David Cote reflects on his business career and discusses his activities during the years of the Obama presidency, throughout which he was chairman and chief executive officer of Honeywell. He remembers the early indicators of the global financial crisis and economic recession, his impressions of Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign cycle, and the challenges facing large American busin esses around the time of Obama's first inauguration. Cote interacted frequently with President Obama and members of the Obama administration, and he provides details about the advisory and supportive role he played in relation to the administration's efforts to stimulate the economy through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, reform the American healthcare system, resolve congressional budget disputes, stabilize the federal debt, and enhance the international competitiveness of American businesses. Also discussed are the need for greater stimulus spending to compensate for the reduction in aggregate demand caused by the financial crisis and recession, Cote's service on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (the Simpson-Bowles Commission) and as chair of the U.S.-India CEO Forum, his involvement with congressional negotiations related to the debt ceiling and fiscal cliff, his support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the rapport and relationships that Cote developed with President Obama and members of the Obama administration, and the evolving role of business in American life
Presidents--United States; Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2009--United States; Health care reform--United States; Debts, Public--United States; Cote, David M; Obama, Barack; Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (2016 February 4); United States; United States. National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform; American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
71 pages
Note (Biographical)
David Cote is an American businessman. From 2002 to 2017, he was chairman and CEO of Honeywell International. Before his time at Honeywell, Cote worked in several executive roles at TRW Incorporated and General Electric. During the years of the Obama presidency, Cote served on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, as co-chair of the U.S.-India CEO Forum, as a founding member of Campaign to Fix the Debt, and as a class B director at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. At the time of the interview, Cote was executive chairman of Vertiv Holdings Company
Note
Interviewed by Dov Weinryb Grohsgal on November 8, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
David M. Cote, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023