1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--and How It Shattered a Nation - 51
The ordinary human being : George Sylvester Viereck, “What Life Means to Einstein,” Saturday Evening Post , October 26, 1929. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT “How did you go bankrupt?” : Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1926). GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT “Human history be...
The ordinary human being : George Sylvester Viereck, “What Life Means to Einstein,” Saturday Evening Post , October 26, 1929.
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“How did you go bankrupt?” : Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1926).
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“Human history becomes” : H. G. Wells, The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind (Macmillan Company, 1920).
The full quote: “Civilization is in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have.”
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Mitchell strode up the steps : W. F. Wamsley, “The Ruler of the World’s Largest Bank,” New York Times , September 29, 1929.
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central hall of his : National City is the forerunner to Citigroup. It merged with First National Bank of the City of New York in 1955 and was rebranded as Citibank in 1976. After another series of mergers, it became Citigroup in 1998.
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eighty-three-foot ceiling : “City Bank to Move with $50,000,000,” New York Times , December 13, 1908.
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doors protecting a safe : “City Bank to Move with $50,000,000,” New York Times .
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the largest in the country : Wamsley, “The Ruler of the World’s Largest Bank.”
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just past 5:30 p.m. : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell , 32 B.T.A. 1093, 1935 BTA LEXIS 843 (June 1933).
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sharp, dizzying drop : Gary Richardson, Alejandro Komai, Michael Gou, and Daniel Park, “Stock Market Crash of 1929,” Federal Reserve History, November 22, 2013.
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The darkening downtown streets : “Table of Sunrise/Sunset, Moonrise/Moonset, or Twilight Times for an Entire Year; New York, NY; Rise and Set for the Sun for 1929,” US Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department, accessed May 18, 2025.
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Would the markets even open? : “Exchange Holiday Urged,” New York Times , October 29, 1929.
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the teller windows : “(Former) National City Bank Building,” New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, January 12, 1999, https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1979.pdf .
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The room was furnished : “Troubles of Mitchell,” Time , November 18, 1929.
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whom the press called : Kathleen Day, Broken Bargain: Bankers, Bailouts, and the Struggle to Tame Wall Street (Yale University Press, 2019), 45.
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emergency meetings at the Federal Reserve : Helvering v. Mitchell , 303 US 391 (1938).
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to confer with Hugh Baker : Helvering v. Mitchell .
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“Our portfolio today has been tremendously” : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell , testimony of Hugh B. Baker.
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That is unbelievable : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell , testimony of Hugh B. Baker.
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a bold acquisition : “National City Unites with Corn Exchange; Forms Largest Bank,” New York Times , September 20, 1929.
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to pull off the deal : Thomas F. Huertas and Joan L. Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell: Scapegoat of the Crash?,” Business History Review 60, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 81–103.
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Corn Exchange shareholders could take $360 : “National City Unites with Corn Exchange; Forms Largest Bank,” New York Times .
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trading at $496 a share : “National City Unites with Corn Exchange; Forms Largest Bank,” New York Times .
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seventy-one thousand of its own : Huertas and Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell.”
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“knocked over with a feather” : Helvering v. Mitchell .
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which cost about $32 million : Helvering v. Mitchell .
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“It would be embarrassing” : Helvering v. Mitchell .
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A “lack of confidence” : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell .
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responsible for originating a quarter : Huertas and Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell.”
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During the Panic of 1907 : Frederick Lewis Allen, The Lords of Creation: The History of America’s 1 Percent (Open Road Integrated Media, 1935), 246.
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Mitchell had worked behind the cages : Bruce Barton, “Is There Anything Here That Other Men Couldn’t Do?,” American Magazine , February 1923.
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He’d built the place : Wamsley, “The Ruler of the World’s Largest Bank.”
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the three men piled : Helvering v. Mitchell .
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sleeping on the floors : “Weary Runners Nap on Bank’s Marble Floor; Mitchell Orders Chairs Brought for Them,” New York Times , October 31, 1929.
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they reviewed the events : Helvering v. Mitchell .
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“a perpendicular drop” : Commissioner of Internal Revenue vs. Charles E. Mitchell , trial transcript, vol. 3, part 4.
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When Mitchell arrived at his : The Mitchell home, at 934 Fifth Avenue between East Seventy-Fourth and Seventy-Fifth Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is now the French consulate.
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more than a dozen : Craig Mitchell, “I Remember Fifth,” Town & Country , September 1989.
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for a formal dinner : James L. Grant, Bernard M. Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (John Wiley & Sons, 1997).
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after a sleepless night : Helvering v. Mitchell .
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a “setting up” drill : Barton, “Is There Anything Here That Other Men Couldn’t Do?”
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“No amount of brilliance” : Barton, “Is There Anything Here That Other Men Couldn’t Do?”
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New York Times front page : “Stock Prices Slump $14,000,000,000 in Nation-Wide Stampede to Unload; Bankers to Support Market Today,” New York Times , October 29, 1929.
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the Daily News led with : “Stock Crash 10 Billion Dollars,” New York Daily News , October 29, 1929.
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become a lightning rod : “Glass Assails Mitchell for Bank’s Aid to Market, Stocks Up in Buying Rush,” New York Times , March 29, 1929.
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had even coined a term : “Business of Nation Unshaken, Declare Treasury Officials,” Philadelphia Inquirer , October 25, 1929.
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two drivers on his payroll : Mitchell, “I Remember Fifth.”
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“Something must be done” : Helvering v. Mitchell .
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“the most devastating day” : John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929 (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1955), 116.
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cars, radios, and dishwashers : Becky Little, “Why the Roaring Twenties Left Many Americans Poorer,” History, March 23, 2021.
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starting to sell its vehicles : “Culture of Debt Was Driven by GM,” Marketplace, December 26, 2009.
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Sears, Roebuck & Co. offered : “Installment Buying, 1920–1930,” CQ Press, January 1930.
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middle-class Americans opened : Gene Smiley and Richard H. Keehn, “Margin Purchases, Brokers’ Loans and the Bull Market of the Twenties,” Business and Economic History 17 (1988): 129–42.
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in excess of $100 million : “William C. Durant, Auto Pioneer, Dies,” New York Times , March 19, 1947.
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proudly committed to slashing taxes : John Hendrikson, “Budget and Tax Lessons from President Calvin Coolidge,” Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, December 10, 2014.
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He was wildly popular : David Greenberg, Calvin Coolidge (Henry Holt and Company, 2006), 57.
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Dorothy Parker presided : James R. Gaines, Wit’s End: Days and Nights of the Algonquin Round Table (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977).
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Central Park West : Guide to New York City Landmarks , 3rd ed. (John Wiley & Sons, 2004).
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swelled to almost seven million : “1900–1930—Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Population, Volume 6: Families, Table 4,” U.S. Census Bureau, October 8, 2021.
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Women were neither welcomed : Paulina Bren, She-Wolves: The Untold History of Women on Wall Street (W. W. Norton & Company, 2024).
On December 28, 1967, Muriel “Mickie” Siebert became the first woman to buy a seat on the NYSE.
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according to his son : Arthur Marx, My Life with Groucho (Barricade Books, 1992), 95.
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“Look at this, will you?” : Marx, My Life with Groucho , 95.
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“this thing is bigger” : Marx, My Life with Groucho , 96.
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Groucho was impressed : Marx, My Life with Groucho , 96.
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took stock tips : William K. Klingaman, 1929: The Year of the Great Crash (Harper & Row, 1989), 90.
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the Goldman Sachs Trading Corporation : “Investment Trust Stock Subscribed, 900,000 Shares of New Goldman Sachs Trading Corp. Priced at 104 Each,” Brooklyn Daily Times , December 7, 1928.
Goldman Sachs, then a private partnership, launched Goldman Sachs Trading Corporation in 1928.
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Marx got a phone call : Marx, My Life with Groucho , 125.
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On the chilly, windswept evening : “Morgan and Young Sail with Advisers,” New York Times , February 2, 1929.
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designed by the same architects : “Grand Central Grandeur, in the Village,” Village Preservation Blog , January 31, 2013, https://www.villagepreservation.org/2013/01/31/grand-central-grandeur-in-the-village/ .
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a luxurious, four-funneled : “Giant Cunarder Launched To-Day,” Jersey Journal , April 21, 1913.
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Lamont, the distinguished fifty-eight-year-old : “Morgan and Young Sail with Advisers,” New York Times .
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Germany was either unwilling : John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace (Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920).
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“Mr. Lamont! Mr. Lamont!” : “Morgan and Young Sail with Advisers,” New York Times .
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Lamont effectively ran the bank : “Business: Faith, Bankers & Panic,” Time , November 11, 1929.
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Jack made sure to always : Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (Simon & Schuster, 1990).
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“Mr. Morgan speaks to Mr. Lamont” : Anonymous, The Mirrors of Wall Street (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1933).
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Jack was also bound for Paris : “Morgan and Young Sail with Advisers,” New York Times .
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the so-called House on the Corner : “The House on the Corner,” Wall Street Journal , September 23, 1926.
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“Tell him a joke” : “Business: Faith, Bankers & Panic,” Time .
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Lamont was especially proud : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street (Madison Books, 1993).
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“most coveted posts in Wall Street” : “Sons of 3 Partners Enter Morgan Firm,” New York Times , January 1, 1929.
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handed out bonus envelopes : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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“Some influences that will serve” : “The Financial Outlook for 1929,” New York Times , January 1, 1929.
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“There are basic indications” : Randolph Bartlett, “Portrait of a Year: 1929,” American Mercury , October 1935, 144.
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the Lamonts hosted a dinner party : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 250–51.
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In an after-dinner parlor game : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 250–51.
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a letter about the evening : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 250.
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encouraged his four children : Corliss Lamont, The Thomas Lamonts in America (A. S. Barnes, 1971).
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he became an editor : “T. W. Lamont Is Dead in Florida,” Harvard Crimson , February 3, 1948.
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“The other reporters used to poke” : Thomas William Lamont, Across World Frontiers (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1951).
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to give his new wife : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 35.
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The legendary Morgan was seventy : “J. P. Morgan’s Life One of Triumphs,” New York Times , April 1, 1913.
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“greatest international banking firm” : Martin Horn, J.P. Morgan & Co. and the Crisis of Capitalism: From the Wall Street Crash to World War II (Cambridge University Press, 2022).
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“what the business world considered” : Frederick Lewis Allen, The Lords of Creation: The History of America’s 1 Percent (Open Road Integrated Media, 1935).
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Morgan had been attending : Robert F. Bruner, The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market’s Perfect Storm (John Wiley & Sons, 2007).
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On the evening of Saturday : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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he never forgot the experience : Thomas William Lamont, Across World Frontiers , 36.
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he played solitaire and smoked : Bruner, The Panic of 1907 , 131.
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“The situation must not get” : Thomas William Lamont, Across World Frontiers , 36.
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Lamont got a surprise : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 41.
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“Come over by me” : Thomas William Lamont, Across World Frontiers , 40.
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Lamont nodded in agreement : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 47; Thomas William Lamont, Across World Frontiers .
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By now Thomas and Florence : Lamont was known as a family man, devoted to his wife, Florence, and four children. In 1926, she sent him a letter, suggesting she had discovered he was having an affair: “How could you keep this secret so long? And why didn’t you confide in me? I think I have always been very generous about your lady friends & little peccadilloes, and that I deserved your trust and confidence. And her name is Eleanor too…I feel that I can not have her in the New York house…After all your tender little episodes with Amelia B…I am getting letters of sympathy from every side. Your broken-hearted, Florence.”
At the time, Thomas was vacationing on the island of Nassau. The letter was prompted by the publication of a picture of their daughter, fifteen-year-old Eleanor Lamont, in the New York Times ’s Sunday Rotogravure magazine. But it clearly wasn’t the young woman. This Eleanor Lamont was older—Tom’s paramour, perhaps?
The paper had mistakenly printed a portrayal of another woman by an artist who had also painted the younger Eleanor. But the “other woman” was a stranger. Florence had written the letter to her husband in fun, attaching the newspaper article; according to Lamont’s son Corliss “the whole episode remained one of the big family jokes for a long time.”
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three sons and a daughter : While Thomas Lamont may have been a great capitalist, his son Corliss grew up to become an avowed socialist. Corliss did not appear to have a falling-out with his father, but he did write a book in 1939 about his views called You Might Like Socialism: A Way of Life for Modern Man .
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“Take along a couple of nurses” : Thomas William Lamont, Across World Frontiers .
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“the seats of the mighty” : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 43.
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to bribe journalists and plant stories : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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Through personal letters and lunches : Horn, J.P. Morgan & Co. and the Crisis of Capitalism , 49.
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Critics called it “the money trust” : “No Money Trust, Says Morgan Firm; in Statement to Pujo Committee It Denies That 180 Men Control $25,000,000,000,” New York Times , January 25, 1913.
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“The great monopoly” : Ray Stannard Baker and William E. Dodd, eds., The Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson, College and State , 2 vols. (Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1925), 307.
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The main target : “No Money Trust, Says Morgan Firm,” New York Times .
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Lamont convinced Morgan : Chernow, The House of Morgan , 150.
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Lamont’s plan was simple : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 49.
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Lamont returned to Morgan’s library : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 50.
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Morgan fiercely held his ground : “Testimony of J.P. Morgan Before the Bank and Currency Committee of the House of Representatives, at Washington D.C.,” Library of Congress, December 18 and 19, 1912.
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Perhaps the finest distillation : “Testimony of J.P. Morgan Before the Bank and Currency Committee of the House of Representatives, at Washington D.C.”
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Morgan died three months later : “J.P. Morgan’s Bier Seen Only by Few,” New York Times , April 13, 1913.
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Morgan left instructions for the ceremony : “J.P. Morgan’s Bier Seen Only by Few,” New York Times .
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Morgan’s successor as head : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 40, 56.
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he had been the subject : Ferdinand Pecora, “Reminiscences of Ferdinand Pecora, 1962,” interview by Donald F. Shaughnessy, 1962, Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University, 855. Lamont told Pecora: “He was always a shy man that avoided public contact as much as possible…. When the younger Morgan was in his teens, an attempt was made to kidnap him. It threw a deep alarm into the whole family, particularly his father, because this was his only son…. From that time on, the younger Morgan was always surrounded by bodyguards, even when he went to college.”
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nearly 230 letters and telegrams : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 1, 143, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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The most audacious : Chernow, The House of Morgan , 307.
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With the aid of Morgan partners : “Van Sweringen, Oris Paxton and Mantis James,” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, accessed May 19, 2025, Case Western Reserve University, case.edu/ech/articles/v/van-sweringen-oris-paxton-and-mantis-james .
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Lamont availed himself : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 1, 143, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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read like a casual friendly note : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 1, 143, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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Lamont personally dictated the telegrams : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency , United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 5, 2521, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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the only man to have ever : “International: Nothing Resounding,” Time , August 24, 1931; Nomi Prins, All the Presidents’ Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power (Hachette, 2014).
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“Car No. 27, Room A” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency , United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 5, 2521, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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the 3,230-passenger ship : “A New Cunarder ‘Aquitania,’ ” Scientific American , June 6, 1914.
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balustrade copied from a French château : “Luxury on the Aquitania,” New York Times , March 8, 1914.
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At 11 a.m. waiters served consommé : “Artist Steals Ride 1st Class in Aquitania,” New York Herald Tribune , October 19, 1929.
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The spacious first-class dining room : “Artist Steals Ride 1st Class in Aquitania,” New York Herald Tribune .
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Daily social events included : “Program of Events—RMS Aquitania—September 1929,” Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives, accessed May 19, 2025, ggarchives.com/OceanTravel/OnboardEvents/Cunard-1929-09-EventsProgram-Aquitania.html .
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one other audacious piece of business : Warren Sloat, 1929: America Before the Crash (Macmillan, 1979), 96–97.
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Lamont represented ITT : Sloat, 1929 , 96.
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Lamont now found himself : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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“Long talks with Young” : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 173, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA.
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two lengthy cables to his office : Thomas W. Lamont, “Diary of T.W. Lamont,” February 1–7, 1929.
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“not very cold, but no sunshine” : Lamont, “Diary of T.W. Lamont.”
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After eight days at sea : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 173.
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“Had quiet and fairly restful trip” : Lamont, “Diary of T.W. Lamont.”
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“Had a wonderfully fine crossing” : Henry Wales, “Morgan Smiles at First Tests as ‘Public Man,’ ” Chicago Tribune , February 9, 1929.
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“Plenty of hard work” : Wales, “Morgan Smiles at First Tests as ‘Public Man.’ ”
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his office at 55 Wall Street : “(Former) National City Bank Building,” New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, January 12, 1999, s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1979.pdf .
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Charles Mitchell walked three blocks : “Wall Street Breathes Easier After Federal Reserve Board Leaves Rediscount Rate Same,” Associated Press, February 15, 1929.
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The structure occupied a full block : “Federal Reserve Bank of New York,” New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, December 21, 1965, s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0054.pdf .
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it had just opened in 1924 : “Reserve Bank Here Begins Removal,” New York Times , May 30, 1924.
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The lowest of the bank’s four : John C. Williams, “The Gold Beneath Our Feet,” speech at Federal Reserve Bank of New York, November 6, 2019.
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Mitchell had been appointed : Thomas F. Huertas and Joan L. Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell: Scapegoat of the Crash?,” Business History Review 60, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 100.
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the Fed itself was barely fifteen : Albert Kraus, “Reserve System: How It All Began; Wilson Signed Act in ’13 to Halt Monetary Crises,” New York Times , December 7, 1965.
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the reality that had emerged : David Wessel, In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic (Crown Business, 2009).
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When the Fed was born : Huertas and Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell,” 81–103.
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board of the New York Fed : “Directors and Officers of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 1914–1956,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York, fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/historical/brookings/17502_newyork.pdf .
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Mitchell owed his ascension : “People: Fed’s Formative Years,” Federal Reserve History, accessed May 19, 2025, federalreservehistory.org/people/feds-formative-years?page=3 .
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when unemployment jumped : Spencer Howard, “The President’s Conference on Unemployment—1921,” Hoover Heads , National Archives, September 28, 2016, https://hoover.blogs.archives.gov/2016/09/28/the-presidents-conference-on-unemployment-1921/ .
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In August 1928 : Benjamin Strong, letter to Owen Young, August 1928, Papers of Benjamin Strong, Jr., Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
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had not always thought so highly : Correspondence with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Deputy Governor, James Herbert Case, 1924–1928, Papers of Benjamin Strong, Jr., Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, fraser.stlouisfed.org/archival-collection/papers-benjamin-strong-jr-1160/correspondence-federal-reserve-bank-new-york-2210/fulltext .
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“Mitchell, as you realize” : Correspondence with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Deputy Governor, James Herbert Case, 1924–1928, 166.
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“Should he become a director” : Correspondence with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Deputy Governor, James Herbert Case, 1924–1928, 166.
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“so long as [Mitchell] is” : Correspondence with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Deputy Governor, James Herbert Case, 1924–1928, 156.
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“to tell him very frankly” : Benjamin Strong, letter to J. H. Case, August 25, 1925, Papers of Benjamin Strong, Jr., Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
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Mitchell had celebrated : Charles E. Mitchell, opinion, The Bank Director , January 1929, 12.
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issued an advisory : Federal Reserve Board, Federal Reserve Bulletin (U.S. Government Printing Office, February 1929), 94.
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Buying on margin was not : John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929 (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1955), 24–25.
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he aggressively extended credit : George T. Hughes, “Stocks’ Recovery Carried Higher in Orderly Trading,” World-News , March 27, 1929.
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Margin loans had grown : Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929 , 20–21.
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they were already using credit : Susan Currell, American Culture in the 1920s (Edinburgh University Press, 2009), 172.
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announcement triggered a nosedive : Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929 , 33.
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George Harrison, the governor : Martin Horn, J.P. Morgan & Co. and the Crisis of Capitalism: From the Wall Street Crash to World War II (Cambridge University Press, 2022), 93.
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“to have the stock market” : Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Penguin Press, 2009); Matthew Josephson, Infidel in the Temple (Alfred A. Knopf, 1967).
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issued a formal statement : Minutes from a meeting of the Federal Reserve Board, February 5, 1929, fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/historical/nara/bog_minutes/19290205_Minutes.pdf .
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Its tactic here was “moral suasion” : Edward Chancellor, Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation (Penguin Books, 2000), 199.
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stock market was so appealing : Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929 , 34.
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On February 12, a Philadelphia banker : “Warn Banks to Act Against Speculation,” New York Times , February 13, 1929.
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So many women had started investing : Eunice Fuller Barnard, “Ladies of the Ticker,” North American Review (Spring 1929).
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“Twenty percent of the persons” : “Warn Banks to Act Against Speculation,” New York Times .
