Paul ONeill, the blunt-spoken former head of Alcoa Corp who was fired after two rocky years as U.S. President George W. Bushs Treasury secretary, died on Saturday at the age of 84 at his home in Pittsburgh.
His family said he had been treated for lung cancer and his death was unrelated to COVID-19, the WSJ reported.
ONeill served as the Republican Bushs first Treasury secretary, from January 2001 to December 2002, during a period of in-fighting within the administration and tough economic times worsened by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The multimillionaire former corporate chieftain—he led aluminum company Alcoa from 1987 to 2000—was not a big fan of Bushs first round of tax cuts. He then argued in vain with others in the administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney, against more cuts that he felt could fuel budget deficits and hurt the economy.
He also earned a reputation as a loose cannon as Treasury secretary with comments that at various times infuriated members of Bushs inner circle, fellow Republicans in Congress, Wall Street, Latin American governments, and others.
It was Cheney, his friend dating to the 1970s in President Gerald Fords administration and had recruited ONeill into the Treasury job, who told him that he was fired. ONeill said Cheney had asked him to say his departure was his own decision, but ONeill refused.
“Im too old to begin telling lies now,” he said.
History bore out his concerns over the Bush tax cuts, which along with the costs of Bushs wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed to soaring U.S. budget deficits in subsequent years.
Regarding Iraq, ONeill said Bushs team had decided on a course of the war which it then tried to justify by touting the threat posed by Iraqi leader Saddam Husseins weapons of mass destruction. After the invasion, no such weapons were found.
Finding a Way
“From the start, we were building the case against Hussein and looking at how we could take him out and change Iraq into a new country,” ONeill said in the 2004 book “The Price of Loyalty” by journalist Ron Suskind. “And, if we did that, it would solve everything. It was about finding a way to do it.”
Asked in 2008 whether he felt bitter about his time in the Bush administration, ONeill told The New York Times: “No. Im thankful I got fired when I did so that I didnt have to be associated with what they subsequently did.”
During his stint as Treasury secretary ONeill outraged congressional Republicans by calling one of their tax cut measures “show business.” He annoyed others in the administration by telling lawmakers that Bushs signature tax cut drive was not likely to boost the economy in the short term.
He dismissed stock, bond, and currency traders as “people who sit in front of flickering green screens” whose jobs he could master in “a couple of weeks.” Brazils government protested after ONeill worried publicly that money lent to Latin American countries would vanish into Swiss bank accounts.
The Epoch Times
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