John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 - March 31, 1913) was an American investor and banker who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries..
In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric. He also played an important role in the formation of United Steel Corporation, International Harvester and AT & amp; Q. At the height of Morgan's career during the early twentieth century, he and his colleagues had financial investments in many large companies and had a significant influence on high state finances and members of the United States Congress. He directed a banking coalition that stopped Panic of 1907. He was a prominent financier of the Progressive Era, and his dedication to efficiency and modernization helped transform American business. Adrian Wooldridge calls Morgan the "greatest banker" of America.
Morgan died in Rome, Italy, in his sleep in 1913 at the age of 75, leaving his wealth and business to his son, John Pierpont Morgan Jr. Biographer Ron Chernow estimates his wealth to "only" $ 80 million (about $ 1.5 billion in 2015 dollars adjusted for inflation, or about $ 25.2 billion adjusted for a share of the gross domestic product of the United States 2015), prompting John D Rockefeller to say: "And think, he is not even a rich man."
Video J. P. Morgan
childhood and education
Morgan was born into an influential Morgan family in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up there. He was the son of Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-1890) and Juliet Pierpont (1816-1884). Pierpont, as he prefers to be known, has a varied education as part of his father's plans. In the fall of 1848, Pierpont transferred to Hartford Public School and then to the Episcopal Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut (now called Cheshire Academy), with the principal. In September 1851, Morgan passed the British High School entrance exam in Boston, a school specializing in mathematics to prepare young men for careers in commerce. In the spring of 1852, an attacking disease became more common as his life grew. Rheumatic fever made her so sick that she could not walk, and Junius sent her to the Azores to recover.
He recovered there for almost a year, then returned to English High School in Boston to continue his studies. After he graduated, his father sent him to Bellerive, a school in the village of La Tour-de-Peilz in Switzerland, where he gained fluency in French. His father then sent him to the University of GÃÆ'¶ttingen to improve his German. He achieved a fairly German level in six months as well as a degree in art history, then traveled back to London via Wiesbaden, with a complete formal education.
Maps J. P. Morgan
Careers
Initial years and life
Morgan entered banking in 1857 at the branch of London's trading banking firm, Peabody, Morgan & amp; Co., a partnership between his father and George Peabody was founded three years earlier. In 1858, he moved to New York City to join Duncan's banking house, Sherman & amp; Company, American representative George Peabody and Company. During the American Civil War, in an incident known as the Hall Carbine Affair, Morgan financed the purchase of five thousand rifles from a $ 3.50 army warehouse each, which was then sold back to the public field for $ 22 each. Morgan has avoided serving during the war by paying a $ 300 replacement to replace him. From 1860 to 1864, like J. Pierpont Morgan & amp; The company, he acts as an agent in New York for his father's company, renamed "J.S. Morgan & Co.; after Peabody retired in 1864. From 1864-1972, he was a member of the firm Dabney, Morgan, and Company. In 1871, he partnered with Drexels of Philadelphia to form the firm of Drexel, Morgan & amp; Company. At the time, Anthony J. Drexel became Pierpont's mentor at the request of Junius Morgan.
J.P. Morgan & amp; Company
After the death of Anthony Drexel, the company was renamed "J. P. Morgan & Company" in 1895, maintaining close ties with Drexel & Company Philadelphia; Morgan, Harjes & amp; The Paris company; and J.S. Morgan & amp; Company (after 1910 Morgan, Grenfell & Company) from London. In 1900, it was one of the strongest banking houses in the world, focused mainly on reorganization and consolidation.
Morgan has many partners over the years, such as George W. Perkins, but always remains in power. The process takes over the troubled business to reorganize them into becoming known as "Morganization". Morgan reorganized the structure and business management to restore them to profitability. His reputation as a banker and financier also helped attract investors for the business he took over.
Treasury gold
The Federal Treasury almost ran out of gold in 1895, at the depths of Panic of 1893. Morgan had put plans for the federal government to buy gold from his banks and Europe but was denied in a plan to sell the bonds. directly to the general public to overcome the crisis. Morgan, of course there was not enough time to implement such a plan, demanded and finally got a meeting with Grover Cleveland where he claimed the government could fail that day if they did not do something. Morgan came up with a plan to use the old civil war law that allowed Morgan and Rothschild to sell gold directly to US Treasury, 3.5 million ounces, to return a treasury surplus, instead of 30-year bonds. The episode rescued the Treasury Department but hurt Cleveland's position with the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party, and became a problem in the 1896 election when the banks were under attack from William Jennings Bryan's weakening. Morgan and Wall Street bankers donate to Republican William McKinley, who was elected in 1896 and re-elected in 1900.
