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Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 β August 26, 1937), known also as A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. The son of Mellon family patriarch Thomas Mellon, he established a vast business empire before moving into politics. He served as United States Secretary of the Treasury from March 9, 1921, to February 12, 1932, presiding over the boom years of the 1920s and the Wall Street Crash of 1929. A conservative Republican, Mellon favored policies that reduced taxation and the national debt of the United States in the aftermath of World War I. Mellon also helped fund and manage Kennywood in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.
Andrew began working at his father's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bank, Mellon Financial, in the early 1870s, eventually becoming the leading figure in the institution. He later renamed T. Mellon & Sons as Mellon National Bank and established another financial institution, the Union Trust Company in Pittsburgh in 1889. By the end of 1913, Mellon National Bank held more money in deposits than any other bank in Pittsburgh, and the second-largest bank in the region was controlled by Union Trust. In the course of his business career, Mellon owned or helped finance large companies including Alcoa, the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Old Overholt whiskey, Standard Steel Car Company, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Koppers, the Pittsburgh Coal Company, the Carborundum Company, Union Steel Company, the McClintic-Marshall Construction Company, Gulf Oil, and numerous others. He was also an influential donor to the Republican Party during the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.
In 1921, newly elected president Warren G. Harding chose Mellon as his Secretary of the Treasury. Mellon would remain in office until 1932, serving under Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, all three of whom were members of the Republican Party. Mellon sought to reform federal taxation in the aftermath of World War I. He argued cutting tax rates on top earners would generate more tax revenue for the government,"Mellon pointed out that, under the high income tax rates at the end of the Woodrow Wilson administration in 1921, vast sums of money had been put into tax shelters such as tax-exempt municipal bonds, instead of being invested in the private economy, where this money would create more output, incomes and jobs." Thomas Sowell (2012). "Trickle Down Theory" and "Tax Cuts for the Rich". The Hoover Institution Press, ISBN 978-0-8179-1615-2, pp. 2-3 but otherwise left in place a Progressive tax income tax. Some of Mellon's proposals were enacted by the Revenue Act of 1921 and the Revenue Act of 1924, but it was not until the passage of the Revenue Act of 1926 that the "Mellon plan" was fully realized. He also presided over a reduction in the national debt, which dropped substantially in the 1920s. Mellon's influence in state and national politics reached its zenith during Coolidge's presidency. Journalist William Allen White noted that "so completely did Andrew Mellon dominate the White House in the days when the Coolidge administration was at its zenith that it would be fair to call the administration the reign of Coolidge and Mellon."
Mellon's national reputation collapsed following the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. He participated in various efforts by the Hoover administration to revive the economy and maintain the international economic order, but opposed direct government intervention in the economy. After Congress began impeachment proceedings against Mellon, President Hoover shifted Mellon to the position of United States ambassador to the United Kingdom. Mellon returned to private life after Hoover's defeat in the 1932 presidential election by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Beginning in 1933, the federal government launched a tax fraud investigation on Mellon, leading to a high-profile case that ended with Mellon's estate paying significant sums to settle the matter. Shortly before his death, in 1937, Mellon helped establish the National Gallery of Art. His philanthropic efforts also played a major role in the later establishment of Carnegie Mellon University and the National Portrait Gallery.
