Bernard Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend

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Bernard Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend Page 45

by James Grant


  “a kind of Mecca . . .”: Quoted in Schwarz, p. 426.

  “The greatest asset . . .”: Ibid., p. 425.

  “Dear Chief: Ibid., p. 468.

  “great modern thinkers.”: Herman Baruch to Secretary of State, Apr. 12, 1945. (State Department document.)

  “THIS BARAUCH . . .”: Fred Jenny to Fulton Lewis, c. Sept. 1943; Baruch General Correspondence.

  “There has been . . .”: Baruch and Hancock, “War and Postwar Adjustment Policies,” Feb. 15, 1944, p. 7; Baruch papers. As late as Dec. 23, 1943 (Baruch to Garet Garrett), Baruch himself was worried about a postwar deflation, but his revised bullish opinion was correct.

  Baruch attitude toward Germany: See, for instance, Morgenthau Diaries, 45, Apr. 21, 1945, p. 106, in which Baruch was quoted as saying: “That is all I have to live for now is to see that Germany is deindustrialized and that it’s done the right way, and I won’t let anybody get in my way.” Morgenthau said that he spoke with tears in his eyes.

  “the President.”: Wallace interview, Columbia University Oral History Collection, p. 4012.

  Chapter Fifteen: The Atom and All

  “Asked old man . . .”: Robert H. Ferrell, ed., Off the Record: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman (New York, 1980), p. 87.

  “I am confused . . .”: Morgenthau Diaries, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, 44, p. 164; memorandum dated Mar. 13, 1945.

  “The real protection . . .”: New York Times, Mar. 29, 1946.

  Begging calls: Baruch wrote to Swope on Mar. 2, 1946: “There are so many friends and relatives who continually harass me for help of all kinds, that what with being bothered by them on the telephone, I would go mad.” Swope papers.

  “another messenger boy . . .”: Bernard M. Baruch, Baruch: The Public Years (New York, 1960), p. 361.

  “Hell, you are!”: Ibid., p. 363.

  “monopoly capitalism”: New York Times, Feb. 10, 1946.

  Baruch’s House Banking Committee testimony: Ibid., Mar. 26, 1946.

  “I have unlimited . . .”: Baruch to Senator Joseph Guffey, Feb. 24, 1945.

  “. . . I was quite sick.”: David E. Lilienthal, The Journals of David E. Lilienthal, Vol. II, The Atomic Energy Years, 1945–1950 (New York, 1964), p. 30.

  “I had grimly . . .”: Ibid., pp. 39–40.

  “predictable”: Informal Notes of a Meeting with the American Members of the Military Staff Committee, 10:30 a.m.—Sept. 12, 1946, p. 4 (State Department document).

  “Wall Streeters”: John M. Hancock, “Memorandum for Atomic Energy File” (State Department document), Apr. 19, 1946, p. 2. Hancock wrote as an aside: “I wonder as a matter of personal curiosity whether more generally abusive terms were not used.”

  Baruch’s accusation of Acheson: Acheson to Baruch, Aug. 23, 1946 (State Department document).

  Lilienthal suspicions: Lilienthal Journals, Vol. II, p. 42; wink of the eye: Adele Busch to author, May 4, 1983.

  “At least one hundred . . .”: Draft Memorandum to the Secretary of State, Mar. 31, 1946 (State Department document).

  “dominion”: Minutes of a meeting at Blair-Lee House, Washington, DC, Friday, May 17, 1946, p. 6 (State Department document). (Cited hereafter as Blair-Lee minutes.)

  Baruch’s Joint Chiefs meeting: Mentioned in Blair-Lee minutes, May 18, 1946, p. 37.

  Article X: Lilienthal Journals, Vol. II, pp. 130–132 (dated Jan. 11, 1947).

  “. . . a law without . . .”: Blair-Lee minutes, May 17, p. 18.

  “Don’t let these”: Lilienthal Journals, Vol. II, pp. 42–43.

  “Write down . . .”: Ibid., p. 53.

  Hiss memo: Hiss to Acheson, May 8, 1946 (State Department document).

  “I’ve got . . .”: Baruch, The Public Years, p. 369.

  “We are here . . .”: Quoted in E. J. Kahn, Jr., The World of Swope (New York, 1965), pp. 400–401.

  Lilienthal-Oppenheimer reaction: Lilienthal Journals, Vol. II, pp. 60–61.

  “rhetoric and truth . . .”: Quoted in Kahn, p. 401.

