Marriner Eccles (1890-1977), a Republican Mormon, rose to great power in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration as the head of the Federal Reserve. The banker from Utah helped ease the Great Depression by urging a change in how the government used money to control the economy.

Although he never attended college, Eccles ideas about the economy anticipated those of the famed economist John Maynard Keynes. Eccles argued for deficit spending during the Depression and pushed for a balanced budget during World War II.

Unlikely Beginnings

Marriner Eccles's father, David, as an illiterate teenager, emigrated from Scotland to America in the 1860s. Settling in Utah, he made a fortune, starting with the ownership of a sawmill and continuing on the road to riches by owning or investing in railroads, coal mines, sugar production, construction, and banks.

David Marriner was a Mormon. He had two wives, who produced 21 children. Marriner was...