Friday, April 24, 2009

AS SEEN ON TV: ANDREW MELLON

ANDREW MELLON
AS SEEN IN:
"Backstairs At The White House"
PLAYED BY:
Bill Quinn

From Wikipedia:

Andrew William Mellon (March 24, 1855 – August 27, 1937) was an American banker, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector and Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1921 until February 12, 1932.

Andrew Mellon was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by new President Warren G. Harding in 1921. He served for ten years and eleven months; the third-longest tenure of a Secretary of the Treasury. His service continued through the Coolidge administration and most of the Hoover administration.

Mellon's policies reduced the public debt (largely inherited from World War I obligations) from almost $26 billion in 1921 to about $16 billion in 1930, but then the Depression caused it to rise again. By 1935, Franklin Roosevelt had gone back to high tax rates and wiped out Andrew Mellon's initiatives. The top tax rate went to 80% by 1935 and the federal government increased excise taxes to make up for the lost revenue.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

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