All language subtitles for Titans.The.Rise.of.Wall.Street.S01E06.FDR.VS.THE.TITANS.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-TEPES

- The crash of 1929

leaves Wall Street in ruins.

Firms destroyed.

Fortunes Lost.

Over $30 billion is wiped
out in the week of the crash.

Bringing the market to
a record setting low.

- The market had lost connection

with the underlying economy.

- If I had a dollar for every
time I heard the phrase,

"This time it's different."

Well, let's just
say I'd be living

a completely different life.

- And the
resulting devastation

threatens to spread
across the country

and take down Wall
Street's greatest titans.

- While the
crash has destroyed so many,

some like Joe Kennedy
make it through unscathed.

- There's a story that,
when Joseph Kennedy

heard from his shoe shiner,

that he had got a
tip on the market,

Joe Kennedy was a
professional investor.

Then he knew it
was time to get out

because if amateurs like
that are getting in,

then there's just
way too much money

and nobody knows what
the money is going for.

- Buy 5,000, keep it going.

- Knowing that most

don't have the
capital to invest,

Kennedy decides it's
time to bet and bet big.

He gambles everything he has,

believing the situation is
only going to get worse.

Increasing his short-selling

of the nation's
largest companies,

anticipating that stock
prices would continue to fall.

It's a huge risk

If the market rebounds,
he'll lose everything.

As Kennedy predicts,
the fallout of the crash

soon spreads across the nation.

- In previous depressions,
there was a panic,

and then there was a sharp
spike in unemployment,

and then gradually
things would come out.

But in the case of the Great
Depression of the 1930s,

there was the panic
in the autumn of 1929.

And then employment just
went down and down and down

and kept going down.

And it seemed to have no bottom.

- It's hard for us to
imagine the suffering

and the immediacy and the fear

and the sense of
being out of control,

a loss of control
over one's life

that the great depression
brought on to so many families.

Within months, one
quarter of the population

was without work.

And one quarter of the
population in families

where there was only
one wage earner,

they lost everything overnight
at no fault of their own.

- The great
depression impacts

every aspect of American life.

And there's no end in sight.

But as the country falls
deeper into poverty,

Kennedy's gamble has paid off.

The New York Stock
Exchange has lost 89%

of it's pre-crash value.

By betting against the market

he's made more money
than ever before.

Before the crash, his accounts
held at just under 2 million,

but now it's net-worth has
risen to over $180 million,

3.5 billion today.

- Joe Kennedy was an unusually
skilled market timer.

He was someone who not
only was not scathed

by the collapse of the markets
during the great depression.

He managed to augment his
family fortune during it.

- Well, when there's
blood on the streets,

usually everybody's already
sold and it's time to buy.

It's just a sort of
reverse psychology

that seems to work
well on Wall Street,

is it when people are
at their most fearful,

you wanna buy.

And when they're at their
most greedy, you wanna sell.

- As Kennedy
makes a fortune,

Charles Merrill is
considering his next move.

He was one of the few
that foresaw the crash.

- We advise on no
uncertain terms,

put your financial
house in order.

- And despite
warning Wall Street,

he was ignored even by his
own partner at Edmund Lynch.

- Are you insane?

- I'm the only sane
man on Wall Street.

You've seen the numbers.

- Just accept that nobody
believes it, but you.

- Driven to
go to extreme lengths

to protect his firm.

- I have an issue of a
somewhat pressing nature.

I need to invoke the
power of attorney.

- Now he will make
his most surprising move yet.

- Well, you still have capital.

You still have liquidity.

May be the right
time to buy now.

- You want to buy?

As long as there are sharks
like that out there feeding,

the market isn't going
anywhere but down.

- Okay.

Kennedy's a crook, so what?

- The eyes of Charlie Merrill,

you know, they looked at
Joe Kennedy as a scoundrel.

He questioned some
of his ethics.

He clearly made quite a bit
of money inside trading,

which in those days
was not illegal,

but people frowned up on it

because it wasn't
an ethical practice.

- And Charles, the market
can't fall forever.

Okay, we could start in
small areas of the market.

