Биография[править | править код]
Меллон происходит из богатой семьи Меллон в Питтсбурге, штат Пенсильвания. Меллон основал обширную бизнес-империю, прежде чем перейти в политику. С 9 марта 1921 года по 12 февраля 1932 года он занимал пост министра финансов США, руководя периодом бума 1920-х годов и находясь у власти во время краха Уолл-стрит в 1929 году. Меллон был консервативным республиканцем, выступал за снижение налогообложения и государственного долга.
Отец Меллона, Томас Меллон, стал известным в Питтсбурге банкиром и адвокатом. Эндрю начал работать в банке своего отца, T. Mellon & Sons, в начале 1870-х годов, в конечном итоге став ведущей фигурой в учреждении. Позже он переименовал T. Mellon & Sons в Mellon National Bank и основал ещё одно финансовое учреждение, Union Trust Company. К концу 1913 года Национальный банк Меллона держал больше денег на депозитах, чем любой другой банк в Питтсбурге, а второй по величине банк в регионе контролировался Union Trust. Меллон был влиятельным донором Республиканской партии.
В 1921 году новоизбранный президент Уоррен Г. Хардинг выбрал Меллона своим министром финансов. Меллон оставался на своем посту до 1932 года, служа при Хардинге, Кэлвине Кулидже и Герберте Гувере, все трое из которых были членами Республиканской партии. Меллон стремился реформировать федеральное налогообложение, сокращая налоги, но оставляя на месте прогрессивный подоходный налог. Меллон также руководил сокращением государственного долга в 1920-х годах. Влияние Меллона в государственной и национальной политике достигло своего апогея во время президентства Кулиджа. Журналист Уильям Аллен Уайт отметил, что «Эндрю Меллон доминировал в Белом доме в те дни, когда администрация Кулиджа находилась в зените, что было бы справедливо назвать администрацию правлением Кулиджа и Меллона».
Репутация Меллона рухнула после краха Уолл-стрит в 1929 году и начала Великой депрессии. Меллон участвовал в различных усилиях администрации Гувера по возрождению экономики и поддержанию международного экономического порядка, но он выступал против прямого вмешательства правительства в экономику. После того, как Конгресс начал процедуру импичмента против Меллона, президент Гувер перевел Меллона на должность посла США в Соединенном Королевстве. Меллон вернулся к частной жизни после поражения Гувера на президентских выборах 1932 года от Франклина Рузвельта, В 1933 году федеральное правительство начало расследование налогового мошенничества в отношении Меллона, но дело закончилось оправданием Меллона. Незадолго до своей смерти в 1937 году Меллон помог создать Национальную художественную галерею и Национальный художественный музей. Его филантропические усилия также сыграли важную роль в создании университета Карнеги-Меллона и Национальной портретной галереи.
The bust[edit]
When the Great Depression hit, Mellon had to clean up his mess. The lowered tax rates managed to pay down some of the public debt during a booming economy, but when this easy revenue couldn’t be counted on anymore he panicked and gave Herbert Hoover his now infamous advice. He told Hoover to:
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“”Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate. … It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people |
| —The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression, 1929-1941 by Herbert Hoover (1952) The Macmillan Company |
The Mellon-owned Mellon Bank was in competition with Chase National Bank, which the Rockefeller family had a controlling share in. If you’re a cynic, then you might say that advice was part of the feuding between those two families.
Hoover, thankfully, regarded Mellon’s advice as insanity that would cause even more economic instability. Mellon’s advice earns him a special place among some economists, who use his last name as a neologism (Mellonism) that refers to a particularly cranky, sociopathic economic theory or act.
FDR, hating Mellon, basically harassed him for the last two years of his life by having his administration accuse him of tax fraud, for which he was repeatedly taken to trial.
Andrew Mellon’s Birthplace and Early Life
Andrew Mellon’s paternal grandparents were both Irish immigrants to the US. Their son and Andrew Mellon’s father, Thomas Mellon, settled in Pennsylvania where Andrew Mellon was born.
