Old Hand for Treasury

President Johnson last week concluded his long search for a new Secretary of the Treasury. Nominated to succeed outgoing Douglas Dillon was Henry H. ("Joe") Fowler, 56, attorney, administrator, and Treasury Under Secretary for three years prior to resigning last April.

A snowy-haired, courtly Virginian, Fowler was born in Roanoke, the son of a locomotive engineer. He graduated from Yale Law School, served as a New Deal-era counsel for the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Federal Power Commission. In the 1940s he was a lawyer for the War Production Board; during the Korean War he rose to director of the Office of Defense Mobilization.

Instrumental. In 1961, Treasury Secretary Dillon tapped Fowler to be his No. 2 man; Dillon needed a tested administrator and, as a Republican, also wanted Washington-wise Democrat Fowler to help push fiscal policies through a Democratic Congress. As chief lobbyist for the Administration's 1964 tax-cut bill. Fowler pored over the Congressional Record daily, analyzing countless pages of debate, spent hours wheedling Congressmen in the halls--and played a major role in finally getting the measure passed. However, Fowler tangled with Kennedy Economic Adviser Walter Heller. Their differences were mostly kept behind the scenes. But Fowler questioned Heller's economic forecasting and political judgment, was irritated by what he deemed Heller's undue interference.

Last spring, pleading financial strain, Fowler resigned from the Treasury to return to his Washington law practice. When Dillon announced in the fall that he, too, planned to step down, Johnson wanted his old friend Donald C. Cook, president of the American Electric Power Co., to succeed Dillon. But Cook turned the President down (TIME, March 19), and Lyndon turned hopefully to Fowler.

Easy Money. The choice came as a considerable surprise to those who had been following Johnson's search for a Treasury man. Fowler, after all, is neither a banker nor a businessman. His credentials nevertheless are outstanding. He is a faithful Democrat who has worked hard for his party; last year he organized the Businessmen for Johnson-Humphrey group. In addition to his proved ability in dealing with Congress, he is well acquainted with business problems.

Fowler is an easy-money man, which certainly appeals to Johnson, but he is respected in the business community for his sound, generally conservative views. He will leave to the Treasury experts the technical routine of monetary policy and devote himself mainly to overseeing the Government's role in the U.S. economy.

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