- His philosophy was doing
things the right way.

That's how he lived his life.

He just had this ethical
strain in his body

that believed that you really
had to be an honest broker.

- Charles
Merrill knows

without reform Wall Street
is no place to invest.

- Charles?

Charles?

Charles, where are you going?

- Goodbye, Edmund.

- Charles Merrill
refuses to do business.

when investors like Kennedy
are calling the shots.

And he decides now is the time

to officially step away.

Charles Merrill, one
of the most successful

investment bankers of the era

officially leaves
Wall Street behind.

While Merrill thinks
Wall Street is hopeless,

with the Great
Depression in full swing,

the country is
desperate for change.

So when a candidate for
president offers a new deal,

the nation overwhelmingly
votes for democratic candidate,

Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

- But what Franklin
Roosevelt did

was to address the despair
that Americans were feeling.

And they finally began to think

somebody in Washington
cares about me.

- Even Wall
Street is optimistic.

- Wall Street had no idea what
to make of Franklin Roosevelt

because in some ways
he was one of them.

He was born to wealth.

- He knew all the rich people.

He had gone to Harvard.

They were all his friends.
He had money.

- Jack
Morgan is convinced

Roosevelt will never attack

one of his own class personally,

but when he hears FDR's
inaugural address ...

- And
there must be amends,

to make conduct in
banking and business

which too often has given
to selfish wrongdoing.

- FDR places the
blame for the great depression

squarely on Wall Street and
bankers like Jack Morgan.

Morgan knows FDR
is coming for him.

- In his inaugural address
he threw down the gauntlet

in a way that I think
shocked so many.

- There must
be a strict supervision

of all banking and
credit and investments.

There must be an
end to speculation

with other people's money.

- Turn it off.

- Jack has seen a
president attack

the House of Morgan before.

His father saved
the country in 1907,

the government repaid
him with persecution.

- This was seen by many,

including Jack
Morgan, as a betrayal.

That Franklin
Roosevelt was a traitor

and they believed he was
becoming a demagogue.

- There's always
this debate out there

as to what Wall Street
owes the public,

what it owes to the
broader economy.

And a lot of people would
say, there's real world impact

to everything that
they do every day.

And if they're not
impactful in a way

that's positive on our society,

then maybe we need to
rethink the relationship

that we have with them.

- The
average American

has trusted Wall Street
with their savings.

And now, those savings are gone.

While they have nothing,
many bankers remain wealthy,

including Jack Morgan.

Leading people to blame them
for the great depression

and demand they face
consequences they've avoided.

- The collapse of
the stock market

became the collapse
of the banking system,

which it threatened the
livelihood and destroyed

the livelihoods of many
ordinary individuals.

- Roosevelt pushes

for the creation of a commission

to investigate Wall
Street's role in the crash.

The Pecora Commission is
named for it's hard-nosed

Chief Counsel, Ferdinand Pecora.

- Ferdinand Pecora could
not be more different

from Jack Morgan.

Pecora is from an
immigrant family

and he comes of age as a
lawyer and a prosecutor.

And he believes that the
law is the best protection

for those who are vulnerable.

Not money, not markets,

Those are dominated by the
wealthy and well connected,

but the law is there
to protect people.

FDR was looking for scapegoats

and you couldn't find
a bigger scapegoat,

a bigger fat cat
than Jack Morgan.

- Roosevelt makes
his orders to Pecora clear,

get me Wall Street's most
powerful banker, Jack Morgan.

The House of Morgan becomes
the first private bank

investigated by Pecora.

And Jack Morgan is called
before the commission.

- Jack Morgan was a man of
enormous self-confidence

and he believed that he
could make a public case

defending himself
better than anyone else.

And so he brought
together a team,

as he would if he were
making any business deal

to help advise him
and prepare him.

He practiced his remarks.

He tried to anticipate
the questions

he would get from Pecora.

So this was a real showdown
prepared on both sides.

- The
entire nation tunes in

to see if Jack Morgan
will be held accountable

for protecting himself while
failing to protect them.

- I'd like to discuss
your correspondence

with various political figures.

