J. P. Morgan

John Pierpont Morgan I (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and banker, who at the turn of the century (1901), was one of the wealthiest men in America.

Life

He was born in Hartford, Connecticut to Junius Spencer Morgan (1813–1890); and Juliet Pierpont (1816-1884) of Boston, Massachusetts. Junius was a partner of George Peabody and the founder of the house of J. S. Morgan & Co. in London. John Morgan was educated at the English High School of Boston and at the University of Göttingen. He was a prominent member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

From 1857 to 1861 Morgan worked in the New York City banking house of Duncan, Sherman & Company. In 1861 he married Amelia Sturges (1835-1862). She was the daughter of Jonathan Sturges and Mary Pemberton Cady. After her death he married Frances Louise Tracy (1842-1924) on May 3, 1865 and they had the following children: Louisa Pierpont Morgan (1866-1946) who married Herbert Livingston Satterlee (1863-1947); Jack Pierpont Morgan (1867-1943); Juliet Morgan (1870-1952); and Anne Morgan (1873-1952).

Business years

From 1860 to 1864, he was an agent and attorney in New York for George Peabody & Co. of London having escaped military service by paying $300 to a substitute. During the Civil War he bought 5,000 defective rifles for $3.50 each and sold them to the Federal army for $22 each, many blowing the thumbs off soldiers attempting to use them Howard Zinn p. 249 "A People's History of the United States" (2nd Edition) . He escaped censure as a federal judge upheld the validity of the legal contract. From 1864 to 1871, the firm of Dabney, Morgan & Company accepted Morgan as a member. In 1871, he entered the firm of Drexel, Morgan & Co., in which he was associated with Anthony J. Drexel, of Philadelphia, upon whose death in 1893 he became senior partner.

In 1895 the firm became J. P. Morgan & Co. Closely associated with Drexel & Co. of Philadelphia, Morgan, Harjes & Co. (successors to Drexel, Harjes & Co.) of Paris, and, Morgan, Grenfell & Co. (before 1910 J. S. Morgan & Co.) of London. J. P. Morgan & Co. became one of the most powerful banking houses in the world. Its accomplishments were numerous. J. P. Morgan & Co. financed the formation of the United States Steel Corporation, which took over the business of Andrew Carnegie and eight others and was the world's first billion-dollar corporation. J.P. Morgan & Co. incorporated in 1940. In 1912, the Pujo Committee, a subcommittee of the House Banking and Currency committee, found that the partners of J.P. Morgan & Co. along with the directors of First National and National City Bank (the triple alliance of interlocking directorates dominated by Morgan) controlled aggregate resources of $22,245,000,000. Louis Brandeis, the former U.S. Supreme Court Justice, compared this sum to the value of all the property in the twenty-two states west of the Mississippi River (which excluded Alaska and Hawaii).

In 1891 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric. In 1895, J. P. Morgan & Co. supplied the United States government with $62 million in gold to float a bond issue and restore the treasury surplus of $100 million. In 1902, J. P. Morgan & Co. purchased the Leyland Line of Atlantic steamships and other British lines, creating an Atlantic shipping combine, the International Mercantile Marine Company, which eventually became the owner of White Star Line, builder and operator of RMS Titanic. In addition, J P Morgan & Co (or the banking houses which it succeeded) bought and reorganised 4 of the 5 American major railroads between 1869 and 1899.

Death and aftermath

J. P. Morgan died in 1913 while visiting Rome, Italy. His remains were returned to the United States for interment in the Cedar Hill Cemetery in his birthplace of Hartford, Connecticut. His son Jack, known as J. P. Morgan, Jr., inherited the banking business.

As required by the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, the "House of Morgan" became three entities: 1) J.P. Morgan and Co. and its bank, Morgan Guaranty Trust; 2) Morgan Stanley, an investment house; and 3) Morgan Grenfell in London, England, an overseas securities house.

Legacy

Morgan was a notable collector of books, pictures, and, other art objects, many loaned or given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (of which he was president), and many housed in his London house and in his private library on 36th Street, near Madison Avenue in New York City. His son, J. P. Morgan, Jr., created the Pierpont Morgan Library in 1924 as a memorial to his father and kept Belle da Costa Greene, his father's private librarian, as its first director.

Morgan was also a benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Groton School, Harvard University (especially its medical school), the Lying-in Hospital of the City of New York and the New York trade schools. In his satirical history of the United States, It All Started with Columbus, Richard Armour commented that "Morgan, who was a direct sort of person, made his money in money... He became immensely wealthy because of his financial interests, most of which were around eight or ten percent... This Morgan is usually spoken of as 'J.P.' to distinguish him from Henry Morgan, the pirate."

It has been noted in congressional record of 1917, that J.P. Morgan interests took control of the United States media industry: "In March, 1915, the J.P. Morgan interests, the steel, shipbuilding, and powder interest, and their subsidiary organizations, got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press....They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the greatest papers... An agreement was reached; the policy of the papers was bought, to be paid for by the month; an editor was furnished for each paper to properly supervise and edit information regarding the questions of preparedness, militarism, financial policies, and other things of national and international nature considered vital to the interests of the purchasers." - U.S. Congressman Oscar Callaway, 1917

Notable patronage

In 1900, Morgan financed inventor and engineer, Nikola Tesla and his Wardenclyffe Tower facility (which was a wireless facility). Morgan invested over $75,000 into the project. However, in 1903, when the tower structure was near completion, it was still not yet functional due to a design error. When Morgan wanted to know "Where can I put the meter?", Tesla had no answer. Tesla's vision of free power did not agree with Morgan's worldview. Construction costs eventually exceeded the money provided by Morgan, and additional financiers were reluctant to come forth (since Tesla fell out of favor with Morgan).
By July 1904, Morgan (and the other investors) finally decided they would not provide any additional financing. Morgan also encouraged other investors to avoid the project. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during wartime. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly."
Morgan was also a patron to photographer Edward S. Curtis offering Curtis $75,000, in 1906, for a series on the Native Americans. Curtis eventually published a 20-volume work entited "The North American Indian." See http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/.

Trivia

Morgan was an enthusiastic yachtsman. His Columbia defeated the Shamrock in 1899 and 1901 for the America's Cup.
A chronic skin disease, (Rosacea), plagued Morgan, causing his nose to appear purple; a popular rhyme ran: "Johnny Morgan's nasal organ has a purple hue..."
Morgan is a relative of Jingle Bells writer James Pierpont.
Morgan was supposed to be on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. Because of business on the continent, he had to remain in Europe for a while longer. These unexpected plans happened so close to the Titanic's departure that his luggage had already been loaded on board and, thus, went down with the ship.

References

Sources

J.P. Morgan : The Financier as Collector Publisher: By Louis Auchincloss, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (1990) ISBN 0810936100
Brandeis, Louis D. Other People's Money and How the Bankers Use It. Ed. Melvin I. Urofsky. New York: Bedford Books, 1995. ISBN 031210314X
J. P. Morgan: Banker to a Growing Nation (American Business Leaders) By Bryman Jeremy Publisher: Morgan Reynolds Publishing (June 1, 2001) ISBN 1883846609
The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance, By Chernow, Ron Publisher: Publishers Group West 1st edition (October 15, 2001) ISBN 0802138292
J.P. Morgan by Jackson, Stanley Publisher: Stein & Day Pub (November 1, 1983) ISBN 0812828240
J. P. Morgan Saves the Nation (Sun and Moon Classics) By Jones T., Jeffrey Larson, Johnathan
A People's History of The United States By Howard Zinn

Personalities of Wall Street

See List of personalities associated with Wall Street.

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