Russell Cornell Leffingwell (September 10, 1878 – October 2, 1960) was an American banker who led the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

from 1944 until 1953. From 1944 to 1946, he served as president of the Council, and from 1946 to 1953, he served as the organization's first chairman. He was also a trustee of

Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

from 1923 to 1959. His banking career, which focused on international lending, started when he joined J.P. Morgan in 1923, and he retired as chairman of the company in 1950. In reference to the economic problems of the early 1930s, he is reported to have said: "The remedy is for people to stop watching the ticker, listening to the radio, drinking bootleg gin, and dancing to jazz... and return to the old economics and prosperity based on saving and working."Peter Bernstein, ''The Wedding of The Waters'', Norton, 2005, p. 230

References

American bankers Presidents of the Council on Foreign Relations Chairs of the Council on Foreign Relations 1878 births 1960 deaths Yale University alumni Columbia Law School alumni {{US-business-bio-1870s-stub