History of the Treasury
Secretaries of the Treasury
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Joseph W. Barr
(1968 - 1969)
As Undersecretary (1965-1968) to Secretary of the Treasury
Henry H. Fowler, Joseph W. Barr (1918-1996) was the Johnson administration
spokesman before Congress. When Fowler resigned in December 1968, Barr was
appointed Secretary to serve the remaining month of President Johnson's
incumbency. He was characterized by a New York Times reporter as "a kind of Rexford
Guy Tugwell of New Deal days who does not accept that the law of supply
and demand is an immutable economic dictum that must work at all times and
in all circumstances." As Secretary, Barr coined the phrase "taxpayer's
revolt" to describe the rising sentiment, in and out of Congress, for tax
reform.
A later Secretary, William Simon, said of Barr that
he was the first to realize that the tax system was too complicated for
normal individuals. Barr resigned at the end of Johnson's term to become
president of the American Security Trust Company in Washington.
About the Artist
Born in Milwaukee in 1913, Casimir Gregory Stapko
quit school after the eighth grade and apprenticed himself to an artist
who specialized in decorating churches. After spending several years adorning
clerical walls, laying mosaic floors, and painting murals, Stapko found
work as a copyist. In the 1940's he was hired by New York publishers of
fine-art books to make copies of masterpieces hanging in the National
Gallery of Art in Washington. He has since made copies of many famous
portraits and is represented in the collections of the State Department,
the United States Embassy in Peru, and the White House. Stapko painted
his portrait of Joseph W. Barr in 1969 from three or four life sittings
in Barr's office in the Treasury Building.
Office of the Curator
All rights reserved. 2001
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