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Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani (born 19 April 1957) is an Indian billionaire businessman, and the chairman, managing director, and largest shareholder of Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), a Fortune Global 500 company and India’s most valuable company by market value.^[4] According to Forbes, he is the richest person in Asia with a net worth of US$90.3 billion^[5]^[6] and the 10th richest person in the world, as of 12 February 2022.

Early life[edit source]

Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 19 April 1957 in the British Crown colony of Aden (present-day Yemen) to Dhirubhai Ambani and Kokilaben Ambani. He has a younger brother Anil Ambani and two sisters, Nina Bhadrashyam Kothari and Dipti Dattaraj Salgaonkar.

Ambani lived only briefly in Yemen, because his father decided to move back to India in 1958^[7] to start a trading business that focused on spices and textiles. The latter was originally named “Vimal” but later changed to “Only Vimal”.^[8]^[9] His family lived in a modest two-bedroom apartment in Bhuleshwar, Mumbai until the 1970s.^[10] The family’s financial status slightly improved when they moved to India but Ambani still lived in a communal society, used public transportation, and never received an allowance.^[11] Dhirubhai later purchased a 14-floor apartment block called ‘Sea Wind’ in Colaba, where, until recently, Ambani and his brother lived with their families on different floors.^[12]

Education[edit source]

Ambani attended the Hill Grange High School at Peddar Road, Mumbai, along with his brother and Anand Jain, who later became his close associate.^[13] After his secondary schooling, he studied at the St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.^[14] He then received a BE degree in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology.^[15]^[16]

Ambani later enrolled for an MBA at Stanford University, but withdrew in 1980 to help his father build Reliance, which at the time was still a small but fast-growing enterprise.^[15] His father felt that real-life skills were harnessed through experiences and not by sitting in a classroom, so he called his son back to India from Stanford to take command of a yarn manufacturing project in his company.^[11]

Ambani has been quoted as saying that he was influenced by his teachers William F. Sharpe and Man Mohan Sharma because they are “the kind of professors who made you think out of the box.”^[15]

Career[edit source]

In 1981 he started to help his father Dhirubhai Ambani run their family business, Reliance Industries Limited. By this time, it had already expanded so that it also dealt in refining and petrochemicals. The business also included products and services in retail and telecommunications industries. Reliance Retail Ltd., another subsidiary, is also the largest retailer in India.^[17] Reliance’s Jio has earned a top-five spot in the country’s telecommunication services since its public launch on 5 September 2016.

As of 2016, Ambani was ranked 36 and has consistently held the title of India’s richest person on Forbes magazine’s list for the past ten years.^[18] He is the only Indian businessman on Forbes‘ list of the world’s most powerful people.^[19] As of October 2020, Mukesh Ambani was ranked by Forbes as the 6th-wealthiest person in the world.^[6] He surpassed Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group, to become Asia’s richest person with a net worth of $44.3 billion in July 2018. He is also the wealthiest person in the world outside North America and Europe.^[20] As of 2015, Ambani ranked fifth among India’s philanthropists, according to China’s Hurun Research Institute.^[21] He was appointed as a Director of Bank of America and became the first non-American to be on its board.^[22]

Through Reliance, he also owns the Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians and is the founder of Indian Super League, a football league in India.^[23] In 2012, Forbes named him one of the richest sports owners in the world.^[24] He resides at the Antilia Building, one of the world’s most expensive private residences with its value reaching $1 billion.^[25]

Timeline[edit source]

1980s–1990s[edit source]

In 1980, the Indian government under Indira Gandhi opened PFY (polyester filament yarn) manufacturing to the private sector. Dhirubhai Ambani applied for a license to set up a PFY manufacturing plant. Obtaining the license was a long-drawn-out process requiring a strong connection within the bureaucracy system because the government, at the time, was restricting large-scale manufacturing, making the importation of yarn for the textiles impossible.^[26] In spite of stiff competition from Tatas, Birlas and 43 others, Dhirubhai was awarded the license, more commonly addressed as License Raj.^[27] To help him build the PFY plant, Dhirubhai pulled his eldest son out of Stanford, where he was studying for his MBA, to work with him in the company. Ambani did not return to his university program, leading Reliance’s backward integration, where companies own their suppliers to generate more revenue and improve efficiency, in 1981 from textiles into polyester fibers and further into petrochemicals, which the yarns were made from.^[4] After joining the company, he reported daily to Rasikbhai Meswani, then executive director. The company was being built from scratch with the principle of everybody contributing to the business and not heavily depend on selected individuals. Dhirubhai treated him as a business partner allowing him the freedom to contribute even with little experience.^[11] This principle came into play after Rasikbhai’s death in 1985 along with Dhirubhai suffering a stroke in 1986 when all the responsibility shifted to Ambani and his brother.^[28] Mukesh Ambani set up Reliance Infocomm Limited (now Reliance Communications Limited), which was focused on information and communications technology initiatives.^[29] At the age of 24, Ambani was given charge of the construction of Patalganga petrochemical plant when the company was heavily investing in oil refinery and petrochemicals.^[30]

2000s–present[edit source]

On 6 July 2002, Mukesh’s father died after suffering a second stroke,^[31] which elevated tensions between the brothers as Dhirubhai had not left a will for the distribution of the empire in 2004.^[32] Their mother intervened to stop the feud, splitting the company into two, Ambani receiving control of Reliance Industries Limited and Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited, which was later approved by the Bombay High Court in December 2005.^[33]^[34]

Ambani directed and led the creation of the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, India, which had the capacity to produce 660,000 barrels per day (33 million tonnes per year) in 2010, integrated with petrochemicals, power generation, port, and related infrastructure.^[35] In December 2013 Ambani announced, at the Progressive Punjab Summit in Mohali, the possibility of a “collaborative venture” with Bharti Airtel in setting up digital infrastructure for the 4G network in India.^[36] On 18 June 2014, Mukesh Ambani, while addressing the 40th AGM of Reliance Industries, said he will invest Rs 1.8 trillion (short scale) across businesses in the next three years and launch 4G broadband services in 2015.^[37]

Ambani was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering in 2016 for engineering and business leadership in oil refineries, petrochemical products, and related industries.^[38] In February 2016, Ambani-led Jio launched its own 4G smartphone brand named LYF.^[39] In June 2016, it was India’s third-largest-selling mobile phone brand.^[40] The release of the service Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, commonly known as Jio, in September 2016 was a success, and Reliance’s shares increased.^[41] During the 40th annual general meeting of RIL, he announced bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1 which is the country’s largest bonus issue in India, and announced the Jio Phone at an effective price of ₹0.^[42] As of February 2018, Bloomberg’s “Robin Hood Index” estimated that Ambani’s personal wealth was enough to fund the operations of the Indian federal government for 20 days.^[43]

In February 2014, a First Information Report (FIR) alleging criminal offenses was filed against Mukesh Ambani for alleged irregularities in the pricing of natural gas from the KG basin.^[44] Arvind Kejriwal, who had a short stint as Delhi‘s chief minister and had ordered the FIR, has accused various political parties of being silent on the gas price issue.^[45] Kejriwal has asked both Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi to clear their stand on the gas pricing issue.^[46]^[47] Kejriwal has alleged that the Centre allowed the price of gas to be inflated to eight dollars a unit though Mukesh Ambani’s company spends only one dollar to produce a unit, which meant a loss of Rs. 540 billion to the country annually.^[48]^[49]

Board memberships[edit source]

Member of Board of Governors Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai
Chairman, managing director, Chairman of Finance Committee and Member of Employees Stock Compensation Committee, Reliance Industries Limited
Former chairman, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited
Former vice-chairman, Reliance Petroleum
Chairman of the board, Reliance Petroleum
Chairman and Chairman of Audit Committee, Reliance Retail Limited
Chairman, Reliance Exploration and Production DMCC
Former Director, Member of Credit Committee and Member of Compensation & Benefits Committee, Bank of America Corporation^[50]
President, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Awards and honors[edit source]

Year of Award or Honor	Name of Award or Honor	Awarding Organization
2000	Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year^[51]	Ernst & Young India
2010	Global Vision Award at The Awards Dinner^[52]	Asia Society
2010	Business Leader of the Year^[53]	NDTV India
2010	Businessman of the Year^[54]	Financial Chronicle
2010	School of Engineering and Applied Science Dean’s Medal^[55]	University of Pennsylvania
2010	ranked 5th-best performing global CEO^[56]	Harvard Business Review
2010	Global Leadership Award^[57]	Business Council for International Understanding
2010	Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Science)^[58]	M. S. University of Baroda
2013	Millennium Business Leader of the Decade at Indian Affairs India Leadership Conclave Awards 2013)^[59]	India Leadership Conclave & Indian Affairs Business Leadership Awards
2016	Foreign associate, U.S. National Academy of Engineering^[60]^[61]	National Academy of Engineering
2016	Othmer Gold Medal^[62]^[63]	Chemical Heritage Foundation

Personal life[edit source]

He married Nita Ambani in 1985 and they have two sons, Akash and Anant, and a daughter, Isha, who is Akash’s twin.^[3]^[64] They met after his father attended a dance performance which Nita took part in and thought of the idea of arranging a marriage between the two.^[65]

They live in Antilia, a private 27-storey building in Mumbai, which was valued at US$1 billion and was the most expensive private residence in the world at the time it was built.^[25]^[66] The building requires a staff of 600 for maintenance, and it includes three helipads, a 160-car garage, private movie theater, swimming pool, and fitness center.^[67]

In 2007, Ambani gifted his wife a $60 million Airbus A319 for her 44th birthday.^[68] The Airbus, which has a capacity of 180 passengers, has been custom-fitted to include a living room, bedroom, satellite television, WiFi, sky bar, Jacuzzi, and an office.^[69]

Ambani was titled “The World’s Richest Sports Team Owner” after his purchase of the IPL cricket team Mumbai Indians for $111.9 million in 2008.^[70]^[71]

In an interview with Rajdeep Sardesai in March 2017, he said that his favourite food continued to be idli sambar and his favourite restaurant remains Mysore Café, a restaurant in King’s Circle (Mumbai) where he used to eat as a student at UDCT.^[72] Mukesh Ambani is a strict vegetarian and teetotaler.^[73] He is a very big fan of Bollywood movies, watching three a week because he says “you need some amount of escapism in life.”^[11]^[32]

During the fiscal year ending 31 March 2012, he reportedly decided to forgo nearly ₹240 million from his annual pay as chief of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). He elected to do this even as RIL’s total remuneration packages to its top management personnel increased during that fiscal year. Mukesh Ambani holds a 50.4% stake in the company.^[74] This move kept his salary capped at ₹150 million for the fourth year in a row.^[75]

In early 2019, a court in Mumbai held his younger brother, Anil Ambani, in criminal contempt for non-payment of personally guaranteed debt Reliance Communications owed to Swedish gearmaker Ericsson. Instead of jail time, the court gave Anil a month to come up with the funds. At the end of the month, Mukesh bailed out his younger brother, paying the debt.^[33]

References[edit source]

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^ Fernandes, Kasmin (2 January 2010). “St. Xavier’s is the Indian Hogwarts”. Mid-Day. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c “Mukesh Ambani on his childhood, youth”. Rediff.com. 19 January 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Ambani, Mukesh (2001). “Re-Orienting Education at UDCT”. The Bombay Technologist. 50 (1): 33–35. ISSN 0067-9925. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
^ Kumar, Abhineet (17 August 2013). “Ambani tops retailer list, too”. Business Standard. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Bill Gates richest man in world, Mukesh Ambani at 36th: Forbes”. The Economic Times. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
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^ “Billionaire Mukesh Ambani topples Jack Ma as Asia’s richest person”. The Times of India. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Balachandran, Manu (5 January 2015). “India’s biggest philanthropist is seven times more generous than the next”. Quartz India. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Mukesh Ambani appointed Bank of America as director”. The Economic Times. 16 March 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
^ Hiscock, Geoff (14 December 2010). “Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani backs new soccer league”. Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Richest Owners in Sports: Mukesh Ambani”. Forbes. 12 March 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Magnier, Mark (24 October 2010). “Mumbai billionaire’s home boasts 27 floors, ocean and slum views”. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Agarwal, Neeraj (30 March 2016). “India Before 1991: Stories of Life Under the License Raj”. Spontaneous Order. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
^ “Reliance Industries Ltd. – Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Reliance Industries Ltd”. referenceforbusiness.com. Advameg Inc. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Mukesh Ambani – In His Own Words”. wealthymatters. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
^ “Reliance Infocomm Ushers a Digital Revolution in India”. Press Release by Reliance Infocomm. Reliance Communications. 27 December 2002. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
^ Poza, Ernesto J. (29 January 2009). Family Business. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0324597691.
^ Bagchi, Pradipta (7 July 2002). “Dhirubhai Ambani passes away”. The Times of India. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “An insight into Mukesh Ambani’s empire and how he became Asia’s richest man”. The National. 15 July 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Altstedter, Ari; Sanjai, P. R. (3 June 2020). “Mukesh Ambani Won the World’s Most Expensive Sibling Rivalry”. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Badkar, Mamta (26 May 2011). “The Full Story of the Massive Feud Between The Billionaire Ambani Brothers”. Business Insider. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Mukesh Ambani :: Reliance Group :: Reliance Petroleum Limited :: Reliance Industries”. Reliance Industries Limited. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
^ “Mukesh Ambani hints at venture between Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel”. The Indian Express. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Reliance 4G services to be launched in 2015: Mukesh Ambani”. ABP News. 18 June 2014. Archived from the original on 19 June 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
^ “Mukesh Ambani elected to National Academy of Engineering, one of only 10 Indians”. Firstpost. 8 February 2016. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Gloria Singh, Surbhi (15 May 2016). “Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm’s LYF mobile: A whopping $1 billion brand?”. Financial Express. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
^ Agarwal, Sapna; Pathak, Kalpana (29 June 2016). “How Reliance Jio’s LYF became India’s third-largest selling phone brand”. Mint. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Sundria, Saket (13 July 2018). “Analysis | Who Is Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s Newest Richest Man?: QuickTake”. Bloomberg. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
^ Verma, Swati (7 January 2018). “Macro cues, Q3 earnings, and oil prices to sway market this week”. The Economic Times. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
^ Strauss, Marine; Lu, Wei (11 February 2018). “What If the World’s Richest Paid for Government Spending?”. Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
^ “Arvind Kejriwal rakes up K G Basin gas pricing, orders FIRs against Moily, Deora, Mukesh Ambani”. The Indian Express. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Nair, Anisha (23 February 2014). “Arvind Kejriwal calls BJP, Congress puppets of Mukesh Ambani”. Oneindia. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Arvind Kejriwal’s letter to Mukesh Ambani on gas pricing”. NDTV. 21 February 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Ghosh, Deepshikha (21 February 2014). “Clear your stand on Mukesh Ambani: Arvind Kejriwal tells Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi”. NDTV. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Arvind Kejriwal fires on all cylinders, now writes to Rahul Gandhi over gas prices involving Mukesh Ambani”. India Today. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Arvind Kejriwal asks Narendra Modi to come clean on gas pricing”. DNA. 21 February 2014. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani, Reliance Industries: Profile and Biography”. Bloomberg. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Entrepreneur of the Year – 2000 Winners”. Ernst & Young. Archived from the original on 20 March 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
^ “Asia Society Awards Dinner Honors Mukesh Ambani, Jeffrey Immelt, and NY Philharmonic”. Press Release on Asia Society. Asia Society. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
^ “Winners of the NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards”. NDTV Convergence Limited. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
^ T. Joseph, Anto (30 December 2010). “FC Businessman of the Year: Mukesh Ambani”. Financial Chronicle. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Mukesh Ambani awarded the Dean’s Medal by University of Pennsylvania”. Forbes India. 9 January 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ T. Hansen, Morten; Ibarra, Herminia; Peyer, Urs (January 2010). “Mukesh D. Ambani – 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World”. Harvard Business Review. Harvard Business Publishing. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “BCIU Presents Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Awards to Mukesh D.” Bloomberg. 11 November 2010. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
^ “MSU doctorate for Mukesh Ambani”. The Economic Times. 30 September 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Priyanka Chopra, Manish Malhotra, Dr. Mukesh Batra, Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Dr. Laud, Dr. Mukesh Hariawala, Dilip Surana Among Others to Receive Prestigious India Leadership Conclave Awards 2013”. indiainfoline.com. India Infoline. 20 June 2013. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Four Indian American Engineers Among Newly Elected NAE Members”. India West. 9 February 2016. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
^ “Mr. Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani”. National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Mukesh Ambani awarded Othmer Gold Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership”. NetIndian News Network. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
^ “Othmer Gold Medal”. Science History Institute. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “India’s young billionaire heirs and heiresses”. India TV. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Vartak, Priyanka (24 November 2017). “Nita Ambani’s story, from school teacher to India’s wealthiest woman, is worth a read!”. The Free Press Journal. Archived from the original on 24 November 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Kwek, Glenda (15 October 2010). “India’s richest man builds world’s first billion-dollar home”. The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Hanrahan, Mark (18 May 2012). “Antilia: Inside Mukesh Ambani’s 27-Story Mumbai Residence, The World’s First $1 Billion Home (PHOTOS)”. HuffPost. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Mukesh Ambani gifts wife jet on birthday”. Reuters. 2 November 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Mukesh Ambani gifts Rs 240 cr jet to wife”. Rediff.com. 3 November 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Big business and Bollywood grab stakes in IPL”. ESPNcricinfo. 24 January 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Badenhausen, Kurt (7 March 2018). “The World’s Richest Sports Team Owners 2018”. Forbes. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
^ D’Mello, Yolande (16 October 2011). “Number munching at Cafe Mysore”. Mid-Day. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
^ “Mukesh Ambani is India’s richest man for the second year in a row”. thomaswhite.com. 1 June 2010. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
^ Chu, Patrick; Idayu Ismail, Netty (5 March 2012). “Mukesh Ambani Backed by India Power Holdings Proves Asia’s Top Billionaire”. Bloomberg. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ “Mukesh Ambani forgoes Rs 23.82 crore from his pay package”. The Times of India. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2022.

15 Лютого, 2022

TOP1000 – Business

Gina Rinehart

Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb joins Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australia’s high commissioner in India Patrick Suckling at Gina Rinehart’s book launch.

Georgina Hope “Gina” Rinehart AO (née Hancock, born 9 February 1954) is an Australian mining magnate and heiress.^[8] Rinehart is the Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting, a privately-owned mineral exploration and extraction company founded by her father, Lang Hancock.

