Albert Henry Wiggin, Time magazine cover August 24, 1931

Albert Henry Wiggin (February 21, 1868–May 21, 1951) was an American banker. Jump to: navigation, search February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1868 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search May 21 is the 141st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (142nd in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... For other uses, see Bank (disambiguation). ...

Born in the town of Medfield, Massachusetts, Albert Wiggin was the son of a Unitarian minister. At age seventeen, he went to work for a Boston bank and in 1892 he married Jessie Duncan Hayden with whom he had two daughters. By his early thirties, Wiggin was already a vice-president at National Park Bank in New York City. He gained recognition as one of the up-and-coming in the Wall Street banking community for his role in organzing Bankers Trust. In 1904 the quiet, reserved Wiggin became the youngest ever vice president at the prestigious Chase National Bank and in 1911 succeeded Henry W. Cannon as president. Medfield is a town located in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. ... Historic Unitarianism believed in the oneness of God as opposed to traditional Christian belief in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). ... Alternative meanings: Boston (disambiguation) The 18th-century Old State House in Boston is surrounded by tall buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries. ... The National Park Bank was founded in 1856 in New York City, and by the late 19th century, it did more commercial business than any other bank in the country. ... New York City, officially named the City of New York, is the most populous city in the United States, the most densely populated major city in North America, and is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture. ... Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Wall Street (disambiguation). ... Deutsche Bank AG NYSE: DB (German for German Bank) is a multinational bank operating worldwide and employing almost 70,000 people (2004). ... The Chase Manhattan Bank was formed by the merger of the Chase National Bank and the Bank of the Manhattan Company in 1955. ...

Under Albert Wiggin, Chase National Bank entered a period of rapid growth, spurred by the acquisition of several New York financial institutions and the creation of a securities division that made his bank second only to National City Bank. In 1917, Wiggin was made Chairman of the bank and served on the board of directors of more than fifty major American corporations. He was responsible for bringing in members of the Rockefeller family as investors in Chase National Bank. Jump to: navigation, search Chinatown Citibank branch (New York City, USA). ... The Rockefeller family, founded by John Davison Rockefeller (1839-1937) and his brother William Rockefeller (1841-1922), made a fortune in the oil business during the latter part of the 19th century through their Standard Oil Company. ...

Wiggin became an important player on the world financial stage and in 1923 opened a Chase National Bank representative office in London, England which began lending directly to governments and businesses throughout Europe. Wiggin was a staunch proponent of Free trade, albeit under certain restrictions. He was a signatory to the 1926 international round robin declaration by over 100 of the world's most powerful financiers that called upon European nations to remove their tariff barriers to international trade. London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... World map showing Europe (geographically) When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ... Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... World map showing Europe (geographically) When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ...

On Black Thursday of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Albert Wiggin joined with other senior Wall Street bankers in an attempt to save the collapsing stock market. On behalf of Chase National Bank, Wiggin, along with other bankers, committed substantial funds for an investment pool. They had Richard Whitney, vice president of the New York Stock Exchange, go onto the floor of the Exchange and with great fanfare purchase large blocks of shares in major U.S. corporations at prices above the current market. The action halted the slide that day and returned stability to the market. While the market slide continued on Monday, Wiggin was lauded as a hero for his actions. However, what came out in a Congressional investigation into the Wall Street Crash, was that beginning in September of 1929, Wiggin had begun selling short shares in Chase National Bank. His short selling, done secretly through several companies owned by himself and family members, helped drive down his own bank's stock price and he made a multi-millon dollar profit. Wiggin was not alone, other greedy executives in powerful positions did the same thing, and although not illegal, Wiggin eventually retired under pressure from the bank. Jump to: navigation, search The 1929 stock market crash devastated economies worldwide The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also called the Great Crash, is the stock market crash that occurred late October 1929. ... Jump to: navigation, search The stock market is the market for the trading of company stock, both those securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately. ... Jump to: navigation, search New York Stock Exchange (June 2003) The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest stock exchange in the world, although its trading volume was exceeded by that of NASDAQ (historic comparison graph {pdf}) during the 1990s. ... Jump to: navigation, search Seal of the Congress. ... In finance, short selling is selling something that one does not (yet) own. ...

As head of one of America's most important banks, Wiggin was consulted by the Hoover Administration for suggestions on how to deal with the Great Depression. Wiggin opposed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 and according to the Ludwig von Mises Institute, "One of the best counsels on the depression was set forth in an annual report by Albert H. Wiggin, chairman of the board of the Chase National Bank, in January, 1931." However, the Institute noted that: "Wiggin's wise advice went unheeded." Jump to: navigation, search Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) is best known as being the 31st President of the United States (1929-1933). ... Jump to: navigation, search The examples and perspective in this article do not represent a worldwide view. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Hawley-Smoot or Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act raised US tariffs on over 20,000 dutiable items to record levels, and, in the opinion of many economists, protracted or initiated the Great Depression. ... Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, Auburn, Alabama The Ludwig von Mises Institute (LvMI), based in Auburn, Alabama, is a paleolibertarian academic organisation engaged in research and scholarship in the fields of economics, philosophy and political economy. ...

Albert Wiggin retired from banking in December of 1932. In his personal life, beginning in 1911 he started assembling a collection art prints, drawings, watercolors, and books. Among the French, British, and American works of art on paper that Wiggin acquired were prints by Henri Fantin-Latour, Francisco Goya, Honoré Daumier, George Bellows, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Thomas Rowlandson, Jean-Louis Forain, Alphonse Legros, and many others. In 1941 he donated his collection of several thousand pieces to the Boston Public Library. Other works from his assemblage can be found at the New York Public Library and the Baltimore Museum of Art. He was made a lifetime member of the board of MIT's "Charles Hayden Memorial Library." Henri Fantin-Latour (January 14, 1836 - August 25, 1904) was a French painter and lithographer. ... Goya self-portrait. ... Honoré Daumier (portrait by Nadar) Honoré Daumier (1808 – 1879) was a French caricaturist and painter. ... George Bellows George Wesley Bellows (August 19, 1882 - January 8, 1925) was an American painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. ... Jump to: navigation, search Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. ... Thomas Rowlandson (July 1756 - April 22, 1827) was an English caricaturist. ... Alphonse Legros (May 8, 1837 - December 8, 1911), painter and etcher, was born at Dijon. ... The Boston Public Library was established in 1848. ... Jump to: navigation, search New York Public Library, central block, built 1897–1911, Carrère and Hastings, architects (June 2003) The New York Public Library (NYPL), one of three public library systems serving New York City, is one of the leading libraries in the United States. ... The Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, was founded in 1914 and is located on the edge of the campus of Johns Hopkins University. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a research and educational institution located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is a world leader in science and technology, as well as in many other fields, including management, economics, linguistics, political science, and philosophy. ...

For Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, he endowed the "Albert Henry Wiggin Memorial Scholarship Fund" plus he and his wife formed the "Albert H. and Jessie D. Wiggin Foundation" which gave grants to institutions such as the United Hospital Fund and the Department of Medicine at Columbia University. Middlebury College is a small, selective liberal arts college located in the rural New England town of Middlebury, Vermont. ... Middlebury, Vermont Main Street Otter Creek Falls Middlebury is a town located in Addison County, Vermont. ... Jump to: navigation, search Columbia University is a private university in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. ...

Albert Wiggin died in 1951.