Morgan, J. P., Jr. (1867-1943), was a leading American banker. His father, J. P. Morgan, and grandfather, Junius Spencer Morgan, also were successful bankers.
John Pierpont Morgan, Jr.—commonly known as Jack Morgan—was born on Sept. 7, 1867, in Irvington, New York. He graduated from Harvard University in 1889. After his father died in 1913, J. P. Morgan, Jr., became the head of the Morgan family’s financial empire.
During World War I (1914-1918), Morgan was a purchasing agent for France and the United Kingdom. His firm, J. P. Morgan & Company, handled contracts for goods produced in the United States and provided to the Allies during the war. After the war, J. P. Morgan & Company handled numerous international loans, including many dealing with postwar reparations (repayments for wrongdoing). Morgan was a member of the commission to revise the Dawes Plan in 1929 to relieve Germany from its crushing war debts (see Dawes Plan).
Like his father, Morgan supported education and the arts. In 1924, he donated his father’s book and manuscript collection to found the Pierpont Morgan Library, now a leading research institution known as the Morgan Library & Museum. Morgan insisted that the library be preserved until March 31, 2013, a century after his father’s death.
Morgan lived in London for several years and maintained lifelong ties to the United Kingdom. In 1920, he gave his house in London to the United States for use as the residence of the U.S. ambassador. Morgan died on March 13, 1943, in Boca Grande, Florida.
See also Morgan, J. P.; Morgan Library & Museum.