Andrew along with his siblings attended a school established by Thomas, someone who didn’t believe in the public or private education systems in the country at that time.
In his late teens, Andrew joined his father at his bank – T. Mellon and Sons. Despite his young age, he quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the most important employees there, eventually taking over the bank entirely.
Andrew Mellon also attended Western University, now called the University of Pittsburgh, but never finished his degree.
Интересы[править | править код]
Коллекционер живописи. С 1920-х годов Меллон начал собирать коллекцию картин и скульптур с намерением создать в стране национальную художественную галерею. При распродаже Советским правительством эрмитажных шедевров в галерее Knoedler and Co Меллон стал одним из основных покупателей картин. Таким образом, ядро коллекции составили проданные советской властью шедевры Эрмитажа. После его смерти Конгресс 24 марта 1937 года в совместном постановлении обеих палат принял коллекцию и денежные средства и одобрил создание галереи.
На строительство здания Национальной галереи искусств Меллон выделил 10 млн долларов США и передал свою коллекцию живописи.
Andrew Mellon’s Family [Spouse / Partner, Kids]
Andrew Mellon’s personal life was hardly as successful as his professional life. He refrained from courtship and romantic partnerships for a long time after a failed relationship with Fannie Larimer Jones, who he left due to her getting tuberculosis.
After a few years, he met Nor McMullen, an Englishwoman. The two got married in 1900 after a period of courtship, and she had their first child together in 1901.
Nora was unhappy in Pittsburgh, however, and started an affair with Alfred George Curphey. After the affair came to light, Nora and Andrew reconciled and had another child – Paul Mellon, in 1907. Nora later got back together with Alfred Curphey though and asked Mellon for a divorce.
In an effort to keep the divorce private, Mellon sought out a way to amend a law that required a trial by jury for divorce cases. Nora thwarted these plans when she started talking about Mellon to the media, and the pair eventually finalized their divorce in 1912. After this, Mellon stayed away from romantic partnerships.
Andrew Mellon Key Facts Summary
- Mellon was a successful businessman and investor, who later joined politics and became the Secretary of the Treasury for three presidential terms.
- He was the longest-serving Secretary of Treasury in US history.
- A strong advocate for tax cuts for the rich, Mellon successfully implemented many of these policies throughout his time as the Secretary of Treasury.
- He amassed a fortune of over $500 million through his banking and investment ventures.
- He was a Republican.
- Mellon was responsible for getting the US out of military debt post-WW1 but was also in opposition to increasing remuneration for WW1 veterans.
- Mellon advocated for the government to liquidate major industries and businesses at the time of the Great Depression, a move that might have stabilized the economy but would have had disastrous consequences for American citizens and destroyed jobs.
2012-05-21
Многие современные любители антиквариата ведут постоянные споры о личности Эндрю Меллона, не только известного политика и бизнесмена, но и достаточно скрытного коллекционера. До последних дней он оставался дилетантом в вопросах старины: не мог запомнить названия старинных картин, которые приобретал и имена художников, но все же ему удалось составить удивительную коллекцию из раритетных предметов.
Свою коллекцию Эндрю Меллон начал собирать в Европе еще в 1880 году. В это время он совершал вместе со своим другом и компаньоном Генри Фриком путешествие по европейским странам. Из-за скрытности Меллона существовало мало информации о том, насколько важным в его жизни было коллекционирование. Даже современникам было известно очень мало о его страсти к старинным предметам. Большую часть жизни он посвящал бизнесу и политике, и лишь в достаточно поздние годы, после отхода от финансовых дел и расторжения брака он стал заниматься целенаправленным созданием своей коллекции.
Самые важные приобретения произведений искусства и живописи Меллон сделал спустя некоторое время после переезда в Вашингтон. Большое влияние на формирование вкуса Меллона оказал увлеченный коллекционер Генри Фрик, а также посредники из американской компании Knoedlerи арт-дилер Джозеф Дювин. Все они предлагали Меллону самые уникальные предметы антиквариата и выгодные сделки. Благодаря им его коллекция пополнялась работами старых мастеров и английской портретной живописью.
