William C. Whitney (1841-1904), Skull & Bones 1863, was a law partner of his brother-in-law, Henry F. Dimock, between 1863 and 1870. He was one of the business partners of American Tobacco Company financier Thomas Fortune Ryan when Ryan first came to New York City in the 1870s. (How Ryan Rose In Wall Street. New York Times, Nov. 24, 1928.)
Between 1871 and 1875, Whitney was a member of the law firm of
Whitney & Betts, with Frederic
Henry Betts (Yale 1864). Betts was "counsel for the New York State
Insurance Department for several years from January, 1873, and was
afterward counsel in famous patent cases relating to Edison's
inventions in electric lighting, Tesla's power distribution, Van Der
Poele's electric railroads, Westinghouse's air brake, Merganthaler's
type-setting machines, the Bell telephone, Western Union Telegraph Co.,
Marconi Wireless telegraph, and many similar contests... From 1873 to
1885 he was closely associated with the Yale Law School as Lecturer on
Patent Law," and established its Betts Prize. (Obituary Record of
Graduates of Yale, 1900-1910, p. 576.) His brother, Charles Wyllys
Betts, Yale 1867,
joined them in 1873. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale, 1880-1890,
p. 396.)
Frederic H. Betts' son, Louis
Frederic Holbrook Betts, Wolf's Head 1891, joined the firm
in 1896. (Obituary Record of Yale Graduates 1925-1926, p. 148.) He was
an usher at the wedding of Clarence
H. Mackay. Another
son was a partner of George
P. Butler & Brother, "the recognized Gould brokers." Frederic
H. Betts' granddaughter married Ellery Sedgwick James,
S&B 1917.
Charles Larned Atterbury, Yale 1864, joined the firm when Whitney
left.
He was the son of Rev. John Guest Atterbury, Yale 1831, and grandson of
Lewis Atterbury and Catherine Boudinot [and a cousin of Dr. Lewis A. Stimson, et al.] He
became general counsel of the Erie Railroad, and assistant to the
president until 1884. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale, 1910-1915,
p. 769.) [Hugh J. Jewett (1817-1898) was president of the Erie Railroad
from July 1874 to October 1884.]
A cousin, Samuel Rossiter Betts, Scroll & Key 1875, joined the Betts firm in 1877. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, 1930-1931, p. 44.) His sister married John Addison Porter, Yale 1878, who owned the Hartford Evening Post from 1888 to 1899, and was secretary to President McKinley from 1897-1900. Porter studied law with his uncle, William J. Boardman, in Cleveland, and was secretary to his uncle, William Walter Phelps, S&B 1860, while he was a Congressman. His father was John Addison Porter, Yale 1842, Professor of Chemistry at Yale, and his mother was Josephine Sheffield, daughter of the founder of the Scientific School. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale, 1900-1910, p. 75.) James R. Sheffield, Scroll & Key 1887, joined the Betts firm in 1893.
Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, 1930-1931 / Yale University Library (pdf, 345 pp)Frederic H. Betts' nephew, Frederick Converse Beach, Yale 1868, and
his father, Alfred Ely Beach, were part-owners and editors of Scientific American, in the
partnership of Munn & Company. His grandfather, Moses Yale Beach,
had been publisher of the New York Sun
prior to 1868. His mother was a descendant of Elihu Yale. (Obituary
Record of the Graduates, Yale University 1915-20, p. 731.)
William Collins Whitney was
corporation counsel of New York City from 1875 to 1882. He supposedly
helped to reorganize the City's legal and financial affairs and helped
prosecute the Tweed Ring [However, his sister's father-in-law was a
director of the Tweed Ring's favorite bank;
he dropped the 14 indictments against William E. King et al.; and the
City ultimately had
to pay the bank for the money that the Ring stole -cast]. He was
Secretary of
the Navy from 1885 to 1889. His first wife,
Flora, was the "favorite sister" of his old Yale buddy, Oliver Hazard
Payne. Their two sons, Harry Payne Whitney and [William] Payne Whitney,
joined Skull & Bones in 1894 and 1898, respectively. Their
daughter,
Dorothy Whitney, married banker Willard Dickerman Straight, advisor to
railroad
magnate E.H. Harriman.
The Straights founded The New Republic, and
Dorothy was instrumental in founding The New School for Social
Research. (William Collins Whitney (1841-1904). WhitneyGen.org.) His
assistant, George P. Andrews, succeeded him as corporation counsel.
(Personal Gossip. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Nov. 18, 1882.)
His
second wife, Edith Sibyl May, was the granddaughter of Dr. Frederick May of
Washington, D.C.
Dan Lamont was "apparently in practical
command of the great fortunes
of William C. Whitney, Oliver Payne, and the rich Philadelphians who
make up the syndicates which the ex-private secretary to Mr. Cleveland
directs." "Mr. Lamont's pervading idea in life is to keep as much out
of sight as possible. Nobody ever sees him, and yet he is a power that
is felt down town." His office was in the Mills building. (Wall Street
Sketches. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Apr. 4, 1891.)
William C. Whitney was a director of the Guaranty Trust from its reorganization in 1892 until 1898; Harry Payne Whitney took over from 1899 to 1930; and Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney was a director from 1926 to 1940.
The Whitney Syndicate:
William C. Whitney and his cronies took over the State Trust Company
and used it to make illegal loans to themselves in the names of agents,
employees, and dummies. "[S]aid trust company continued under the
substantial control of management of those who originally organized the
same until or about December, 1898, when it passed into the virtual
control of a combination of capitalists and promoters of new industrial
enterprises and trusts, consisting of William C. Whitney, Thomas F. Ryan, R.A.C. Smith, P.A.B. Widener, and
Anthony N. Brady, (who were the
leading spirits of said combination), but associated with them were a
few others, and the whole were recognized and known in business circles
as the 'syndicate.'" "[T]he said loan of $2,000,000, ostensibly to one
Daniel H. Shea, was in reality a loan to William C. Whitney, Thomas F.
Ryan, P.A.B. Widener, and A.N. Brady, for whose benefit and at whose
instance it was negotiated, said Shea being a mere servant or employee
of said Ryan or of said syndicate; that the said loan to Moore &
Schley was a loan made indirectly to said Whitney for his benefit and
advantage; that the said loan to Sheehan was only in form but not in
fact to him, but was thus made for the benefit and in the interest of
R.A.C. Smith, said Sheehan being simply his attorney or counsel."
Directors of the State Trust Company were Walter S. Johnston, Henry M.
Francis, H.H. Cook, Edward H. Clark, Joel B. Erhardt, Joseph N.
Hallock, Andrew Mills, Edwin
A. McAlpin, Thomas A. McIntyre, Anson G. McCook, William A. Nash,
George F. Peabody,
Forrest H. Parker, Edward E. Poor, Willis S. Paine,
Thomas F. Ryan, Elihu Root, Henry Steers, Robert A.C. Smith, H.H.
Vreeland, William C. Whitney, William A. Wheelock, and
Peter A.B.
Widener. (Loans of State Trust Company. New York Times, Jan. 14, 1900.)
The chief members of the Whitney syndicate were also directors and
stockholders of the American Tobacco Company.
William C. Whitney was also a director of the Guggenheim Exploration
Company, the Cuba
Company, and several other banks and corporations. (Obituary Record of
Graduates of Yale, 1900-1910, p. 349.)
The Electric Vehicle Company - A Monopoly That Missed. By John B. Rae, Associate Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.) "It began with an understandable but nevertheless unnecessary error of judgment regarding the prospects of the electric automobile and grew into an attempt at monopoly with overtones of a large-scale bucket shop operation. When it became evident that the gasoline car was going to be the dominant type after all, the Electric Vehicle group tried to establish a privileged position for itself by exploiting the nuisance value of the Selden patent. It was, in short, a parasitical growth on the automotive industry, and its demise was regretted only by those unfortunate enough to hold its securities." William C. Whitney and his longtime cronies P.A.B. Widener, Anthony N. Brady, and Thomas F. Ryan were key players.
Rae / Electric Vehicle History Online Archive, Stanford UniversityThe obituary of Marshall Field (1835-1906) says that William C.
