Full text of Marriner S. Eccles Papers : President's Authority with Respect to Appointments to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System under the Banking Act of 1935, Box 3, Folder 1, Item 7

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GOVERNOR'S OFFICE




Presidents authority with respect to appointments
to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
under the Banking Act of 1935.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System now consists
of six members appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and two ex officio members* Under the Banking let of
1935, the Board will consist, after February 1, 1936, of seven members
appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate* The law provides that the members in office on August 23, 1935 and
the ex officio members shall continue to serve until February 1, 1936*
The law contemplates that the President shall appoint seven members of the Board to take office February 1, 1936, the terms of office of
such members to be two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve and fourteen years
from that date, respectively* There are no vacancies in the membership
of the Board at this time, however, and in my opinion the President is,
accordingly, not authorized to appoint a member of the Board to take office prior to February 1, 1936 unless such a vacancy should occur*
The President may, however, if he desires for any reason to make
his selection at this time of one or more Board members effective February 1, publicly announce that he will nominate upon the convening of the
Senate a certain person or persons to take office on February 1 or thereafter when confirmed by the Senate* As to the Chairmanship, it is not
believed that the President is authorised at this time to designate a
present member of the Board as Chairman, since the law provides that he
shall designate a Chairman from the persons "thus appointed11, apparently
referring to persons appointed to succeed present appointive members of
the Board* However, the President may, if he so desires, announce that
he intends to designate a certain person as Chairman when he shall have
become a member on or after February 1 # Pending such designation, the
present Chairman will continue as such during his service as a member of
the Board.