BIOGRAPHIES: THE HOUSE OF MORGAN - AN AMERICAN BANKING DYNASTY AND THE RISE OF MODERN FINANCE

THE HOUSE OF MORGAN: AN AMERICAN BANKING DYNASTY AND THE RISE OF MODERN FINANCE

The extraordinary biography of one of the most prolific financiers of his time, John Pierpont Morgan. He led the banking industry in one of the most prosperous periods of the American empire. He created world-class business conglomerates, served as the de facto central bank and had far-reaching influence on world finance.

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The story of the Morgan banks is nothing less than the history of Anglo-American finance itself. What the Rotschilds represented in the nineteenth century, the Morgans did in the twentieth century.

Started by an American banker, George Peabody, in London in 1838, it was inherited by Morgan family and transplanted to New York.

The early House of Morgan was something of a cross between a Central Bank and a Private Bank. It stopped panics, saved the gold standard, rescued New York City three times, and arbitrated financial disputes.

What gave the House of Morgan its tantalizing mystery was its governments links. It seemed insinuated into the power structure of many countries, especially the United States, England, and France, and, to a lesser degree, Italy, Belgium, and Japan.

The empire was shattered by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which erected a high wall between Commercial Banking and Investment Banking. In 1935, J.P. Morgan and Company chose to remain a commercial bank and spun off Morgan Stanley, an Investment house.

The Morgan banks perpetuate an ancient European tradition of wholesale banking, serving governments, large corporations, and rich individuals.