Whitney was one of his playmates in Conway, Mass., where "[t]he elder
Mr. Whitney was postmaster of the village." (Marshall Field Dead; His
Fortune $150,000. New York Times, Jan. 17, 1906.)
"Mr. Barney was the son of a rich father. A.H. Barney was President
of the United States Express Company before T.C. Platt's day, and left
a fortune of several millions. Charles T. Barney was born in Cleveland,
Ohio on Jan. 27, 1850. He went to Williams College and was graduated in
the class of 1868. He was married soon afterward to Miss Lilly Whitney,
a sister of the late William C. Whitney." After Whitney finished his
service as Corporation Counsel of New York City, he and Barney formed
the Knickerbocker Trust in 1884. He owned a lot of real estate in
Washington Heights. His daughter Helen married Archibald Alexander, and
his daughter Katherine married Courtlandt Dixon Barnes. Son Ashbel H.
Barney graduated from Yale nine years before, and James W. Barney
graduated from Yale in 1900. (C.T. Barney Dies, A.
Suicide. New York Times, Nov. 15, 1907.) His father, Ashbel H. Barney,
was a director of the Tenth National Bank of New York, along with
members of the Tweed Ring. Later, when William C. Whitney was
Corporation Counsel of New York City, he contrived to make the City pay
the bank for money that the Tweed Ring stole. Whitney also dropped the
14 indictments against William E. King.
The Panic of 1907: "The panic was a bank panic, but the banks’
losses and runs on their deposits were caused at least in substantial
part by bank speculation in securities. The Aldrich-Vreeland Act of
1908, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, and finally the Glass-Steagall
Act of 1933, all were designed to respond to this irresponsible banking
environment. At the time though, no effective federal mechanism existed
to control the banks. The intervention was led by the nation’s de facto
central banker, J.P. Morgan, asked by the administration to save the
American money supply as he had during the gold crisis of 1895. The
story is well-known of Morgan’s hasty return from an Episcopal
retreat in Richmond, Virginia, and the all-night meetings at the Morgan
mansion on Fifth Avenue, attended by George Baker of the First National
Bank, James Stillman of the National City Bank, E.H. Harriman, and
other financial luminaries, with Morgan demanding the infusion of funds
by each of the attendees in order to shore up the failing trusts.
(Morgan refused to
support Knickerbocker because of its particularly bad behavior and
heavy demands. Its president, Charles T. Barney, committed suicide, but
every account of the story suggests that perhaps Mr. Barney had not
been his own executioner.)" (Chapter Six. From Trusts Emergent From
Regulating Trusts to Regulating Securities. By Lawrence Mitchell.)
The Barney Estate Company was organized to take over his estate and
deal in real estate. The directors were Ashbel H. Barney, James W.
Barney, A.H. Masten, George
L. Nichols, W.B. Warren, J.O. Baker and A.G. Milbank. (To Settle
Barney Estate. New York Times, Mov. 22, 1907.) Ashbel Hinman Barney,
Yale 1898, was president of the Barney Estate
Company. He was American representative of the International Red Cross
at Geneva, Switzerland and in Italy during World War I. (Obituary
Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year
1945-1946, p. 45.)
James Whitney Barney, Scroll & Key 1900, was vice-president of
the Barney Estate Company (real estate) from 1907 until retiring in
1943. (Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates of
Yale University Deceased during the Year 1947-1948, pp. 54-55.)
Oliver H. Payne's father, Henry B. Payne, was a friend of Abraham
Lincoln's opponent, Stephen A. Douglas. Payne was defeated by Salmon P.
Chase in the Ohio Governor race in 1857. He campaigned for Horace
Greeley in the 1872 presidential election; and was elected to the US
Senate in 1884. (Henry B. Payne Dead. New York Times, Sep. 10, 1896.)
Oliver H. Payne was reportedly a school classmate of John D.
Rockefeller in Cleveland, to whom he sold his oil refining firm, Clark,
Payne & Company, in 1872 (Famous Esopians. Colonel Oliver Hazard
Payne. Klyne Esopus Museum accessed 12/31/2005.)
Oliver H. Payne had been William C. Whitney's classmate at Yale, but he left to get involved in the Civil War. "Having been cured of a serious illness by physician Alfred Loomis, Payne became interested in assisting the medical profession. In 1887 he endowed the Loomis Laboratory in New York City for teaching and research in chemistry, biology, and pathology. In 1889 he donated $500,000 to found Cornell Medical School, and his subsequent donations to the school totaled over $8 million. He gave New York University $150,000 for its medical school and $100,000 each to New York City's Post-Graduate Hospital and to the University of Virginia and Western Reserve University to establish laboratories of experimental medicine. He also donated $1,000,000 to Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland, $200,000 to Saint Vincent's Charity Hospital at Cleveland, and $200,000 to the Cleveland Jewish Orphan Asylum." (Oliver Hazard Payne. Marist College E-Business.)
Oliver Hazard Payne / Marist College E-Commerce"In 1884 James B. Duke moved to New York and opened a cigarette factory, intending to develop a tobacco market in the North. Shortly thereafter, he met Oliver Payne, who suggested that instead of fighting his North Carolina competitors, he buy them out. American Tobacco was the result." (Oliver Hazard Payne's business activities. Marist College Center for E-Business.) Payne himself had been the second largest refiner in Cleveland when Rockefeller bought him out, and he subsequently became one of the major partners of Standard Oil. In 1884, the partners began looking for ways to invest their money.
Oliver Hazard Payne's Business Activities / Marist College Center for E-BusinessCol. O.H. Payne was a member of the reorganization committee of the
Richmond & West Point Terminal Railway and Warehouse Company, along
with Frederick P. Olcott
of the Central Trust. (Display Ad 18. New York
Times, Jan. 10, 1892 p. 14.) Olcott was the financier behind Anthony N.
Brady of the Tobacco Trust. Oliver H. Payne and Grant B.
Schley were directors of the Manhattan
Trust Company (Display Ad 15. New York Times, Jan. 21, 1901 p. WF8.)
Payne and Schley were also directors of the Chase
National Bank.
(Annual Bank Elections. New York Times, Jan. 13, 1904.)
Payne Whitney and Lewis
Cass Ledyard Sr. and Jr. were executors of Oliver H. Payne's will.
He left $100,000 to Ledyard Sr., a longtime friend and lawyer. He left
a cash bequest of $1 million to Yale University, and to Cornell
University, which received over $8 million during his lifetime, he left
$500,000 for the support of the Cornell University Medical School.
Phillips Academy at Andover also received $500,000, and Hamilton
College and the University of Virginia $200,000 each. (Col. Payne Left
$7,000,000 In Gifts. New York Times, Jul. 7, 1917.)
H.F. Dimock married William C. Whitney's sister, Susan. His father
was Dr. Timothy Dimock (MD Yale 1823), a practicing physician in
Coventry, Conn. He was elected a trustee for life of Cornell University
in 1899, but declined. He was elected an alumni member of the Yale
Corporation the same year. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale,
1910-1915, p. 45.) He was a director of
the Knickerbocker Trust Company, along with his nephew, Charles T.
Barney. (Display Ad 14. New York Times, Apr. 20, 1890 p. 14), and the
National Bank of North America (Adv. 43. The Independent, Dec. 19,
1901.) He was a member of the University Corporation, the
governing body of N.Y.U., when New York University Medical College was
formed from the merger of New York Medical College and Bellevue
Hospital Medical College: "The meeting was held in the National Bank of
North America, William F. Havemeyer, President of the bank, being a
member of the corporation. Other members present were William Allen Butler, who
presided; Chancellor Henry M. MacCracken, Henry F. Dimock, Chairman of
the University Committee of the Corporation; William S. Opdycke, William A. Wheelock,
Charles E. Miller, I.C. Pierson, Cyrus C. Miller,
Dr. John P. Munn, David Banks, and John McCreery." The Faculty of
Medicine included Drs. E.G.
Janeway; John Pixley Munn [later chairman
of the United States Life Insurance Company]; H.P. Loomis, W.T. Lusk,
W.M. Polk, and W.G. Thompson. (Medical Colleges Unite. New York Times,
May 15, 1897.)
Dr. William Thompson Lusk (1838-1897) left college at the end of his
freshman year, but was enrolled with his class by the action of the
Corporation in 1872. He studied medicine in Heidelberg and Berlin from
1858 to 1861, and on his return enlisted as a private in the Cvil War.