Rinehart was born in Perth, Western Australia, and spent her early years in the Pilbara region. She boarded at St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls and then briefly studied at the University of Sydney, dropping out to work with her father at Hancock Prospecting. She was Lang Hancock’s only child, and when he died in 1992 – leaving a bankrupt estate – she succeeded him as executive chairman.^[9] She turned a company with severe financial difficulties into the largest private company in Australia and one of the largest mining houses in the world.^[9]^[10]

When Rinehart took over Hancock Prospecting, its total wealth was estimated at A$75 million, which did not account for group liabilities and contingent liabilities. She oversaw an expansion of the company over the following decade, and due to the iron ore boom of the early 2000s became a nominal billionaire in 2006. In the 2010s, Rinehart began to expand her holdings into areas outside the mining industry. She made sizeable investments in Ten Network Holdings and Fairfax Media (although she sold her interest in the latter in 2015), and also expanded into agriculture, buying several cattle stations.^{[citation needed]}

Rinehart is Australia’s richest person. Her wealth reached around A$29 billion in 2012, at which point she overtook Christy Walton as the world’s richest woman and was included on the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. Rinehart’s net worth dropped significantly over the following few years due to a slowdown in the Australian mining sector. Forbes estimated her net worth in 2019 at US$14.8 billion as published in the list of Australia’s 50 richest people.^[11] However, her wealth was rebuilt again during 2020 due to increased demand for Australian iron ore,^[12] so that by May 2021, her net worth as published in the 2021 Financial Review Rich List was estimated in excess of A$30 billion;^[7] while in March 2021, The Australian Business Review stated her wealth equalled A$36.28 billion.^[13]^[14] As of September 2020 Forbes considered Rinehart one of the world’s ten richest women.^[15] Rinehart was Australia’s wealthiest person from 2011 to 2015, according to both Forbes and The Australian Financial Review; and again in 2020 and 2021, according to The Australian Business Review and The Australian Financial Review.^[7]^[16]^[14] In a May 2021 Guardian Australia investigation, it was reported that Rinehart was the single largest landholder in Australia, at over 9.2 million hectares (23 million acres), just over 1% of Australia’s total landmass.^[17] In October 2021, she garnered controversy after expressing climate change denialist views during a speech at her childhood primary school.^[18]

Early life and family[edit source]

Rinehart was born on 9 February 1954 at St John of God Subiaco Hospital in Perth, Western Australia.^[19] She is the only child of Hope Margaret Nicholas and Lang Hancock. Until age four, Rinehart lived with her parents at Nunyerry, 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Wittenoom. Her family then moved to Mulga Downs station in the Pilbara.^[20] Later Rinehart boarded at St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls in Perth. She briefly studied economics at the University of Sydney, before dropping out and working for her father, gaining an extensive knowledge of the Pilbara iron-ore industry. Rinehart rebuilt the HPPL company to become one of the most successful private companies in Australia’s history.^[21]^[22]

In 1973, at age 19, Rinehart met Englishman Greg Milton while both were working in Wittenoom. At this time Milton changed his surname to an earlier family name Hayward. Their children John Langley^[3] and Bianca Hope were born in 1976 and 1977 respectively. The couple separated in 1979 and divorced in 1981.^[23]^: 6^[23]^: 7^[22] In 1983, she married corporate lawyer and Arco executive, Frank Rinehart,^[23]^: 4 in Las Vegas. They had two children, Hope and Ginia, born in 1986 and 1987 respectively. Frank Rinehart received a scholarship to Harvard for his services in the then US Army air Corp. He was top of Harvard College, and then top of Harvard Law School, while also studying engineering, and holding a full-time and two part time jobs.^[24]^[25] Frank Rinehart died in 1990.^[23]^: 10

Rinehart and, Rose Porteous, Lang Hancock’s estranged wife then widow, who married Willie Porteous soon after his passing, were involved in an acrimonious legal fight from 1992 over Hancock’s death and bankrupt estate. The ordeal ultimately took 14 years to settle. With HPPL retaining the mining tenements, Mrs Porteous had endeavored to allege did not belong to the company.^[26]

In 1999, the Western Australian state government approved a proposal to name a mountain range in honour of her family. Hancock Range is situated about 65 kilometres (40 mi) north-west of the town of Newman at 23°00′23″S 119°12′31″E and commemorates the family’s contribution to the establishment of the pastoral and mining industry in the Pilbara region.^[27]^[28]

In 2003, at age 27, Rinehart’s son John changed his surname by deed poll from his birth name Hayward to Hancock, his maternal grandfather’s name.^[29] Since 2014, Rinehart has had a difficult relationship with her son, John; and was not present at his wedding to Gemma Ludgate.^[21]^[30] John’s sister, Bianca Hope Rinehart, who was once positioned to take over the family business, served as a director of Hancock Prospecting and HMHT Investments until 31 October 2011, when she was replaced by her half-sister, Ginia Rinehart.^[5]^[31]^[32] In 2013, Bianca married her partner Sasha Serebryakov, she married in Hawaii; and Rinehart did not attend the wedding.^[30] Rinehart’s other daughter, Hope, married Ryan Welker, and they divorced while living in New York. Rinehart attended both her younger daughters’ weddings.^[5]

Business career[edit source]

Main article: Hancock Prospecting A 20 class locomotive at 7 Mile Yard near Karratha, Western Australia which serves Hope Downs mine, co-owned by Hancock Group and Rio Tinto.

After the death of her father in March 1992, Rinehart became Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting Pty Limited (HPPL) and the HPPL Group of companies.^[33]^[34] All companies within the group are privately-owned. With the notable exception of receiving a royalty stream from Hamersley Iron since the late 1960s, Lang Hancock’s mining activities were mainly related to exploration and the accumulation of vast mining leases. The BBC journalist, Nick Bryant, argues that while Rinehart was a beneficiary of her father’s royalty deals, she “transformed the family business by spotting, early than most, the vast potential of the China market.”^[35]

Rinehart achieved the Roy Hill tenements in 1993, The year after her father’s death, having applied for them five months after her father’s passing, and focused on developing Roy Hill And Hancock Prospective undeveloped deposits, raising capital through joint venture partnerships and turning the leases into revenue producing mines.^[36]

Hancock Prospecting, now owns 50 per cent of Hope Downs and shares of 50 per cent of the profits generated by the 4 Hope Downs mine, which is operated by Rio Tinto under a joint management committee and produces 47 million tonnes of iron ore annually. Another joint venture with Mineral Resources at Nicholas Downs, northwest of Newman, is producing 500 million tonnes of ferruginous manganese.^{[citation needed]} The Alpha Coal, Tads Corner and Kevin’s Corner projects in Central Queensland,are expected to produce 30 million tonnes of coal each. The Roy Hill Iron ore project, south of Port headline, in the Pilbara produces 60 million tonnes a year, with approvals pending to reach 70 million tonnes per annum.

^[37]^[38]^[39]

In 2010 Rinehart took a 10 per cent stake in Ten Network Holdings; James Packer had acquired an 18 per cent stake in the same company shortly before. Since then she also acquired a substantial stake in Fairfax Media. Rinehart was a major player in the media and no longer limits her interests to the mining business.^[40] In February 2012 she increased her stake in Fairfax to over 12 per cent, and became the largest shareholder of the company.^[41]^[42] Fairfax journalists were reportedly fearful that she wanted to turn them into a “mouthpiece for the mining industry”.^[43] In June 2012, she increased her stake further to 18.67 per cent, and was believed to be seeking three board seats and involvement in editorial decisions in Fairfax’s newspaper division.^[44] Negotiations between Fairfax and Hancock Prospecting broke down in late June because of disagreements over Fairfax’s editorial independence policy and other issues relating to board governance; chair Roger Corbett subsequently announced that Rinehart would not be offered any seats on the board.^[45] After failing to get board representation she sold her shareholding in 2015.^[46]^[47]

In 2015, Rinehart was listed as the 37th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes; a decline from her 2014 and 2013 rankings as the 27th and the 16th most powerful woman, respectively.^[48]^[49]

Later the same year Rinehart acquired Fossil Downs Station after it was placed on the market for the first time in 133 years. The 4,000-square-kilometre (1,544 sq mi) property was stocked with 15,000 head of cattle and the sale price was not disclosed,^[50] but estimated to be between A$25 to 30 million.^[51] Rinehart had acquired a 50% stake in Liveringa and Nerrima Stations in 2014 for A$40 million in 2014.^[50]

In October 2015, Rinehart planned to open the huge Roy Hill mine just eight months after she secured A$7.9 billion in funding. Initial shipments of iron ore were sent to China. In October 2016 it was announced that Hancock Prospecting had struck a deal to invest in AIM listed UK-based mining company Sirius Minerals to help bring to fruition their North Yorkshire Polyhalite Project.^[52]

Political activities[edit source]

In the 1970s, Rinehart was an active supporter of the Westralian Secession Movement, which her father had founded to work for the secession of Western Australia from the rest of the country.^[53] She also had some involvement with the Workers Party (later renamed the Progress Party), a libertarian organisation founded by businessman John Singleton.^[54]^[55]

Rinehart opposed the Rudd government’s Mineral Resource Rent Tax and Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme as part of a group of mining magnates that included Andrew Forrest.^[56] She founded the lobby group ANDEV, (“Australians for Northern Development and Economic Vision”)^[57] and has sponsored the trips of prominent climate change denier Christopher Monckton to Australia.^[58]^[59]

Since 2010 Rinehart has been actively promoting the cause of development of Australia’s north and has spoken, written articles and published a book on this topic.^[60] Rinehart stresses that Australia must do more to welcome investment and improve its cost competitiveness, particularly when Australia faces record debt. She advocates a special economic zone in the North with reduced taxation and less regulations and has enlisted the support of many prominent Australians, plus the Institute of Public Affairs.^[61] In a 2012 article in the Australian Resources and Investment Magazine, Rinehart said that if people wanted to have more money they should “stop whingeing” and “Do something to make more money yourself − spend less time drinking or smoking and socialising, and more time working”. She criticised what she saw as the “socialist” policies of the Australian Government of “high taxes” and “excessive regulation”.^[62]

External video
Gina Rinehart YouTube Monologue, Sydney Mining Club
Gina Rinehart calls for Australian wage cut, BBC

In a video posted to the Sydney Mining Club‘s YouTube channel on 23 August 2012, Rinehart expressed concern for Australia’s economic competitiveness noting how “Indeed if we competed in the Olympic Games as sluggishly as we compete economically, there would be an outcry.”^[63] She said “Furthermore, Africans want to work and its workers are willing to work for less than two dollars a day. Such statistics make me worry for this country’s future.”^[63] Rinehart’s views were dismissed by the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who said that “It’s not the Australian way to toss people $2, to toss them a gold coin, and then ask them to work for a day” and that “we support proper Australian wages and decent working conditions.”^[64] The Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer, Wayne Swan, described Rinehart’s statement as an “insult to the millions of Australian workers who go to work and slog it out to feed the kids and pay the bills.”^[65]

Hope Margaret Hancock Trust[edit source]

In 1988, Lang Hancock established the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust, nominating Rinehart as trustee, with his four grandchildren named as beneficiaries.^[66] Gina Rinehart was appointed to run the trust until the youngest of her four children, Ginia Rinehart, turned 25 in 2011.^[67] The Trust owns 23.6% of the shares in Hancock Prospecting,^[68] and as of June 2015 was believed to be valued at about A$5 billion.^[67]

In 2011, Rinehart’s daughter, Hope Rinehart Welker, commenced a commercial action in the New South Wales Supreme Court for reasons understood to be related to the conduct of the trustee.^[69] The action sought to remove Rinehart as sole trustee. Her brother, John, and sister, Bianca, were later revealed as parties to the dispute.^[24]^[70]^[71]

In an agreement reached between the parties, the Court granted an interim non-publication order in September 2011. In making the interim order, Justice Paul Brereton stated: “This is not the first occasion of discord in the family, which has immense wealth, no small part of which resides in the trust. In the past, the affairs of the family, including such discord, has attracted considerable publicity in the media.”^[72] Then, in a judgement handed down on 7 October 2011, Justice Brereton stated that he intended to dismiss an application by Rinehart, that there be a stay on court action, and that the family be directed into mediation.^[66]^[73] In December 2011, three justices of the NSW Court of Appeal lifted the suppression orders on the case. However, a stay was granted until 3 February 2012^[74] and extended by the High Court of Australia until 9 March 2012. Rinehart’s application for suppression was supported by Ginia Rinehart, but was opposed by Hope, John and Bianca.^[75] A subsequent application by Rinehart for a non-publication order on the grounds of fear of personal and family safety was dismissed by the NSW Supreme Court on 2 February 2012.^[76] In March 2012, when the suppression order was lifted, it was revealed that Rinehart had delayed the vesting date of the trust, which had prompted the court action by her three older children.^[77]

Rinehart stood down as trustee during the hearing in October 2013.^[78] While Rinehart’s lawyers subsequently declared any legal matters closed, John and Bianca’s legal representatives proceeded with a trial in the NSW Supreme Court to deal with allegations of misconduct.^[79] The Court handed down its decision on 28 May 2015 in which Bianca was appointed as the new trustee.^[67]^[80]

Net worth[edit source]

Rinehart is one of Australia’s richest people, with Forbes estimating her net worth in 2019 at US$14.8 billion as published in the list of Australia’s 50 richest people,^[11] and The Australian Financial Review estimating her net worth in 2021 at A$31.06 billion—the wealthiest Australian as published in the 2021 Financial Review Rich List.^[7] Forbes considers Rinehart one of the world’s richest women.

Rinehart first appeared on the 1992 Financial Review Rich List (at the time called the BRW Rich 200, published annually in the BRW magazine, following the death of her father earlier that year. She has appeared every year since, and became a billionaire in 2006. Due to Australia’s mining boom in the early 21st century, Rinehart’s wealth increased significantly since 2010, and she diversified investments into media, taking holdings in Ten Network Holdings and Fairfax Media. According to BRW, she became Australia’s richest woman in 2010, and Australia’s richest person in 2011, and the first woman to lead the list. During 2012, BRW claimed Rinehart was the world’s richest woman, surpassing Wal-Mart owner Christy Walton.^[81]

In 2007, she first appeared on Forbes Asia Australia’s 40 Richest, with an estimated wealth of US$1 billion;^[26] more than doubling that the next year to US$2.4 billion; and then, in spite of the global financial crisis, by 2011 had more than trebled to US$9 billion;^[21] doubled again in 2012 to US$18 billion;^[82] a slight reduction in 2013 to US$17 billion;^[83] and a slight increase in 2014 to US$17.6 billion.^[84] While still Australia’s richest person, her wealth had reduced to US$12.3 billion by 2015 according to Forbes,^[85] and in 2016 Forbes assessed her net worth at US$8.5 billion, placing her second on the list.^[86] Releasing the results in February 2011, Forbes was the first to name her as Australia’s richest person; with BRW conferring the same title in May that year.

In June 2011, Citigroup estimated that she was on course to overtake Carlos Slim, the Mexican magnate worth US$74 billion and Bill Gates, who is worth US$56 billion, mainly because she owns her companies outright. Using a price-to-earnings ratio of 11:1 that applied at that time to her business partner, Rio Tinto, the Australian internet business news service, SmartCompany, stated: “It is possible to see Rinehart’s portfolio of coal and iron ore production spinning off annual profits approaching US$10 billion”, giving her a “personal net worth valuation of more than US$100 billion”.^[87]^[88]

In January 2012, there were further media reports that Rinehart’s estimated wealth has increased to A$20 billion following estimates that the Roy Hill project was notionally valued at A$10 billion.^[89]^[90] Forbes magazine ranked her as the fourth-richest woman in 2012 with US$18 billion; the fifth-richest woman in 2013 with US$17 billion;^[91] and the sixth-richest woman in 2014 with US$17.6 billion.^[84] In 2012, BRW estimated her wealth at A$29.17 billion, with Ivan Glasenberg being her closest rival, with net wealth estimated at A$7.4 billion.^[92] At the time, BRW stated that it was possible Rinehart would become the first person with a net wealth of US$100 billion.^[93] As of December 2012, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Rinehart was the 37th-richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$18.6 billion.^[94]

Rinehart’s wealth rankings between 2013 and 2019 were adversely impacted by the fall in the wholesale iron ore price and the fall in the AUD/USD exchange rate.^[80]^[85] In May 2016, she had fallen from wealthiest Australian in 2011 to fourth, with A$6.06 billion, surpassed by property developer Harry Triguboff, with A$10.62 billion.^[95] By 2020, according to The Australian Financial Review, Rinehart had an estimated net worth of A$28.89 billion and was restored to the mantle of the wealthiest Australian;^[16] it was a title that she maintained in 2021, with an estimated net worth of A$31.06 billion.^[7]

Wealth rankings[edit source]

Year	Financial Review Rich List	Forbes Australia’s 50 richest
Rank	Net worth A$	Rank	Net worth US$
2006	8	$1.80 billion
2007^[26]^[96]	4	$4.00 billion	14	$1.00 billion
2008^[97]^[98]	5	$4.39 billion	6	$2.40 billion
2009^[99]^[100]	4	$3.47 billion	7	$1.50 billion
2010^[22]^[101]	5	$4.75 billion	9	$2.00 billion
2011^[21]^[36]	1	$10.31 billion	1	$9.00 billion
2012^[82]^[102]	1	$29.17 billion	1	$18.00 billion
2013^[83]^[103]	1	$22.02 billion	1	$17.00 billion
2014^[2]^[84]	1	$20.01 billion	1	$17.60 billion
2015^[85]^[104]^[105]	1	$14.02 billion	1	$12.30 billion
2016^[95]	4	$6.06 billion	2	$8.50 billion
2017^[106]	3	$10.40 billion	1	$14.8 billion
2018^[107]	3	$12.68 billion	1	$17.4 billion
2019^[108]^[11]	2	$13.81 billion	1	$14.8 billion
2020^[16]	1	$28.89 billion
2021^[7]	1	$31.06 billion

Legend
Icon	Description
	Has not changed from the previous year
	Has increased from the previous year
	Has decreased from the previous year

Philanthropy[edit source]

In a 2006 Business Review Weekly article reviewing the way Australia’s rich support philanthropy, it was noted that Rinehart prefers to keep a low profile, partly to avoid being “harassed by other charities” and partly for reasons of privacy.^[109] Rinehart is publicly known for visiting girls’ orphanages in Cambodia^[110] and is on the expert advisory board of SISHA, a Cambodian non-profit organisation campaigning against human trafficking,^[111]^[112]^{[non-primary source needed]} in particular by rescuing and assisting sexually exploited women and children.^[113]

In 2012 Swimming Australia announced a $10 million funding arrangement over 4 years with the Georgina Hope Foundation in conjunction with Hancock Prospecting.^[114] The deal supports the Australian Swim Team through direct payments to elite and targeted development swimmers, as well supporting lesser known sports such as synchronised swimming.^[115] The arrangement was renewed for a further 2 years in August 2015^[116] and includes naming rights to various Swimming Australia events, including the Australian Swimming Championships.^[117] As recently as 2019, the sporting group described Rinehart as “part of [the] team” and “part of the swimming family.”.^[118] In 2016 Rinehart also began to sponsor the Australian Rowing Team with a significant investment to improve direct financial athlete assistance for the Rio Olympic Games as well as for the four years, leading into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It is understood that the deal now also extends to Paris 2024. This further investment is said to make Rinehart the largest individual donor to Olympic sport in Australian history.

Awards[edit source]

In 2022, Rinehart was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2022 Australia Day Honours for “distinguished service to the mining sector, to the community through philanthropic initiatives, and to sport as a patron”.^[119]

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^ “Without Gina Rinehart we would be stuck in London slump, says John Bertrand”. The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
^ “Swimming Australia mines massive sponsorship deal with Hancock Prospecting”. The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
^ “Calendar”. Swimming Australia. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
^ “Aussie swimmer’s protest at Chinese rival is awkward for Gina Rinehart”. Australian Financial Review. 22 July 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
^ “Australia Day 2022 Honours List”. Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Entertainment Co. 25 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.

External links[edit source]

Video portrait on ABC’s Hungry Beast [content blocked outside Australia.]
Rinehart, Gina (1954–) in The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia

15 Лютого, 2022

TOP1000 – Business

George Soros

George Soros^[a] HonFBA (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930)^[1]^[2] is a Hungarian-born American^[b] billionaire investor and philanthropist.^[8]^[9] As of March 2021, he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion,^[10]^[11] having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundations,^[12] of which $15 billion have already been distributed, representing 64% of his original fortune. Forbes called him the “most generous giver” (in terms of percentage of net worth).^[13]

Born in Budapest to a non-observant Jewish family, Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary and moved to the United Kingdom in 1947. He studied at the London School of Economics and was awarded a BSc in philosophy in 1951, and then a Master of Science degree, also in philosophy, in 1954.^[4]^[14]^[15]

Soros began his business career by taking various jobs at merchant banks in the United Kingdom and then the United States, before starting his first hedge fund, Double Eagle, in 1969. Profits from his first fund furnished the seed money to start Soros Fund Management, his second hedge fund, in 1970. Double Eagle was renamed to Quantum Fund and was the principal firm Soros advised. At its founding, Quantum Fund had $12 million in assets under management, and as of 2011 it had $25 billion, the majority of Soros’s overall net worth.^[16]

Soros is known as “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England” because of his short sale of US$10 billion worth of pounds sterling, which made him a profit of $1 billion during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis.^[17] Based on his early studies of philosophy, Soros formulated the General Theory of Reflexivity for capital markets, which he says renders a clear picture of asset bubbles and fundamental/market value of securities, as well as value discrepancies used for shorting and swapping stocks.^[18]

Soros is a supporter of progressive and liberal political causes, to which he dispenses donations through his foundation, the Open Society Foundations.^[19] Between 1979 and 2011, he donated more than $11 billion to various philanthropic causes;^[20]^[21] by 2017, his donations “on civil initiatives to reduce poverty and increase transparency, and on scholarships and universities around the world” totaled $12 billion.^[22] He influenced the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s,^[23] and provided one of Europe’s largest higher education endowments to the Central European University in his Hungarian hometown.^[24]

His extensive funding of political causes has made him a “bugaboo of European nationalists“.^[25] The New York Times reported in October 2018 that “conspiracy theories about him have gone mainstream, to nearly every corner of the Republican Party“.^[26] Numerous American conservatives have promoted false claims that characterize Soros as a singularly dangerous “puppet master” behind many alleged global plots.^[26]^[27]^[28]^[29] Conspiracy theories targeting Soros, who is of Jewish descent, have often been described as antisemitic.^[30]^[31]^[32]

Early life and education[edit source]

Soros was born in Budapest in the Kingdom of Hungary to a prosperous non-observant Jewish family, who, like many upper-middle class Hungarian Jews at the time, were uncomfortable with their roots. Soros has wryly described his home as a Jewish antisemitic home.^[33] His mother Erzsébet (also known as Elizabeth) came from a family that owned a thriving silk shop. His father Tivadar (also known as Teodoro Ŝvarc) was a lawyer^[34] and a well-known Esperanto-speaker who edited the Esperanto literary magazine Literatura Mondo and raised his son to speak the language.^[35] Tivadar had also been a prisoner of war during and after World War I until he escaped from Russia and rejoined his family in Budapest.^[36]^[37] The two married in 1924. In 1936, Soros’s family changed their name from the German-Jewish Schwartz to Soros, as protective camouflage in increasingly antisemitic Hungary.^[38]^[39] Tivadar liked the new name because it is a palindrome and because of its meaning. In Hungarian, soros means “next in line,” or “designated successor”; in Esperanto it means “will soar.”^[40]^[41]^[42]