Newspapers
In 1896, Adolph Simon Ochs owns the Chattanooga Times, and he gets funding from Morgan to buy the New York Times financial battle.
Steel
After the death of his father in 1890, Morgan took over J. S. Morgan & amp; Co. (renamed Morgan, Grenfell & Company in 1910). Morgan started talks with Charles M. Schwab, president of Carnegie Co. and businessman Andrew Carnegie in 1900. The goal was to buy the Carnegie steel business and combine it with several steel, coal, mining and other shipping companies. After financing the formation of the Federal Steel Company, he eventually merged it in 1901 with the Carnegie Steel Company and several other steel and iron companies (including William Edenborn's Steel Consumption and Wire Company), to form the United States Steel Corporation. In 1901 US Steel was the first billion dollar company in the world, having an official capitalization of $ 1.4 billion, much larger than any other industrial company and comparable to its size for the largest railroad tracks.
AS Steel aims to achieve greater economies of scale, reduce transportation and resource costs, expand product lines, and improve distribution. It is also planned to allow the United States to compete globally with Britain and Germany. Schwab and others claim that the size of US Steel will allow companies to be more aggressive and effective in the pursuit of distant international markets ("globalization"). US Steel is considered a monopoly by critics, as the business seeks to dominate not only steel but also the construction of bridges, ships, trains and railroads, wires, nails, and a host of other products. With US Steel, Morgan has captured two-thirds of the steel market, and Schwab believes that the company will soon hold a 75 percent market share. However, after 1901 the market share of businesses declined. Schwab resigned from US Steel in 1903 to form Bethlehem Steel, which became the second largest US steel producer.
Labor policy is a controversial issue. US Steel is a non-union steel producer, and experienced, led by Schwab, wants to remain that way with the use of aggressive tactics to identify and eradicate pro-union "troublemakers". The lawyers and bankers who have organized the merger - especially Morgan and CEO Elbert Gary - are more concerned with long-term benefits, stability, good public relations, and avoiding problems. The views of bankers generally apply, and the result is a "paternalistic" labor policy. (United States Steel finally unionized in the late 1930s.)
Panic of 1907
Panic of 1907 is a financial crisis that almost paralyzes the American economy. New York's main banks are on the brink of bankruptcy and there is no mechanism to save them, until Morgan comes in to help solve the crisis. Finance Minister George B. Cortelyou set aside $ 35 million in federal money to be deposited in New York banks. Morgan later met with prominent investors at his home in New York, where he forced them to plan for the crisis. James Stillman, president of the National City Bank, also plays a central role. Morgan organized a bank team and trusted executives who transferred interbank money, secured further international credit lines, and bought shares of fallen healthcare companies.
Complicated political issues arose about the brokerage firms Moore and Schley, who were heavily involved in speculative pools in Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company stock. Moore and Schley have pledged more than $ 6 million of Tennessee Coal and Iron (TCI) shares for loans among Wall Street banks. The banks have called the loan, and the company can not pay. If Moore and Schley had to fail, a hundred failures would follow and then all of Wall Street would break to pieces. Morgan decides they must save Moore and Schley. TCI is one of the major competitors of the US Steel and has a valuable iron and coal deposit. Morgan took over AS Steel and he decided to buy TCI shares from Moore and Schley. Elbert Gary, head of US Steel, agrees, but fears there will be antitrust implications that could cause major problems for US Steel, which is already dominant in the steel industry. Morgan sent Gary to meet President Theodore Roosevelt, who promised immunity to the deal. US Steel then paid $ 30 million for TCI shares and Moore and Schley were rescued. The announcement has a direct effect; on November 7, 1907, the panic was over. The crisis underscores the need for strong oversight mechanisms.
Vowing never to let it happen again, and realizing that in the future crisis there could be no other Morgan, in 1913 banking and political leaders, led by Senator Nelson Aldrich, drafted a plan that resulted in the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913.