He resigned as a captain in 1863, resumed his medical studies at
Bellevue Hospital Medical College, and received his MD in 1864. He
married Mary Chittenden and studied four more years in Europe, then
began his practice in New York City. He was Professor of Obstetrics and
Gynecology at Bellevue from 1871 until his death, and President of the
Faculty since 1890. His older son was a professor at Yale, and his
younger son was associated with his practice. (Obituary Record of
Graduates of Yale, 1890-1900, p. 464.) He was said to have left a
fortune of over
$3,000,000. (Death of Mr. Wm. T. Lusk. New York Times, June 13, 1897.)
His two sons were William Chittenden Lusk, Yale 1890 (Bulletin of Yale
University. Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased
during the Year 1934-1935, pp. 65-66), and Dr. Graham Lusk (honorary M.A. 1896).
William Chittenden Lusk was an usher at the wedding of Dr. D. Hunter
McAlpin, of the McAlpin
Tobacco family, to Emma Rockefeller in 1895.
Henry Dimock's daughter, Susan M. Dimock, married Cary Talcott
Hutchinson of
St. Louis. (A Day's Weddings. New York Times, May 1, 1901.) He was a
cousin of Burton N. Harrison, S&B 1859. They were divorced in 1912,
and Hutchinson married the widow of Sen. McComas of Maryland. (Mrs.
M'Comas to Marry. Washington Post, May 5, 1922.)
After her husband died, Mrs. Dimock moved to Washington, DC, and became a leading socialite: "Political parties have their bosses who run things which pertain to government. These are men. On the other hand these same political parties have bosses who run things which pertain to social affairs. These are the women. Nowhere in this country is this so pronounced as in Washington... Mrs. Richard H. Townsend, who is conceded to be the social mentor of the smart residence set, known as the 'cave dwellers' in the capital, will open her residence in Massachusetts avenue with the beginning of the season and with few exceptions the same group of charming women will gather about her as have in the past years, and take their usual place of prominence, the change of administration making no difference. Among them is Mrs. Robert McCormick, her sister, and her granddaughter, Mrs. Robert W. Patterson, and Countess Cyzleki, Mme. Christian Hauge, widow of the former Minister of Norway to the United States, Mrs. John Hays Hammond, Miss Mabel Boardman, Mrs. Robert Hitt, Mrs. Marshall Field, Mrs. Henry C. Corbin and her sisters, the Misses Patten, Mrs. Hope Slater, Mrs. Stephen B. Elkins, Mrs. Billy Hitt, formerly Katherine Elkins, Miss Mary Sherrill, Mrs. Thomas F. Bayard, Mrs. Hennen Jennings, Mrs. James McMillan, Mrs. Preston Gibson, Mrs. Thomas F. Walsh and her daughter, Mrs. Edward Beale McLean, Mrs. Henry F. Dimock, Mrs. Mary McCallum, and others." (New Social Bosses of the Nation's Capital. By Mary E. Noyes. Los Angeles Times, Nov. 23, 1913.)
"The Whitney family role began with Oliver Hazard Payne, the
greatuncle of John Hay Whitney and an associate of John D. Rockefeller
in the early days of the Standard Oil Company. ''Colonel Payne,'' as he
was called, helped establish Cornell Medical College and contributed
$8.5 million toward its expansion. A bachelor who died in 1917, he left
much of his fortune to his nephew and heir, Payne Whitney, who
purchased the land along the East River between 68th and 70th Streets
to provide an appropriate site for the two medical institutions. The
hospital and college in the late 1920's were moving toward a
partnership but lacked a home for their expanding activities. Payne
Whitney, who contributed $42.7 million, died in 1927, but his son, John
Hay Whitney, continued the family's traditional support. It was the
son, Jock, as he was known widely, who wielded a shovel at
ground-breaking ceremonies on June 17, 1929, for today's medical
complex, known throughout the world for its research, training and
health care. Including the new bequest, Mr. Whitney provided $21
million in gifts. His late sister, Joan
Whitney Payson, gave $8.3
million, and members of the fourth generation of Whitneys are
continuing financial support and are also active members of the
hospital's boards." New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center received
$15 million from the estate of John Hay Whitney in 1982. (Medical
Center Gets $1.5 Million Whitney Gift. By Kathleen Teltsch. New York
Times, Oct. 24, 1982.)
In 1898, a majority of the faculty of the New York University Medical College rebelled over the transfer of college property to the university corporation, and announced that they would found a new medical college at Cornell University. (Medical Men Secede. New York Times, Apr. 12, 1898.) "It was reported to-day that the donor of the fund to establish the new Cornell Medical College in New York is Col. Oliver H. Payne of that city... H.F. Dimock, representing Col. Payne, was present at the meeting of Trustees here yesterday. The amount of the endowment fund, it is said, will aggregate nearly $500,000. Col. Payne has always taken great interest in medical work, and has been a member of the Board of Trustees of New York University." Physicians and surgeons of New York University Medical Faculty who received appointments to professorships in the Cornell Medical College included William M. Polk, who is to be Dean; Lewis A. Stimson; Prof. R.A. Witthaus, W. Gilman Thompson, H.P. Loomis, and George Woolsey. (Cornell Medical College. New York Times, Apr. 16, 1898.) Members of the faculty of Cornell Medical College: Jacob Gould Schurman, President; Dr. William M. Polk, Dr. Lewis A. Stimson, Dr. George Woolsey, Dr. Henry P. Loomis, Dr. J. Clinton Edgar, Dr. Austin Flint, Dr. Frederick S. Dennis, Dr. Frederick W. Gwyer, Dr. Irving S. Haynes, Dr. Joseph E. Winters, Dr. Charles Stedman Bull, Dr. Newton M. Schaffer, Dr. Zorham Bacon, Dr. Charles L. Dana, Dr. Samuel Alexander, Dr. George Thomas Elliot, Dr. Allen McLane Hamilton, Dr. Charles H. Knight, Dr. Alexander Lambert, Dr. Francis W. Murray, Dr. Charles E. Nammack, Dr. F. Kammerer, and Dr. Ivin Sickles. Instructors were Dr. Charles C. Barrows, Dr. Percival R. Bolton, Dr. Bertram H. Buxton, Dr. Dever S. Byard, Dr. Charles S. Bancker Camac, Dr. Warren Coleman, Dr. Lewis A. Conner, Dr. Frank S. Fielder, Dr. Joseph Fraenkel, Dr. William Travis Gibb, Dr. George D. Hamlen, Dr. John A. Hartwell, Dr. Edward L. Keyes Jr., Dr. J.E. Newcomb, Dr. Louis W. Riggs, Dr. John Rogers, Dr. Edmund Pendleton Shelby, Dr. William F. Stone, Dr. George K. Swinburne, Dr. Benjamin T. Tilton, and Dr. George Graw Ward Jr. (Cornell's Medical School. New York Times, Sep. 11, 1898.) "The event of the year, and one of the epoch-making events in the whole history of Cornell University, was the establishment of the Medical College" by Col. Oliver H. Payne, to be located in New York City. Roswell P. Flower succeeded the late Henry W. Sage as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Cornell. (Cornell's Annual Report. New York Times, Oct. 30, 1898.)
Dr. Henry Patterson Loomis (1859-1907, Princeton 1880) was the son of Dr. Alfred Lebbeus Loomis (1831-1895.) Henry P. Loomis married Dr. Lewis A. Stimson's sister, Julia J. Stimson. (Re: Dr. Alfred Lee LOOMIS, (1887-1975), NYC, N.Y.. Rootsweb, July 1, 2002.) Julia Stimson and the Drs. Loomis were ancestors of John F. Kerry's campaign advisor, David Hoadley Thorne, S&B 1966, and his ex-wife, who was Julia Stimson Thorne. Alfred Lee Loomis, Yale 1909, was their son. (The Ancestors of Julia Stimson Thorne. William Addams Reitwiesner Genealogical Services.)
Re: Dr. Alfred Lee LOOMIS, (1887-1975), NYC, N.Y.. RootswebDr. William
Mecklenburg Polk was a
gynecological surgeon at several New York City hospitals until 1898,
when he was chosen as Dean of Faculty at the Cornell University's new
medical school. (Dr. Wm. M. Polk, Gynecologist, Dies. New York Times,
June 25,
1918.) He was the physician whom the family of August Belmont family
called when Raymond R. Belmont accidentally shot himself. (Young Mr.
