by Ron Chernow
On the publishing end, I would like to thank my London agent, Deborah Rogers, for her able handling of the manuscript and Nicholas Brealey, editorial director of Simon and Schuster, Limited, for his astute readings of the manuscript. At home, I have enjoyed the steady support of a marvelous group of people. My agent, Melanie Jackson, is the sort writers dream of but seldom find. She has been a Rock of Gibraltar in support, a prodigiously hard worker, and a joy to work with. The book would not have appeared without her. My editor, Morgan Entrekin, had a clear vision of the story from the start and never wavered in his enthusiasm or generosity. He delivered excellent advice and timely shots of adrenaline that sustained me through a long, complicated task. I couldn’t have asked for stronger faith. My parents, Ruth and Israel, provided my only research assistance in the final stages of the book and helped with the mammoth task of collecting photographs. They proved ideally loving, self-sacrificing parents—which I already knew. I owe the largest debt to my saintly wife and lovely muse, Valerie. She had to make room for this sacred monster, the House of Morgan, that suddenly loomed in our midst. She was wise, tender, loving, and solicitous in nursing me through my obsession. Perhaps in the end, the monster devoured us both.
ABBREVIATIONS
NOTES
PROLOGUE
1. FB, May 20, 1985; Hamilton, Financial Revolution, p. 80.
2. II, July 1976.
3. S. Parker Gilbert, comments made at Morgan Stanley Annual Meeting, May 5, 1988.
4. Hoffman, Deal Makers, p. 34.
CHAPTER ONE: SCROOGE
1. Wechsberg, Merchant Bankers, p. 14.
2. Hoyt, Peabody Influence, p. 106.
3. Chapple, George Peabody, p. 26.
4. Sobel, Panic on Wall Street, p. 41.
5. Hidy, George Peabody, p. 360.
6. Ibid., p. 40.
7. Birmingham, “Our Crowd,” p. 73.
8. Sampson, Money Lenders, p. 61.
9. Makin, Global Debt Crisis, p. 41.
10. Hidy, House of Baring, p. 309.
11. Hidy, George Peabody, p. 264.
12. Ziegler, Sixth Great Power, p. 155.
13. Ibid., pp. 154–55.
14. Hidy, House of Baring, pp. 326–27; Hidy, George Peabody, p. 273.
15. Hidy, George Peabody, p. 306.
16. Lamont, Across World Frontiers, p. 19.
17. Chapple, George Peabody, pp. 22–23.
18. Parker, George Peabody, p. 14.
19. JPMS, letter from Charles C. Gooch to George Peabody, October 31, 1856.
20. JPMJ, Reminiscences of J. P. Morgan, Jr., pp. 9–10, Insert A.
21. JPMS, Diary, October 2, 1854.
22. JPMJ, Reminiscences of J. P. Morgan, Jr., pp. 4–5.
23. Carosso, Morgans, p. 64.
24. Chapple, George Peabody, p. 21.
25. Carosso, Morgans, p. 64.
26. Ibid., p. 110.
27. Carter, Cyrus Field, p. 162.
28. NYT, October 21, 1987.
29. Parker, George Peabody, p. 93.
30. Chapple, George Peabody, p. 24.
31. Morgan Grenfell, George Peabody & Co.; J. S. Morgan & Co.; MorganGrenfell & Co., p. 5.
32. Parker, George Peabody, p. 8.
33. Chapple, George Peabody, p. 43.
34. Morgan Grenfell, George Peabody & Co.; J. S. Morgan & Co; MorganGrenfell & Co., p. 4.
35. JPMJ, Reminiscences of J. P. Morgan, Jr., p. 7.
36. Ibid., p. 12.
37. Carnegie, Autobiography, p. 270.
38. TWL, Box 112, Folder 13, letter from Vivian Hugh Smith, December 17, 1946.
CHAPTER TWO: POLONIUS
1. Moody and Turner, “Masters of Capital in America,” p. 7.
2. Smalley, Anglo-American Memories, p. 219.
3. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends, pp. 62–63.
4. Carosso, Morgans, p. 29.
5. Wechsberg, Merchant Bankers, p. 33.
6. B, April 1986.
7. Hughes, Vital Few, p. 410.
8. Jean Strouse, lecture, Pierpont Morgan Library.
9. Carosso, Morgans, p. 84.
10. Young, Merchant Banking, p. 25.
11. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 17.
12. Ziegler, Sixth Great Power, pp. 138–39.
13. Wechsberg, Merchant Bankers, p. 9.
14. Ibid., p. 197.
15. FO, February 1930.
16. Ziegler, Sixth Great Power, p. 85.
17. Carosso, Morgans, p. 84.
18. Hinton, Meyer, and Rodd, Comments about the Morgan Bank, p. 16.
19. Smalley, Anglo-American Memories, p. 216.
CHAPTER THREE: PRINCE
1. Josephson, Robber Barons, p. 24.
2. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 58.