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prepared to make the case : William K. Klingaman, 1929: The Year of the Great Crash (Harper & Row, 1989), 119.
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should raise the discount rate : Klingaman, 1929 , 119.
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in the ensuing five-hour session : Minutes of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Board of Directors, February 14, 1929.
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“Governor Young advised Governor Harrison” : Minutes of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Board of Directors, February 14, 1929.
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Harrison then emerged : “Reserve Bank Keeps 5% Rate; Brokers Tense,” Holyoke Daily Transcript and Telegram , February 15, 1929.
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“I’m sorry, gentlemen” : “Reserve Bank Keeps 5% Rate; Brokers Tense,” Holyoke Daily Transcript and Telegram .
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the first to leave the boardroom : “Reserve Bank Keeps 5% Rate; Brokers Tense,” Holyoke Daily Transcript and Telegram .
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To the top Ivy League graduates : Frederick Lewis Allen, The Lords of Creation: The History of America’s 1 Percent (Open Road Integrated Media, 1935), 318.
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“Look down there” : Bruce Barton, “Is There Anything Here That Other Men Couldn’t Do?,” American Magazine , February 1923.
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Up until the 1920s : Kathleen Day, Broken Bargain: Bankers, Bailouts, and the Struggle to Tame Wall Street (Yale University Press, 2019), 41.
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“It has always seemed to me” : “Department Stores of Finance,” National Magazine , August 1923.
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confidence of a self-made man : Barton, “Is There Anything Here That Other Men Couldn’t Do?”
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Born in 1877, Mitchell was raised : Barton, “Is There Anything Here That Other Men Couldn’t Do?”
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his friends voted him “the greatest” : “Mitchell: Court Found Him Innocent; Tax Board, Guilty,” Newsweek , August 17, 1935.
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daughter of Colonel William P. Rend : “William P. Rend, Coal Pioneer, Passes Away,” Chicago Tribune , December 1, 1915.
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Colonel Rend offered to give : Elizabeth Mitchell, Music with a Feather Duster (Little, Brown and Company, 1941), 62.
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“This was exactly in line” : B. C. Forbes, “Career of New President Inspiration to Young Men,” Dayton Daily News , May 5, 1921.
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what he referred to as : “The Crash of 1929,” American Experience , aired April 24, 2012, on PBS.
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the premier issue : “Revolutionizing Security Selling,” Forbes , September 15, 1917.
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“I am fully mindful” : Michael Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street (Penguin Press, 2010), 79.
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“I know what I am up” : Barton, “Is There Anything Here That Other Men Couldn’t Do?”
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Now in control of both : Nomi Prins, All the Presidents’ Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power (Hachette, 2014), 50, 70.
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the first U.S. bank to reach : Prins, All the Presidents’ Bankers .
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the five miles between : “C. E. Mitchell Hoping for Comeback,” Hartford Courant , February 13, 1934.
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at a blistering pace : W. F. Wamsley, “The Ruler of the World’s Largest Bank,” New York Times , September 29, 1929.
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he drove his employees harder : Barton, “Is There Anything Here That Other Men Couldn’t Do?”
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“I always want to pay more” : Barton, “Is There Anything Here That Other Men Couldn’t Do?”
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Mitchell fired him on the spot : Edmund Wilson, Travels in Two Democracies (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1936), 62.
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“as if Attila the Hun” : Edmund Wilson, “Sunshine Charley,” New Republic , June 28, 1933, 176–77.
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Mitchell was paid a base salary : Helvering v. Mitchell , 303 US 391 (1938).
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threw herself into hosting home musicals : Mitchell, Music with a Feather Duster , 131.
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a breathtaking showplace : Lansing Warren, “Vichy Buys the Palatial Mitchell Mansion on Fifth Ave. for Use as Consulate General,” New York Times , March 26, 1942.
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a housekeeper, a butler : Craig Mitchell, “I Remember Fifth,” Town & Country , September 1989.
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The Mitchells entertained lavishly : Elizabeth Mitchell, Music with a Feather Duster .
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known to close the curtains : Craig Mitchell, “I Remember Fifth.” As Craig Mitchell recalled: “Father, alas, hated music; he’d go to the opera, pull the curtains of the box and fall asleep in the cloak section.”
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“maybe I’ll be able to catch” : A. St. John, “Men in Wall Street’s Eye: Introducing Mr. Charles E. Mitchell,” Barron’s , March 5, 1923.
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“I wish I knew what” : Elizabeth Mitchell, Music with a Feather Duster , 133.
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“National City judgment” : Review of Reviews Incorporating the Literary Digest (Funk and Wagnalls, 1928), 62.
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“inefficiency and ineptitude” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56 and S. Res. 97: Part 16, 7696, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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Some tried to warn against : Prins, All the Presidents’ Bankers .
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He delisted National City : “Banks Vote to Take Shares from List,” New York Times , January 11, 1928.
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At the time, Mitchell suggested : “Move to Stop Speculation in Bank Stocks,” Associated Press, December 10, 1927.
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Without the Exchange : Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1979), 136.
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By January 1929, the stock : Louis Prashker, “Corporation Finance and Bull Markets: Wall Street Under Oath,” St. John’s Law Review 14, no. 1 (November 1939): 75–87.
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Volume tended to be light : William Watts, “A Brief History of Trading Hours on Wall Street,” MarketWatch, May 29, 2015; “3:30 Closing Is Set by Stock Exchange,” New York Times , July 18, 1952; “Stock Markets to Extend Hours,” New York Times , September 13, 1974.
The New York Stock Exchange’s regular hours were from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. Trading on Saturdays was eliminated and the trading day on weekdays was extended to 3:30 p.m. on September 29, 1952. The trading day was extended again, until 4 p.m., in October 1974.
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This Saturday was different : “Stocks Break Again as Wall St. Awaits Credit ‘Show-Down,’ ” New York Times , February 17, 1929.
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“Many fine reputations have been built” : Joe Nocera, A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class (Simon & Schuster, 2013), 39.
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the next day’s edition : “Stocks Break Again as Wall St. Awaits Credit ‘Show-Down,’ ” New York Times .
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“gambling wit matched against gambling wit” : John F. Sinclair, “Stock Mart Critic Harsh,” Los Angeles Times , February 14, 1929.
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Later that same afternoon : Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1979), 80.
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the eight-story Neo-Georgian building : “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Hotel Durant, Genesee Co., MI,” National Park Service, January 26, 2009; Lawrence Gustin, Billy Durant: Creator of General Motors (Eerdmans, 1973), 273.
Gustin writes that “[a] portion of the top floor of the Durant Hotel in downtown Flint was planned as a residence for Durant, but he resigned as president of General Motors just before the hotel opened in 1920, and it is believed he never occupied the suite.” However, it appears he did stay in other rooms at the hotel.
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half a foot of fresh snow : “Michigan Road Report,” Flint Journal , February 17, 1929.
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“You know, W.C. is never happy” : Commerce and Finance (Giant Publishing Company, 1936), 380.
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become one of the richest : “William C. Durant, Auto Pioneer, Dies,” New York Times , March 19, 1947.
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one of the three telephones : “Troubles of Mitchell,” Time , November 18, 1929.
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Durant had spent the past decade : “Durant Argues for Lower Re-Discounts,” Automobile Topics , October 8, 1921.
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shift the dynamic in Washington : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst.
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six years in the White House : Coolidge took office in 1923 after Warren G. Harding’s death of a heart attack; he was reelected in 1924 and subsequently served a full four-year term.
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making his own sandwiches : Henry Haller and Virginia Aronson, The White House Family Cookbook (Random House, 1987), 174.
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“the Coolidge market” : “Business & Finance: Wall Street,” Time , October 31, 1927.
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he had amassed a respectable fortune : “Years of Adventure 1874–1914,” Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives, accessed May 19, 2025, https://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/years-adventure-1874-1914 .
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he had tried Andrew Mellon : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 79–81.
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he started a company in Flint : Gustin, Billy Durant , 40.
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“Look for a self-seller” : Gustin, Billy Durant , 41.
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In 1904, Durant acquired : Gustin, Billy Durant , 54.
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Durant had a deliberate style : Axel Madsen, The Deal Maker: How William C. Durant Made General Motors (John Wiley & Sons, 1999), 148.
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“I cannot hope to find words” : Bernard A. Weisberger, The Dream Maker: William C. Durant, Founder of General Motors (Little, Brown and Company, 1979), 220.
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he was also a keen observer : Gustin, Billy Durant , 10–11.
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By 1919, GM was a colossus : Gustin, Billy Durant .
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Despite his tremendous success : Madsen, The Deal Maker , 132.
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Four years later : Gustin, Billy Durant , 214–16.
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He bought a magnificent seaside villa : Madsen, The Deal Maker , 168.
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“I had never experienced luxury” : Walter P. Chrysler, Life of an American Workman (William E. Rudge’s Sons, 1937), 143.
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In New York, Durant : Christopher Gray, “Upstairs, Downstairs, Apartment-Style,” New York Times , April 5, 2012.
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Durant loved to bestow on “Muddie” : Weisberger, The Dream Maker , 311.
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A fleet of assistants : Weisberger, The Dream Maker , 303.
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But as an oft-repeated : Jason Zweig, “Keynes: He Didn’t Say Half of What He Said. Or Did He?,” Wall Street Journal , February 11, 2011. According to the Journal : “In an e-mail in 2003, Keynes’ most authoritative biographer, Lord Robert Skidelsky, told investment advisor William Bernstein that he believed they were ‘both apocryphal.’ This week I asked another renowned expert on Keynes, Donald Moggridge of the University of Toronto, if he could identify the source of either of the oft-quoted remarks. ‘The simple answer,’ Prof. Moggridge replied by e-mail, ‘is there is no evidence.’ ”
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when Mitchell got Durant : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst.
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handsome redbrick mansion : “Sheridan–Kalorama Historic District,” Historic Preservation Office, 2000.
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a wet, overcast morning : Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Cabinet and the Presidency 1920–1933 (Macmillan, 1952), 186.
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Hoover was dressed casually : L. C. Speers, “Hoover Enjoys Day; Busy from the Dawn,” New York Times , March 5, 1929.
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By one count : Kenneth Whyte, Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), 369.
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“at the moment when the strength” : “At the White House,” The Times , March 4, 1929.
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Hoover had his usual breakfast : Whyte, Hoover , 368.
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“Wall Street’s Hoover Boom is starting” : Arthur Brisbane, “Today,” Evansville Journal , March 2, 1929.
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Bertie Charles Forbes echoed the sentiment : B. C. Forbes, “How American Business Has Sized Up Herbert Hoover,” Omaha Morning Bee-News , March 4, 1929.
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Coolidge had so relied on : Maury Klein, Rainbow’s End: The Crash of 1929 (Oxford University Press, 2001).
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an “unfaithful public servant” : “Secretary Mellon Assailed in Senate,” Baltimore Sun , March 3, 1929.
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The son of a wealthy : John Steele Gordon, The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power, 1653–2000 (Scribner, 1999), 224.
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He was so tied into : John Brooks, Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920–1938 (Harper & Row, 1969), 42.
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Coolidge never cared much : M. C. Murphy, Calvin Coolidge: The Presidency and Philosophy of a Progressive Conservative (McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003), 202.
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Mellon had distinguished himself : Frederick Lewis Allen, The Lords of Creation: The History of America’s 1 Percent (Open Road Integrated Media, 1935), 222.
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“the greatest Secretary of the Treasury” : David Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), 310.
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“a symbol of prosperity” : “Hoover’s Heritage,” Collier’s , January 5, 1929.
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told journalist Clarence Barron : Clarence Barron, They Told Barron: Conversations and Revelations of an American Pepys in Wall Street, the Notes of the Late Clarence W. Barron (Harper & Brothers, 1930), 263.
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Mellon had made no secret : Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover , 201.
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the first treasury secretary : Arthur Sears Henning, “Hoover to Keep Mellon on Job in His Cabinet,” Chicago Tribune , January 8, 1929.
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Hoover repaired to his bedroom : Charles Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency (Simon & Schuster, 2016), 59.
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Kosta Boris, Hoover’s Serbian valet : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , 59.
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At about 10:45 a.m. : Speers, “Hoover Enjoys Day; Busy from the Dawn.”
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Moses joked as he grasped : Speers, “Hoover Enjoys Day; Busy from the Dawn.”
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The Hoovers waited : Whyte, Hoover , 370.
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When he finally appeared : William Allen White, A Puritan in Babylon: The Story of Calvin Coolidge (Capricorn Books, 1965), 419.
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At one point Hoover seemed : White, A Puritan in Babylon , 325.
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He wrote his enigmatic statement : White, A Puritan in Babylon , 366.
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“Poppa says there’s a depression coming” : Robert Sobel, Coolidge: An American Enigma (Regnery History, 2015), 373.
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with the Ohio primary approaching : Whyte, Hoover , 340.
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It was hardly a ringing endorsement : Klein, Rainbow’s End , 140.
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efforts to feed starving Belgians : George H. Nash, Kendrick A. Clements, and Glen Jeansonne, The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Humanitarian, 1914–1917 (W.W. Norton, 1983).
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his organization of rescue efforts : Bruce A. Lohof, “Herbert Hoover, Spokesman of Humane Efficiency: The Mississippi Flood of 1927,” American Quarterly 22, no. 3 (1970): 690–700.
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napping for up to four hours : David Greenberg, Calvin Coolidge (Henry Holt and Company, 2006), 57.
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On the day Hoover won : Richard Norton Smith, An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover (Simon & Schuster, 1984), 45.
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The only advice Coolidge offered : Sobel, Coolidge , 237.
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Led by a cavalry escort : Whyte, Hoover , 370.
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“I would have given much” : Hiram Johnson, The Diary Letters of Hiram Johnson, 1917 – 1945 (Garland, 1983), 47.
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Coolidge’s mood seemed to lift : Whyte, Hoover , 370.
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Among the dignitaries : Eugene Lyon, Herbert Hoover: A Biography (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1964), 183.
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sent someone to look for them : Whyte, Hoover , 370.
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Then Coolidge surprised everyone : Whyte, Hoover , 370.
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When the new president stepped forward : Whyte, Hoover , 371.
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Hoover mopped rain from his face : Bruce Rae, “Crowd Holds Its Ground; Masses in Downpour at Capitol to Watch the Inauguration,” New York Times , March 5, 1929.
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one campaign reporter dryly observed : “On the Stump with Two Candidates,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat , October 21, 1928.
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Hoover closed his speech : “Inaugural Address of Herbert Hoover, Monday, March 4, 1929,” The Avalon Project, Yale Law School, n.d., https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hoover.asp .
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Livermore assembled a small group : “Rise in Cotton Prices Forecast by Livermore,” New York Herald Tribune , March 5, 1929.
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had his life story lightly fictionalized : Edwin Lefèvre, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator : With New Commentary and Insights on the Life and Times of Jesse Livermore , annotated ed., ed. Jon D. Markman (John Wiley & Sons, 2010).
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The first tip Livermore gave everyone : Jesse L. Livermore, How to Trade in Stocks: The Livermore Formula for Combining Time Element and Price (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1940), 113.
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Livermore’s notoriety came with a price : Richard Smitten, Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader (John Wiley & Sons, 2001), 131.
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Passing through the lobby : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 131.
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Livermore’s private office : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 114.
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The invention of stock tickers : Eric Owles, “Wall Street’s Race to the 48-Millisecond Trade,” New York Times DealBook , August 15, 2012.
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“The game taught me the game” : Lefèvre, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator .
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Because the prices : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 132.
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“In my opinion it would be” : “Rise in Cotton Prices Forecast by Livermore,” New York Herald Tribune .
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In its coverage of the meeting : “Rise in Cotton Prices Forecast by Livermore,” New York Herald Tribune.
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Born in 1877 on a farm : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 17.
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So he headed west : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 29–32.
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Livermore called the moment : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 49.
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Livermore had an account with Hutton : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 49–51.
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On October 24, 1907 : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 62.
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Livermore’s instinct was : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 64–67.
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Over the next few years : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 75–80.
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“Anticipation of coming events” : Robert Sobel, The Big Board: A History of the New York Stock Market (Beard Books Inc., 2000), 246.
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son of a Confederate Army surgeon : James Grant, Bernard Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (John Wiley & Sons, 1997).
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When the two men encountered : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 28.
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The New York Times ran : W. F. Wamsley, “The Magnet of Dancing Stock Prices,” New York Times , March 24, 1929.
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“The fact of the matter” : “Review of the Week,” Liverpool Daily Post , March 23, 1929.
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“Go, go, go!” : Tom Rubython, Jesse Livermore Boy Plunger: The Man Who Sold America Short in 1929 (The Myrtle Press, 2015), 300.
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a series of parties : “Patio Marguery,” Palm Beach Post , March 9, 1929; “Two Hundred and More Guests Pass in Review for Judges,” Palm Beach Post , March 8, 1929; Nancy Randolph, “They’re Being Chased at Palm Beach More Than Ever in History,” Daily News , March 17, 1929.
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had announced that week : “Fox in Talkies Only; Signs 200 Show Folk,” New York Times , March 25, 1929.
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as the Fed met again : Maury Klein, Rainbow’s End: The Crash of 1929 (Oxford University Press, 2001), 178.
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beating all previous records : “Business & Finance: Crash,” Time , April 1, 1929.
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unable to keep up : Klein, Rainbow’s End , 178.
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the New York Stock Exchange decided : “Simmons to Stay as Exchange Head,” New York Times , March 26, 1929.
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headed toward a historic disaster : Klein, Rainbow’s End , 178.
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Mitchell had taken part in : Minutes of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Executive Committee, March 25, 1929.
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Just weeks earlier : Minutes of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Board of Directors, February 21, 1929.
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The call rate had leaped : John F. Sinclair, “Most Tragic Stock Market Session in Recent Years,” Boston Globe , March 27, 1929.
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“A landslide of selling” : Claude A. Jagger, “Record Turnover on New York Stock Market,” Associated Press, March 27, 1929.
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Especially in a “panicky” moment : Charles S. Hamlin diaries, box 10, volume 16, reel 4, March 23–November 1, 1929.
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which The Boston Globe described : Sinclair, “Most Tragic Stock Market Session in Recent Years.”
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“From the nadir of despair” : Elliott V. Bell, “National City Throws In Funds to Avert Money Market Crisis,” New York Herald Tribune , March 27, 1929.
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A young financial reporter : Hanson W. Baldwin and Shepard Stone, eds., We Saw It Happen: The News Behind the News That’s Fit to Print (Simon & Schuster, 1938).
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“So far as this institution” : Bell, “National City Throws In Funds to Avert Money Market Crisis.”
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“dynamite in a sentence” : Hanson and Stone, eds., We Saw It Happen .
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The price for call money : “Stocks Rally Vigorously as Bankers Aid Market; All Needed Funds Ready,” New York Times , March 28, 1929.
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“Such a situation” : “Stocks Rally Vigorously as Bankers Aid Market; All Needed Funds Ready,” New York Times .
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In the bank’s newsletter : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239: Part 6, 1817, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87#33954 .
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“telephoned from New York” : Charles S. Hamlin diaries, box 10, volume 16, reel 4, March 23–November 1, 1929.
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Thomas Lamont had just arrived : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 173, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA.
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gotten wind of the secret deal : “R.C.A. Traffic Units Bought by I.T.&T. for World System,” New York Herald Tribune , March 29, 1929.
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New York Times front-page headline : “Radio Subsidiary Sold for $100,000,000,” New York Times , March 29, 1929.
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had left Paris with his family : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 173.
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worked “like a beaver” : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 173.
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After its invention in 1895 : “Inventor’s Life Devoted to Perfecting His Uses of Radio Waves,” New York Times , July 21, 1937.
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“has helped to create” : Warren Sloat, 1929 : America Before the Crash (Macmillan, 1979), 104.
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One major obstacle to the deal : Sloat, 1929 , 96–97.
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RCA’s recent run-up : Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1979), 121–22.
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Meehan had signed : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 122.
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“RCA to extend activity abroad” : “RCA to Extend Activity Abroad,” Wall Street Journal , March 9, 1929.
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The stock bumped to 92 : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 122.
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a financial column : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 122.
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By Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal : “Abrupt Changes: Prices Blow Hot and Cold on Credit Rumors—Money 7%,” Wall Street Journal , March 12, 1929.
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Meehan’s crew made a net profit : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 129–30.
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the J.P. Morgan office cabled : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 108.
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Still, Lamont was restless : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 173.
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The first headline was : “Glass Assails Mitchell for Bank’s Aid to Market; Stocks Up in Buying Rush,” New York Times , March 29, 1929.
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“The stock market will not have” : Thomas W. Lamont, letter to Russell Cornell Leffingwell, March 21, 1929, Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 103, folder 13.
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The second story : Edwin L. James, “Young Asks Schacht to Make Debt Offer Without More Ado,” New York Times , March 29, 1929.