Belmont's Death. New York Times, Feb. 1, 1887.) His younger son, John
Metcalfe Polk (1875-1904, Yale 1896) got
his MD at Cornell in 1899. He went to Europe to study "the blood
changes produced by infectious diseases, particularly influenza," and
he died of acute pneumonia that developed a few hours after doing an
autopsy. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale, 1900-1910, p. 399.) His
older son, Frank
L. Polk, Scroll & Key 1894, was a partner of the law firm of
Davis, Polk,
Lansing, Wardwell & Reed, and a member of the Advisory Committee of
the Institute of Human Relations at Yale.
Dr. Lewis
Atterbury Stimson (1844-1918, Yale 1863) was the son of
Henry Clark Stimson, a banker in New York City. He served in the Civil
War and was engaged in the banking and brokerage business with his
father until 1871. In that year, because of his wife's health, he went
to Europe and studied medicine. He returned and graduated from Bellevue
Hospital Medical College in 1874. In 1883, he was appointed professor
of physiology at New York University, and held the chair of surgery at
Cornell University Medical College since 1898. Rev. Henry A. Stimson
(S&B 1865) was his brother, Henry
L. Stimson (S&B 1888) was his
son, and Alfred L. Loomis (Yale 1909) was his nephew. His grandfather,
Lewis Atterbury, was a partner of Guest, Atterbury & Co. in
Baltimore, and his grandmother was Catharine Boudinot. (Lewis Atterbury
Stimson, B.A. 1863, Obituary Record of the Graduates, Yale University
1915-20, p. 592.) His brother Henry was a
clerk at Morton, Grinnell & Co. before entering Yale. He was a
director of the Chicago Theological Seminary 1874-79. Rev. Henry A.
Stimson's daughter was Major Julia Catherine Stimson, Army Nurse Corps.
(Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates of the
Undergraduate Schools Deceased during the Year 1936-1937, pp. 6-8.) His
brother-in-law was Theodore
Weston, Yale 1853.
Dr. Stimson was a cousin of William W. Atterbury (1866-1935, Yale 1886), President of the Pennsylvania Railroad and a director of the Guaranty Trust. Atterbury's brother-in-law, Charles H. Conner, Yale class of 1864, was the father of Dr. Lewis Atterbury Conner, Yale 1887, the founding president of the New York and American Heart Associations (AHA), who was on the staff of Cornell Medical College for more than 50 years, and Chairman of Medicine from 1916 to 1932.
Dr. William
Gilman Thompson (1856-1927, Ph.B. 1877) was
the son of Rev. Joseph Parrish Thompson, S&B 1838, and a nephew of
Daniel Coit Gilman, S&B
1852. He got his MD at Columbia and studied in Berlin and London. He
was a professor at Woman's Medical College 1887-1895, and at New York
University Medical College from 1887 to 1898, and professor of medicine
at Cornell from 1898 until retiring in 1915. In 1924, he became
chairman of the Industrial Hygiene Division of the New York State Labor
Department. He was a consulting physician to Standard Oil Company of
New Jersey since 1920. He married a sister of John Norton
Pomeroy, S&B 1887. (Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of
Yale Graduates 1927-1928, pp. 213-214; Dr. W.G. Thompson Dies Suddenly.
New York
Times, Oct. 28, 1927.) Thompson was a member of the Industrial Hygiene
group of the Life Extension Institute in 1916.
Pomeroy was a professor of law at the University of Illinois - Urbana
since 1910. In 1918, he "engaged in the preparation of a digest of the
world's extant commercial treaties for the use of the Peace
Conference." (John N. Pomeroy 2d Dies. New York Times, June 2, 1924;
Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Yale Graduates
1923-1924, pp. 106-107.) He was a correspondent of Dr. William H. Welch from
1910-1920.
Dr. George
Woolsey (1861-1950), Yale 1881, was the son of Theodore
Dwight Woolsey, Yale 1820, who was the president of Yale University
from 1846 to 1871. He had at least 29 Yale relatives, dating back to
1709. Theodore S. Woolsey (S&B 1872) was his half-brother, Edgar L.
Heermance (S&B 1858) was a brother-in-law, and Charles F. Johnson
(S&B 1855) was a cousin. His daughter married John C. Kittle,
S&B 1904. He received his MD at Columbia in 1885, then studied in
Berlin, Vienna, Cottingen and Paris. He was a surgeon in New York City
1888-1935, professor of anatomy and clinical surgery at New York
University College of Medicine 1890-98, then professor of clinical
surgery and anatomy at Cornell Medical College 1898-1908, clinical
surgery 1908-26, and professor emeritus until his death. (Bulletin of
Yale University, Obituary Record of Graduates of the Undergraduate
Schools Deceased during the Year 1950-1951, p. 7.) His cousin married
Dr. Francis Bacon, M.D. 1853,
one of the organizers of the American Public Health Association.
Dr. John
Rogers (1866-1939), Skull & Bones 1887, got his M.D. at the
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, in 1891, and
practiced in New York City from 1893 to 1939. He became affiliated with
Cornell in 1898, and was professor of clinical surgery 1909-1926. He
"supported a research laboratory at Cornell University Medical College
since 1920 and there directed various lines of research." Derby Rogers
(S&B 1893) and David F. Rogers (S&B 1898) were his brothers. He
married Elizabeth Selden White, the daughter of Charles Atwood White,
S&B 1854. His daughter Elizabeth married Francis Harding Horan, later
the general counsel of Liggett & Myers
Tobacco Company. (Bulletin
of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University
Deceased during the Year 1939-1940, pp.40-41.) Henry
L. Stimson (S&B 1888) was a brother-in-law.
His uncle by marriage, Dr. Thomas Howell White, Yale 1860, was
resident physician at New York Hospital from 1860 until retiring in
1890. He had four other brothers who attended Yale - Roger Sherman
White [S&B 1859], Henry Dyer White [S&B 1851], Willard Wetmore
White ex-1856, Oliver Sherman White [S&B 1864], and George Edward
White [S&B 1866]. Their mother was the daughter of Roger Sherman,
Yale 1787, and their great grandfather, Roger Sherman, the signer of
the Declaration of Independence, was treasurer of Yale from 1765-1776.
(Obituary Record of Yale Graduates 1919-1920, pp. 34-35.)
Dr. Alexander Lambert received his M.D. from the College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in 1888. He was
instructor in physical diagnosis at Cornell University Medical College
from 1898 to 1905 and professor of clinical medicine 1898-1931; and
attending physician at Bellevue Hospital 1894-1934. He was the
son of
Dr. Edward Wilberforce
Lambert,
Skull & Bones 1854, who was the first medical director of the
Equitable Life Assurance Society. He was President of the American
Medical Association 1919-20, President of the Committee to Study
the Tobacco Problem in 1923,
and was a trustee of the United Hospital Fund of New York since 1929.
He was also "a pioneer worker in the United States toward legislative
control of narcotics, much credit is due him for activities leading to
the passage of the Harrison Law and other statutes." He married Ellen
Wattsill, daughter of Knight Dexter Cheney (B.A. Brown 1860) and Ednah
(Dow) Cheney, and sister of Knight D. Cheney S&B 1892, Clifford D.
Cheney S&B 1898, Philip Cheney S&B 1901, Thomas L. Cheney
S&B 1901, and Russell Cheney S&B 1904. They had no children.
Dr. Samuel W. Lambert, S&B 1880, and Dr. Adrian V.S. Lambert,
S&B 1893, were his brothers. (Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary
Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year
1938-1939, pp. 39-40.) J.P. Morgan partner Robert Bacon married a
daughter of Lambert's mother's sister. Ironically, Bacon died of blood
poisoning after an operation for mastoiditis performed by his brother,
Dr. Adrian Van S. Lambert, while Dr. Alexander Lambert was in charge of
his case. (Col. Robert Bacon Dies in Hospital. New York Times, May 30,
1919.)
