Investing in america: the financiers

As the U.S. rose to become the world's most powerful economy, its industries needed capital to grow and prosper. Visionary bankers, brokers and investors have shown the way.

Andrew Mellon played a crucial role in financing America's industrial boom. Through Pittsburgh, Pa.'s Mellon Bank, he became a driving force behind Alcoa, Gulf Oil, Union Steel, McClintic-Marshall and other giants. He is credited with bringing on the prosperity of the 1920s while serving as Secretary of the Treasury.

Michael Milken saw the potential of high-yield bonds to raise capital for risky ventures. From an office in Beverly Hills, Calif., he bankrolled upstart companies and fostered the '80s takeover mania by financing corporate raiders. Imprisoned after pleading guilty to fraud in 1988, he is now a consultant, health activist and philanthropist.

Arthur Rock was an early backer of such tech firms as Apple, Teledyne and Fairchild Semiconductor and a founder of Intel. Famous for investing his own money in technology start-ups, San Francisco based Rock has led a new generation of venture capitalists that is driving the greatest creation of wealth in history.

A.P Giannini

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