Многие библиографы и исследователи отмечают, что Меллоном при создании коллекции чаще всего двигала не особая страсть к искусству, а достаточно трезвый и прагматичный расчет. Он не был человеком, поддерживавшим современных художников и не занимался приобретением работ, не освященных временем; он не участвовал в общедоступных выставках и не учреждал художественных грандов. Даже в последние годы жизни, занимаясь систематическим приобретением ценных художественных работ для создания крупной коллекции предметов антиквариата национального масштаба, Меллон относился к произведениям искусства лишь как к выгодной инвестиции в свою дорогую собственность и репутацию.
Практически все свои старинные картины Меллон приобрел в 1928-1931 годах в Государственном Эрмитаже Ленинграда. Искусствоведы до сегодняшнего дня поражаются разнообразием его коллекции, состоящей из шедевров, созданных Рубенсом, Ван-Дейком, Рафаэлем, Рембрандтом, Веласкесом, Веронезе, Перуджино, Тицианом и другими известными мастерами. За эти старинные произведения искусства Меллон отдавал миллионы. Информацию о своих приобретениях он держал в секрете от окружающих, работая непосредственно с арт-дилерами.
Возможно, именно благодаря такой скрытности, Меллон все же сумел собрать на самом деле выдающуюся коллекцию старинных произведений искусства, ставшую основой для одного из лучших американских музейных собраний.
Pre-Depression[edit]
Mellon was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by Warren G. Harding in 1921 because Mellon claimed to be a deficit hawk who would pay down the debt left over from WWI. It was at this point Mellon helped develop proto-Reaganomics, with his claims that lowering taxes (especially on the wealthy) would result in an increase of total revenue for the government, because he thought people would be more willing to pay the lowered taxes as opposed to trying to get out of it. Mellon’s tax plan was fairly radical for the time:
Lower taxes on the rich because Mellon believed this would result in a net gain in revenue for the government, since the rich would (supposedly) be willing to just pay their taxes if tax rates were lower. It was at this point Mellon developed the proto-Laffer Curve, believing that if the tax rate was above 25%, the rich would try to get out of paying their taxes and there would be a net loss in revenue generated by the government. Where the 25% number came from is anyone’s guess.
Lower the income tax on the lowest income earners, from 4% to 0.5%.
Reduce the estate tax, because rich people would be more willing to pay their taxes instead of moving their money into tax-exempt shelters. He didn’t go into great detail about why they wouldn’t move the money anyway, since they’d still get out of paying taxes.
The result of this is that by 1929 Mellon had managed to lower the top marginal tax rate to 24%, though he only got the income tax rate for the lowest income earners down to 1.5% by the same time.
Rise To Prominence
In 1874 Andrew Mellon joined his father Thomas and brother Richard running their family bank. Their bank was called T Melton & Sons, and it benefited significantly from western Pennsylvania becoming one of the wealthiest industrial regions in the country.
In 1882 his father Alexander Mellon transferred ownership of Mellon Bank to Andrew Mellon.
Mellon invested capital in aluminum, steel, oil, coal and coke corporations. Companies he was involved with included the Aluminum Company, the Gulf Oil Company, Union Steel, the Union Trust Company and the Union Savings Bank of Pittsburgh. His acquisitions and business acumen resulted in him becoming one of the wealthiest people in the country by 1914.
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Selected Books About Andrew and Thomas Mellon
Cannadine, David, Mellon: An American Life (2006).
Finley, David E., A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington (1975).
Folsom, Burton W., The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America (1991).
Hersh, Burton, The Mellon Family: A Fortune in History (1978).
Holbrook, Stewart, The Age of the Moguls (2017).
Koskoff, David E., The Mellons: The Chronicle of America’s Richest Family (1978).
Love, Philip H., Andrew W. Mellon: The Man and His Work (1929).
Mellon, James, The Judge: A Life of Thomas Mellon, Founder of a Fortune (2011).
Mellon, Thomas, Thomas Mellon and His Times, edited by Mary Louise Briscoe (1885).