- Certainly, some of
my closest friends

serve our government.

- That's at the heart
of the issue, isn't it?

If you have these friends
in high places, so to speak,

what's to stop you from taking
advantage of their power?

- Well, let me point to the
paradox of your question.

I'm a moral man,
a God fearing man.

And as such, I keep
meticulous standards

in the sort of people that
I surround myself with.

To be considered
a personal friend

you must be of
upstanding character,

the very sort of man
that would never use

the power of his position
for personal gain.

So the fact that they are
a personal friend of mine,

nullifies your line
of questioning.

- Let me be direct then.

Have you ever received
preferential treatment

due to the nature of your
profession or wealth?

- Frankly, I
believe the opposite

to be far closer to the truth.

I think the fact that
I'm here before you today

is proof of that.

- Pecora
outlines a list of companies

that keep million-dollar
balances with Morgan.

Executives often
choose JP Morgan

for their personal
bank accounts as well.

Pecora presents charts
showing Morgan partners

hold 126 directorships
in 89 corporations

with $20 billion in assets,

proving the House of
Morgan doesn't play fair.

- What Pecora reveals in a
way that's very intuitive

for anyone listening, is that
the people loaning the money,

particularly Jack Morgan,

are also the ones
receiving the money.

These are sweetheart deals,

where they loan the money to
businesses that they control

and then use the money
in those businesses

to generate profit's
for themselves

and then back to
their own banks.

What this shows, is that
the economy is dominated

and profiting only a small,
small group of people

who have worked it out
that way for themselves.

- So far,
Jack has managed to stay

one step ahead of Pecora,

but Jack knows the
last day of questioning

will be the most intense.

Pecora is relentless.

And under the pressure
cracks are beginning to show.

- Your fortitude is
admirable, Mr. Morgan,

but for the American people

and many of the men
sitting on this commission,

there's a matter of
grave circumstance.

There are those that
believe any crooked banker

should be treated the same
as we treated Al Capone.

- And I would argue that
that is an unfair comparison.

- How so?

- Quite frankly, I
am not a criminal.

- The definition of a criminal

is someone who operates
outside of the law.

Tell me Mr. Morgan,

what public agency
monitors your actions

to ensure that your
bank follows the law?

- I'm not aware of
any public agency--

- Is there any body
of government outside

of your own whims in judgment

that exercises regulatory
power over the stock exchange?

- No, sir.

- Pecora's
questions exposed

how unregulated power and greed
ultimately led to the crash.

It soon becomes
clear to the world,

Wall Street doesn't
answer to anyone.

- Mr. Morgan, did you
pay income taxes in 1930?

- I ...

I do not recall.

- Well what about 1931 or 1932?

- That is a matter
for my accountants.

- To run the figures and
file the paperwork of course,

but a man in finance
who works in finance

does not find it important to
know where his money is going?

- I wanna make one
thing perfectly clear.

I take great pains
and have all my life

to pay the income taxes

that are required of me by
the various governments.

I solicit the best advice I can.

And I do not underpay
or overpay by a nickel.

- We have just received
your tax returns.

I have them in my hand.

I'm going to give you one
more chance, Mr. Morgan,

if you're not gonna answer,
I will answer for you.

Did you pay income
taxes for the years,

1930, 1931 or 1932?

- I did not.

- In a time
when millions of Americans

have watched their savings
and jobs disappear,

Morgan's lack of tax payments
is a devastating revelation.

- It was one of the most
damaging things for Morgan.

It contributed to the
image of corruption

and it contributed to the
image of condescension,

that the country was suffering

and this man who had so
much was giving so little.

- The core hearings

weren't really about
showing you legality.

You have to remember
at this time,

there is no regulation
of Wall Street.

What Pecora was
really engaged in,

was an exercise in showing
bankers behaving badly

and showing where the
problems in the system were

so that Congress could
legislate to fix those problems.

- Any time you have the fairness
of the market undermined,

it's gonna hurt
overall performance
which hurts everybody.

- Even
though no charges

are brought against Morgan,

the backlash is so intense

it allows Pecora and
Roosevelt to propose the idea

of a new agency with one task :

To police Wall Street.