Soros was 13 years old in March 1944 when Nazi Germany occupied Hungary.^[43] The Nazis barred Jewish children from attending school, and Soros and the other schoolchildren were made to report to the Judenrat (“Jewish Council”), which had been established during the occupation. Soros later described this time to writer Michael Lewis: “The Jewish Council asked the little kids to hand out the deportation notices. I was told to go to the Jewish Council. And there I was given these small slips of paper … I took this piece of paper to my father. He instantly recognized it. This was a list of Hungarian Jewish lawyers. He said, ‘You deliver the slips of paper and tell the people that if they report they will be deported.”^[44]^[45]

Soros did not return to that job; his family survived the war by purchasing documents to say that they were Christians. Later that year at age 14, Soros posed as the Christian godson of an official of the collaborationist Hungarian government’s Ministry of Agriculture, who himself had a Jewish wife in hiding. On one occasion, rather than leave the 14-year-old alone, the official took Soros with him while completing an inventory of a Jewish family’s confiscated estate. Tivadar saved not only his immediate family but also many other Hungarian Jews, and Soros later wrote that 1944 had been “the happiest [year] of his life,” for it had given him the opportunity to witness his father’s heroism.^[46]^[47] In 1945, Soros survived the Siege of Budapest, in which Soviet and German forces fought house-to-house through the city. George and his mother also spent some time hiding with the family of Elza Brandeisz and even attended their Lutheran church with them.^[48]

In 1947, Soros moved to England and became a student at the London School of Economics.^[49] While a student of the philosopher Karl Popper, Soros worked as a railway porter and as a waiter, and once received £40 from a Quaker charity.^[50] Soros would sometimes stand at Speakers’ Corner lecturing about the virtues of internationalism in Esperanto, which he had learned from his father.^[51]

From the London School of Economics, Soros graduated as a Bachelor of Science in philosophy in 1951, and a Master of Science in philosophy in 1954.^[4]

Investment career[edit source]

Early business experience[edit source]

In a discussion at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council in 2006, Alvin Shuster, former foreign editor of the Los Angeles Times, asked Soros, “How does one go from an immigrant to a financier? … When did you realize that you knew how to make money?” Soros replied, “Well, I had a variety of jobs and I ended up selling fancy goods on the seaside, souvenir shops, and I thought, that’s really not what I was cut out to do. So, I wrote to every managing director in every merchant bank in London, got just one or two replies, and eventually that’s how I got a job in a merchant bank.”^[52]

Singer and Friedlander[edit source]

In 1954, Soros began his financial career at the merchant bank Singer & Friedlander of London. He worked as a clerk and later moved to the arbitrage department. A fellow employee, Robert Mayer, suggested he apply at his father’s brokerage house, F.M. Mayer of New York.^[53]

F. M. Mayer[edit source]

In 1956, Soros moved to New York City, where he worked as an arbitrage trader for F. M. Mayer (1956–59). He specialized in European stocks, which were becoming popular with U.S. institutional investors following the formation of the Coal and Steel Community, which later became the Common Market.^[54]

Wertheim and Co.[edit source]

In 1959, after three years at F. M. Mayer, Soros moved to Wertheim & Co. He planned to stay for five years, enough time to save $500,000, after which he intended to return to England to study philosophy.^[55] He worked as an analyst of European securities until 1963.

During this period, Soros developed the theory of reflexivity to extend the ideas of his tutor at the London School of Economics, Karl Popper. Reflexivity posits that market values are often driven by the fallible ideas of participants, not only by the economic fundamentals of the situation. Ideas and events influence each other in reflexive feedback loops. Soros argued that this process leads to markets having procyclical “virtuous” or “vicious” cycles of boom and bust, in contrast to the equilibrium predictions of more standard neoclassical economics.^[56]^[57]

Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder[edit source]

From 1963 to 1973, Soros’s experience as a vice president at Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder resulted in little enthusiasm for the job; business was slack following the introduction of the Interest Equalization Tax, which undermined the viability of Soros’s European trading. He spent the years from 1963 to 1966 with his main focus on the revision of his philosophy dissertation. In 1966 he started a fund with $100,000 of the firm’s money to experiment with his trading strategies.

In 1969, Soros set up the Double Eagle hedge fund with $4m of investors’ capital including $250,000 of his own money.^[58] It was based in Curaçao, Dutch Antilles.^[59] Double Eagle itself was an offshoot of Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder’s First Eagle fund established by Soros and that firm’s chairman Henry H. Arnhold in 1967.^[60]^[61]

In 1973, the Double Eagle Fund had $12 million and formed the basis of the Soros Fund. George Soros and Jim Rogers received returns on their share of capital and 20 percent of the profits each year.^[54]

Soros Fund Management[edit source]

In 1970, Soros founded Soros Fund Management and became its chairman. Among those who held senior positions there at various times were Jim Rogers, Stanley Druckenmiller, Mark Schwartz, Keith Anderson, and Soros’s two sons.^[62]^[63]^[64]

In 1973, due to perceived conflicts of interest limiting his ability to run the two funds, Soros resigned from the management of the Double Eagle Fund. He then established the Soros Fund and gave investors in the Double Eagle Fund the option of transferring to that or staying with Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder.

It was later renamed the Quantum Fund, after the physical theory of quantum mechanics. By that time the value of the fund had grown to $12m, only a small proportion of which was Soros’s own money. He and Jim Rogers reinvested their returns from the fund, and also a large part of their 20% performance fees, thereby expanding their stake.^[53]

By 1981, the fund had grown to $400m, and then a 22% loss in that year and substantial redemptions by some of the investors reduced it to $200m.^[65]

In July 2011, Soros announced that he had returned funds from outside investors’ money (valued at $1 billion) and instead invested funds from his $24.5 billion family fortune, due to changes in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure rules, which he felt would compromise his duties of confidentiality to his investors. The fund had at that time averaged over 20% per year compound returns.^[66]

In 2013, the Quantum Fund made $5.5 billion, making it again the most successful hedge fund in history. Since its inception in 1973, the fund has generated $40 billion.^[67]

The fund announced in 2015 that it would inject $300 million to help finance the expansion of Fen Hotels, an Argentine hotel company. The funds will develop 5,000 rooms over the next three years throughout various Latin American countries.^[68]

Economic crisis in the 1990s and 2000s[edit source]

George Soros during a session on redesigning the international monetary system at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011.

Soros had been building a huge short position in pounds sterling for months leading up to the Black Wednesday of September 1992. Soros had recognized the unfavorable position of the United Kingdom in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. For Soros, the rate at which the United Kingdom was brought into the European Exchange Rate Mechanism was too high, their inflation was also much too high (triple the German rate), and British interest rates were hurting their asset prices.^[69]

By September 16, 1992, the day of Black Wednesday, Soros’s fund had sold short more than $10 billion in pounds,^[62] profiting from the UK government’s reluctance to either raise its interest rates to levels comparable to those of other European Exchange Rate Mechanism countries or float its currency.

Finally, the UK withdrew from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, devaluing the pound. Soros’s profit on the bet was estimated at over $1 billion.^[70] He was dubbed “the man who broke the Bank of England”.^[71] The estimated cost of Black Wednesday to the UK Treasury was £3.4 billion.^[72] Stanley Druckenmiller, who traded under Soros, originally saw the weakness in the pound and stated: “[Soros’s] contribution was pushing him to take a gigantic position.”^[73]^[74]

On October 26, 1992, The New York Times quoted Soros as saying: “Our total position by Black Wednesday had to be worth almost $10 billion. We planned to sell more than that. In fact, when Norman Lamont said just before the devaluation that he would borrow nearly $15 billion to defend sterling, we were amused because that was about how much we wanted to sell.”

Soros was believed to have traded billions of Finnish markkas on February 5, 1996, in anticipation of selling them short. The markka had been put floating as a result of the early 1990s depression. The Bank of Finland and the Finnish Government commented at the time they believed that a “conspiracy” was impossible.^[75]

In 1997, during the Asian financial crisis, the prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, accused Soros of using the wealth under his control to punish the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for welcoming Myanmar as a member. With a history of antisemitic remarks, Mahathir made specific reference to Soros’s Jewish background (“It is a Jew who triggered the currency plunge”)^[76] and implied Soros was orchestrating the crash as part of a larger Jewish conspiracy. Nine years later, in 2006, Mahathir met with Soros and afterward stated that he accepted that Soros had not been responsible for the crisis.^[77] In 1998’s The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered, Soros explained his role in the crisis as follows:

The financial crisis that originated in Thailand in 1997 was particularly unnerving because of its scope and severity … By the beginning of 1997, it was clear to Soros Fund Management that the discrepancy between the trade account and the capital account was becoming untenable. We sold short the Thai baht and the Malaysian ringgit early in 1997 with maturities ranging from six months to a year. (That is, we entered into contracts to deliver at future dates Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit that we did not currently hold.) Subsequently, Prime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia accused me of causing the crisis, a wholly unfounded accusation. We were not sellers of the currency during or several months before the crisis; on the contrary, we were buyers when the currencies began to decline—we were purchasing ringgits to realize the profits on our earlier speculation. (Much too soon, as it turned out. We left most of the potential gain on the table because we were afraid that Mahathir would impose capital controls. He did so, but much later.)^[78]

In 1999, economist Paul Krugman was critical of Soros’s effect on financial markets.

[N]obody who has read a business magazine in the last few years can be unaware that these days there really are investors who not only move money in anticipation of a currency crisis, but actually do their best to trigger that crisis for fun and profit. These new actors on the scene do not yet have a standard name; my proposed term is “Soroi”.^[79]

In an interview concerning the late-2000s recession, Soros referred to it as the most serious crisis since the 1930s. According to Soros, market fundamentalism with its assumption that markets will correct themselves with no need for government intervention in financial affairs has been “some kind of an ideological excess.” In Soros’s view, the markets’ moods—a “mood” of the markets being a prevailing bias or optimism/pessimism with which the markets look at reality—”actually can reinforce themselves so that there are these initially self-reinforcing but eventually unsustainable and self-defeating boom/bust sequences or bubbles.”^[80]

In reaction to the late-2000s recession, he founded the Institute for New Economic Thinking in October 2009. This is a think tank composed of international economic, business, and financial experts, who are mandated to investigate radical new approaches to organizing the international economic and financial system.

Société Générale insider trade[edit source]

In 1988, Soros was contacted by a French financier named Georges Pébereau, who asked him to participate in an effort to assemble a group of investors to purchase a large number of shares in Société Générale, a leading French bank that was part of a privatization program (something instituted by the new government under Jacques Chirac).^[81] Soros eventually decided against participating in the group effort, opting to personally move forward with his strategy of accumulating shares in four French companies: Société Générale, as well as Suez, Paribas, and the Compagnie Générale d’Électricité.

In 1989, the Commission des Opérations de Bourse (COB, the French stock exchange regulatory authority) conducted an investigation of whether Soros’s transaction in Société Générale should be considered insider trading. Soros had received no information from the Société Générale and had no insider knowledge of the business, but he did possess knowledge that a group of investors was planning a takeover attempt. Initial investigations found Soros innocent, and no charges were brought forward.^[82] However, the case was reopened a few years later, and the French Supreme Court confirmed the conviction on June 14, 2006,^[83] although it reduced the penalty to €940,000.^[83]

Soros denied any wrongdoing, saying news of the takeover was public knowledge^[84] and it was documented that his intent to acquire shares of the company predated his own awareness of the takeover.^[83] In December 2006, he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights on various grounds, including that the 14-year delay in bringing the case to trial precluded a fair hearing.^[85] On the basis of Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights, stating that no person may be punished for an act that was not a criminal offense at the time that it was committed, the court agreed to hear the appeal.^[81] In October 2011, the court rejected his appeal in a 4–3 decision, saying that Soros had been aware of the risk of breaking insider trading laws.^[86]

Personal life[edit source]

Soros has been married three times and divorced twice. In 1960, he married Annaliese Witschak (born January 3, 1934). Annaliese was an ethnic German immigrant, who had been orphaned during the war. Although she was not Jewish, she was well-liked by Soros’s parents as she had also experienced the privation and displacement brought about by World War II.^[87] They divorced in 1983. They had three children:

Robert Daniel Soros (born 1963): The founder of the Central European University in Budapest, as well as a network of foundations in Eastern Europe. In 1992, he married Melissa Robin Schiff at the Temple Emanu-El in New York City. The Rabbi Dr. David Posner officiated the ceremony.^[88]
Andrea Soros Colombel (born June 11, 1965): The founder and president of Trace Foundation, established in 1993 to promote the cultural continuity and sustainable development of Tibetan communities within China. She is also a founding partner and member of the board of directors of the Acumen Fund, a global venture fund that employs an entrepreneurial approach in addressing the problems of global poverty^[89] She is married to Eric Colombel (born October 26, 1963).
Jonathan Tivadar Soros (born September 10, 1970): A hedge fund manager and political donor. In 2012, he co-founded Friends of Democracy, a super PAC dedicated to reducing the influence of money in politics. In 1997, he married Jennifer Ann Allan (born November 26, 1969).^[90]

In 1983, George Soros married Susan Weber. They divorced in 2005. They have two children:

Alexander Soros (born 1985): Alexander has gained prominence for his donations to social and political causes, focusing his philanthropic efforts on “progressive causes that might not have widespread support.”^[91] Alexander led the list of student political donors in the 2010 election cycle.^[92]
Gregory James Soros (born 1988), artist.

In 2008, Soros met Tamiko Bolton;^[93] they married September 21, 2013.^[94] Bolton is the daughter of a Japanese-American nurse and a retired naval commander, Robert Bolton. She was raised in California, earned an MBA from the University of Miami, and runs an Internet-based dietary supplement and vitamin-sales company.^[95]

Soros’s older brother Paul Soros, a private investor and philanthropist, died on June 15, 2013.^[96] Also an engineer, Paul headed Soros Associates and established the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for Young Americans.^[97]^[98] He was married to Daisy Soros (née Schlenger), who, like her husband, was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant,^[99] and with whom he had two sons, Peter and Jeffrey.^[100] Peter Soros was married to the former Flora Fraser, a daughter of Lady Antonia Fraser and the late Sir Hugh Fraser and a stepdaughter of the late 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter. Fraser and Soros separated in 2009.^[101]

In 2005, Soros was a minority partner in a group that tried to buy the Washington Nationals, a Major League baseball team. Some Republican lawmakers suggested that they might move to revoke Major League Baseball‘s antitrust exemption if Soros bought the team.^[102] In 2008, Soros’s name was associated with AS Roma, an Italian association football team, but the club was not sold. Soros was a financial backer of Washington Soccer L.P., the group that owned the operating rights to Major League Soccer club D.C. United when the league was founded in 1995, but the group lost these rights in 2000.^[103] On August 21, 2012, BBC reported SEC filings showing Soros acquired roughly a 1.9 percent stake in English football club Manchester United through the purchase of 3.1 million of the club’s Class-A shares.^[104]

Soros is an atheist and has stated that he “respects all faiths and religious practices.”^[105] In a 1998 interview with CBS News, Soros said he was not religious and did not believe in God.^[106]

Political involvement[edit source]

Until the 2004 presidential election, Soros had not been a large donor to U.S. political campaigns. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, during the 2003–2004 election cycle, Soros donated $23,581,000 to various 527 Groups (tax-exempt groups under the United States tax code, 26 U.S.C. § 527). The groups aimed to defeat President George W. Bush. After Bush’s reelection, Soros and other donors backed a new political fundraising group called Democracy Alliance, which supports progressive causes and the formation of a stronger progressive infrastructure in America.^[107]

In August 2009, Soros donated $35 million to the state of New York to be earmarked for underprivileged children and given to parents who had benefit cards at the rate of $200 per child aged 3 through 17, with no limit as to the number of children that qualified. An additional $140 million was put into the fund by the state of New York from money they had received from the 2009 federal recovery act.^[50]

Soros was an initial donor to the Center for American Progress, and he continues to support the organization through the Open Society Foundations.

In October 2011, a Reuters story, “Soros: Not a funder of Wall Street Protests,” was published after several commentators pointed out errors in an earlier Reuters story headlined “Who’s Behind the Wall St. Protests?” with a lead stating that the Occupy Wall Street movement “may have benefited indirectly from the largesse of one of the world’s richest men [Soros].” Reuters’s follow-up article also reported a Soros spokesman and Adbusters‘ co-founder Kalle Lasn both saying that Adbusters—the reputed catalyst for the first Occupy Wall Street protests—had never received any contributions from Soros, contrary to Reuters’s earlier story that reported that “indirect financial links” existed between the two as late as 2010.^[108]^[109]

On September 27, 2012, Soros announced that he was donating $1 million to the super PAC backing President Barack Obama‘s reelection Priorities USA Action.^[110] In October 2013, Soros donated $25,000 to Ready for Hillary, becoming a co-chairman of the super PAC’s national finance committee.^[111] In June 2015, he donated $1 million to the Super PAC Priorities USA Action, which supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. He donated $6 million to the PAC in December 2015 and $2.5 million in August 2016.^[112] Soros launched a new super PAC called Democracy PAC for the 2020 election cycle. By July 2019, he had donated $5.1 million to it.^[113]

Since 2016, Soros has been donating sums exceeding $1 million to the campaigns of progressive criminal justice reform proponents through the Safety and Justice PAC in local district attorney elections. In many districts, such large contributions were unprecedented and the campaigning strategy was “turned on its head” with a focus on incarceration, police misconduct and bail system, according to the Los Angeles Times.^[114]^[115] Larry Krasner was elected as the District Attorney of Philadelphia with the help of a $1.5 million ad campaign funded by Soros in 2017.^[116] Soros was the largest donor supporting the campaign of George Gascón for Los Angeles County District Attorney in 2020, contributing $2.25 million to superPACs in Gascón’s favor.^[117] Soros gave $2 million to a PAC supporting Kim Foxx‘s campaign for Cook County State’s Attorney in 2020.^[118]

In the second quarter of 2020, Soros gave at least $500,000 to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, becoming one of the campaign’s largest donors.^[119]

Central and Eastern Europe[edit source]

Protesters in Tbilisi with flag of the Democratic Republic of Georgia blocking the way from the Open Society Institute office, 2005

According to Waldemar A. Nielsen, an authority on American philanthropy,^[120] “[Soros] has undertaken… nothing less than to open up the once-closed communist societies of Eastern Europe to a free flow of ideas and scientific knowledge from the outside world.”^[121] From 1979, as an advocate of ‘open societies‘, Soros financially supported dissidents including Poland’s Solidarity movement, Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia and Andrei Sakharov in the Soviet Union.^[122] In 1984, he founded his first Open Society Institute in Hungary with a budget of $3 million.^[123]

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Soros’s funding has played an important role in the newly independent countries. A 2017 study found that a grant program by George Soros which awarded funding to over 28,000 scientists in the former Soviet republics shortly after the end of the Soviet Union “more than doubled publications on the margin, significantly induced scientists to remain in the science sector, and had long-lasting [beneficial] impacts.”^[124] His funding of pro-democratic programs in Georgia was considered by Georgian nationalists to be crucial to the success of the Rose Revolution, although Soros has said that his role has been “greatly exaggerated.”^[125] Alexander Lomaia, Secretary of the Georgian Security Council and former Minister of Education and Science, is a former executive director of the Open Society Georgia Foundation (Soros Foundation), overseeing a staff of 50 and a budget of $2.5 million.^[126]

Former Georgian foreign minister Salomé Zourabichvili wrote that institutions like the Soros Foundation were the cradle of democratization and that all the NGOs that gravitated around the Soros Foundation undeniably carried the revolution. She opines that after the revolution the Soros Foundation and the NGOs were integrated into power.^[127]

Some Soros-backed pro-democracy initiatives have been banned in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.^[128] Ercis Kurtulus, head of the Social Transparency Movement Association (TSHD) in Turkey, said in an interview 2006 that “Soros carried out his will in Ukraine and Georgia by using these NGOs … Last year Russia passed a special law prohibiting NGOs from taking money from foreigners. I think this should be banned in Turkey as well.”^[129] In 1997, Soros closed his foundation in Belarus after it was fined $3 million by the government for “tax and currency violations.” According to The New York Times 1997, the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has been widely criticized in the West and in Russia for his efforts to control the Belarus Soros Foundation and other independent NGOs and to suppress civil and human rights. Soros called the fines part of a campaign to “destroy independent society.”^[130]

In June 2009, Soros donated $100 million to Central Europe and Eastern Europe to counter the impact of the economic crisis on the poor, voluntary groups and non-government organisations.^[131]

Since 2012, the Hungarian Fidesz government has labelled George Soros as an enemy of the state, due to his humanitarian and political involvement in the European refugee crisis. The government has attacked OSF, the international civil support foundation created by George Soros, and tried to revoke the licence of Central European University (Budapest) (which failed mostly due to significant public outrage).^[132] In response, Soros called the government “a mafia state”.^[133]