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“During our vacation” : James, “Young Asks Schacht to Make Debt Offer Without More Ado.”
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it was his weak heart : “Carter Glass, 88, Dies in Capital,” New York Times , May 29, 1946.
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his chronic indigestion : Ellen Welch, “Senator Carter Glass 1858–1946: The Good and the Bad,” Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library, September 1, 2021.
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The first was segregation : Welch, “Senator Carter Glass 1858–1946.”
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“exactly what we propose” : Statement of the Honorable Carter Glass, Virginia Constitutional Convention 1901–1902, Proceedings and Debates, Carter Glass Papers, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
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Glass said in an interview : “Senator Glass on the 14th, 15th, and 18th Amendments,” Daily Press , April 24, 1928.
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“Few men in public or private” : Russell C. Leffingwell, letter to Carter Glass, April 1, 1929, Carter Glass Papers.
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eyes glaring from beneath : Oliver P. Newman, “A Political Paradox from Virginia,” Baltimore Sun , April 10, 1932.
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Mitchell’s decision to bolster : “Congress Inquiry Likely into Stock Speculation; Mitchell Explains Stand,” New York Times , March 30, 1929.
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Because of his sickly nature : Welch, “Senator Carter Glass 1858–1946.”
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His weapon of choice : James E. Palmer Jr., Carter Glass: Unreconstructed Rebel (Institute of American Biography, 1938).
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from the Raleigh Hotel : Charles S. Hamlin diaries, box 10, volume 16, reel 4, March 23–November 1, 1929.
As Hamlin recorded in his diary on April 5, 1929: “I was to see [Glass] at Raleigh hotel. He said he had finished up his tests at Johns Hopkins hospital; that his teeth were badly infected and that he had gall stones. He said he was in a very strained, nervous condition and Dr. Barker said he must spend a month in the hospital. He was very depressed.”
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“It has seemed to me that” : Carter Glass, letter to Russell C. Leffingwell, April 5, 1929, Carter Glass Papers.
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Carter Glass had just : “In Stock Row,” South Bend Tribune , April 5, 1929.
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a town of about seven thousand people : Fourteenth Census of the United States; State Compendium: Virginia (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1925).
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The youngest of five children : Rixey Smith and Norman Beasley, Carter Glass: A Biography (Longmans, Green and Co., 1939), 8.
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he lost his mother : Palmer Jr., Carter Glass , 16, 17.
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His older sister, Nannie : Palmer Jr., Carter Glass , 16, 17.
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served as an officer : Bernard S. Katz, Biographical Dictionary of the United States Secretaries of the Treasury, 1789–1995 (Greenwood Press, 1996).
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His earliest memory : Matthew P. Fink, The Unlikely Reformer: Carter Glass and Financial Regulation (George Mason University, 2019), 7.
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Two years later, in Lynchburg : Fink, The Unlikely Reformer , 7.
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not even a high school education : Palmer Jr., Carter Glass , 22.
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When first elected : Palmer Jr., Carter Glass , 52.
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In his maiden speech : Edward L. Morris, Wall Streeters: The Creators and Corruptors of American Finance (Columbia University Press, 2015), 40.
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Glass later recommended Lamont : Smith and Beasley, Carter Glass , 160–61; Carter Glass Papers.
In a January 1919 telegram to Wilson, Glass wrote, “I have concluded to ask your approval also of sending Thomas W. Lamont of New York. He would be particularly useful in connection with the armistice discussions at Spa. You know he is a member of the firm of J. P. Morgan and Company and the owner of the New York Evening Post . The armistice discussions, it seems to me, are likely to involve the whole economic and financial problem of Germany. The British, the French and the Germans will doubtless be represented by their strongest financial men.”
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Glass was appointed chairman : Genevieve Podleski and David C. Wheelock, “Carter Glass,” Federal Reserve History, September 13, 2021.
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an elite group of bankers : Gary Richardson and Jessie Romero, “The Meeting at Jekyll Island,” Federal Reserve History, December 4, 2015.
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He wrote a bill : Carter Glass, “Mr. Warburg and the Bank: A Reply to Prof. Seligman on the Paternity of the Federal Reserve,” New York Times , February 15, 1927.
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Glass’s refusal to submit : Podleski and Wheelock, “Carter Glass.”
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the same year he was appointed : Podleski and Wheelock, “Carter Glass.”
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potential Democratic presidential candidate : “Davis, Glass, Simmons and Harrison Put Before Convention,” New York Times , July 2, 1920.
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he published a self-congratulatory memoir : Carter Glass, An Adventure in Constructive Finance (Doubleday, Page & Company, 1927).
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Glass was an enigma : Oliver P. Newman, “A Political Paradox from Virginia,” Baltimore Sun , April 10, 1932.
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emerged from the right corner : Newman, “A Political Paradox from Virginia.”
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“He did all that” : S. J. Woolf, “Carter Glass Still Plays Rebel Role,” New York Times , May 13, 1934.
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“I unhesitatingly declare” : “Money Situation Primary Topic at National Capital,” The News & Observer , April 3, 1929.
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“slapped the board in the face” : “Congress Inquiry Likely into Stock Speculation; Mitchell Explains Stand,” New York Times , March 30, 1929.
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He arrived by train : Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1979), 138–40.
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going to the White House : The meeting between Durant and Hoover was described by Durant to both The New York Times and to Earl Sparling in the fall of 1929. Sparling included the anecdote in an article and in his book Mystery Men . The New York Times wrote about Durant’s telling of the visit and also included the anecdote in his obituary.
However, it is worth noting there is no direct confirmation—nor does it appear it was ever sought contemporaneously—from Hoover or the White House. The meeting does not appear on any White House schedule or log, though, given the way the meeting came about, as described by Durant, it is unclear that it would be. John Kenneth Galbraith mentioned the meeting in his book The Great Crash 1929 but noted in citing Sparling that “[t]he authority is dubious, although the author’s facts, as distinct from his interpretation, are frequently accurate.”
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“Won’t you please bring” : Mabel Walker Willebrandt, letter to Lawrence Richey, April 4, 1929, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
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“Senator Glass probably is not aware” : “Durant Answers Glass,” Covington Virginian , April 4, 1929.
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“Some members of the Senate” : “Mitchell’s Loan Splits Opinions,” Atlanta Constitution , March 31, 1929.
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Glass and the Fed : Joseph Stagg Lawrence, Wall Street and Washington (Princeton University Press, 1929), v.
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“Some hardened Wall Streeters” : John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929 (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1955), 40.
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“I believe it would be” : “Williams Attacks Glass, Congratulates Mitchell,” News and Advance , April 2, 1929.
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“We have had testimony” : “Congress Inquiry Likely into Stock Speculation,” New York Times , March 30, 1929.
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threw his weight behind Glass : “Congress Inquiry Likely into Stock Speculation,” New York Times .
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in his annual report : “Reserve Policy Hit by Warburg,” Wall Street Journal , March 8, 1929.
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“sandbagging American prosperity” : Maury Klein, “The Stock Market Crash of 1929,” Business History Review 75, no. 2 (Summer 2001): 325–51.
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As his friend : Gary Hoover, “Workingman’s Friend, Industry Disruptor: The Walter Chrysler Story,” American Business History, June 11, 2020.
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slipped out of the hotel : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 139–40.
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“I preferred to let American institutions” : Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Cabinet and the Presidency 1920–1933 (Macmillan, 1952), 1880.
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enjoyed the finest hotel services : “The Lost Ritz-Carlton Hotel—370-384 Madison Avenue,” Daytonian in Manhattan, July 8, 2024.
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With enough discretion : Frank R. Kent, “Charley Michelson,” Scribner’s Magazine , September 30, 1930. As Kent wrote: “What happened was this—Mr. John J. Raskob, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, became impressed with the idea that what the Democratic party needed to give it better than a fighting chance in a presidential election was a little life between campaigns.”
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“the organizing genius” : Samuel Crowther, “John. J. Raskob, and the World’s Largest Business,” World’s Work , October 1920.
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Known to friends : David Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich: The Life and Times of John J. Raskob, Capitalist (Oxford University Press, 2013), 38.
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he started his career : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 2.
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Then, like so many others : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 4, 38.
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“I was raised” : “Management—Ambition—Initiative,” Philadelphia Inquirer , March 31, 1929.
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“our second billionaire” : “Henry Ford at Work. Our Second Billionaire,” World’s Work , April 1929.
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Prior to the election : Roger Butterfield, ed., Saturday Evening Post Treasury (Simon & Schuster, 1970), 359.
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“an awful crank” : Robert A. Slayton, Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith (Free Press, 2001), 266.
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self-made hero of American business : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich .
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he told a journalist : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 251.
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Two million shares traded hands : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 251.
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The two men had become friends : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 228.
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“Business, big or little” : “Raskob’s Statement Causes Stocks to Rise,” News Journal , June 27, 1928.
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Stocks perked up the next day : “Stocks Up in ‘Smith Market’ as Raskob Tells Business It Need Not Fear the Governor,” New York Times , June 27, 1928.
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he gave the governor a gift : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 228.
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Feeling indebted to Raskob : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 233.
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A few days after their conversation : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 233–35.
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he was formally elected : W. A. Warn, “Raskob Elected Chairman, Stresses Dry Law Change as Big Democratic Issue; Smith’s Personal Choice,” New York Times , July 12, 1928.
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“an actual contempt” : David Burner, Herbert Hoover: A Public Life (Alfred A. Knopf, 1979).
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a “grave mistake” : Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Age of Roosevelt: The Crisis of the Old Order, 1919–1933 (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1957), 127.
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Raskob also made a critical blunder : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 237–38.
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It had been his plan : “Raskob Quits Post in General Motors to Appease Critics,” New York Times , July 25, 1928.
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After a week of turmoil : “Raskob Quits Post in General Motors to Appease Critics,” New York Times ; Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 241.
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Raskob quickly sold : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 241.
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Under direct fire : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 249, 253.
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“It is a cardinal rule” : “Chairmen Who Talk,” New York Times , September 3, 1928.
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In September, Raskob predicted : “National Affairs: Raskob’s Rainbow,” Time , September 10, 1928.
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He later upped his forecast : “Raskob Says Smith Will Win 37 States,” New York Times , November 4, 1928.
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Smith took just 41 percent : Richard V. Oulahan, “Hoover Wins All but Eight States, Thanks Nation; Smith Out of Politics; Roosevelt Claims His Victory by 28,959,” New York Times , November 8, 1928.
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failing to carry : “Hoover Wins 407 to 69; Doubtful 55; Smith Loses State; South Broken; Roosevelt Is Elected Governor,” New York Times , November 7, 1928.
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“In accordance with democratic principles” : Thomas Wrigley, “Solid South Broken, New York Captured by G.O.P. Candidate,” Washington Herald , November 7, 1928.
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At a January meeting : W. A. Warn, “Raskob in Parley with Roosevelt,” New York Times , January 16, 1929.
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He had two Cadillacs : Earl Sparling, Mystery Men of Wall Street: The Powers Behind the Market (Greenberg, 1930).
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He intended to raise money : “Democrats Study Plans of Clearing $1,300,000 Debt,” News Journal , April 20, 1929.
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“have an active headquarters” : “Democrats Shy About $1,300,000; Raskob Seeks Means to Pay Party’s Deficit,” Spokesman-Review , April 20, 1929.
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$1.3 million in debt : “Democrats Study Plans of Clearing $1,300,000 Debt,” News Journal .
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Its primary creditor was : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 271.
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the likes of Herbert H. Lehman : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 251.
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even Arthur H. Sulzberger : Arthur Hays Sulzberger would go on to be the publisher of The New York Times from 1935 to 1961; his great-grandson A. G. Sulzberger is now publisher.
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“When the underwriters” : Bernard M. Baruch Papers, Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ.
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Durant arrived at Steinway Hall : “W. C. Durant Demands Reserve Board Keep Hands Off Business,” New York Times , April 15, 1929.
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Paley had just purchased WABC : “WABC Joins Columbia Radio Chain Hookup,” Daily Item , December 29, 1928.
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“I understand he prefers” : Charles Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency (Simon & Schuster, 2016), 117.
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“In this peaceful country” : “W. C. Durant Demands Reserve Board Keep Hands Off Business,” New York Times .
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“authorized, approved, and caused” : “W. C. Durant Demands Reserve Board Keep Hands Off Business,” New York Times .
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Durant arranged for a copy : Edwin J. Clapp, letter to Lawrence Richey, April 20, 1930, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
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Five days later : Axel Madsen, The Deal Maker: How William C. Durant Made General Motors (John Wiley & Sons, 1999), 252.
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“When men like Durant” : “Couzens Denounces Federal Reserve Board for ‘Dumbness’ in Delaying,” Baltimore Sun , June 5, 1929.
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One of the wealthiest men : Bill Bryson, One Summer: America, 1927 (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 2013), 237.
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“has lured more innocent” : “Debate in Senate on Smoot-Hawley Bill to Provide for Issuance of Short Term Non-Interest Bearing Tax Exempt Treasury Bills—Senators Glass, Couzens and Others Attack Federal Reserve’s Policy Anent Speculation—Stock Tax Proposed as Rider to Tariff Bill,” Commercial & Financial Chronicle , June 8, 1929.
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“The gamblers have run away with” : “Debate in Senate on Smoot-Hawley Bill to Provide for Issuance of Short Term Non-Interest Bearing Tax Exempt Treasury Bills,” Commercial & Financial Chronicle .
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considered “economic insanity” : “Senator Glass Hotly Assails Hoover Regime,” Buffalo News , November 2, 1932.
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“constitutes moral insensibility” : “Senator Glass Hotly Assails Hoover Regime,” Buffalo News .
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“Go ahead and do things” : David Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich: The Life and Times of John J. Raskob, Capitalist (Oxford University Press, 2013), 16. The full statement read: “Go ahead and do things, the bigger the better, if your fundamentals are sound. Avoid procrastination. Do not quibble for an hour over things that might be decided in minutes. However, if the issue at stake is large, stay as long as the next man, but go ahead and do things.”
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already managed to knock $750,000 off : “Political Notes: Democratic Doings,” Time , May 13, 1929.
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And he tapped Jouett Shouse : “Political Notes: Democratic Doings,” Time .
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the Daily Press wrote : “Smith and Raskob Out, Tucker Tells Valley Democrats,” Daily Press , May 8, 1929.
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a New York Evening Post article : “Raskob Proposes Trust to Build Up Workers’ Wealth,” New York Evening Post , May 6, 1929.
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the ceiling was punctuated : “New York Central Building/Now Helmsley Building,” New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, March 31, 1977, s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1298.pdf .
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When the crowd of journalists : “Raskob Would Aid Small Investor,” Boston Globe , May 7, 1929.
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Raskob said that the company : “Mr. Raskob’s ‘Poor Man’s Investment Trust,’ ” Literary Digest , June 1, 1929.
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“Say a wage earner” : “Mr. Raskob’s ‘Poor Man’s Investment Trust,’ ” Literary Digest .
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The plan, he touted : “Vast Raskob Company to Invest for Workers,” Holyoke Telegram , May 7, 1929.
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“It has been my observation” : “Vast Raskob Company to Invest for Workers,” Holyoke Telegram .
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Raskob understood that debt : “Vast Raskob Company to Invest for Workers,” Holyoke Telegram .
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“all the man” : “Mr. Raskob’s ‘Poor Man’s Investment Trust,’ ” Literary Digest .
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“I have heard some opinions” : “Raskob Will Help Workers to Invest,” New York Times , May 7, 1929.
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“Who in hell is Charley Michelson” : Charles Michelson, The Ghost Talks (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1944), 16.
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a journalist celebrated for his : Thomas F. Schwartz, “Charles Michelson’s Campaign Against Herbert Hoover,” Hoover Heads , National Archives, August 4, 2021.
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Raskob offered him : Frank R. Kent, “Charley Michelson,” Scribner’s Magazine , September 30, 1930.
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One of his first journalism jobs : Michelson, The Ghost Talks , 81–86.
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tried to reenter Cuba : Michelson, The Ghost Talks , 88.
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Michelson worked for the Examiner : Michelson, The Ghost Talks , 98.
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After a brief but lucrative job : Michelson, The Ghost Talks , 88.
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Raskob stepped aside : Michelson, The Ghost Talks , 16. Michelson would later deny news reports about his role: “I am afraid that this drab recital does not fit into the picture so industriously circulated later on, of a careful conspiracy, worked out in its utmost details between the Democratic chairman and the publicity director, to ‘smear Hoover’ and destroy the President’s prestige.”
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“like a fireman to a fire” : Kent, “Charley Michelson.”
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“All breathe sigh of relief” : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 173, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA.
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As a testament : “Young Plan Is Climax of 10 Years’ Parleys,” New York Times , June 5, 1929.
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“If Hell is anything like Paris” : Maury Klein, Rainbow’s End: The Crash of 1929 (Oxford University Press, 2001), 6.
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Lamont’s wife, Florence : “These Americans,” New Yorker , July 13, 1929.
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The negotiations had taken place : May Birkhead, “Cold Snap Curbs Paris Social Life,” New York Times , February 17, 1929.
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journalist Sisley Huddleston : Martin Horn, J.P. Morgan & Co. and the Crisis of Capitalism: From the Wall Street Crash to World War II (Cambridge University Press, 2022), 83.
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“in a terrible gloom” : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 27.
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Exasperated with Schacht’s obstinacy : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street (Madison Books, 1993), 258–60.
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asked to prepare a message : Eugene Lyons, David Sarnoff: A Biography (Harper & Row, 1966), 150–54.
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On the train from Cherbourg : Lyons, David Sarnoff , 149–50.
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Lamont believed that Sarnoff : Lyons, David Sarnoff , 149–50.
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Sarnoff and Schacht met : Lyons, David Sarnoff , 150–54.
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“If anyone can do this job” : Lyons, David Sarnoff , 150.
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One evening Schacht arrived : Lyons, David Sarnoff , 181–82.
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There was no racial prejudice : Lyons, David Sarnoff , 181.
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praised the group in an editorial : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 258.
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On the journey home aboard : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 173.
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He sent thank-you notes : Lyons, David Sarnoff , 153.
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But when New York City mayor : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 173.
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In a letter he sent : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948.
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Charles Mitchell walked up : Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1979), 204–5.
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When Mitchell and Durant entered : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 206.
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her clients paid her : The American Photo Engraver (International Photo Engravers’ Union of North America, 1930), 432.
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She followed what she called : “Evangeline Adams, Astrologer, Dead,” New York Times , November 11, 1932.
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Adams was taken seriously enough : Charles Willis Thompson, “Don’t Blame Your Parents for the Way You Look,” New York Times Book Review , January 29, 1928.
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Adams haughtily replied : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 206.
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Durant had just returned : William C. Durant, “Power of Federal Reserve Board Criticized,” The Morning Call , June 28, 1929.
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“Before I left Paris recently” : Durant, “Power of Federal Reserve Board Criticized.”
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Mitchell and Durant nodded : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 206.
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Both pools had been managed : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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National City’s balance sheet : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 207–9.
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Raskob, for his part : Samuel Crowther, “Everybody Ought to Be Rich,” Ladies’ Home Journal , August 1929; Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 206.
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“The way to wealth” : Crowther, “Everybody Ought to Be Rich.”
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“This plan of equity investments” : Crowther, “Everybody Ought to Be Rich.”
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Crowther called Raskob : Crowther, “Everybody Ought to Be Rich.”
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“This is the greatest vision” : “Mr. Raskob’s ‘Poor Man’s Investment Trust,’ ” Literary Digest , June 1, 1929.
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When a female reporter : David Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich: The Life and Times of John J. Raskob, Capitalist (Oxford University Press, 2013), 257.
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Still, Raskob was well aware : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 207.
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He had quietly been shorting : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 269.
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Newspapers had invoked : “Senators Attack ‘Stock Gambling’; Curb Is Demanded,” Philadelphia Inquirer , June 5, 1929.
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It called for a 5 percent : Congressional Record of the Senate, U.S. Congress, June 18, 1929, www.congress.gov/71/crecb/1929/06/18/GPO-CRECB-1929-pt3-v71-12.pdf .
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“Let me say, in a word” : Congressional Record of the Senate, U.S. Congress, June 18, 1929.
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the Dow had rocketed : Phyllis S. Pearce, The Dow Jones Averages, 1885–1995 (Irwin Professional Pub., 1996), 21.
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“he had lined up” : Charles W. Storm, “Public Interest in Market Seen at Lowest Ebb,” Bayonne Times , June 20, 1929.
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But on July 17, Livermore : “J.L. Livermore Sued,” New York Times , July 18, 1929.
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The most outrageous suit : “93 Sue for $1,450,000 in Boca Raton Crash,” New York Times , April 5, 1929.
