John Kenneth Galbraith wrote dozens of books, including The Affluent Society

It is the birthday of intellectual John Kenneth Galbraith (1908), the best known economist in the world during his lifetime. He was a liberal Democrat who served in the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson. He wrote dozens of books on economics as well as novels. Among the most popular were the trilogy, American Capitalism (1952), The Affluent Society (1958), and The New Industrial State (1967). Conservative publisher Henry Luce once reportedly told President Kennedy, “I taught Galbraith how to write — and have regretted it ever since.” Galbraith died in 2006 at the age of 97.