Presidential adviser Paul McCracken dies

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Paul W. McCracken, a former economic adviser to several U.S. presidents, died Friday in Ann Arbor at age 96.

McCracken was a member of President Dwight Eisenhower's Council of Economic Advisers and later chair of the council under President Richard Nixon.

McCracken recalled his Nixon appointment last year in an interview.

"After Nixon won the election, the press started guessing who was going to get what job, and my name was mentioned as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers," he said. "A guy with The Washington Post and I had become pretty well-acquainted, and he called me up and said, 'I hear your name mentioned frequently. Is it real?' I said, 'I have no idea.' " McCracken went on to say that Nixon called him the next day and he flew to New York to meet him. Nixon offered him the job, and he said he wanted to discuss it with his wife.

"Nixon and I talked a while longer and he said, 'You know, I have a press conference coming up in about 20 minutes, and I don't have anything to tell them. Why don't we just announce it?' What are you going to do? So I said, 'Well, OK. I guess my wife can find out about it on the news,' " McCracken said.

Between Eisenhower and Nixon's administrations, McCracken served on a domestic economic task force under President John F. Kennedy and on the Commission on Budget Concepts for President Lyndon Johnson.

An Iowa native, McCracken earned his bachelor's degree from what now is William Penn University and his master's and doctorate from Harvard. He is survived by two daughters, Langer and Paula McCracken. -- AP