Eugene Meyer
1stPresident of the World Bank Group
In office June 18, 1946 – December 18, 1946
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	John J. McCloy
5thChairman of the Federal Reserve
In office September 16, 1930 – May 10, 1933
President	Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	Roy A. Young
Succeeded by	Eugene Robert Black
Member of theFederal Reserve Board
In office September 16, 1930 – May 10, 1933
President	Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	Edmund Platt
Succeeded by	Eugene Robert Black
Personal details
Born	Eugene Isaac Meyer (1875-10-31)October 31, 1875 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	July 17, 1959(1959-07-17) (aged 83) Washington, D.C., U.S.[1]
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Agnes Ernst ​ ​ (m. 1910)​
Children	5, includingFlorence andKatharine
Parent(s)	Marc Eugene Meyer Harriet Newmark
Relatives	Joseph Newmark (grandfather)
Education	Yale University (BA)
Occupation	Banker, businessman, financier, newspaper publisher

Eugene Isaac Meyer (October 31, 1875 – July 17, 1959) was a prominent American banker, businessman, financier, and newspaper publisher. His most notable public service role was as the fifthchairman of the Federal Reserve, a position he held from 1930 to 1933. Meyer purchasedThe Washington Post in 1933, and was its publisher from 1933 to 1946, with the paper staying in his family throughout the rest of the 20th century. He was the firstpresident of the World Bank Group from June to December 1946.

His daughter,Katharine "Kay" Graham, took thePost over in 1963 and remained its titular head until her death in 2001.

Meyer was born in 1875 to aJewish family inLos Angeles, California, descended from a long line of rabbis and civic leaders.^[2] He was one of eight children of Harriet (née Newmark) andMarc Eugene Meyer. His mother was the daughter ofJoseph Newmark, an early Jewish activist and rabbi in Los Angeles. He grew up inSan Francisco. He attended theUniversity of California, Berkeley, but dropped out after one year. He later enrolled atYale University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1895, and aDoctorate of Law.^[3]

After college, Meyer went to work forLazard Frères, where his father was a partner, but quit in 1901 after four years and went out on his own. He was a successful investor and speculator, and owned a seat on theNew York Stock Exchange. By 1915, when he was forty, he was worth $40 million.

In 1920, Meyer teamed withWilliam H. Nichols of General Chemical to help fulfill his vision of a bigger, better chemical company. Meyer and Nichols combined five smaller chemical companies to create the Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation, which later became Allied Chemical Corp., which in turn became part ofAlliedSignal, the forerunner ofHoneywell’s specialty materials business. Both men have buildings named after them at Honeywell’sMorris Plains, New Jersey, headquarters.

Meyer went to Washington, D.C., during World War I as adollar-a-year man forWoodrow Wilson, becoming the head of theWar Finance Corporation and serving there long after the end of hostilities.^[4] PresidentCalvin Coolidge named him as chairman of theFederal Farm Loan Board in 1927.

Herbert Hoover promoted him toChairman of theFederal Reserve Board in 1930. He took on an additional half-year post in 1932 as chief of the newReconstruction Finance Corporation, which was Hoover's unsuccessful attempt to aid companies by providing loans to businesses. AfterFranklin D. Roosevelt became president, Meyer resigned his Fed position on May 10, 1933.^[5]

Meyer has been criticized as Fed Chairman for not attacking the economic catastrophe of the early 1930s with monetary stimulus, thus allowing the banking crisis to get out of hand and deepening the economic collapse. One of his biggest critics at the time condemned Meyer along withJ. P. Morgan,Andrew Mellon andOgden Millsas being theFour Horsemen of the Apocalypse.^[6]More recent critics includeNobel laureateMilton Friedman and his fellow economistAnna Schwartz who, in their landmark bookA Monetary History of the United States, put forth the argument that the Fed could have lessened the severity of the Depression, but failed to exercise its role of managing the monetary system and ameliorating banking panics.^[7]

In 1929, Meyer made an offer of $5 million forThe Washington Post, but he was rebuffed.^[8][9] In June 1933, he bought the paper at a bankruptcy auction for $825,000, the paper having been ruined by its spendthrift socialite ownerNed McLean, and by theGreat Depression. Meyer had resigned asFed chairman just three weeks earlier, and he had no experience in the publishing business. But he was prepared to bid up to $2 million for thePost, far more than the other bidders, includingWilliam Randolph Hearst.^[10][11] Preferring to remain anonymous, Meyer stayedhome from the proceedings.^[12]