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the Mizners were running a scam : “$1,450,000 Suit Against Florida Land Promoters,” Brooklyn Eagle , April 4, 1929.
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one of the lengthiest complaints : “93 Sue for $1,450,000 in Boca Raton Crash,” New York Times , April 5, 1929.
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“He is more inclined to sit” : Storm, “Public Interest in Market Seen at Lowest Ebb.”
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When they glimpsed Mitchell : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 247–48.
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who handled the mechanics : Thomas Fleming, “Good-bye to Everything!,” American Heritage , August 1965.
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He could also glance up : Jason M. Barr, Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers (Oxford University Press, 2016), 364.
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had just moved into the building : “The Chase National Bank Announces That It Is Now Located in Its Own Building,” Brooklyn Eagle , August 27, 1928.
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“Albert the Munificent” : James McMullin, “National Whirligig,” Palm Beach Post , December 29, 1932.
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a prize he’d coveted : “Unequivocally Deny Bank Merger Rumor,” New York Times , February 15, 1926.
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the biggest in the world : “National City Unites with Corn Exchange; Forms Largest Bank,” New York Times , September 20, 1929.
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in Lynchburg to write letters : Carter Glass Papers, box 117, folder 8, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
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say that he preferred : Rixey Smith and Norman Beasley, Carter Glass: A Biography (Longmans, Green and Co., 1939), 196.
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He continued to focus his ire : Smith and Beasley, Carter Glass , 290.
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That month, The New York Times : Carter Glass, “Stock Gambling,” New York Times , August 21, 1929.
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Everywhere, it seemed : Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (Simon & Schuster, 1990).
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at Forty-Sixth Street on the Hudson : “Barnitt to Reach City Late Today,” Paterson Evening News , August 12, 1929.
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the first oceangoing : “Stock Trading Begins on the Leviathan,” New York Times , August 18, 1929.
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a bit of family lore : Jean Strouse, Morgan: American Financier (Random House, 2014), 206.
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The journalists who had gathered : “Al Smith Will Help Build Skyscraper,” Associated Press, August 30, 1929.
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“close to one thousand feet high” : “Former Gov. Smith Heads Firm Putting Up 80-Story Building,” Baltimore Sun , August 30, 1929.
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“it can house at one time” : “Former Gov. Smith Heads Firm Putting Up 80-Story Building,” Baltimore Sun .
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“the building will occupy” : “Al Smith Will Help Build Skyscraper,” Associated Press.
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“Not that I know of yet” : “Al Smith Will Help Build Skyscraper,” Associated Press.
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the new building : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 8.
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Baruch was hunting grouse : Bernard Mannes Baruch, Baruch: My Own Story (Henry Holt and Company, 1957).
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He sent a cable : Bernard M. Baruch Papers, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.
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Even a failed $1 million investment : James L. Grant, Bernard M. Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (John Wiley & Sons, 1997), 220.
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“General situation looks” : Grant, Bernard M. Baruch , 221.
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the market kept going higher : David Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), 389.
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“Have patience and wait” : Jesse L. Livermore, How to Trade in Stocks: The Livermore Formula for Combining Time Element and Price (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1940).
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Facing a slow news day : Maury Klein, Rainbow’s End: The Crash of 1929 (Oxford University Press, 2001), 13.
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she had relocated her office : “Miscellany,” Time , January 30, 1928.
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the euphoric stock market : William J. Barber, From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921–1933 (Cambridge University Press, 1989), 78.
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Two days later stocks set : “Stock Prices Break on Dark Prophecy,” New York Times , September 6, 1929.
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intended to raise the alarm : “Babson Predicts ‘Crash’ in Stocks,” New York Times , September 6, 1929.
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“while the number of declining stocks” : “Babson Predicts ‘Crash’ in Stocks,” New York Times .
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his words made their way : “Stock Prices Break on Dark Prophecy,” New York Times , September 6, 1929.
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The market’s plunge of 3 percent : Babson College, “The Man Who Predicted the Crash of ’29,” Newswise, October 26, 2004.
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“Prophet of Loss” : Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Penguin Press, 2009), 350.
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When he returned to New York : Lisa Endlich Heffernan, Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success (Simon & Schuster, 1999), 46; William D. Cohan, Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 2011), 57.
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“one of the nation’s leading economists” : “Fisher Answers Babson,” Los Angeles Times , September 7, 1929.
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“Stock prices are not too high” : “Fisher Answers Babson,” Los Angeles Times .
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“We would not be stampeded” : “Topics in Wall Street,” New York Times , September 6, 1929.
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A staggering $8.5 billion : Kenneth Whyte, Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), 404.
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The president had had personal experience : Whyte, Hoover . Hoover traded stock in his brother’s name without his knowledge and lost it all. He discharged his brother’s considerable debt to him as compensation. Hoover used inside information, which wasn’t illegal at the time, to trade “in his own name, his wife’s name, and in friends’ names,” according to Whyte’s account.
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From the moment of his announcement : Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives , 72d Cong., first sess., on H. Res. 92 (1932) (charges of Hon. Wright Patman Against the Secretary of the Treasury).
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“Mellon is not disqualified” : Official Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States, Advising the President and Heads of Departments, in Relation to Their Official Duties (W.H. & O.H. Morrison, 1932), 19.
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But by September, Hoover and Mellon : “Mellon Will Stay in Office till 1933,” New York Times , October 8, 1929.
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the White House was forced : “Mellon Will Stay in Office till 1933,” New York Times .
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“Mr. Mellon has promised” : “Mellon Will Stay in Office till 1933,” New York Times .
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Thomas Lamont traveled to Washington : Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Herbert Hoover, 1930 (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976), 684.
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Lamont had been working : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 98, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA.
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“I wanted to pay my respects” : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 98.
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Lamont was thrilled : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 98.
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Just before midnight : “C.E. Mitchell Sails for Europe to Rest,” New York Times , September 21, 1929.
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stocks had fallen amid rumors : “Firm Goes to Wall,” United Press International, September 21, 1929.
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“Money is all right” : “C.E. Mitchell Sails for Europe to Rest,” New York Times .
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Andrew Mellon and his son : “C.E. Mitchell Sails for Europe to Rest,” New York Times .
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“There is nothing to worry about” : “C.E. Mitchell Sails for Europe to Rest,” New York Times .
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clinched the headline-grabbing deal : “National City Unites with Corn Exchange; Forms Largest Bank,” New York Times , September 20, 1929.
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lengthy laudatory profile : W. F. Wamsley, “The Ruler of the World’s Largest Bank,” New York Times , September 29, 1929.
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raise its number : “National City Unites with Corn Exchange; Forms Largest Bank,” New York Times .
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Shareholders still had to approve : “C.E. Mitchell Sails for Europe to Rest,” New York Times .
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Mitchell visited Germany : “Business Sound, Mitchell Says,” New York Times , October 9, 1929.
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In Berlin, Mitchell celebrated : Henry Mann, “Col. Behn Gives Birthday Party for Mr. Mitchell in Berlin,” National City Bank Newsletter , November 1929.
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daylong party to honor Mitchell : Mann, “Col. Behn Gives Birthday Party for Mr. Mitchell in Berlin.”
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On September 22, Jesse Livermore sat : Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1979), 296–97.
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“the most dangerous time of all” : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 297.
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He told Livermore : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 296.
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they had exchanged : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 296.
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renewed their passion : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 296.
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They declined invitations : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 296.
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“Don’t trade every day” : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 297.
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“conspiring to obtain money” : Commercial & Financial Chronicle , “The Financial Situation,” September 28, 1929.
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The first missive said : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 279.
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The third reported : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 292–98.
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He read aloud again : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 298.
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“The stock market is a mirror” : Jesse L. Livermore, How to Trade in Stocks: The Livermore Formula for Combining Time Element and Price (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1940).
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in the words of an aide : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 292–98.
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John Raskob organized lunch : David Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich: The Life and Times of John J. Raskob, Capitalist (Oxford University Press, 2013).
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“In a healthy market we prosper” : Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1979), 317.
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Manhattan was already home : “New York Heads Skyscraper List,” Brooklyn Daily Times , July 7, 1929.
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of the 207 Americans : Literary Digest , April 16, 1927.
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“tallest structure in the city” : “Chrysler Building Now Tallest Edifice,” New York Times , October 16, 1929.
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kept its final height a secret : Neal Bascomb, “For the Architect, a Height Never Again to Be Scaled,” New York Times , May 26, 2005.
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All he asked : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 318.
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Winston Churchill arrived : Bradley P. Tolppanen, Churchill in North America, 1929: A Three Month Tour of Canada and the United States (McFarland & Company, Inc., 2014), 192–97.
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Churchill, for his part : Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill , companion vol. v, part 2, The Wilderness Years 1929–1935 (Heinemann, 1981), 9–10, 16–17.
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Earlier that summer : David Lough, No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money (Picador, 2015).
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“He knew nothing of what” : Thomas Maier, When Lions Roar: The Churchills and the Kennedys (Crown, 2014).
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Churchill wrote his wife : Andrew Roberts, “Churchill’s Surprising Anti-Americanism and What Changed,” Time , November 15, 2018; Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill , 198.
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“I’m afraid your known hostility” : Andrew Roberts, Churchill: Walking with Destiny (Penguin Books, 2019), ccxxii.
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Baruch orchestrated every detail : Lough, No More Champagne .
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wearing a brown suit : Tolppanen, Churchill in North America, 1929 , 5.
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He boarded the Empress of Australia : Lough, No More Champagne , 190.
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“Jack and I have large cabins” : Lough, No More Champagne , 185.
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“There is a stock exchange” : Lough, No More Champagne , 190.
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Taking a train south : Lough, No More Champagne , 188.
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He traveled to San Simeon : Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill .
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in a cable to Clementine : Maier, When Lions Roar , 32.
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“A vast income” : Maier, When Lions Roar , 32.
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While Hearst rarely smiled : Maier, When Lions Roar , 33.
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While at Hearst’s home : Lough, No More Champagne .
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“This ‘mass of manoeuvre’ ” : Lough, No More Champagne .
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Hearst hosted a party : Maier, When Lions Roar , 33.
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Churchill’s mind remained on money : Lough, No More Champagne .
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Schwab provided the private train car : Tolppanen, Churchill in North America, 1929 .
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Though he was Jewish : Tolppanen, Churchill in North America, 1929 .
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On their first night : Tolppanen, Churchill in North America, 1929 .
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Schwab loaned him another : Tolppanen, Churchill in North America, 1929 , 208.
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was so overjoyed : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street (Madison Books, 1993), 265.
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Lamont carefully curated : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 52, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA.
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MacDonald’s chief of staff : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 52.
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MacDonald was in Philadelphia : “City of Brotherly Love Greets Britain’s Premier,” Toronto Star , October 11, 1929.
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MacDonald held forth : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948.
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“It seemed too good” : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948.
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“The protracted bull market in stocks” : Russell Cornell Leffingwell Papers, Archives at Yale, New Haven, CT.
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Yale’s Irving Fisher : “Fisher Sees Stocks Permanently High,” New York Times , October 16, 1929.
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“Even in the present high markets” : “Fisher Sees Bear Market Almost Over,” Brooklyn Citizen , October 22, 1929.
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“Industrial and commercial activity during” : “Wall Street Ticker Talk,” Times Union , October 15, 1929.
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as Mitchell boarded an ocean liner : “Mitchell Asserts Stocks Are Sound,” New York Times , October 16, 1929.
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“Although in some cases” : “No Reason Seen for Predicted Slump,” Daily Gleaner , October 18, 1929.
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the first president to put : “The Presidency: Telephone,” Time , April 8, 1929.
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he often spoke : Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (Simon & Schuster, 1990).
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the president dispatched an envoy : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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“Hoover knows nothing about finance” : “Socialists Take Up Attack on Hoover,” New York Times , August 1, 1928.
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had dubbed Hoover : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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he relayed Hoover’s concerns : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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trends in the American economy : Thomas Lamont, letter to President Herbert Hoover, October 19, 1929, Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 98.
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“far less bearish” : Thomas Lamont, memorandum to Russell C. Leffingwell, October 16, 1929. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 98.
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“We must remember” : Lamont to Hoover, October 19, 1929, Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 98.
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“Is it not just possible” : Lamont to Hoover, October 19, 1929, Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 98.
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“If it should turn out” : Lamont to Hoover, October 19, 1929, Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 98.
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“Corrective action on the part” : Lamont to Hoover, October 19, 1929.
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Hoover so eagerly awaited : Chernow, The House of Morgan , 315.
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Leffingwell was more apprehensive : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 268.
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“almost all that it contains” : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948; Martin Horn, J.P. Morgan & Co. and the Crisis of Capitalism: From the Wall Street Crash to World War II (Cambridge University Press, 2022), 99.
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The session ended badly : Phyllis S. Pearce, The Dow Jones Averages, 1885–1995 (Irwin Professional Pub., 1996), 108.
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$1 billion in equity vanished : “Stocks Driven Down as Wave of Selling Engulfs the Market,” New York Times , October 20, 1929.
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The New York Times reported : “Stocks Driven Down as Wave of Selling Engulfs the Market,” New York Times .
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Livermore realized he could use : Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1979), 335–36.
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Livermore handed him : Paul Sarnoff, Jesse Livermore: Speculator King (Traders Press, 1985,) 10–12; “Livermore Not in Bear Pool; Says It Is Foolish to Think That Any One Group Can Sway Market,” New York Times , October 22, 1929.
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“What can a professor know” : Sarnoff, Jesse Livermore , 10–12.
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“on the short side” : Sarnoff, Jesse Livermore , 10.
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“What little business” : “Livermore Not in Bear Pool; Says It Is Foolish to Think That Any One Group Can Sway Market,” New York Times .
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was immediately pressed : “Mitchell Terms Decline Healthy,” Wall Street Journal , October 23, 1929.
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meet the next day : “Reserve Bank to Discuss Cut in Rate Today,” New York Herald Tribune , October 24, 1929.
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The Fed had only recently raised : “The Discount Rate,” New York Times , August 10, 1929.
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“Certainly lowering the present rate” : “Wall Street News and Comment,” Boston Globe , October 23, 1929.
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a far less sanguine Hoover : Maury Klein, Rainbow’s End: The Crash of 1929 (Oxford University Press, 2001), 206.
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but forwarded the message : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948.
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“far-reaching decline of the year” : “Topics in Wall Street,” New York Times , October 24, 1929.
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the final hour on the Exchange : “Market Break Forces Down Stock Values,” Buffalo News , October 24, 1929.
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A somewhat callous banker : “Topics in Wall Street,” New York Times .
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“It will send” : “Topics in Wall Street,” New York Times .
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bonds had been steadily advancing : Karol Jan Borowiecki, Michał Dzieliński, and Alexander Tepper, “The Great Margin Call: The Role of Leverage in the 1929 Wall Street Crash,” Economic History Review 76 (2023): 807–26.
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Fisher gave yet another speech : Richard Hatton, “Fisher Denies Inflation of Stock Values,” Washington Herald , October 24, 1929.
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Lamont was astonished : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street (Madison Books, 1993), 269–70.
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Police wagons began to arrive : Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1979), 353.
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“In case there’s trouble” : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 353.
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“Nobody Goes Home Until I Say So” : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 353.
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Lamont and his partners crowded : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 353.
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“People just stood there” : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 353.
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Bologna had a lot : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 356.
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“A wise man never sells out” : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 356.
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Crawford made his way : Thomas Fleming, “Good-bye to Everything!,” American Heritage , August 1965.
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Montgomery Ward immediately plummeted : “Business & Finance: Bankers v. Panic,” Time , November 4, 1929.
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Bologna, the bootblack, managed to wriggle : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 356.
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“In the crowd” : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 356.
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“run, curse, push or go coatless” : Maury Klein, Rainbow’s End: The Crash of 1929 (Oxford University Press, 2001), 210; Thomas Fleming, “Good-bye to Everything!”
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Tickers continued to run : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 358.
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“a kind of madness” : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 358.
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a comparable frenzy erupted : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 358.
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“a fat, perspiring man” : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 358.
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almost an hour late : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 358.
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Lamont had inherited the mantle : Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (Simon & Schuster, 1990).
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it took Lamont’s aide ten minutes : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 357.
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a British journalist : Claud Cockburn, In Time of Trouble: An Autobiography (R. Hart-Davis, 1957), 167.
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“found himself part” : Cockburn, In Time of Trouble , 167.
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“an enormous murmuring crowd” : Cockburn, In Time of Trouble , 167.
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shoving people on the sidewalks aside : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 360.
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After watching the tape : Matthew Josephson, The Money Lords (Weybright and Talley, 1972), 92–93; Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 369.
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As the crowd grew denser : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 369.
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The Wall Street Journal later estimated : “Bankers Halt Stock Debate,” Wall Street Journal , October 25, 1929.
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Lamont asked each man to contribute : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 370.
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initial commitment of $120 million : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 269–70.
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Bernard Baruch declined Lamont’s urgent request : Bernard Baruch, Baruch: The Public Years (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1960), 225.
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“The day was past” : Baruch, Baruch , 226.
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Before leaving for the meeting : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 363.
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Reporting for The Saturday Evening Post : Edwin Lefèvre, “The Little Fellow in Wall Street,” Saturday Evening Post , January 4, 1930.
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“It’s going to be all right” : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 363.
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Cockburn described Lamont : Cockburn, In Time of Trouble , 168.
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“a little distress selling” : “Bankers Come to Market’s Rescue; Rise Follows Lamont’s Statement,” Brooklyn Daily Times , October 24, 1929.
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“We consider the situation” : “Bankers Come to Market’s Rescue; Rise Follows Lamont’s Statement,” Brooklyn Daily Times .
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“Since becoming a journalist” : Cockburn, In Time of Trouble , 168.
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Cockburn left for a lunch appointment : Cockburn, In Time of Trouble , 170–71.
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“built of red brick” : Lauren Gambier, “History of 22 Washington Square,” Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law & Justice, New York University.
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Cockburn noticed sounds : Cockburn, In Time of Trouble , 170.
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Cockburn described the scene : Cockburn, In Time of Trouble , 170–71.
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unlike his brother : John Brooks, Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920–1938 (Harper & Row, 1969), 134–35.
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Whitney was not unduly alarmed : “Business & Finance,” Time , November 4, 1929.
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serving as the steward : Vernon van Ness, “Essex Hounds’ Race Ends in Dead Heat,” New York Times , October 24, 1929; Brooks, Once in Golconda , 113.
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Whitney had expected : Chernow, The House of Morgan , 316.
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the tall, supercilious Whitney : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 370.
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“Ten thousand at two-oh-five” : Josephson, The Money Lords , 92–93.
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Within minutes he had deployed : Chernow, The House of Morgan , 316.
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“Wall Street’s White Knight” : “Business: Ex-Knight,” Time , March 21, 1938.
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Dangling his pince-nez : Chernow, The House of Morgan , 317.
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The pool winnowed : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 270.
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“I am still of the opinion” : “Wall Street Optimistic After Stormy Day,” New York Times , October 25, 1929.
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Rumors circulated that the bankers : “Financiers Ease Tension; Five Wall Street Bankers Hold Two Meetings at Morgan Office,” New York Times , October 25, 1929.
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But he did not explain : Burton Rascoe, “The Grim Anniversary,” New Republic , October 29, 1930.
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Lamont informed the stock exchange board : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 271.
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met twice that day : “Financiers Ease Tension,” New York Times , October 25, 1929.
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By the time it ended : “Losses Recovered in Part,” New York Times , October 25, 1929.
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A short news item : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 368.
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Charles Merrill of Merrill Lynch : Tom Shachtman, The Day America Crashed: A Narrative Account of the Great Stock Market Crash of October 24, 1929 (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1979), 278.
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a new brokerage office : Karen Blumenthal, Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929: A Wall Street Journal Book (Simon & Schuster, 2002), 32–34.
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a “death watch” : “Stock Crash Starts Excited Trading on Liner,” New York Times , October 26, 1929.
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“My son and I” : “Rockefeller Backs Morgan to Buy Stock,” Associated Press, October 31, 1929.
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“Severe disturbances in the stock market” : “Wall Street Optimistic After Stormy Day,” New York Times .
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“I expected it long ago” : “Early Investigation of Reserve Board and Financial Conditions Is Predicted,” United States Daily , October 25, 1929.
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Evangeline Adams hosted : Klein, Rainbow’s End , 216.
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The seer reassured her clients : Klein, Rainbow’s End , 216.
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Adams contacted her own broker : Thomas and Morgan-Witts, The Day the Bubble Burst , 370.
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Jesse Livermore had been plotting : Richard Smitten, Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader (John Wiley & Sons, 2001), 197.
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At night he battled insomnia : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 3.
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Richard Whitney’s theatrical stock-buying : Axel Madsen, The Deal Maker: How William C. Durant Made General Motors (John Wiley & Sons, 1999), 255.
