David Finley was indeed close with Andrew Mellon, considering him a friend and mentor. After Mellon died in 1937, Finley oversaw the construction of the National Gallery and became its first director. Finley went on to achieve legendary status in American art circles, instrumental in the creation of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Haym Salomon is one of the unsung heroes of the American Revolution. His exploits (as detailed throughout the story) are factual (chapter 20). The Continental Congress stayed broke, and it was Salomon who found the money to fund the fight (chapter 28). Those nearly one hundred references in Robert Morris’ diary that simply said, I sent for Haym Salomon, are real (chapter 20). The monument in Chicago (chapter 30) is one of the few to Salomon that exist. His $800,000 in loans would indeed be worth many billions today, and those debts remain unpaid. Congress did consider restitution several times (chapter 20) but never approved anything. In the hope of repayment, the documentation relative to those debts was provided to the Pennsylvania treasurer in 1785, but subsequently disappeared (chapter 28). That Andrew Mellon found this evidence, then hid it away, is entirely my invention.
Outside the state of Virginia George Mason is a relatively unknown Founding Father (chapter 51). But he was important. He did refuse to sign the Constitution, and his references to a tyrannical aristocracy (chapter 24) are documented. Gunston Hall is Mason’s Virginia home, but any contributions made to its restoration by Andrew Mellon are fictional. Mason was the principal author of the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, which Jefferson drew upon for the Declaration of Independence and Madison utilized to frame the Bill of Rights (chapters 51 and 54). It remains one of the most important documents in American history.
The $1 bill is somewhat of a character, too. It was redesigned in 1935, at Franklin Roosevelt’s insistence (prologue). The Great Seal was then added, and Roosevelt ordered that the pyramid be placed on the left and the eagle on the right. The image in chapter 32 is from the actual memo where Roosevelt noted this preference in writing. The 1935 issue did not have IN GOD WE TRUST, which was added in 1957 (chapter 24). As to the six-pointed star formed by connecting five letters across the seal of the United States (atop the pyramid), resulting in the anagram for the word Mason, there is no explanation why it’s there. But it is. Regarding the thirteen stars in the Great Seal, above the eagle, that also form a Star of David (chapter 28), legend says George Washington did in fact ask for this inclusion as thanks to Haym Salomon. But no one knows for sure. Again, there is no denying that the image is there. Section 111 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act (chapters 28 and 68) actually does forbid the altering or changing of the $1 bill. And eerily, the $20 bill shown in chapter 48, when properly folded, does reveal images strikingly similar to what happened on 9/11.
Disney turns up in several places. First, relative to Kim Yong Jin’s fall from grace, then with a Disney-themed program on North Korean television (chapter 27). That broadcast actually happened in July 2012. Finally, the print of Walt himself (chapter 7), with the slogan It’s kind of fun to do the impossible, hangs on both Kim’s office wall and mine.
Audiotaping by Roosevelt in the Oval Office happened. He was the first president to utilize this tool. The conversations noted in chapter 22, though, are fiction. The actual tapes are stored in the Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park. The scene described from the day Roosevelt died (chapter 24) is reasonably accurate. The examination by his doctor happened, and the conversation between them is factual. Of course, the addition of Mark Tipton was mine, though there would have been a Secret Service agent present at all times. The Little White House at Warm Springs still stands and is now a national park. All of the derogatory comments Danny Daniels makes relative to Roosevelt (chapter 30) are taken from historical accounts, some of which paint an image of the man quite different from his public persona.
Zadar lies on the Croatian coast with its sheltered harbor and islands (chapters 33, 34, 36, and 38). The city library is accurately described, as is the American Corner (chapters 41, 43, and 49). Solaris is my invention, a composite of several east Croatian border towns.
The Beale cipher exists, and the Declaration of Independence proved relevant in deciphering one of its three codes (chapter 43). The image reproduced in chapter 43 is from the actual Beale cipher. The puzzle Andrew Mellon leaves behind is my invention. To create it, I applied the Beale cipher to the Virginia Declaration of Rights, just as Malone does in chapters 51 and 54.
There is a desk inside the Smithsonian Castle, located on the ground floor in the west wing. Curator Richard Stamm showed it to me, and it does contain a multitude of hidden compartments. Though intriguing, I decided instead to use the 18th-century Roentgen secretary’s cabinet on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. As noted in chapter 56, it may be the single most expensive piece of furniture ever made, loaded with secret compartments. I moved that desk to Washington, DC, and made it a Mellon gift to the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian conservation lab (noted in chapter 60) is an amazing place, where rare books and old documents are saved every day.