Trump Is Hardly the 1st President to Criticize the Fed

When the Fed sits down for its two-day meeting this week, members will be gathering in the shadow of President Trump's recent statement that he was not thrilled with the Fed raising interest rates.  The members will not be influenced by those remarks, as they take seriously their responsibility to resist political pressure and conduct policy independently.  To be sure, Trump's comments – which violated the norm that presidents should respect the Fed's independence – were inappropriate. They were not, however, as unprecedented as media reports suggest. Trump is far from the first president to publicly criticize the Fed or try to influence monetary policy.