As the 2018 election period started, the government introduced public posters with a photo of Soros^[134] to create hostility in the general public towards him, using statements such as “Soros wants millions of migrants to live in Hungary”, and “Soros wants to dismantle the border fence“. The government also prepared a three-part law plan called the “Stop Soros package” (which followed other various law changes^[135] in the same year, hindering the workings of several international NGOs in Hungary), which would include various steps against NGOs doing volunteer work related to the refugee crisis.Anti George Soros sentiment graffiti in Resen, Macedonia (2018). It reads: #Stop Soros #I will profit

In March 2017, six US senators sent a letter to then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson^[136] asking that he look into several grants the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have given to groups funded by “left-wing” Soros. In the same context, the conservative group Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State and USAID compelling them to release records regarding $5 million transferred from USAID to Soros’s Open Society branch in Macedonia. The suit alleges that the money was deliberately used to destabilize the Macedonian government.^[137] The Open Society Foundation has said its activities in Macedonia were aimed at ethnic reconciliation with the Albanian minority and other forms of assistance since the collapse of Yugoslavia.^[138]

In January 2017, the “Stop Operation Soros” (SOS) initiative was launched in Macedonia. SOS seeks to present “questions and answers about the way Soros operates worldwide” and invites citizens to contribute to the research. In a press conference held during the same month, Nenad Mircevski, one of the founders of the initiative, stated that SOS would work towards the “de-Soros-ization” of Macedonia.^[139]

On May 16, 2018, Soros’s Open Society Foundations announced they would move its office from Budapest to Berlin, blaming the move on an “increasingly repressive” environment in Hungary.^[140]^[141]^[142]

Africa[edit source]

The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa is a Soros-affiliated organization.^[143]

Diplomacy[edit source]

In November 2005, Soros said: “My personal opinion is there’s no alternative but to give Kosovo independence.”^[144]

Soros has helped fund the non-profit group Independent Diplomat, established by the former British diplomat Carne Ross.^[145]

Drug policy reform[edit source]

Soros has funded worldwide efforts to promote drug policy reform. In 2008, Soros donated $400,000 to help fund a successful ballot measure in Massachusetts known as the Massachusetts Sensible Marijuana Policy Initiative which decriminalized possession of less than 1 oz (28 g) of marijuana in the state. Soros has also funded similar measures in California, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Nevada and Maine.^[146] Among the drug decriminalization groups that have received funding from Soros are the Lindesmith Center and Drug Policy Foundation.^[147] Soros donated $1.4 million to publicity efforts to support California’s Proposition 5 in 2008, a failed ballot measure that would have expanded drug rehabilitation programs as alternatives to prison for persons convicted of non-violent drug-related offenses.^[148]

In October 2010, Soros donated $1 million to support California’s Proposition 19.^[149]

According to remarks in an interview in October 2009, it is Soros’s opinion that marijuana is less addictive^{[compared to?]} but not appropriate for use by children and students. He himself has not used marijuana for years.^[150] Soros has been a major financier of the Drug Policy Alliance – an organization that promotes cannabis legalization – with roughly $5 million in annual contributions from one of his foundations.^[151]

Death and dying[edit source]

The Project on Death in America, active from 1994 to 2003,^[152] was one of the Open Society Institute’s projects, which sought to “understand and transform the culture and experience of dying and bereavement.”^[153] In 1994, Soros delivered a speech in which he reported that he had offered to help his mother, a member of the right-to-die advocacy organization Hemlock Society, commit suicide.^[154] In the same speech, he also endorsed the Oregon Death with Dignity Act,^[155] proceeding to help fund its advertising campaign.^[156]

Conspiracy theories and threats[edit source]

Soros’s philanthropy and support for progressive causes has made him the object of many conspiracy theories, most of them originating from the political right.^[157]^[158] Veronika Bondarenko, writing for Business Insider said that “For two decades, some have seen Soros as a kind of puppet master secretly controlling the global economy and politics.”^[159] The New York Times describes the allegations as moving “from the dark corners of the internet and talk radio” to “the very center of the political debate” by 2018.^[26]

Soros has become a magnet for such theories, with opponents claiming that he is behind such diverse events as the 2017 Women’s March, the fact-checking website Snopes, the gun-control activism engaged in by the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting,^[160]^[161]^[162] the October 2018 immigrant caravans, and the protests against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.^[26]^[163] President Donald Trump in a tweet also claimed Soros was backing the protests against Kavanaugh’s nomination.^[164]

Conservatives picked up on the thread in the late 2000s, spearheaded by Fox News. Bill O’Reilly gave an almost ten-minute monologue on Soros in 2007, calling him an “extremist” and claiming he was “off-the-charts dangerous”.^[161] Breitbart News, according to the London Times journalist David Aaronovitch, has regularly published articles blaming Soros for anything of which it disapproves.^[165]

Soros’s opposition to Brexit (in the United Kingdom) led to a front page on the British Conservative supporting newspaper The Daily Telegraph in February 2018, which was accused of antisemitism for claiming he was involved in a supposed “secret plot” for the country’s voters to reverse their decision to leave the European Union.^[30] While The Daily Telegraph did not mention Soros is Jewish, his opposition to Britain leaving the European Union had been reported elsewhere in less conspiratorial terms.^[31] Stephen Pollard, editor of The Jewish Chronicle, said on Twitter: “The point is that language matters so much and this is exactly the language being used by antisemites here and abroad”.^[32]^[166] In October 2019, Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg accused Soros of being the “funder-in-chief” of the Remain campaign, and was subsequently accused of anti-semitism by opposition MPs.^[167]

After being ousted from office in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal of 2016, Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson accused Soros of having bankrolled a conspiracy to remove him from power.^[168]^[169] It was later pointed out that Soros himself had also been implicated in the Panama Papers, casting doubt on the prime minister’s theory.^[170]

Following a December 20, 1998 60 Minutes interview^[171] in which Soros related his experiences when at the age of 13, the Nazis occupied his native Hungary,^[172] right-wing figures such as Alex Jones, Dinesh D’Souza, Glenn Beck, Roseanne Barr,^[173] James Woods, Ann Coulter,^[172] Louie Gohmert,^[171] Marjorie Taylor Greene,^[174] and Donald Trump Jr.,^[175] promulgated the false conspiracy theory, which has been described as anti-Semitic, that Soros was a Nazi collaborator who turned in other Jews and stole their property during the occupation.^[176]^[177]^[178]^[179]^[180]^[181]^[182]^[183]

In October 2018, Soros was accused of funding a Central American migrant caravan heading toward America.^[184]^[185]^[186] The theory that Soros was causing Central American migration at the southern US border apparently dates back to late March 2018, however.^[187] The October 2018 strain of the theory has been described to combine anti-semitism, anti-immigrant sentiment and “the specter of powerful foreign agents controlling major world events in pursuit of a hidden agenda”, connecting Soros and other wealthy individuals of Jewish faith or background to the October caravan.^[187] Donald Trump was among those promoting the conspiracy theory.^[188] Both Cesar Sayoc, the perpetrator of the October 2018 attempted bombings of prominent Democrats, and Robert Bowers, the perpetrator of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, referred to this conspiracy theory on social media before their crimes.^[189]^[190]

In November 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan denounced Soros while speaking about Turkey‘s political purges, saying: “The person who financed terrorists during the Gezi incidents is already in prison. And who is behind him? The famous Hungarian Jew Soros. This is a man who assigns people to divide nations and shatter them.”^[191]

In November 2019, attorney Joseph diGenova, who is known for promoting conspiracy theories about the Department of Justice and the FBI,^[200] asserted on Fox News without evidence that Soros “controls a very large part of the career foreign service of the United States State Department” and “also controls the activities of FBI agents overseas who work for NGOs – work with NGOs. That was very evident in Ukraine.”^[201] Soros’s Open Society Foundation described diGenova’s claims as “beyond rhetorical ugliness, beyond fiction, beyond ludicrous” and requested that Fox News provide an on-air retraction of diGenova’s claims, and stop providing diGenova with a platform.^[202] Although the network never publicly announced it had banned him, diGenova has not appeared on Fox following the incident.^[203] In September 2020, diGenova suggested that Fox News is also controlled by Soros.^[203]

A study by Zignal Labs found that unsubstantiated claims of involvement by Soros were one of three dominant themes in misinformation and conspiracy theories around the 2020 George Floyd protests, alongside claims that Floyd’s murder had been faked and claims of involvement by antifa groups.^[204] The Anti-Defamation League estimated that over four days after Floyd’s murder, negative Twitter messages about Soros increased from about 20,000 per day to about 500,000 per day.^[205]

In July 2020, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, after the border clashes with Armenia, stated that the 2018 Armenian revolution was “another provocation by Soros and his entourage”, and called the government of the Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan the “agents of the Soros Foundation”,^[206] pointing out the COVID-19 pandemic-related aid to Armenia by the Soros Foundation.^[207] Aliyev added that there were “no traces of the Soros Foundation in Azerbaijan”, because it had had “cut off their legs” as they were “poisoning the minds of youth”, turning them “against their state.”^[208]^[209] In October 2020, during the height of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war, Aliyev labelled Soros’s activities a “destructive, movement, and a colonial movement.” He also added that Soros “came to power in Armenia today, but failed.”^[210]

Attempted assassination[edit source]

A pipe bomb was placed in the mailbox at Soros’s home in Katonah, New York on October 22, 2018, as part of the October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts. The package was discovered by a caretaker,^[211] who removed it and notified authorities. It was photographed and exploded by the FBI, which launched an investigation.^[212]^[213] For several days afterward, similar bombs were mailed to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and other Democrats and liberals.^[214]

On October 26, 2018, Cesar Sayoc was arrested in Aventura, Florida, on suspicion of mailing the bombs.^[215] In August 2019, Sayoc was sentenced to 20 years in prison for mailing 16 pipe bombs to 13 victims. None of the devices had exploded.^[216]

Political and economic views[edit source]

Reflexivity, financial markets, and economic theory[edit source]

External video
George Soros
The Lecture Series: Introduction, 2:56
General Theory of Reflexivity, 52:00
Financial Markets, 43:59
Open Society, 43:39
Capitalism vs. Open Society, 47:38 all by the Open Society Foundations

Soros’s writings focus heavily on the concept of reflexivity, where the biases of individuals enter into market transactions, potentially changing the fundamentals of the economy. Soros argues that different principles apply in markets depending on whether they are in a “near to equilibrium” or a “far from equilibrium” state. He argues that, when markets are rising or falling rapidly, they are typically marked by disequilibrium rather than equilibrium, and that the conventional economic theory of the market (the “efficient market hypothesis“) does not apply in these situations. Soros has popularized the concepts of dynamic disequilibrium, static disequilibrium, and near-equilibrium conditions.^[57] He has stated that his own financial success has been attributable to the edge accorded by his understanding of the action of the reflexive effect. Reflexivity is based on three main ideas:^[57]

Reflexivity is best observed under special conditions where investor bias grows and spreads throughout the investment arena. Examples of factors that may give rise to this bias include (a) equity leveraging or (b) the trend-following habits of speculators.
Reflexivity appears intermittently since it is most likely to be revealed under certain conditions; i.e., the character of the equilibrium process is best considered in terms of probabilities.
Investors’ observation of and participation in the capital markets may at times influence valuations and fundamental conditions or outcomes.

A recent example of reflexivity in modern financial markets is that of the debt and equity of housing markets.^[57] Lenders began to make more money available to more people in the 1990s to buy houses. More people bought houses with this larger amount of money, thus increasing the prices of these houses. Lenders looked at their balance sheets which not only showed that they had made more loans, but that the collaterals backing the loans – the value of the houses – had gone up (because more money was chasing the same amount of housing, relatively). Thus they lent out more money because their balance sheets looked good, and prices rose higher still.

This was further amplified by public policy. In the US, home loans were guaranteed by the Federal government. Many national governments saw home ownership as a positive outcome and so introduced grants for first-time home buyers and other financial subsidies, such as the exemption of a primary residence from capital gains taxation. These further encouraged house purchases, leading to further price rises and further relaxation of lending standards.

The concept of reflexivity attempts to explain why markets moving from one equilibrium state to another tend to overshoot or undershoot. Soros’s theories were originally dismissed by economists,^[217] but have received more attention after the 2008 crash including becoming the focus of an issue of the Journal of Economic Methodology.^[218]

The notion of reflexivity provides an explanation of the theories of complexity economics, as developed at the Santa Fe Institute, although Soros had not publicized his views at the time the discipline was originally developed there in the 1980s.^[219]^[220]^[221]^[222]

Reflexivity in politics[edit source]

Although the primary manifestation of the reflexive process that Soros discusses is its effects in the financial markets, he has also explored its effects in politics. He has stated that whereas the greatest threats to the “open society” in the past were from communism and fascism (as discussed in The Open Society and Its Enemies by his mentor Karl Popper), the largest current threat is from market fundamentalism.

He has suggested that the contemporary domination of world politics and world trade by the United States is a reflexive phenomenon, insofar as the success of military and financial coercion feeds back to encourage increasingly intense applications of the same policies to the point where they will eventually become unsustainable.^[223]

View of problems in the free market system[edit source]

Soros argues that the current system of financial speculation undermines healthy economic development in many underdeveloped countries. He blames many of the world’s problems on the failures inherent in what he characterizes as market fundamentalism.^[224]

Market predictions[edit source]

Soros’s book The New Paradigm for Financial Markets (May 2008), described a “superbubble” that had built up over the past 25 years and was ready to collapse. This was the third in a series of books he has written that have predicted disaster. As he states:

I have a record of crying wolf … I did it first in The Alchemy of Finance (in 1987), then in The Crisis of Global Capitalism (in 1998), and now in this book. So it’s three books predicting disaster. [After] the boy cried wolf three times … the wolf really came.^[225]

He ascribes his own success to being able to recognize when his predictions are wrong.

I’m only rich because I know when I’m wrong … I basically have survived by recognizing my mistakes. I very often used to get backaches due to the fact that I was wrong. Whenever you are wrong you have to fight or [take] flight. When [I] make the decision, the backache goes away.^[225]

In February 2009, Soros said the world financial system had in effect disintegrated, adding that there was no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.^[226] “We witnessed the collapse of the financial system … It was placed on life support, and it’s still on life support. There’s no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom.”

In January 2016, at an economic forum in Sri Lanka, Soros predicted a financial crisis akin to 2008 based on the state of the global currency, stock and commodity markets as well as the sinking Chinese yuan.^[227]^[228]

Views on antisemitism and Israel[edit source]

When asked about what he thought about Israel, in The New Yorker, Soros replied: “I don’t deny Jews the right to a national existence – but I don’t want to be a part of it.”^[229] According to hacked emails released in 2016, Soros’s Open Society Foundation has a self-described objective of “challenging Israel’s racist and anti-democratic policies” in international forums, in part by questioning Israel’s reputation as a democracy.^[230] He has funded NGOs which have been actively critical of Israeli policies^[231]^[232]^[233] including groups that campaign for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.^[231]

Speaking before a 2003 conference of the Jewish Funders Network, Soros said that the administrations of George W. Bush in the U.S. and Ariel Sharon in Israel, and even the unintended consequences of some of his own actions, were partially contributing to a new European antisemitism. Soros, citing accusations that he was one of the “Jewish financiers” who, in antisemitic terms, “ruled the world by proxy”, suggested that if we change the direction of those policies, then anti-Semitism also will diminish. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League later said that Soros’s comments held a simplistic view, were counterproductive, biased and a bigoted perception of what’s out there, and “blamed the victim” when holding Jews responsible for antisemitism. Jewish philanthropist Michael Steinhardt, who arranged for Soros’s appearance at the conference, clarified, “George Soros does not think Jews should be hated any more than they deserve to be.”^[234] Soros has also said that Jews can overcome antisemitism by “giv[ing] up on the tribalness”.^[235]

In a subsequent article for The New York Review of Books, Soros emphasized that

I do not subscribe to the myths propagated by enemies of Israel and I am not blaming Jews for anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism predates the birth of Israel. Neither Israel’s policies nor the critics of those policies should be held responsible for anti-Semitism. At the same time, I do believe that attitudes toward Israel are influenced by Israel’s policies, and attitudes toward the Jewish community are influenced by the pro-Israel lobby’s success in suppressing divergent views.^[236]

In 2017, Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz filed a $10-million lawsuit against Soros, alleging that Soros had influenced the government of Guinea to freeze Steinmetz’s company BSG Resources out of iron ore mining contracts in the African country due to “long-standing animus toward the state of Israel”.^[237]^[238]^[239] Steinmetz claims that Soros engaged in a “smear” campaign against him and his companies and blames Soros for scrutiny of him by American, Israeli, Swiss, and Guinean authorities.^[240] Soros called Steinmetz’s suit “frivolous and entirely false” and said that it was “a desperate PR stunt meant to deflect attention from BSGR’s mounting legal problems across multiple jurisdictions”.^[241]

During an award ceremony for Imre Kertész, Soros said that the victims of violence and abuse were becoming “perpetrators of violence”, suggesting that this model explained Israel’s behavior towards the Palestinians, which led to walkouts and Soros being booed.^[242]

In July 2017, a Hungarian billboard campaign backed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, which was considered to be anti-semitic by the country’s Jewish groups, vilified Soros as an enemy of the state, using the slogan “Let’s not allow Soros to have the last laugh”.^[243] The campaign was estimated to have cost 5.7bn forints (then US$21 million).^[244] According to the Israeli ambassador, the campaign “evokes sad memories but also sows hatred and fear”, a reference to Hungary’s role in the deportation of 500,000 Jews during the Holocaust.^[245] Lydia Gall of Human Rights Watch asserted that it was reminiscent of Nazi posters during the Second World War featuring “‘the laughing Jew’”.^[246] Orbán and his government’s representative said they had a “zero tolerance” of antisemitism, explaining the posters were aiming to persuade voters that Soros was a “national security risk”.^[243]

Hours later, in an apparent attempt to ally Israel with Hungary, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a “clarification”, denouncing Soros, stating that he “continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself”.^[247]

Soros’s son Alexander said in an interview that his father cares about Israel, and that he “would like to see Israel in Yitzhak Rabin‘s image. His views are more or less the common views in Meretz and in the Labor Party.” According to Alexander, Soros supports a two-state solution. The younger Soros recounts that after his bar mitzvah in 1998, his father told him: “If you’re serious about being Jewish, you might want to consider immigrating to Israel.”^[248]

In a 2018 interview with The New York Times, Alex Soros, the son of George Soros, when asked about why his father fights for an open society, Soros replied that in a non-Jewish state, a Jew can only feel safe when other minorities are protected, which is one of most important driving forces why his father has been active in his philanthropy:

But he had always “identified firstly as a Jew,” and his philanthropy was ultimately an expression of his Jewish identity, in that he felt a solidarity with other minority groups and also because he recognized that a Jew could only truly be safe in a world in which all minorities were protected. Explaining his father’s motives, he said, “The reason you fight for an open society is because that’s the only society that you can live in, as a Jew — unless you become a nationalist and only fight for your own rights in your own state.”^[249]

Views on the U.S.[edit source]

On November 11, 2003, in an interview with The Washington Post, Soros said that removing President George W. Bush from office was the “central focus of my life” and “a matter of life and death”. He said he would sacrifice his entire fortune to defeat Bush “if someone guaranteed it”.^[250]^[251] Soros gave $3 million to the Center for American Progress, $2.5 million to MoveOn.org, and $20 million^[252] to America Coming Together. These groups worked to support Democrats in the 2004 election. On September 28, 2004, he dedicated more money to the campaign and kicked off his own multistate tour with a speech, “Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush”,^[253] delivered at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The online transcript of this speech received many views after Dick Cheney accidentally referred to FactCheck.org as “factcheck.com” in the vice presidential debate, causing the owner of that domain to redirect all traffic to Soros’s site.^[254]

External video
Booknotes interview with Soros on The Bubble of American Supremacy, February 29, 2004, C-SPAN

His 2003 book, The Bubble of American Supremacy^[255], was a forthright critique of the Bush administration’s “War on Terror” as misconceived and counterproductive, and a polemic against the re-election of Bush. He explains the title in the closing chapter by pointing out the parallels in this political context with the self-reinforcing reflexive processes that generate bubbles in stock prices.

When Soros was asked in 2006 about his statement in The Age of Fallibility that “the main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States”, he responded that “it happens to coincide with the prevailing opinion in the world. And I think that’s rather shocking for Americans to hear. The United States sets the agenda for the world. And the rest of the world has to respond to that agenda. By declaring a ‘war on terror’ after September 11, we set the wrong agenda for the world … When you wage war, you inevitably create innocent victims.”^[256]

In 2017, Soros described Donald Trump as a con man, and predicted Trump would fail because he believed Trump’s ideas were self-contradictory.^[257] Soros also said he believed Trump was preparing for a trade war and expected financial markets to do poorly.^[258]

Views on Europe[edit source]

In October 2011, Soros drafted an open letter entitled “As concerned Europeans we urge Eurozone leaders to unite”,^[259] in which he calls for a stronger economic government for Europe using federal means (Common EU treasury, common fiscal supervision, etc.) and warns against the danger of nationalistic solutions to the economic crisis. The letter was co-signed by Javier Solana, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Andrew Duff, Emma Bonino, Massimo D’Alema, and Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.

