Former Eisenhower adviser Saulnier dies

CHESTERTOWN, Md., May 8 (UPI) -- Raymond J. Saulnier, who served as an economic adviser to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, has died at the age of 100, his son Mark says.

The New York Times said Friday Saulnier also served as an adviser for the presidential campaign of U.S. President Richard M. Nixon during his career and also taught at Columbia University and Barnard College for 40 years.

Saulnier earned the nickname Dr. No as a result of his resistance to using tax cuts to solve nationwide recessions and other economic problems.

He once defended his position in an interview about his reluctance to tax cuts in the face of a 1959 recession that was intensified by a steel strike and a stringent Federal Reserve monetary policy.

"What were we supposed to do?" Saulnier, who was serving as Eisenhower's chief economic adviser at the time, said. "Cut taxes in order to offset the effect of a tight money policy? Why not change the money policy?"

The Times said Saulnier, who died April 30 of unspecified causes, is survived by his son, Mark; his daughter, Alice Ritchie; and seven grandchildren.