"In March 1919, the Committee of Fifty was formed to perfect a world
wide organization of the enemies of tobacco. It is to conduct a
scientific investigation into the 'physical horrors' wrought by
tobacco. The association is modeled on the Committee of Fifty which
investigated the liquor problem.
"Dr. Eugene Lyman Fisk, one
of the members, is also Medical Director of the Life
Extension Institute.
In speaking of the plans of the Committee of Fifty, he says: 'There is
no authoritative analysis of the situation as yet. The matter is just
now being brought to the fore and is destined to occupy a conspicuous
place. Therefore the public should have the true facts [sic - before
they have any!]. We propose to get them, the work may take us years.
When it is finished we shall render a report covering all phases of the
tobacco question and people can then decide inteliigently [sic] what
they want to do about it. To facilitate the investigation the Committee
will be divided into separate sections, such as physiological, medical,
and sociological. The use of land for tobacco cultivation; spread of
fires by smoking 'and various collateral matters involving public
welfare' will be considered.
"Dr. Alexander Lambert, of New York City, is chairman of the
executive committee, and Sir William Osler of Oxford University is a
member.
"Several members of the Committee have expressed anti-tobacco views,
as will be seen in the compilation noted:
"Prof. H.W. Farnam
[S&B 1874], Yale University, author of 'Wasteful Investments' and
'Tobacco and the Soldier'. In the first pamphlet he discussess the
waste in land thru tobacco production; waste in business thru reduction
in efficiency in workers and losses thru fires caused by careless
smokers. In 'Tobacco and Soldiers' he argues that tobacco impairs
military efficiency. He is also the author of 'Our Tobacco Bill' in the
Unpopular Review of January, 1914.
"George J. Fisher, M.D., Director Physical Work Bureau,
International Young Men's Christian Association, has written the
following articles: 'The Case Against Smokes' - 'Physiological Effects
of Smoking'.
"Prof. Irving Fisher [S&B 1888] of Yale University is the author
of the
pamphlet 'Is the Tobacco Habit Injurious'.
"Dr. J.H. Kellogg of Battle Creek Sanitarium has written such
articles as 'Tobacco Poisons'; 'Cigarette Epidemic'; 'Diseases caused
by Tobacco'.
"Hudson Maxim is quoted in 'The Case against the Little White
Slaver', and is the author of 'Poisonous Gases in the War'.
"Prof. Bruce Fink of Oxford University, Miami, Ohio [sic - Miami
University, Oxford, Ohio] is the author of the 'Tobacco Habit'.
"Prof. Frederick W. Roman of Syracuse University is the author of
'Nicotine Next'.
"Henry Ford is authority for the pamphlet: 'The Case Against the
Little White Slaver'. This contains a letter of endorsement from Thos.
A. Edison. The book is made from 'scientific facts', (quotations from
doctors, professors, scientists, etc.). Has a chapter on 'How Employers
Feel Toward Cigarette Smokers'; Athlets [sic] and Cigarettes and
finally the story of a boys' reformation thru giving up cigarettes.
Harvey W. Wiley is also quoted in this pamphlet.
"Dr. Winfield S. Hall, Professor of Physiology of Northwestern
University Medical School has a booklet entitled 'Tobacco'.
"Professors H.W. Farnam, G.W. Fisher, Irving Fisher, W.S. Hall, are
members of the Hygiene Reference Board of the Life Extension Institute."
Alexander Lambert's brother-in-law, Alfred
Cowles, Skull & Bones 1886, married Knight Dexter Cheney's
daughter, Elizabeth. Cowles was a director of the Chicago Tribune
Company since 1891, and of the Continental Illinois National Bank and
Trust Company, the Congress Trust and Savings Bank, and the American
Radiator Company. His sister, Sarah Cowles, married Philip Battel
Stewart, Skull & Bones 1886. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale
University Deceased during the Year 1938-1939, pp. 50-51.) His son,
Alfred Cowles 3rd (Skull & Bones 1913) was
an Honorary Trustee of the Webb-Waring
Institute from 1969 to at least 1976.
Charles W. Bingham was the son of William Bingham, president of a
hardware company named for himself; also a director of the Mercantile
National Bank, Society for Savings, Citizens Savings & Loan
Company, and the National Commercial Bank, of Cleveland, Ohio. In
addition to vice president of his father's firm, Charles W. Bingham was
president of the Standard Tool Company and other companies, and a
director of the Cleveland Iron Company, Western Reserve National Bank,
Bank of Commerce, National Commercial Bank, Citizens' Savings and Loan
Association, Union Trust Company, Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company, and
the Bourne-Fuller Company. He was a trustee of Western Reserve
University and Adelbert College. He married Mary Payne, daughter of
U.S. Senator Henry B. Payne, and Oliver H. Payne's sister. (Obituary
Record of Graduates of Yale University 1928-1929, p. 25.) He gave $2500
to the American Society for the Control of Cancer.
(Cancer Fund Gains $90,000 in Campaign. New York Times, Sep. 28, 1926.)
Harry Payne Bingham was the son of Charles W. Bingham of Cleveland,
and Mary Payne, Oliver H. Payne's younger sister. Oliver Hazard Payne
bequeathed at least $2,000,000 and the Esopus estate to Harry P.
Bingham. He was a director of the Northern
Finance Corporation and the First National Bank of New York. He married
the daughter of Thomas Burks Yuille.
Her sister was Mrs. Wolcott Blair. (Melissa Yuille Married At Home to
Harry Payne Bingham, Banker. New York Times, Apr. 25, 1937.) Thomas B.
Yuille was
the late president of a predecessor of Philip
Morris, the Tobacco
Products Corporation. Their
daughter, Burks Bingham, married Anthony A. Lapham, general counsel of
the C.I.A., the son of Lewis
A. Lapham, S&B 1931. Melissa Yuille was a member of Society in
Palm Beach, dining with the likes of Mr. and Mrs. Winston Guest, Mr.
and Mrs. Stephen Sanford, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Pulitzer, the Duke of
Marlborough, and Mrs. Desmond
FitzGerald the elder, grandmother of the future deputy director of
the C.I.A. (Lord Carnarvon Host in Florida. New York Times, Feb. 16,
1936.)
Mrs. Harry Payne Bingham was a benfactor of the Memorial
Cancer Center gift shop. (Plans Advanced for Thrift Shop. New York
Times, Jan. 22, 1956.) She was a fund-raiser for the American Heart
Association. (Heart Fund Ball to Be April 29. New York Times, Feb. 6,
1958.) The Board of Directors of the New York Heart Association, Inc.
in
1964-65 included Mrs. Harry
Payne Bingham, Howard S.
Cullman, Lewis A.
Lapham, Ed Sullivan, and Lowell
P. Weicker. (50th Anniversary New York
Heart Association, Annual Report 1965, p. 17.)
He studied at Columbia Law School 1895-97, and was in the law office
of Elihu Root 1897-98; "subsequently became identified with Guggenheim
Exploration Company;" president of New York Electric Vehicle Company
1899-1900, president of the Whitney Realty Company since 1910; director
of the Guaranty Trust, Montana Power Company, Sinclair Consolidated Oil
Corporation, Metals Exploration Company, and Wright-Martin Aircraft
Company. He married Cornelius Vanderbilt's daughter, Gertrude, the
sister of William H. Vanderbilt '93, Cornelius Vanderbilt
'95, and
Alfred G. Vanderbilt
(S&B 1899). (Bulletin of Yale University.
Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the
Year 1930-1931, pp. 125-126.) He was an usher at his classmate Frank L. Polk's wedding in 1908.
Between 1913 and 1918, Bolshevik John Reed's primary financial support was from the journal "Metropolitan," which was owned by Harry Payne Whitney. Whitney was also a director of the Guaranty Trust, which funded the Bolshevik Revolution, from ~1899 to 1930. (John Reed: Establishment Revolutionary. In: Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, by Antony C. Sutton.)
Ch. 8, Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution / Reformed TheologyWhitney's daughter, Flora, married G. Macculloch Miller, the grandson of the founder of the forerunner of the United Hospital Fund, George Macculloch Miller of the Central Trust. (Mrs. Tower to Wed in Cairo Today. New York Times, Feb. 24, 1927.)
