I recently became embroiled in a discussion of the recent Fed Rate cut, in which a casual mention of J.P.Morgan and his role in resolving the Panic of 1907 became a surprisingly controversial issue.
I might put together a short piece at some point regarding the Panic – until then I will content myself with listing references:
Panic of 1907, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Tallman & Moen, 2007, Role of Clearinghouse Certificates
Moen & Tallman, 1999 Differentiation of 1907 Panic from others
Moen & Tallman, 1995, Comparison of New York vs. Chicago Clearinghouses in 1907
Wall Street, A History, Charles R. Geisst 1997, ISBN 0-19-511512-0
Update, 2007-10-15:
Tallman & Moen, 1990, Lessons from the Panic of 1907
The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market’s Perfect Storm, R.F.Bruner & Sean D. Carr, ISBN 978-0-470-15263-8
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919). An Autobiography. 1913. (Appendix A deals with the US Steel takeover of Tennessee Coal & Iron, which apparently became a political football).
Update, 2007-10-16:
Football indeed! Richard Jensen claims:
In October 1911, Taft’s Justice Department charged US Steel with antitrust violations in the TCI deal–leaving TR’s integrity under a cloud. That was the last straw for Roosevelt, as he decided to challenge Taft for the Republican nomination for president.
Update, 2010-7-6: Mr Joseph S Tracy, Executive Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York, suggests that the Credit Crunch be referred to as the “Panic of 2007”, given all the similarities in the trigger.
[…] We all remember, of course, the Panic of 1907. In the denouement to that crisis, Morgan stuck it to a fellow banker, purchasing a big whack of stock extremely cheaply – and I’m afraid I cannot remember the name of the company off-hand. I don’t think it was the US Steel deal; US Steel had to be bullied into buying whichever it was they bought. This was Morgan’s bank buying common equity in something else, a railroad, perhaps, if memory serves. At any rate, once Morgan had become convinced the world was not going to end, he got down to the serious business of sticking it to the competition. […]
[…] “Are they solvent?” and reliquified freely on an affirmative answer, as happened in the Panic of 1907? The reliquification and word of J.P.Morgan that it was indeed reliquification was good enough to […]
[…] Mr Joseph S Tracy, Executive Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, spoke at the Westchester County Bankers Association, Tarrytown, New York, 25 June 2010, drawing parallels between the Credit Crunch and the Panic of 1907. […]