Having served as Secretary of Labor in 1968 and head of the Office of Management and Budget in 1970, George P. Shultz (b.1920) was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Nixon in 1973. During his tenure, Shultz was concerned with two major issues: the continuing domestic administration of Nixon's "New Economic Policy," begun under Secretary John B. Connally, and a renewed dollar crisis that broke out in February 1973.
Sec. George P. Shultz
Everett Raymond Kinstler
Oil on canvas
1975
54 5/8 x 46 1/4 x 4"
P.1975.1
Domestically Shultz enacted the next phase of the NEP, which involved a lifting of price controls begun in 1971. This phase was a failure, resulting in high inflation, and price freezes were reestablished five months later. Meanwhile Shultz's attention was increasingly diverted from the domestic economy to the international arena. He participated in an international monetary conference in Paris in 1973, which grew out of the 1971 decision to close the gold window. The conference formally abolished the fixed rate exchange system, which was eliminated in 1971, thereby causing all currencies to float. Shultz resigned shortly before Nixon to return to private life. He returned to the Cabinet in 1982 as President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State.
About the Artist
Everett Raymond Kinstler (1926 - ) began his career as an illustrator and cartoonist, working on such classics as Flash Gordon and Doc Savage before turning increasingly to portrait painting in the late 1950's. An established portrait painter in New York, he has had his studio at the National Arts Club since 1949. He is also a member of the National Academy of Design and teaches at the Art Students League. Kinstler is represented in the Treasury Collection by portraits of Secretaries Kennedy, Connally, Simon, Blumenthal, and Miller, in addition to Secretary Shultz. The portrait of Shultz, with his pipe and official Treasury necktie, was executed in Kinstler's New York studio in 1975.