They call it, the Securities
and Exchange Commission.

- This gives Franklin
D Roosevelt the
opportunity to say,

we need more federal regulation.

That we need a commission
that has teeth.

We need permanent investigators

to look for malfeasance
on Wall Street.

- Now, the bill must
first pass through Congress.

But Jack Morgan is
determined to do

whatever it takes to make
sure that it doesn't.

- No one had ever regulated
the New York Stock Exchange.

They were considered
a private club

and there was some
argument that it was

unconstitutional to regulate
the New York Stock Exchange,

that the federal government
had no power to do it.

- What we have to understand,

is that the House of Morgan

saw itself as law and
rules of it's own,

they didn't believe
there was higher law.

Brick by brick Franklin
Roosevelt was taking this apart.

And I think more than anything,
it symbolized to Jack Morgan

that the world of his father
and the world that he had built

was now coming apart.

- To take on the government,
Morgan with the help of

former New York Stock Exchange
President Richard Whitney,

build a list of presidents
of the nation's biggest banks

with a plan to put
up a unified front.

- You sure about this, Jack?

- This is the way to keep the
government out of my business.

You're goddamn right I'm sure.

- What if Roosevelt--

- Roosevelt is the
one responsible.

Call each and every one of them.

Now.

- They launch
a massive lobbying effort

to do something that's
never been done before,

coordinate a banker's strike.

- Richard Whitney had
resigned from his position

as the president of the
New York Stock Exchange.

but he was still active with
various banking families

and he used his position
and his knowledge

to help organize what he
saw as a lobbying effort

and a public strike by bankers.

- Led to by
the House of Morgan,

the major banks freeze
lending across the country.

- The banker's
strike was an effort

to basically try
to show the country

that bankers needed
more freedom,

that they were actually
the source of revenue

and capital and growth
for the economy.

And so they were gonna
stop making loans.

They were literally
gonna go on strike.

- Many of them actually believed
that too much regulation

would imperil their ability
to provide financing

to American industry at a
time when it needed it most.

- With the bankers
United against the SSC,

Morgan and Whitney press
Congress to pull the bill.

- Jack Morgan did everything
he could to lobby against it,

which involved in many
cases, trying to persuade,

even trying to bribe
members of Congress,

to try to turn the political
tide in the other direction.

- One of the most
vigorous lobbying efforts

that Washington had ever seen.

Wall Street threw it's weight

to try to prevent this law
from being put in place.

And they succeeded in watering
it down substantially.

- Morgan's plan works

and brings the bill
to a grinding halt.

In order to save the SEC,

Roosevelt needs to offer
a truce to the bankers

by placing someone
friendly to Wall Street

at the head of the commission.

He puts forward the
name of an investor

with a reputation
for bending the law,

the most famous stock
manipulator on Wall Street,

Joe Kennedy.

It's a risky move.
He can't be trusted,

but floating Joe Kennedy's name

has the effect FDR hoped for.

- It was a relief for bankers

because to some extent
he was one of them.

But on the other hand,

they never felt he was
fully part of their group.

Joseph Kennedy was constantly
moving in a new direction

and he was working toward
running for president.

They knew he was a
self-interested actor.

- Believing
Kennedy can be bought

for the right price,
the banker's back off.

The strike is lifted

and the lobbying
efforts come to a stop.

Congress moves
forward with the bill.

But given Kennedy's reputation,

Roosevelt needs to know the
notorious stock manipulator

won't damage the administration.

- Over my 25 year
business career, sure.

I've done some things that
people might find fault with,

but I do not appreciate my
integrity being questioned.

Now, I want this job,

but I defy anyone who could
pin a single shady act

on my entire life.

I've made my money
through business dealings,

damn good ones too.

Not rank speculation.

- All of Wall
Street wait's to see

what Roosevelt will decide.

- Good evening, my
fellow Americans.

My name is Joseph P. Kennedy.

I'm here to introduce
myself as the first chairman

of the United States Security
and Exchange Commission.

- In the end,
Roosevelt settles on Kennedy.

- Joe Kennedy was
a complex figure.

