Peter J. Wallison#Writings

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Peter Wallison

| image = Peter Wallison 1986.jpg

| office = White House Counsel

| president = Ronald Reagan

| term_start = May 23, 1986

| term_end = March 20, 1987

| predecessor = Fred Fielding

| successor = Arthur Culvahouse

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|6|6}}

| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Republican

| spouse = Frieda Wallison

| children = 3

| education = Harvard University (BA, LLB)

}}

Peter J. Wallison (born June 6, 1941) is an American lawyer and the Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.{{cite news |first=Gerald M. |last=Boyd |author-link=Gerald M. Boyd |title= REAGAN COUNSEL RECOUNTS CHAOS OVER IRAN AFFAIR |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEEDA1F31F930A25750C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print |work=New York Times |date=1987-03-13 |accessdate=2008-10-19}} He specializes in financial markets deregulation. He was White House Counsel during the Tower Commission's inquiry into the Iran Contra Affair. He was a dissenting member of the 2010 Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, frequent commentator in the mass media on the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the 2008 financial crisis and wrote Hidden in Plain Sight (2015) about the crisis and its legacy.

Biography

Wallison was born in New York City, and educated at the Capitol Page School and Harvard University, where he received his B.A. in 1963, an LL.B. in 1966, and was the president of the Young Republicans.

{{cite book

|others=Jeff Chidester, Stephen F. Knott, Darby Morrisroe, Christine Nemacheck

|title=Final edited transcript, interview with Peter Wallison

|url=http://webstorage3.mcpa.virginia.edu/poh/transcripts/ohp_2003_1028_wallison.pdf

|accessdate=2008-10-29

|series=Ronald Reagan Oral History Project

|date=2006-01-13

|location=Charlottesville, VA

}}

He was admitted to the bar of New York state in 1967.

Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

Document Number: H1000155216

Dated 2004-08-25

Retrieved 2008-10-19.

Fee.

{{cite web

|url=http://www.aei.org/scholar/58

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508133233/http://www.aei.org/scholar/58

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=2009-05-08

|title=AEI - Scholars & Fellows - Peter J. Wallison

|accessdate=2008-10-19

|publisher=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

}}

Emanuel Celler appointed him a United States House of Representatives Page when he was about 14, and he served for most of his high school years. The Democrats controlled the patronage, but assigned some pages, such as Wallison, to the minority party. This experience helped him become a Republican.

He was a Rockefeller Republican before becoming a Reagan Republican.

On November 24, 1966, he married the former Frieda Koslow (born in New York January 15, 1943, A.B. Smith College 1963, LL.B. Harvard Law School 1966 admitted to New York bar in 1967, D.C. bar 1982). They have three children, Ethan S., Jeremy L., Rebecca K. Mrs. Wallison develops real estate in Snowmass, Colorado.

"Frieda K. Wallison." Marquis Who's Who TM. Marquis Who's Who, 2008.

Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

Document Number: K2016190560

Fee.

Retrieved 2008-10-19.

{{cite web|url=http://redstatepatriot.com/2008/09/q_a_with_peter_wallison.php |title=Q&A: Transcript with Peter Wallison, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute |accessdate=2008-10-19 |last=Lamb |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Lamb |date=2008-09-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081004063302/http://redstatepatriot.com/2008/09/q_a_with_peter_wallison.php |archive-date=October 4, 2008 }}

(Please see also the link to the video, below.)

{{cite news|first=Jeremy |last=Heiman |title=P&Z to get a look at plans for two big housing projects |url=http://www.valley-journal.com/article/20080911/NEWS/809109989/-1/rss |work=The Valley Journal |publisher=Swift Communications |location=Carbondale, Colorado |date=2008-09-11 |accessdate=2008-10-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717184044/http://www.valley-journal.com/article/20080911/NEWS/809109989/-1/rss |archive-date=July 17, 2011 }}

{{cite news |title=WEDDINGS; Kristina Kaplan, Jeremy Wallison

|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DE7D9143FF930A2575BC0A9669C8B63

|work=New York Times

|date=2000-08-13 |accessdate=2008-10-19

}}

{{cite web

|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=43811

|title=Nomination of Peter J. Wallison To Be General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury

|accessdate=2008-10-19

|last=Woolley |first=John T.

|author2=Gerhard Peters |date=1981-05-15

|location=Santa Barbara, California

|work=The American Presidency Project (online database)

|publisher=University of California (hosted)

}}

They split their time between homes in Colorado and in Washington, D.C.

