By Phin Upham
This is the story of how an economist won the Army Distinguished Service Medal for applying economics.
Bernard Baruch was born in 1870 in South Carolina, and his family moved him to New York City when he was 11 years old. Baruch eventually became broker, which led to opportunities at partnering with A.A. Housman & Company. He earned enough to eventually buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange for $18,000, which would translate to more than$400,000 in today’s money. By the age of 30, that seat had earned him a substantial fortune from the sugar market.
He developed his own firm and his unwillingness to work with others earned him the nickname “The Lone Wolf of Wall Street.”
In 1916, however, at the height of World War I, he left Wall Street to assist President Wilson in national defense. After serving on the Advisory commission to the Council of National Defense, Baruch found himself chairing the War industries Board. There, Baruch was directly involved in managing the costs of mobilizing the US war effort.
This important position put Baruch under a tremendous amount of stress, but he persevered and helped the American fighting force do what it does best. His efforts also earned him an invitation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, where the Allied victors met. There, Baruch made his opposition to Franc and Britain’s demands of reparations from Germany clear. He sided with Wilson, who believed they’d asked for too much. He also advocated the formation of the League of Nations, which was the foundation for the modern-day UN.
Phin Upham is an investor from NYC and SF. You may contact Phin on his Phin Upham website or Facebook page.