He's also a guy who made a
fortune off of Wall Street

before regulations existed.

And when FDR tapped him
to actually head the SEC,

everyone was actually
outraged by this.

They were like, this is like
the fox guarding the henhouse.

- Not
wasting a moment,

Joe Kennedy lets the world
know he means business.

- I'm delighted by this
new position and grateful

for the opportunity to usher
in a new era on Wall Street.

Yes, there will be work to do,

but I am confident that
with the cooperation

of the financial community

we can win back the
trust of our nation.

And while I'm entering this
new job with every intention

to have a working
relationship with Wall Street,

let me make one thing
perfectly clear,

the Security and Exchange
Commission will wager war

on anyone who sells security
by fraud or misrepresentation.

Some people say I'm an
insider and that's true.

I know every trick and loophole,

then they fell in a gray area.

Now they are closed
for business.

Anyone who wishes
to challenge that

will feel the full weight of
the United States Government

at their doorstep.

Thank you for your time.

And I wish you a good evening.

- FDR's pick of Kennedy as
the first chairman of the SEC

showed what a savvy
politician he really was.

And there were lots of
people who went to him

and complained, how could
you possibly do this?

And he would smile.

And he would smile
and he would say,

"Send a thief to catch a thief."

- Joseph Kennedy
had made his money

by doing all kinds of
ethically questionable things.

And now he was in a position
where he was going to use

the new rules to prosecute
fellow rich people

who were doing the same
things he had done.

It is ironic, but again,
it is not surprising.

- Kennedy
hit's the ground running,

hiring a team of the
best and brightest

young prosecutors
in the country,

threatening to leave
no stone unturned

in his quest to
root out corruption.

Each day, Kennedy and the
SEC make front page news.

He issues subpoenas,

as scores of bankers are
brought in for questioning,

uncovering widespread
scandals and abuse of power.

Joe Kennedy wants
to make an example

of the worst on Wall Street.

And as SEC chairman, he
has the power to do so.

- Joseph Kennedy was
a ruthless businessman

and ruthless business people

turn on their friends
when they have to.

And that's exactly what he
did and he enjoyed doing it.

Don't forget, he was also
from an Irish immigrant family

that many, including the
Morgans had looked down on

as rich as they were.

This was his chance
to get them back.

- Now armed with
evidence, he brings indictments

followed by the
first major arrest,

the President of National
City Bank, Charles Mitchell.

- Charles Mitchell was one
of the most prominent bankers

of Wall Streets during the
heyday of the late 1920s.

He was the president and
chairman of the board

of the National City
Bank of New York,

which a few name changes later,
we would know as City Bank.

But National City was selling
a bunch of dodgy securities,

mostly the bonds of
various foreign countries

without disclosing risks
that they knew about

but hid from investors.

- The SEC would
open over 2000 cases

in just it's first year.

With Kennedy issuing hundreds
of criminal indictments

and making dozens of arrests.

Joe Kennedy did know where
the skeletons were hidden

and bodies were buried.

- After
just a year at the SEC,

he leaves it a powerful
and popular institution.

And more importantly, has
built a new legacy for himself.

Saving his reputation and
making the name Kennedy famous.

As Kennedy moves on,

Roosevelt continues
to target Wall Street

and Jack Morgan is
powerless to stop him.

- ... to
their own affairs.

And we know now, that
government by organized money

is just as dangerous as
government by organized mob.

They are unanimous
in their hate for me

and I welcome their hatred.

- While running
for his second term,

Roosevelt openly
campaigns against the
banking establishment

and the American people
rally to his side.

FDR is swept into office
with an electoral victory,

winning all but two states.

- FDR, in a sense,
used their opposition

to build more
support for himself.

What he was saying to
the American public is,

"I'm on your side."

And if the bankers
wanna be against me,

they're a useful
adversary, that's fine.

- The new deal
for the first time

got government in the business
of supporting people directly

and this new recognition

that government needs
to set some rules here

because the banking
system is not very good

at doing it on it's own.

- Roosevelt
shows the American people

how out of control
Wall Street has become

and they demand changed.