Career

File:President Ronald Reagan and Don Regan with Peter Wallison.jpg Ronald Reagan and Donald Regan in 1986]]

1966–1971 Associate, Rogers & Wells, New York, NY
1971–____ special assistant, Governor of New York Nelson A. Rockefeller
1971–1981 Partner, Rogers & Wells, New York, NY
1972–1976 Special assistant to Nelson Rockefeller
1973–1974 Counsel to the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans
1975–1976 Counsel to Vice President of the United States Nelson Rockefeller. Dick Parsons was his deputy.
1976 Campaign staff, Bob Dole's vice-presidential campaign
1981–1985 General Counsel for the Department of the Treasury, under Don Regan. Early in his tenure he supervised the preparation of the report on the Secret Service and the Reagan assassination attempt in 1981. He was important in developing Reagan administration proposals to deregulate financial services that, with some changes, became law in 1999. Wallison recounts that he counseled against the Reagan administration's decision to oppose the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the Carter administration's Internal Revenue Service revocation of Bob Jones University's tax exempt status because its prohibition against inter-racial dating by students violated public policy. Even if the IRS had determined policy, beyond its authority in deciding, opposing this case would be politically foolish. In the event he was recalled to the United States from a banking conference to be present for the Treasury's announcement; when he arrived he found that his seniors were all absent and he was required to announce this choice. Treasury and Department of Justice had worked this out between themselves, and White House staff were furious. A political firestorm followed, and efforts to mitigate it were unsuccessful. (The Supreme Court of the United States subsequently held, in Bob Jones University v. United States, that the IRS did have this power even though petitioner had complied with the language of the statute).
1985–1986 partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
1986–1987 White House Counsel to President of the United States Ronald Reagan. In the aftermath of the Iran Contra affair he came under investigation by Lawrence E. Walsh but was not indicted. (He believes his diary persuaded the independent counsel that he had not manipulated the President's testimony.)
1987–1998 partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
1999–present American Enterprise Institute, codirector of AEI's financial markets deregulation project.

Other

In 1999, Wallison told New York Times reporter Steven A. Holmes that the expansion of mortgage loans by reducing the amount borrowers have to put down and extending loans to so-called subprime borrowers was creating a situation where Fannie Mae was taking on significantly more risk. "From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us," he said. "If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry."Steven A. Holmes, "Fannie Mae Eases Credit to Aid Mortgage Lending," The New York Times (September 30, 1999). The article pointed out that the Clinton Administration had put pressure on Fannie Mae to lower standards "to expand loans among low and moderate income people."

Wallison gave a eulogy at a memorial service for Don Regan in June 2003.

Wallison's writing on the cause of the 2008 financial crisis have brought much comment. In December, 2011, the New York Times financial columnist Joe Nocera stated that Wallison had "almost single-handedly created the myth that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac caused the financial crisis."Nocera, Joe, [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/opinion/nocera-the-big-lie.html The Big Lie], NYTimes.com, Dec. 23, 2011. Calling it "a big lie," Nocera suggested that Wallison had engaged in a deliberate deception. Economist Paul Krugman has also accused Wallison of deception,December 24, 2011 ("Joe Nocera gets mad") criticizing him for—among other things—attacking Fannie and Freddie in a magazine article just a year before the subprime mortgage collapse for not doing a "better job of providing affordable home financing to a neglected portion of the mortgage market." This neglected portion consisted of "African-American ... Hispanic", and "low-income borrowers".Krugman, Paul, [https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/fannie-freddie-forked-tongue/ Fannie Freddie Forked Tongue], December 17, 2010{{cite web |url=http://www.aei.org/article/economics/financial-services/higher-gse-limits-would-hit-those-who-need-help/ |title=Higher GSE Limits Would Hit Those Who Need Help |accessdate=2013-06-26 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101122746/http://www.aei.org/article/economics/financial-services/higher-gse-limits-would-hit-those-who-need-help/ |archive-date=November 1, 2012 }} | Peter J. Wallison, John J. Lafalce | American Banker|March 03, 2006Nocera, Joe, [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/18/business/18nocera.html?ref=business&pagewanted=all Explaining the Crisis With Dogma], nytimes.com, December 17, 2010. Nocera quotes Wallison writing in 2004: "Study after study have shown that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, despite full-throated claims about trillion-dollar commitments and the like, have failed to lead the private market in assisting the development and financing of affordable housing." Accessed 3 July 2013. Wallison cites New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson exposing how "Democratic political operative Jim Johnson turned Fannie Mae into a political machine", and dismisses the exoneration of the GSEs as "the big lie."Wallison, Peter J., "[http://blog.american.com/2011/06/phil-angelides-false-narrative/ Phil Angelides’s False Narrative] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502073143/http://blog.american.com/2011/06/phil-angelides-false-narrative/ |date=2012-05-02 }}", blog.american.com, June 29, 2011, retrieved Feb 7 2012.