In 1869, after leaving his judicial position, Thomas Mellon established T. Mellon & Sons, a bank located in Pittsburgh. Andrew joined his father at the bank, quickly becoming a valued employee despite being in his early teens. Andrew also attended the Western University of Pennsylvania (which was later renamed the University of Pittsburgh), but he never graduated.Cannadine (2006), pp. 44β48 After leaving Western University, Andrew briefly worked at a lumber and coal business before joining T. Mellon & Sons as a full-time employee in 1873. That same year, the Panic of 1873 devastated the local and national economy, wiping out a portion of the Mellon fortune.Cannadine (2006), pp. 53β56 With Andrew taking a leading role at T. Mellon & Sons, the bank quickly recovered, and by late 1874 the bank's deposits had reached the level they had been at before the onset of the Panic.Cannadine (2006), pp. 61β64
During the 1880s, Mellon began to expand the bank's activities. Along with Frick, Mellon gained control of the Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce, a national bank that was authorized to print . Mellon also acquired or helped found the Union Insurance Company, City Deposit Bank, the Fidelity Title and Trust Company, and the Union Trust Company. He branched out into industrial concerns, becoming a director of the Pittsburgh Petroleum Exchange and a co-founder of two natural gas companies that collectively controlled 35,000 acres of gas lands in the late 1880s.Cannadine (2006), pp. 79β80, 96 In 1890, Thomas Mellon transferred his properties to Andrew, who would manage the properties on behalf of himself, his parents, and his brothers.Cannadine (2006), pp. 90β91 In late 1894, Thomas transferred all of his remaining assets to Andrew.Cannadine (2006), p. 94 Despite the large sums entrusted to Andrew, the businesses he ran were still fairly small in the 1890s; T. Mellon & Sons employed seven individuals in 1895.Cannadine (2006), p. 96
In 1889, Mellon agreed to loan $25,000 to the Pittsburgh Reduction Company, a fledgling operation seeking to become the first successful industrial producer of aluminum. Mellon became a director of the company in 1891, and he and Richard played a major role in the establishment of aluminum factories in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and Niagara Falls, New York.Cannadine (2006), pp. 97β98 The company would emerge as one of the most profitable ventures invested in by the Mellons, and in 1907 it was renamed Alcoa.Cannadine (2006), p. 184 Moving into the petroleum industry, the Mellon family also established the Crescent Oil Company, the Crescent Pipeline Company, and the Bear Creek refinery. By 1894, the Mellon family's vertically integrated companies produced ten percent of the oil exported by the United States.Cannadine (2006), pp. 99β102 Partly due to the difficult economic conditions caused by the onset of the Panic of 1893, in 1895 the Mellons sold their oil interests to Standard Oil. At roughly the same time they were selling their oil concerns, Andrew and Richard invested in the Carborundum Company, a producer of silicon carbide. The brothers gained majority ownership of the Carborundum Company in 1898 and replaced the company's founder and president, Edward Goodrich Acheson, with a Carnegie protege, Frank W. Haskell.Cannadine (2006), pp. 117β120 Mellon also invested in mining concerns, becoming vice president of the Trade Dollar Consolidated Mining Company.Cannadine (2006), pp. 121β122
Mellon and Henry Clay Frick enjoyed a long-lasting business and social relationship, and Frick frequently hosted Mellon, attorney Philander C. Knox, inventor George Westinghouse, and others for poker games. Frick and Mellon both joined the Duquesne Club and, after Frick established the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, Mellon became one of that club's first members.Cannadine (2006), p. 81, 106β107 The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club built the South Fork Dam, which supported an artificial lake that the club used for boating and fishing. In 1889, the dam broke, causing the Johnstown Flood, which killed 2,000 people and destroyed 1,600 homes. In the aftermath of the flood, Knox led a legal defense that successfully argued that the club bore no legal responsibility for the flood. Mellon did not publicly comment on the flood, though he did donate $1,000 to a relief fund.Cannadine (2006), p. 108