O’Connor, Harvey, Mellon’s Millions, the Biography of a Fortune: The Life and Times of Andrew W. Mellon (1933).
Shlaes, Amity, Coolidge (2013).
Sibley, Katherine A.S., ed., A Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover (2014).
Walters, Ryan S., The Jazz Age President: Defending Warren G. Harding (2022).
Whyte, Kenneth, Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times (2017).
Philanthropy
In 1913, along with his brother, Richard B. Mellon, he established a memorial for his father, the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, as a department of the University of Pittsburgh. Today the institute is a part of Carnegie Mellon University. Mellon also served as an alumni president and trustee of the University of Pittsburgh, and made several major donations to the school, including the land on which the Cathedral of Learning and Heinz Chapel were constructed. In total it is estimated that Mellon donated over $43 million to the University of Pittsburgh.
During his retirement years, as he had done in earlier years, Mellon was an active philanthropist, and gave generously of his private fortune to support art and research causes. In 1937, he donated his substantial art collection, plus $10 million for construction, to establish the National Gallery of Art on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The Gallery was authorized in 1937 by Congress.
Andrew Mellon was made a Freemason in 1928, and Raised in 1931.
References
- David Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life, Knopf, 2006, ISBN 0-679-45032-7
- Burton W. Folsom, Jr. The Myth of the Robber Barons (A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America)
- Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973.
- Holbrook, Stewart H. The Age of the Moguls. New York: Garden City, 1953.
- Koskoff, David E. The Mellons: The Chronicle of America’s Richest Family. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1978.
- Mellon, Andrew. Taxation: The People’s Business. New York: Macmillan, 1924.
- O’Connor, Harvey. Mellon’s Millions, the Biography of a Fortune: The Life and Times of Andrew W. Mellon. New York: John Day Company, 1933.
FAQs
Question: Was Andrew Mellon a Billionaire?
Answer: Mellon never technically became a Billionaire, but his fortune of an estimated $600 Million would have been equivalent to $9 Billion today.
Question: How many Kids did Andrew Mellon have?
Answer: Andrew Mellon had two children named Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon with his wife Nora Mellon. The marriage eventually ended in divorce and Mellon never remarried.
Question: What were Andrew Mellon’s Political Views?
Answer: Andrew Mellon was a Republican politician who strongly advocated for tax cuts for the rich and corporations throughout his political career.
Question: Was the Mellon Plan Ever Fully Realized?
Answer: The Mellon Plan was fully implemented during Calvin Coolidge’s presidency thanks to support from Coolidge himself, and Mellon eventually got involved in foreign monetary policy to negotiate WW1 debt repayments from European countries.
Question: Was Andrew Mellon a Self-made Man?
Answer: While a lot of Andrew Mellon’s wealth was made during his lifetime, he didn’t exactly start from scratch. He inherited his father’s bank at a young age and made multiple fruitful investments through the bank, eventually growing in influence in investing and banking circles before joining politics.
History
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation was founded as the result of the merger of the Avalon Foundation, which was created in 1940 by Andrew Mellon’s daughter Ailsa Mellon Bruce, and the Old Dominion Foundation which was established in 1941 by Mellon’s son Paul. When the two foundations were consolidated, the Avalon Foundation absorbed the Old Dominion Foundation and was renamed the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to honor the late father of the two philanthropists. At the time of the merger in 1969, the assets of the Foundation totaled $273 million and had appropriated just under $11 million combined in grants in 1968.
People
The foundation was formed as a result of a merger between foundations of the children of industrialist Andrew W. Mellon, who later served as Secretary of the Treasury for eleven years under Presidents Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, and briefly as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Mellon’s only two children, Alisa Mellon Bruce and Paul Mellon, used their father’s fortune to become among the nation’s most visible and well-known socialites and philanthropists. The Mellon siblings were prominently featured in Fortune magazine’s first list of wealthiest Americans with a net worth in between $400 million and $700 million in 1957 dollars each.