Memberships

Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee
Council on Foreign Relations
Depository Institutions Deregulation Committee (past member) under Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act (1980) with William Isaac amongst others
District of Columbia bar
District of Columbia bar association
MGIC board of directors, until Fannie Mae applied pressure.
President's Advisory Council on Executive Organization, also called the Ash Commission
Delegate, 1976 Republican National Convention
Member and dissenter on Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (2010–11)

Writings

(With John D. Hawke, Jr.) The State Banking Revolution and the Federal Response: New Frontiers of Financial Service Expansion, Law and Business/Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (Clifton, NJ), 1984.
State Banking Regulation and Deregulation, Law and Business/Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1985.
Back from the Brink: A Practical Plan for Privatizing Deposit Insurance and Strengthening Our Banks and Thrifts, AEI Press (Washington, DC), 1990.
(With Bert Ely) Nationalizing Mortgage Risk: The Growth of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, AEI Press (Washington, DC), 2000.
(With Robert E. Litan) The GAAP Gap, AEI Press (Washington, DC), 2000.
(Editor) Optional Federal Chartering and Regulation of Insurance Companies, AEI Press (Washington, DC), 2000.
{{cite web|url=http://financialservices.house.gov/banking/91200wal.pdf|title=Statement for Roundtable Discussion on H.R. 3703|accessdate=2008-10-19|date=2000-09-06|publisher=House Banking Committee Subcommittee on Capital Markets|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030506180534/http://financialservices.house.gov/banking/91200wal.pdf|archive-date=2003-05-06|url-status=dead}}
(Editor) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Public Purposes and Private Interests, Volume 1: Government Subsidy and Conflicting Missions, Volume 2: Prospects for Controlling Growth and Expansion, AEI Press (Washington, DC), 2000, {{ISBN|0-8447-7137-6}} (alk. paper), {{ISBN|0-8447-7138-4}}
(Editor) Serving Two Masters, Yet out of Control: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, AEI Press (Washington, DC), 2001, {{ISBN|0-8447-4166-3}} (pbk.)

{{cite book

|others=Peter J. Wallison, editor

|title=Serving Two Masters, Yet Out of Control: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNhE9GCXTGMC&q=wallison+%22american+enterprise%22

|accessdate=2008-10-19

|year=2001

|publisher=American Enterprise Institute

|isbn=978-0-8447-4166-6

}} 2 volumes of papers delivered at a conference on March 24, 1999 at the American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C.

{{cite book

|title=Ronald Reagan: The Power of Conviction and the Success of His Presidency

|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813340463

|url-access=registration

|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813340463/page/106 106]

|quote=wallison dunn crutcher.

|accessdate=2008-10-19

|year=2003

|publisher=Westview Press

|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts

|isbn=978-0-8133-4046-3

}}

{{cite news|title=A Man Apart: Reagan had the right principles – and he stuck to them.|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/wallison200406051905.asp|work=nationalreview.com|date=2004-06-05|accessdate=2008-10-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040618141048/http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/wallison200406051905.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=2004-06-18}}
Competitive Equity: A Better Way to Organize Mutual Funds (AEI Press, 2007).
{{cite news|title=Escape from New York|url=http://www.american.com/archive/2008/february-02-08/escape-from-new-york|work=The American|publisher=American Enterprise Institute|date=2008-02-20|accessdate=2008-10-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080314084250/http://american.com/archive/2008/february-02-08/escape-from-new-york|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-03-14}}
Contributor to periodicals, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post.

