Trust

Bevel is a fourth-generation New York financier. His great-grandfather William Trevor Bevel inaugurates the family profession in 1807 by capitalizing on the fallout of Thomas Jefferson’s moratorium on trade with Europe. Using his family property as collateral for a loan, he buys unsalable American goods at rock-bottom prices, holds them, and then resells them to Europe for a profit after the moratorium ends. Following this coup, William expands his ventures: He pioneers future contracts, begins offering loans at favorable rates, and trades those loans on a secondary market. William’s acumen for moneymaking ostracizes him in New York society, in which it’s considered gauche for a gentleman to work.

Bevel adopts William’s investment philosophy, which consists of two principles: that the businessman must create the ideal conditions for his business, and that self-interest should align with the common good.

Bevel’s grandfather Clarence is a sheltered, precocious child with a stutter who grows into an absentminded, mathematically inclined adult. He inherits his father William’s fortune after he dies of a heart attack following the Panic of 1837. In contrast to William’s relationship-based approach to investment, Clarence adopts a purely mathematical strategy. While producing consistent profits, this approach doesn’t yield the wild success William had: “No enterprise can fully succeed without a true understanding of human behavior” (142). Clarence marries Thomasina Holbrook, a caring woman who loves him for his eccentricities.

Bevel’s father, Edward, is the polar opposite of his own father, Clarence: gregarious, competitive, and imposing, Edward is a born leader. Anxious to make his mark, he drops out of Yale to work for his father and quickly rises to the top of the business. Edward marries the most desirable woman in his set, Grace Cox—the paragon of elegance and savoir faire. Together, the couple becomes the center of New York society. Edward anticipates the Great Depression of 1873 and secures cash reserves. He then uses the money to reinvest in the economy and help it recover, operating on the moral of aligning self-interest with the common good. Grace devotes herself to charities with the aim of alleviating economic hardship.

Edward dies of an aneurysm in 1880, when Bevel is four. Soon thereafter, Clarence dies. These twin deaths devastate the young Bevel. Grace dies when Bevel is in high school; a year later his grandmother Thomasina dies.

This part of Bevel’s memoir remains largely unfinished. Bevel credits his success to his education. A successful financier must be a polymath capable of becoming an expert in any field in the research of an investment. Finance is the center of life, “the knot where all the disparate strands of human existence come together” (149).

In the outline for the rest of “Education,” Bevel presents himself as a mix of his father’s gregariousness and his grandfather’s mathematical talent. Bevel emphasizes his mathematical precocity and credits his mother for nurturing his talent.

Like “Education,” this part is mostly outline. Bevel draws a parallel between his coup in 1907 and William’s in 1807: Both men use family wealth to capitalize on crises. The notes for the rest of this part highlight Bevel’s mathematical approach to investing and his opposition to government regulation. He also emphasizes his patriotic protection of America’s economy and his interest in collecting art.

Bevel’s wife, Mildred Bevel, née Howland, was central to his life. A homemaker with a lucid mind, she inspired his financial dealings like a muse (157).

As a girl, Mildred and her parents are trapped in Europe for years while on vacation, first by her father’s fatal lung disease and then by World War I. After her father dies and World War I ends, Mildred and her mother, Adelaide Howland, move to New York City. Bevel meets Mildred soon thereafter. He is drawn to her beauty and quiet elegance; in her, he feels he has met his soulmate.

Bevel and Mildred marry and build a mansion on Fifth Avenue overlooking Central Park. During its construction, they move to his family’s vacation home, La Fiesolana, which Mildred loves for its replication of Tuscan architecture. Bevel spends most of his time in Manhattan working to bring the nation out of the post–World War I recession with his investments.

In their new mansion, Mildred delights in domesticity. Her greatest pleasure is a cup of hot cocoa. Soon after their move, Mildred is diagnosed with cancer. She gracefully adapts to her declining health, finding ways to continue her interests despite her fatigue. No longer able to go on nature walks, she spends time in their greenhouse reproducing flower arrangements from their collection of paintings. She continues reading but switches from literary fiction to mystery novels. At dinner, Mildred retells the novels to an enraptured Bevel: “It was so lovely to look at her, lit up, lost in her storytelling. She was so captivated by the plot and I was so captivated by her that the food on our plates would grow cold. How we would laugh when we noticed!” (165).

