Henry Clay Alexander (1 August 1902 – 14 December 1969) was an American banker who served as president, chairman, and CEO of J.P. Morgan & Co.

Early life and education

Alexander was born on a farm in

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

, where his father ran a feed store. He graduated from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

in 1923 and

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

in 1925.

Career

Law career

After his graduation from law school, Alexander joined Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Gardiner & Reed in New York City, where he was made partner at age 32. At Davis Polk, he served as counsel to

J. P. Morgan Jr. John Pierpont Morgan Jr. (September 7, 1867 – March 13, 1943) was an American banker, finance executive, and philanthropist. He inherited the family fortune and took over the business interests including J.P. Morgan & Co. after his father J. P ...

during the Nye Committee investigations and hearings on the munitions industry.

House of Morgan

In 1939, he accepted a partnership at the

House of Morgan J.P. Morgan & Co. is a Commercial banking, commercial and investment banking institution founded by J. P. Morgan in 1871. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the company is now a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest bankin ...

at the age of 36, and became the fourth head of the bank after J. P. Morgan,

, and George Whitney.

Creation of J.P. Morgan & Co.

In 1940, Alexander joined the Morgan bank with the securities firm Morgan, Stanley, and Co. to form the commercial bank and trust corporation J.P. Morgan & Co. He became the president and CEO in 1950 and chairman of the board in 1955. In his role as CEO, Alexander broke from Morgan's established model of eschewing the solicitation of new business, instead training and stationing a group of employees known as "bird dogs" around the United States to pursue clients. In 1958, he publicly advocated for the reduction of income taxes in the United States as an

economic stimulus In economics, stimulus refers to attempts to use monetary policy or fiscal policy (or stabilization policy in general) to stimulate the economy. Stimulus can also refer to monetary policies such as lowering interest rates and quantitative easi ...

in the wake of recession.

Morgan Guaranty Trust

Alexander is credited for revitalizing J.P. Morgan & Co. with his aggressive approach to the development of new business, and in 1959 he leveraged this influx of capital funds to merge with the Guaranty Trust Company, forming

Morgan Guaranty J.P. Morgan & Co. is a Commercial banking, commercial and investment banking institution founded by J. P. Morgan in 1871. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the company is now a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest bankin ...

and serving as its CEO and chairman. At the completion of the merger, Morgan Guaranty controlled $512 million in capital funds, as opposed to J.P. Morgan & Co.'s $89 million. Alexander retired from Morgan Guaranty in 1967.

Other endeavors

Alexander served as vice chairman of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey in Europe during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and earned a

Medal of Merit Several countries award a military or civil medal called Medal of Merit: * Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) * Medal of Merit (Denmark) * Medal of Merit of the Dominican Woman * Medal of Merit of the National People's Army (East Germany) * Medal of M ...

for his service. He also was the national chairman for the American-Korean Foundation. In addition to his career in banking, Alexander served of the board of directors of

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

, the American Viscose Corporation, and

Standard Brands Standard Brands was a packaged foods company, formed in 1929 by J. P. Morgan with the merger of: * Fleischmann Company *Royal Baking Powder Company * E. W. Gillett Company of Canada (1929) - Toronto-based baking goods company (maker of Magic Bak ...

. He was a trustee on the boards of Presbyterian Hospital,

, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, and the

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is an American philanthropic nonprofit organization. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan Jr., then-president and chief executive officer of General Motors. The Sloan Foundation makes grants to support or ...

Personal life

Alexander married Janet Hutchinson 1934. They had four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Henry C. 1902 births 1969 deaths American bankers Vanderbilt University alumni Yale Law School alumni 20th-century American businesspeople American chairpersons of corporations American chief executives of financial services companies House of Morgan Directors of JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase people Davis Polk & Wardwell lawyers