In the run-up to the 1929 Wall Street crash, under the leadership of Waddill Catchings, Goldman Sachs borrowed heavily to buy controlling stakes in corporations and created a highly leveraged investment trust. The trust shares soared to $326, but dropped to $1.75 after the stock market crash. The firm’s capital was wiped out and it became the subject of lawsuits and the punchline of comedians: “They told me to buy the stock for my old age and it worked perfectly. Within six months I felt like a very old man.”

After Catchings almost caused the firm's demise, Goldman Sachs turned to his polar opposite, Sidney Weinberg. One of 11 children of a Polish immigrant, Weinberg left school at 15, bluffed his way into a job as a janitor's assistant at Goldman and then worked his way to the top of the firm.