York The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the State of New York, the 12 northern counties of New ...

, ultimately reaching the position of vice president in the bank's research department. He then joined the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

, under John F. Kennedy, as Undersecretary for Monetary Affairs, where he helped to address the

balance of payments In international economics, the balance of payments (also known as balance of international payments and abbreviated BOP or BoP) of a country is the difference between all money flowing into the country in a particular period of time (e.g., a ...

problem facing America at that time.Jean-Marc Daniel
"Robert Roosa and the Ups and Downs of the Dollar"
Watching America (July 6, 2010), translated by Anh-Thu Luu from ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

''. Retrieved May 20, 2011 One of his solutions was the creation of bonds that would attract and allow foreign holders of dollars to turn them into long-term assets as an alternative to buying U.S. gold. Known as

Roosa bonds Roosa, could refer to: People * Roosa Timonen, Finnish tennis player * Daniel Bennett St. John Roosa, American physician * Robert Roosa, American economist and banker * Stuart Roosa, NASA astronaut Places * Rõõsa, a village in Kose Paris ...

, they were bought with dollars, but denominated and repaid in

Swiss franc The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the f ...

s. Roosa believed that the international monetary system should be based on a reference and that the reference should be the U.S. dollar. He continued under the administration of

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

until 1964. Roosa joined the Wall Street firm of

Brown Brothers Harriman Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (BBH) is the oldest and one of the largest private investment banks in the United States. * a "Brown Brothers, who are the oldest as well as one of the largest private banking concerns in the country" — ¶ 2 * b "T ...

as a partner, in 1965. In 1966, he was elected to both the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. He was a director at the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

between 1966 and 1981, and a trustee of the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

. He also became a member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the

Group of Thirty The Group of Thirty, often abbreviated to G30, is an international body of financiers and academics which aims to deepen understanding of economic and financial issues and to examine consequences of decisions made in the public and private sect ...

in 1979. He was also a member of the

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

. From 1975 to 1986, he was chairman of the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

. Roosa retired from Brown Brothers in 1991.

Personal

Roosa was married to Ruth Roosa (née AmEnde), who died in October 1993. They had two daughters. Roosa died in

Port Chester, New York Port Chester is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the largest part of the town of Rye (town), New York, Rye in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County by populat ...

in December 1993, aged 75."Robert Roosa Dies at 75; Treasury Undersecretary"
''The Washington Post'' (December 25, 1993). Retrieved May 20, 2011

Publications

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...

and Robert V. Roosa, ''The Balance of Payments: Free Versus Fixed Exchange Rates'',

American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. A ...

, Washington, D.C. (1967) * * *

References

External links

United States Treasury Policies And Economic Stabilization
a talk given at the

Industrial College of the Armed Forces The Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy (Eisenhower School), formerly known as the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), is a part of the National Defense University. It was renamed on September 6, 20 ...

in 1962 * Mary Jean Bennett
1968 book review of Roosa's book written with M. Friedman
"A Reviewer’s Notebook – 1968/5". Retrieved May 20, 2011 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roosa, Robert 1918 births 1993 deaths United States Department of the Treasury officials Kennedy administration personnel University of Michigan alumni Harvard University faculty University of Michigan faculty People from Marquette, Michigan MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty 20th-century American economists Economists from Michigan Presidents of the American Finance Association Members of the American Philosophical Society