专八人文知识需知的美国名人--华尔街巨头鼻祖J.P.摩根

专八人文知识需知的美国名人--华尔街巨头鼻祖J.P.摩根

　　英语专八人文知识涵盖的知识面较广，考生们需要平时多积累小常识，这样在专八考试中才能游刃有余，新东方在线整理了专八人文知识需知的美国名人系列知识点供考生们参考。

　　约翰·皮尔庞特·摩根(John Pierpoint Morgan Sr.，1837年4月17日-1913年3月31日)，美国银行家，亦是一位艺术收藏家。1892年，他撮合了爱迪生通用电力公司与汤姆逊-休士顿电力公司合并成为通用电气公司。在出资成立了联邦钢铁公司后，他又陆续合并了卡内基钢铁公司及几家钢铁公司，并在1901年组成美国钢铁公司。

　　John Pierpont Morgan (17 April 1837 – 31 March 1913) was anAmerican financier, banker and art collector who dominatedcorporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged themerger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form GeneralElectric. After financing the creation of the Federal Steel Company he merged the Carnegie SteelCompany and several other steel and iron businesses to form the United States Steel Corporationin 1901.

　　He died in Rome, Italy, in 1913 at the age of 75, leaving his fortune and business to his son, JohnPierpont "Jack" Morgan, Jr., and bequeathing his mansion and large book collections to TheMorgan Library & Museum in New York.

　　By 1901, he was one of the wealthiest men in the world. At the height of Morgan's career duringthe early 1900s, he and his partners had financial investments in many large corporations and wasaccused by critics of controlling the nation's high finance. He directed the banking coalition thatstopped the Panic of 1907. He was the leading financier of the Progressive Era, and his dedicationto efficiency and modernization helped transform American business. Morgan redefinedconservatism in terms of financial prowess coupled with strong commitments to religion and tohigh culture.

　　Early years

　　J. P. Morgan in his earlier years. Morgan went into banking in 1857 at his father's London branch,moving to New York City in 1858 where he worked at the banking house of Duncan, Sherman &Company, the American representatives of George Peabody & Company. From 1860 to 1864, asJ. Pierpont Morgan & Company, he acted as agent in New York for his father's firm. By 1864–1872, he was a member of the firm of Dabney, Morgan & Company; in 1871, he partnered withthe Drexels of Philadelphia to form the New York firm of Drexel, Morgan & Company.

　　During the early days of the American Civil War, U.S. forces in the field could not get enough rifles.Morgan financed the purchase and upgrading of old Hall carbines, which were quickly shipped totroops in Missouri. His profit was $5400, but after he ended his role the company that bought therifles had to sue the government for the money it was due; it won in court but socialists for yearsaccused Morgan falsely of selling defective guns.

　　Morgan, avoided military service by paying $300 for a substitute, while he worked to finance theUnion war effort.

　　J.P. Morgan & Company

　　Main article: J.P. Morgan & Co.

　　After the 1893 death of Anthony Drexel, the firm was rechristened "J. P. Morgan & Company" in1895, and retained close ties with Drexel & Company of Philadelphia, Morgan, Harjes & Companyof Paris, and J.S. Morgan & Company (after 1910 Morgan, Grenfell & Company), of London.Fifteen years later also marked his creation of the Chase Manhattan Bank. By 1900, it was one ofthe most powerful banking houses of the world, carrying through many deals especiallyreorganizations and consolidations. Morgan had many partners over the years, such as George W.Perkins, but remained firmly in charge.

　　Railroad battles

　　Morgan's ascent to power was accompanied by dynamic financial battles. He wrested control ofthe Albany and Susquehanna Railroad from Jay Gould and Jim Fisk in 1869. He led the syndicatethat broke the government-financing privileges of Jay Cooke, and soon became deeply involved indeveloping and financing a railroad empire by reorganizations and consolidations in all parts of theUnited States.

　　He raised large sums in Europe, but instead of only handling the funds, he helped the railroadsreorganize and achieve greater efficiencies. He fought against the speculators interested inspeculative profits, and built a vision of an integrated transportation system. In 1885, hereorganized the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad, leasing it to the New York Central. In1886, he reorganized the Philadelphia & Reading, and in 1888 the Chesapeake & Ohio. He washeavily involved with railroad tycoon James J. Hill and the Great Northern Railway.

　　After Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, Morgan set up conferences in 1889and 1890 that brought together railroad presidents in order to help the industry follow the newlaws and write agreements for the maintenance of "public, reasonable, uniform and stable rates."The conferences were the first of their kind, and by creating a community of interest amongcompeting lines paved the way for the great consolidations of the early 20th century.

　　Modernizing management

　　Morgan's process of taking over troubled businesses to reorganize them was known as"Morganization".[6] Morgan reorganized business structures and management in order to returnthem to profitability. His reputation as a banker and financier also helped bring interest frominvestors to the businesses he took over.

　　Newspapers

　　In 1896 Adolph Simon Ochs, who owned the Chattanooga Times, secured financing from Morganto purchase the financially struggling New York Times. It became the standard for Americanjournalism by cutting prices, investing in news gathering, and insisting on the highest quality ofwriting and reporting.

