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| Affiliation | Nonpartisan |
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| Name | Eugene Isaac Meyer |
| Address |
, , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
October 31, 1875
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| Died | July 17, 1959
(83 years)
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| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | Thomas Walker
Oct 24, 2005 11:44pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Eugene Isaac Meyer (October 31, 1875 – July 17, 1959) was an American financial, public official, and newspaper publisher. He is best remembered as the father of Katharine Graham.
Born in Los Angeles, California, he was the son of Marc Eugene and Harriet (Newmark) Meyer. He grew up in San Francisco, California and attended college across the bay at the University of California, but he dropped out after one year and later enrolled at Yale University. He received his A.B. in 1895.
He went to work for Lazard Freres--his father was a partner there--but quit in 1901 after four years and struck out on his own. He was a successful speculator and purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. By the time he was forty, he was worth $40 million. He married Agnes Elizabeth Ernst in 1910 and they had five children.
He went to Washington, D.C. during the First World War as a "dollar a year man" for Woodrow Wilson, becoming the head of the War Finance Corporation and served there long after the end of hostilities. President Calvin Coolidge named him as chairman of the Federal Farm Loan Board in 1927 and Herbert Hoover promoted him to chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1930. He served in that capacity from September 16, 1930 to May 10, 1933. He strongly supported government relief to combat the Great Depression taking on an additional post as chief of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Hoover's unsuccessful attempt to aid the accompany by providing loans to businesses. Upon Franklin D. Roosevelt's inauguration, he resigned his government posts in 1933.
Months later he bought The Washington Post at a bankruptcy auction, the paper having been ruined by its spendthrift socialite owner, Ned McLean. Meyer turned the paper around and made it a success. The paper, thanks to Meyer's friendship with the British Ambassador, Lord Lothian, scooped the world on reporting of Edward VIII's relationship with Wallis Simpson.
After World War II, Harry Truman named Meyer head of the World Bank in June 1946, and he appointed his son-in-law, Philip S. Graham publisher. Meyer returned to the Post, however, after only six months and served as its chairman until his death in Washington.
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