Like their father, both Mellons were tied to political figures. Alisa Mellon Bruce’s first husband served as ambassador to Argentina, and she remained active in philanthropy through the Avalon Foundation until her death in 1969. Paul Mellon became well known as an owner and breeder of racehorses, marrying fellow heiress Bunny Mellon and establishing a large family compound in Upperville, Virginia. His daughter Catherine Conover was the first wife of U.S. Senator John Warner (R-VA).
Today, no members of the Mellon Family appear to serve on the board of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The board mostly consists of academics including Heather Gerken, the dean of Harvard Law School; Richard Broadhead, former president of Duke University; and several other current or former academics or museum curators.
The current chair of the board of the Mellon Foundation is Kathryn A. Hall, a prominent investment banker who runs Hall Capital Partners, which she founded. Hall is also a former board chair of Princeton University and sits on the board of the environmentalist groups NextGen Climate Action and NextGen Climate America.
Secretary Of State 1921-1932
A Republican who was involved in politics in his home state, Mellon was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1921. This appointment also meant that he was chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. During his tenure, he enforced Prohibition, t and reformed the tax system. He was much admired as a Secretary of the Treasury during a period which spanned three presidents: Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. After the Wall Street Crash in the late 1920s. President Hoover became disenchanted with Mellon when the depression caused the debt to rise, and the top rate of tax rose to eighty percent.
After his resignation in 1932, Andrew Mellon was appointed American Ambassador to the Court of St James (1932-1933).
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Bibliography
- Cannadine, David. Mellon: An American Life. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2006. ISBN 0-679-45032-7.
- Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1975. ISBN 0874741327.
- Folsom, Burton W., Jr. The Myth of the Robber Barons (A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America). Herndon, Virginia: Young America’s Foundation, 1991. ISBN 0963020315.
- Holbrook, Stewart H. The Age of the Moguls. New York: Harmony Books, 1985. ISBN 0517556790 (Original work published 1953).
- Koskoff, David E. The Mellons: The Chronicle of America’s Richest Family. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1978. ISBN 0690011903.
- Mellon, Andrew. Taxation: The People’s Business. S.I.: Gale, 2011. ISBN 124012709X (Original work published 1924).
- O’Connor, Harvey. Mellon’s Millions, the Biography of a Fortune: The Life and Times of Andrew W. Mellon. New York: John Day Company, 1933. ISBN 9110118934.
Early life
Mellon was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., on March 24, 1855. His father was Thomas Mellon, a banker and judge who was a Scots-Irish immigrant from County Tyrone, Ireland; his mother was Sarah Jane Negley Mellon. He was also brother of Richard B. Mellon. He was educated at the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh), graduating in 1873.
Financial prodigy
Mellon demonstrated financial ability early in life. In 1872 he was set up in a lumber and coal business by his father and soon turned it into a profitable enterprise. He joined his father’s banking firm, T. Mellon & Sons, two years later and had ownership of the bank transferred to him in 1882. In 1889, Mellon helped organize the Union Trust Company and Union Savings Bank of Pittsburgh. He also branched into industrial activities: oil, steel, shipbuilding, and construction.
Three areas where Mellon’s backing created giant enterprises were aluminum, industrial abrasives («carborundum»), and coke. Mellon financed Charles Martin Hall, whose refinery grew into the Aluminum Company of America. He became the partner of Edward Goodrich Acheson in manufacturing silicon carbide, a revolutionary abrasive, in the Carborundum Company. He created an entire industry through his help to Heinrich Koppers, inventor of coke ovens which transformed industrial waste into usable products such as coal-gas, coal-tar, and sulfur.
Mellon eventually became one of the wealthiest people in the United States. In the mid 1920s, he was the third highest income tax payer in the US behind only John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford. During this period, while he served as Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, his wealth peaked at around $300–$400 million in 1929–30.
Mellon was a member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, whose earthen dam failed in May 1889 and caused the Johnstown Flood. Mellon was a member of the Duquesne Club. Along with his closest friends Henry Clay Frick and Philander Knox, also South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club members, Mellon served as a director of the Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce.