Soros criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his handling of the European migrant crisis in 2015: “His plan treats the protection of national borders as the objective and the refugees as an obstacle. Our plan treats the protection of refugees as the objective and national borders as the obstacle.”^[260]

Soros expected that Brexit would fail and the Premiership of Theresa May would last only a short time.^[258] Soros is opposed to Brexit and donated £400,000 to the anti-Brexit ‘Best for Britain’ group.^[261] Soros also hosted a dinner for Conservative donors at his London home to encourage them to follow his lead. Soros’s Open Society Foundations also donated a total of £303,000 to two pro-EU organizations, the European Movement UK and Scientists for EU, and a center-right think-tank, Bright Blue.^[262]

In 2018, Soros highlighted that Europe faces major challenges related to immigration, austerity, and nations leaving the EU.^[263] He holds that Europe is facing an existential crisis, in view of the rise of populism, the refugee crisis and a growing rift between Europe and the United States.^[264] Soros has also stated that “the euro has many unresolved problems” which “must not be allowed to destroy the European Union”. He advocated replacing the notion of a multi-speed Europe by the aim of a “multi-track Europe” that would allow member states a wider variety of choices.^[265]

Views on relations between Europe and Africa[edit source]

In view of the possibility of a further increase of the number of refugees from Africa to Europe, Soros proposes that the European Union devise a “Marshall Plan for Africa” (see Marshall Plan), fostering education and employment in Africa in order to reduce emigration.^[263]^[265]

Views on China[edit source]

Soros has expressed concern about the growth of Chinese economic and political power, saying, “China has risen very rapidly by looking out for its own interests … They have now got to accept responsibility for world order and the interests of other people as well.” Regarding the political gridlock in America, he said, “Today, China has not only a more vigorous economy but actually a better functioning government than the United States.”^[266] In July 2015, Soros stated that a “strategic partnership between the US and China could prevent the evolution of two power blocks that may be drawn into military conflict”.^[267] In January 2016, during an interview at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Soros stated that “[a] hard landing is practically unavoidable”. Chinese state media responded by stating “Soros’ challenge to the RMB and Hong Kong dollar are doomed to fail, without any doubt.”^[268]

In January 2019, Soros used his annual speech at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, to label Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of China, as the “most dangerous opponent of open societies”, saying: “China is not the only authoritarian regime in the world but it is the wealthiest, strongest and technologically most advanced”. He also urged the United States not to allow the Chinese technology companies Huawei and ZTE to dominate the 5G telecommunications market as this would present an “unacceptable security risk for the rest of the world”.^[269]^[270] Soros also criticized the newest form of China’s Big Brother-like system of mass surveillance called the Social Credit System, saying it would give Xi “total control” over the people of China.”^[271] Additionally, Soros is very critical of American companies that ignore Chinese human rights violations for business reasons, for example slamming BlackRock‘s decision to invest big in China as detrimental to worldwide democracy and US national security.^[272]

Views on Russia and Ukraine[edit source]

In May 2014, Soros told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria: “I set up a foundation in Ukraine before Ukraine became independent from Russia. And the foundation has been functioning ever since and played an important part in events now.”^[273]

In January 2015, he said that “Europe needs to wake up and recognize that it is under attack from Russia” and urged Western countries to expand economic sanctions against Russia for its support of separatists in eastern Ukraine.^[274]

In January 2015, Soros called on the European Union to give $50 billion of bailout money to Ukraine.^[275]

In July 2015, Soros stated that Putin’s annexation of Crimea was a challenge to the “prevailing world order,” specifically the European Union. He hypothesized that Putin wants to “destabilize all of Ukraine by precipitating a financial and political collapse for which he can disclaim responsibility, while avoiding occupation of a part of eastern Ukraine, which would then depend on Russia for economic support.”^[267] In November 2015, Russia banned the Open Society Foundations (OSF) and the Open Society Institute (OSI)– two pro-democracy charities founded by Soros—stating they posed a “threat to the foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation and the security of the state.”^[276]^[277] In January 2016, 53 books related to Soros’s “Renewal of Humanitarian Education” program were withdrawn at the Vorkuta Mining and Economic College in the Komi Republic, with 427 additional books seized for shredding. A Russian intergovernmental letter released in December 2015 stated that Soros’s charities were “forming a perverted perception of history and making ideological directives, alien to Russian ideology, popular”. Most of these books were published with funds donated by Soros’s charities.^[278]^[279]

Wealth and philanthropy[edit source]

Further information on George Soros’s philanthropy: List of projects supported by George Soros George Soros speaks to the LSE alumni society in Malaysia.

As of March 2020, Forbes magazine listed Soros as the 162nd richest person in the world, with a net worth of $8.3 billion.^[280] He has also donated 64% of his original fortune, and distributed more than $15 billion through his Open Society Foundations (an international grantmaking network that supports advancing justice, education, public health and independent media). Forbes has called him the most generous giver (when measured as a percentage of net worth).^[13]

Soros has been active as a philanthropist since the 1970s, when he began providing funds to help black students attend the University of Cape Town in apartheid South Africa,^[122] and began funding dissident movements behind the Iron Curtain.

Soros’s philanthropic funding includes efforts to promote non-violent democratization in the post-Soviet states. These efforts, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe, occur primarily through the Open Society Foundations (originally Open Society Institute or OSI) and national Soros Foundations, which sometimes go under other names (such as the Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland). As of 2003, PBS estimated that he had given away a total of $4 billion.^[84] The OSI says it has spent about $500 million annually in recent years.

In 2003, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker wrote in the foreword of Soros’s book The Alchemy of Finance:

George Soros has made his mark as an enormously successful speculator, wise enough to largely withdraw when still way ahead of the game. The bulk of his enormous winnings is now devoted to encouraging transitional and emerging nations to become “open societies”, open not only in the sense of freedom of commerce but—more important—tolerant of new ideas and different modes of thinking and behavior.^[281]

Time magazine in 2007 cited two specific projects—$100 million toward Internet infrastructure for regional Russian universities, and $50 million for the Millennium Promise to eradicate extreme poverty in Africa—noting that Soros had given $742 million to projects in the U.S., and given away a total of more than $7 billion.^[282]

Other notable projects have included aid to scientists and universities throughout central and eastern Europe, help to civilians during the siege of Sarajevo, and Transparency International. Soros also pledged an endowment of €420 million to the Central European University (CEU).

According to National Review Online^[283] the Open Society Institute gave $20,000 in September 2002 to the Defense Committee of Lynne Stewart, the lawyer who has defended controversial, poor, and often unpopular defendants in court and was sentenced to 21/3 years in prison for “providing material support for a terrorist conspiracy” via a press conference for a client. An OSI spokeswoman said “it appeared to us at that time that there was a right-to-counsel issue worthy of our support” but claimed later requests for support were declined.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2006, Soros pledged $50 million to the Millennium Promise, led by economist Jeffrey Sachs to provide educational, agricultural, and medical aid to help villages in Africa enduring poverty. The New York Times termed this endeavor a “departure” for Soros whose philanthropic focus had been on fostering democracy and good government, but Soros noted that most poverty resulted from bad governance.^[284]

Soros played a role in the peaceful transition from communism to democracy in Hungary (1984–89)^[23] and provided a substantial endowment to Central European University in Budapest.^[285] The Open Society Foundations has active programs in more than 60 countries around the world with total expenditures currently averaging approximately $600 million a year.^[3]^[286]

On October 17, 2017, it was announced that Soros had transferred $18 billion to the Open Society Foundations.^[287]

In October 2018, Soros donated $2 million to the Wikimedia Foundation via the Wikimedia Endowment program.^[288]

In July 2020, Soros’s Foundations announced plans to give $220 million in grants for racial justice groups, criminal justice reform and civic engagement.^[289]

Honors and awards[edit source]

Soros received honorary doctoral degrees from the New School for Social Research (New York), the University of Oxford in 1980, the Corvinus University of Budapest, and Yale University in 1991. He received an honorary degree in economics from the University of Bologna in 1995.^[290]

In 2008, Soros was inducted into Institutional Investors Alpha’s Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame along with Alfred Jones, Bruce Kovner, David Swensen, Jack Nash, James Simons, Julian Roberston, Kenneth Griffin, Leon Levy, Louis Bacon, Michael Steinhardt, Paul Tudor Jones, Seth Klarman and Steven A. Cohen.^[291]

In January 2014, Soros was ranked number 1 in LCH Investments list of top 20 managers having posting gains of almost $42 billion since the launch of his Quantum Endowment Fund in 1973.^[292]

In July 2017, Soros was elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy (HonFBA), the United Kingdom’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences.^[293]

Soros was the Financial Times Person of the Year for 2018, with the FT describing him as “a standard bearer for liberal democracy, an idea under siege from populists”.^[294]

In April 2019, Soros was awarded the Ridenhour Prize for Courage.^[295] In his acceptance address Soros said: “In my native Hungary, the government of [Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán has turned me into the super villain of an alleged plot to destroy the supposed Christian identity of the Hungarian nation… [I] donate the prize money associated with this award to the Hungarian Spectrum, an online English-language publication that provides daily updates on Hungarian politics. It renders an important service by exposing to the world [in English] what Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is telling his own people [in Hungarian]. It [Hungarian Spectrum] deserves to be better known and supported.”^[296]

Publications and scholarship[edit source]

Books authored or co-authored[edit source]

The Tragedy of the European Union: Disintegration or Revival? (PublicAffairs, 2014). ISBN 978-1-61039-421-5.
Financial Turmoil in Europe and the United States: Essays (PublicAffairs, 2012). ISBN 978-1-61039-161-0.
The Soros Lectures at the Central European University (PublicAffairs, 2010) ISBN 978-1-58648-885-7.
The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What it Means (PublicAffairs, 2008). ISBN 978-1-58648-683-9.
The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror (PublicAffairs, 2006) ISBN 978-1-58648-359-3.
Underwriting Democracy: Encouraging Free Enterprise and Democratic Reform Among the Soviets and in Eastern Europe (Free Press, 1991) ISBN 978-0-02-930285-9 (paperback; PublicAffairs, 2004; ISBN 978-1-58648-227-5)
George Soros on Globalization (PublicAffairs, 2002) ISBN 978-1-58648-125-4 (paperback; PublicAffairs, 2005; ISBN 978-1-58648-278-7)
The Bubble of American Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of American Power (PublicAffairs, 2003) ISBN 978-1-58648-217-6 (paperback; PublicAffairs, 2004; ISBN 978-1-58648-292-3)
Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism (PublicAffairs, 2001) ISBN 978-1-58648-019-6.
With Mark Amadeus Notturno, Science and the Open Society: The Future of Karl Popper’s Philosophy (Central European University Press, 2000) ISBN 978-963-9116-69-6 (paperback: Central European University Press, 2000; ISBN 978-963-9116-70-2)
The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered (PublicAffairs, 1998) ISBN 978-1-891620-27-0.
Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve (John Wiley, 1995) ISBN 978-0-471-12014-8 (paperback; Wiley, 1995; ISBN 978-0-471-11977-7)
Opening the Soviet System (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1990) ISBN 978-0-297-82055-0 (paperback: Perseus Books, 1996; ISBN 978-0-8133-1205-7)
The Alchemy of Finance (Simon & Schuster, 1988) ISBN 978-0-671-66238-7 (paperback: Wiley, 2003; ISBN 978-0-471-44549-4)

Notable op-eds[edit source]

George Soros, “Why I support legal marijuana“, The Wall Street Journal, October 26, 2010.
George Soros, “The Crisis and the Euro”, The New York Review of Books, August 19, 2010.
George Soros, “Paulson Cannot be Allowed a Blank Cheque”. Financial Times. September 24, 2008. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008. Retrieved May 3, 2012., Financial Times, September 24, 2008
George Soros, “On Israel, America and AIPAC”, The New York Review of Books, April 12, 2007.
George Soros, “The Bubble of American Supremacy”, The Atlantic, December 2003, also audio recording of this article via Assistive Media, read by Grover Gardner, 18 minutes.
George Soros, “Soros on Brazil”, Financial Times, August 13, 2002.
George Soros, “Bitter Thoughts with Faith in Russia”, Moskovskiye Novosti (Moscow News), translated from the Russian by Olga Kryazheva, February 27, 2000.
George Soros, “The Capitalist Threat”, The Atlantic Monthly, February 1997.

Television[edit source]

A half-hour Opinions television lecture by Soros was transmitted by Channel 4 on 1 August 1993, and published the following day in The Times as “Why Appeasement Must Not Have Another Chance”^[297]

Notes[edit source]

^ /ˈsɒroʊs/,^[5] /ˈsɒrɒs/; Hungarian: Soros György, pronounced [ˈʃoroʃ ˈɟørɟ]
^ Soros was naturalized as an American citizen on December 18, 1961.^[6]^[7]

References[edit source]

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^ Barnea, Nahum (April 25, 2018). “Why they hate George Soros”. Ynetnews. Archived from the original on April 26, 2018. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
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^ Laura Blumenfeld, Deep Pockets vs. Bush, Financier Contributes $5 Million More in Effort to Oust President Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, The Washington Post, November 11, 2003; p. A03.
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^ “Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush”. Commondreams.org. September 28, 2004. Archived from the original on October 3, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
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^ Mance, Henry (February 8, 2018). “Subscribe to read”. Financial Times. Archived from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018. {{cite news}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
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^ Jump up to:^a ^b “How to save Europe. Keynote speech at ECFR’s Annual Council Meeting in Paris”. European Council on Foreign Relations. May 29, 2018. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
^ “Soros: China has better functioning government than U.S.” Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on October 9, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Soros, George (July 9, 2015). “A Partnership with China to Avoid World War”. The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
^ “Debate over future of RMB exchange rate”. WebJD. Archived from the original on February 3, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
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^ “Remarks delivered at the World Economic Forum”. George Soros. January 24, 2019. Archived from the original on January 28, 2019. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
^ “The ‘Mortal Danger’ of China’s Push Into AI”. Wired. January 24, 2019. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
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^ “Interview with George Soros Archived November 8, 2020, at the Wayback Machine“. CNN. May 25, 2014,
^ “A New Policy to Rescue Ukraine Archived November 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine“. The New York Review of Books. February 5, 2014.
^ “George Soros warns Europe under Russian ‘attack’, urges Ukraine bailout Archived March 19, 2015, at the Wayback Machine“. Financial Post. January 8, 2015.
^ Makortoff, Kalyeena (November 20, 2015). “Russia bans George Soros charity as ‘security threat’”. cnbc.com. CNBC LLC. Archived from the original on January 16, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
^ “Russia Bans George Soros Foundation as State Security ‘Threat’”. fortune.com. Fortune. November 30, 2015. Archived from the original on January 16, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
^ Makortoff, Kayleena (January 14, 2016). “Soros charity targeted in Russia book-burning”. cnbc.com. CNBC LLC. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
^ Cain, Sian (May 6, 2016). “Russian culture ministry denies reports of book burning”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
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^ “Hungary: Soros Donates $250 Million to University in Budapest”. IPR Strategic Business Information Database. Info Prod Research. November 25, 2009^{[dead link]}
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^ The Times, August 2, 1993

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15 Лютого, 2022

TOP1000 – Business

Arkady Rotenberg
Arkady Romanovich Rotenberg (Russian: Аркадий Романович Ротенберг; born 15 December 1951) is a Russian billionaire businessman. With his brother Boris Rotenberg, he was co-owner of the Stroygazmontazh (S.G.M. group), the largest construction company for gas pipelines and electrical power supply lines in Russia.

He was listed by Forbes in 621st place among the world’s wealthiest persons in 2014.^[2] He is a close confidant, business partner, and childhood friend of president Vladimir Putin.^[3]^[4]^[5] As of November 2017, Forbes estimates his fortune at $2.5 billion. He is subject to personal sanctions by the United States government related to events during the Ukrainian crisis.

Contents
Biography

Rotenberg is of Jewish ancestry.^[6]^[7] He was born in 1951 in Leningrad, where his father, Roman, worked in management at the Red Dawn telephone factory, allowing the family to avoid living in a communal apartment.^[8]^[9]^[10] In 1963, when he was age twelve, Rotenberg and Vladimir Putin both joined Anatoly Rakhlin’s sambo club.^[8]^[11]

In 1978, Rotenberg graduated from the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health and became a judo trainer.^[8] After Putin returned to Russia in 1990, Rotenberg trained with him several times a week.^[5]^[8]^[11] During the 1990s, Rotenberg and his brother, Boris, who had moved to Finland, traded in petroleum products.^[8] When Putin became vice-mayor, Rotenberg secured funding from Gennady Timchenko to found Yavara-Neva, a professional judo club.^[8] Later, after the club won nine European Judo Championships and trained four Olympic champions, it was given a new state-funded $180 million facility, including a thousand-seat arena and a yacht club.^[8]

In 2000, Putin, who had become President of Russia, created Rosspirtprom, a state-owned enterprise controlling 30% of Russia’s vodka market, and put Rotenberg in control.^[8] In 2001, Rotenberg and his brother founded the SMP bank (Russian: банк «Северный морской путь»), which operates in 40 Russian cities with over 100 branches, more than half of them in the Moscow area.^[5] SMP oversees the operation of more than 900 ATM-machines. SMP bank also became a leading large-diameter gas pipe supplier.^[8]

Gazprom often appears to have paid Rotenberg inflated prices. In 2007, Gazprom rejected an earlier plan to build a 350-mile pipeline and instead paid Rotenberg $45 billion, 300% of ordinary costs, to build a 1,500 mile pipeline to the Arctic Circle.^[8] In 2008, Rotenberg formed Stroygazmontazh (SGM) with five companies he had purchased from Gazprom for $348 million.^[8] The next year, the company earned over $2 billion in revenue.^[8] Rotenberg then bought Northern Europe Pipe Project, which eventually supplied 90% of Gazprom’s large diameter pipes and operated at a 30% profit margin, twice the industry average.^[8] In 2013, Gazprom increased Rotenberg’s contract for a Krasnodar pipeline by 45%, then continued payments for a year after the Bulgarian segment was canceled.^[8]

While he was the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation from 20 May 2004 to 2012, Igor Levitin ensured in 2010 that Arkady Rotenberg’s firms (Mostotrest) would construct the toll roads on Russian federal highways.^[12]^[13]

Rotenberg is the president of the Hockey Club Dynamo Moscow. In 2013, he became a member of the committee of the International Judo Federation.^[2] In preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Rotenberg won contracts worth $7 billion, including a $2 billion coastal highway and an underwater gas pipeline that came in at 300% of average costs.^[8]

Rotenberg was named in the Panama Papers.^[14] Those leaked legal documents show Rotenberg sent $231 million in loans to a company in the British Virgin Islands in 2013.^[8]

In 2013, Rotenberg became the chairman of the Enlightenment Publishing House [ru], which had once been the biggest supplier for textbooks in the Soviet Union. After Enlightenment became a private company in 2011, the government of the Russian Federation started to make several changes in that sector. In 2013, an internal council was formed by the Ministry of Education to check all textbooks. Many of Enlightenment’s competitors’ books did not pass this new evaluation and so Enlightenment won about 70% of the contracts for new textbooks in the Russian Federation in 2014.^[3]

In 2015, Arkady Rotenberg sold to his son Igor Rotenberg a number of assets including up to 79% of Gazprom Drilling (Bureniye),^[15] 28% of the road construction company Mostotrest,^[16] and 33.3% of Jersey-based TPS Real Estate Holdings Ltd.^[17]^[18] Alexander Ponomarenko and Aleksandr Skorobogatko own 66.6% of TPC Real Estates Holdings.^[17]^[19]^[20]

It was reported that Arkady Rotenberg made this move after being placed on the U.S. sanctions list.^[21]

Sanctions

Opening of the Crimean Bridge in May 2018

As a result of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Barack Obama, then President of the United States, signed an executive order instructing his government to impose sanctions on the Rotenberg brothers and other close friends of President Putin, including Sergei Ivanov and Gennadi Timchenko. These persons were placed on the Specially Designated Nationals List.^[22]^[23]^[24]^[25]^[26]^[27]

As a result of the sanctions, Visa and MasterCard stopped servicing SMP Bank.^[8] In September 2014, Italy seized €30 million of Rotenberg’s real estate, including four villas in Sardinia and Tarquinia, and a hotel in Rome.^[8] U.S added Arkady and Igor Rotenberg on their blacklist of Russian oligarchs, freezing assets for US$65 million in the same year.^[28] In November 2016, the General Court of the European Union confirmed the sanctions against Russia and the freezing of Arkady’s funds which had taken effect on 30 July 2014, but limited to the new properties added by the Council of Europe in March 2015.^[29]

In September 2014, Novaya Gazeta published a journalistic inquiry of Anna Politkovskaja and Aleksei Navalny, revealing that Igor Rotenberg, son of Arkady, secretly controlled an estate in Monte Argentario through a society registered in Vaduz.^[30]

The Russian State Duma then proposed a bill, known as the Rotenberg Law, allowing sanctioned Russians to get compensated by the state, but it was declined.^[3]^[31]

Rotenberg is one of many Russian “oligarchs” named in the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.^[32] The whole vicenda could have had impacts on the Politkovskaja’s and Navalny’s cases.^{[citation needed]}

Wealth

Rotenberg’s personal wealth has been estimated in July 2021 at $2.9 billion.^[2] He used to own a 2009 Bombardier Global 5000 (registered M-BRRB) however was forced to sell it due to the sanctions placed upon him.^[33] He owns a 2011 Benetti 65 meter yacht named Rahil.^[34] The yacht can accommodate ten guests in seven staterooms.^[35]

Personal life

In 2005, Rotenberg married his second wife Natalia Rotenberg, who is about 30 years his junior. Their two children, Varvara and Arkady, live in the United Kingdom with Natalia.^[36] They divorced in 2015 in the U.K. While the financial details of the divorce are private, the agreement includes division of the use of a £35 million Surrey mansion and a £8 million apartment in London. The couple’s lawyers obtained a secrecy order preventing media in the U.K. from reporting on the divorce, but the order was overturned on appeal.^[37]

His older three children include Igor (Russian: Игорь Аркадьевич; born 9 September 1974), who is a Russian billionaire businessman,^[38] Liliya (Russian: Лилия Аркадьевна; born 17 April 1978), who is a doctor and since 2014 has been living in Germany and co-owns the TPS Nedvizhimost (an investment group that owns shopping malls and entertainment complexes in the Russian cities Moscow, Sochi, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk and Ocean Plaza in Kiev, Ukraine),^[39]^[40] and son Paul (Russian: Павел Аркадьевич; born 29 February 2000), who is a competitive hockey player.^[41] According to the BBC, Arkady Rotenberg says he is the owner of Putin’s Palace, an opulent Black Sea mansion, not President Vladimir Putin, as the leader’s critics had alleged.

