# The house of Morgan

J.P. Morgan and the bank that rescued the US Treasury, formed US Steel, and stopped the Panic of 1907, to the Glass-Steagall split.

*This story part of: The bankers*
*This story part of: Money and finance*
*The Rothschilds parallel this story*
*The Rockefellers parallel this story*

## 1871 — Drexel, Morgan and Company is founded

J. Pierpont Morgan partnered with Anthony Drexel to form Drexel, Morgan and Company in 1871. The firm became the base of Morgan's power in American finance and was later renamed J.P. Morgan and Company.

## 1885 — Morgan brokers peace between rival railroads

In 1885 Morgan mediated a truce between the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads aboard his yacht. Such deals began the practice of Morganization, in which he reorganised and controlled major railroads.

## 1892 — Formation of General Electric

In 1892 Morgan financed the merger of Edison General Electric with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company to create General Electric. It became one of the largest industrial firms in the world.

## 1895 — Firm renamed J.P. Morgan and Company

The firm took the name J.P. Morgan and Company in 1895 after the death of Anthony Drexel. It was now the dominant American investment bank.

## February 1895 — Morgan rescues the US Treasury gold reserve

In February 1895 J.P. Morgan led a banking syndicate that lent gold to the United States Treasury to defend the gold standard during a financial crisis. The deal showed how much power private bankers held over public finance.

## 2 March 1901 — Formation of U.S. Steel

On 2 March 1901 Morgan merged Carnegie Steel with other firms to create United States Steel. Capitalised at about 1.4 billion dollars, it was the world's first billion-dollar corporation.

## 1904 — Northern Securities antitrust case

The Supreme Court in 1904 ordered the breakup of Northern Securities, a railroad holding company Morgan had helped form. The case was an early victory for federal trust-busting under President Theodore Roosevelt.

## October 1907 — Morgan halts the Panic of 1907

During the Panic of 1907 J.P. Morgan organised bankers to pool funds and stop a wave of bank failures. His personal leadership steadied the system and spurred later creation of the Federal Reserve.

## 1912 to 1913 — Pujo Committee money-trust hearings

A House subcommittee led by Arsene Pujo investigated concentrated control of finance, the so-called money trust, in 1912 and 1913. Morgan testified in December 1912, and the hearings fed support for banking reform.

## 1913 — J.P. Morgan dies in Rome

Six weeks after the report was issued and just past midnight on March 31, 1913, Morgan died at the Grand Hotel in Rome. His partners attributed the death of the great titan to...

> "Six weeks after the report was issued and just past midnight on March 31, 1913, Morgan died at the Grand Hotel in Rome. His partners attributed the death of the great titan to the stress of the Pujo investigations. There may have been some truth to that, but as Morgan’s biographer Ron Chernow wrote, “Pierpont was seventy-five ."
> — All the Presidents' Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power

## 31 March 1913 — J.P. Morgan dies in Rome

John Pierpont Morgan died in Rome in March 1913. Control of the bank passed to his son, J.P. Morgan Jr.

## 1915 — Morgan bank funds Allied war loans

During the First World War the Morgan bank acted as purchasing agent for Britain and France and arranged large Allied loans in 1915. The role tied American finance closely to the Allied cause.

## 16 September 1920 — Wall Street bombing outside the Morgan bank

On 16 September 1920 a bomb hidden in a wagon exploded outside the J.P. Morgan headquarters at 23 Wall Street, killing about 38 people. The attack was never solved but was widely blamed on anarchists.

## 24 October 1929 — Morgan bankers try to steady the 1929 crash

On Black Thursday in October 1929 a group of leading bankers met at the Morgan offices and pooled money to buy shares and calm the market. The effort slowed the fall only briefly before the crash resumed.

## 16 September 1935 — Morgan Stanley splits from J.P. Morgan

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 forced banks to separate commercial and investment banking. J.P. Morgan stayed in commercial banking while partners founded the investment bank Morgan Stanley in September 1935.