The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath by Ben S. Bernanke

PART I
PRELUDE
CHAPTER 1
Main Street

The morning of September 1, 2006, was drizzly and unseasonably cool.
Our three-vehicle caravan pulled out of the horseshoe-shaped driveway of
the Abingdon Manor, a bed-and-breakfast in Latta, South Carolina. The
manor, a 104-year-old mansion built in the Greek Revival style, is a tenminute

drive south of my hometown—Dillon, South Carolina. Stuffed with
antique furniture, fine linens, and chintz curtains, the old house evoked the
tastes of affluent Carolinians of earlier generations. After a speech in
Greenville, on the western side of the state—where the preacher delivering
the benediction had asked God to aid me in my task of making the nation’s
monetary policy—I had spent the previous evening at the manor, dining and
visiting with friends and family.
We pulled onto Highway 301 and headed toward Dillon. A local police
car led the way. I sat in the backseat of the second vehicle, on the passenger
side, as always. In front of me, next to the driver, sat Bob Agnew, the

The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath by Ben S. Bernanke