　　Treasury gold

　　In 1895, at the depths of the Panic of 1893, the Federal Treasury was nearly out of gold. PresidentGrover Cleveland arranged for Morgan to create a private syndicate on Wall Street to supply theU.S. Treasury with $65 million in gold, half of it from Europe, to float a bond issue that restored thetreasury surplus of $100 million. The episode saved the Treasury but hurt Cleveland with theagrarian wing of his Democratic party and became an issue in the election of 1896, when bankscame under withering attack from William Jennings Bryan. Morgan and Wall Street bankersdonated heavily to Republican William McKinley, who was elected in 1896 and reelected in 1900 ona gold standard platform.

　　Steel

　　After the death of his father in 1890, Morgan took control of J. S. Morgan & Co. which was re-named Morgan, Grenfell & Company in 1910. Morgan began talks with Charles M. Schwab,president of Carnegie Co., and businessman Andrew Carnegie in 1900. The goal was to buy outCarnegie's steel business and merge it with several other steel, coal, mining and shipping firms tocreate the United States Steel Corporation. In 1901 U.S. Steel was as the first billion-dollarcompany in the world with an authorized capitalization of $1.4 billion--much larger than any otherindustrial firm, and comparable in size to the largest railroads.

　　U.S. Steel aimed to achieve greater economies of scale, reduce transportation and resource costs,expand product lines, and improve distribution. It was also planned to allow the United States tocompete globally with Britain and Germany. U.S. Steel's size was claimed by Charles M. Schwab andothers to allow the company to pursue distant international markets-globalization. U.S. Steel wasregarded as a monopoly by critics, as the business was attempting to dominate not only steel butalso the construction of bridges, ships, railroad cars and rails, wire, nails, and a host of otherproducts. With U.S. Steel, Morgan had captured two-thirds of the steel market, and Schwab wasconfident that the company would soon hold a 75 percent market share. However, after 1901 thebusinesses' market share dropped. Schwab resigned from U.S. Steel in 1903 to form BethlehemSteel, which became the second largest U.S. producer on the strength of such innovations as thewide flange "H" beam—precursor to the I-beam—widely used in construction.

　　Morgan's role in the economy was denounced as overpowering in this hostile political cartoonLabor policy was a contentious issue. U.S. Steel was non-union and experienced steel producers,led by Schwab, wanted to keep it that way with aggressive tactics to identify and root out troublemakers. The lawyers and bankers who had organized the merger, notably Morgan and the CEOElbert "Judge" Gary were more concerned with long-run profits, stability, good public relations, andavoiding trouble. The bankers' views generally prevailed, and the result was a paternalistic laborpolicy. U.S. Steel was finally unionized in the late 1930s.

　　Critics

　　Enemies of banking attacked Morgan for the terms of his loan of gold to the federal government inthe 1895 crisis, for his financial resolution of the Panic of 1907, and for bringing on the financial illsof the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. In December 1912, Morgan testified before thePujo Committee, a subcommittee of the House Banking and Currency committee. The committeeultimately found that a cabal of financial leaders were abusing their public trust to consolidatecontrol over many industries: the partners of J.P. Morgan & Co. along with the directors of FirstNational and National City Bank controlled aggregate resources of $22.245 billion. Louis Brandeis,later a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, compared this sum to the value of all the property in thetwenty-two states west of the Mississippi River.

　　1907 Panic

　　The Panic of 1907 was a financial crisis that almost crippled the American economy. Major NewYork banks were on the verge of bankruptcy and there was no mechanism to rescue them untilMorgan stepped in personally and took charge, resolving the crisis. Treasury Secretary George B.Cortelyou earmarked $35 million of federal money to quell the storm but had no easy way to useit.

　　Morgan now took personal charge, meeting with the nation's leading financiers in his New Yorkmansion; he forced them to devise a plan to meet the crisis. James Stillman, president of theNational City Bank, also played a central role. Morgan organized a team of bank and trustexecutives which redirected money between banks, secured further international lines of credit,and bought plummeting stocks of healthy corporations. A delicate political issue arose regardingthe brokerage firm of Moore and Schley, which was deeply involved in a speculative pool in thestock of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. Moore and Schley had pledged over sixmillions of the Tennessee Coal and Iron (TCI) stock for loans among the Wall Street banks. Thebanks had called the loans, and the firm could not pay. If Moore and Schley should fail, a hundredmore failures would follow and then all Wall Street might go to pieces. Morgan decided they had tosave Moore and Schley. TCI was one of the chief competitors of U.S. Steel and it owned valuableiron and coal deposits. Morgan controlled U.S. Steel and he decided it had to buy the TCI stockfrom Moore and Schley. Judge Gary, head of US Steel, agreed, but would there be antitrustimplications that could cause grave trouble for US Steel, which was already dominant in the steelindustry? Morgan sent Gary to see President Theodore Roosevelt, who promised legal immunityfor the deal. U.S. Steel thereupon paid $30 million for the TCI stock and Moore and Schley wassaved. The announcement had an immediate effect; by November 7, 1907, the panic was over.Vowing to never let it happen again, and realizing that in a future crisis there was not likely to beanother Morgan, banking and political leaders, led by Senator Nelson Aldrich devised a plan thatbecame the Federal Reserve System in 1913.[15] The crisis underscored the need for a powerfulmechanism, and Morgan supported the move to create the Federal Reserve System.

　　Morgan corporations

　　In 1890-1913, 42 major corporations were organized or their securities were underwritten, inwhole or part, by J. P. Morgan and Company.

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