  “Conn must wish . . .”: Baruch, The Public Years, p. 379.

  10-2 vote: Lilienthal Journals, Vol. II, p. 69.

  “If it is good . . .” and ff.: Ibid., pp. 75–76.

  Newsprint story: Baruch, The Public Years, p. 378.

  Baruch’s resigned attitude: In a meeting on Aug. 1, a stenographer wrote: “Mr. Baruch stated that there has been a tremendous change in public attitude toward Russia. We must do everything we can to reach an agreement: nevertheless, ultimately, we must face the facts. If we have made every effort to reach an agreement, we can then face a break with a clear conscience.” (Notes on conference with General McNaughton and Mr. Ignatieff, Aug. 1, 1946, State Department document.)

  “Repeated efforts . . .”: Observations Concerning the Attitude of the Soviet Representatives on the Atomic Energy Commission, Aug. 12, 1946, p. 1.

  Baruch’s bomb suggestion: A minute-taker quoted him: “In strengthening our military potential against the day that negotiations may break down, efforts should be redoubled to accumulate stockpiles with raw materials and atomic bombs.” (Informal notes of staff meeting, 11 a.m.—Sept. 10, 1946, State Department document.)

  “We cannot afford . . .”: Memorandum for the President, Sept. 17, 1946, p. 21 (State Department document).

  “Is it any wonder . . .”: New York Times, Sept. 18, 1946.

  “The tougher . . .”: Ibid., Sept. 13, 1946.

  “main agent . . .”: Memo to the director of the FBI, Mar. 22, 1947; FBI document 62-45288-143.

  “Here’s the atomic . . .”: New York Times, Dec. 31, 1946.

  War College anecdote: Quoted in Lilienthal Journals, Vol. II, p. 258.

  “I’m just not . . .”: Ibid., p. 163.

  “Flatterer . . .”: Ferrell, p. 64.

  “rude, uncouth and ignorant . . .”: New York Journal American, Oct. 31, 1948. Just those words appear in Pegler’s notes of the conversation; Pegler papers.

  “The incident reflects . . .”: Krock to Pegler, Dec. 8, 1951; Pegler papers.

  “Let us . . .”: Quoted in Kahn, p. 403.

  “You performed . . .”: Quoted in Jordan A. Schwarz, The Speculator: Bernard M. Baruch in Washington, 1917–1965 (Chapel Hill, NC, 1981), p. 530.

  “For every paragraph . . .”: Pegler column (Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph), May 29, 1947.

  “Look at . . .”: Lilienthal Journals, Vol. Ill, Venturesome Years: 1950–1955, p. 31.

  Swope memos: Swope papers.

  “You son . . .”: Quoted in Kahn, p. 395.

  “It has been . . .”: Swope to Baruch, Apr. 30, 1948; Swope papers.

  “thrived on contention . . .”: Kahn, p. 440.

  “Mr. Baruch”: Swope to Baruch, Apr. 14, 1953.

  “substantial”: Swope note to himself, Dec. 28, 1953; Swope papers.

  “I have sensed . . .”: Baruch to Swope, Nov. 26, 1954.

  “Any person . . .”: New York Times, Aug. 17,1955. On Aug. 10, 1953, in a letter to E. D. Coblentz, Baruch offered this view on internal security: “Whether they [the Soviets] have the hydrogen bomb through spies I do not know but they certainly got the atomic bomb through spies. What else they got, we do not know but we do know that no one has the right to be a communist or a fellow-traveler while we face an antagonistic enemy—imperialistic communism.”

  Stock-market testimony: Stock Market Study; Hearings before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate, Washington, DC, 1955.

  “I used to wait . . .”: New York Times, Aug. 19, 1956.

  Baruch’s estate: According to probate documents, he left $115,801.84 in cash, $8.4 million in bonds, $5.5 million in stocks, with the balance in miscellaneous accounts.

  “It’s a terrible thing . . .”: Van Ess to author, June 5, 1982.

  “You know . . .”: Harold Epstein to author, July 9, 1980.

  Description of Baruch’s apartment: Dorothy Schiff in the New York Post, Oct. 21, 1951.

  Stock-market details: James Myers to
author.

  “Mr. Baruch stated . . .”: E. J. Powers to J. Edgar Hoover, Sept. 25, 1957 (FBI document).

  “his eyes . . .”: Harold Epstein to author, July 9, 1980.

  Malone story: Adele Busch to author, Feb. 12, 1980.

  Sapphire story: The source asked for anonymity.