Financial prodigy
Mellon demonstrated financial ability early. In 1872 his father set him up in a lumber and coal business, which he soon turned into a profitable enterprise. He joined his father’s banking firm, T. Mellon & Sons, in 1880 and two years later had ownership of the bank transferred to him. In 1889, Mellon helped organize the Union Trust Company and Union Savings Bank of Pittsburgh. He also branched into industrial activities: oil, steel, shipbuilding, and construction.
Areas where Mellon’s backing created giant enterprises included aluminum, industrial abrasives («carborundum»), and coke. Mellon financed Charles Martin Hall, whose refinery grew into the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa). He became the partner of Edward Goodrich Acheson in manufacturing silicon carbide, a revolutionary abrasive, in the Carborundum Company. He created an entire industry through his help to Heinrich Koppers, inventor of coke ovens which transformed industrial waste into usable products such as coal-gas, coal-tar, and sulfur. He also became an early investor in the New York Shipbuilding Corporation.
Mellon was one of the wealthiest people in the United States, the third-highest income-tax payer in the mid-1920s, behind John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford. While he served as Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department his wealth peaked at around $300–$400 million in 1929–1930.
Mellon was a member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club (whose earthen dam failed in May, 1889, causing the Johnstown Flood), and he belonged to the Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh. Along with his closest friends Henry Clay Frick and Philander Knox (also South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club members), Mellon served as a director of the Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce.
Mellon’s Early Life and Education
Andrew William Mellon (1855–1937), often known as “A.W. Mellon,” was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Mellon’s father, Thomas Mellon, was a prominent lawyer and banker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Mellons were of Scotch-Irish extraction, Thomas’s father having emigrated in 1816 from County Tyrone in Ireland (now Northern Ireland).
In 1869, Thomas founded his own bank, which he called T. Mellon & Sons.
Due to his dislike of the educational establishments of his day, both public and private, Thomas Mellon hired a private teacher and even built a special schoolhouse for the education of his sons—his future partners in his bank. Andrew attended the school from the age of five.
Later, Andrew attended Western University (forerunner of the University of Pittsburgh) but did not receive a degree.
After leaving school, to gain work experience Andrew sought employment at a lumber business, where he worked briefly before finding a similar temporary position with a coal business.
In 1873, at the age of 18, Andrew went to work for his father’s bank, T. Mellon & Sons, on a full-time basis.
Personal life
In 1900, Mellon, then 45 years old, married Nora Mary McMullen (1879–1973), a 20-year-old Englishwoman who was the daughter of Alexander P. McMullen, a major shareholder of the Guinness Brewing Co. They had two children, Ailsa, born in 1901, and Paul, born in 1907. Their marriage ended in a bitter divorce in 1912, which was granted on grounds of Nora Mellon’s desertion and her adultery with Capt. George Alfred Curphey, an English soldier, and other men. Mellon did not remarry. In 1923 his former wife married Harvey Arthur Lee, a British-born antiques dealer 14 years her junior. Two years after the Lees’ divorce in 1928, Nora Lee resumed the surname Mellon, at the request of her son, Paul.
Revival[edit]
Despite being almost universally regarded as one of the worst, if not the worst Secretary of the Treasury, Mellon has enjoyed something of a revival among certain think tanks, from both right-wing and libertarian institutions. These ‘Mellonites’ usually just ignore the fact that he sat through the era leading up to the Great Depression and the beginning of the depression itself. If they do acknowledge it, they will blame the ‘socialist’ Herbert Hoover (!) for causing the depression, or blame FDR’s New Deal for allegedly worsening the depression.
One of the more popular talking points is that the tax cuts caused the booming economy, which usually involves ignoring the actual causes of the economic boom such as the introduction of hire-purchase credit (which would later backfire), advertising, and the widespread increase of electricity which made mass production easier to pull off. Europe being in shambles after the Great War would also work to America’s benefit thanks to less competition in investing.
Oh, and the similarity of this guy’s name is not coincidental as he was Mellon’s nephew — I guess wingnuttery runs in the family.