After weeks of speculation when even his daughterKatharine did not know the buyer's name,^[13] it was finally revealed in newspapers around the country on June 13.^[14][15]

In his statement to the press, Meyer vowed to improve thePost, and asserted that he would operate it independently. He also said that he had bought thePost on his own, without the influence of "any person, group or organization."^[16] He made this statement to contradict the rumors that as a well-known Republican, he would soon turn it into a voice for Republican causes. Press reaction to the purchase was positive, with other newspapers being pleased that thePost would not go out of business, and would continue to report the news from the nation's capital; given its important location, said one editorial, rescuing thePost was "a public service."^[17]

An editorial in a newspaper that was identifiably Republican praised the purchase as "good news for journalism." While expressing the hope that Meyer would in fact take the Republican point of view, the editorial acknowledged that he probably would not do so, since he seemed to be "no slavish supporter of any party or leader," assuring that under his leadership theWashington Post would be "hard hitting and independent, a paper that nobody can ignore."^[18] As it turned out, Meyer did take the side of the Republican party on some issues. He was opposed toFDR'sNew Deal, and this was reflected in thePost'seditorial stance as well as its news coverage, especially regarding theNational Recovery Administration (NRA).^[19] He even wrote aneditorializing "news" story under a fake name.^[20]

Over the next twenty years, Meyer spent millions of dollars of his own money to keep the money-losing paper in business, while focusing on improving its quality; by the 1950s, it was finally consistently profitable and was increasingly recognized for good reporting and important editorials. As publisher, Meyer occasionally contributed to stories: his friendship with the British Ambassador,Lord Lothian, led to aWashington Post scoop on reporting ofEdward VIII's relationship withWallis Simpson.^[21]

FollowingWorld War II in June 1946, U.S. presidentHarry S. Truman named Meyer, then 70 years old, the first head of theWorld Bank. Meyer appointed his son-in-law,Phil Graham, as publisher of thePost. After six months with the World Bank, Meyer returned to thePost, serving as chairman of theWashington Post Company until his death inWashington, D.C., in 1959.^[1]

This sectionneeds expansion with: more information on his marriage, wife, and offspring. You can help byadding to it.(January 2023)

Meyer marriedAgnes Elizabeth Ernst, a Lutheran, in 1910; they had five children, including the futureKatharine Graham, and another daughter,Florence Meyer (Mrs.Oskar Homolka). Meyer's older sister,Florence Meyer Blumenthal, was noted for the philanthropic organization she formed, the Franco-American Florence Blumenthal Foundation, which awarded thePrix Blumenthal.^[22] His brother, Edgar J. Meyer, married to Leila Saks Meyer, the daughter ofAndrew Saks, perished in the sinking of theRMS Titanic.^[23]

Meyer died at age 83 on July 17, 1959, atGeorge Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he had been under treatment for a heart ailment and cancer.^[1]

Eugene Meyer Elementary School inWashington, D.C., was named in Meyer's honor in 1963. The school closed in 2008, and the building has since been used as swing space byDistrict of Columbia Public Schools.

Notes

• Brasch, Walter M. (1987).Eugene Meyer: His Life and Times by Walter M. Brasch. Greenwood Press.

• Butkiewicz, James (2015)."Eugene Meyer and the German Influence on the Origin of US Federal Financial Rescues"(pdf).Journal of the History of Economic Thought.37 (1):57–77.

• Friedman, Milton;Schwartz, Anna J. (1993) [1963].A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960. Chicago:University of Chicago Press. pp. 327–389.ISBN 978-0691003542.

• Graham, Katharine (1997).Personal History.Alfred A. Knopf.ISBN 0394585852.

• Meltzer, Allan H. (2003).A History of the Federal Reserve – Volume 1: 1913–1951. Chicago:University of Chicago Press. pp. 320–436.ISBN 978-0226520001.

• Meyer, Agnes E. (1959).Out of These Roots: The Autobiography of an American Woman.Little, Brown and Company.

• Pusey, Merlo J (1974).Eugene Meyer. Alfred A. Knopf.ISBN 0394478975.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toEugene Meyer (financier).

• Biography of Eugene Meyer (website)
• Statements and Speeches of Eugene Meyer
• Selections from the Eugene Meyer Papers relating to the Federal Reserve, from the Library of Congress
• Works by or about Eugene Meyer at theInternet Archive

• 1875 births
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• 20th-century American businesspeople
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