  “You may wonder . . .”: Baruch to Coblentz, Mar. 5, 1955.

  “Tell Mr. Hoover . . .”: Edward Scheidt to J. Edgar Hoover, Nov. 15, 1950 (FBI document).

  “there is no use . . .”: Bernard M. Baruch, Baruch: My Own Story (New York, 1957), p. 50.

  “It would be a pretty . . .”: J. Leon Gasque, Jr., in oral history interview with the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Mar.-Apr. 1979.

  “Elizabeth, show her . . .” and ff.: Navarro to author, Feb. 21, 1980.

  “I can’t keep up . . .”: New York Times, Aug. 19, 1964.

  Niehans story: Helen Lawrenson, Stranger at the Party: A Memoir (New York, 1975), p. 161; and an interview with a doctor of Baruch’s who asked not to be identified.

  “live and be strong . . .”: Baruch to Rusk, Oct. 11, 1961.

  “That’s the best . . .”: Epstein to author, Apr. 15, 1980.

  “God damn it . . .”: Quoted in Kahn, p. 410.

  “Ah, who the hell . . .”: Epstein to author, July 9, 1980.

  Spellman story: Navarro to author, Feb. 21, 1980.

  Index

  #

  1929, Crash of 243, 267, 276–278, 281, 282–286, 287, 294, 325. See also Depression, Great

  Beruch’s prescience about 274

  A

  Abraham Lincoln Battalion 336, 435

  Acheson, Dean 319, 368

  Acheson-Lilienthal group 369, 374

  Acheson-Lilienthal report 369, 371, 375, 377

  Acton, Harry 325, 434

  Adams Express 282

  advertising 44, 269, 387

  Advisory Commission on National Defense 338

  Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) 312, 320

  agriculture

  Baruch’s activities in 122, 235

  in South Carolina 7, 239

  money demand and 236

  Alaska Gold Mine Company 108

  Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Company 108

  Aldrich, Nelson 104

  Allen, J. M. 146, 148, 416

  Allis-Chalmers 48

  Alloway, Henry 62

  Amalgamated Copper Company 80, 93, 102

  public disclosure by 54–55

  American Beet Sugar Company 126, 127, 131

  American Bicycle Company 48

  American Can Company 156

  American Legion 382, 398

  American Smelters Securities Company 90

  American Smelting & Refining Company 94–96, 269

  American Spirits Manufacturing Company 67

  American Stock Exchange 42, 92

  American Sugar Refining Company 35, 54

  American Tin Plate Company 41

  American Tobacco Company 64

  Anaconda Copper Co. 55, 278, 280, 283–285

  Anderson, Chandler P. 212

  anti-Semitism 328, 338, 350

  appendectomy 12

  Appleyard, Albert E. 60

  arbitrage 30, 76

  Baruch’s training in 24

  prohibition of 44

  armaments 187, 336

  Armour & Company 273

  Armour Grain Company 236

  Armsby, George 286, 288

  Army, US 100, 183, 184, 186, 200, 203–204, 209–210, 392

  du Pont and 187–191, 193

  in World War II 336–339, 357, 359, 362

  Arthurdale project 327

  Astor, Nancy 318

  Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 52

  Atiola (tungsten mine) 180

  Atlantic Coast Line 50, 264

  Atlantic Monthly C 265

  atomic bomb 199, 334, 368, 377, 442

  July memorandum and 381–382

  Atomic Development Authority 368

  Australia, gold-mining in 53

  Austria 162, 212, 220, 287, 294, 297

  automobile industry 206

  B

  Bache & Company 79

  Bache, Jules S. 71

  Baker, George F. 104, 284

  Baker, Newton D. 189, 295, 304

  Baker, Stephen 101

  Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) 163, 264–265, 268, 279, 289, 293–296

  Norman vs. 322–323

  Balzac, Honoré de 26

  bank deposits, federal insurance of 42

  bankruptcy

  of National Cordage Company 47

  of railroads 49, 74, 296

  of United States Flour & Milling Trust 48–49

  Baragwanath, John 249

  Barkley, Alben W. 260

  Barton, Bruce 273, 297

  Barton, Peggy 243

  Baruch, Annie Griffen (wife) 61–62, 65, 69, 82, 88, 180, 196, 227

  death of 333–334, 361

  description of 33–34

  in Hobcaw 114

  in New York City 116, 268

  marriage of 36

  pregnancies and childbirths of 66, 68, 72

  social credentials of 118

  travels of 85–86, 104, 106, 114, 210, 276, 307, 320

  Baruch, Belle (daughter) 85, 210, 320

  as equestrienne 118

  at Hobcaw 112, 115

  birth of 72

  death of 401

  encounter with anti-semitism 116–118

  Hobcaw turned over to 114

  Baruch, Bernard Mannes

  accent of 6

  affairs of 361

  amiability of 19, 66

  and the press 59, 100, 119, 129, 139, 218–219, 306, 325–326, 343–344, 357, 359, 381, 394. See also specific news sources