Criticism of banking
While conservatives in the Progressive Era praised Morgan for his citizenship responsibilities, the strengthening of the national economy, and his devotion to art and religion, the left wing saw him as one of the central figures in the system he rejected. Morgan redefined conservatism in terms of financial sophistication coupled with a strong commitment to religion and high culture.
The banking enemy attacked Morgan because of its gold loan terms to the federal government in the crisis of 1895 and, along with writer Upton Sinclair, they attacked him for the Panic of 1907 financial resolution. They also tried to attribute him to New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad financial diseases. In December 1912, Morgan testified before the Pujo Committee, the subcommittee of the Banking and Currency Committee of the House. The organizers finally concluded that a small number of financial leaders exercised considerable control over many industries. The J.P. partners Morgan & amp; Co and directors of First National and National City Bank controlled aggregate resources of $ 22,245 billion, of which Louis Brandeis, then US Supreme Court Justice, compared to the value of all properties in the twenty-two western states of the Mississippi River.
The attempt failed
Morgan does not always invest well, as some failures are demonstrated.
Nikola Tesla
In 1900, the inventor Nikola Tesla convinced Morgan that he could build a trans-Atlantic wireless communications system (eventually placed at Wardenclyffe) that would outperform the short-range wireless telegraphy-based radio system that was later demonstrated by Guglielmo Marconi. Morgan agreed to award Tesla $ 150,000 (equivalent to $ 4,412,400 in 2017) to build the system in return for a 51% patent control. Almost immediately after the contract was signed Tesla decided to upgrade the facility to incorporate his ideas about wireless terrestrial power transmission to make what he thought was a more competitive system. Morgan considers Tesla's change, and asks for extra money to build it, breaches the contract and refuses to fund the change. Without additional capital investment available, the Wardenclyffe project was abandoned in 1906, and never became operational.
London
Morgan suffered a rare business defeat in 1902 when he tried to enter the London Underground. Charles Tyson Yerkes's transit figure foiled Morgan's attempt to gain parliamentary authority to build the Piccadilly train, City and North East London, a subway line that would compete with the "Tube" route controlled by Yerkes. Morgan called Yerkes's coup as "the biggest crime and conspiracy I've ever heard".
Mercantile Marine International
In 1902, J.P. Morgan & amp; Co financed the establishment of the International Mercantile Marine Company (IMMC), an Atlantic shipping company that absorbed some of the major US and British routes in an attempt to monopolize shipping trade. IMMC is a parent company controlled by a subsidiary that owns a subsidiary of their own operations. Morgan hopes to dominate transatlantic deliveries through various directorates and contract arrangements with railroad tracks, but that proves impossible due to the unscheduled nature of sea transport, American antitrust laws, and deals with the British government. One of IMMC's subsidiaries is the White Star Line, which owns RMS Titanic . The famous sinking ship in 1912, the year before Morgan's death, was a financial disaster for IMMC, who was forced to file bankruptcy protection in 1915. The analysis of financial records indicates that the IMMC is overloaded and suffers from inadequate cash flow that causes it to default on payments interest on bonds. Saved by World War I, IMMC finally reappeared as the United States Line, which went bankrupt in 1986.
Morgan corporation
From 1890 to 1913, 42 large companies were organized or their securities were borne, in whole or in part, by J.P. Morgan and Company.
Industrial
Railway
Next year
After the death of his father in 1890, Morgan controlled J. S. Morgan & amp; Co. (renamed Morgan, Grenfell & Company in 1910). Morgan began a conversation with Charles M. Schwab, president of Carnegie Co. and businessman Andrew Carnegie in 1900 with the intention of buying the business of Carnegie and several other steel and iron companies to consolidate them to create the United States Steel Corporation. Carnegie agreed to sell the business to Morgan for $ 480 million. The agreement was closed without a lawyer and without a written contract. News about the consolidation of the industry arrived in the newspaper in mid-January 1901. US Steel was established that year and was the first billion dollar company in the world with an official capitalization of $ 1.4 billion.
Morgan is a member of the Union Club in New York City. When his friend, Erie Railroad President John King, was a black man, Morgan resigned and organized the Metropolitan Club of New York. He donated the land on 5th Avenue and 60th Street at a cost of $ 125,000, and ordered Stanford White to "build me a suitable club for men, forgetting the cost..." He invited King as a charter member and served as club president from 1891 until 1900.
