John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913)[1] was anAmerican banker and art collector. He became one of the richest men of his era. He founded the bank now calledJPMorgan Chase, one of the oldest banks in the world today.
J.P. Morgan was thought of as intelligent, he focused his attention in mathematics in preparation for employment in commerce.
In 1852, when Morgan was 15 years old, he hadrheumatic fever. After recovery he was deformed. J.P. Morgan was aloof and refused to have his photograph taken; all of his professional portraits were retouched.[2][3]
When J.P. Morgan reached the age of 20, he became abanker in his father’sLondon office and later went to Duncan, Sherman & Company inNew York City. He excelled in banking and partnered with a lot of other companies. J.P. Morgan bought businesses, and was a hands on leader. He followed the process of reorganizing them known then as “Morganization”. He renamed his company to J.P Morgan & Company in 1895. At the time it became one of the most powerful banks in the world.[4]
J.P. Morgan took control of therailroad companies. He also financed and reorganized railroads all in theUS. He later purchased the Ley Land Line of Atlantic Steamships and other boat lines, which included the White Star Line, builder of theRMS Titanic. He joined severalsteel companies together to make the United States Steel Corporation.[5]
During thePanic of 1893, when a shortage of thegold caused a devaluation of the Dollar, the US presidentGrover Cleveland asked J.P. Morgan to loan $65 million in gold to the US Treasury. J.P. lent the gold, "saving" the Treasury and the Dollar.
Morgan’s enemies attacked him for his loan terms on gold that was lent to the US government during the 1895 crisis, for the way he solved the panic of 1907, for hurting the Hartfort RR company by causing money problems, and turning the US steel corporation into a monopoly (by trying to take control of the making of bridges, ships, RR cars, rails, wire, nails, and other markets.).[1]
JP Morgan was one of the richest men in the world (if he wanted to, he and all his partner companies could have bought all the land owned by all of the 22 US states west of theMississippi River at that time (worth about $22.245 billion)). He did this through buying many companies and taking them over, usually becomingmonopolies.
The JP Morgan Company still runs today under the name ofJPMorgan Chase owned by stockholders. Today, it is one of the oldest banks in the world and a leading bank in the world.[1]
Atwood, Albert W. and Erickson, Erling A. "Morgan, John Pierpont, (Apr. 17, 1837 - Mar. 31, 1913)," inDictionary of American Biography, Volume 7 (1934)
Auchincloss, Louis.J.P. Morgan : The Financier as Collector Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (1990)ISBN0-8109-3610-0
Bryman Jeremy,J. P. Morgan: Banker to a Growing Nation : Morgan Reynolds Publishing (2001)ISBN1-883846-60-9
Carosso, Vincent P.The Morgans: Private International Bankers, 1854-1913. Harvard U. Press, 1987. 888 pp. ISBN978-0674587298
Carosso, Vincent P.Investment Banking in America: A History Harvard University Press (1970)
Chernow, Ron.The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance, (2001)ISBN0-8021-3829-2
Fraser, Steve.Every Man a Speculator: A History of Wall Street in American Life HarperCollins (2005)
Garraty, John A.Right-Hand Man: The Life of George W. Perkins. (1960)ISBN978-0313201868
Geisst; Charles R.Wall Street: A History from Its Beginnings to the Fall of Enron. Oxford University Press. 2004.online editionArchived 2012-07-01 at theWayback Machine
John Moody;The Masters of Capital: A Chronicle of Wall Street Yale University Press, (1921)online edition
Morris, Charles R.The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy (2005)ISBN978-0805081343
Strouse, Jean.Morgan: American Financier. Random House, 1999. 796 pp. ISBN978-0679462750