- Franklin Roosevelt
created a sea change

in how Americans viewed
Wall Street and the economy.

- With the
people behind him,

Roosevelt sets his sights
on the House of Morgan.

The SEC opens an investigation
into the firm's former broker

and now retired President of
the New York Stock Exchange,

Richard Whitney.

- In many ways, Richard Whitney
was the face of Wall Street

and everyone knew him
from October of 1929

when the market crashed.

But he started helping
himself to some of the stocks

that were entrusted to him.

- The result is an
arrest that shocks the nation.

Richard Whitney is
charged with embezzlement.

- Richard Whitney is symbolic

of the tragedy of the
American economy in this time.

- Richard Whitney was living
totally beyond his means.

He was using his
position and prominence

to keep this lifestyle afloat.

- He had started slowly,
borrowing from his brother,

borrowing from various friends.

And then when he couldn't
pay back those loans,

he had access to slush
funds of different kinds,

and he started just taking
money out of those funds

for a little while, hoping
he could then pay it back.

- He was stealing.

He was stealing from
the New York Yacht Club.

He was stealing from the
trust fund set up for widows

and orphans at the New
York Stock Exchange.

He was taking
advantage of the people

who trusted him
with their money.

- Once again,
Wall Street is on trial

And Jack Morgan
has been implicated

in Richard Whitney's crimes.

The House of Morgan loaned a
million dollars to Whitney,

which exposes the firm
to criminal liability.

Jack Morgan knows he's
innocent of any wrongdoing,

but he doesn't want
to betray his friend.

- Why lend
money to the accused?

- That was a personal matter.

Never bothered to
ask why he needed it.

- You
never bothered to ask

why someone would suddenly
need a $1 million loan?

Mr. Morgan, I must ask you,

for the jury and
courtroom to hear,

now that you've heard the
full extent of these crimes,

do you understand
the consequences

of your loan to Mr. Whitney?

You're an intelligent man.

So I ask again,

what did you think Richard
Whitney needed the money?

- I assumed it was
a personal matter,

one he would feel
uncomfortable discussing.

- Convenient.

Did you think it was
wine, women and horses?

- No, I gave him far too
much money for just that.

- What
about property?

Could he have been
attempting to close a deal?

- There would ...

There would be no
need for secrecy.

- Then what
are we left to think?

- As my father often said,

"In business, the only thing
that matters is character"

And I very badly misjudged
Mr. Whitney's character.

- By financially
supporting Richard Whitney,

Jack had unknowingly
become an accomplice.

Jack has no choice
but to testify

against his former
broker and friend.

Without the House of
Morgan behind him,

Richard Whitney pleads guilty,

receiving a sentence
of five to 10 years

in Sing Sing prison.

- When Richard Whitney
caught the train

to Sing Sing in Grand
Central Station,

6,000 people came out to
watch him get on the train.

- Richard Whitney,

the leading financier and
famous Wall Street figure,

now grim Sing Sing on
the Hudson awaits him.

- Got on the train wearing a
well tailored three-piece suit.

But of course, he
was in handcuffs too.

- Richard Whitney's
incarceration

attracted a wide attention
in newspapers, crowds.

People are drawn
to the spectacle

of the man of prestige
who's brought so low.

It was entertainment.

I think it was schadenfreude
or some people.

- It's a
terrible embarrassment

for the House of Morgan.

- There was a lot of sadness

from those who believed
in the world of Morgan,

the world of elites in New
York who could manage things.

It exposed that that was a lie.

And that was very sad for people

who had attached their own
lives to those beliefs.

- After
such a public low,

the House of Morgan finally
gives in to regulations

and it's profit's
sharply decrease.

Without the same
degree of revenue,

Jack Morgan faces
the most difficult
decision of his career.

- Morgan needed to find
cash somewhere else.

His entire mode of profit
was to bring money together,

invest it and then make money
off of those investments.

- Tired of
constantly battling

with the government,

Jack decides to take the
House of Morgan public.

- So Morgan took
the company public

so that he could raise
money from stockholders,

since he couldn't
raise it the old way

by bringing his friends together
around the whiskey table.

