Francis Amasa Walker

Francis Amasa Walker (1840–1897) was an American economist, statistician and educator. After serving in the Union army during the Civil War and rising to the brevet rank of brigadier general, he directed the federal censuses of 1870 and 1880 and briefly served as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, an experience reflected in The Indian Question. He taught political economy at Yale, wrote influential works on wages and money, and became the first president of the American Economic Association. From 1881 until his death he was president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which he greatly expanded.