Eugene Meyer
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Eugene Isaac Meyer (October 31, 1875 – July 17, 1959) was an American financier, public official, publisher of the Washington Post newspaper. He served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1930 to 1933. He was the father of publisher Katharine Graham.
Born in Los Angeles, California, he was the son of Marc Eugene and Harriet (Newmark) Meyer. He grew up in San Francisco and attended college across the bay at the University of California, but he dropped out after one year and later enrolled at Yale University. He received his A.B. in 1895.
After college, Meyer went to work for Lazard Freres--his father was a partner there--but quit in 1901 after four years and struck out on his own. He was a successful investor and speculator and owned a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. He married Agnes Elizabeth Ernst in 1910; they had five children, including the future Katharine Graham and another daughter Florence Meyer (1911-1962) (Mrs. Oscar Homolka). By 1915, when he was forty, he was worth $40 million.
In 1920, Meyer teamed with William H. Nichols of General Chemical to help fulfill his vision of a bigger, better chemical company. Meyer and Nichols combined five smaller chemical companies to create the Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation, which later became Allied Chemical Corp., and eventually became part of AlliedSignal, the forerunner of Honeywell’s specialty materials business. Both men have buildings named after them at Honeywell’s headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey.
Meyer went to Washington, D.C. during the First World War as a "dollar a year man" for Woodrow Wilson, becoming the head of the War Finance Corporation and served there long after the end of hostilities. President Calvin Coolidge named him as chairman of the Federal Farm Loan Board in 1927 and Herbert Hoover promoted him to chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1930. He served in that capacity from September 16, 1930 to May 10, 1933.
Meyer strongly supported government relief to combat the Great Depression taking on an additional post as chief of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Herbert Hoover's unsuccessful attempt to aid companies by providing loans to businesses. Upon Franklin D. Roosevelt's inauguration in 1933, he resigned his government posts.
Months later in 1933 he bought the Washington Post at a bankruptcy auction, the paper having been ruined by its spendthrift socialite owner, Ned McLean. Over the next twenty years, Meyer spent millions of dollars of his own money to keep the money-losing paper in business, while focusing on improving its quality; by the 1950s, it was finally consistently profitable and was increasingly recognized for good reporting and important editorials. As publisher, Meyer occasionally contributed to stories: his friendship with the British Ambassador, Lord Lothian, led to a Washington Post scoop on reporting of Edward VIII's relationship with Wallis Simpson.
After World War II, Harry Truman named Meyer, then 70 years old, to be the first head of the World Bank in June 1946. Meyer appointed his son-in-law, Philip Graham, as publisher. However, after only six months with the World Bank, Meyer returned to the Post, serving as Chairman of the Washington Post Company until his death in Washington in 1959.
Bibliography
- Agnes E. Meyer. Out of These Roots. 1959.
- Merlo J. Pusey. Eugene Meyer. 1974.
- Katharine Graham. Personal History. 1997.