References
1. ^ “Ротенберг Аркадий Романович” [Rotenberg Arkady Romanovich]. Kommersant (in Russian). 28 April 2010. Archived from the original on 7 May 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d “Forbes profile: Arkady Rotenberg”. Forbes. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
3. ^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c Becker, Jo; Myers, Steven Lee (2 November 2014). “Putin’s Friend Profits in Purge of Schoolbooks”. The New York Times. p. A1. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
4. ^ “Russian billionaire Arkady Rotenberg says ‘Putin Palace’ is his”. BBC News. 30 January 2021.
5. ^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c Ахмирова, Римма (Akhmirova, Rimma) (30 June 2009). “В тени путинского кимоно” [In the shadow of Putin’s kimono]. «Собеседник» (sobesednik.ru) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 5 July 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
6. ^ Sheldon Kirshner (23 November 2015). “Russia’s New Tsar”. THE TIMES OF ISRAEL.
7. ^ Paul Roderick Gregory (14 October 2014). “Putin’s Reaction To Sanctions Is Destroying The Economy And China Won’t Help”. Forbes.
8. ^ Jump up to: Yaffa, Joshua (29 May 2017). “Putin’s Shadow Cabinet and the Bridge to Crimea”. The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 7 June 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
9. ^ Sheldon Kirshner (23 November 2015). “Russia’s New Tsar”. Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 2 May 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
10. ^ Paul Roderick Gregory (14 October 2014). “Putin’s Reaction To Sanctions Is Destroying The Economy And China Won’t Help”. Forbes. Archived from the original on 5 August 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
11. ^ Jump up to:^a ^b Канев, Сергей (Kanev, Sergey) (7 October 2019). “”Бандитский Ротенберг”, или За кого не стыдно Владимиру Путину” [“Gangster Rothenberg”, or for whom Vladimir Putin is not ashamed]. МБХ медиа (in Russian). Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2021. The author Sergey Kanev is from Центр «Досье» (dossier.center). Archived on compromat.ru on 9 October 2019 as Как расцвел “Путус” Вовы-Однорукого и Лени-Спортсмена: История питерского “авторитета” Владимира Путырского и бывшего тренера Путина дзюдоиста-рецидивиста Леонида Усвяцова (How Vova-One-Armed and Leni-Sportsman’s “Putus” blossomed: The story of the St. Petersburg “authority” Vladimir Putyrsky and the former coach of Putin, the judoka-recidivist Leonid Usvyatsov).
12. ^ Сагдиев, Ринат (Sagdiev, Rinat) (20 September 2010). Платные дороги в России строят только знакомые Владимира Путина: Через несколько лет в России появятся две первые платные дороги. Обе идут из Москвы и строятся фактически на государственные деньги. За обеими стоят петербургские знакомые Владимира Путина: Юрий Ковальчук и Аркадий Ротенберг [Only Putin’s friends build toll roads in Russia: In a few years, the first two toll roads will appear in Russia. Both come from Moscow and are actually built on public money. Behind both are Vladimir Putin’s Saint Petersburg acquaintances: Yuri Kovalchuk and Arkady Rotenberg]. Vedomosti (in Russian). Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
13. ^ Левитин, Игорь Евгеньевич [Levitin, Igor Yevgenyevich]. kremlin.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 28 October 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
14. ^ “Panama Papers: The Power Players”. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016.
15. ^ “US frustrates Russian oligarchs’ cat and mouse over sanctions”. Financial Times. 9 August 2015. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
16. ^ Пастушин, Алексей (Pastushin, Alexey) (23 July 2018). Партнер друзей Путина: чем известен спонсор “русской шпионки” Бутиной [Partner of Putin’s friends: what is known for the sponsor of the “Russian spy” Butina]. Forbes (in Russian). Archived from the original on 30 January 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
17. ^ Jump up to: Партнеры Аркадия Ротенберга наняли лоббистов в США: Совладельцы аэропорта Шереметьево Александр Пономаренко и Александр Скоробогатько наняли фирму для лоббирования своих интересов в США. Оба бизнесмена — давние партнеры попавшего под санкции Аркадия Ротенберга и его сына Игоря [Arkady Rotenberg’s partners hired lobbyists in the US: Sheremetyevo Airport co-owners Alexander Ponomarenko and Alexander Skorobogatko hired a company to lobby their interests in the United States. Both businessmen are longtime partners who fell under the sanctions of Arkady Rotenberg and his son Igor]. RBC (in Russian). 19 April 2018. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
18. ^ Ляув, Бэла (Love, Bela); Филатов, Антон (Filatov, Anton) (17 May 2015). Структура Игоря Ротенберга может построить транспортно-пересадочный узел: Размер инвестиций – до $340 млн [The structure of Igor Rotenberg can build a transport hub: Investment size – up to $340 million]. Vedomosti (in Russian). Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
19. ^ Bosilkovsky, Igor (30 January 2018). “Treasury Department’s Russia Oligarchs List Is Copied From Forbes”. Forbes. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
20. ^ Игорь Ротенберг выкупил у отца “Газпром бурение” и долю в “ТПС Недвижимости” [Igor Rotenberg bought out of his father Gazprom drilling and a share in TPS Real Estate] (in Russian). Interfax. 30 October 2014. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
21. ^ Ensign, Rachel Louise (12 February 2015). “Russian Asset Sales Muddy Sanction Compliance”. Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
22. ^ “Executive Order – Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine”. White House Office of the Press Secretary. 20 March 2014. Archived from the original on 14 May 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
23. ^ “Treasury Sanctions Russian Officials, Members Of The Russian Leadership’s Inner Circle, And An Entity For Involvement In The Situation In Ukraine” (Press release). United States Department of the Treasury. 20 March 2014. Archived from the original on 31 May 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
24. ^ “Ukraine-related Designations”. United States Department of the Treasury. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
25. ^ “Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons List (SDN) Human Readable Lists”. United States Department of the Treasury. Archived from the original on 29 August 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
26. ^ Shuklin, Peter (21 March 2014). “Putin’s inner circle: who got in a new list of US sanctions”. liga.net. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
27. ^ Executive Order 13661: Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, 79 Fed. Reg 15,535 (19 March 2016).
28. ^ “Sanctions over Ukraine – Impact on Russia” (PDF). European Parliament. 1 March 2016. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2006.
29. ^ “The General Court confirms the fund-freezing measures imposed on Mr Arkady Rotenberg for the period 2015-2016. However, it annuls the freezing of funds for the period 2014-2015” (PDF). Luxembourg: General Court of the European Union (Press release n° 131/16). 30 November 2016. p. 2. Archived from the original on 16 December 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
30. ^ Biondani, Paolo (28 January 2019). “Gli oligarchi amici di Vladimir Putin che fanno affari in Italia protetti dalle offshore”. L’Espresso (in Italian). Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
31. ^ “Законопроект № 607554-6 (В архиве)” [Bill No. 607554-6 (Archived)] (in Russian). State Duma. Archived from the original on 4 October 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
32. ^ “Report to Congress Pursuant to Section 241 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017 Regarding Senior Foreign Political Figures and Oligarchs in the Russian Federation and Russian Parastatal Entities” (PDF). 29 January 2018. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
33. ^ Times, The Moscow (23 January 2019). “Russian Billionaire Brothers Forced to Sell Private Jets Over Sanctions — Forbes”. The Moscow Times. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
34. ^ “Inside RAHIL Yacht • Benetti • 2011 • Value $75M • Owner Arkady Rotenberg”. SuperYachtFan. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
35. ^ “RAHIL”. www.boatinternational.com. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
36. ^ Ткачёв, Иван; Сухаревская, Алена (6 August 2015). Бывшая жена Аркадия Ротенберга подала на экс-супруга в Лондонский суд: Бывшая жена Аркадия Ротенберга инициировала судебный процесс в Лондоне с целью получить компенсацию от миллиардера, выяснил РБК. Дело будет рассматриваться в феврале 2016 года и осложняется санкциями ЕС против бизнесмена [The former wife of Arkady Rotenberg filed for ex-spouse in a London court: The former wife of Arkady Rotenberg initiated a lawsuit in London in order to receive compensation from the billionaire, found RBC. The case will be considered in February 2016 and complicated by EU sanctions against a businessman]. RBK (in Russian). Archived from the original on 27 October 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
37. ^ O’Neill, Sean (24 February 2018). “Putin crony Arkady Rotenberg loses right to secrecy in Britain”. the Times (London). Archived from the original on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
38. ^ Кто есть кто: Ротенберг Игорь Аркадьевич [Who Is Who: Rotenberg Igor Arkadyevich]. Delovoy Petersburg (in Russian). Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
39. ^ (in Ukrainian) Russians intend to return Ocean Plaza Aliyev – media Archived 12 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Ukrayinska Pravda (12 February 2019).
40. ^ “Родственная сделка: почему Игорь Ротенберг продал долю в TPS Real Estate: Игорь Ротенберг, который с 6 апреля находится в санкционном списке Минфина США, за неделю до этого вышел из состава акционеров девелоперской компании TPS Real Estate. Новым совладельцем стала его сестра Лилия Ротенберг” [Related transaction: why Igor Rotenberg sold his stake in TPS Real Estate: Igor Rotenberg, who has been on the sanctions list of the US Treasury since April 6, a week before, left the shareholders of the real estate development company TPS Real Estate. New sister was his sister Lilia Rotenberg]. RBC (in Russian). 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
41. ^ Павел Ротенберг [Paul Rotenberg]. sports.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
15 Лютого, 2022

TOP1000 – Business

Roman Abramovich

Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (Russian: Роман Аркадьевич Абрамович, pronounced [rɐˈman ɐrˈkadʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ɐbrɐˈmovʲɪtɕ]; Hebrew: רומן אברמוביץ׳; born 24 October 1966 in Saratov)^[2] is a Russian oligarch, billionaire, businessman, and politician.

Abramovich is the primary owner of the private investment company Millhouse LLC, and is best known outside Russia as the owner of Chelsea F.C., a Premier League football club. He was formerly Governor of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug from 2000 to 2008.

According to Forbes, Abramovich’s net worth was US$12.9 billion in 2019,^[3] making him the second-richest person in Israel, the eleventh-richest in Russia and the richest person in Portugal and in Lithuania.^[4]^[5] He has donated more money than any other living Russian, with donations between the years 1999 and 2013 of more than US$2.5 billion to build schools, hospitals and infrastructure in Chukotka. He was recognized by the Forum for Jewish Culture and Religion for his contribution of more than $500 million to Jewish causes in Russia, the US, Britain, Portugal, Lithuania, Israel and elsewhere over the past 20 years.^[6] Abramovich has been labeled an oligarch by his critics.^[7]

Early life[edit source]

Family[edit source]

Abramovich’s family is Jewish. His mother, Irina Vasilievna Abramovich (née Mikhailenko), was a music teacher. She died when Roman was 1 year old.^[8] His father, Aron (Arkady) Abramovich Leibovich (1937−1969), worked in the economic council of the Autonomous Republic of Komi.^[9]

Roman’s maternal grandparents were Vasily Mikhailenko and Faina Borisovna Grutman, both born in Ukraine. It was in Saratov in the early days of World War II that Roman’s grandmother on the maternal side, Faina Borisovna Grutman, fled from Ukraine. Irina was then three years old.^[10]

Roman’s paternal grandparents, Nachman Leibovich and Toybe (Tatyana) Stepanovna Abramovich, were Belarusian Jews.^[11] They lived in Belarus and after the revolution they moved to Tauragė, Lithuania,^[12]^[13]^[14] with the Lithuanian spelling of the family name being Abramavičius.

In 1940, the Soviet Union annexed Lithuania. Just before the German Nazi attack on the USSR, the soviets “cleared the anti-Soviet, criminal and socially dangerous element”. Families were sent to Siberia. The grandparents of Abramovich were separated when deported. The father, mother and children – Leib, Abram and Aron (Arkady) – were in different cars. Many of the deportees died in the camps. Among them was the grandfather of Abramovich. Nachman Leibovich died in 1942 in the NKVD camp in the settlement of Resheti, Krasnoyarsk Territory.^[10]

Having lost both parents before the age of 4,^[15] Abramovich was raised by relatives and spent much of his youth in the Komi Republic in northern Russia. Abramovich is the Chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, and a trustee of the Moscow Jewish Museum.^[16]

Abramovich decided to establish a forest of some 25,000 new and rehabilitated trees, in memory of Lithuania’s Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust, plus a virtual memorial and tribute to Lithuanian Jewry (Seed a Memory) enabling people from all over the world to commemorate their ancestors’ personal stories by naming a tree and including their name in the memorial.^[17]

Marriage[edit source]

Abramovich has been married and divorced three times. In December 1987, following a brief stint in the Soviet Army, he married Olga Yurevna Lysova;^[18] they divorced in 1990. In October 1991, he married a former Russian Aeroflot stewardess, Irina Malandina.^[19] They have five children; Ilya, Arina, Sofia, Arkadiy and Anna.^[19]^[20] The couple divorced in 2007.^[18] On 15 October 2006, the News of the World reported that Irina had hired two top UK divorce lawyers, following reports of Abramovich’s close relationship with the then 25-year-old Dasha Zhukova, daughter of a prominent Russian oligarch, Alexander Zhukov. It was speculated that a future divorce settlement (amounting to a conjectured £5.5 billion (€6.5 billion)) might be the highest ever on record.

The Abramoviches replied that neither had consulted attorneys at that point.^[21]^[22] However, they later divorced in Russia in March 2007, with a reported settlement of US$300 million (€213 million).^[19]^[23] Abramovich married Zhukova in 2008, and they have two children, a son, Aaron Alexander, and a daughter, Leah Lou.^[20] In August 2017, the couple announced that they would separate;^[24] and their divorce was finalised in 2018.^{[citation needed]}

Early career[edit source]

Abramovich entered the business world during his army service.^[25] Abramovich first worked as a street-trader, and then as a mechanic at a local factory.^[26] At the peak of perestroika, Abramovich sold imported rubber ducks from his Moscow apartment.^{[citation needed]}

Abramovich attended the Gubkin Institute of Oil and Gas in Moscow,^[27] then traded commodities for the Swiss trading firm Runicom.^[28]

In 1988, as perestroika created opportunities for privatization in the Soviet Union, Abramovich gained a chance to legitimise his old business.^[29] He and Olga set up a company making dolls. Within a few years his wealth spread from oil conglomerates to pig farms.^[30] He has traded in timber, sugar, food stuffs and other products.^[31]

In 1992, he was arrested and sent to prison in a case of theft of government property.^[18]

Friendship with Boris Berezovsky[edit source]

According to two different sources, Abramovich first met Berezovsky either at a meeting with the Russian businessmen in 1993^[32] or in the summer of 1995.^[33]

Berezovsky and Abramovich registered an offshore company, Runicom Ltd., with five subsidiaries. Abramovich headed the Moscow affiliate of the Swiss firm, Runicom S.A. In August 1995, Boris Yeltsin decreed the creation of Sibneft, which Abramovich and Berezovsky were thought to be top executives of.^[18]

Acquisition of Sibneft, loans-for-shares, and aluminium wars[edit source]

Further information: Sibneft, Loans-for-shares, and Gazprom Neft

In 1995, Abramovich and Berezovsky acquired a controlling interest in the large oil company Sibneft. The deal took place within the controversial loans-for-shares program and each partner paid US$100 million for half of the company, above the stake’s stock market value of US$150 million at the time, and rapidly turned it up into billions. The fast-rising value of the company led many observers, in hindsight, to suggest that the real cost of the company should have been in the billions of dollars (it was worth US$2.7 billion at that time). ^[34]^[35] Abramovich later admitted in court that he paid billions of dollars of bribes to government officials and gangsters to acquire and protect his assets.^[36]

As of 2000, Sibneft annually produced US$3 billion worth of oil.^[37]

The Times claimed that he was assisted by Badri Patarkatsishvili in the acquisition of Sibneft.^[38]^[39]^[40]^[41] After Sibneft, Abramovich’s next target was the aluminium industry. After privatisation, the “aluminium wars” led to murders of smelting plant managers, metals traders and journalists as groups battled for control of the industry. Abramovich was initially hesitant to enter into the aluminium business, claiming that “every three days someone was murdered in that business”.^[42]

Relationship with Boris Berezovsky and Badri Patarkatsishvili[edit source]

In 2011, a transcript emerged of a taped conversation that took place between Abramovich and Berezovsky at Le Bourget airport in December 2000. Badri Patarkatsishvili, a close acquaintance of Berezovsky, was also present and secretly had the conversation recorded.^[43]^[44] During the discussion, Berezovsky spoke of how they should “legalise” their aluminium business, and later claimed in court that he was an undisclosed shareholder in the aluminium assets and that “legalisation” in this case meant to make his ownership “official”. In response, Abramovich states in the transcript that they cannot legalise because the other party in the 50-50 joint venture (Rusal) would need to do the same, in a supposed reference to his business partner Oleg Deripaska. Besides Deripaska, references are made to several other players in the aluminium industry at the time that would have had to “legalise” their stake. Abramovich’s lawyers later claimed that “legalisation” meant structuring protection payments to Berezovsky to ensure they complied with Western antimoney-laundering regulations.^[45]^[46]

The Times also observed:^[38]

Mr Abramovich discloses that there was a showdown at St Moritz airport in Switzerland in 2001 when Mr [Badri] Patarkatsishvili asked him to pay US$1.3 billion (€925 million) to Mr Berezovsky. “The defendant agreed to pay this amount on the basis that it would be the final request for payment by Mr Berezovsky and that he and Mr Patarkatsishvili would cease to associate themselves publicly with him and his business interests.” The payment was duly made.
Mr Abramovich was also willing to pay off Mr Patarkatsishvili. He states that he agreed to pay US$585 million (€416 million) “by way of final payment”.
Mr Abramovich denies that he helped himself to Mr Berezovsky’s interests in Sibneft and aluminium or that he threatened a friend of the exile. “It is denied that Mr Abramovich made or was party to the alleged explicit or implicit coercive threats or intimidation,” he states.

According to court-papers submitted by Abramovich,^[38] Abramovich mentions in the court-papers:

Prior to the August 1995 decree [of Sibneft’s creation], the defendant [Abramovich] informed Mr Berezovsky that he wished to acquire a controlling interest in Sibneft on its creation. In return for the defendant [Abramovich] agreeing to provide Mr Berezovsky with funds he required in connection with the cash flow of [his TV company] ORT, Mr Berezovsky agreed he would use his personal and political influence to support the project and assist in the passage of the necessary legislative steps leading to the creation of Sibneft. Mr Patarkatsishvili did … provide assistance to the defendant in the defendant’s acquisition of assets in the Russian aluminium industry.

Investments in technology[edit source]

In 2015, Abramovich invested and led a $30 million round of funding with businessman OD Kobo Chairman of PIR Equities.^[47]^[48] Other partners include several well-known people from the music industry, among them David Guetta, Nicki Minaj, Tiësto, Avicii, will.i.am, Benny Andersson, Dave Holmes (manager of Coldplay) and others.^[49]

Abramovich has invested in other startups. Among them is BrainQ, an Israeli startup which develops artificial intelligence-powered technologies to treat neurological disorders, such as stroke, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury.^[50] Also StoreDot, founded by Doron Myersdorf, where Abramovich has invested over $30 million.^[51]

Relationship with Russian leaders[edit source]

Boris Yeltsin[edit source]

By 1996, at the age of 30, Abramovich had become close to President Boris Yeltsin, and had moved into an apartment inside the Kremlin at the invitation of the Yeltsin family.^[52]

In 1999, the 33-year-old Abramovich was elected governor of the Russian province of Chukotka. He ran for a second term as governor in 2005. The Kremlin press service reported that Abramovich’s name had been sent for approval as governor for another term to Chukotka’s local parliament, which confirmed his appointment on 21 October 2005.

