Thread by @nnworcester

Timothy Mellon has been identified as the man who donated $130 million to pay troops during the shutdown.

So I read Mellon's account of his life. Some highlights:

"Fox hunting was the social activity of highest importance, and both my mother and father enjoyed the chase." 1/x

Mellon's father Paul, like his cousin Larry Mellon, served in the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) during World War 2.

Timothy recalls that after his mother died in 1946, his father "enrolled in a classics course at St. John's College in Maryland, I think to take his mind off the sadness."

At Yale, Mellon "learned Bolivar’s famous quip: 'Introducing Democracy to the Americas is as useful as plowing the oceans.'"

Some throughlines: planes (he eventually becomes a pilot), boats, land, and, at least early on, labor conflicts.

Also, to a lesser extent, Argentina.

On an early philanthropic endeavor, the Sachem Fund:

"Still being of the Liberal persuasion at that age in our lives, I believe we may have overlooked some fundamental attributes of human nature that would have precluded success in any case."

Some "Days of Rage"-like elements.

Recollections of a venture in Saudi Arabia that went awry.

Mellon and business partner David Fink acquire the Maine Central Railroad, Boston and Maine Railroad, and the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.

The Senate just confirmed Fink's son, also named David Fink, as administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration.

Mellon attempts to set a new speed record for an around-the-world flight in his Piper Aerostar.

"The experience left me with the Life Lesson: Don’t attempt to fly through sand (or volcanic ash, for that matter)."

Later, in his Cessna Citation I, he visits, among other places, the Falklands (see "Argentina"), Reykjavik, Stalingrad, Dachau, and Peenemünde.

Mellon's account of the demise of the revived Pan Am's airline operations.

Feedback on a plan to develop a park in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as part of the NorthPoint development.

"I sensed a need to find a safe location away from the East Coast to which to migrate should events deteriorate."

Mellon acquires land near Marfa, Texas, which he sells after Ronald Reagan saw "to the demise of the Soviet Union, the only really threatening nuclear power."

On the battle over Goodpseed Airport: "If one is in a position where one’s rights are being threatened or attacked, and one has the ability to respond, then (it is my firm belief) one has the absolute obligation to react in the most forceful and effective manner."

"Life in Connecticut did not seem satisfactory: too many New Yorkers were moving in, true friends were difficult to make..."

Mellon moves to Wyoming.

"Norway I consider to be my second country... The people are hearty, and for the most part of excellent temperament."

Mellon recreates a medieval Scandinavian stave church in Connecticut.

How did Mellon become interested in the fate of Amelia Earhart?

"My grandparents, I am sure, all considered themselves to be Republicans. My parents were Republicans."

"The Kennedys were from time to time invited to our house on Cape Cod during the summer."

Mellon says he voted for John Anderson in 1980.

Ronald Reagan "single-handedly made conservatism into a respectable political philosophy."

"Something had obviously gone dreadfully wrong with the Great Society and the Liberal onslaught."

He praises Daniel Patrick Moynihan: "He understood that the result of all these new programs was the steady drift towards an underclass of dependence."

"Over the millennia, organized religions do not have sterling records."

"When I observe the beauty of Nature, just outside my window, and stretching in all directions, I find it impossible to attribute it to anything but a Divine Power."

Humanity "will strive for its own Perfection in the long run."

Appendices document Mellon's medical history through 2015 and his favorite movies.