Personal life
Marriage and children
In 1861, Morgan married Amelia Sturges, called Mimi (1835-1862). He died the following year. He married Frances Louisa Tracy, known as Fanny (1842-1924), on May 31, 1865. They had four children:
- Louisa Pierpont Morgan (1866-1946), who married Herbert L. Satterlee; (1863-1947)
- J. P. Morgan Jr. (1867-1943), who married Jane Norton Grew
- Juliet Pierpont Morgan (1870-1952), who married William Pierson Hamilton (1869-1950)
- Anne Tracy Morgan (1873-1952), philanthropist
Appearance
Morgan often has tremendous physical influence on people; a man said that Morgan's visit made him feel "as if the wind was blowing inside the house." Morgan is physically large with large shoulders, sharp eyes, and purple nose (due to chronic skin disease, rosacea). He is known to dislike publicity and hate being photographed; as a result of his self-awareness of his rosacea, all his professional portraits were improved. Her defective nose is caused by a disease called rhinophyma, which can be produced from rosacea. When deformity worsens, holes, nodules, fissures, lobulations, and peduncles twist around the nose. This condition inspires a raw scolding "Johnny Morgan's nose organ has a purple color." The surgeon could shave the growth of the sebaceous tissue during Morgan's lifetime, but as a child he suffered an infantile seizure, and Morgan's son-in-law, Herbert L. Satterlee, had speculated that he was not looking for surgery for his nose because he feared the seizure would return. His social and professional confidence is too established to be undermined by this suffering. It seems as if he challenges people to meet him honestly and not shrink from view, affirming his character's strength over his face's ugliness.
Morgan smoked dozens of cigars per day and favored a great Havana cigar nicknamed the Hercules Club by observers.
Religion
Morgan was a member of the Episcopal Church for life, and in 1890 was one of the most influential leaders. He is a founding member of New York Church Club, a private member club of Episcopal in Manhattan. In 1910, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church established a commission, proposed by Bishop Charles Brent, to carry out world church conferences to overcome their differences in their "faith and order". Morgan was so impressed by the proposal for such a conference that he donated $ 100,000 to finance the commission's work.
House
His home on 219 Madison Avenue was originally built in 1853 by John Jay Phelps and purchased by Morgan in 1882. It became the first private residence in New York. His interest in new technology was the result of Thomas Edison Electric Illuminating Company's Edison financing in 1878. There was a 1,000-person reception held for the marriage of Juliet Morgan and William Pierson Hamilton on April 12, 1894, where they were given Morgan's favorite hour. Morgan also owns East Island in Glen Cove, New York, where he has a large summer home.
Yachting
Yachtsman is diligent, Morgan has several large yacht ships. The famous quote, "If you have to ask for a price, you can not afford it" is usually associated with Morgan in answer to the question of the cost of maintaining a yacht, even though the story has not been confirmed. The same legend has not confirmed the citation attribute for his son, J. P. Morgan Jr., in connection with the launch of the Corsair IV corsair yacht at Bath Iron Works in 1930.
Morgan is scheduled to travel on a fateful girl voyage from RMSÃ, Titanic , but canceled at the last minute, choosing to stay at a resort in Aix-les-Bains, France. The White Star Line, which operates the Titanic, is part of Morgan's International Mercantile Marine Company, and Morgan will have a private suite and deck on board. Responding to the sinking of the Titanic, Morgan is said to be saying, "Losing money means nothing in life, it's a loss of life that counts, it's a terrifying death."
Collector
Morgan is a well-known collector of books, drawings, paintings, clocks and other art objects, widely lent or given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (where he became president and was a major force in its formation), and many lived in London. home and in his private library on 36th Street, near Madison Avenue in New York City. His son, J. P. Morgan Jr., made the Pierpont Morgan Library a public institution in 1924 as a memorial to his father, and kept Belle da Costa Greene, his father's personal librarian, as his first director. Morgan was painted by many artists including Peruvian Carlos Baca-Flor and Swiss-born Adolfo MÃÆ'¼ller-Ury, who also painted a double portrait of Morgan with his beloved grandson Mabel Satterlee for several years standing on a horses at Satterlee House but has now disappeared.
Helper
Morgan is a philanthropist of the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Groton School, Harvard University (mainly medical school), Trinity University, Lying Hospital in New York City, and New York trading schools.
