Andrew Mellon

Andrew William Mellon (March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), often called A. W. Mellon, wore many hats: banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. He was the son of Thomas Mellon, the family patriarch, and built a huge business empire before entering politics. From March 9, 1921, to February 12, 1932, he served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, overseeing the prosperous 1920s and the 1929 Wall Street crash. A conservative Republican, he pushed for lower taxes and a reduced national debt after World War I. He also helped fund and run Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.

In the early 1870s, Andrew started working at his father’s Pittsburgh bank, T. Mellon & Sons, and eventually became its top figure. He later changed the name to Mellon National Bank and, in 1889, founded another financial institution, the Union Trust Company in Pittsburgh. By the end of 1913, Mellon National Bank held more deposits than any other bank in Pittsburgh, and the region’s second-largest bank was controlled by Union Trust. Over his business career, Mellon owned or helped finance major companies like Alcoa, New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Old Overholt whiskey, Standard Steel Car Company, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Koppers, Pittsburgh Coal Company, Carborundum Company, Union Steel Company, McClintic-Marshall Construction Company, Gulf Oil, and many others. He was also a major donor to the Republican Party during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

In 1921, newly elected President Warren G. Harding picked Mellon as his Treasury secretary. Mellon stayed in that role until 1932, serving under Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover—all Republicans. He aimed to reform federal taxes after World War I. He believed cutting tax rates on top earners would boost government revenue, but kept a progressive income tax in place. Some of his ideas became law with the Revenue Acts of 1921 and 1924, but the full “Mellon plan” only took effect with the Revenue Act of 1926. He also oversaw a big drop in the national debt during the 1920s. His political influence peaked under Coolidge. Journalist William Allen White wrote that Mellon dominated the White House so completely during Coolidge’s peak that it was fair to call it the “reign of Coolidge and Mellon.”

Mellon’s national reputation collapsed after the 1929 Wall Street crash and the start of the Great Depression. He took part in Hoover administration efforts to revive the economy and keep the international economic order stable, but he opposed direct government intervention. After Congress started impeachment proceedings against him, President Hoover moved Mellon to the post of U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. Mellon left public life after Hoover lost the 1932 election to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Starting in 1933, the federal government investigated Mellon for tax fraud, leading to a high-profile case that ended with his estate paying large sums to settle it. Shortly before his death in 1937, Mellon helped found the National Gallery of Art. His philanthropy also greatly contributed to the later creation of Carnegie Mellon University and the National Portrait Gallery.

**Early life**

Mellon’s paternal grandparents, both Ulster Scots, came to the United States from County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1818. With their son Thomas, they settled in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Thomas built a successful law practice in Pittsburgh and, in 1843, married Sarah Jane Negley, an heiress descended from some of Pittsburgh’s first settlers. Thomas became a wealthy landowner and real estate speculator; he and his wife had eight children, five of whom lived to adulthood. Andrew, the fourth son and sixth child, was born in 1855. Thomas became a prominent local Republican and, in 1859, won a seat on the Pennsylvania court of common pleas. Suspicious of both private and public schools, Thomas built a schoolhouse for his children and hired a teacher; Andrew started there at age five.

In 1869, after leaving his judgeship, Thomas founded T. Mellon & Sons, a Pittsburgh bank. Andrew joined his father there and quickly became a valued employee, even though he was still in his early teens. He also attended the Western University of Pennsylvania (later the University of Pittsburgh) but never graduated. After leaving the university, Andrew briefly worked at a lumber and coal business before joining T. Mellon & Sons full-time in 1873. That same year, the Panic of 1873 hit the local and national economy hard, wiping out part of the Mellon fortune. With Andrew taking a leading role, the bank recovered quickly, and by late 1874 its deposits had returned to pre-panic levels.

**Business career, 1873–1920**

**Business career, 1873–1898** Mellon’s role at T. Mellon & Sons kept growing after 1873, and in 1876 he got power of attorney to run the bank. That year, Thomas introduced his son to Henry Clay Frick, a bank customer who became one of Mellon’s closest friends. In 1882, Thomas handed over full ownership of the bank to Andrew.