3. Josephson, Robber Barons, p. 75.
4. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends, pp. 96–97, 102–3.
5. Gordon, Scarlet Woman of Wall Street, p. 240.
6. Carosso, Morgans, p. 142.
7. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends, p. 122.
8. JPMS, Letter Press Book, 1873–1880, letter to Junius S. Morgan, August 5, 1879.
9. Birmingham, “Our Crowd,” p. 143.
10. Carosso, Morgans, p. 144.
11. Sobel, Panic on Wall Street, p. 167.
12. Ibid., p. 172.
13. Ibid., p. 185.
14. Carosso, Morgans, p. 175.
15. Noyes, Market Place, p. 17.
16. Carosso, Morgans, p. 175.
17. Moody and Turner, “Masters of Capital in America,” p. 16.
18. JPMS, Letter Press Book, 1873–1880, letter to Junius S. Morgan, April 29, 1874.
19. Ibid., letter to Junius S. Morgan, April 1873.
20. Carosso, Morgans, p. 225.
21. Ibid., p. 280.
22. Ibid., p. 163.
23. Black, King of Fifth Avenue, p. 658.
24. Carnegie, Autobiography, pp. 165–66.
25. JPMS, Letter Press Book, 1873–1880, letter to Walter Hayes Burns, January 2, 1879.
26. Black, King of Fifth Avenue, p. 567.
27. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 243.
28. Carosso, Morgans, p. 274.
29. JPMS, Letter Press Book, 1873–1880, letter to Junius S. Morgan, July 24, 1873.
30. Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. Morgan, Junius S.
31. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 114.
32. Josephson, Robber Barons, p. 170.
33. Ibid., p. 87.
34. New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, “Prospectus.”
35. Carosso, Morgans, p. 225.
36. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 53.
37. Allen, Great Pierpont Morgan, p. 36.
38. JPMS, Letter Press Book, 1873–1880, letter to James J. Goodwin, February 24, 1880.
CHAPTER FOUR: CORSAIR
1. Allen, Great Pierpont Morgan, p. 52.
2. Josephson, Robber Barons, p. 338.
3. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 111.
4. Noyes, Market Place, p. 182.
5. Ibid., p. 53.
6. Moody and Turner, “Masters of Capital in America,” p. 20.
7. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 189.
8. U.K. Parliament, Committee to Review the Functionings of Financial Institutions, Evidence Given by the Accepting Houses Committee, p. 84.
9. Jackson, J. P. Morgan, p. 69.
10. Moulton, St. George’s Church New York, p. 112.
11. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 16.
12. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends, p. 158.
13. Moulton, St. George’s Church New York, p. 68.
14. Ibid., p. 79.
15. Ibid., p. 80.
16. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 69.
17. Ibid.
18. Josephson, Robber Barons, p. 293.
19. Carosso, Morgans, p. 254.
20. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends, pp. 162–63.
21. Ibid., p. 174.
22. Moody and Turner, “Masters of Capital in America,” p. 20.
23. Weller, New Haven R
ailroad, p. 19.
24. Hughes, Vital Few, p. 422.
25. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 76.
26. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends, p. 188.
27. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 146.
28. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends, pp. 178–79.
29. Klein, Life and Legend of lay Gould, p. 439.
30. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends, p. 180.
31. Klein, Life and Legend of Jay Gould, pp. 460–61.
32. Carosso, Morgans, p. 265.
33. T, April 9, 1890.
34. JPMJ, Box 3, Folder 1, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, July 12, 1887.
35. Carosso, Morgans, p. 274.
36. T, April 9, 1890.
37. Jackson, J. P. Morgan, p. 281.
38. JPMJ, Box 1, Folder 3, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, March 10, 1881.
39. Ibid., letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, March 27, 1881.
40. Ibid., letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, February 27, 1881.
41. JPMJ, Box 2, Folder 2, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, October 23, 1885.
42. JPMJ, Box 2, Folder 1, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, November 19, 1884.
43. JPMJ, Box 3, Folder 3, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, February 8, 1889.
44. JPMJ, Box 2, Folder 2, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, November 16, 1885.
45. Forbes, J. P. Morgan, Jr., p. 16.
46. Ibid., p. 22.
47. Hovey, Life Story of J. Pierpont Morgan, p. 318.
48. JPMJ, Box 3, Folder 3, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, March 18, 1889.
49. Ibid., letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, March ?, 1889.
50. Paul G. Pennoyer and Frances Tracy Pennoyer, interview with author.
51. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 115.
52. Ibid., p. 22.
53. Smalley, Anglo-American Memories, p. 230.
54. Josephson, Money Lords, p. 15.
55. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 22.
