BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Jan. 26 was offi cially
dubbed “Secretary Janet Yellen
Celebration Day” in Brooklyn,
after Borough President
Eric Adams signed a proclamation
in honor of the nation’s
fi rst female head of the
US Treasury Department.
Born in Bay Ridge in 1946,
Yellen was offi cially sworn in
as Treasury Secretary in Joe
Biden’s presidential administration
on Tuesday, saying
she would lead the agency to
“right past wrongs and improve
people’s lives.”
“Economics isn’t just something
you fi nd in a textbook. It
can be a potent tool to right
past wrongs and improve people’s
lives. That’s why so many
of Treasury’s 84,000 public servants
joined the Department,”
she wrote on Twitter. “Today,
I am proud to be one of them.”
Adams, who has the power
to dedicate ceremonial proclamations
COURIER L 24 IFE, JAN. 29-FEB. 4, 2021
from his perch at
Borough Hall, called the move
a “small gesture of our appreciation
for one of Bay Ridge’s
fi nest.”
“It is most fi tting that we
recognize those extraordinary
individuals who have
provided distinguished services
through their demonstrated
commitment as principal
advisors to the President
of the United States and the
Cabinet on economic issues,”
the decree read. “All of Brooklyn
joins with Janet Yellen…
the fi rst woman to hold this
position upon this momentous
occasion, and to highlight the
outstanding contributions she
has made that have greatly impacted
the nation and the residents
of this great borough
and beyond.”
The child of an elementary
school teacher and a physician,
Yellen graduated as the
valedictorian of Fort Hamilton
High School in 1962. With
an undergraduate degree
from Brown University and a
Ph.D. from Yale, the economics
guru went on to chair the
Federal Reserve under presidents
Barack Obama and Donald
Trump, before Biden selected
her to lead the Treasury
Department.
The US Senate confi rmed
her nomination to the head
of the department by an 84-
to-15 margin on Jan. 25, leading
newly-minted Senate Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer
to praise her “working-class”
roots in Kings County.
“I am so proud that the Senate
will confi rm Dr. Janet Yellen
to be the fi rst woman to
ever hold the position of Treasury
Secretary,” Schumer
tweeted. “She’s a native of
working-class Brooklyn, and
no one has more experience
for this job.”
Assemblywoman Jo Anne
Simon, a candidate to replace
the term-limited Beep, took
excitedly to social media to
hail her fellow Brooklynite’s
success.
“Brooklyn is in the house!”
she wrote. “Congratulations
to Brooklyn’s own, the fi rst
woman Secretary of the Treasury,
Janet Yellen!”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Her-story!
Bay Ridge native Janet
Yellen becomes fi rst
female Treasury Secretary