Mike Blumenthal

W. Michael “Mike” Blumenthal, was the United States secretary of the treasury in the Carter administration from 1977 to 1979. He served as an ambassador and deputy special trade representative for trade negotiations under presidents Kennedy and Johnson. From 1997 to 2014, he was the founding director and chief executive of the Jewish Museum of Berlin.

Born in Germany, he survived the Holocaust in a Shanghai ghetto and immigrated to the United States in 1947. He went on to earn several advanced degrees, including a PhD in economics from Princeton University. His published works include two nonfiction books—The Invisible Wall: German and Jews and From Exile to Washington; A memoir of Leadership in the Twentieth Century—as well as his 2024 novel, The Payday Conspiracy.