Bernard Mannes Baruch

In 1916, Baruch was appointed to the Advisory Commision of the Council of National Defense by President Woodrow Wilson. During World War I he became chairman of the War Industries Bond, or WIB. He was also designated to the major civilian agency for industrial mobilization by President Wilson. Bernard Baruch was also at the center of the government’s mobilization because of the WIB and the President’s War Council. In 1919, he was a representative in the Supreme Economic Council at the Versailles Peace Conference. He was also the personal advisor on the terms of peace to President Woodrow Wilson. Baruch urged a new WIB during World War II, but President Roosevelt ignored his advice because of concern for his own power. President Truman asked Bernard Baruch to formulate a postwar international policy for atomic energy in 1946. The Baruch Plan proposed that America’s atomic secrets and production of atomic bombs be safeguarded and kept a secret, “until an international agency, over which the USSR would not have a veto, established full control of manufacturing plants anywhere in the world.” (encylopedia.com). It was rejected by the Soviet Union. In fear of inflation, Baruch unsuccessfully tried to get the Truman administration to force wage and price controls, during the Korean War. However, by then, Baruch had lost his great influence.