In 1902, Mellon reorganized T. Mellon & Sons as the Mellon National Bank, a federally chartered National Bank. Andrew Mellon, Richard Mellon, and Frick drew up a new business arrangement in which the three of them jointly controlled the Union Trust Company, which in turn controlled Mellon National Bank. They also established Union Savings Bank, which accepted deposits by mail, and the Mellon banks flourished in the first years of the 20th century.Cannadine (2006), pp. 162β164 While Mellon's financial empire prospered, his investments in other areas, including Pittsburgh's streetcar network, the Union Steel Company (which was bought out by U.S. Steel), and the Carborundum Company, also paid off handsomely.Cannadine (2006), pp. 165β167 Another successful Mellon investment, the Standard Steel Car Company, was created in partnership with three former U.S. Steel executives.Cannadine (2006), pp. 176β177 As part of the Texas oil boom, the Mellons also helped J. M. Guffey establish the Guffey Company.Cannadine (2006), pp. 178β179 The Mellons later removed Guffey as the head of his company, and in 1907 they reorganized the Guffey Company as Gulf Oil and installed William Larimer Mellon Sr. (a son of Andrew Mellon's older brother, James Ross Mellon) as the head of Gulf Oil.Cannadine (2006), pp. 179, 183β184 The success of Mellon's financial empire and his varied investments made him, according to biographer David Cannadine, the "single most significant individual in the economic life and progress of western Pennsylvania" in the first decade of the 20th century.Cannadine (2006), pp. 180β181
The Panic of 1907 devastated several companies based in Pittsburgh, ending a period of strong growth.Cannadine (2006), pp. 216β217, 219 Some of Mellon's investments experienced a sustained down period after 1907, but most experienced a quick recovery. Mellon also became an investor in George Westinghouse's Westinghouse Electric Corporation after he helped prevent the company from going into bankruptcy.Cannadine (2006), pp. 225β228 By the end of 1913, Mellon National Bank held more money in deposits than any other bank in Pittsburgh, and the Farmer's Deposit National Bank, which held the second-largest amount of deposits, was controlled by Mellon's Union Trust Company.Cannadine (2006), pp. 228β230 In 1914, Mellon became a co-owner of Koppers, which produced a more sophisticated coking oven than the one that had earlier been pioneered by Frick.Cannadine (2006), pp. 242β244 He also served as a director of various other companies, including the Pennsylvania Railroad and the American Locomotive Company.Cannadine (2006), p. 257 Mellon was deeply involved in the financing of World War I, as the Union Trust Company and other Mellon institutions provided millions of dollars in loans to the United Kingdom and France, and Mellon himself invested in .Cannadine (2006), pp. 252β254
Mellon agreed to accept appointment as Secretary of the Treasury in February 1921, and his nomination was quickly confirmed by the United States Senate. Though Mellon's supporters believed that he was highly qualified to address the economic issues facing the country, critics of the Harding administration saw the Mellon appointment as a sign that Harding would "reseat the power of special privileged interests, the powers of avarice and greed, the powers that seek self-aggrandizement at the expense of the general public".Cannadine (2006), pp. 273β274 Harding paired the nomination of Mellon with that of Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, who was distrusted by many of the same Senate Republicans who favored Mellon's candidacy.Murray (1973), pp. 527β530 Before joining the cabinet, Mellon sold his banking stock to his brother, Richard, but he continued to hold his non-banking stock.Murray (1973), p. 526 Through Richard and other business associates, Mellon continued to be involved with the major decisions of the Mellon business empire during his time in public service, and he occasionally lobbied congressmen on behalf of his businesses.Cannadine (2006), pp. 296β298, 323 His fortune continued to grow, and at one point in the 1920s he paid more in federal income tax than any other individual save John Rockefeller and Henry Ford.Cannadine (2006), p. 349
As Treasury Secretary, Mellon focused on balancing the budget and paying off World War I debts in the midst of the Depression of 1920β21; he was largely unconcerned with international affairs and economic matters such as the unemployment rate.Cannadine (2006), pp. 279β280 To Mellon's chagrin, his department was charged with enforcing Prohibition; he did not believe in teetotaling himself and viewed the law as unenforceable.Cannadine (2006), p. 291 Aside from balancing the budget, Mellon's top priority was an overhaul of the federal tax code.Cannadine (2006), pp. 286β287 The income tax had become a major part of the federal government's revenue system with the passage of the Revenue Act of 1913, and federal taxation on income had increased during World War I to provide funding for the war effort. According to M. Susan Murnane, major reforms to the federal income tax in the aftermath of World War I were "inevitable", but the exact nature of the tax system in the 1920s was debated by conservatives and progressives within the Republican Party. Unlike the progressives in his party, Mellon rejected the redistributive nature of the taxation system that had been left in place by the Wilson administration. Owing in part to the high debts left over from the war, Mellon did not join with some conservatives in the party, who favored the virtual abolition of the income tax in favor of high tariff rates, excise taxes, a national sales tax, or some combination thereof.
