Andrew Mellon
Andrew Mellon
Mellon's Appearances in Game
Andrew Mellon begins as the first president when you enter the game. He would be seen as not being very involved in any of the issues, and he would dismiss most of the issues. He was a part of the Republican Party and was a Liberal. He would attempt to deal with the Great Depression and would fail mostly. His presidency's focus tree would be mainly on the issues of the United States and would barely focus on fixing the issues. You can see Mellon's attitude get worse as more and more problems are presented. Mellon would have a very low approval rating for his poor management during the Great Depression and his poor management of the Dust Bowl. He appears as an old man with white hair, a bushy mustache, and a unibrow in the new edition. Andrew Mellon is obviously making the situation worse, which is why he is one of the most hated people in the United States at the time. He leaves the presidency in 1936 after the Republican Party selects Bronson Cutting for the Republican Nominee. He doesn't appear after that possibly due to his death in 1937. He was the oldest president in American History.
Mellon's Issues
Mellon goes through a series of issues throughout his 2-year presidency. He would have had to deal with the overall Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, a very unstable nation, the possible collapse of the nation, crime running rampant, prohibition issues, and many more. The issue with him dealing with these is his way of managing them. He disregarded a lot of these issues. He said things like, "No droughts last forever. Moving on..." and "When prosperity returns, so too will calm. Moving on..." Mellon would have disregarded these issues which made him extremely unpopular among the American people and even had his own party betray him in certain times. His Head-In-The-Sand politics would heavily affect his image, as he doesn't intervene with the Depression or the Dust Bowl. He also uses his past occupation as the Secretary of the Treasury and the prosperity in America during that period to help him elevate his image. He typically uses his words instead of actions to try and calm the nation.
History
Mellon was born on March 24, 1855. He was first introduced to society as a successful businessman, investing and reforming businesses such as T. Mellon & Sons. He was one of the richest Americans at the time, and envied those above him in economical status, such as John D. Rockerfeller. He reorganized the Guffrey Company and shifted it to become Gulf Oil. He invested into Oil and steel. His political career started when he began disagreeing with many of the Republican candidates for their many Progressive actions. He didn't support Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson's progressive reforms. He funded Henry Cabot Lodge in his campaign efforts to try and stop the United States from joining the League of Nations, which obviously didn't happen in the Red Flood universe. As you look more and more into Mellon's history, you can see how it begins to stop lining up with him in Red Flood. Mellon assumed the presidency in 1934 after the assassination of his predecessor president, Harry M. Daughtery in part due to the economic depression. Before that, he was the Secretary of the Treasury during Coolidge and Harding's presidencies. He was also the Secretary of the Treasury during Hoover's Presidency. When he assumed the presidency, he would have served 2 terms and would have had a very low approval rating.