He was a director and member of the executive board of the Great
Northern Paper Company 1903-1927; director and vice president of
Northern Finance Corporation 1911-1927; and Whitney Realty Company
1910-1927; member of the board of governors of the Society of New York
Hospitals since 1912 and vice president since 1917. (Obituary Record of
Yale Graduates 1926-1927, pp. 172-173.)
Payne Whitney inherited $4,000,000 from his uncle, Oliver H. Payne,
who also gave him million-dollar Fifth Avenue mansion when he married
Helen Hay, his Yale rommate's sister, and the daughter of former
Secretary of State and Ambassador to Britain John Hay. He was a
director of the Great Northern Paper Company, the First National Bank
of New York, a trustee of the United States Trust Company, and vice
president of the Whitney Realty Co. His wife's sister married Sen.
James W. Wadsworth Jr., S&B 1898. (Payne Whitney Dies Suddenly
At
Home. New York Times, May 26, 1927; Payne Whitney, Financier, Dies.
(AP) Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1927.) Payne Whitney and Wadsworth had
been executors of John Hay's will. (Will of John Hay Filed. Washington
Post, Jul. 21, 1905.)
Payne Whitney's estate included 44,863 shares of the Northern Trust Company, a holding company established by his uncle; and shares of Standard Oil Co. of New York; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co.; Nash Motors; Guaranty Trust Co.; Corn Products Refining Co.; and Vanadium Corporation. He left $21,691,593 to the New York Hospital, and $3,286,605 each to Cornell and Yale Universities, and smaller amounts to Nassau Hospital and Groton School. A Bones classmate, Eugene Hale Jr. [S&B 1898], received $500,000. Lewis Cass Ledyard, the U.S. Trust Co., and Lewis Cass Ledyard Jr. were the executors. (Estate of Whitney Totals $239,301,017. Washington Post, Sep. 1, 1931; Whitney Will Gives Millions to Charity. New York Times, Jun. 7, 1927.) He contributed $1,000,000 to the Yale Endowment Fund shortly before his death. (Payne Whitney Gave Million to Yale Fund. New York Times, Jun. 2, 1927.) 1474 shares of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company stocks were held in the name of "Lewis Cass Ledyard & Payne Whitney & the Survivor of them" in 1917.
Payne Whitney and his brother each owned about half of the Northern
Finance Corporation. Its holdings included about $34 million in
Standard of New Jersey, $18 million in Standard of California, $16
million in Standard of Indiana, and $14 million in Standard of New
York, and lesser amounts in various other oil companies; $23 million in
British American Tobacco, $8 million in Imperial Tobacco, over $13
million in Liggett & Myers Tobacco, $14 million in R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco, and lesser amounts in American Cigar, American Snuff, Cuban
Tobacco, George W. Helme Co., International Cigar Machine, Johnston Tin
Foil, P. Lorillard Company, MacAndrews & Forbes, Porto-Rican
American Tobacco, and U.S. Tobacco; $8 million in American Telephone
& Telegraph; $7 million in the Bankers
Trust Co., $4 million in the
Chase National Bank, $2 million in the Guaranty Trust, $1 million in
U.S. Trust Co., and lesser amounts in the Central Union Trust and
National Bank of Commerce. Whitney had bank deposits of over $600,000
each in the First National Bank and the United States Trust Company,
and deposits with the brokerage firms of W.H. Goadby & Co.,
Harriman & Co., C.D.
Barney & Co., and Reynolds, Fish &
Company. (Payne Whitney Left $178,893,655 Estate, Record For America.
New York Times, Nov. 23, 1928.) As of 1931, his bequests to Yale
University totalled $5,247,562. (Largest Yale Gift Provides Hospital.
New York Times, Jun. 18, 1931.)
"Although the firm of Goadby & Co. had not been established or
at any rate did not bear that name until April, 1876, Mr. Goadby had
been a member of the Stock Exchange for several years previously. His
membership dates from Dec. 31, 1870... The partners who now make up
the firm are Courtlandt D. Barnes, Harry G. Miles and Charles Morgan,
the last a board member... His extensive holdings of securities gave
Mr. Goadby a place on the boards of several important corporations, his
directorships including the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company, the
Twin City Rapid Transit Company, the Lanston Monoype Machine Company
and the Sheffield Company of Sheffield, Ala." He was the son of Thomas
Goadby, an Englishman who came to the U.S. and made a fortune in real
estate. (William H. Goadby, Broker, Dies At 76. New York Times, Jul. 5,
1925.) His nephew, W. Goadby Loew, married George F. Baker's daughter,
Florence. In 1941, W.H. Goadby & Co. was merged with H.N. Whitney
& Sons, and became H.N. Whitney, Goadby & Co., of 49 Wall
Street. Junius A. Richards,
director of Tobacco and Allied Stocks, was a member of the combined
firm. (2 Firms To Be Merged. New York Times, Mar. 21, 1941.) "The firm
of Henry N. Whitney & Sons is an old one. Originally it was Drew
& Robinson and had charge of the Vanderbilt interests. Later it
became Chase & Atkins. Henry N. Whitney then was the cashier. About
1878 he was taken into partnership, and the firm became Kissam, Whitney
& Co. Mr. Kissam was a brother-in-law of William H. Vanderbilt and
the firm continued in charge of the Vanderbilt interests after the new
partnership of Henry N. Whitney & Sons was established in 1901."
(Broker Whitney A Suicide. New York Times, Jan. 9, 1908.)
Reynolds, Fish & Co. was formed in 1921 (Display Ad 134. New York Times, Jan. 4, 1921 p. 27.) Special partner Theodore F. Reynolds was the son-in-law of Orville Taylor Waring, a director of Standard Oil of New Jersey. (Oil Man's Widow Cut Off. New York Times, May 30, 1923; New York Times, Mar. 13, 1925 p. 19.) General partner Stanley W. Burke was married to one of Waring's granddaughters. He was a 1917 graduate of Yale and president of the Dramatic Society, whose members included E.R.N. Harriman and Robert A. Lovett, S&B 1917. Their performances were well-attended by Bonesmen. (Engaged. New York Times, Jan. 1, 1917; Stanley Burke, 79, Marine In 2 Wars. New York Times, May 6, 1974.) Burke, Lovett, the Harriman brothers, and their classmate Knight Woolley, S&B 1917, were all active in the Boys Club of New York, whose president was Charles H. Sabin of the Guaranty Trust. The organization had been founded by E.H. Harriman in 1876. (Boys Club Work to Be Extended. New York Times, Jun. 12, 1927; Boys Club Holds a Reception. New York Times, Nov. 20, 1927.) General Partner Francis C. Bishop was the son of Heber R. Bishop, whose heirs shared $500,000 annual income from 1598 shares of Standard Oil. His sister, Elizabeth, was the wife of James Low Harriman. (Will of Heber R. Bishop. New York Times, Dec. 18, 1902; Bishop Heirs to Get $500,000 As Income. New York Times, Feb. 10, 1915.) In 1942-43, Reynolds, Fish & Co. merged with Pyne, Kendall & Hollister, and Robert E. Strawbridge Jr., who joined the board of managers of Memorial Hospital, was admitted as a limited partner. (Exchange Announces Changes In Firms. New York Times, Apr. 25, 1942; Changes in Firms. New York Times, Mar. 1, 1943.) The firm was located at 120 Broadway. (Display Ad 24. New York Times, Mar. 1, 1943 p. 27.) Limited partner George E. Coe Jr. was a member of Scroll & Keys 1917, and Roland Harriman and Stanley W. Burke had been ushers at his wedding. Coe was a nephew of Mrs. Robert W. de Forest, and his wife was a niece of Walter and Oliver Gould Jennings, S&B 1880 and 1887. (Miss James Weds Henry E. Coe Jr. New York Times, Apr. 20, 1923.) The firm was renamed Mallory, Adee & Co. in 1944, with Burke & Coe as limited partners. (Display Ad 25. New York Times, Feb. 1, 1944 p. 26.) Henry H. Wehrhane, whose father was a partner of Hallgarten & Co., joined that firm in 1892, and was a partner from 1904-1919. (Henry Wehrhane, Banker, Dies At 80. New York Times, Feb. 16, 1950.) Hallgarten & Co. was the largest single stockholder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1917. The Northern Finance Corp., Oliver H. Payne, Dorothy Whitney Straight, Gertrude Whitney, and Harry P. Whitney were also large stockholders.