It's a symbolic renunciation

of how he thinks
Franklin Roosevelt

and the federal government
had destroyed Wall Street,

the Wall Street that he knew.

- With
the stroke of a pen,

the most secretive bank in the
world is no longer private.

Marking a massive shift to
the Wall Street landscape.

For the first time in 100 years,

what was once the
most powerful bank

will not be run by a Morgan.

Suddenly there's a power
vacuum on Wall Street.

One that Charles Merrill
has plans to fill.

The way the House of Morgan
did business is gone.

And over the last decade, the
SEC has reshaped Wall Street

into a place Merrill
believes he can build

the kind of firm
he's dreamed off.

But it's a vision he'll
will have to pursue alone.

After Edmund Lynch's
unexpected death abroad,

Merrill returns to New
York with a single goal,

getting the average
American to invest.

- Edmund Lynch had passed away

and Charlie Merrill
in early 1940

launched the new Merrill Lynch

and launched the Wall Street
to Main Street strategy.

- Charles Merrill had this idea,

very different
from other brokers.

I mean, most brokers dealt
only with the very rich.

Merrill thought there was a
huge opportunity out there

in the country among
people of ordinary wealth.

- So what Charlie
Merrill thought,

is there was an
opportunity to approach

the average
middle-class American.

To actually show them

that they could invest
in a legitimate way

in the stock market
and not get fleeced.

- What Merrill is
proposing is game-changing.

Dismissed as crazy and foolish,

but Merrill realizes
the old brokers

are too stuck in their ways.

So he starts to hire
and train people

without any banking
experience at all.

- So he launched a
training program,

which was the first
on Wall Street.

It was a six month
training program

where people came in and
they learned about investing.

That was radical in those days.

- Merrill continues to
bring new ideas to the firm

and Wall Street.

- Now the idea of
a bank advertising

was just something that the
other banks didn't do, right?

They kind of looked
down upon that,

but Charles Merrill saw
there was a huge opportunity

in the middle class that
had more and more cash

because of the booming
1940's and 50's

that they could
become investors too.

- Merrill opened up the doors

so that many other
people out there

could find the same
kinds of returns

that the big name investors
got back in the day.

- By the 1950's,

Merrill Lynch has become
the biggest brokerage

and investment bank
on Wall Street.

It's brought millions of
Americans to the stock market.

- If you can get them to
invest in Wall Street,

that'll be good for Wall
Street and good for them.

So he brought Wall
Street to Main Street.

It was very successful.

Merrill Lynch quickly became

the largest brokerage
house in the world.

- It's almost
immeasurable what he did

and what he started and
what others latched onto,

that really became a revolution
in how people invested.

- Charles Merrill profoundly
changed Wall Street.

It was an old boys club
when he got there in 1913

and by the 1950s,

millions of investors
all over the country

were investing in Wall Street.

And it was a much bigger
business because of that.

- How jubilant
was the taste of victory?

How sweet the rewards of peace?

- America's
victory in World War II

brings the dawn of a new age,

unleashing a new era of
prosperity across the nation

with Wall Street
leading the charge.

With government
regulations in place

and a business model
designed to share the wealth,

Wall Street has finally earned
back the nation's trust,

leading to a legendary bull run.

Powered by the
world's most developed

industrial infrastructure

and the exploding
middle-class consumer culture,

America's status says the
world's economic outlook

is undisputed.

And while the US
remains dominant,

decades pass before Wall
Street is once again unleashed.

The 1980's are a new era.

- Ladies and gentlemen,

I come here today with
an important message.

Greed is healthy.

- New
titans of finance

battle each other for supremacy.

- That is almost 3
Billion to play with.

- Building
their own empires

no matter what takes.

Even if that means
bending the rules.

- In the meantime, we need to
do something about that check.

- And when the
law catches up with them ...

- You're under
arrest for conspiracy

to commit securities fraud,
tax evasion, perjury.

- This whole place
could be bugged.

- Everything
comes crashing down.

- If you don't want it the most,

I guarantee you there's
some other greedy bastard

out there that will.

Because greed is just business.