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Durant, convinced the Federal Reserve : Madsen, The Deal Maker , 255.
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President Hoover issued a public statement : Herbert Hoover, “Statement on the National Business and Economic Situation, October 25, 1929,” The American Presidency Project, n.d., presidency.ucsb.edu/node/207721 .
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“greater dangers and greater troubles” : William J. Barber, From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921–1933 (Cambridge University Press, 1989), 78–79.
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“Yesterday’s happenings will be followed” : Barber, From New Era to New Deal , 78–79.
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The market weathered : “Stocks Gain as Market Is Steadied,” New York Times , October 26, 1929.
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Lamont sensed the worst had passed : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 271.
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“The day’s developments” : “Stocks Hold Firm in Normal Trading; Pool Still On Guard,” New York Times , October 27, 1929.
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Lamont wrote to his daughter : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 271.
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tour buses rumbled : James Grant, Bernard Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (John Wiley & Sons, 1997), 225.
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Just before 10 a.m. : Helvering v. Mitchell , 303 US 391 (1938).
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Mitchell got a call to attend : Helvering v. Mitchell .
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All the blue chips took : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239: Part 6, 1817, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87#33954 .
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Mitchell then made his way : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street (Madison Books, 1993), 272.
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nine million shares : Grant, Bernard Baruch , 225.
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National City had bought : Thomas F. Huertas and Joan L. Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell: Scapegoat of the Crash?,” Business History Review 60, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 81–103.
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Mitchell arrived at Baruch’s home : “Baruch Mansion on Fifth Avenue Is Sold,” New York Times , November 1, 1946.
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After everyone had been seated : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 272.
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“happened to be walking down” : Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill , companion vol. v, part 2, The Wilderness Years 1929–1935 (Heinemann, 1981), 25.
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“I expected to see pandemonium” : Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life (Heinemann, 1991).
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Successful financiers were : Grant, Bernard Baruch , 23.
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Baruch himself had been wary : Grant, Bernard Baruch , 225–26.
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“I decided to sell everything” : Bernard Baruch, Baruch: The Public Years (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1960), 244.
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He didn’t tell anyone : Baruch, Baruch , 244.
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He lost an estimated $14,737,000 : “14 Million Blow to Baker,” New York Times , October 29, 1929.
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“Think I am able to see” : Grant, Bernard Baruch , 226.
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his “overnight cogitations” : City Bank Farmers Trust Company v. Cannon et al ., 51 N.E.2d 674,291 (N.Y.1943), Affidavit of David Brady—Exhibit B.
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Lamont had a complicated view : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA.
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Lamont had been informed by a reporter : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948.
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But very little of that mattered : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell , 32 B.T.A. 1093, 1935 BTA LEXIS 843 (June 1933).
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Mitchell requested a total : Helvering v. Mitchell .
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A cryptic invitation was extended : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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Lamont stepped into a blue haze : Tom Shachtman, The Day America Crashed: A Narrative Account of the Great Stock Market Crash of October 24, 1929 (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1979), 278.
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Richard Whitney reminded : Richard Whitney, Work of the New York Stock Exchange in the Panic (Boston Association of Stock Exchange Firms, 1930).
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over 16 million shares were traded : “Stocks Collapse in 16,410,030-Share Day, but Rally at Close Cheers Brokers; Bankers Optimistic, to Continue Aid,” New York Times , October 30, 1929.
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“the day was the most disastrous” : “Stocks Collapse in 16,410,030-Share Day, but Rally at Close Cheers Brokers; Bankers Optimistic, to Continue Aid,” New York Times .
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“continue in a cooperative way” : “Leaders See Fear Waning,” New York Times , October 30, 1929.
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One stoic banker : Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2010), 291.
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After the close of the market : Studs Terkel, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (New Press, 2005), 67.
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“because at the time” : Terkel, Hard Times , 67.
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The firm’s public fund : John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929 (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1955), 115.
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“It was like a thunder clap” : Terkel, Hard Times , 93.
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As midnight approached : Harold and Gwyneth Barger, “Surviving Black October,” New York Times , September 30, 1979.
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That same evening : Richard Smitten, Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader (John Wiley & Sons, 2001), 13–14.
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“We’re going to be fine” : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 14.
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Churchill lost money : Winston Churchill, “Stock Crash in U.S. Seen by Churchill as Passing Episode,” Washington Post , December 8, 1929.
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His optimism about American capitalism : David Lough, No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money (Picador, 2015), 194–95.
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Lamont and his team dictated : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894-1948, box 108, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA.
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“Charles E. Mitchell had assured us” : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 108.
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“We cannot help feeling” : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 108.
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“Rather horrified by your previous cable” : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948 , box 108.
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John Raskob got a panicked call : David Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich: The Life and Times of John J. Raskob, Capitalist (Oxford University Press, 2013), 270.
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Riordan had sat down : “J.J. Riordan Ends Life with Pistol in His Home,” New York Times , November 10, 1929. According to the New York Times , New York City chief medical examiner Dr. Charles Norris “estimated that the shot had been fired between 4 P.M. and 5 P.M., and that in normal circumstances a man so wounded might live an hour and a half”; Riordan was reportedly discovered by his brother-in-law, J. P. Geagan, at 5:50 p.m.
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Riordan was a member : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 270.
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Riordan had extended a loan : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 271.
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a self-made man who got : “J.J. Riordan Ends Life with Pistol in His Home,” New York Times .
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he had to lay off : “J.J. Riordan Ends Life with Pistol in His Home,” New York Times .
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In the hours before Riordan : “J.J. Riordan Ends Life with Pistol in His Home,” New York Times .
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When Riordan was found dead : “J.J. Riordan Ends Life with Pistol in His Home,” New York Times .
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Raskob knew he could ill afford : John J. Raskob, letter to Sen. Pat Harrison, November 2, 1929, Congressional Record—Senate , November 4, 1929.
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a “stock plunger” : Raskob letter to Harrison, November 2, 1929, Congressional Record—Senate , November 4, 1929.
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“I do not gamble” : Raskob letter to Harrison, November 2, 1929.
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arranged for an immediate audit : “Raskob in Charge of Riordan’s Bank,” New York Times , November 10, 1929.
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“None of us put up anything” : “Raskob in Charge of Riordan’s Bank,” New York Times .
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“It is very understandable” : “Raskob in Charge of Riordan’s Bank,” New York Times .
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Raskob was blunt : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 271.
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He had been receiving threatening calls : Richard Smitten, Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader (John Wiley & Sons, 2001), 17.
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Worried about his family’s safety : “Livermore Has Bodyguard,” New York Times , December 21, 1929.
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By the middle of November : “Stocks Sink to New Lows,” New York Times , November 13, 1929.
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“who for many weeks” : “Stocks Sink to New Lows,” New York Times .
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“no reason why” : “Stocks Sink to New Lows,” New York Times .
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The day the article appeared : Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Penguin Press, 2009), 361.
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Herbert Hoover did not like : Thomas Schwartz, “An Average Day in the Life of a President,” Hoover Heads , National Archives, April 14, 2021.
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traipsing through the White House garden : Harvey O’Connor, Mellon’s Millions: The Biography of a Fortune; the Life and Times of Andrew W. Mellon (John Day Company, 1933), 130, 314.
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Hoover had not been particularly : Herbert Hoover, “The President’s News Conference, November 5, 1929,” The American Presidency Project, n.d., presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-843 .
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“I see no particular reasons” : Hoover, “The President’s News Conference, November 5, 1929.”
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“there has been a complete isolation” : Hoover, “The President’s News Conference, November 5, 1929.”
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Mellon, on the other hand : Kenneth Whyte, Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), 407.
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Hoover received a nerve-racking letter : Letter from R. P. Lamont to Herbert Hoover, November 14, 1929, President’s Subject File, box 159, Financial Matters, New York Stock Exchange Correspondence, November–December 1929.
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Hoover opened another letter : “Hearst Asks Hoover to Take Steps to End Stock Market Panic,” Washington Times Herald , November 14, 1929.
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the 11.7 percent plunge : Floyd Norris, “Looking Back at the Crash of ’29,” New York Times , October 15, 1999.
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Previous market crashes : William J. Barber, From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921–1933 (Cambridge University Press, 1989), 80.
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a strictly controlled : Hoover, “The President’s News Conference, November 5, 1929.”
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“In market booms” : Herbert Hoover, “Statement Announcing a Series of Conferences with Representatives of Business, Industry, Agriculture, and Labor,” The American Presidency Project, n.d., https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/208315 .
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“I was never so confused” : Henry Lee, “1929: The Crash That Shook the World,” American Mercury , November 1949.
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surprised Hoover by handing out : Charles Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency (Simon & Schuster, 2016), 111.
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“constitutionally gloomy,” in the words : William Allen White, Selected Letters of William Allen White, 1899–1943 (Henry Holt and Company, 1947), 316–17.
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“The President has great capacity” : White, Selected Letters of William Allen White, 1899–1943 , 316–17.
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the floor of the U.S. Senate : “Senators in Anger Denounce Critics,” New York Times , November 22, 1929.
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Glass believed he knew : “Gotham Banker Gets Blame for Crash in Stocks,” Fort Myers Press , November 21, 1929.
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Back on Wall Street, as the : Lawrence Gustin, Billy Durant: Creator of General Motors (Eerdmans, 1973), 244.
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“I’m sorry you can’t see” : Gustin, Billy Durant , 244.
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the five telephones sitting silently : Earl Sparling, Mystery Men of Wall Street: The Powers Behind the Market (Greenberg, 1930), 14.
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a sign that said : Sparling, Mystery Men of Wall Street , 25.
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“We may as well tell the truth” : Sparling, Mystery Men of Wall Street , 17; “W.C. Durant Says He Warned President Before Stock Crash,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat , December 14, 1929.
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“Am I broke?” : Sparling, Mystery Men of Wall Street , 29.
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Less than a week before Christmas : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell , 32 B.T.A. 1093, 1935 BTA LEXIS 843 (June 1933).
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down from the average price : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell.
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Mitchell toyed with the idea : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell .
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Forbes advised him : Helvering v. Mitchell , 303 US 391 (1938).
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They agreed that Elizabeth : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell , opening statements (May 11, 1933).
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in her sitting room : Helvering v. Mitchell .
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the Ukrainian sculptor Alexander Archipenko : Walter Winchell, “Things I Never Knew till Now,” Washington Herald , November 15, 1929.
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while ignoring a volunteer : Paul Gallico, “The Whiskers Come Off,” Daily News , December 21, 1929.
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Eight blocks away, the Chrysler Building : “Chrysler Building,” New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, September 12, 1978, https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0992.pdf .
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“The collapse of the market” : E. B. White, comment, New Yorker , November 2, 1929.
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gaining 61 percent of the vote : “Vote for Mayor of New York City,” New York Times , November 6, 1929.
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Walker gave himself : Herbert Mitgang, Once Upon a Time in New York (Cooper Square Press, 2003), 53.
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An essay by John Raskob : John J. Raskob, “What Next in America,” North American Review 229, no. 5 (November 1929): 513–18; “The Past Year in Our Financial History,” New York Times , December 31, 1929.
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On its financial page : “Some Popular Theories Which Prevailed in 1929, and How They Were Tested by Events of the Autumn,” New York Times , December 31, 1929.
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one of the youngest rear admirals : “Hoover’s Pen Makes Byrd Rear Admiral for Polar Exploits,” New York Times , December 22, 1929.
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“You will be wondering” : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 198, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA.
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batted back rumors : “Broken Broker,” Time , December 7, 1936.
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the final hour and a half : “Celebrations Held on the Exchanges,” New York Times , January 30, 1930.
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“At one of the trading posts” : “Celebrations Held on the Exchanges,” New York Times .
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audible as far away as Broadway : John Brooks, Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920–1938 (Harper & Row, 1969), 129.
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By the late spring of 1930 : Ariel Nelson, “Beware the Bear Market Rally,” CNBC, May 11, 2009.
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like Joseph Kennedy : Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Penguin Press, 2009), 311.
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Stocks ended 1930 : Dow Jones Yearly Performance History, S&P Dow Jones Indices.
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a trader nicknamed the Jolly Bear : Matthew Josephson, The Money Lords (Weybright and Talley, 1972), 109.
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traversed the country : “Power of Bears Is Exaggerated, Whitney Says,” Associated Press, October 11, 1930.
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public spending was essential : Zachary D. Carter, The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes (Random House, 2020), 186.
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Hoover believed that spending : Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression (Macmillan, 1952), 164.
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Whitney went before a Senate committee : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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“down on my knees” : David Burner, Herbert Hoover : A Public Life (Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), 258.
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More than a thousand economists signed : Congressional Record—Senate , Monday, May 5, 1930, 8326.
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Washington had been debating Smoot–Hawley : Representative Milligan, speaking on Smoot–Hawley Tariff, 71st Cong., 2d sess., Congressional Record 22, pt. 11 (1930): 12675–76.
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“vicious, extortionate, and obnoxious” : Charles Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency (Simon & Schuster, 2016), 199.
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Hoover signed the bill : “Hoover Signs Tariff Bill as Borah in Senate Seeks Cuts by Flexible Clause; New Duties Go into Effect,” New York Times , June 18, 1930.
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The price of grain collapsed : “New Low Prices Hit by Wheat and Rye,” New York Times , June 21, 1930.
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fell by 60 percent : Hearings Before the Committee on Ways and Means, United States House of Representatives (Seventy-eighth Congress, First Session, 1943) , Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, Extension of H.J. Res. 111 and Renegotiation of War Contracts (H.R. 2324, 2698, 3015).
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small banks across the country : “History of Banking and Deposit Insurance, 1930–1939,” FDIC, accessed May 21, 2025, https://www.fdic.gov/history/1930-1939 .
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Hoover’s instincts were : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , 406.
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Thomas Lamont celebrated : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street (Madison Books, 1993), 275, 287.
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an estate they called Torrey Cliff : “Estate of Lamont Given to Columbia,” New York Times , December 23, 1948; Jamie Malanowski, “Research; Near the Hudson, Studying Earth,” New York Times , January 11, 2004.
Following Thomas Lamont’s death in 1948, Florence donated Torrey Cliff to her alma mater, Columbia University, to serve as a research center for geology and geophysics; it is now the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
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The year had started off : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 278.
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The New York Times ran : “T.W. Lamont 60 Years Old,” New York Times , October 1, 1930.
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The discussions he was having : Martin Horn, J.P. Morgan & Co. and the Crisis of Capitalism: From the Wall Street Crash to World War II (Cambridge University Press, 2022), 100, 115.
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His birthday coincided with : “Stock Prices Break; Sisto & Co. Suspended,” New York Times , October 1, 1930.
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sent him a copy : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 198, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA.
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traveled around the United States : Matthew Josephson, “Mass Civilization and the Individual,” Outlook and Independent , June 5, 1929.
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her pathbreaking foray : Ida M. Tarbell, “John D. Rockefeller: A Character Study,” McClure’s Magazine , August 1905.
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credulous portraits of Benito Mussolini : Ida Tarbell, “Mussolini, Italy and the World,” McCall’s , June 11, 1926.
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General Electric chairman Owen Young : John H. Finley, “Owen Young: Industrial Leader; Miss Tarbell’s Biography Sees in Him the Flowering of a New Type,” New York Times , June 12, 1932.
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which did virtually no original reporting : “About Time,” Time , March 26, 2023.
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From his home in Connecticut : Matthew Josephson, Infidel in the Temple (Alfred A. Knopf, 1967), 71.
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Josephson brought a jaundiced eye : Josephson, Infidel in the Temple , 94.
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Sherrod had been a bond salesman : Julian Sherrod, Scapegoats: By One of Them (Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1931), ix–x.
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Utilizing internal memos and notes : Sherrod, Scapegoats , ix–x.
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“The past twelve years” : Sherrod, Scapegoats , ix–x.
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“Chairman has just made” : Sherrod, Scapegoats .
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“Wall Street and bankers” : Mary Burke King, “Book Reviews,” The Register , February 20, 1932.
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John Raskob bustled : “Raskob WEAF Speech,” Brooklyn Eagle , October 26, 1930.
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“The goal set” : Frank R. Kent, “Charley Michelson,” Scribner’s Magazine , September 30, 1930.
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The story took on : “Sees Raskob Plot to Slander Hoover,” New York Times , September 2, 1930.
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“John J. Raskob’s personally underwritten propagandist” : “Sees Raskob Plot to Slander Hoover,” New York Times .
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Senator Arthur Robinson declared : “G.O.P. Heavy Guns Trained Upon Raskob,” United Press International, September 11, 1930.
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“Now, we know” : “It Is Raskob’s Fault,” Marion Leader-Tribune , September 13, 1930.
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Raskob described the stories : “Raskob Urges Referendum on Dry Laws,” Associated Press, October 28, 1930.
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“No one ever heard me” : “Raskob Urges Referendum on Dry Laws,” Associated Press.
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“The only way to increase production” : “Raskob Advocates Tariff by Experts,” New York Times , October 28, 1930.
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In a separate statement : “G.O.P., by Innuendo, Accuses Raskob of Smashing Market,” Springfield Evening Union , November 1, 1930.
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On the morning of November 5 : Kenneth Whyte, Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), 423–24.
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Unlike his boss : Charles Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency (Simon & Schuster, 2016), 158.
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“A President cannot with decency” : Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression 1929–1941 (Macmillan, 1952), 220.
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he couldn’t stand Michelson : Jared Cohen, Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House (Simon & Schuster. 2024), 184.
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Hoover seemed to understand : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , 297.
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“He wants another term more” : Theodore Joslin, “Diary of Theodore Joslin, Secretary to President Herbert Hoover,” November 30, 1931, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
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More than 1,300 banks : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street (Madison Books, 1993), 290.
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“I believe if the newspapers” : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , 381.
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“the only trouble with capitalism” : Mr. Mark Sullivan, Jr., interview by Raymond Henle, November 30, 1968, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, 9.
In the same oral history, Sullivan also recalled an exchange he heard in 1928, while in a car with Hoover: “My father and Hoover…worried about the degree of speculation on the stock exchange and they were deploring the previous year’s, I guess, action of the Federal Reserve in keeping the interest rate down in an effort to help European banks which were floundering and having trouble; and I can remember perfectly clearly Mr. Hoover saying that ‘this gambling in the American stock market is a direct result of that. They should have tightened the money market. I’m afraid we’re going to have trouble.’ ”
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Salmon Levinson, a prominent Chicago lawyer : “Mr. Levinson’s Way,” Time , October 13, 1930.
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inviting business leaders : Spencer Howard, “The President’s Conference on Unemployment—1921,” Hoover Heads , National Archives, September 28, 2016.
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Survey of Current Business : Andrew D. Reamer, “The Origins of the Survey of Current Business,” Bureau of Economic Analysis, October 2020.
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Either the federal budget would : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , ch. 13.
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the results of November 5 : “Republicans Lay Defeat to Slump,” New York Times , November 6, 1930.
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Roosevelt had emerged : Lela Stiles, The Man Behind Roosevelt: The Story of Louis McHenry Howe (World Publishing Company, 1954), 117.
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a small, strange man : Stiles, The Man Behind Roosevelt , 225.
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had originally targeted 1936 : Stiles, The Man Behind Roosevelt , 101.
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it was presumed that Hoover : Stiles, The Man Behind Roosevelt , 101.
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Governor Roosevelt had traveled : W. A. S. Douglas, “Roosevelt Ignites 1930 Campaign Fuse,” Baltimore Sun , December 11, 1929.
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On Election Day, he coasted : “Governor Received 725,001 Plurality,” New York Times , December 4, 1930.
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Hoover and the White House : “False Rumor Leads to Trouble at Bank,” New York Times , December 11, 1930.
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A series of bank runs : Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (Simon & Schuster, 1990), 326.
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“We want our money!” : “Depositors’ Loans Begin Tomorrow,” New York Times , December 21, 1930.
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Six people were arrested : “Depositors’ Loans Begin Tomorrow,” New York Times .
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unlike previous panics : Alexander D. Noyes, “Financial Markets: The Appeal to Cheerfulness, Today and Last Spring, Observing an Anniversary,” New York Times , October 27, 1930.
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publicly lambast him : J. F. Essary, “Finance Probe by Glass Due to Be Sweeping,” Baltimore Sun , January 17, 1931.
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On the same day in November : “51 Banks in South Close Doors in Day,” New York Times , November 17, 1930.
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even started to sound : “Revival of Business Developing Gradually,” United Press International, January 13, 1931.
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As the hearing got underway : “Mitchell Declares Cash Bonus Would Ruin Many Banks,” Evening Sun , February 2, 1931.
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Glass was not buying it : “Mitchell Declares Cash Bonus Would Ruin Many Banks,” Evening Sun .