Vladimir Putin[edit source]

Abramovich was the first person to recommend to Yeltsin that Vladimir Putin be his successor as the Russian president.^[53]^: 135 When Putin formed his first cabinet as Prime Minister in 1999, Abramovich interviewed each of the candidates for cabinet positions before they were approved.^[35]^: 102 Subsequently, Abramovich would remain one of Putin’s closest confidants. In 2007, Putin consulted in meetings with Abramovich on the question of who should be his successor as president; Medvedev was personally recommended by Abramovich.^[53]^{: 135, 271}

Chris Hutchins, a biographer of Putin, described the relationship between the Russian president and Abramovich as like that between a father and a favourite son. Abramovich has said that when he addresses Putin he uses the Russian language’s formal “вы” (like Spanish “usted”, German “Sie”, Italian “lei” or French “vous”), as opposed to the informal “ты” (Spanish “tú”, German “du”, Italian “tu” or French “tu”). Abramovich says that the reason is ‘he is more senior than me’.^[54] Within the Kremlin, Abramovich is referred to as “Mr A”.^[55]

In September 2012, the High Court judge Elizabeth Gloster said that Abramovich’s influence on Putin was limited: “There was no evidential basis supporting the contention that Mr Abramovich was in a position to manipulate, or otherwise influence, President Putin, or officers in his administration, to exercise their powers in such a way as to enable Mr Abramovich to achieve his own commercial goals.”^[56] U.S. media reports that the U.S. intelligence community believes Abramovich is a “bag carrier”, or financial cutout for Putin.^[57]

Abramovich is one of many Russian “oligarchs” named in the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.^[58]

Political career[edit source]

Duma member[edit source]

In 1999, Abramovich was elected to the State Duma as the representative for the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, an impoverished region in the Russian Far East. He started the charity Pole of Hope to help the people of Chukotka, especially children, and in December 2000, was elected governor of Chukotka, replacing Aleksandr Nazarov.

Governor[edit source]

Abramovich was the governor of Chukotka from 2000 to 2008. It is believed that he invested over US$1.3 billion (€925 million) in the region.^[59] Under Abramovich, living standards improved, schools and housing were restored and new investors were being drawn to the region.^[60]

Abramovich was awarded the Order of Honour for his “huge contribution to the economic development of the autonomous district [of Chukotka]”, by a decree signed by the President of Russia.^[61]

Resignation[edit source]

In early July 2008, it was announced that President Dmitri Medvedev had accepted Abramovich’s request to resign as governor of Chukotka, although his various charitable activities in the region would continue. In the period 2000–2006 the average salaries in Chukotka increased from about US$165 (€117/£100) per month in 2000 to US$826 (€588/£500) per month in 2006.^[18]^[62]

Controversies[edit source]

Boris Berezovsky allegations[edit source]

In 2011, Berezovsky brought a civil case against Abramovich, called Berezovsky v Abramovich,^[63] in the High Court of Justice in London, accusing Abramovich of blackmail, breach of trust and breach of contract, and seeking over £3 billion in damages.^[64]

On 31 August 2012, the High Court dismissed the lawsuit. The High Court judge stated that because of the nature of the evidence, the case hinged on whether to believe Berezovsky or Abramovich’s evidence. The judge found Berezovsky to be “an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable witness, who regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current purposes”, whereas supported by Putin, Abramovich was seen as “a truthful, and on the whole, reliable witness”.^[64]^[65]

Bribery[edit source]

In 2008, The Times reported that court papers showed Abramovich admitting that he paid billions of dollars for political favours and protection fees for shares of Russia’s oil and aluminium assets.^[66]

Allegations of loan fraud[edit source]

An allegation emerging from a Swiss investigation links Roman Abramovich, through a former company, and numerous other Russian politicians, industrialists and bankers to using a US$4.8 billion (€3.4 billion) loan from the IMF as personal slush fund; an audit sponsored by the IMF itself determined that all of the IMF funds had been used appropriately.^[67]

In January 2005, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) indicated that it would be suing Abramovich over a £9 million (US$14.9 million/€10.6 million) loan.^[68] The EBRD said that it is owed US$17.5 million (€12.45 million/£10.6 million) by Runicom, a Switzerland-based oil trading business which had been controlled by Abramovich and Eugene Shvidler. Abramovich’s spokesman indicated that the loan had previously been repaid.^[69]

Antitrust law violation in Russia[edit source]

Russia’s antitrust body, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, claimed that Evraz Holding, owned in part by Abramovich, had breached Russian competition law by offering unfavourable terms for contractors and discriminating against domestic consumers for coking coal, a key material used in steel production.^[70]

Dispute with Kolomoyskyi[edit source]

According to Putin, Abramovich has been cheated by Ukrainian-Cypriot-Israeli oligarch Igor Kolomoyskyi. Putin claimed in 2014 that Kolomoyskyi had reneged on a contract with Abramovich, saying that the pair signed a multibillion-dollar deal on which Kolomoyskyi never delivered.^[71]

Pollution and Climate Change[edit source]

According to The Guardian, in 2015 his $766m stake in Evraz, the steel and mining company, gave him ownership of about a quarter of Russia’s largest coal mine, the Raspadskaya coal complex in Siberia, whose reserves represented 1.5GT of carbon emissions, comparable to the annual output of Russia itself.^[72]

According to The Conversation, “Roman Abramovich, who made most of his $19 billion fortune trading oil and gas, was the biggest polluter on our list” of most polluting billionaires, estimating “that he was responsible for at least 33,859 metric tons of CO2 emissions in 2018 – more than two-thirds from his yacht.”^[73]

Funding of Israeli Settlement[edit source]

An investigation by BBC News Arabic has found that Abramovich controls companies that have donated $100m to an Israeli settler organisation. Elad operates in occupied East Jerusalem. By allowing settlement activity in the area Israel is considered to be in breach of international law. Israel disputes this view. Analysis of bank documents indicate Abramovich is the largest single donor to the organisation. The bank documents – known as the FinCEN Files – were leaked to BuzzFeed News, then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the BBC. Elad also runs the City of David and other archaeological sites, visited by a million tourists each year in Jerusalem. There are arguments that Israel is breaking international law by allowing exploratory archaeological digs to be carried out in occupied land. A spokesman for Abramovich told the BBC, that he “is a committed and generous supporter of Israeli and Jewish civil society, and over the past 20 years he had donated over five hundred million dollars to support healthcare, science, education and Jewish communities in Israel and around the world.”^[74]^[75]

European football[edit source]

Chelsea F.C.[edit source]

Further information: Chelsea F.C.

In June 2003, Abramovich became the owner of the companies that control Chelsea Football Club in West London.^[76] The previous owner of the club was Ken Bates, who later bought rivals Leeds United. Chelsea immediately embarked on an ambitious programme of commercial development, with the aim of making it a worldwide brand on a par with footballing dynasties such as Manchester United and Real Madrid, and also announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art training complex in Cobham, Surrey.^[77]

Since the takeover, the club has won 18 major trophies – the UEFA Champions League twice, the UEFA Europa League twice, the UEFA Supercup twice, the Premier League five times, the FA Cup five times (with 2010 providing the club’s first ever league and FA Cup double), and the League Cup three times, making Chelsea the most successful English trophy winning team during Abramovich’s ownership, equal with Manchester United (who have also won 16 major trophies in the same time span). His tenure has also been marked by rapid turnover in managers.

Detractors have used the term “Chelski” semi-affectionately to refer to the new Chelsea under Abramovich, to highlight the modern phenomena of billionaires buying football clubs and “purchasing trophies”, by using their personal wealth to snap up marquee players at will, distorting the transfer market, citing the acquisition of Andriy Shevchenko for a then-British record transfer fee of around £30 million (€35.3 million).^[78]

In the year ending June 2005, Chelsea posted record losses of £140 million (€165 million) and the club was not expected to record a trading profit before 2010, although this decreased to reported losses of £80.2 million (€94.3 million) in the year ending June 2006.^[79] In a December 2006 interview, Abramovich stated that he expected Chelsea’s transfer spending to fall in years to come.^[80]

UEFA responded to the precarious profit/loss landscape of clubs, some owned by billionaires, but others simply financial juggernauts like Real Madrid, with Financial Fair Play regulations.

Chelsea finished their first season after the takeover in second place in the Premier League, up from fourth the previous year. They also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, which was eventually won by surprise contender Porto, managed by José Mourinho. For Abramovich’s second season at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho was recruited as the new manager, replacing the incumbent Claudio Ranieri. Chelsea ended the 2004–05 season as league champions for the first time in 50 years and only the second time in their history.

Also high were Abramovich’s spending on purchases from Portuguese football players. According to record newspaper accounts, he spent 165.1 million euros in Portugal: 90.9 with Benfica players, and 74.2 with FC Porto players.^[81]Abramovich at Stamford Bridge during a 4–0 victory over Portsmouth in August 2008

Abramovich is present at nearly every Chelsea game and shows visible emotion during matches, a sign taken by supporters to indicate a genuine love for the sport, and usually visits the players in the dressing room following each match. This stopped for a time in early 2007, when press reports appeared of a feud between Abramovich and manager Mourinho regarding the performance of certain players such as Andriy Shevchenko.^[82]Abramovich watches his team Chelsea play against Leicester City, August 2014

On 1 July 2013, Chelsea celebrated ten years under Abramovich’s ownership. Before the first game of the 2013–14 season against Hull City on 18 August 2013, the Russian thanked Chelsea supporters for ten years of support in a short message on the front cover of the match programme, saying, “We have had a great decade together and the club could not have achieved it all without you. Thanks for your support and here’s to many more years of success.”

In March 2017, Chelsea announced it had received approval to for a revamped £500m stadium at Stamford Bridge with a capacity of up to 60,000.^[83]

On 15 July 2018, the renewal of Abramovich’s British visa by the Home Office, and his subsequent withdrawal of the application, in May 2018 Chelsea halted plans to build a £500m stadium in south-west London due to the “unfavourable investment climate” and the lack of assurances about Abramovich’s immigration status. Abramovich was set to invest hundreds of millions of pounds for the construction of the stadium.^[84]^[85]

Abramovich has been accused of purchasing Chelsea at the behest of Vladimir Putin, but he has denied the claim.^[86]^[87]^[88] Putin’s People, a book by journalist Catherine Belton, a former Financial Times Moscow correspondent, formerly made such an assertion, but after libel action by Abramovich against Belton and the book’s British publisher HarperCollins, the claims were agreed in December 2021 to be stated as having no factual basis in future editions.^[89]

In 2021, Abramovich was criticized for trying to enter Chelsea into unpopular European Super League. The competition has been widely scrutinized for encouraging greediness among the richer, larger football clubs, which undermines the significance of existing football competitions, however, just 2 days later, Abramovich decided to pull the club out of the new competition, with other English clubs following suit.^{[citation needed]}^[90]

CSKA Moscow[edit source]

In March 2004, Sibneft agreed to a three-year sponsorship deal worth €41.3 million (US$58 million) with the Russian team CSKA Moscow.^[91] Although the company explained that the decision was made at management level, some viewed the deal as an attempt by Abramovich to counter accusations of being “unpatriotic” which were made at the time of the Chelsea purchase. UEFA rules prevent one person owning more than one team participating in UEFA competitions, so Abramovich has no equity interest in CSKA. A lawyer, Alexandre Garese, is one of his partners in CSKA.

Following an investigation, Abramovich was cleared by UEFA of having a conflict of interest.^[92] Nevertheless, he was named “most influential person in Russian football” in the Russian magazine Pro Sport at the end of June 2004. In May 2005, CSKA won the UEFA Cup, becoming the first Russian club ever to win a major European football competition. In October 2005, however, Abramovich sold his interest in Sibneft and the company’s new owner Gazprom, which sponsors Zenit Saint Petersburg, cancelled the sponsorship deal.^[93]

Russian national team[edit source]

Abramovich at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany

Abramovich also played a large role in bringing Guus Hiddink to Russia to coach the Russia national football team.^[94] Piet de Visser, a former head scout of Hiddink’s club PSV Eindhoven and now a personal assistant to Abramovich at Chelsea, recommended Hiddink to the Chelsea owner.^[95]

National Academy of Football[edit source]

In addition to his involvement in professional football, Abramovich sponsors a foundation in Russia called the National Academy of Football. The organization sponsors youth sports programs throughout the country and has constructed more than fifty football pitches in various cities and towns. It also funds training programs for coaches, prints instruction materials, renovates sports facilities and takes top coaches and students on trips to visit professional football clubs in England, the Netherlands and Spain. In 2006 the Academy of Football took over the administration of the Konoplyov football academy at Primorsky, near Togliatti, Samara Oblast, where over 1,000 youths are in residence, following the death at 38 of its founder, Yuri Konoplev.^[96]

Wealth[edit source]

According to Forbes, as of March 2016, Abramovich had a net worth of US$7.6 billion, ranking him as the 155th richest person in the world.^[97] Prior to the 2008 financial crisis, he was considered to be the second richest person living within the United Kingdom.^[98] Early in 2009, The Times estimated that due to the global economic crisis he had lost £3 billion from his £11.7 billion wealth.^[99] In the summer of 2020, Abramovich sold the gold miner Highland Gold to Vladislav Sviblov.^[100]^[101] On 5 March 2021, Forbes listed his net worth at US$14.5 billion, ranking him 113 on the Billionaires 2020 Forbes list.^[102]

Wealth rankings[edit source]

Year	The Sunday Times Rich List	Forbes The World’s Billionaires
Rank	Net worth (GB£)	Rank	Net worth (US$)
2010^[103]	2	£7.40 billion	50	$12 billion
2011^[104]^[103]	3	£10.30 billion	53	$13.4 billion
2012^[105]^[106]	3	£9.50 billion	68	$12.1 billion
2013^[107]^[108]	5	£9.30 billion	107	$10.3 billion
2014^[109]	9	£8.42 billion	137	$9.10 billion
2015^[110]^[111]	10	£7.29 billion	137	$9.10 billion
2016^[112]^[97]	13	£6.40 billion	151	$7.60 billion
2017^[113]^[114]	13	£8.053 billion	139	$11.50 billion
2018^[115]^[116]	13	£9.333 billion	140	$11.70 billion
2019^[117]^[118]	9	£11.221 billion	107	$12.40 billion
2020^[119]^[120]	12	£10.156 billion	113	$11.30 billion
2021^[121]^[102]	8	£12.101 billion	142	$14.50 billion

Legend
Icon	Description
	Has not changed from the previous year
	Has increased from the previous year
	Has decreased from the previous year

Charitable donations[edit source]

Abramovich has reportedly donated more money to charity than any other living Russian.^[7] Between 2009 and 2013, Abramovich donated more than US$2.5 billion to build schools, hospitals and infrastructure in Chukotka. Abramovich has reportedly spent approximately GB£1.5 bn on the Pole of Hope, his charity set up to help those in the Arctic region of Chukotka, where he was governor.^[122] In addition, Evraz Plc (EVR), the steelmaker partly owned by Abramovich, donated US$164 million for social projects between 2010 through 2012, an amount that is excluded in Abramovich’s US$310 million donations during this period.^[7]

Abramovich was recognized by the Forum for Jewish Culture and Religion for his contribution of more than $500 million to Jewish causes in Russia, the US, Britain, Portugal, Lithuania, Israel and elsewhere over the past 20 years.^[6]

In June 2019, Abramovich donated $5 million to the Jewish Agency for Israel, to support efforts to combat anti-Semitism globally.^[123]

Abramovich decided to establish a forest of some 25,000 trees, in memory of Lithuania’s Jews who perished in the Holocaust, plus a virtual memorial and tribute to Lithuanian Jewry.^[6]

He also gave a substantial donation for the rehabilitation of the Jewish cemetery of Altona, now a neighborhood in the city of Hamburg. The project is carried out by B’nai B’rith International Portugal in partnership with Hamburg’s Chabad.^[124]

Roman Abramovich donates money to the Chabad movement^[125] and along with Michael Kadoorie and Jacob Safra, is one of the main benefactors of the Portuguese Jewish community and of B’nai B’rith International Portugal.^[126]

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich funds an extended programme in Israel that brings Jewish and Arab children together in football coaching sessions. More than 1,000 Arab and Jewish children each year will be brought together through football, with Chelsea funding the expanded set-up and club staff training local coaches. The expanded Playing Fair, Leading Peace programme will break down barriers and combat discrimination by mixing communities in Israel.^[127]

In 2020 during the pandemic Roman Abramovich paid for NHS staff to stay at the Stamford Bridge Millennium Hotel.^[128]

Opposition to anti-semitism and hatred[edit source]

Abramovich has often been described as a Russian billionaire after his takeover of Chelsea F.C. in 2003. However, in recent years, after he became a citizen of Israel and launched the Say No to Antisemitism campaign through Chelsea, the fact he is Jewish has come into focus.^[129]

Kick It Out chief executive Tony Burnett hailed Chelsea’s stance on fighting anti-Semitism, pledging the anti-discrimination organisation will now look to follow the lead of the club. “Historically it’s been alleged that Kick It Out was formed to fight racism against black players and coaches. We looked at our strategy and realised we weren’t doing enough on anti-Semitism and we brought together a group of stakeholders with vast experience in this area.”^[130]

Globally, Abramovich is known as the owner of the Premier League Chelsea Football Club, which he has used to motivate, educate and inspire fans to reject hate and racism. Abramovich leads and funds a unique and comprehensive global campaign, under the banner Say No to Antisemitism, dedicated to raising awareness of the issue of antisemitism from an educational perspective. The club works with leading figures and authorities around the world to help spread the message. As part of this effort, Chelsea players, management, staff and fans have personally met with Holocaust survivors, joined the March of the Living, and called to proactively tackle antisemitism. The campaign involves partners like the World Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Jewish Museum, the Imperial War Museum and the Royal Air Force.

The Chelsea Foundation has launched a new program in partnership with the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation and the Israeli Football Association, introducing football sessions for Arab and Jewish children across Israel, a partnership that was developed following Chelsea Women’s visit to Israel in 2019, during which the team took part in football and education workshops with Arab and Jewish girls, benefiting 1,000 children in the first year alone.^[6]^[131]

Other interests and activities[edit source]

Art[edit source]

Statue of Abramovich in a mall in Eilat, Israel

Abramovich sponsored an exhibition of photographs of Uzbekistan by renowned Soviet photographer Max Penson (1893–1959) which opened on 29 November 2006 at the Gilbert Collection at Somerset House in London. He previously funded the exhibition “Quiet Resistance: Russian Pictorial Photography 1900s–1930s” at the same gallery in 2005.^[132] Both exhibits were organized by the Moscow House of Photography.^[133]

In May 2008, Abramovich emerged as a major buyer in the international art auction market. He purchased Francis Bacon‘s Triptych 1976 for €61.4 million (US$86.3 million) (a record price for a post-war work of art) and Lucian Freud‘s Benefits Supervisor Sleeping for €23.9 million (US$33.6 million) (a record price for a work by a living artist).^[134]

His partner Dasha Zhukova is managing a Garage Center for Contemporary Culture – gallery of contemporary art in Moscow that was initially housed in the historical Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage building by Konstantin Melnikov. The building, neglected for decades and partially taken apart by previous tenants, was restored in 2007–2008 and reopened to the public in September 2008. Speed and expense of restoration is credited to sponsorship by Abramovich.^[135]

Yachts[edit source]

Abramovich has become the world’s greatest spender on luxury yachts, and always maintains a fleet of yachts which the media have called “Abramovich’s Navy”:^[136]

Current boats:

Eclipse 162.5 metres (533 ft) – Built in Germany by Blohm + Voss, she was launched in September 2009.^[137] Abramovich was due to take delivery of the yacht in December 2009,^[138] but was delayed for almost a year after extensive sea trials. The yacht’s interior and exterior were designed by Terence Disdale. Eclipse is believed to have cost Abramovich around US$400 million and was the world’s largest privately owned yacht until it was eclipsed in 2013 by the 180 metres (590 ft) Azzam. The specification includes at least two swimming pools, a cinema, two helicopter landing-pads, several on-board tenders and a submarine that can be launched and dive to a depth of 160 ft. It is also equipped with armour plating surrounding the bridge and Abramovich’s master suite, as well as bullet proof windows.^[139]

The world’s second largest expedition yacht, Luna, seen docked in San Diego, January 2013. Sold to Farkhad Akhmedov in April 2014 for US$360 million.

