Hubbry Logo
search
logo
2240180

Donald Regan

logo
Community Hub0 Subscribers
Write something...
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
See all
Donald Regan

Donald Thomas Regan (December 21, 1918 – June 10, 2003) was an American government official and business executive who served as the 66th United States secretary of the treasury from 1981 to 1985 and as the 11th White House chief of staff from 1985 to 1987 under President Ronald Reagan.

Regan studied at Harvard University before he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1946, he began to work for Merrill Lynch, serving as its chairman and CEO from 1971 to 1980. In the Reagan administration, Regan advocated "Reaganomics" and tax cuts as a means to create jobs and to stimulate production.

Donald Regan was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of Kathleen (née Ahearn) and William Francis Regan. He was of Irish Catholic origins. Regan earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from Harvard College in 1940 and attended Harvard Law School before dropping out to join the Marine Corps at the outset of World War II. He reached the rank of lieutenant colonel while he was serving in the Pacific Theater. He was involved in five major campaigns, including Guadalcanal and Okinawa.

In 1942, Regan married the former Ann George Buchanan, with whom he had four children: Donna Regan Lefeve, Donald T. Regan Jr., Richard William Regan, and Diane Regan Doniger.

After the war, Regan joined Merrill Lynch in 1946 as an account executive trainee. He worked up through the ranks, eventually taking over as the firm's chairman and CEO in 1971; he held those positions until 1980.

Regan was one of the original directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation and was vice chairman of the New York Stock Exchange from 1973 to 1975. He was a major proponent of brokerage firms going public, which he viewed as an important step in the modernization of Wall Street. Under his supervision, Merrill Lynch had its initial public offering on June 23, 1971, becoming the second Wall Street firm to go public after Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

During his tenure in these two positions, Regan pushed hard for an end to minimum fixed commissions for brokers, which were fees that brokerage companies had to charge clients for every transaction they made on the clients' behalf. Regan saw them as a cartel-like restriction. His lobbying played a large part of fixed commissions being abolished in 1975.

President Ronald Reagan selected Donald Regan in 1981 to serve as treasury secretary, marking him as a spokesman for his economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics". He helped engineer changes in the tax code, reduce income tax rates, and decrease taxes for corporations. Regan unexpectedly swapped jobs with then White House chief of staff James Baker in 1985.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.