Mellon instead advocated the retention of a progressive income tax that would serve as an important, but not primary, source of revenue for the federal government. His so-called "scientific taxation" was designed to maximize federal revenue while minimizing the impact on business and industry. The central tenet of Mellon's tax plan was a reduction of the surtax, a progressive tax that affected only high-income earners. Mellon argued that such a reduction would minimize tax avoidance and would not affect federal revenue because it would lead to greater economic growth.Murnane (2004), pp. 825β826, 837β838 He hoped that tax reform would encourage high earners to move their savings from tax-exempt state and municipal bonds to taxable, higher yield industrial stocks.Cannadine (2006), pp. 287β288 Though much of the tax plan that he proposed had been developed by former Wilson administration officials Russell Cornell Leffingwell and Seymour Parker Gilbert, the press generally referred to it as the "Mellon Plan".Murnane (2004), pp. 820β822
The Revenue Act of 1918 had set a top marginal income tax rate of 73% and a corporate tax of approximately 10%. Due in part to the size of the U.S. public debt, which had grown from $1 billion before the war to $24 billion in 1921, the provisions of the Revenue Act of 1918 remained in place when Harding took office. In 1921, the Treasury Department and the House Ways and Means Committee jointly prepared a bill setting the top marginal rate at the level advocated by Mellon, but opposition in the Senate from progressives like Senator Robert M. La Follette limited the size of the tax cuts. In November 1921, Congress passed and Harding signed the Revenue Act of 1921, which raised personal and lowered the top marginal tax rate to 58%.Murnane (2004), pp. 824β829 Because it differed from his original proposals, Mellon was displeased by the bill.Cannadine (2006), p. 288 He also strongly disapproved of a "Bonus Bill" passed by Congress that would provide for additional compensation to veterans of World War I, partly because he feared it would interfere with his plans to reduce debt and taxes. With Mellon's support, Harding vetoed the bill, and Congress failed to override the veto.Cannadine (2006), pp. 288β289
Coolidge, Mellon, business organizations, and administration allies conducted a publicity campaign designed to convince wavering congressmen to support Mellon's tax plan. Their efforts were opposed by the coalition of Democrats and progressive Republicans that exercised effective control over the 68th Congress.Cannadine (2006), p. 315 In February 1924, the House Ways and Means Committee approved of a bill based on Mellon's plan, but an alliance of progressive Republicans and Democrats engineered passage of an alternative tax bill written by Democrat John Nance Garner; Garner's plan also reduced income taxes but set the top marginal tax rate at 46% rather than Mellon's preferred 33%. In June 1924, Coolidge signed the Revenue Act of 1924, which contained the income tax rates of Garner's bill and also increased the estate tax. Coolidge signed the bill but simultaneously called for further tax cuts.Murnane (2004), pp. 833β836, 840β841 Congress also rejected Mellon's proposed constitutional amendment that would have barred the issuance of tax-exempt securities and, over Coolidge's veto, authorized a bonus to World War I veterans. Mellon did, however, win one legislative victory, as he convinced Congress to create the Board of Tax Appeals to adjudicate disputes between taxpayers and the government.Cannadine (2006), pp. 315β316
Mellon had originally planned to retire after one presidential term but decided to remain in the cabinet in the hope of presiding over the full enactment of his taxation proposals.Murray (1975), pp. 227β228 In the 1924 presidential election, the Republicans campaigned on further tax cuts, while both the Democrats and third-party candidate Robert La Follette denounced Mellon's tax proposals as "a device to relieve multi-millionaires at the expense of other taxpayers".Murnane (2004), p. 841 Buoyed by the strong economy, and overcoming the scandals of the Harding years, Coolidge won re-election by a decisive margin.Cannadine (2006), p. 317 Coolidge saw his victory as a mandate to pursue his favored economic policies, including further tax cuts.