::{{cite news

|title=Elitist Protection Consumers Don't Need |date=2009-07-13 |newspaper=The Washington Post

|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/12/AR2009071201663.html?sub=AR

|accessdate=2009-07-14 }}

::{{cite news|title=Obama Voted 'Present' on Mortgage Reform. The only banking 'deregulation' in recent years was that of Fan and Fred.|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122403045717834693|work=Opinion Journal|date=2008-10-15|accessdate=2008-01-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015220921/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122403045717834693.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-10-15}}

::{{cite news|title=How Paulson Would Save Fannie Mae|date=2008-09-12|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122117569863425755|accessdate=2009-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914225016/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122117569863425755.html|archive-date=2008-09-14|url-status=dead}}

::{{cite news

|title=Reagan and McCain

|url=http://spectator.org/archives/2008/01/25/reagan-and-mccain

|work=American Spectator

|date=2008-01-08

|accessdate=2008-01-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024152415/http://spectator.org/archives/2008/01/25/reagan%2Dand%2Dmccain|url-status=dead

|archive-date=2008-10-24}}

::{{cite news

|title=What We Pre-Empted - Today's world would be far worse if Saddam were still in power.

|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/feature/?id=110010319

|work=Opinion Journal

|publisher=Wall Street Journal

|date=2007-07-11

|accessdate=2008-01-30

}}

::{{cite news

|title=Reagan, Iraq, and Neoconservatism

|url=http://spectator.org/archives/2004/06/16/reagan-iraq-and-neoconservatis

|work=American Spectator

|date=2004-04-16

|accessdate=2008-01-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081023173532/http://www.spectator.org/archives/2004/06/16/reagan-iraq-and-neoconservatis|url-status=dead

|archive-date=2008-10-23}}

::{{cite news|title=Bush's Reagan Moment |date=2003-10-26 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/26/opinion/26WALL.html |accessdate=2009-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119084355/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/26/opinion/26WALL.html |archive-date=January 19, 2011 |url-status=dead }}

Hidden in Plain Sight: What Really Caused the World's Worst Financial Crisis and Why It Could Happen Again (Encounter Books; January 13, 2015), 432 pages; {{ISBN|1-5940-3770-1}}; {{ISBN|978-1-5940-3770-2}}[https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Plain-Sight-World%C2%92s-Financial/dp/1594037701/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427692623&sr=1-1 Hidden in Plain Sight], Amazon.com page. Retrieved 2015-03-30.Mulligan, Casey B., [https://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-hidden-in-plain-sight-by-peter-j-wallison-1424820768 "Capitol Hill Pickpockets: Risky loans made by Fannie and Freddie were the biggest factor that led to the financial crisis—and the direct result of federal policy"], Bookshelf, Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2015. Retrieved 2015-03-30.[http://www.c-span.org/video/?324300-1/words-peter-wallison "After Words with Peter Wallison" (video and uncorrected Closed Captioning transcript)], interviewed by Sudeep Reddy Deputy Editor ([http://topics.wsj.com/person/R/sudeep-reddy/7270 Wall Street Journal]), C-Span2, February 12, 2015. Rerun/retrieved 2015-03-30.

References

American Banker, August 14, 1992, Claudia Cummins, "Former Reagan Official Still Fighting for Banks, " p. 2.
Banker Monthly, September, 1990, Andrew Gray, review of Back from the Brink: A Practical Plan for Privatizing Deposit Insurance and Strengthening Our Banks and Thrifts, p. 87.
Journal of Economic Literature, June, 1991, review of Back from the Brink, p. 688.
Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2002, review of Ronald Reagan: The Power of Conviction and the Success of His Presidency, p. 1604.
Publishers Weekly, November 18, 2002, review of Ronald Reagan, p. 50.
Wall Street Journal, December 24, 2002, Mary Anastasia O'Grady, review of Ronald Reagan.
Women's Wear Daily, February 19, 2003, Aileen Mehle, review of Ronald Reagan, p. 6.