Walter Wriston
Born	(1919-08-03)August 3, 1919 Middletown,Connecticut, U.S.
Died	January 19, 2005(2005-01-19) (aged 85) Manhattan,New York City,New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Wesleyan University (BA) Tufts University (MA)[1]
Occupations	Banker Chairman
Known for	Chairman and CEO of Citicorp (1967–1984)[1]

Walter Bigelow Wriston (August 3, 1919 – January 19, 2005) was an American banker and formerchairman andCEO ofCiticorp. As chief executive of Citibank / Citicorp (laterCitigroup) from 1967 to 1984, Wriston was widely regarded as the single most influentialcommercial banker of his time.^[2][3]

During his tenure as CEO, the bank introduced, among other innovations, automated teller machines, interstate banking, the negotiable certificate of deposit, and "pursued the credit card business in a way that no other bank was doing at the time".^[4][5] With then New York GovernorHugh Carey and investment bankerFelix Rohatyn, Wriston helped save New York City from bankruptcy in the mid-1970s by setting up the Financial Control Board and theMunicipal Assistance Corporation, and persuading the city's union pension funds and banks to buy the latter corporation's bonds.^[6]

Wriston was born inMiddletown,Connecticut, to Ruth Bigelow Wriston, a chemistry teacher, andHenry Wriston, a history professor atWesleyan University who was later president ofLawrence College andBrown University.

Wriston attended grade school and high school inAppleton,Wisconsin.^[7] Reared as a traditionalMethodist, he was not allowed to listen to the radio or go to the movie theater on Sundays.^{[citation needed]} Wriston was anEagle Scout and recipient of theDistinguished Eagle Scout Award.^[8]

He attendedWesleyan University, where he received aBachelor of Arts degree in 1941. While there, he was a member of theEclectic Society and received the "Parker Prize" ("Awarded to a sophomore or junior who excels in public speaking"^[9]). He received aMaster's Degree fromTufts University'sFletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1942.

After graduate school, Wriston became a juniorForeign Service officer at theState Department, where he helped negotiate the exchange ofJapanese interned in the United States for Americans held prisoner in theEmpire of Japan. Drafted into theU.S. Army in 1942, he served in the U.S. Army for four years, being with theSignal Corps onCebu in thePhilippines during his service.

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(September 2020)

Wriston was an opponent ofJohn F. Kennedy, stating "Who is this upstart President interfering with the free flow of capital?"^[10]

Wriston was twice offered the job ofSecretary of the Treasury, once byRichard Nixon and once byGerald Ford, but turned down both offers.^[2] One report is that Wriston declined the offers because these were not made to him personally by the then-President. Wriston also would have had to take a substantial pay cut had he accepted the government position.

He served as Chairman ofThe Business Council in 1981 and 1982.^[11] From 1982 to 1989, Wriston was chairman of PresidentRonald Reagan'sEconomic Policy Advisory Board.^[12]

In 1987, theManhattan Institute of Policy Research initiated a lecture series in honor of Wriston.^[13]

In 2004, the Idea Channel organized a seven-part series of interviews with him.^[14]

In June 2004, Wriston was awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civil honor, by PresidentGeorge W. Bush.

In 1942, Walter Wriston married Barbara Brengle, with whom he had one daughter. Two years after her death in 1966, he married lawyer and businesswoman Kathryn Dineen.

Wriston died on January 19, 2005, inManhattan,New York City,New York, at the age of 85.

Wriston's papers, including the text of hundreds of speeches and articles spanning his lengthy career, are at Tufts University's Archives. Many have been digitized and are available in the Tufts Digital Library.^[15]

• Capital goes where it's welcome and stays where it's well treated.
• Information about money has become almost as important as money itself
• Countries don't go bust
• The 800 number and the piece of plastic have made time and space obsolete
• TheEurodollar market exists in London because people believe that the British government is not about to close it down
• It is inconceivable that any major bank would walk away from any subsidiary of its holding company. If your name is on the door, all of your capital funds are going to be behind it in the real world. Lawyers can say you have separation, but the marketplace is persuasive, and it would not see it that way.^[16]

• The Twilight of Sovereignty (1992)
• Risk and Other Four-Letter Words (1986)
• Bits, Bytes and Balance Sheets (2007)

• List of Chief Executives of Citigroup
• List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients

• PBS Interview
• Walter B. Wriston Archives at Tufts University

• 1919 births
• 2005 deaths
• American bankers
• The Fletcher School at Tufts University alumni
• Wesleyan University alumni
• New York (state) Republicans
• Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from September 2011
• Articles to be expanded from September 2020
• All articles to be expanded