When Congress reconvened after the 1924 elections, it immediately began working on another bill designed to lower tax rates on the highest earners.Murnane (2004), p. 851 In February 1926, Coolidge signed the Revenue Act of 1926, which reduced the top marginal rate to 25%. Mellon was extremely pleased by the passage of the act, because, unlike the Revenue Act of 1921 and the Revenue Act of 1924, the Revenue Act of 1926 closely reflected Mellon's proposals. In addition to cutting tax rates on top earners, the act also raised the personal exemption for federal income taxes, abolished the gift tax, reduced the estate tax rate, and repealed a provision that had required the public disclosure of federal income tax returns. Meanwhile, the booming economy fostered a $400 million budget surplus in 1926, and the country's national debt dropped from $24 billion in early 1921 to $19.6 billion at the end of fiscal year 1926.Cannadine (2006), pp. 317β318 Government revenues increased considerably under Mellon's plan, largely collected from higher-income earners."The facts are unmistakably plain, for those who bother to check the facts. In 1921, when the tax rate on people making over $100,000 a year was 73 percent, the federal government collected a little over $700 million in income taxes, of which 30 percent was paid by those making over $100,000. By 1929, after a series of tax rate reductions had cut the tax rate to 24 percent on those making over $100,000, the federal government collected more than a billion dollars in income taxes, of which 65 percent was collected from those making over $100,000." Thomas Sowell (2012). "Trickle Down Theory" and "Tax Cuts for the Rich". The Hoover Institution Press, ISBN 978-0-8179-1615-2, p. 3
With his top priority of tax reform accomplished, Mellon increasingly turned over management of the Treasury Department to his deputy, Ogden L. Mills.Cannadine (2006), p. 355 After the 1926 elections, Mellon and Mills sought to cut the corporate tax and fully repeal the estate tax. The Revenue Act of 1928 did indeed cut the corporate tax, but the estate tax was left unchanged.Cannadine (2006), pp. 357β358 Mellon also focused on the construction of new federal buildings, and his efforts led to the construction of several buildings in the Federal Triangle.Cannadine (2006), pp. 372β375 In 1928, Mellon stated that "in no other nation, and at no other time in the history of the world, have so many people enjoyed such a high degree of prosperity or maintained a standard of living comparable to that which prevails throughout this country today."Cannadine (2006), p. 364
Responsibility for foreign relations lay with the State Department rather than the Treasury Department, and Benjamin Strong Jr. and other central bankers took the lead with regard to international monetary policy, but Mellon nonetheless exercised some influence in foreign affairs.Cannadine (2006), p. 279 He strongly opposed the cancellation of European debts from World War I but recognized that Britain and other countries would be unable to pay those debts without a renegotiation of terms. In 1923, Mellon and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Stanley Baldwin negotiated an agreement in which Britain promised to pay off the debts over a 62-year period.Cannadine (2006), pp. 289β290 After the adoption of the Dawes Plan, Mellon reached debt settlements with several other European countries. After protracted negotiations, the United States and France agreed to the Mellon-Berenger Agreement, which reduced France's debt and set terms for repayment.Cannadine (2006), pp. 319β321
By mid-1930, many, including Mellon, believed that the economy had already experienced the worst effects of the stock market crash. He did not object to the SmootβHawley Tariff Act, which raised tariff rates to one of the highest levels in U.S. history.Cannadine (2006), pp. 395β397 Despite the optimism of Hoover and Mellon, in late 1930 the economy went into a deep slump, as gross national product declined dramatically, and numerous workers lost their jobs. While numerous banks failed, Democrats won control of Congress in the 1930 mid-term elections. As the economy declined, so did Mellon's popularity, which was further damaged by his opposition to another bonus bill for veterans.Cannadine (2006), pp. 399β401 In mid-1931, the country entered a deep depression, and, at Hoover's request, Mellon negotiated a moratorium on German debt repayments. After Mellon returned to the United States in August 1931, he was confronted by another series of bank failures. Among the banks that failed was the Bank of Pittsburgh, the lone remaining major Pittsburgh bank not controlled by the Mellon family. Again, following Hoover's lead, Mellon presided over the creation of the National Credit Association, a voluntary initiative among the larger banks that was designed to assist failing institutions. As the National Credit Association proved to be ineffective at stemming the tide of bank failures, Congress and the Hoover administration established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to provide federal loans to banks.Cannadine (2006), pp. 437β443
