Dr. Paul Samuelson
Douglas Cooper, George O'Brien and Iona Dean of Business, Dr. Charles O'Donnell confer on economics with Nobel Laureate Dr. Paul Samuelson, at his M.I.T. office, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Interview
Dr. Paul Samuelson had first authored Economics, now the best-selling book in this field, in 1948. By now, it's been translated into 46 languages, and has sold four million copies.
George and I asked along as a guest interviewer Iona's Business College Dean, and he'd sat quietly through our morning at the home of psychologist B.F. Skinner, while we questioned him on his latest study, Beyond Freedom and Dignity.
It surprised me that Samuelson's was a very large office, with his desk positioned so that his back was to the windows overlooking the Charles River. His language was exact, suited to someone like me, with a grasp of the basics, but he addressed each of us at the level our questions implied.
Dean O'Donnell asked about major changes in the economy since he first published, and he talked about the "old fashioned" great slump, with massive unemployment as the major relic of the past? I wanted to know how a researcher, who'd received a Nobel for that work, got to be an author and educator. He explained how the Chair of the Department had asked him to put in a few months writing a text; that was in 1946. In 1948, he completed the first edition. "Now I see dozens of flaws, and I've started a tenth edition folder," he admitted. He said it was a matter of adjusting to the facts of life, such as post-war inflation. But he had an equal love of teaching, and his text bridged investigation and education.
O'Brien paraphrased from the book a statement calling on all those elected to office to be familiar with economics. To which Samuelson responded, "I can't think of a President who has been overburdened by a knowledge of economics".
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The Douglas P. Cooper Distinguished Contemporaries Collection (1967-1974) contains rare interviews with influential writers, statesmen, artists, songwriters, journalists and others who have left their mark on our culture.
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