Andrew Mellon

ANDREW MELLON d1937. American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector and politician. From the wealthy Mellon family of Pennsylvania, he established a vast business empire before transitioning into politics. He served as US Secretary of The Treasury from March 9th 1921 to February 12th 1932, famously presiding over the boom years of the 1920s and the 1929 Wall Street Crash. A conservative Republican, he lowered taxes and government spending in the aftermath of World War I. By the 1920s, he was one of the richest people in the country, paying more in income taxes than all but two other American industrialists. He became unpopular after the onset of the Great Depression. According to Hoover, Mellon advised him to avoid intervening in the ongoing economic crisis. In 1932, the US House of Representatives began conducting impeachment hearings against him. Before the conclusion of the proceedings, he accepted appointment to the position of US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He served in that post for the remainder of Hoover's presidency before retiring from public office in 1933. He died in New York aged 83 on August 26th 1937.