This could be an interesting book review by Amity Shlaes!
The President and the Oligarch
Roosevelt, Mellon, and the Triumph of Big Government
By Greg Steinmetz
"... Most historians attribute the precipitous decline of the Mellon name to the Great Depression of the 1930s. ...
Because Mellon was the premier financial statesman of the Roaring 1920s. ...
Yet the attempt to uncover business fraud in the Mellon empire foundered: Mellon won his first case; the Bureau of Internal Revenue even determined he was due a refund. Undaunted, his administration assailants next dragged Mellon before the very court he had created, the Board of Tax Appeals. This time Mellon’s tax deductions for his art purchases were the focus. Mellon claimed the deductions were warranted. He purchased his Rembrandts and Vermeers as part of a collection for a national museum he would give to the American people. Jackson claimed the charity was a sham.
This effort backfired too. Mellon produced a trust charter for a charity committed to building a national gallery dated December 1930, a time when Roosevelt was still governor of New York. The trust’s date provided strong evidence of the legality of subsequent deductions. ... liked the idea of Washington getting its own Louvre. Frank Hogan, Mellon’s lawyer, played on that sentiment. ...
Ever after, historians would treat the National Gallery and its pictures as Mellon’s attempt to bribe Roosevelt into leaving him alone. ...
Mellon’s wealth got him the Treasury post. The money surely helped. But Harding considered several millionaires for Treasury, including the wealthy banker Charles Dawes. Mellon likely won the post for his bond-market mastery and vindicated Harding’s choice with stunning management of both European and American debt. ..."
Book cover
Andrew Mellon (left) and Franklin D. Roosevelt
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