  anti-Semitism and 328, 338, 350

  apprenticeships of 22–23, 39, 192

  as a fighter 12, 25, 27, 335

  as a Jew 5, 19, 117–118, 163, 183, 195, 209, 232, 255, 257, 325, 345, 398, 400

  as a parental failure 116

  as a southerner 6, 159–160, 208

  as delegate to UN Atomic Energy Commission 369

  as diplomat 217, 382

  as eclectic 7, 63, 248, 335, 393

  as éminence grise 312

  as encyclopedic young man 27

  as entertainer 219, 343, 398

  as financial establishment 119–121

  as gold partisan 53

  as golfer 116, 118

  as gym instructor 25

  as ideal subordinate 182–183

  as investment banker 63, 105

  as model patient 334

  as New York Stock Exchange governor 103, 123, 139

  as peacemaker after World War I 209–230

  as peripatetic millionaire 111

  as pro-German 220–222

  as proponent of war preparedness 159, 161, 163, 172, 330, 338, 341, 370

  as railroad bondholder 133–145, 153, 295

  as railroad buff 133

  as Republican voting Democrat 124

  as second-most-important man 2

  as short seller 66, 71, 77, 79, 81–83, 89, 96, 103, 124, 170–171, 174–175, 267, 271, 279–280, 288

  as southerner 6, 159, 160, 208

  as venture capitalist 63, 105, 281, 303

  autobiography of (My Own Story) 5, 7, 9, 17, 87, 101, 181, 224, 265, 274, 288, 326, 398, 400

  automobiles and boats of 111–112, 238

  birth of 5

  brokerage partnership 34, 61, 86–88

  card-playing and 23, 116, 144, 277, 399

  caution of 103, 144, 158, 207, 303

  charity of 233, 239

  charm of 71–72, 315, 375

  chauffeurs of 89, 112, 161–162, 213, 238

  childhood of 5–19

  club memberships of 118–119, 343

  coming of age of 37

  commodities experience of 97

  congressional investigation of 164�
�177

  cruel streak of 396–397

  deafness of 361–362, 398

  death of 400–401

  decisiveness of 62, 194, 196

  description of 5, 220

  diary of 193

  education of 2, 16–19, 24

  elephant analogy of 144, 303

  financial ambitions of 63

  financial inventory of (1931) 293–295

  financial losses of 67, 98, 198, 230, 233, 265, 267–268, 276, 286, 289

  “free ride” of 30

  gambling of 22, 24, 156

  ghostwriters used by 228, 241, 326

  gossip about 132, 169, 220

  guilty feelings of 23, 310, 333

  “his métier was peril” said of 335

  honorary degrees and awards of 307, 382–383

  hunting and 115

  hypochondria of 334, 359–360

  in Advisory Commission 163–164, 181, 183–184, 196, 198, 338

  income and net worth of 156, 294, 394

  income-tax returns of 276

  independence of 306

  in Great Depression 287–291

  in lawsuits 105, 112

  inside information used by 55, 89, 316

  integrity of 81, 87–88, 370

  intelligence of 19, 260, 370

  introspection of 88, 289

  jokes about 5, 141, 317, 378

  leisure-time travels of 120–121, 132, 162, 202, 257, 273, 336

  loyalty of and to 6, 199, 254, 321

  marriage proposals offered to 360–361

  medical ambitions of 21

  memo to himseIf (1930) 289–292

  nicknames of 5, 12, 19, 203, 372

  patriotism of 16, 231, 331, 339, 341

  personal safety of 293

  philosophy of life 202–203, 230

  political ambitions of 257, 259

  political changeability of 63, 248–249, 335, 393

  political contributions of 274

  political credo of 304–305

  political favors of 160–161

  public-policy debates of 390–392

  restlessness of 24, 81, 254

  rheumatism and gout of 163, 296, 306, 335, 398

  seasickness of 111

  self-confidence of 69, 71, 97

  social standing of 92, 118

  speaking style of 168, 217

  speeches of 307–308, 313–314, 376–378, 400

 

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