Payne Whitney's son, John Hay (Jock) Whitney, graduated from Yale in 1926. He was a Fellow of the Yale Corporation from 1955 to 1973, and Senior Fellow until 1976. (John Hay Whitney, by Judith Ann Schiff. Yale Alumni Magazine, April 2002.) He was a key financial backer of President Eisenhower; the last publisher of the New York Herald Tribune; a founder of Pioneer Pictures, which introduced Technicolor; and Chairman of the Board of Selznick International Pictures. He married Elizabeth (Betsey) Cushing, one of the daughters of neurosurgeon Harvey Williams Cushing, Scroll & Key 1891. Cushing was a member of the Advisory Committee of Yale's Institute of Human Relations in 1929. Betsey's sister, Barbara (Babe) Cushing, married William S. Paley, the former chairman of CBS. Her death was exploited for propaganda by the American Cancer Society in 1983 Senate hearings. Jock Whitney's longtime business crony, Benno Schmidt, was also a longtime health policy activist, and served on the board of directors of CBS, Freeport Sulphur, and other Whitney interests.
John Hay Whitney / Yale Alumni Magazine"In 1929, Whitney was hired as a clerk at the princely sum of $65 per month at the firm of Lee, Higginson, where he met Langbourne Meade Williams Jr., the son of the founder of Freeport Texas Co., the sulphur mining company that was responsible for one-third of domestic output. Williams enlisted Jock's aid in ousting the chairman of his family's company, and the two and some of their friends began buying shares of the company. Jock soon was Freeport's biggest shareholder, and with his support, Williams sacked the chairman and his senior management team in 1930. Three years later, Williams became Freeport's president and Whitney was appointed Chairman of the Board, at the age of 29. Jock remained involved with Freeport for the rest of his business days. (John Hay Whitney. Wikipedia.) Freeport Sulphur is now Freeport McMoRan.
John Hay Whitney / WikipediaUshers at his wedding to Mary Elizabeth Altemus were Fred Astaire,
Donald Ogden Stuart, Thomas Hitchcock Jr., Charles S. Payson, Cornelius
Vanderbilt Whitney, Richard S. Scott, J. Wendel Smith, Henry C. Coke
Jr., Gardner W. Stout, James
J. Wadsworth [his cousin] and W.S. Symington. Robert C. Benchley of
New York was best man. Her attendants included Mrs. Henry W. Sage.
(Mary Altemus Wed to J. Hay Whitney. New York Times, Sep. 26, 1930.)
John Hay Whitney was an usher at the wedding of Raymond Guest and
Elizabeth Sturgis Polk,
the daughter of Frank
L. Polk. (Elizabeth S. Polk and Raymond Guest, Poloist, Wed in
Heavenly Rest Church. New York Times, Jun. 26, 1935.)
Whitney was a member of the Federal Broadcasting Corporation, which acquired the commercial and program presentation rights of New York City radio station WMCA. The group included John T. Adams; Howard G. Cushing; Major Talbot O. Freeman; Walter S. Mack Jr., later the president of Pepsi-Cola; A. Newbold Morris; Paul Nitze; James K. Norris, Allan A. Ryan Jr.; Clendenin J. Ryan Jr.; Robert Thayer; and Bethuel M. Webster, later counsel to Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company; with former N.Y. Governor Alfred E. Smith as chairman. (Smith Heads Board of New WMCA Group. New York Times, Aug. 28, 1933.) During World War II, Whitney was temporarily detailed to William J. Donovan in the OSS. (Freeport Sulphur's Early Years with John Hay Whitney. In: David Atlee Phillips, Clay Shaw, and Freeport Sulphur, by Lisa Pease. Probe magazine 1996 March-April;3(3).)
Pease, Freeport Sulphur / Real History ArchivesIn 1946, he founded J.H. Whitney & Company, with Richard G.
Croft, Samuel C. Park Jr., Malcolm Smith and Webster B. Todd. (New Firm
to Back Small Businesses. New York Times, Feb. 15, 1946). Todd, who was
former EPA Adminstrator Christine
Todd Whitman's father, left shortly later to become a director of
the Equity Corp.
(Chosen as a Director of Equity Corporation. New York Times, Mar. 12,
1947.) J.H. Whitney & Co. partner James F. Brownlee was a trustee
of
the Ford Foundation
from 1953 to 1960.
John Hay Whitney was President of the Society of New York Hospital when William Gage Brady Jr., board chairman of the National City Bank, was elected to its board of governors. (National City's Chairman Joins N.Y. Hospital Board. New York Times, Jun. 21, 1950.)
"Perhaps the most widely circulated of the C.I.A.-owned news services was Forum World Features, founded in 1958 as a Delaware corporation, Forum Information Service, with offices in London. Forum was ostensibly owned during much of its life by John Hay Whitney, the publisher of The New York Herald Tribune, which ceased publication in 1966. According to several C.I.A. sources, Mr. Whitney was 'witting' of the agency's true role." (Worldwide Propaganda Network Built By the C.I.A. By John M. Crewdson and Joseph B. Treaster. New York Times, Dec. 26, 1977.) "In 1966, the New York paper closed, but the Whitney family kept the Paris paper going through partnerships. In December 1966, The Washington Post became a joint owner. The New York Times became a joint owner of the Herald in May 1967; the newspaper became known as the International Herald Tribune... In 1991, The Washington Post and The New York Times became sole and equal shareholders of the newspaper. As of 2007, the IHT is completely owned by The New York Times Company, after that firm purchased the 50% stake owned by the Washington Post Company on December 30, 2002." (International Herald Tribune. Wikipedia, accessed 3-16-08.)
Joan Whitney Payson was a partner of the venture capital firm,
Payson & Trask, with Frederick
K. Trask Jr. He was a vice president of the American Heart
Association in 1951. Her granddaughter, Joan Whitney Meyer, married Charles A. Dana 3d.
John Hay Whitney and his sister, Mrs. Charles S. Payson, each
contributed $5 million to the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical
Center's Fund for Medical Progress. Both were on the board of governors
of the Society of the New York Hospital. Whitney was a member since
1927 and president from 1949 to 1953, Payson was a board member since
1940. Whitney was in the hospital in October for "influenza
'complicated by a mild cardiac condition.'" The fund was at $22 million
of a target $54,700,000. Other donors were the Vincent Astor
Foundation, the Samuel J and Evelyn L. Wood Foundation, Mrs. Samuel J.
Wood, the Booth-Ferris Foundation, Stanton Griffis and the Griffis
Foundation, Inc., and the U.S. Public Health Service. The treasurer of
the fund was George F.
Baker Jr. (Whitney and Sister Give Hospital 10 Million. New York
Times, Dec. 17, 1961.)
Philip Morris has been supporting the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris since 1967, when PM established a special purchase fund for the Museum. It is located in the plaza of PM's international headquarters across from Grand Central Station. (Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris.)
Whitney Museum of Modern Art At Philip Morris / Whitney MuseumIn 1968, John Hay Whitney and Walter N. Thayer were leading fund raisers for Nelson Rockefeller's presidential campaign. William Glanton Irwin of Communis Engine Company was head of the Committee, and James A. Henderson of Cummins was an assistant campaign manager. (Review of Presidential Candidates Organizations. Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1968.)
Review of Presidential Candidates Organizations, 1968 / UCSF-LegacyIn 1971, Yale appointed its first women members of the Yale Corporation. They were University of Chicago history professor Hanna Holborn Gray and civil rights lawyer Marian Wright Edelman, who received a law degree from Yale in 1963. William S. Beinecke, chairmain of Sperry & Hutchinson, and Lance M. Liebman, associate professor of law at Harvard, were also chosen. Among the continuing trustees were John Hay Whitney, William McC. Martin, Cyrus R. Vance, the Right Rev. Paul Moore Jr., Federal Judge Leon Higginbotham Jr. and William W. Scranton. The Yale Corporation consisted of ten successor trustees, six elected alumni fellows, the president of the University, and the Connecticut Governor and Lieutenant Governor. (Yale Names Two Women, One A Black Lawyer, to Board of Trustees. New York Times, Jun. 20, 1971.)
J.H. Whitney partner William Harding Jackson was a director of the Bankers Trust Co. between 1947 and 1950.
