Tom Adams - the Right Man at the Right Time
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I TOM ADAMS - THE RIGHT MAN AT THE RIGHT TIME THE FOURTH TOMADAMS MEMORIAL LECTURE by Sir Courtney N. Blackman Ph.D. The Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination UWI, Cave Hill, Barbados - September 22"^^, 2008 I am honoured by the invitation of the Barbados Labour Party, the older of our two great political parties, to deliver the fourth annual lecture in memory of our second Prime Minister, Tom Adams, who contributed so much to the prosperity Barbadians enjoy today. In a recent address to the Old Harrisonian Society on the 275til anniversary of the school, I remarked on the good fortune of Barbados to throw up three great charismatic leaders in succession: Grantley Adams, who led the political phase of our revolution from the late 1930s to the mid 1950s; Errol Barrow, who laid the economic foundations ofthe new nation in the 1960s and early 1970s on a platform of massive investment in education, and Tom Adams who ensured the irreversibility ofthe revolution through his masterly management of the economy between 1976 and his untimely death in 1985. What is most important, they appeared in the right sequence - for none of them could have accomplished what the others were able to. Hence the title of my lecture, TomAdams - The Right man at the Right Time! A few weeks ago I had lunch with a World Bank consultant who was planning a Mission to Barbados. He was seeking lessons from our economic performance that might be applied to small states in the Pacific Basin. In fact, it was on Tom Adams' watch that the international financial institutions in Washington, DC first held up the 'Barbados Model' as an example to the developing world. It was also the period that former Prime Minister Owen Arthur described as the "Augustan Era" ofBarbadian economic management. I must confess to a significant element of sentimentality in my undertaking of this exercise. As Governor of the Central Bank I was charged with advising Mr. Adams, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, on the formulation and execution ofmonetary policy throughout his entire term ofoffice. As Director of Finance and Planning, Sir Stephen Emtage held the corresponding responsibility with respect to fiscal policy over the same period. Tom Adams was quick to recognize the important role the Central Bank could play in national economic management, and his description of the Bank on one occasion as "not only a-political but above politics" reflected the deep respect in which he held the institution. I regard the nine years serving Mr. Adams' Administration as the most productive and fulfilling of my professional career - alas, not the most financially rewarding! Moreover, Tom's engaging personality, wide range of interests and mischievous sense ofhumour made it fun to work for him. But it is not my purpose this evening to eulogize Tom Adams. Rather, I appear as a witness before the bar ofHistory, called to give evidence on how the economic management of Barbados was conducted during his Administration. My remarks are based on personal interaction with Mr. Adams, and on participation, under his direction, in the national economic management process. I do not pretend to present the entire picture ofthe man but merely one of several pieces that professional historians must pull together to obtain an accurate record ofhis life and times. "The historian is the keeper ofsociety's memory." Those words ofthe late Professor John Parry in my first History class at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies over fifty years ago still ring in my ears. In the United States, where I have been resident for over two decades, the completion of each President's term produces a large number ofhistories by former members of his Administration, some favourable to him, others not, while the President establishes his own Library into which he deposits every important document generated by his Administration. Those voluminous records become part of the memory of economists, political scientists, politicians, civil servants, students, journalists and society at large, and so inform future national politics and policy. Historiography is indispensable to the health of a free society. A society that is ignorant ofits own history is comparable to a patient suffering from acute Alzheimer's disease. That is why imperial powers go to so much trouble to erase or suppress the history of subject peoples, and to replace it with their own. Imperial Japan went so far as to ban the Korean language. In colonial Barbados high school history texts told us a lot about British imperial triumphs but very little of our own past. Fortunately, the recent spate of historical publications about Barbados and the Caribbean has begun to correct that situation; my lecture seeks, in a small way, to support this trend. First, I describe the nature ofmy own relationship with Tom Adams. I seek to shed light on his executive style and, above all, to capture the essence of his personality. Secondly, I focus on those capacities and traits that enabled him to excel at the demanding tasks ofnational economic management - the tools ofhis trade, so to speak. Thirdly, I review his outstanding record as manager of the national economy, adverting when necessary to instances when he came up short. Fourth, I try to place his contribution in historical perspective. I conclude on a personal note. Tom & Mvself In evaluating my evidence, historians will certainly wish to know the nature of my personal relationship with the subject of their enquiry so that they may factor in any biases in my account. Tom Adams and I spent six coterminous years at Harrison College (1944 - 50) but our paths seldom crossed. For one thing, he did Mathematics in the Sixth Form while I studied the Classics; for another, I was an active sportsman, especially at Cricket, while he hardly participated in sports. However, I do remember vividly the bookie operation he ran for boys wishing to place bets on an upcoming general election, and that he tutored me and other sixth formers in the card game of Bridge at a time when we should have been studying French - a harbinger ofhis later poker-playing days. I would meet him next in 1972 when, on taking up my position as Governor, I paid him a courtesy call at the offices ofthe Leader ofthe Opposition. He received me graciously and expressed satisfaction with my appointment. I can recall only two conversations with him while he was in the Opposition. On one occasion he called to warn me ofa statement critical ofcentral bank policy he intended to make in Parliament later that day. I explained the flaw in his argument; he fully agreed with my rebuttal but said that he would make the statement any way - and he did! The other conversation took place at a cocktail party at the American Ambassador's residence on July 4, 1976. After assuring me that the BLP would win the upcoming election, he asked what I thought about the amalgamation ofall government financial institutions under a single umbrella organization. "I think it's a terrible idea," I replied. "But you would be in charge," he countered. "Whether I am in charge or not," I insisted, " I still think it's a terrible idea." While in the Opposition, he was the most diligent reader of the Bank's publications, especially the Monthly Statistical Bulletin', ifit were delayed by even a single day, he would call the Bank's research department to enquire why. Our next meeting would be in his office at government headquarters a few days after he became Prime Minister. I congratulated him on his comprehensive victory at the polls, and indicated that I had no reservations whatsoever about serving his Administration. "Courtney," he replied, "you helped me so much when I was in the Opposition that I have no reason to believe that you will not help me now that I am in office." The "help" he spoke ofwas, no doubt, the regularity and objectivity of the Central Bank's economic publications, information that was unavailable to the Opposition before the Bank's establishment. Mr. Branford Taitt, now President of the Senate, would in time christen the Bank's Annual Report as the "Economic Bible." Having benefited so much from the publications of the Central Bank while in the Opposition, Tom came increasingly to rely upon its advice once in office. The Bank's economic research department had, in a few short years, developed into one of the most respected research units in the developing world under the dynamic leadership ofDr. Delisle Worrell, ably supported by his Deputy Mr. Winston Cox and a number of young economists who would in time make their mark. Its graduates include the current Govemor, Dr. Marion Williams, Professors Michael Howard and Roland Craigwell, ofthe UWI Campus, Dr. Mary Zephyrin at the IMF, Mr. Clyde Mascoll, former Leader of the Opposition, and several others. Very soon a process ofnational economic policy making evolved in which economic analysis carried out by the Research Department informed the Governor's advice to the Bank's Board of Directors, and the Board's recommendations to the Minister of Finance. The Director of Finance and Planning has always sat on the Bank's Board to make sure that fiscal considerations are properly taken into account. Steve and I would meet with Mr. Adams on an ad hoc basis to seek approval of the Bank's recommendations. Our meetings could hardly have been more informal. In addition to items requiring his attention, the agenda might include any topic Tom fancied on that day: what his wife Genevieve was doing, History, especially military History, politics.