With the unemployment rate approaching twenty percent, Mellon became one of the most "loathed leaders" in the United States, second only to Hoover himself.Cannadine (2006), pp. 442β444 Facing this unprecedented economic catastrophe, Mellon urged Hoover to refrain from using the government to intervene in the depression. Mellon believed that economic recessions, such as those that had occurred in 1873 and 1907, were a necessary part of the business cycle because they purged the economy. In his memoirs, Hoover wrote that Mellon advised him to "liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate. Purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. ... enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people."Cannadine (2006), pp. 444β445
Facing a large deficit, Mellon and Mills called for a return to the tax rates set by the Revenue Act of 1924 and also sought new taxes on automobiles, gasoline, and other items. Congress responded by passing the Revenue Act of 1932, which included many of the Treasury Department's proposals.Cannadine (2006), pp. 448β449 In early 1932, Congressman Wright Patman of Texas initiated impeachment proceedings against Mellon, contending that Mellon had violated numerous federal laws designed to prevent conflicts of interest. Though Mellon had defeated similar investigations in the past, his falling popularity left him unable to effectively counter Patman's charges. Hoover removed Mellon from Washington by offering him the position of ambassador to the United Kingdom. Mellon accepted the post, and Mills replaced his former boss as Secretary of the Treasury.Cannadine (2006), pp. 450β452
Mellon arrived in Britain in April 1932, receiving a friendly reception from a country he had often visited over the previous thirty years.Cannadine (2006), pp. 455β456 From his post, he watched the collapse of the international economic order, including the debt accords that he had helped negotiate. He also convinced the British to allow Gulf Oil to operate in Kuwait, a British protectorate in the oil-rich region of the Persian Gulf. Defying Mellon's expectations, Hoover was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election.Cannadine (2006), pp. 459β461, 463β464 Mellon left office when Hoover's term ended in March 1933, returning to private life after twelve years of government service.Cannadine (2006), p. 468
Even after leaving office, Mellon continued to be vilified by many in the public, and in 1933 Harvey O'Connor published a popular and unfavorable biography, Mellon's Millions.Cannadine (2006), pp. 485β486 Democrats won effective control of Allegheny County in the 1933 elections, and the following year Democrat Joseph F. Guffey won Pennsylvania's Senate election and George Howard Earle III won the state's gubernatorial election.Cannadine (2006), pp. 487β489 Mellon endured numerous attacks during these campaigns, and his unpopularity in Pittsburgh led him to spend most of his final years in Washington rather than his home town.Cannadine (2006), pp. 490β491
In the 1930s, the Roosevelt administration conducted several high-profile tax evasion prosecutions against individuals such as Thomas W. Lamont and Jimmy Walker.Cannadine (2006), pp. 514β515 In response to accusations levied by Republican Congressman Louis Thomas McFadden of Pennsylvania in early 1933, Attorney General Homer Cummings began an inquiry into Mellon's tax history.Cannadine (2006), pp. 507β509 Between February 1935 and May 1936, the Board of Tax Appeals heard a widely covered case in which the federal government accused Mellon of tax fraud. During the proceedings, Mellon divulged numerous details of his business career that had previously been unknown to the public.Cannadine (2006), pp. 525β528
