American History XX: Hetty Green

Today's edition of American History XX is about Hetty Green, who has been called America’s first female tycoon. At the time of her death in 1916 she had amassed a huge fortune that rivaled Carnegie, Rockefeller, and the male titans of the Gilded Age. Green bought and sold real estate, railroads, mines, and whole city blocks, and she even bailed out a number of cities—including New York—when they ran into financial trouble. She was also a notorious miser. Author Charlie Slack tells the story of the so-called “Witch of Wall Street.”