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“what makes a horse race” : “Mitchell Declares Cash Bonus Would Ruin Many Banks,” Evening Sun .
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Across from his home : Christopher Gray, “Streetscapes: Central Park’s ‘Hooverville’; Life Along ‘Depression Street,’ ” New York Times , August 29, 1993.
Today, the drained reservoir that was the site of the shantytown has been transformed into Central Park’s Great Lawn.
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“The thing I admire most” : B. C. Forbes, “Finance and Industry,” Tampa Times , October 5, 1931.
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essentially slammed the door : “The Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act),” Office of the Historian, United States State Department, accessed May 21, 2025, history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act .
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Hoover was exasperated : Charles Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency (Simon & Schuster, 2016), 288.
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“In this emergency” : Theodore Joslin, “Diary of Theodore Joslin, Secretary to President Herbert Hoover,” August 10, 1931, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
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“There are always” : Herbert Hoover, “The President’s News Conference,” October 21, 1930, The American Presidency Project; Herbert Hoover, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Herbert Hoover, 1930 (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976), 441.
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“This is a cruel world” : Theodore Joslin, “Diary of Theodore Joslin, Secretary to President Herbert Hoover,” May 27, 1931, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
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“We have Germans” : “Charles Mitchell Tells Senate Committee of Serious Menace,” Kansas City Journal , December 19, 1931.
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Lamont called Hoover : Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Penguin Press, 2009).
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“I am taking the liberty” : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 98, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA.
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Lamont tried framing the issue : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 98.
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Hoover had been obsessively studying : William Leuchtenburg, Herbert Hoover: The American Presidents Series (Times Books, 2009), 126.
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“This is the most daring statement” : Theodore Joslin, “Diary of Theodore Joslin, Secretary to President Herbert Hoover,” June 5, 1931, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
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he laid it out : Herbert Hoover, “The President’s News Conference, June 20, 1931,” The American Presidency Project, n.d., presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-671 .
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It was, at long last : Richard V. Oulahan, “Full Debt Holiday Insisted On Here,” New York Times , June 24, 1931.
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When he presented the debt-moratorium : David Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), 437.
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to attend his son Paul’s graduation : Ahamed, Lords of Finance .
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By the time Mellon returned : Cannadine, Mellon .
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From April to August : “History of Banking and Deposit Insurance, 1930–1939,” Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, updated May 15, 2025, https://www.fdic.gov/history/1930-1939 .
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the United Kingdom gave up : Charles E. Selden, “Britain Calm Under Gold Suspension; Act Gets Royal Assent; Pound at $4.22; Stocks Rally Here After Early Slump,” New York Times , September 22, 1931.
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“Conditions could not be much worse” : Theodore Joslin, “Diary of Theodore Joslin, Secretary to President Herbert Hoover,” September 29, 1931, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
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Hoover had had enough : Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Cabinet and the Presidency 1920–1933 (Macmillan, 1952).
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he chose to meet them : Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover.
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the McCormick Apartments : “McCormick Apartments,” DC Historic Sites, https://historicsites.dcpreservation.org/items/show/365 .
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between the reception foyer : Majorie Hunter, “Andrew Mellon’s Drawing Room Is the First Target as the Renovation of Capital Mansion Begins,” New York Times , November 11, 1977.
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“We had a long” : Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression 1929 – 1941 (Macmillan, 1952), 97.
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“God help you when they” : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , 363.
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Winston Churchill was back : Winston Churchill, “Winston Churchill Tells How It Feels to Be Run Down by an Automobile,” Ottawa Citizen , January 9, 1932.
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a $75,000 hole : David Lough, No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money (Picador, 2015), 194.
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He was scheduled to give one : Churchill, “Winston Churchill Tells How It Feels to Be Run Down by an Automobile.”
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Bernard Baruch’s house on Fifth : Churchill, “Winston Churchill Tells How It Feels to Be Run Down by an Automobile.”
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an Alaskan gold-mining concern : James Grant, Bernard M. Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (John Wiley & Sons, 1997), 237–38.
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“When I got near” : Churchill, “Winston Churchill Tells How It Feels to Be Run Down by an Automobile.”
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“It occurred to me” : Churchill, “Winston Churchill Tells How It Feels to Be Run Down by an Automobile.”
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“Suddenly upon my right” : Churchill, “Winston Churchill Tells How It Feels to Be Run Down by an Automobile.”
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“rushing forward at full speed” : “To Rule All Traffic from Times Square,” New York Times , January 5, 1922; “Yellow Traffic Lights,” New York Times , February 9, 1952.
In the 1920s and parts of the 1930s, cars often sped through the streets because not all intersections were manned with a police officer to control traffic, nor a traffic light. To the extent that there were traffic lights, many still only had two lights: red and green, leading drivers to screech to a halt when the light switched to red. Yellow lights were invented in the 1920s but rolled out slowly—they weren’t widely seen in New York City until the 1950s.
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“I now saw” : Churchill, “Winston Churchill Tells How It Feels to Be Run Down by an Automobile.”
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“Tell me, Baruch” : Churchill, “Winston Churchill Tells How It Feels to Be Run Down by an Automobile.”
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“Last night he was very sad” : Mary Soames, Clementine Churchill: The Biography of a Marriage (Houghton Mifflin, 1979), 290.
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“Fighting this depression” : Theodore Joslin, “Diary of Theodore Joslin, Secretary to President Herbert Hoover,” February 18, 1932, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
According to Joslin, Hoover specifically lamented the failure of the director of the President’s Organization on Unemployment Relief, Walter S. Gifford, describing him as “a sorry disappointment…he lacks the qualities that I thought he possessed.”
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Almost 11,000 banks had closed : Edward Morris, Wall Streeters: The Creators and Corruptors of American Finance (Columbia University Press, 2015), 57.
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described in his diary : Theodore Joslin, “Diary of Theodore Joslin, Secretary to President Herbert Hoover,” August 27, 1931, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
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That was due : Janet Schmelzer, “Wright Patman and the Impeachment of Andrew Mellon,” East Texas Historical Journal , March 1985.
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With “Capone out of the way” : Janet Schmelzer, “Wright Patman and the Impeachment of Andrew Mellon.”
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“Mellonites, poll parrots and ‘yes’ men” : Janet Schmelzer, “Wright Patman and the Impeachment of Andrew Mellon.”
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the creation of the Reconstruction : Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression 1929–1941 (Macmillan, 1952), 117.
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Mellon hated the idea : David Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), 442.
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he had come to the view : Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Cabinet and the Presidency 1920–1933 (Macmillan, 1952), 101.
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“shocked at the revelation” : Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression 1929–1941 , 90.
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Hoover tapped Charles Dawes : Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover : The Great Depression 1929 – 1941 , 108; Herbert Hoover, “Statement on the Appointment of Andrew W. Mellon as United States Ambassador to Great Britain, February 3, 1932,” The American Presidency Project, n.d., presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-the-appointment-andrew-w-mellon-united-states-ambassador-great-britain .
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“densely ignorant, pitifully ignorant” : Charles Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency (Simon & Schuster, 2016), 311.
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Hoover’s White House : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , 311.
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“My personal observation” : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , 311.
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signed into law by Hoover : Herbert Hoover, “Statement on Signing the Federal Reserve Act, February 27, 1932,” The American Presidency Project, n.d., presidency.ucsb.edu/node/208357 .
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One of his biggest ideas : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , 395–97.
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Steagall’s big idea was : “Banking Reform Drafted,” New York Times , April 8, 1933.
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Glass was strongly against : Matthew P. Fink, The Unlikely Reformer: Carter Glass and Financial Regulation (George Mason University, 2019).
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“You know, this fellow Hoover” : Diana B. Henriques, Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR’s Fight to Regulate American Capitalism (Random House, 2023), 104.
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Hoover was on his own : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , 311.
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“You have no idea” : Richard Norton Smith, An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover (Simon & Schuster, 1984), 121.
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“take adequate measures” : Herbert Hoover, “Statement on the New York Stock Exchange, February 19, 1932,” The American Presidency Project, n.d., presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-the-new-york-stock-exchange .
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dismissed Hoover’s concerns : Michael Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street (Penguin Press, 2010), 16.
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Hoover saw this : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 17.
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Hoover reached out : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 17.
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“gratefully does all the little chores” : Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen, More Merry-Go-Round (Liveright, 1932), 352.
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an outright ban : “Bear Raiders to Face Committee,” Associated Press, February 27, 1932.
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“We are going to let” : “Bear Raiders to Face Committee,” Associated Press.
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a self-described “Prairie Statesman” : Gilbert C. Fite, “Peter Norbeck and the Defeat of the Nonpartisan League in South Dakota,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review 33, no. 2 (September 1946).
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“We are going into this” : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 48.
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a Republican lawyer : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 49.
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“was doing its utmost” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), 729, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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John Raskob firmly rejected : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), 729, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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“It has been charged in letters” : “Raskob Challenges Short Sales Charge at Senate Inquiry,” New York Times , June 4, 1932.
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was called before the committee : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency United States Senate (1932–1934).
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“You don’t hold us responsible” : “5 Bankers Called in Market Inquiry,” New York Times , February 8, 1933.
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From the perspective : Morris, Wall Streeters , 59.
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complained that the hearing was : Morris, Wall Streeters , 59.
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revelations about how Michael Meehan : “R-K-O ‘Freeze-Out’ Charged at Inquiry,” New York Times , June 11, 1932.
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When Norbeck and other members : Morris, Wall Streeters , 60.
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He collected 98 percent : Arthur Krock, “Hoover, Curtis Renamed on First Ballots; Dry-Wet Plank Is Defended by Stimson,” New York Times , June 17, 1932.
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His advisors urged him : Kenneth Whyte, Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), 493.
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until the fourth ballot : Arthur Krock, “Roosevelt Nominated on Fourth Ballot,” New York Times , July 2, 1932.
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Hoover was so confident : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , 419–20.
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“He is a sick man” : Theodore Joslin, “Diary of Theodore Joslin, Secretary to President Herbert Hoover,” April 27, 1932, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
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The Hoovers spent election night : Eugene Lyons, Herbert Hoover: A Biography (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1964), 308.
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built during 1919 and 1920 : “The Lou Henry and Herbert Hoover House,” National Park Service, February 10, 2021.
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the first scientific : Helmut Norpoth, “The American Voter in 1932: Evidence from a Confidential Survey,” PS: Political Science & Politics 52, no. 1 (2019): 14–19.
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When the survey report was delivered : Kenneth Whyte, Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), 512.
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“business in general is picking up” : Helmut Norpoth, “The American Voter in 1932.”
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Democrats in the House of Representatives : “House Democrats Total 313, a Record,” New York Times , November 11, 1932.
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And they had taken control : “Election a Blow to Congress Blocs; Democratic Sweep Will Re-Establish Party Control of Both Houses,” New York Times , November 10, 1932.
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“I had little hope” : Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression 1929 – 1941 (Macmillan, 1952), 218.
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Hoover rallied quickly : Herbert Hoover, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Herbert Hoover, 1932–1933 (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1977).
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“We must have continued unity” : Herbert Hoover, Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President, 1932–1933 (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1977), 651.
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“Forces of recovery triumphed” : “Wrecked Progress Made Before 1932 Election, Hoover’s Former Aide Writes,” Buffalo News , June 4, 1935.
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The recipients of the loans : “Garner Urges Bank Deposit Guarantees,” United Press International, February 14, 1933.
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“If the truth scares people” : “Garner Urges Bank Deposit Guarantees,” United Press International.
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would be “unflinchingly maintained” : “20 Economists Urge Roosevelt to Cut Tariffs,” Associated Press, January 2, 1933.
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Norbeck, who had won reelection : “Unofficial Count Finished,” Rapid City Daily Journal , November 19, 1932.
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To get the ball rolling : “Pecora, $255 Month Lawyer, Worked Long on Morgan,” News Journal , May 25, 1933.
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unwilling to take such a risk : Michael Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street (Penguin Press, 2010), 52.
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“People have no faith” : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 55.
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With only six weeks left : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street .
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admitted to the bar in 1911 : “Ex-Justice Ferdinand Pecora, 89, Dead,” New York Times , December 8, 1971.
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He had worked with Untermyer : “Pecora Appointed for Stock Inquiry,” New York Times , January 25, 1933.
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He had recently lost a bid : “Crain Picked by Tammany for District Attorney,” New York Times , August 9, 1929.
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That Pecora was even up : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 60.
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the 1924 law that sharply : James Ciment, Encyclopedia of the Jazz Age: From the End of World War I to the Great Crash (M.E. Sharpe, 2008).
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while welcoming “agents of Mussolini” : Congressional Record—Senate , April 25, 1930, 7711, https://www.congress.gov/71/crecb/1930/04/25/GPO-CRECB-1930-pt7-v72-12.pdf .
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On Sunday, January 22 : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street .
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Pecora noticed a brief news item : Ferdinand Pecora, “Reminiscences of Ferdinand Pecora, 1962,” interview by Donald F. Shaughnessy, 1962, Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University.
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“invited by Mussolini” : Pecora, “Reminiscences of Ferdinand Pecora, 1962.”
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He focused on Mitchell : Ferdinand Pecora, Wall Street Under Oath: The Story of Our Modern Money Changers (Simon & Schuster, 1939), 71.
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Norbeck announced that the committee : “Mitchell Called in Senate Inquiry,” New York Times , February 2, 1933.
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Pecora began receiving : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 134, 136.
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she “shouldn’t have gambled” : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 135.
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“I can only hope that” : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 137.
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Authorization for the Senate committee’s investigation : “Senate to Continue Its Market Inquiry; Votes Extension to March 4 and Approves $50,000 Additional Funds for Expenses,” New York Times , June 22, 1932.
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Roosevelt was a guest : “Roosevelt Hears Party Chiefs Lampooned in Stunts at Dinner of the Inner Circle,” New York Times , February 19, 1933.
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he gave a look : Raymond Moley, After Seven Years (Harper & Brothers, 1939), 139.
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Moley read it : Moley, After Seven Years , 139–40.
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“A most critical situation” : Timothy Walch and Dwight M. Miller, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Documentary History (Greenwood Press, 1998), 132.
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Moley could scarcely believe : Moley, After Seven Years , 140.
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Roosevelt’s first choice : “Glass’s Stand,” Time , May 8, 1933.
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Glass was hesitant : Rixey Smith and Norman Beasley, Carter Glass: A Biography (Longmans, Green and Co., 1939), 331.
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“I must again advise you” : Dr. A. W. Terrell, letter to Carter Glass, February 2, 1933, Carter Glass Papers, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
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Glass wrote to a Republican senator : Carter Glass Papers.
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“I regard the condition” : John T. Flynn, The Roosevelt Myth (Devin-Adair, 1948), 23.
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“It’s your duty to your party” : Russell Cornell Leffingwell Papers, Archives at Yale, New Haven, CT.
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“Unless Roosevelt is wise enough” : Russell Cornell Leffingwell Papers.
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“So far as inflation goes” : Arthur Meier Schlesinger, The Age of Roosevelt: The Crisis of the Old Order, 1919–1933 (Houghton Mifflin, 1957), 469.
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He had written it : E. J. Perkins, “The Divorce of Commercial and Investment Banking: A History,” The Banking Law Journal 88, no. 6 (1971): 483–528.
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Glass formally declined : Raymond Moley, The First New Deal (Harcourt, Brace & World, 1966), 83.
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had also come under increasing pressure : Alexander Dana Noyes, “Influence of the Michigan Bank Episode—the Court of Home and Foreign Sentiment,” New York Times , February 20, 1933.
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Roosevelt named William Woodin : “Hull and Woodin Named for Cabinet to Speed Action on World Economics; Roosevelt Confers with French Envoy,” New York Times , February 22, 1933.
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“sick of this” : Moley, After Seven Years , 122.
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Hoover immediately instructed : Moley, After Seven Years , 143–44.
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“Every last man who has” : Theodore Joslin, “Diary of Theodore Joslin, Secretary to President Herbert Hoover,” February 20, 1933, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
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Mills reported back to Hoover : Moley, After Seven Years , 143–44.
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When Roosevelt finally replied : Moley, The First New Deal , 143.
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Roosevelt needed a clean slate : Broadus Mitchell, The Depression Decade: From New Era Through New Deal, 1929–41 (Taylor & Francis, 2017).
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“I realize that if these declarations” : Herber Hoover, letter to David A. Reed, February 20, 1933; Schlesinger, The Age of Roosevelt , 477.
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Roosevelt’s “new deal” campaign plank : “Text of Governor Roosevelt’s Speech at the Convention Accepting the Nomination,” New York Times , July 3, 1932; Ronald Sullivan, “Stuart Chase, 97; Coined Phrase ‘a New Deal,’ ” New York Times , November 17, 1985.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, during his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president on July 2, 1932, in Chicago, Illinois, said: “I pledge you—I pledge myself—to a new deal for the American people.” Economist Stuart Chase, a member of Roosevelt’s “brain trust,” is credited with having coined the phrase “a new deal.”
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Charles Mitchell made his way : Michael Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street (Penguin Press, 2010), 132.
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Tanned and rested : “5 Bankers Called in Market Inquiry,” New York Times , February 8, 1933.
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After he had been served : “Pecora Subpoenas 3 in Stock Inquiry,” New York Times , January 31, 1933.
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along with a number of other : “Pecora Subpoenas 3 in Stock Inquiry,” New York Times ; “5 Bankers Called in Market Inquiry,” New York Times .
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violation of protocol : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 88–90.
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made her debut : “Tuxedo Park Ball Is Brilliant Event,” New York Times , October 30, 1932.
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a “supper dance” : “Miss Rita Mitchell Has Supper Dance Debut at Her Home,” New York Times , December 27, 1932.
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the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago : “All Chicago Banks Closed,” New York Times , March 5, 1933.
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“an impressive figure” : Ferdinand Pecora, Wall Street Under Oath: The Story of Our Modern Money Changers (Simon & Schuster, 1939).
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“like the mumbling of bees” : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 138.
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“You see, the National City Company” : “Mitchell Avoided Income Tax in 1929 by ‘$2,800,000 Loss,’ ” New York Times , February 22, 1933.
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“the loftiest moral tone” : Pecora, Wall Street Under Oath .
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Mitchell’s own annual salary : “Mitchell Avoided Income Tax in 1929 by ‘$2,800,000 Loss,’ ” New York Times .
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“Do you think it?” : “Mitchell Avoided Income Tax in 1929 by ‘$2,800,000 Loss,’ ” New York Times .
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Pecora had banned photographers : Ferdinand Pecora, “Reminiscences of Ferdinand Pecora, 1962,” interview by Donald F. Shaughnessy, 1962, Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University; Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street.
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As the hearing proceeded : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell , 32 B.T.A. 1093, 1935 BTA LEXIS 843 (June 1933).
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But because the bank had already : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239, Part 6, 1811, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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“If I go in and buy” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239: Part 6, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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“I held in the midst of the panic” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239, Part 6, 1811, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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He acknowledged that he had purchased : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239, Part 6, 1811, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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“frankly, for tax purposes” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239, Part 6, 1811, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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“You did not have a similar” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239, Part 6, 1811, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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The gangster Al Capone : “Prison Doors Close Behind Al Capone,” New York Times , May 5, 1932.
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Mitchell’s first day of testimony : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239, Part 6, 1811, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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reporters besieged him : “Senator Wheeler Assails Mitchell,” New York Times , February 23, 1933.
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“I shall make no statement” : “Senator Wheeler Assails Mitchell,” New York Times .
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When Pecora walked over that morning : Ferdinand Pecora, “Reminiscences of Ferdinand Pecora, 1962,” interview by Donald F. Shaughnessy, 1962, Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University.
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creating an “incorrect impression” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239: Part 6, 1817, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87#33954 .
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“Whatever wrong impression was created” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239: Part 6, 1817, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87#33954 .
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“sustain the morale of the organization” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239: Part 6, 1817, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87#33954 .
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“know that the National City Company” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932– 1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239: Part 6, 1817, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87#33954 , 1990.
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“Isn’t this the spectacle” : “Mitchell for Federal Control,” New York Times , February 25, 1933.
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“in view of these letters?” : “Mitchell for Federal Control,” New York Times .
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there was nothing nefarious : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 239: Part 6, 1817, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87#33954 , 1990 .
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“People running poker games” : “Mitchell for Federal Control,” New York Times .
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“We are trying to remedy” : “Bankers Facing Threat of Trial in Federal Court,” Virginian-Pilot , February 25, 1933.
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After the revelations : “Federal Inquiry on National City and Insull Starts,” New York Times , February 25, 1933.
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Before the week ended : “Financial Inquiry Slated to Continue,” New York Times , February 26, 1933.
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“Nothing will restore confidence” : “Financial Inquiry Slated to Continue,” New York Times , February 26, 1933.
