Volcker (48 page)

Preparing for congressional testimony? Volcker demonstrates bullfighting technique during a visit to Madrid in September 1973 while under secretary of the Treasury. (Photograph from Volcker's personal collection)

Volcker indulges in his two favorite activities while on vacation: He used a public telephone while on a fishing trip to accept the presidency of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York starting in 1975. (Photograph from Volcker's personal collection)

Judge A. Leon Higginbotham swears in Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, August 6, 1979. Barbara Volcker holds the Bible; Jimmy Carter prays. (White House photograph)

Volcker thanks Pope John Paul II. Volcker had joked during a Fed telephone conference call on October 5, 1979, that he would request a papal blessing for the committee's fateful meeting the following day. (Photograph from
L'Osservatore Romano)

Smoke signals: Volcker testifies before Congress, February 19, 1980. (George Tames/
The New York Times
/Redux)

“Very nice, but we're going to stop printing this stuff.” Volcker (right) inspects new greenbacks at the U.S. Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing. As Fed chairman, he would labor mightily to convince Americans that the government was serious about restraining the money supply. (Photograph from Volcker's personal collection)

“When does the FOMC meeting start?” (Undated photograph from Volcker's personal collection)

Volcker and Ronald Reagan. Volcker came to the White House residence on Washington's Birthday, 1982, for a conversation with the president. “I think we've broken ground for a new & better relationship,” Reagan wrote afterward in his diary. (White House photograph)

An honorary degree, but no umbrella: Volcker receives an LL.D. from Yale, 1984. (Photograph by T. Charles Erickson, Yale University Office of Public Information, from Volcker's personal collection)

Harvard outperforms Yale, inviting Volcker to give its commencement speech in 1985 and providing the company of an appreciative Harvard president, Derek Bok. (Photograph from Volcker's personal collection)

The man who vanquished gold offers guidance to the Iron Lady. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visits the Federal Reserve in February 1985. (Paul Hosefros/
The New York Times
/Redux)