Publish Date: Nov. 11, 1929
Cover Story: Faith, Bankers & Panic
How TIME Covered the News: After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, morale was at an all-time low and an economic collapse seemed imminent. As millions of shares were unloaded and investor confidence plummeted, a secret meeting of bankers hoped to solve the crisis – or at least mitigate it. Led by Thomas Lamont, acting head of J.P. Morgan Bank, the group set out to orchestrate a wave of confidence buying among Wall Street banks, leading to a massive surge in purchases of blue chip stocks.
“Nor was there anything intangible about the man who steered the ship of U. S. prosperity through the storm, who at length felt the helm respond. More than most men, Thomas William Lamont can be touched, appraised. In obvious and literal ways, this right hand of John Pierpont Morgan is freely extended among men. A cosmopolite, he knows, understands, and likes the thousands of people of all nations with whom he does business.”