Schmidt was a partner of J.H. Whitney & Co. since 1946. Around
1960, he joined the board of managers of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center; he was one of Mary W. Lasker's allies in the National
Cancer Act of 1971, and was a member of the President's Cancer Panel of
the National Cancer Institute. Meanwhile, his business cronies were on
the board of directors of Philip Morris.
"Thayer was for more than 30 years a close associate of the late
John Hay Whitney, on whose behalf he arranged the acquisition of the
financially troubled Herald Tribune in 1968. Through the Whitney
Communications Corporation, of which he became president, Mr. Thayer
also guided efforts to acquire Parade, the profitable Sunday newspaper
supplement, and other properties that would help absorb some of The
Herald Tribune's losses over the years to come." It closed in 1966, but
the International Herald Tribune continued. Walter Nelson Thayer 3d was
the son of the superintendent of the New York state reformatory at
Dannemora. He graduated from Colgate University in 1931, and worked as
a parole officer before receiving a law degree from Yale in 1935.
During World War II, he was on the legal staff of the Lend-Lease
Administration, the War Shipping Administration, and the Foreign
Economic Administration. In 1945, he was a partner of the New York law
firm Thayer & Gilbert. He joined J.H. Whitney & Co. in 1955.
The firm invested $1.2 million in the Herald Tribune, and eventually
took control of it from the Ogden Mills Reid family. Thayer was a
senior partner of Whitcom Investment Company, the parent company of
Whitney Communications. (Walter Thayer, 78, Herald Tribune President,
Dies. By Albin Krebs. New York Times, Mar. 5, 1989.)
Thayer was elected a director of the Bankers Trust Company in 1958.
He
was also a director of the National Dairy Products Corporation, Gulf
Television Corporation, KOTV, Inc., Caribbean Refining Co., Corinthian
Broadcasting Corp. and the Indiana Broadcasting Co. (Board Member
Chosen By Bankers Trust Co. New York Times, May 28, 1958.) Corinthian
was owned by J.H. Whitney & Co. and included four television and
two radio stations in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, Ind., Galveston and
Houston, Texas, and Tulsa, Okla., all affiliated with CBS. (C.B.S.
Affiliates Under New Set-Up. By Richard F. Shepard.New York Times, Apr.
27, 1957.) He was a director of Bankers Trust until at least 1976. His
fellow directors during this period included Howard S. Cullman and
Joseph F. Cullman of Philip Morris. (Display
Ad, New York Times, Jan. 4, 1951; Display Ad, New York Times, Oct. 19,
1976.)
Thayer was elected a trustee of Colgate University in 1964. (Colgate
Elects 2 Trustees. New York Times, Jan. 19, 1964.) Thayer was a member
of the Harriman
mission to England from 1942-45. He was elected a life
trustee of Columbia University in 1965. Maurice T. Moore was chairman.
(Columbia's Trustees Elect Thayer. New York Times, May 19, 1965.)
Thayer was a member of the three-man executive board of the Granary
Fund of Boston, a charitable trust established in 1958 by Thayer and
Whitney, who was Ambassador to England from 1957 to 1961. It received
money from the Central Intelligence Agency in 1964 and 1965 "to channel
money from front foundations to various organizations here and abroad."
In 1964, the front foundations included the John G. Thornton Trust
($300,000) and the James Carlisle Trust ($150,000), with $500 from
miscellaneous sources. In 1965, the Granary Fund received $325,000 from
the Mount Pleasant Fund, $200,000 from the James Carlisle Trust,
$125,000 from the Victoria Strauss Trust and $1,000 in miscellaneous
contributions. "In 1965 the Granary Fund made contributions of $150,000
to the International Development Foundation, $100,000 to the Whitney
Charitable Trust, $75,000 to Friends of the Middle East, Inc., $68,000
to Operations and Policy Research, $50,000 to the Pan American
Foundation, $38,000 to the Retail Clerks International Association,
$35,250 to the Institut d'Histoire Sociale, $3,500 to Robert E.
Witherspoon and $1,500 to M.J. Desai." Fellow trustees of the Granary
Fund were George H. Kidder, and John A. McCone was its director. Samuel
Culver Park Jr. was a trustee of the charitable trust. (Whitney Trust
Got Aid. By E.W. Kenworthy. New York Times, Feb. 25, 1967.)
Thayer was an active Republican fund-raiser since the 1950s and an
intimate of President Eisenhower. "He was among the first to begin
assembling financial backing for Mr. [John V.] Lindsay's mayoral race
and remained close to him throughout the campaign." (Brownell Heads
Kitchen Cabinet Advising Lindsay on Chief Issues. By Terence Smith. New
York Times, Feb. 17, 1966.)
Thayer was a member of Republicans for
Progress, a splinter group of "progressive" Republicans that was headed
by Charles Phelps Taft, Skull & Bones 1918. (G.O.P. 'Unity' War
Escalates Again. New York Times, Jun. 23,
1965). In 1971, Walter N. Thayer was a member of
the Ash Council, which created the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Management and
Budget. John C. Topping Jr.,
who wrote a major report for the group, later lobbied for the EPA to
proclaim that secondhand smoke causes cancer in non-smokers - along
with A. Judson Wells, the secret author of the main chapters whose role
was concealed behind illegal pass-through contracts.
Frank L. Taylor, Executive Vice President and Director of the
International Herald Tribune, was a director-at-large of the American
Cancer Society. He was a past president and campaign chairman of the
ACS-Milwaukee Division. He was publisher of the Milwaukee Sentinel
1943-54, and a vice president and director of the Hearst Corporation,
1946-55. Past Publisher, Spokane Press, Portland News Telegram, and
Seattle Star. (Know Your Board of Directors, American Cancer Society,
1956 and 1957.) Wisconsin Governor Walter J. Kohler was Chairman
of the Board of the American Cancer Society during this period.
"Also in 1957, the Board of Directors of the Society established an
Ad Hoc Committee on Smoking and Health. Its members were: Dr. Warren H.
Cole, of the University of Illinois College of Medicine; Dr. John R.
Heller, then Director of the National Cancer Institute; Dr.
Ochsner;
Dr. Ernest L. Stebbins, of Johns Hopkins University; Dr. Howard C.
Taylor, Jr., Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics
and
Gynecology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons;
Rutherford L. Ellis, Chairman of the Board of Lipscomb-Ellls Co.,
Atlanta, Ga.; William B.
Lewis,
Chairman of the Board of Kenyon &
Eckhardt, Inc., New York City; Monroe J. Rathbone, President and
Director of Standard Oil of New Jersey; Dr. Ira DeA. Reid, Professor of
Sociology, Haverford College, and Frank L. Taylor, Executive Vice
President and Director of the New York Herald Tribune. The Society
reafflrmed the importance of presenting basic findings on the link
between cigarettes and lung cancer to the public. The Board authorized
production of suitable educational materials, including materials
designed specifically for high school and college students, and
authorized a one-year study of the smoking habits of teen-agers in the
Portland, Oregon, school system which would involve nearly 22,000 high
school students. Action followed. In December of 1957, the Society
began distribution of its leaflet, 'To Smoke Or Not To Smoke.'" (The
Position of the American Cancer Society Regarding Tobacco and Lung
Cancer. To the City Editor [form letter]. American Cancer Society News
Service, Jan. 7, 1964.)
J. Taylor Foster, Skull & Bones 1908, was a director of Tobacco and Allied Stocks, PM's largest stockholder in 1953; and William Henry Donaldson, Skull & Bones Class of 1953, was on the board of directors of Philip Morris from 1979 to 1999. Retired PM executive John M. Richman, a director from 1988-94, was also a director of R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Chicago, whose co-founder's sons, Thomas Elliott Donnelley and Reuben H. Donnelly, joined Skull & Bones in 1889. R.R. Donnelley began printing Encyclopedia Britannica in 1910, TIME magazine in the 1920s, and Life in 1936, while R.H. Donnelley had a monopoly of AT&T's Yellow Pages. TIME and Life were founded by Henry R. Luce, Skull & Bones 1920. (Buy: R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company. By Gregory Linus Weiss, Investment Quality Trends, May 26, 2000.)
Weiss, 2000 / Market Mavens.comcast 01-23-12