- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJohn Pierpont Morgan
- Nicknames
- Pierpont
- J.P. Morgan Sr.
- John Pierpont Morgan is an American financier and banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known as J.P. Morgan and Co., he was a driving force behind the wave of industrial consolidation in the United States spanning the late 19th and early 20th century.
Over the course of his career on Wall Street, J.P. Morgan spearheaded the formation of several prominent multinational corporations including U.S. Steel Corporation, International Harvester and General Electric. He and his partners also held controlling interests in numerous other American businesses including AT&T, Western Union and 24 railroads. Due to his financial clout, Morgan came to wield enormous influence over the nation's lawmakers and finances. During the Panic of 1907, he organized a coalition of financiers that saved the American economy from collapse.
As the Progressive Era's leading financier, J.P. Morgan's dedication to efficiency and modernization helped transform the shape of the American economy. Adrian Wooldridge characterized Morgan as America's "greatest banker". Morgan died in Rome, Italy, in his sleep in 1913 at the age of 75, leaving his fortune and business to his son, John Pierpont Morgan Jr.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tango Papa
- The Personal Quotes section below lists two versions of the quotation "A man has two reasons for what he does...". The actual quote attributed to J.P. Morgan first appeared in author Owen Wister's memoir, "Roosevelt: The Story of a Friendship". Wister's book about his friendship with Theodore Roosevelt was published in 1930, 27 years after Morgan's death. According to Wister, Morgan once said, ""A man always has two reasons for what he does - a good one, and the real one". Previous versions of this quote are discussed in an article on QuoteInvestigator.com (see Miscellaneous Links).
- Biographer Ron Chernow estimated his fortune at only $118 million (of which approximately $50 million was attributed to his vast art collection).
- If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it.
- A man generally has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one.
- Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see farther.
- No problem can be solved until it is reduced to some simple form. The changing of a vague difficulty into a specific, concrete form is a very essential element in thinking.
- Well, I don't know as I want a lawyer to tell me what I cannot do. I hire him to tell how to do what I want to do.
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