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January 2011. J.P. Morgan sat for two minutes; one of the resulting portraits defined his reputation. Edward Steichen. “No price is too great,” John Pierpont Morgan once declared, “for a ...
- J.P. Morgan: Early Years and Family
- J.P. Morgan: Banking Titan
- J.P. Morgan: Congressional Investigation
- J.P. Morgan: Art Collection and Final Years
John Pierpont Morgan was born into a distinguished New England family on April 17, 1837, in Hartford, Connecticut. One of his maternal relatives, James Pierpont (1659-1714), was a founder of Yale University; his paternal grandfather was a founder of the Aetna Insurance Company; and his father, Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), ran a successful Hartford dry-goods company before becoming a partner in a London-based merchant banking firm. After graduating from high school in Boston in 1854, Pierpont, as he was known, studied in Europe, where he learned French and German, then returned to New York in 1857 to begin his finance career.
Did you know? "Jingle Bells" was written by James L. Pierpont, the uncle of famed financier J.P. Morgan. The song, originally titled "The One Horse Open Sleigh," was actually written about Thanksgiving, and was considered a failure when first published in 1857.
During the late 19th century, a period when the U.S. railroad industry experienced rapid overexpansion and heated competition (the nation’s first transcontinental rail line was completed in 1869), Morgan was heavily involved in reorganizing and consolidating a number of financially troubled railroads. In the process, he gained control of significant portions of these railroads’ stock and eventually controlled an estimated one-sixth of America’s rail lines.
Titanic, owned by one of the IMM companies, White Star, sank on its maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg. Morgan, who attended the ship’s christening in 1911, was booked on the ill-fated April 1912 voyage but had to cancel.
During Morgan’s era, the United States had no central bank so he used his influence to help save the nation from disaster during several economic crises. In 1895, Morgan assisted in rescuing America’s gold standard when he headed a banking syndicate that loaned the federal government more than $60 million. In another instance, the financial panic of 1907, Morgan held a meeting of the country’s top financiers at his New York City home and convinced them to bail out various faltering financial institutions in order to stabilize the markets.
Morgan initially was widely commended for leading Wall Street out of the 1907 financial crisis; however, in the ensuing years, the portly banker with the handlebar mustache and gruff manner faced increasing criticism from muckraking journalists, progressive politicians and others that he had too much power and could manipulate the financial system for his own gain. In 1912, Morgan was called to testify before a congressional committee chaired by U.S. Representative Arsene Pujo (1861-1939) of Louisiana that was investigating the existence of a “money trust,” a small cabal of elite Wall Street financiers, including Morgan, who allegedly colluded to control American banking and industry. The Pujo Committee hearings helped bring about the creation of the Federal Reserve System in December 1913 and spurred the passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914.
The famous financier died at age 75 on March 31, 1913, in Rome, Italy. On April 14, the day of his funeral, the New York Stock Exchange closed in his honor until noon. He was buried in the Morgan family mausoleum at a Hartford cemetery.
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Morgan. Signature. John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) [ 1 ] was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known as J.P. Morgan and Co., he was a driving force behind the ...
Apr 23, 2024 · J.P. Morgan was among the most powerful industrialists and bankers of all time. Morgan was born on April 17, 1837, in Hartford, Conn., to a banking family. At the cusp of the 20th century, Morgan ...
Sep 8, 2021 · 8. The worry over the extent to which the US government had had to rely on Morgan to resolve the 1907 crisis led to bankers and politicians creating the Federal Reserve System. 9. Morgan's house at 219 Madison Avenue was the first electrically lit private residence in New York. 10.
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Apr 20, 2021 · The only problem for Morgan was that this was not exactly legal. This transaction came dangerously close to violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. E.H. Gary, H.C. Frick, and J.P. Morgan visited President Theodore Roosevelt to talk him into overlooking the monopolistic implications of the takeover.
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Sep 2, 2021 · With holdings in many industries, ranging from railroads, steel, and iron, J.P. Morgan was an extremely influential New York-based financier. Morgan and his associates on a couple of occasions single-handedly steered the United States from economic crisis, including the Panic of 1907.
