Walter Heller

Walter Heller

A renowned economist and influential policymaker at the national level, Walter Heller set the stage for the Department of Economics at the University of Minnesota to become a world leader in economic thought.

Heller served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers for President John Kennedy and President Lyndon Johnson. He was responsible for major policy initiatives such as the federal tax withholding system, initiating sweeping tax cuts to stimulate the economy in the early 1960s, launching Johnson's War on Poverty, and developing the theory and policy of federal-state revenue sharing.