Andrew Mellon was an outstanding person and an extreme benefit to society. Although he was born wealthy, Mellon was hard working and was not content with living an apathetic life. He once said, “strong men have sound ideas and the force to make these ideas effective.” He consistently strived to improve himself and the lives of Americans. Andrew Mellon was self-confident, ambitious, and generous and it is because of these traits that he was able succeed in his many accomplishments. Mellon began his career taking over his father’s bank and eventually making it the leading financial institution for industry in the Pittsburgh area. He made possible and later bought and renamed ALCOA (Aluminum Company of America) and Gulf Company. In addition he was called “the greatest Secretary of Treasury since Alexander Hamilton” for his new economic ideas exhibited it his Mellon Plan, which caused industrial production and the stock market to soar. Andrew Mellon was always self-confident in every decision he made because he knew the great impact he was making on the American people. He believed in himself and stood strong behind the ideas that he supported, especially as Secretary of Treasury. Mellon rejected the progressive philosophy of taxation that said the rich should pay more taxes. Instead, he expressed a philosophy later known as "trickle-down economics." Without a heavy tax burden, the wealthy would invest, create jobs, and eventually everyone would benefit from investors' tax-free profits as prosperity trickled down to the middle class and poor, he argued. Many argue Andrew Mellon was only successful because of his wealth, however, wealth only got him so far and ambition is what enabled him make intelligent business and economic decisions that would drastically improve the economy. His ambition is evident in his decisions with oil. He granted a loan to J.M. Guffey Petroleum Company of Pittsburgh and although he was impressed with the production, he saw problems with the waste and rapid depletion of the oil reserves. The reserves were