"In 1894, in the teeth of the country's second worst depression, Americans struggled to feed their families on one dollar a day. Only the very rich were able to own stock, and frequent "panics" and bank failures wiped out people's savings. Most Americans lacked minimal financial security.". "John Elliott Tappan, a Minneapolis lawyer, decided to act: he founded Investors Syndicate, later known as IDS, the financial pioneer that later became American Express Financial Advisors. Tappan's revolutionary idea was based on the notion that everyone could save a little money each month to build the security that would protect against devastating loss. In the first full biography of Tappan, Kenneth Lipartito and Carol Heher Peters tell the story of an extraordinary man and the role he played in altering the American financial system." "Drawing on Tappan's letters, diaries, and family history, Lipartito and Peters have written a chronicle of the transformation of American finance and an intimate portrait of the genius whose innovations and rock-solid faith in "democratic capitalism" made it all possible."--BOOK JACKET.