This tax cut, which was passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress after Kennedy's death, was credited for boosting the U.S. economy.

To get the country going again, Heller suggested a major initiative he called the "War on Poverty", which Johnson adopted enthusiastically.

Later, when Johnson insisted on escalating the Vietnam War without raising taxes, setting the stage for an inflationary spiral, Heller resigned.

In the early phases of his career, Heller contributed to the creation of the Marshall Plan of 1947, and was instrumental in re-establishing the German currency following World War II, which helped usher an economic boom in West Germany.

He built it into a top-ranked department with spectacular hires, including future Nobel Prize winners Leonid Hurwicz (2007), Edward C. Prescott (2004), Thomas J. Sargent (2011) and Christopher A. Sims (2011).