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Editorialists at newspapers : Michael Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street (Penguin Press, 2010), 220.
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The influential journalist : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street , 223.
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“No set of men” : Walter Lippmann, “The Morgan Inquiry,” Flint Daily , May 31, 1933.
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“prove conclusively the truth” : Ray Tucker, “Bank Reform Need Proven, Glass Insists,” Scripps Howard News , February 24, 1933.
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At about 11:30 p.m. : Pecora, “Reminiscences of Ferdinand Pecora, 1962.”
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“I personally have been brought” : “J.H. Perkins Gets Mitchell’s Post,” Times Union , February 27, 1933.
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Mitchell’s resignation should be accepted : Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street .
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“Of course, Mr. Pecora” : Pecora, “Reminiscences of Ferdinand Pecora, 1962.”
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“he’d have to resume the stand” : When Mitchell finished his testimony on March 3, 1933, he left the Senate building with his head hung low. Pecora was in conversation with Senator Norbeck when they both noticed Mitchell from afar walking to the train station by himself. “There’s a famous picture, Pecora, I suppose you’re familiar with it, that portrays the great Napoleon on his way to St. Helena, on the decks of a steamer conveying him from France to exile,” Norbeck said. “Mitchell’s figure very much resembles that of Napoleon in that picture.”
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The March 6, 1933, issue : “Damnation of Mitchell,” Time , March 6, 1933.
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he and his family visited : “Hoover’s Last Day a Rush of Work,” New York Times , March 4, 1933.
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an unscheduled meeting : Raymond Moley, After Seven Years (Harper & Brothers, 1929), 145; Charles Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency (Simon & Schuster, 2016), 561.
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“Don’t hoard it” : Theodore Joslin, “Diary of Theodore Joslin, Secretary to President Herbert Hoover,” February 27, 1933, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
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Stock Exchange had stopped trading : “Exchanges Close for Bank Holiday,” New York Times , March 5, 1933.
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Roosevelt received a letter : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street (Madison Books, 1993), 329.
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“Urban populations cannot do” : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 329.
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“How horrible it is for me” : Rappleye, Herbert Hoover in the White House , 449.
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the outflow of currency and gold : Moley, After Seven Years , 144.
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“Like hell I will!” : Jonathan Darman, Becoming FDR: The Personal Crisis That Made a President (Random House, 2022), 325.
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Back at the Mayflower : William E. Leuchtenburg, The American President: From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton (Oxford University Press, 2015), 147.
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“I think the president” : Carter Glass, letter to Russell Cornell Leffingwell, July 12, 1933, Carter Glass Papers, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
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“Lamont called from New York” : Moley, After Seven Years , 146.
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Hoover made one last effort : Raymond Moley, The First New Deal (Harcourt, Brace & World, 1966), 150.
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“believed the country should go temporarily” : Moley, After Seven Years , 146.
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“Planning to close them” : Rixey Smith and Norman Beasley, Carter Glass: A Biography (Longmans, Green and Co., 1939), 341.
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Roosevelt and Hoover rode together : “Hoover, as Citizen, Here on Way Home,” New York Times , March 5, 1933.
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Just before the inauguration : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 330.
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facing the crowd of 150,000 : Edward G. Lengel, “Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Historic First Inauguration,” The White House Historical Association, January 4, 2017.
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laid out his vision : “Text of the Inaugural Address; President for Vigorous Action,” New York Times , March 5, 1933.
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“Practices of the unscrupulous” : “Text of the Inaugural Address; President for Vigorous Action,” New York Times .
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“to include all ramifications” : Edward Morris, Wall Streeters: The Creators and Corruptors of American Finance (Columbia University Press, 2015), 61.
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“a thorough and complete investigation” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 1, 143, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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Roosevelt ended the epidemic : Franklyn Waltman Jr., “Roosevelt Proclaims National Bank Holiday to Last Until Friday,” Baltimore Sun , March 6, 1933.
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briefly defied the order : David Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), 467.
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Yale psychologist Edward Robinson : Edmund O. Stillman, The American Heritage History of the 20’s & 30’s (American Heritage Publishing Company, 1970), 230.
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“It is ridiculous and misleading” : “On Gold Standard, Woodin Declares,” New York Times , March 6, 1933.
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more than five thousand bank failures : “History of Banking and Deposit Insurance, 1930–1939,” Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, May 15, 2025, https://www.fdic.gov/history/1930-1939 .
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American banks began to reopen : William L. Silber, “Why Did FDR’s Bank Holiday Succeed?,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York Policy Review, July 2009.
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all but nine were active immediately : “Nine Banks Here Unlicensed As Yet,” New York Times , March 14, 1933.
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the “Roosevelt market” : John Brooks, Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920–1938 (Harper & Row, 1969), 149.
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a flurry of bills : R. L. Duffus, “Roosevelt’s Record: Platform and Deeds,” New York Times , May 14, 1933; Arthur Schlesinger Jr., “The ‘Hundred Days’ of F.D.R,” New York Times , April 10, 1983.
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On the morning of March 8 : “National City Bank to Drop Affiliate,” New York Times , March 8, 1933.
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The fine print of Glass’s bill : Harold van Buren Cleveland and Thomas F. Huertas, Citibank, 1812–1970 (Harvard University Press, 1985).
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waded into the fray : “The 73d Congress Faces the Banking Problem,” Congressional Digest 12, issue 4 (April 1933).
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“I do not think” : “Statement Issued by President Aldrich,” Associated Press, March 9, 1933.
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Aldrich was the brother-in-law : Henry Robinson Luce, Fortune (Time, Incorporated, 1936).
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Aldrich promptly ousted : “Business: Wiggin Out,” Time , January 2, 1933.
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“A clashing of the Rockefeller interests” : “Chase Head Urges Reforms in Banking,” Buffalo News , March 9, 1933.
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Morgan partner Russell Cornell Leffingwell : “New Yorker May Succeed Glass,” Chicago Tribune , November 24, 1919.
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As the bill was coming together : Russell Cornell Leffingwell Papers, Archives at Yale, New Haven, CT.
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“have approached me” : Winthrop W. Aldrich, letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, May 22, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Papers as President: The President’s Personal File, part 16: PPF 7501-8000, 1933–1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
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Roosevelt invited Aldrich : Franklin D. Roosevelt, Papers as President: The President’s Personal File, part 16: PPF 7501-8000, 1933–1945.
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“believes that Mr. Aldrich” : George T. McJimsey, ed., Documentary History of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidency , vol. 18 (University Publications of America, 2001), 121.
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“More and more” : Carter Glass Papers, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
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a fight nearly broke out : “Long and Glass Almost in Fisticuffs in Senate,” Charlotte News , March 12, 1933.
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after nearly being thrown out : “Long Impeached,” Associated Press, April 13, 1929.
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Glass privately described him : Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, & the Great Depression (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2011), 77.
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Long had his own sights set : Long never achieved higher office. Though he was discussed as a presidential candidate for 1936, he was assassinated before it could come to pass. In September 1935, he was shot while at the Louisiana State Capitol building and later died of internal bleeding.
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“All I care is what the boys” : Brinkley, Voices of Protest , 76.
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Soon after the Senate passed : “Glass and Long Clash Sharply,” Buffalo Times , March 12, 1933.
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“I am tired of this man” : “Glass and Long Clash Sharply,” Buffalo Times .
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“Now you listen here!” : “Glass and Long Clash Sharply,” Buffalo Times .
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tried to quell the tension : “Glass, Long in Hot Clash on Bank Crisis,” Springfield Press , March 12, 1933.
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After the skirmish : “Congressional Dangers,” Star Tribune , March 27, 1933.
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When the filibuster : “National Affairs: Hard Money & Soft,” Time , February 6, 1933.
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“Now that you take” : “National Affairs: Hard Money & Soft,” Time .
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the bill died in the House : “President to Ask Bank Legislation,” New York Times , March 3, 1933.
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accompanied by a long : “National Affairs: Hard Money & Soft,” Time .
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“It is safer” : Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Fireside Chat on Banking, March 12, 1933,” The American Presidency Project, n.d., presidency.ucsb.edu/node/207762 .
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clutching an arrest warrant : “Mitchell Arrested on Cummings’ Order,” Boston Globe , March 22, 1933.
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put on his coat and hat : “Mitchell Held for Evasion of U.S. Income Tax,” Associated Press, March 22, 1933.
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had met with federal investigators : “Grand Jury Hears Mitchell Tax Case,” Daily News , March 23, 1933; “National City Ex-Chairman Freed in Bail,” Associated Press, March 22, 1933.
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The New York Times opined : “Cummings Surveys Mitchell Evidence,” New York Times , March 18, 1933.
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Because the statute of limitations : “Mitchell Evidence Goes to Grand Jury,” New York Times , March 23, 1933.
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He was accused : “Mitchell Tax Jury Debates 10 Hours, Then Is Locked Up,” New York Times , June 22, 1933. Mitchell was accused of evading $858,000 in taxes across 1929 and 1930.
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The government later added : “Mitchell Indicted on New Tax Charge,” New York Times , April 14, 1933.
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The onetime darling : Thomas F. Huertas and Joan L. Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell: Scapegoat of the Crash?,” Business History Review 60, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 81–103.
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“The only difference” : Chicago Tribune , February 25, 1933.
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he was being singled out : “Mitchell Indicted on New Tax Charge,” New York Times .
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serve up to ten years : “Mitchell Tax Jury Debates 10 Hours, Then Is Locked Up,” New York Times .
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Mitchell left the courthouse : “Mitchell Arrested as Tax Evader,” New York Times , March 22, 1933.
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trial was set for mid-April : “Mitchell Indicted on New Tax Charge,” New York Times .
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Two days later, on March 23 : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 173, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA; Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street (Madison Books, 1993), 336–39.
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rented Roosevelt’s family home : “Roosevelt House: Saving a National Treasure for a New Generation, 1943–2023,” Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College.
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“what you want us to do” : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948; Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 336–39.
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“Not under two years” : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, box 127; Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 336–39.
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“You know that men like Jack” : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948; Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 336–39.
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Lamont received an unexpected letter : Lamont Papers, 1894–1948.
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“The most dramatic show” : Howard Vincent O’Brien, “Courtroom,” Boston Globe , June 7, 1933.
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The proceedings opened : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell , 32 B.T.A. 1093, 1935 BTA LEXIS 843, opening statements (May 16, 1933).
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the federal courtroom had : O’Brien, “Courtroom.”
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Wrinkled linoleum covered the floors : O’Brien, “Courtroom.”
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“stiff, straight-backed chairs” : O’Brien, “Courtroom.”
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flashy criminal defense attorney : O’Brien, “Courtroom.”
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the epitome of the conservative banker : O’Brien, “Courtroom.”
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Medalie had been sick : “Trial of Mitchell Is Delayed Again,” New York Times , May 7, 1933.
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“to deceive the government” : “Mitchell Is Painted Up as ‘Big Fish,’ ” Associated Press, May 17, 1933.
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“another device to escape payment” : “Mitchell Is Painted Up as ‘Big Fish,’ ” Associated Press.
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he told the jury : “Mitchell Called Robber, Patriot,” Associated Press, May 17, 1933.
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“When mob psychology controls” : “Mitchell Is Painted Up as ‘Big Fish,’ ” Associated Press.
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“God alone could foretell” : “Mitchell Is Painted Up as ‘Big Fish,’ ” Associated Press.
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Mitchell was now “worse than broke” : “Mitchell’s Stock Deals with Wife Presented to Jury,” Associated Press, May 18, 1933.
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“Almost any other man” : “Mitchell’s Stock Deals with Wife Presented to Jury,” Associated Press.
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The first witness : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell.
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Barrett testified that from 1922 : “Mitchell Comment on Tax Sale Barred,” New York Times , May 19, 1933.
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“On the 20th of December” : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell.
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“Isn’t it a fact” : “Testimony Takes a Monotonous Turn in Mitchell Case,” Associated Press, May 20, 1933.
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homed in on the fact : “No Mitchell Money Passed,” Associated Press, May 18, 1933.
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waiting to begin her testimony : “Mitchell on Stand Defends Tax Deals as Forced by Crash,” New York Times , June 6, 1933.
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Mitchell finally took the stand : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell .
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Wearing a dark blue suit : “Mitchell on Stand Defends Tax Deals as Forced by Crash,” New York Times .
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“earnest, husky voice” : “Mitchell Takes Stand at Trial,” Associated Press, June 6, 1933.
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Mitchell rocked back and forth : “Mitchell Takes Stand at Trial,” Associated Press.
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“There was not a man” : “Mitchell on Stand to Explain Actions Involving Transfer,” Associated Press, June 6, 1933.
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“as I saw the market” : “Mitchell Explains Disputed Tax Deals as Forced by Stock Market,” New York Times , June 6, 1933.
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“My loss on those 18,300 shares” : “Mitchell Gives Story on Stand,” Associated Press, June 6, 1933.
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“I considered selling” : “Mitchell Gives Story on Stand,” Associated Press.
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“Their petition had been considered” : “Mitchell Gives Story on Stand,” Associated Press.
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“I believed in that stock” : “Mitchell Gives Story on Stand,” Associated Press.
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“She did not have sufficient cash” : “Mitchell Explains Disputed Tax Deals as Forced by Stock Market,” New York Times .
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“She had an enthusiasm” : “Mitchell Explains Disputed Tax Deals as Forced by Stock Market,” New York Times .
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“because it was a nightmare” : “Mitchell Cross-Examination Begun by Medalie on Banker’s Second Day on Stand,” New York Times , June 7, 1933.
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“do you recall whether” : “Mitchell Tells of Morgan Loan,” Associated Press, June 7, 1933.
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“I was under great embarrassment” : “Mitchell Tells of Morgan Loan,” Associated Press.
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“because I had given myself” : “Mitchell Cross-Examination Begun by Medalie on Banker’s Second Day on Stand,” New York Times .
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“Later, Mr. Swaine” : “Mitchell Says Stock Drained Wife’s Estate,” Associated Press, June 7, 1933.
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“I thought she ought to buy” : “His Wife’s Brother Defends Mitchell,” Associated Press, June 15, 1933.
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“who can so read the law” : United States v. Charles E. Mitchell.
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as “sanctimonious rubbish” : “Mitchell Tax Case Goes to Jury Today,” New York Times , June 21, 1933.
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“as much a right to expect” : “Mitchell Tax Case Goes to Jury Today,” New York Times .
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“Let him face the music” : “Mitchell Tax Case Goes to Jury Today,” New York Times .
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Glass was asked to insert : Russell Cornell Leffingwell Papers, Archives at Yale, New Haven, CT.
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“I was rather surprised” : Russell Cornell Leffingwell Papers.
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“entirely drafted by Mr. Aldrich” : In writing Leffingwell, Glass added, “I am writing this much in confidence because of the personal discussions we had when the bill passed the Senate at the preceding session of Congress, and because I am personally concerned to have you know that my own view had not materially altered. I do not care much what others may think.”
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“This is not the first indication” : Paul R. Mallon, “The National Whirligig: News Behind the News,” Times-Standard , May 18, 1933.
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began a public campaign : M. S. Rukeyser, “The Financial World,” World-News , February 3, 1933.
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the wife of the Fed chairman : Martin Horn, J.P. Morgan & Co. and the Crisis of Capitalism: From the Wall Street Crash to World War II (Cambridge University Press, 2022), 155.
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he stood with “sound money” stalwarts : “Administration Distinguished by Destruction, Delay, Deceit and Despair, Roosevelt Says,” Associated Press, November 5, 1932.
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First came a temporary gold embargo : “Roosevelt Orders 4-Day Bank Holiday, Puts Embargo on Gold, Calls Congress,” New York Times , March 6, 1933.
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The United States was off : “Gold Standard Dropped for the Present to Lift Prices and Aid Our Trade Position; Plans for Controlled Inflation Drafted,” New York Times , April 20, 1933.
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“the end of Western civilization” : Raymond Moley, After Seven Years (Harper & Brothers, 1929), 160.
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Glass went ballistic : “Ban on Gold Payments Asked in Law,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat , May 27, 1933.
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“Telegrams are coming in” : “Steagall for Guarantee of Sound Banks’ Deposits,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch , March 8, 1933.
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“the use of the word ‘guarantee’ ” : Press Conference #1, March 8, 1933, Series 1, Press Conferences of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933–1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives and Records Administration.
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After the Panic of 1907 : Clark Warburton, “Deposit Insurance in Eight States During the Period 1908–1930,” Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 1959.
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Major banks seized : Haelim Anderson, Mark Paddrik, and Jessie Jiaxu Wang, “Bank Networks and Systemic Risk: Evidence from the National Banking Acts,” American Economic Review 109, no. 9 (2019): 3125–3161.
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In April, Glass added : “Deposit Insurance Added to Bank Bill,” New York Times , April 5, 1933.
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Steagall’s version sailed through the House : “Bank Deposit Bill Approved by House,” New York Times , May 24, 1933.
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who had been seen as allies : “The Outcome of a Feud,” Wiregrass Farmer , May 4, 1933.
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The Steagall plan : “Bank Deposit Bill Approved by House,” New York Times .
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“At my interview with you” : Winthrop Aldrich, letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, May 22, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
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His own vice president : “Bank Bills Pushed in Both Chambers,” New York Times , May 20, 1933.
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“who knows more about money” : Will Rogers, “Rogers Extols Roosevelt’s Handling of Bonus Parade,” New York Times , May 20, 1933.
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Lamont stepped into the Senate Caucus : “Senators Question Him; Banking Firm Revalued Securities and Showed $21,000,000 Loss,” New York Times , May 24, 1933.
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brought so many people to Washington : “National Affairs: Wealth on Trial,” Time , June 12, 1933.
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Drew Pearson called Lamont : Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen, More Merry-Go-Round (Liveright, 1932).
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Pecora had met privately with Lamont : Ferdinand Pecora, “Reminiscences of Ferdinand Pecora, 1962,” interview by Donald F. Shaughnessy, 1962, Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University; Ferdinand Pecora, Wall Street Under Oath: The Story of Our Modern Money Changers (Simon & Schuster, 1939).
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He received a “chilly” response : William Henry Harbaugh, Lawyer’s Lawyer: The Life of John W. Davis (Oxford University Press, 1973).
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“three-quarters righteous tribune” : John Brooks, Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920–1938 (Harper & Row, 1969).
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It was a surreal : Pecora, “Reminiscences of Ferdinand Pecora, 1962”; Pecora, Wall Street Under Oath ; Michael Perino, The Hellhound of Wall Street (Penguin Press, 2010).
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Davis read the Pujo testimony : Harbaugh, Lawyer’s Lawyer .
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“I lined up the partners” : Harbaugh, Lawyer’s Lawyer , 324.
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privately referring to him : John Douglas Forbes, J.P. Morgan, Jr., 1867–1943 (University of Virginia Press, 1981), 116.
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“The risk of finding” : Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (Simon & Schuster, 1990).
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Lamont, who saw the hearings : Thomas W. Lamont, letter to Lady Nancy Astor, June 5, 1933.
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Paychecks of junior partners : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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When the Lamonts took a vacation : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street (Madison Books, 1993), 292; Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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Jack Morgan made : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 1, 3, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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Pecora gently twirled a pencil : “Senators Question Him,” New York Times.
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Then Pecora began : Harbaugh, Lawyer’s Lawyer , 325.
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“the stuttering part” : Harbaugh, Lawyer’s Lawyer , 325.
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“They are friends of ours” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 1, 64, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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Pecora made a show of unrolling : Harbaugh, Lawyer’s Lawyer , 326.
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granted almost godlike powers : Harbaugh, Lawyer’s Lawyer , 326.
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The bank was not allowed : Chernow, The House of Morgan , 365.
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“the manners of a prosecuting attorney” : Harbaugh, Lawyer’s Lawyer , 326.
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“sex-suppressed old maids” : Harbaugh, Lawyer’s Lawyer , 326.
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“I suppose if I went there” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 1, 105, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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Pecora listed the clients : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 1, 3, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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Despite his desire for secrecy : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 1, 19, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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Jack Morgan had paid no : “Morgan Paid No Income Tax for the Years 1931 and 1932; Neither Did His Partners,” New York Times , May 24, 1933.
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Of the twenty Morgan partners : “Morgan Paid No Income Tax for the Years 1931 and 1932; Neither Did His Partners,” New York Times ; Chernow, The House of Morgan , 366.
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“I might point out” : “Morgan Paid No Income Tax for the Years 1931 and 1932; Neither Did His Partners,” New York Times .
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joking with the security guards : Harbaugh, Lawyer’s Lawyer , 325.
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Tom found himself under fire : “Shift in Accounts Paid for Securities,” New York Times , June 10, 1933.
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But the real fireworks came : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 2, 340, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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“Senator Glass almost wrecked” : Heywood Broun, “It Seems to Me,” Buffalo Times , June 6, 1933.