56. Smalley, Anglo-American Memories, p. 230.
57. NYT, February 19, 1964.
58. TWL, Box 110, Folder 3, memorandum to Robert Gordon Wasson, March 27, 1939.
59. Carosso, Morgans, p. 465.
60. Schacht, Confessions of the Old Wizard, pp. 97–98.
61. Carosso, Morgans, p. 366.
62. Ibid., p. 365
63. Winkler, Morgan the Magnificent, p. 116.
64. Moody, Masters of Capital, p. 29.
65. Leffingwell, Memorial of Charles Steele.
66. SEP, March 12, 1927.
CHAPTER FIVE: CORNER
1. Sampson, Money Lenders, p. 60.
2. WSJ, April 18, 1988.
3. Nevins, Grover Cleveland, p. 657.
4. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 98.
5. JSM, HC 3.1.1, telegram from J. P. Morgan, Sr., to J. S. Morgan & Co., February 1, 1895.
6. Nevins, Grover Cleveland, pp. 659–60.
7. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends, p. 30.
8. Allen, Great Pierpont Morgan, p. 90.
9. Winkler, Morgan the Magnificent, p. 19.
10. Satterlee, J. Pierpont Morgan, p. 289.
11. JSM, HC 3.2.2.2 (1), telegram from J.P. Morgan, Sr., to J. S. Morgan & Co., February 5, 1895.
12. Carosso, Morgans, p. 333.
13. Hale, Britain and Japan and the Financial Bogeymen, p. 10.
14. Glad, McKinley, Bryan, and the People, p. 177.
15. Scott, Robert Bacon, p. 78; Sinclair, Corsair, p. 96.
16. Hale, Britain and Japan and the Financial Bogeymen, epigraph.
17. Allen, Great Pierpont Morgan, p. 145.
18. Ibid.
19. Daniel, Chronicle of the 20th Century, p. 25.
20. Garraty, Right-Hand Man, p. 84.
21. JPMJ, Box 7, Folder 1, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, June 21, 1901.
22. Satterlee, J. Pierpont Morgan, p. 430.
23. Jackson, J. P. Morgan, p. 253.
24. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends p. 196.
25. JPMJ, Box 4, Folder 3, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, April 20, 1898.
26. Ibid., letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, March 28, 1898.
27. Ziegler, Sixth Great Power, p. 286.
28. Weller, New Haven Railroad, p. 17.
29. Pringle, Theodore Roosevelt, p. 227.
30. Hendrick, Life of Andrew Carnegie, p. 131.
31. Carosso, Morgans, p. 467.
32. Ibid., p. 466.
33. Allen, Great Pierpont Morgan, p. 140.
34. Satterlee, J. Pierpont Morgan, p. 346.
35. Scott, Robert Bacon, p. 83.
36. Josephson, Robber Barons, p. 425.
37. Carosso, Morgans, p. 84.
38. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 129.
39. Weller, New Haven Railroad, p. 148.
40. WSJ, November 15, 1988.
41. Cashman, America in the Gilded Age, p. 76.
42. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends, p. 61.
43. Wecter, Saga of American Society, p. 124.
44. Nicolson, Portrait of a Marriage, pp. 59–60.
45. Jackson, J. P. Morgan, p. 295.
46. Wecter, Saga of American Society, p. 124.
47. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 192.
48. Ibid., p. 69.
49. Scott, Robert Bacon, p. 71.
50. Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan & Friends, p. 27.
51. Scott, Robert Bacon, p. 70.
52. Sinclair, Corsair, p. 206.
53. Scott, Robert Bacon, p. 70.
54. Kobler, Otto the Magnificent, pp. 23–24.
55. Birmingham, “Our Crowd,” p. 19.
56. Auletta, Greed and Glory on Wall Street, p. 27.
57. Kobler, Otto the Magnificent, p. 23.
58. Adler, Jacob H. Schiff, p. 176.
59. Winkler, Morgan the Magnificent, p. 10.
60. Birmingham, “Our Crowd,” p. 147.
61. Scott, Robert Bacon, p. 91.
62. NYT, May 9, 1901.
63. NYH, May 9, 1901.
64. NYT, May 9, 1901.
65. Borkin, Robert R. Young, p. 21.
66. Winkler, Morgan the Magnificent, p. 190.
67. Johns, The Man Who Shot McKinley, pp. 126–27.
68. JPMJ, Box 7, Folder 1, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, April 20, 1901.
69. J, November 14, 1901.
CHAPTER SIX: TRUST
1. JPMJ, Box 6, Folder 1, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, February 21, 1899.
2. Forbes, J. P. Morgan, Jr., p. 41.
3. Ibid., p. 52.
4. Ibid.
5. JPMJ, Box 6, Folder 1, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, March 3, 1899.
6. JPMJ, Box 4, Folder 2, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, February 8, 1898.
7. JPMJ, Box 6, Folder 2, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, April 20, 1899.
8. Forbes, J. P. Morgan, Jr., p. 24.
9. JPMJ, Box 4, Folder 2, letter to Frances Tracy Morgan, February 25, 1898.