Following her diagnosis, Mildred becomes a patron of many New York music institutions and public libraries across the country. Bevel establishes a charitable fund in his wife’s name to manage her wanton charitable spending: “She picked causes and chose institutions with irrepressible enthusiasm, but she also heeded my calls to reason and followed my guidance whenever her choices were financially unsound” (168). After her death, the fund continues to provide grants to new and established American artists.

In her passions of literature and the arts, Mildred doesn’t let critical consensus dictate her taste. Though her greatest passion is music, she never learns an instrument herself, instead organizing recitals in their home. Bevel remembers most her delicate composition and her infectious warmth.

After Mildred falls ill, Bevel summons a coterie of the top doctors, who agree on a diagnosis of advanced cancer. Bevel keeps the diagnosis from Mildred for a while for fear it will kill her cheerful spirit. After he tells, her she deteriorates rapidly. Before she’s too ill to travel, Bevel finds a psychiatric hospital in Switzerland reputed for its miracle cures. At the hospital, the mountain air reinvigorates Mildred; however, the doctors inform Bevel that Mildred is incurable. Bevel doesn’t tell Mildred this, but she senses it. Despite her condition, Mildred transcends to a serene state of being in the weeks before her death. She improves after a private concert of her favorite pieces that Bevel arranges at the hospital. He takes the opportunity to travel to Zurich for business. During this trip Mildred dies. Her death affects Bevel greatly, leaving a massive hole in his life.

Bevel takes himself and his forefathers as proof that men author their lives: “[I]t is up to each one of us to chisel our present out of the shapeless block of the future” (173). As financiers, four generations of Bevels steered America through numerous economic crises guided by the belief that a robust economy is good for them and the public. Accusations in Bonds and the media that Bevel’s selfish, shady dealings caused the Great Depression anger him.

Bevel asserts that after World War I, the future belonged to America, not Europe. Burgeoning technologies ignited the American economy, driving a wave of modernization. This wave was fueled by a rapid increase of investment in the stock market, tariffs that prioritized America, and severe tax cuts. Bevel spearheaded this wave of investment by driving up the price of steel, rubber, railroad, and motor stocks after the recession of 1922. His actions set the economy on the right track for the rest of the decade.

Bevel counters the belief that his intuition is responsible for his success; in fact, he owes his success to the propriety investment algorithm he created. He directs a pool of researchers to compile data to plug into this algorithm; the results dictate his investment decisions. Nonetheless, Bevel admits he relied on his intuition to trade when the stock ticker fell hours behind during large buy-and-sell waves.

Bevel blames the crash of 1929 on speculators investing with borrowed money and the regulation of the Federal Reserve. In particular, Bevel blames women for “playing finance with toy money” (181)—by the end of the 1920s, women constituted 40% of the “dilettantish speculators” responsible for the crash (182). Bevel criticizes the Federal Reserve both for raising the bank rate too late and for overcorrecting once they did.

Aligning self-interest with his patriotic duty to correct the market, Bevel began liquidating his holdings and shorting the market in September 1929, two months prior to the crash. As Bevel profited immensely, the media began accusing him of orchestrating it. Bevel argues that it’s impossible for a single man to manipulate the market. 

This section is mostly outline. Bevel reiterates his belief in a free market and his longstanding opposition to the Federal Reserve. He criticizes the banking regulations of 1933-1935 as anathema to the American spirit. He emphasizes his continued success after Mildred’s death despite his grief and increasing regulation.

Bevel believes the laws of economy—particularly that of profit—underlie everyday life: “Each time we find a way to minimize our effort and increase our gain we are making a business deal, even if it is with ourselves […] the truth is our existence revolves around profit” (189). He explains that within the constant flux of nature, it’s natural to want to thrive—to profit—rather than to be content with what you have; those who don’t fight for more lose what they have.