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When a voter : “Committee Majority Will Support Pecora,” Daily News Leader , May 30, 1933.
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When the hearings resumed : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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amid swirling headlines : “Morgan Paid No Income Tax for the Years 1931 and 1932; Neither Did His Partners,” New York Times .
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Morgan was approached by a reporter : Ray Tucker, “J.P. Morgan Firm Made Profits During 1929 Crash, Probe Shows,” Scripps Howard News Service, June 2, 1933.
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“Mr. Morgan, this is Miss Graf” : “National Affairs: Wealth on Trial,” Time , June 12, 1933.
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“A Midget Gets a Thrill” : “A Midget Gets a Thrill,” Baltimore Sun , June 2, 1933.
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Pecora turned his questioning : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 1, 173, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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Pecora held a cigar : Harbaugh, Lawyer’s Lawyer , 325.
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“Many thanks for your trouble” : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 1, 173–74, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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Jack Morgan calmly watched : “High Officials on List of Favored Clientele in J.P. Morgan Firm,” Associated Press, May 25, 1933.
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Whitney smoked a cigarette : “High Officials on List of Favored Clientele in J.P. Morgan Firm,” Associated Press.
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“It occurred to me this morning” : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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“Here was a firm of bankers” : “Why It Hurts,” New York Times , May 27, 1933.
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“We naturally turned in part” : Chernow, The House of Morgan ; Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 358.
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“What undoubtedly upset me most” : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 358.
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Lamont appeared again : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 2, 847–51, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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“a very strong popular delusion” : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 347–48.
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Pecora was completing the hearings : Stock Exchange Practices: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate (1932–1934), Hearings on S. Res. 84 and S. Res. 56: Part 2, 878, fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/87 .
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to vacation in Maine : “Roosevelt Starts Vacation Cruise,” Associated Press, June 17, 1933.
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“the best piece” : “Roosevelt Felicitates Glass,” Buffalo News , June 14, 1933.
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“You old warrior!” : “Roosevelt Calls Recovery Act Most Sweeping Law in Nation’s History,” New York Times , June 17, 1933.
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Congress stayed in session : “Expect Congress to Adjourn Soon,” New York Times , June 13, 1933.
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“If it had not been” : “Roosevelt Hails Goal,” New York Times , June 17, 1933.
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“This bill has more lives” : “Roosevelt’s Pen Puts Recovery Plan in Motion,” Kansas City Journal , June 16, 1933.
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“I’m getting writer’s cramp” : “Roosevelt Signs Vital Bills, Leaves for Rest,” San Francisco Examiner , June 17, 1933.
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Bank deposits would be insured : “Glass Bank Bill Passed by Senate,” New York Times , May 26, 1933.
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“I have been utterly unable” : Russell Cornell Leffingwell Papers, Archives at Yale, New Haven, CT.
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“so much hunger and distress” : Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (Simon & Schuster, 1990), 376.
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Glass, ever the curmudgeon : “Carter Glass Day Plans Are Dropped upon His Request,” News and Advance , July 16, 1933.
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After nearly six weeks of testimony : “Mitchell Acquitted, Attacks Tax Laws,” Daily News , June 23, 1933.
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Mitchell occasionally left the courtroom : “Mitchell Cleared, Weeps at Verdict; Ovation in Court,” New York Times , June 23, 1933.
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His weight had dropped : “Mitchell Leaves for a ‘Long Rest,’ ” New York Times , June 24, 1933.
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By 10:30 p.m. that evening : “Mitchell Cleared, Weeps at Verdict; Ovation in Court,” New York Times .
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Some jurors wanted to know : “Mitchell Cleared, Weeps at Verdict; Ovation in Court,” New York Times .
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“It must be a conviction!” : “Mitchell Cleared, Weeps at Verdict; Ovation in Court,” New York Times .
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He placed a page on top that read : “Mitchell Cleared, Weeps at Verdict; Ovation in Court,” New York Times .
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“Gentlemen, have you reached a verdict?” : “Mitchell Unable to Utter Word on Being Exonerated,” Springfield Weekly Republican , June 29, 1933.
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he started to cry : “Mitchell Cleared, Weeps at Verdict; Ovation in Court,” New York Times .
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“Thank you, sir, thank you, sir” : “Mitchell Acquitted, Grips Jurors’ Hands,” Associated Press, June 23, 1933.
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“Thanks, Max, thanks” : “Mitchell Acquitted, Grips Jurors’ Hands,” Associated Press.
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“I can’t say anything now” : “Mitchell Acquitted, Grips Jurors’ Hands,” Associated Press.
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“This verdict proves” : “Mitchell Acquitted, Grips Jurors’ Hands,” Associated Press.
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The prosecution team : Thomas F. Huertas and Joan L. Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell: Scapegoat of the Crash?,” Business History Review 60, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 81–103.
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“Conviction would have branded” : Muskegon Chronicle , June 22, 1933, 4.
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Mitchell, still shaking : “Jury Acquits Mitchell; He Sobs Thanks,” Daily News , June 23, 1933.
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He was greeted at home : “Jury Acquits Mitchell; He Sobs Thanks,” Daily News .
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Reverend F. Marion Smith gave : “Mitchell Case Cited by Mr. Smith in Sermon,” Springfield Daily Republican , June 26, 1933.
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standing before him looking “thunderstruck” : Edward Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street (Madison Books, 1993), 424; Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (Simon & Schuster, 1990).
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For that bold : “Business & Finance: Bankers v. Panic,” Time , November 4, 1929.
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In 1930, he ascended : “Whitney to Head Stock Exchange; At 41 He Is Youngest Man Ever Nominated for Its Presidency,” New York Times , April 15, 1930.
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“You gentlemen are making” : John Brooks, Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street, 1920–1938 (Harper & Row, 1969).
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Nonetheless, by 1934 : “Roosevelt Signs Exchange Curb Bill,” New York Times , June 7, 1934.
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Joseph Kennedy, a former speculator himself : “Exchange, Labor Boards Named,” New York Times , July 1, 1934.
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in late October 1937 : “Stock Prices Up Sharply After Drop to New Lows; 7,287,990 Shares Traded,” New York Times , October 20, 1937.
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Richard’s high-flying lifestyle : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 423–24.
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“a very serious jam” : United States Securities and Exchange Commission, In This Matter of Richard Whitney, Edwin D. Morgan, Jr., F. Kingsley Rodewald, Henry D. Mygatt, Daniel G. Condon, John J. McManus, and Estate of John A. Hayes, Individually and as Partners Doing Business as Richard Whitney & Company (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1938), 142.
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Douglas, who had succeeded Kennedy : “Douglas Is Named Chairman of SEC,” New York Times , September 22, 1937.
Roosevelt would appoint Douglas to the U.S. Supreme Court less than two years later, in March 1939; after his confirmation in April 1939, he would go on to become the longest-serving justice in the court’s history.
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to rail against the “goddamn bankers” : Joel Seligman, The Transformation of Wall Street: A History of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Modern Corporate Finance (Aspen Publishers, 2003), 157, 203.
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“displace the Morgan influence” : Seligman, The Transformation of Wall Street , 203.
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“Well, that is a devil” : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 424.
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Richard eventually admitted to his brother : United States Securities and Exchange Commission, In This Matter of Richard Whitney , 142.
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On November 24, Lamont wrote : United States Securities and Exchange Commission, In This Matter of Richard Whitney , 143.
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“handling a business properly” : United States Securities and Exchange Commission, In This Matter of Richard Whitney ; Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 425.
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“a wise thing” : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 424.
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the Lamonts had rented : Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street .
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“His heart began to ‘thump’ ” : Thomas W. Lamont Papers, 1894–1948, Family Correspondence Folder, Baker Library, Historical Collections Department, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA; Lamont, The Ambassador from Wall Street , 425.
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On March 5, 1938 : Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (Simon & Schuster, 1990), 426.
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“I am in a jam” : United States Securities and Exchange Commission, In This Matter of Richard Whitney , 15–56; Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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Roosevelt learned the news : Chernow, The House of Morgan , 58.
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He was indicted for grand larceny : “Whitney Indicted for Theft of $105,000 in Securities in Surprise Move by Dewey,” New York Times , March 11, 1938; “Business: Ex-Knight,” Time , March 21, 1938.
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Richard Whitney pleaded guilty : “Whitney Pleads Guilty of Theft,” New York Times , March 15, 1938.
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sentenced to five to ten years : “Whitney Goes to Cell Today for Term of 5 to 10 Years,” New York Herald Tribune , April 12, 1938.
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The case ensnared : “House Group Probes Link to CCC Camp,” Daily Sentinel , November 21, 1934.
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“Just what sort of fellow” : Hanson W. Baldwin and Shepard Stone, eds., We Saw It Happen: The News Behind the News That’s Fit to Print (Simon & Schuster, 1938), 135–36.
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Lamont insisted he had no idea : Brooks, Once in Golconda .
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“It never occurred to me” : United States Securities and Exchange Commission, In This Matter of Richard Whitney , 743.
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“like Alice in Wonderland” : Chernow, The House of Morgan .
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The SEC ultimately issued a report : United States Securities and Exchange Commission, In This Matter of Richard Whitney , 181.
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a vast conspiracy : Seligman, The Transformation of Wall Street , 172.
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Richard Whitney died : Albin Krebs, “Richard Whitney, 86, Dies; Headed Stock Exchange,” New York Times , December 6, 1974.
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personally paid back every dollar : Albin Krebs, “Richard Whitney, 86, Dies; Headed Stock Exchange.”
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Jack Morgan died in 1943 : “J.P. Morgan Dies, Victim of Stroke at Florida Resort,” New York Times , March 13, 1943.
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Carter Glass, still serving as senator : “Carter Glass, 88, Dies in Capital,” New York Times , May 29, 1946.
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William Durant died in 1947 : “William C. Durant,” New York Times , March 23, 1947.
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Lamont in 1948 : “Thomas W. Lamont, Banker, Dies at 77 in Florida Home,” New York Times , February 3, 1948.
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Mitchell in 1955 : “C. E. Mitchell, 78, Banker, Is Dead,” New York Times , December 15, 1955.
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Pecora served as : “Ex-Justice Ferdinand Pecora, 89, Dead,” New York Times , December 8, 1971.
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He organized relief efforts : David E. Hamilton, “Herbert Hoover: Life After the Presidency,” Miller Center.
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commission on improving government efficiency : “Hoover Commissions Sought Government Reforms,” New York Times , October 21, 1964.
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a respected elder statesman : McCandlish Phillips, “Herbert Hoover Is Dead; Ex-President, 90, Served Country in Varied Fields,” New York Times , October 21, 1964.
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Winston Churchill took years to recover : David Lough, No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money (Picador, 2015).
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he remained functionally broke : Deborah Cohen, “Why Winston Churchill Was So Bad with Money,” The Atlantic , January/February 2016.
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being hit by the car : Winston Churchill, “Winston Churchill Tells How It Feels to Be Run Down by an Automobile,” Ottawa Citizen , January 9, 1932.
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President Hoover ceremoniously turned : “Empire State Tower, Tallest in World, Is Opened by Hoover,” New York Times , May 2, 1931.
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The nascent National Broadcasting Company : “Television Station for Empire State,” New York Times , July 25, 1931.
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less than 20 percent occupied : David Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich: The Life and Times of John J. Raskob, Capitalist (Oxford University Press, 2013), 277.
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gave space away for free : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 277.
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the press dubbed it : Neal Bascomb, “Before the Crash: Bringing in the Blue Chips,” New York Times , May 26, 2005.
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Because Raskob was personally averse : Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich , 306–8.
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Raskob fought one last big fight : “Du Pont in New Tax Plea; He and Raskob Say Judge’s Ailments May Have Hurt Case,” New York Times , November 7, 1941; Farber, Everybody Ought to Be Rich, 317.
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In 1945, tragedy struck : “B-25 Crashes in Fog,” New York Times , July 29, 1945.
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a year after Raskob’s death : “104 Steps, 600 Documents—and a Skyscraper Is Sold,” Life , January 7, 1952.
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William Durant and his wife : Axel Madsen, The Deal Maker: How William C. Durant Made General Motors (John Wiley & Sons, 1999), 257.
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To the outside world : Maury Klein, Rainbow’s End: The Crash of 1929 (Oxford University Press, 2003), 266.
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“legislation to give depositors” : Bernard A. Weisberger, The Dream Maker: William C. Durant, Founder of General Motors (Little, Brown and Company, 1979).
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Durant had been accused : Weisberger, The Dream Maker .
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“The word TRAITOR” : W. C. Durant, “Durant Addresses Appeal to N. Y. Stock Exchange,” Detroit Free Press , March 30, 1933.
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Despite being broke : Lawrence R. Gustin, Billy Durant: Creator of General Motors (Eerdmans, 1973).
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“My petition in bankruptcy” : “W.C. Durant Files Bankruptcy Plea,” New York Times , February 9, 1936.
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continued to live the high life : “Explorers in State on Honeymoon Trip,” Miami Herald , November 21, 1933.
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“Let others sit by the fire” : “Explorers in State on Honeymoon Trip,” Miami Herald .
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Durant struggled to get back : Weisberger, The Dream Maker , 341, 352.
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“You’d never know he was broke” : Weisberger, The Dream Maker , 342.
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in the bankruptcy filing : Weisberger, The Dream Maker , 342.
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A silk Beauvais Aubusson tapestry : “Durant Auction Brings $6,407,” New York Times , September 16, 1938.
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went for $44,000 : Weisberger, The Dream Maker , 343.
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Later that year, Margery : “Navy Officer, Sleuth Held in Dope Sales,” Star-Ledger , September 26, 1947.
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Durant’s only son : “Cliff Durant Dies Suddenly,” Los Angeles Times , November 1, 1937.
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the house photographer : Richard Smitten, Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader (John Wiley & Sons, 2001), 253–55.
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“the last picture you will take” : “Livermore Gave Photographer Suicide Tip in N.Y. Night Club,” Republican , November 29, 1940.
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“Just a joke, darling” : “Livermore Gave Photographer Suicide Tip in N.Y. Night Club,” Republican .
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“Do men of your kind” : Studs Terkel, My American Century (The New Press, 1997), 102–3.
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he heard a concert singer : Tom Rubython, Jesse Livermore Boy Plunger: The Man Who Sold America Short in 1929 (The Myrtle Press, 2015), 326.
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The Livermores had lived : “Jesse Livermore Ends Life in Hotel,” New York Times , November 29, 1940.
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the elegance of the Sherry-Netherland : “New 5th Av. Hotel in Boomer Chain,” New York Times , March 8, 1927.
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Livermore chain-smoked and scribbled : “Jesse Livermore Ends Life in Hotel,” New York Times .
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gold pen on a chain : Smitten, Jesse Livermore.
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Livermore rose and walked back : Smitten, Jesse Livermore .
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“He looked normal” : “Jesse Livermore Ends Life in Hotel,” New York Times .
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He pressed the cold steel muzzle : Smitten, Jesse Livermore .
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“Can’t help it” : Smitten, Jesse Livermore .
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“like a human being” : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 197.
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One day after the crash : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 203.
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“too big a hurry” : Smitten, Jesse Livermore , 254.
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About one hundred people : “Jesse Livermore Buried,” New York Times , December 1, 1940.
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Livermore’s net worth : “Deficit of $361,010 in Livermore Estate,” New York Times , January 21, 1942.
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“I honestly mean it” : “Return of Mitchell,” Time , February 4, 1935.
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“stripped of all his possessions” : “Find Mitchell Is Not Guilty,” Wall Street Journal , June 23, 1933.
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The building at 934 Fifth Avenue : “Vichy Buys the Palatial Mitchell Mansion on Fifth Ave. for Use as Consulate General,” New York Times , March 26, 1942.
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Tuxedo Park had to be sold : “Mitchell Estate Sold for $15,200,” New York Times , June 9, 1940.
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Mitchell kept up : Thomas F. Huertas and Joan L. Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell: Scapegoat of the Crash?,” Business History Review 60, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 81–103.
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“If Charlie had indulged” : “C.E. Mitchell Hoping for a Comeback,” Hartford Courant , February 13, 1934.
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That a jury failed to convict : Reports of the United States Board of Tax Appeals (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1936).
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“The amounts involved are not important” : Franklin D. Roosevelt, letter to E. S. Greenbaum, March 9, 1939, OF 3169, folder, Mitchell, Charles E., 1933–1938, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
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he set up a consulting firm : “Mitchell Starts Anew in Wall St.,” New York Times , January 22, 1935.
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“poor fellow going back” : “Return of Mitchell,” Time .
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accepted the position : “C.E. Mitchell Joins Blyth & Co., Inc.,” New York Times , June 18, 1935.
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“was left to my own devices” : Craig Mitchell, “I Remember Fifth,” Town & Country , September 1989.
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In 1936, the Mitchells’ daughter : “George Adam Rentschler Weds Rita Rend Mitchell,” New York Times , November 12, 1936.
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“It was about time” : “The Crash of 1929,” American Experience , aired April 24, 2012, on PBS.
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In 1939, Mitchell was again compelled : “Testimony of Charles E. Mitchell Before the United States Senate, Federal Monopoly Committee,” December 14, 1939.
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“one of the greatest steps” : “Testimony of Charles E. Mitchell Before the United States Senate, Federal Monopoly Committee.”
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how responsible were Sunshine Charlie : Huertas and Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell.”
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“a big fish” : “Mitchell Is Painted Up as ‘Big Fish,’ ” Associated Press, May 17, 1933.
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Senator Carter Glass was still raging : “Carter Glass Launches Sharp Fight on Title,” United Press International, July 25, 1935.
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wrote to Federal Reserve governor : Charles S. Hamlin, letter to Governor Eccles, box 16, folder 6, item 22, Marriner S. Eccles Papers, University of Utah, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/archival/1343/item/465929 .
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citing a report he had written : Charles S. Hamlin, Review of C. E. Mitchell, April 27, 1931.
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“Frightened traders all over the country” : Charles S. Hamlin, Review of C. E. Mitchell.
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“that money could not be had” : Charles S. Hamlin, Review of C. E. Mitchell.
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“The final crash of October, 1929” : Charles S. Hamlin, Review of C. E. Mitchell.
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“Attention should be called” : Charles S. Hamlin, Review of C. E. Mitchell.
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“it would be better” : Charles S. Hamlin, Review of C. E. Mitchell.
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“I do not presume” : Baldwin and Stone, eds., We Saw It Happen .
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“The Federal Reserve board remained silent” : John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929 (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1955), 38.
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the board refused to condemn Mitchell : Charles S. Hamlin, Review of C. E. Mitchell.
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As late as 1950 : Huertas and Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell.”
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“ill-founded rumors” : Huertas and Silverman, “Charles E. Mitchell.”
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“That’s truer than Gospel” : “Return of Mitchell,” Time .
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“I have never lost my nerve” : “Chas. E. Mitchell Returns to Work,” Associated Press, January 23, 1935.
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“Carter Glass has asserted” : Heywood Broun, “It Seems to Me,” Cleveland Press , June 5, 1933.
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“hanging my head in shame” : Ferdinand Pecora, “Reminiscences of Ferdinand Pecora, 1962,” interview by Donald F. Shaughnessy, 1962, Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University, 273.
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Pecora turned down the money : Pecora, “Reminiscences of Ferdinand Pecora, 1962.”
Pecora turned down the money because, he said, he worried it would let down all the people who had written him letters. “[S]ome were from presidents of universities, some from deans of law schools, some from heads of corporations, some from schoolteachers—in which they applauded me, in their own way, for having undertaken this way for a compensation of $250 a month…I feel that a lot of those persons who honored me with their letters of commendation might feel that I had let them down.”
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Some Virginia voters : “Senator Carter Glass’ Seat,” Richmond Times-Dispatch , October 14, 1945.
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Glass returned from Virginia : “Hotel’s New Deal in Waiters Upset by Senator Glass,” Buffalo News , July 12, 1933.
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“but, by gosh” : “Gets His ‘Boy’ Back,” Kansas City Star , July 18, 1933.
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actually declined slightly that fall : John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929 (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1955), 133.
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Some authors and academics have argued : Milton Friedman and Anna Jacobson Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960 (Princeton University Press, 1963); Lester V. Chandler, Benjamin Strong, Central Banker (Brookings Institution, 1958).
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had he not died of tuberculosis : “Benjamin Strong, Banker, Succumbs,” Associated Press, October 17, 1928.
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rallying the leading economists to declare : David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (Oxford University Press), 48.
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“In a society of temperate” : “National Affairs: The Beaver-Man,” Time , March 26, 1928.
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was “ludicrously superficial” : John Brooks, Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920–1938 (Harper & Row, 1969), 179.
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“Overriding everything else” : Walter Lord, A Night to Remember (Henry Holt and Company, 1955), 114.
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