Mellon was diagnosed with cancer in November 1936.Cannadine (2006), p. 558 His health declined in 1937, and he died on August 26, 1937. Newspapers across the country took note of his death. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. stated that Mellon had lived through "an epoch in the economic history of the nation, and his passing takes one of the most important industrial and financial figures of our time."Cannadine (2006), pp. 573, 578β581 Months after Mellon's death, the Board of Tax Appeals handed down a ruling exonerating Mellon of all tax fraud charges.Cannadine (2006), pp. 583β584
Mellon did not remarry. Nora lived in Pittsburgh for several years before eventually settling in the Hudson Valley, and the two children alternated living with either parent.Cannadine (2006), pp. 264, 304 In 1923, Nora 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. In the 1920s, while Mellon served as Secretary of the Treasury, Ailsa was courted by several influential men, including Otto Christian Archibald von Bismarck, Robert Horne, and Gelasio Caetani. In 1926, in the "greatest society event that the nation's capital had witnessed" since before World War I, Ailsa married David K. E. Bruce, son of Democratic Senator William Cabell Bruce of Maryland.Cannadine (2006), pp. 330β332 After attending Yale University and the University of Cambridge, Paul briefly worked at Mellon National Bank.Cannadine (2006), pp. 446β447 He later settled in Virginia, becoming a well-known philanthropist.Cannadine (2006), pp. 610, 617 Mellon's nephew, Richard King Mellon, succeeded Andrew as the head of the Mellon financial empire.Cannadine (2006), pp. 613β614
Encouraged by Frick and guided by Charles Carstairs, Mellon began collecting art in the mid-to-late 1890s.Cannadine (2006), pp. 130β131 Over the ensuing decades, his art collection continued to grow as he purchased pieces from Knoedler and Joseph Duveen, and during the 1920s his collection was generally considered to be one of the finest art collections in Washington.Cannadine (2006), pp. 323β324 In the early 1930s, he purchased twenty-one paintings from the Soviet Union's Hermitage Museum in the Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings.Cannadine (2006), pp. 416β425 Some of these were among the best paintings held by the Hermitage. They were all subsequently given to the National Gallery of Art.
Mellon decided to use his fortune and art collection to establish a national art museum in Washington modeled after the National Gallery in London.Cannadine (2006), p. 539 In 1936, Mellon presented President Roosevelt with an offer to establish a national art museum to which Mellon would donate his art collection as well as an endowment, while the federal government would pay for the institution's upkeep. He conditioned the offer on the establishment of a board of trustees, a majority of whom would be chosen by Mellon. Despite the ongoing tax case against Mellon, the Roosevelt administration accepted the offer, and Congress passed legislation authorizing the construction of the National Gallery of Art on Mellon's terms.Cannadine (2006), pp. 559β566 The National Gallery of Art (now known as the West Building) opened in 1941.Cannadine (2006), p. 589 Two of his children, Paul Mellon and Alissa Mellon Bruce, were subsequently among the major donors to the collection. The Mellon Foundation and several family members funded a new museum building, called the East Building, which opened in 1978. Mellon's friend and former employee, David E. Finley Jr., would later preside over the establishment of the National Portrait Gallery, which also hosts several paintings donated by Mellon.Cannadine (2006), p. 594
Mellon was initiated to the Scottish Rite Freemasonry, till he raised the 33rd and highest degree.
In the alternate history/time travel story "A Slip in Time" by S. M. Stirling,Published in "Multiverse:Exploring Poul Anderson's worlds, edited by Greg Bear and Gardner Dozois, Subterranean Press, Boston, 2014 featuring a history in which the First World War was avoided and the Austro-Hungarian Empire survived, Andrew Mellon was the President of the United States in 1926.
Mellon is the subject of three unflattering chapters in Matt Stoller's 2019 book, Goliath: The 100 Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy, which recounts efforts by populists in Washington (namely, Congressman Wright Patman; Roosevelt administration lawyer Robert H. Jackson; and Ferdinand Pecora, attorney for the Senate Banking Committee) to expose Mellon's crimes and abuse of power for personal gain.Stoller, Matt. Goliath: The 100 Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy, Simon & Schuster, 2019
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