Thomas W. Lamont
Encyclopedia
Thomas William Lamont, Jr. (September 30, 1870 – February 2, 1948) was an American
banker.
. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy
in 1888 and earned his degree from Harvard University
in 1892. He became a generous benefactor of the school once he had amassed a fortune, notably funding the building of Lamont Library
. After 1910, he became a partner of J.P. Morgan & Co.
, and served as a U.S. financial advisor abroad in the 1920s and 1930s. During the 1919 Paris negotiations
leading up to the Treaty of Versailles
, Lamont was selected as one of two representatives of the United States Department of the Treasury
on the American delegation. He was at that time a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. He played a leading role for Morgan in directing both the Dawes Plan
and the Young Plan
.
Lamont later undertook a semiofficial mission to Japan in 1920 to protect American financial issues in Asia. However, he did not aggressively challenge Japanese efforts to build a sphere of influence in Manchuria
; indeed, he supported Japan's politics until late into the 1930s.
Lamont was also the chairman of the International Committee of Bankers on Mexico for whom he successfully negotiated the De la Huerta-Lamont Treaty
.
In 1926, Lamont, self-described as "something like a missionary" for Italian fascism
, secured a $100 million loan for Benito Mussolini
.
On Black Thursday in 1929, he was acting head of J.P. Morgan & Co. He tried to inject confidence back into the stock market
through massive purchases of blue chip stocks. Following the reorganization of J.P. Morgan & Co. in 1943, Lamont was elected chairman of the board of directors. For many years, he financed the Saturday Review of Literature.
At the end of World War II
, he made a very substantial donation toward restoring Canterbury Cathedral
in England
. His widow, Florence Haskell Corliss (whom he had married on October 31, 1895) donated Torrey Cliff, their weekend residence overlooking the Hudson River
in Palisades, New York
, to Columbia University
. It is now the site of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
. Upon her death, a bequest established the Lamont Poetry Prize.
Lamont was an influential member of the Council on Foreign Relations
, and one of the most important agents for the Morgan investments abroad. He was an unofficial mentor both to the (second) Woodrow Wilson
and the Herbert Hoover
administrations, and informed both the Dawes Plan
and the Young Plan
.
, in 1948. His son, Corliss
, was a philosophy professor at Columbia University
and an avowed socialist. Another son, Thomas Stilwell Lamont, was later vice-chairman of Morgan Guaranty Trust and a fellow of the Harvard Corporation. A grandson, Lansing Lamont, was a reporter with Time Magazine from 1961-74. He published several books, including You Must Remember This: A Reporter’s Odyssey from Camelot to Glasnost about his experiences covering the important events of the time, including the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Another grandson, Thomas William Lamont II, served in the submarine service on the USS Snook and died when the submarine sank in April, 1945. Thomas Lamont's great-grandson, Ned Lamont
, was the Democratic
nominee for U.S. Senate
from Connecticut
in 2006.
Lundberg, Ferdinand. America's Sixty Families
. New York: Vanguard Press, 1937.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
banker.
Biography
Lamont was born in Claverack, New YorkClaverack, New York
Claverack is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 6,401 at the 2000 census. The town name is a corruption for the Dutch word for "Clover Fields" or "Clover Reach"....
. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
in 1888 and earned his degree from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1892. He became a generous benefactor of the school once he had amassed a fortune, notably funding the building of Lamont Library
Lamont Library
Lamont Library is one of the primary buildings of the library system of Harvard University, located in the south-east corner of Harvard Yard. It was the first library at Harvard designed primarily for undergraduate students at Harvard College, to relieve pressure in the main Widener Library. It...
. After 1910, he became a partner of J.P. Morgan & Co.
J.P. Morgan & Co.
J.P. Morgan & Co. was a commercial and investment banking institution based in the United States founded by J. Pierpont Morgan and commonly known as the House of Morgan or simply Morgan. Today, J.P...
, and served as a U.S. financial advisor abroad in the 1920s and 1930s. During the 1919 Paris negotiations
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
leading up to the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
, Lamont was selected as one of two representatives of the United States Department of the Treasury
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
on the American delegation. He was at that time a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. He played a leading role for Morgan in directing both the Dawes Plan
Dawes Plan
The Dawes Plan was an attempt in 1924, following World War I for the Triple Entente to collect war reparations debt from Germany...
and the Young Plan
Young Plan
The Young Plan was a program for settlement of German reparations debts after World War I written in 1929 and formally adopted in 1930. It was presented by the committee headed by American Owen D. Young. After the Dawes Plan was put into operation , it became apparent that Germany could not meet...
