J. P. Morgan
American financier, head of J.P. Morgan & Co. (1837–1913)
Also known as: John Pierpont Morgan, Morgan, J.P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) was the dominant American investment banker of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and founder of the firm whose post-1913 successors anchor the American end of Quigley's banker-network analysis. In Tragedy and Hope and The Anglo-American Establishment Morgan — both the man and the House of Morgan — appears as the American partner of the City of London in the international financial coordination structure.
The Morgan office at 23 Wall Street
Quigley opens his banker-network analysis with Morgan as the New York centre of gravity. "Russell Leffingwell, Elihu Root, John W. Davis, John Foster Dulles, and S. Parker Gilbert" did not bear the Morgan name but "were parts of the system of influence which centered on the J. P. Morgan office at 23 Wall Street" (T&H 68). The firm operated through "corporations and governments, yet remained itself an obscure private partnership until international financial capitalism was passing from its dead end" (T&H 68). At the apex sat the man himself: meetings "of the highest strategic level [were held] in the awesome presence of J. P. Morgan himself" (T&H 85). By 1904 and again in 1924, Quigley records, "J. P. Morgan was able to sit back with a feeling of satisfaction to watch a presidential election in which the candidates of both parties were in his sphere of influence" (T&H 87).
Morgan and the Milner Group
The Anglo-American Establishment treats the Morgan firm and the Milner Group as durable trans-Atlantic counterparts. "The Milner Group has always had very close relationships with the associates of J. P. Morgan and with the various branches of the Carnegie Trust" (AAE 151). The interlock extended into U.S. policy-making: "the Peace Conference" was peopled with figures "most closely associated with J. P. Morgan and Company. The Morgan bank has never made any real effort to conceal its position in regard to the Council on Foreign Relations" (AAE 158). The 1924 Dawes Plan for German reparations was, Quigley says, "largely a J. P. Morgan production, drawn up by an international committee of financial experts presided over by the American banker Charles G. Dawes" (T&H 321). The 1931 financial offensive against the British Labour government — "the financiers led by Montagu Norman [and] J. P. Morgan forced the resignation of the British Labour government" (T&H 515) — illustrates the same operational pattern.
The civilizational context
In The Evolution of Civilizations the named bankers — "Rothschild, Morgan, Mirabaud, Baring, Montagu Norman, or even Ivar Kreuger" — represent the financial-capitalism phase of Western Civilization that was "replaced by great figures of monopoly capitalism like DuPont" after 1933 (EoC 382). When Morgan "organized the United States Steel Corporation," Quigley notes, the move "brought considerable elements of monopoly into the picture" (EoC 397). The The Professor Who Knew Too Much biographical essay records the moment of Quigley's own posthumous association with Morgan when, after the publication of T&H, "a photograph of Quigley shared a page with no less than financier J. P. Morgan" in the John Birch Society's pamphlet None Dare Call It Conspiracy (Professor Who Knew Too Much 2).
Cited in
- tragedy-and-hope · p. 68 Quigley
Were parts of the system of influence which centered on the J. P. Morgan office at 23 Wall Street. This firm, like others of the international banking fraternity, constantly operated through corporations and governments, yet remained itself an obscure private partnership.
- tragedy-and-hope · p. 85 Quigley
Meetings of the highest strategic level in the awesome presence of J. P. Morgan himself. The structure of financial controls created by the tycoons of 'Big Banking' and 'Big Business' in the period 1880-1933 was of extraordinary complexity.
- tragedy-and-hope · p. 87 Quigley
On two occasions, in 1904 and in 1924, J. P. Morgan was able to sit back with a feeling of satisfaction to watch a presidential election in which the candidates of both parties were in his sphere of influence.
- tragedy-and-hope · p. 321 Quigley
The Dawes Plan, which was largely a J. P. Morgan production, was drawn up by an international committee of financial experts presided over by the American banker Charles G. Dawes.
- tragedy-and-hope · p. 515 Quigley
The financiers led by Montagu Norman [and] J. P. Morgan forced the resignation of the British Labour government.
- anglo-american-establishment · p. 151 Quigley
The Milner Group has always had very close relationships with the associates of J. P. Morgan and with the various branches of the Carnegie Trust.
- anglo-american-establishment · p. 158 Quigley
The Peace Conference who were most closely associated with J. P. Morgan and Company. The Morgan bank has never made any real effort to conceal its position in regard to the Council on Foreign Relations.
- evolution-of-civilizations · p. 382 Quigley
Of economic life by financial figures, such as Rothschild, Morgan, Mirabaud, Baring, Montagu Norman, or even Ivar Kreuger, was ended and replaced by great figures of monopoly capitalism like DuPont.
- professor-who-knew-too-much · p. 2 Quigley
A photograph of Quigley shared a page with no less than financier J. P. Morgan. John Birch Society President Robert Welch predicted distribution of 15 million copies of None Dare Call It Conspiracy.