W. Michael Blumenthal

Werner Michael Blumenthal (born January 3, 1926) is a German-American business leader, economist and political adviser who served as United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1979. At age thirteen, Blumenthal barely escaped Nazi Germany with his Jewish family in 1939. He was forced to spend World War II living in the ghetto of Japanese-occupied Shanghai, China, until 1947. He then made his way to San Francisco and began doing odd jobs to work his way through school. He enrolled in college, eventually graduating from University of California, Berkeley and Princeton University with degrees in international economics. During his career, he became active in both business and public service. Before being appointed to a cabinet position with newly elected President Jimmy Carter, Blumenthal had become a successful business leader and had already held senior positions in the administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. As a member of the Carter administration, he helped guide economic policy and took part in re-establishing ties with China. After he resigned, he became chairman and CEO of Burroughs Corporation and Unisys, followed by seventeen years as director of the restored Jewish Museum Berlin. He is the author of The Invisible Wall (1998, Counterpoint Press), From Exile to Washington: A Memoir of Leadership in the Twentieth Century (2013, The Overlook Press) and The Payday Conspiracy: A Berlin Noir (2024, Solanum Press). Blumenthal is the oldest living former U.S. Cabinet member and the oldest ever.