.
Lamont later undertook a semiofficial mission to Japan in 1920 to protect American financial issues in Asia. However, he did not aggressively challenge Japanese efforts to build a sphere of influence in Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
; indeed, he supported Japan's politics until late into the 1930s.
Lamont was also the chairman of the International Committee of Bankers on Mexico for whom he successfully negotiated the De la Huerta-Lamont Treaty
De la Huerta-Lamont Treaty
The De la Huerta-Lamont Treaty was a treaty signed in 1922 between Mexico and the International Committee of Bankers on Mexico concerning Mexico’s substantial post-Mexican Revolution debts....
.
In 1926, Lamont, self-described as "something like a missionary" for Italian fascism
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
, secured a $100 million loan for Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
.
On Black Thursday in 1929, he was acting head of J.P. Morgan & Co. He tried to inject confidence back into the stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
through massive purchases of blue chip stocks. Following the reorganization of J.P. Morgan & Co. in 1943, Lamont was elected chairman of the board of directors. For many years, he financed the Saturday Review of Literature.
At the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he made a very substantial donation toward restoring Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. His widow, Florence Haskell Corliss (whom he had married on October 31, 1895) donated Torrey Cliff, their weekend residence overlooking the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
in Palisades, New York
Palisades, New York
Palisades, formerly known as Sneden's Landing, is a hamlet in the Town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of Rockleigh and Alpine, New Jersey; east of Tappan; south of Sparkill; and west of the Hudson River....
, to Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. It is now the site of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
The Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory is a research unit of Columbia University located on a campus in Palisades, N.Y., north of Manhattan on the Hudson River.- History :...
. Upon her death, a bequest established the Lamont Poetry Prize.
Lamont was an influential member of the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
, and one of the most important agents for the Morgan investments abroad. He was an unofficial mentor both to the (second) Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
and the Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
administrations, and informed both the Dawes Plan
Dawes Plan
The Dawes Plan was an attempt in 1924, following World War I for the Triple Entente to collect war reparations debt from Germany...
and the Young Plan
Young Plan
The Young Plan was a program for settlement of German reparations debts after World War I written in 1929 and formally adopted in 1930. It was presented by the committee headed by American Owen D. Young. After the Dawes Plan was put into operation , it became apparent that Germany could not meet...
.
Personal life
Lamont died in Boca Grande, FloridaBoca Grande, Florida
Boca Grande is a small residential community on Gasparilla Island, in southwest Florida. Gasparilla Island is a part of both Charlotte and Lee Counties, while the actual village of Boca Grande, which is home to many seasonal and some year-round residents, is entirely in the Lee County portion of...
, in 1948. His son, Corliss
Corliss Lamont
Corliss Lamont , was a socialist philosopher, and advocate of various left-wing and civil liberties causes. As a part of his political activities he was the Chairman of National Council of American-Soviet Friendship starting from early 1940s...
, was a philosophy professor at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and an avowed socialist. Another son, Thomas Stilwell Lamont, was later vice-chairman of Morgan Guaranty Trust and a fellow of the Harvard Corporation. A grandson, Lansing Lamont, was a reporter with Time Magazine from 1961-74. He published several books, including You Must Remember This: A Reporter’s Odyssey from Camelot to Glasnost about his experiences covering the important events of the time, including the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Another grandson, Thomas William Lamont II, served in the submarine service on the USS Snook and died when the submarine sank in April, 1945. Thomas Lamont's great-grandson, Ned Lamont
Ned Lamont
Edward Miner "Ned" Lamont, Jr. is a businessman and heir and most recently an unsuccessful candidate for the 2010 Democratic nomination for Governor of Connecticut. On May 22, 2010, Lamont received more than fifteen percent of the vote at the state Democratic convention, and appeared on the...
, was the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
nominee for U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
in 2006.
Literature
Lamont, Edward M. The Ambassador from Wall Street. The Story of Thomas W. Lamont, J.P. Morgan's Chief Executive. A Biography. Lanham MD: Madison Books, 1994.Lundberg, Ferdinand. America's Sixty Families
America's Sixty Families
America's 60 Families is a critical exposure by Ferdinand Lundberg of the leading groups in business and finance from 1896 to 1936. It traces the rise of the biggest industrial trusts from 1900 to 1920 and how their control passed over to finance capital after 1920...
. New York: Vanguard Press, 1937.