Henry Paulson

Henry Paulson was the United States Secretary of the Treasury at the time of the 2008 financial crisis. He came to the job at the request of President George W. Bush, having risen to become the CEO of Goldman Sachs, the largest and most respected firm on Wall Street. Paulson was made to sever most of his ties with Goldman upon becoming Treasury Secretary to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest, but during the crisis he received a waiver to discuss financial matters related to Goldman when it became clear that he intended to put public money into the financial system. He faced criticism that he sometimes favored his former colleagues at Goldman.

Paulson was initially reluctant to allow public money to be used to bail out private firms, and he faced public and political pressure after the bailouts of Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie...