Washington, D.C., operates on a different clock than Hanover, N.H. Inside the White House, the clock ticks even faster—or so it seems to a newcomer like Matthew Slaughter, associate professor of business administration at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Nominated by President George W. Bush to the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) last September, Slaughter moved to the nation’s capitol soon after to prepare for his new job as one of the top advisers on international economic issues to the president and his administration. The CEA consists of three members, and its most recent chairman was Ben Bernanke, who has just gone on to replace Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Now Slaughter’s days typically start at dawn with breakfast at the White House and end late in the evening with meetings in the West Wing.
Slaughter will likely hold the prestigious post for a period of up to two years, as his predecessors have. "For me, this is an extraordinary opportunity to use my talents to serve my country," Slaughter said in an interview in early November. "With the rapid rise of China and India, economic issues seem to be more pressing and of a greater magnitude than ever before."
On October 25, 2005, Slaughter testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, which evaluates presidential appointees in the area of economics. On November 4, 2005, the full Senate unanimously confirmed his nomination, and on November 18, he was sworn in as a member of the CEA.