Gem collector
At the turn of the century, Morgan has become one of America's most important collectors of gems and has amassed the most important collection of gems in the United States as well as American gems (more than 1,000 pieces). Tiffany & amp; Co. collects its first collection under their Head of Gemologist George Frederick Kunz. The collection was exhibited at the World Exposition in Paris in 1889. The exhibition won two gold awards and attracted the attention of important academics, messengers, and the general public.
George Frederick Kunz continues to build a second, even more subtle collection, which was exhibited in Paris in 1900. This collection has been donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York where they are known as the Morgan-Tiffany and Morgan-Bement collections. In 1911, Kunz named the newly discovered gem after his best customer, morganite.
Photography
Morgan is a patron for photographer Edward S. Curtis, offering Curtis $ 75,000 in 1906, to make the series on American Indians. Curtis finally published a 20 volume work entitled The North American Indian. Curtis also produced the movie, In Head Hunters Land (1914), which was restored in 1974 and re-released as In the Canoe of War . Curtis is also famous for the 1911 magic lantern show of The Indian Picture Opera using original photo and compositions by composer Henry F. Gilbert.
Death
Morgan died while traveling abroad on March 31, 1913, just ashamed of his 76th birthday. He died in his sleep at the Grand Hotel in Rome, Italy. The flag on Wall Street flies with half the staff, and in an honor normally reserved for heads of state, the stock market is closed for two hours as it passes through New York City. His body was brought to lie in his house and adjacent library on the first night of arrival in New York City. His body was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery at his birthplace in Hartford, Connecticut. His son, John Pierpont "Jack" Morgan Jr, inherited the banking business. He left his home and a collection of ledgers to the Morgan Library & amp; Museum in New York.
His property is worth $ 68.3 million ($ 1.39 billion in dollars today based on the CPI, or $ 25.2 billion based on GDP), which is about $ 30 million representing his share in New York and Philadelphia banks. The value of his art collection is estimated at $ 50 million.
Legacy
His son, J. P. Morgan Jr., took over the business on his father's death, but never had any effect. As required by the Glass Law-Steagall 1933, "Morgan House" into three entities: J.P. Morgan & amp; Co, which later became the Morgan Guaranty Trust; Morgan Stanley, an investment house formed by his grandson Henry Sturgis Morgan; and Morgan Grenfell in London, a securities house overseas.
The gemstone morganite is named in his honor.
The Cragston Dependencies, associated with his estate, Cragston (in Highlands, New York), was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Popular culture
- Morgan's contemporary literary biography is used as an allegory for the financial environment in America after World War I in the second volume, Nineteen Nineteen , from John Dos Passos' USA trilogy.
- Morgan appears as a character in the novel Caleb Carr The Alienist , at E.L. Novel Doctorow Ragtime , in Steven S. Drachman's The Ghosts of Watt O'Hugh novel, and in Graham Moore's novel The Last Days of Night.
- Morgan is believed to have modeled for Walter Parks Thatcher (played by George Coulouris), young guard of Citizen Kane (the film directed by Orson Welles) with whom he has a tense relationship- -Kane blames Thatcher for destroying his childhood.
- According to Phil Orbanes, former Vice President of Parker Brothers, Rich Uncle Pennybags American version of the Monopoly board game is modeled after J. P. Morgan.
- Morgan's career is highlighted in episodes three and four of the History Channel The Men Who Built America .
- My Name Is Morgan (But It Is not JP) - 1906 popular songs released as Edison cylinder recordings, words by Will A. Mahoney, music by Halsey K. Mohr, sung by Bob Roberts. Original was released as a "coon song" but was revised for years, a poor man named Morgan told his girlfriend not to mistake him as a rich man.
See also
- Ventfort Hall Mansion and the Gilded Age Museum
- SS J. Pierpont Morgan, lake carrying vessel named after Morgan
Note
Further reading
External links
- Morgan Library and Museum, 225 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
- American Experience - J.P. Morgan
- Text on Wikisource:
- "Morgan, John Pierpont". The CyclopÃÆ'Â|dia of American Biography . 1918. < span>
- "Morgan, John Pierpont". EncyclopÃÆ'Â|dia Britannica (issue 11). 1911.
- "Morgan, John Pierpont". New International Encyclopedia . 1905.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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