# Henry Paulson **Henry "Hank" Paulson** was the 74th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (2006–2009) under [[George W. Bush]] and the principal architect of the federal response to the [[2008 Financial Crisis]]. Before Treasury he spent his career at **[[Goldman Sachs]]**, rising to chairman and CEO — making him one of the clearest embodiments of the Wall-Street-to-Washington revolving door the KB tracks. Paulson ran the crisis response: he oversaw the conservatorship of [[Fannie Mae]] and [[Freddie Mac]], the decision to let [[Lehman Brothers]] fail, the rescue of [[AIG]], and the design and passage of [[TARP]], the $700 billion bailout he initially pitched as a three-page plan to buy toxic assets. His famous "bazooka" doctrine — that a big enough backstop, merely by existing, would reassure markets — captured his improvisational approach. For the KB, Paulson is a study in the **conflict-of-interest critique of crisis management**: a former Goldman CEO directing taxpayer rescues whose beneficiaries included Goldman itself (notably as an [[AIG]] counterparty paid in full). His tenure is central to the bailout-fury through-line that fed both left-wing and right-wing populism and ultimately the [[Tea Party Movement]]. > [!note] Stub > Minimum-viable page supporting the Financial System cluster. Expand with pre-Treasury career, the full TARP negotiation, and post-crisis activity. ## See Also - [[2008 Financial Crisis]] - [[TARP]] - [[Goldman Sachs]] - [[Financial System Hub]]