Bush's Nominee From Wall Street

Since then, Paulson has been devoted to the organization, said President Steven J. McCormick, adding: "He puts his money, his time and his commitment into the organization. I don't know anybody who works as hard as he does."

Paulson's interest in the environment also affected his leadership of Goldman Sachs. The firm bought and then donated thousands of acres of Chilean forest to protect it from logging and became the first major Wall Street player to adopt an environmental policy that officially acknowledges the problem of global warming. Both moves drew criticism from free-market advocates.

"Paulson is extremely weak on property rights. . . . He has basically used corporate assets to pursue his personal interests," said Steven Milloy, portfolio manager of the Free Enterprise Action Fund, an activist mutual fund. "When the conservative base finds out what Paulson really stands for, they're going to be up in arms."

At work, Paulson is known for his drive -- he spends hundreds of days on the road visiting clients and lobbying foreign governments from Europe to China in his effort to expand Goldman's business. Though he doesn't use e-mail and jokes about being inept with a computer, Paulson routinely leaves detailed 2 a.m. voice-mail messages for his subordinates.

That dedication stands in contrast to another criticism of Paulson -- that he is too detached. Goldman's institutional issues with stock research, the Nature Conservancy's problems and the NYSE pay crisis all developed on his watch. At the NYSE in particular, Paulson drew criticism for having missed more than half of the board meetings.

In trips to Washington, Paulson has stood out for his willingness to be direct, not only with regulators and Congress but also with fellow corporate titans. "People thought he was a down-the-middle guy, a straight shooter," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who called Paulson's selection "a pleasant surprise."

In spring 2002, when investor confidence had been shattered by the implosion of Enron Corp. and the revelation that Merrill Lynch & Co. stock analysts had privately disparaged stocks they were publicly touting, Paulson drew headlines when he called for institutional change. "In my lifetime, American business has never been under such scrutiny," Paulson told the National Press Club. "And to be blunt, much of it is deserved."

Though the Treasury's outgoing secretary has sometimes been seen as a salesman for economic policy decisions made by others, Wall Street and political observers predicted that Paulson would insist on a more substantive role. "He would not be anybody's messenger. He's too smart and too valuable," said former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey L. Pitt. "He is going to be a force to be reckoned with."