W. Michael Blumenthal

W. Michael Blumenthal (born January 3, 1926) is a German-American businessman, economist, and government official who served as the United States Secretary of the Treasury from January 23, 1977, to August 4, 1979, under President Jimmy Carter. Born in Oranienburg, Germany, to a Jewish family, Blumenthal fled Nazi persecution with his family, first to Shanghai, where they endured confinement in the Hongkew Ghetto during Japanese occupation in World War II, before immigrating to the United States in 1947. After earning degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in economics from Princeton University in 1956, he held positions in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, including Deputy Special Representative for Trade Negotiations, before entering the private sector.

Blumenthal achieved prominence as president and later chairman and CEO of Bendix Corporation from 1967 to 1977, where he was credited with revitalizing the automotive parts manufacturer into one of America's best-managed companies through a focus on efficiency and market-oriented strategies. As Treasury Secretary, he advocated for fiscal discipline to address stagflation, supported dollar devaluation to boost exports, and negotiated international economic agreements, though his tenure ended in resignation amid escalating policy disputes with Carter's White House staff over issues like tax cuts and anti-inflation measures. Following government service, he led Burroughs Corporation and its successor Unisys as CEO, and from 1997 to 2014 served as founding director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, overseeing its restoration and establishment as a center for exploring German-Jewish history and identity.

Werner Michael Blumenthal was born on January 3, 1926, in Oranienburg, a town north of Berlin, Germany, to a Jewish family of bankers. His parents were Ewald Blumenthal, born in 1889 and a banker by profession, and Rose Valerie Blumenthal. The family, which included Blumenthal and his older sister Stefanie, had roots in Oranienburg dating back generations and operated the Blumenthal Bank, a local institution that failed amid the Great Depression around 1929–1930. Following the bankruptcy, Ewald assisted in his wife's new venture after the family relocated.

In 1930 or 1931, at age four or five, Blumenthal's family moved to Berlin, where his mother opened a ladies' accessories store off Kurfürstendamm in 1932, sustaining a middle-class existence. The family maintained a low-profile lifestyle amid rising political tensions, emphasizing assimilation and cultural attachment to Germany. Blumenthal attended public school from 1932 to 1936 before transferring to a Jewish school in Dahlem.

Ewald Blumenthal embodied conventional German Jewish patriotism, having served in the Kaiser's elite guards during World War I, fought in the trenches, and received the Iron Cross. The family's pre-Depression affluence as landowners and bankers contrasted with their post-relocation status as shopkeepers of modest means, yet they remained integrated into German society until external pressures intensified.