Former boats:

Pelorus 115 metres (377 ft) – Built by Lurssen for Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Abdulmalik Al-Sheikh in 2003, original owner of M/Y Coral Island and M/Y Sussurro, who received six offers to sell her before she was even completed. The Sheikh accepted the highest bid which was Abramovich. The interior was designed by Terence Disdale. The exterior was designed by Tim Heywood. Pelorus was refitted by Blohm + Voss in 2005 adding a new forward helipad and zero speed stabilizers. Given to Irina in 2009 as part of the divorce settlement; she was approached on David Geffen‘s behalf by broker Merle Wood, with Geffen paying US$300 million to take ownership in 2011.^[140]
Sussurro 49.5 metres (162 ft) – Built by Feadship in 1998 for Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Abdulmalik Al-Sheikh.
Ecstasea 85 metres (279 ft) – Largest Feadship built at launch in 2004 for Abramovich. She has a gas turbine alongside the conventional diesels which gives her high cruising speed. Abramovich sold the boat to the Al Nayhan family in 2009.^[141]
Le Grand Bleu 112 metres (367 ft) – Formerly owned by John McCaw; Abramovich bought the expedition yacht in 2003 and had her completely refitted by Blohm + Voss, including a 16 ft (4.9 m) swim platform and sports dock. He presented her as a gift to his associate and friend Eugene Shvidler in June 2006.
Luna 115 metres (377 ft) – Built by Lloyd Werft and delivered to Roman Abramovich in 2009 as an upgraded replacement for his Le Grand Bleu expedition yacht.^[142] Sold to close friend, Azerbaijani-born billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov, in April 2014 for US$360m. Boasts a 1 million litre fuel tank, 7 engines outputting 15,000 hp propelling Luna to a maximum speed of 25 knots, 8 tenders, 15 cm ice-class steel hull and 10 VIP Cabins.

Aircraft[edit source]

Abramovich’s Boeing 767, The Bandit, landing at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel

Abramovich owns a private Boeing 767-33A/ER, registered in Aruba as P4-MES. It is known as The Bandit^[143] due to its livery. Originally the aircraft was ordered by Hawaiian Airlines but the order was cancelled and Abramovich bought it from Boeing. Abramovish had it refitted it to his own requirements by Andrew Winch, who designed the interior and exterior. The aircraft was estimated in 2016 to cost US$300 million and its interior is reported to include a 30-seat dining room, a boardroom, master bedrooms, luxury bathrooms with showers, and a spacious living room. The aircraft has the same air missile avoidance system as Air Force One.^[143]

St. Barth New Year’s Eve celebrations[edit source]

In 2011, Abramovich hired the Red Hot Chili Peppers to perform at his estate in Baie de Gouverneur in St. Barth.^[144] The performance included a special appearance from Toots Hibbert.^[144] He reportedly spent £5 million on 300 guests, including George Lucas, Martha Stewart, Marc Jacobs, and Jimmy Buffett.^[144] In 2014, he hired English singer Robbie Williams to headline a New Year’s dinner for Vladimir Putin‘s “inner circle”. The party took place in Moscow and appears to have been the inspiration for Williams’ song “Party Like a Russian“.^[145] In December 2015, American musician Prince played a New Year’s Eve party on Abramovich’s boat. Upon his arrival by helicopter, Prince tweeted, “STRICTLY BUSINESS.”^{[citation needed]}

Israeli citizenship[edit source]

In May 2018, Abramovich became an Israeli citizen a month after the UK delayed renewing his visa. Following the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, British authorities delayed the renewal of his visa, as tensions rose between the UK and Russia.^[146] Abramovich had been travelling in and out of the UK for years on a Tier-1 investor visa, designed for wealthy foreigners who invest at least £2 million in Britain. Abramovich, who is Russian Jewish, exercised his right under Israel’s Law of Return, which states that Jews from anywhere in the world can become citizens of Israel. As an Israeli, Abramovich can now visit Britain visa-free but is not permitted to work or conduct business transactions.^[147]^[148]

Abramovich owns the Varsano boutique hotel in Tel Aviv‘s Neve Tzedek neighborhood, which he bought for 100 million NIS in 2015 from Gal Gadot‘s husband Yaron Varsano and Varsano’s brother Guy.^[149] In January 2020, Abramovich purchased a property in Herzliya Pituah for a record 226 million NIS.^[150]

In 2015, Abramovich donated approximately $30m to Tel Aviv University to establish an innovative Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, which aspires to become one of the leading facilities in the Middle East.

Among Abramovich’s other beneficiaries is the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer to which he has donated in excess of $60m. for various advanced medicine ventures.^[151] These include the establishment of a new nuclear medicine center spanning 2,000 sq.m., the Sheba Cancer and Cancer Research centers, the Pediatric Middle East Congenital Heart Center and the Sheba Heart Center.

A donation that Abramovich made to Keren Kayemet LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) for a comprehensive forest rehabilitation program in the southern Negev desert, helps to combat the area’s rising desertification and promotes increasing nature tourism to the area.

Alongside his philanthropic activity, Abramovich has invested some $120m. in 20 Israeli start-ups ranging from medicine and renewable energy, to social media.^[149]

Recently, due to the alarming increase in COVID-19 cases in Israel, Abramovich gave Sheba another donation for a new subterranean Intensive Care Unit, spanning 5,400 sq.m., to provide Israel with vital crisis response in times of national emergencies.

Abramovich continuously contributes to Jewish art and culture initiatives, such as the M.ART contemporary culture festival in Tel Aviv.^[6]

Application for a residence permit in Switzerland[edit source]

Abramovich filed an application for a residence permit in the canton of Valais in July 2016, a tax-friendly home to successful businessmen, and planned to transfer his tax residency to the Swiss municipality. Valais authorities readily agreed to the request and transferred the application to the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration for approval. Once there, FedPol investigators expressed suspicions and opposed the request. As a result, Abramovich withdrew his application in June 2017. After a three-year legal saga, in 2021 Swiss authorities cleared businessman and recent Israeli immigrant Roman Abramovich of any suspicion.^[152]

Megamansion in New York City[edit source]

Abramovich purchased for $74 million and is combining four Upper East Side townhouses in Manhattan in New York City into a megamansion; 9, 11, 13, and 15 East 75th Street.^[153] The combined megamansion will be 19,400 square feet, and it is estimated that renovation costs will be an additional $100 million.^[153]

Portuguese citizenship[edit source]

In April 2021, Abramovich became a Portuguese citizen as part of the Nationality Act due to his reported Sephardic Jewish heritage. Though it was noted by Reuters that there is little known history of Sephardic Jews in Russia and that his surname is not of Sephardic Jewish origin.^[154] Abramovich is a member of the Jewish community in Porto, of which he has been a benefactor.^[155]^[154]

References[edit source]

^ “Bloomberg Billionaire Index: Roman Abramovich”. bloomberg.com. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
^ Smith, David (24 December 2006). “Roman Abramovich interview: Inside the hidden world of Roman’s empire”. The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
^ “Billionaires 2019”. Forbes. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
^ “Roman Abramovich”. forbes.com. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
^ “Roman Abramovich immigrates to Israel”. Globes. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e “Everything you need to know about mega philanthropist Roman Abramovich”. The Jerusalem Post. 12 September 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c Meter, Henry; Sazonov, Alex (24 April 2013). “Most Charitable Russian Abramovich Leads Billionaires”. Bloomberg News.
^ ↑ Неизвестные страницы жизни Романа Абрамовича КП — Саратов
^ “Roman Abramovich. Biography. Abramovich, Roman Arkadievich – biography Who is Abramovich and what does he do”. ezoteriker.ru. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “Roman Abramovich – biography of a wealthy man”. vk-spy.ru. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
^ “Roman Abramovich – biography of a wealthy man”. vk-spy.ru. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
^ “Roman Abramovich: the orphan who came in from the cold”. The Daily Telegraph. 31 October 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
^ “Beneath the cold ‘death mask’ of Abramovich”. The Straits Times. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
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Belton, Catherine (23 June 2020). Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. ISBN 978-0374238711.

Bibliography[edit source]

Midgley, Dominic; Hutchins, Chris (3 May 2005). Abramovich: The Billionaire from Nowhere. Harper Collins Willow. ISBN 978-0-00-718984-7.
Hoffman, David (4 December 2003). The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia. Public Affairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-202-2.
Bennetts, Marc (15 May 2008). Football Dynamo – Modern Russia and the People’s Game. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-7535-1319-4.
Stenning, Paul (31 October 2010). Waste of Money: Overspending in Football. Pitch Publishing. ISBN 978-1905411931.

External links[edit source]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roman Abramovich.

Government offices
Preceded byAleksandr Nazarov	Governor of Chukotka 2000 – 3 July 2008	Succeeded byRoman Kopin

15 Лютого, 2022

TOP1000 – Business

Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950)^[2] is a British billionaire entrepreneur and business magnate.^[3]^[4]^[5] In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.^[6]

Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. His first business venture, at the age of 16, was a magazine called Student. In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. He opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records—later known as Virgin Megastores—in 1972. Branson’s Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he started Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label. In 1997, Branson founded the Virgin Rail Group to bid for passenger rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. The Virgin Trains brand operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 1997 to 2019, the InterCity CrossCountry franchise from 1997 to 2007, and the InterCity East Coast franchise from 2015 to 2018. In 2004, he founded spaceflight corporation Virgin Galactic, based at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, noted for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism.

In March 2000, Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for “services to entrepreneurship”.^[7] For his work in retail, music and transport (with interests in land, air, sea and space travel), his taste for adventure and for his humanitarian work, he has become a prominent global figure.^[8]^[9] In 2007, he was placed in the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list. In July 2021, Forbes listed Branson’s estimated net worth at US$5.7 billion.^[10]

On 11 July 2021, Branson travelled as a passenger onboard Virgin Galactic Unity 22 at the edge of space, a suborbital test flight for his spaceflight company Virgin Galactic.^[11]^[12] The mission lasted approximately one hour, reaching a peak altitude of 53.5 miles (86.1 km). At 71, Branson is the third oldest person to fly to space.^[13]

Contents
Early life[edit source]

Branson was born in Blackheath, London, to Eve Branson (née Evette Huntley Flindt; 1924–2021), a former ballet dancer and air hostess, and Edward James Branson (1918–2011), a barrister.^[14]^[15] He has two younger sisters, Lindy Branson and Vanessa Branson.^[16] His grandfather, Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson, was a judge of the High Court of Justice and a Privy Councillor.^[17]

His third great-grandfather, John Edward Branson, left England for India in 1793; John Edward’s father, Harry Wilkins Branson, later joined him in Madras. From 1793, four generations of his family were at Cuddalore Tamilnadu. On the show Finding Your Roots, Branson was shown to have 3.9% South Asian (Indian) DNA, likely through intermarriage.^[15] Later, he stated that one of his great-great-great-grandmothers was an Indian named Ariya.^[18]

Branson was educated at Scaitcliffe School, a prep school in Surrey, before briefly attending Cliff View House School in Sussex.^[19] He attended Stowe School, an independent school in Buckinghamshire until the age of sixteen.^[19]

Branson has dyslexia, and had poor academic performance; on his last day at school, his headmaster, Robert Drayson, told him he would either end up in prison or become a millionaire.^[20]^[19] Branson’s parents were supportive of his endeavours from an early age.^[21] His mother was an entrepreneur; one of her most successful ventures was building and selling wooden tissue boxes and wastepaper bins.^[22] In London, he started off squatting from 1967 to 1968.^[23]

Early business career[edit source]

After failed attempts to grow and sell both Christmas trees and budgerigars, Branson launched a magazine named Student in 1966 with Nik Powell. The first issue of Student appeared in January 1968, and a year later, Branson’s net worth was estimated at £50,000. The office for the venture was situated in the crypt of St. John’s Church, off Bayswater Road, in London.^[24] Though not initially as successful as he hoped, the magazine later became a vital component of the mail-order record business Branson started from the same church he used for Student. Branson used the magazine to advertise popular albums, driving his record sales.^[25] He interviewed several prominent personalities of the late 1960s for the magazine including Mick Jagger and R. D. Laing.^[26] Branson took over full direction of Student after successfully bluffing to Powell that the workers at the magazine opposed Powell’s plans to turn the magazine into a cooperative.^[27]^[28]

His business sold records for considerably less than the “High Street” outlets, especially the chain WHSmith. Branson once said, “There is no point in starting your own business unless you do it out of a sense of frustration.”^[29] At the time, many products were sold under restrictive marketing agreements that limited discounting, despite efforts in the 1950s and 1960s to limit retail price maintenance.^{[note 1]}

Branson eventually started a record shop in Oxford Street in London. In 1971, he was questioned in connection with the selling of records declared export stock. The matter was never brought before a court because Branson agreed to repay any unpaid purchase tax of 33% and a £70,000 fine. His parents re-mortgaged the family home to help pay the settlement.^[26]

Virgin[edit source]

Main articles: Virgin Group and Timeline of Richard Branson’s business ventures

1972–1980: Founding of Virgin Records[edit source]

The Manor Studio, Richard Branson’s recording studio in the manor house at the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire

In 1972, using money earned from his record store, Branson launched the record label Virgin Records with Nik Powell. The name “Virgin” was suggested by one of Branson’s early employees because they were all new at business.^[30] Branson bought a country estate north of Oxford in which he installed a residential recording studio, The Manor Studio.^[31] He leased studio time to fledgling artists, including multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield, whose debut album Tubular Bells (1973) was the first release for Virgin Records and became a chart-topping best-seller.^[32]

Virgin signed controversial bands such as the Sex Pistols, which other companies were reluctant to sign. Virgin Records would go on to sign other artists including the Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel, XTC, Japan, UB40, Steve Winwood and Paula Abdul, and to become the world’s largest independent record label.^[33] It also won praise for exposing the public to such lesser known avant-garde music as Faust and Can. Virgin Records also introduced Culture Club to the music world.

Branson’s net worth was estimated at £5 million by 1979, and a year later, Virgin Records went international.^{[citation needed]}

1981–1987: Package holiday industries and Virgin Atlantic[edit source]

Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 approaching London Heathrow in June 2015

Branson’s first successful entry into the airline industry was during a trip to Puerto Rico. His flight was cancelled, so he decided to charter his own plane the rest of the way and offered a ride to the rest of the stranded passengers for a small fee to cover the cost.^[34]

In 1982, Virgin purchased the gay bar Heaven. In 1991, in a consortium with David Frost, Branson made an unsuccessful bid for three ITV franchises under the CPV-TV name. The early 1980s also saw his only attempt as a producer—on the novelty record “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep“, by The Singing Sheep in association with Doug McLean and Grace McDonald, on which he was credited as “Jeff Mutton”. The track consisted of samples of animal noises recorded at his aunt Claire Hoares’ farm in Norfolk, set to a drum-machine-produced track and reached number 42 in the UK charts in 1982.^[35]

Branson formed Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Cargo in 1984. He formed Virgin Holidays in 1985.

1988–2000: Telecoms ventures, railways, and worldwide impact[edit source]

Virgin Trains West Coast Class 390 Pendolino at Lichfield in August 2011

In 1992, to keep his airline company afloat, Branson sold the Virgin label to EMI for £500 million.^[36] Branson said that he wept when the sale was completed because the record business had been the very start of the Virgin empire. He created V2 Records in 1996 to re-enter the music business, owning 5% himself.^[37] Virgin also acquired European short-haul airline Euro Belgian Airlines and renamed it Virgin Express. In 1997, Branson took what many saw as being one of his riskier business exploits by entering into the railway business during the privatisation of British Rail in the late 1990s. Virgin Rail Group won the InterCity CrossCountry and InterCity West Coast franchises, beginning operations in January and March 1997 respectively.^[38]^[39] Both franchises were scheduled to run for 15 years.^[40]^[41]

A series of disputes in the early 1990s caused tension between Virgin Atlantic and British Airways, which viewed Virgin as an emerging competitor. Virgin subsequently accused British Airways of poaching its passengers, hacking its computers, and leaking stories to the press that portrayed Virgin negatively. After the so-called campaign of “dirty tricks”, British Airways settled the case, giving £500,000 to Branson, a further £110,000 to his airline, and had to pay legal fees of up to £3 million. Branson distributed his compensation (the so-called “BA bonus”) among his staff.^[42]

Branson launched Virgin Mobile in 1999, and airline Virgin Blue in Australia in 2000.^[43]

2001–2007: Entry into space travel and Virgin Media[edit source]

Branson in 2001

On 25 September 2004, Branson announced the signing of a deal under which a new space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, will license the technology behind SpaceShipOne—funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and designed by aeronautical engineer Burt Rutan—to take paying passengers into suborbital outer space. Virgin Galactic plans to make flights available to the public with tickets priced at US$200,000 using the Scaled Composites White Knight Two.^[44] The spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo, is manufactured by The Spaceship Company, which was founded by Branson and Rutan and is now solely owned by Virgin Galactic. In 2013, Branson said that he planned to take his two children, 31-year-old Holly and 28-year-old Sam, on a trip to outer space when they ride the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane on its first public flight, then planned for 2014.^[45] As part of his promotion of the firm, Branson has added a variation of the Virgin Galactic livery to his personal business jet, the Dassault Falcon 900EX “Galactic Girl” (G-GALX).^[46]^[47]

He was ninth in The Sunday Times Rich List 2006 of the wealthiest people or families in the UK, worth slightly more than £3 billion. Branson wrote in his autobiography of the decision to start an airline.

My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them … from the perspective of wanting to live life to the full, I felt that I had to attempt it.

In 2006, the airline was merged with SN Brussels Airlines forming Brussels Airlines.^[48] It also started a national airline based in Nigeria, called Virgin Nigeria, which ceased operations in 2009.^[49] Another airline, Virgin America, began flying out of San Francisco International Airport in August 2007.^[50]^[51]

Branson’s next venture with the Virgin group was Virgin Fuels, which was set up to respond to global warming and exploit the recent spike in fuel costs by offering a revolutionary, cheaper fuel for automobiles and, in the near future, aircraft. Branson has stated that he was formerly a global warming sceptic and was influenced in his decision by a breakfast meeting with Al Gore.^[52]

On 21 September 2006, Branson pledged to invest the profits of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains in research for environmentally-friendly fuels. The investment is estimated to be worth $3 billion.^[53]^[54]

On 4 July 2006, Branson sold his Virgin Mobile company to UK cable TV, broadband, and telephone company NTL:Telewest for £900million. A new company was launched with much fanfare and publicity on 8 February 2007, under the name Virgin Media. The decision to merge his Virgin Media Company with NTL was to integrate both companies’ compatible parts of commerce. Branson used to own three-quarters of Virgin Mobile, whereas now he gets paid £8.5million each year for the use of the Virgin brand name. He does not own any part of Virgin Media.^[55]

In 2006, Branson formed Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation, an entertainment company focused on creating new stories and characters for a global audience. The company was founded with author Deepak Chopra, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, and entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan and Gotham Chopra.^[56] Branson also launched the Virgin Health Bank on 1 February 2007, offering parents-to-be the opportunity to store their baby’s umbilical cord blood stem cells in private and public stem-cell banks. In June 2006, a tip-off from Virgin Atlantic led both UK and US competition authorities to investigate price-fixing attempts between Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. In August 2007, British Airways was fined £271 million over the allegations. Virgin Atlantic was given immunity for tipping off the authorities and received no fine—a controversial decision the Office of Fair Trading defended as being in the public interest.^[57]Branson with Alberto Hazan in June 2007 helping launch Virgin Radio Italia

On 9 February 2007, Branson announced the setting up of a new global science and technology prize—The Virgin Earth Challenge—in the belief that history has shown that prizes of this nature encourage technological advancements for the good of mankind. The Virgin Earth Challenge was to award $25 million to the individual or group who are able to demonstrate a commercially viable design that will result in the net removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases each year for at least ten years without countervailing harmful effects. This removal must have long-term effects and contribute materially to the stability of the Earth’s climate. Branson also announced that he would be joined in the adjudication of the prize by a panel of five judges, all world authorities in their respective fields: Al Gore, Sir Crispin Tickell, Tim Flannery, James E. Hansen, and James Lovelock.

In July 2007, Branson purchased his Australian home, Makepeace Island, in Noosa.^[58] In August 2007, Branson announced that he bought a 20-percent stake in Malaysia’s AirAsia X.^[59]

On 13 October 2007, Branson’s Virgin Group sought to add Northern Rock to its empire after submitting an offer that would result in Branson personally owning 30% of the company and changing the company’s name from Northern Rock to Virgin Money.^[60] The Daily Mail ran a campaign against his bid; Vince Cable, financial spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, suggested in the House of Commons that Branson’s criminal conviction for tax evasion might be felt by some as a good enough reason not to trust him with public money.^[61]

2008–2019: Hotels, healthcare and charitable influence[edit source]

On 10 January 2008, Virgin Healthcare announced that it would open a chain of health care clinics that would offer conventional medical care alongside homeopathic and complementary therapies, a development that was welcomed by Ben Bradshaw, the UK’s health minister.^[62]

Plans where GPs could be paid for referring National Health Service (NHS) patients to private Virgin services were abandoned in June 2008. The BMA warned the plan would “damage clinical objectivity”, there would be a financial incentive for GPs to push patients toward the Virgin services at the centre.^[63] Plans to take over an NHS Practice in Swindon were abandoned in late September 2008.^[64]Branson in April 2009 at the launch of Virgin America in Orange County, California

In February 2009, Branson’s Virgin organization was reported as bidding to buy the former Honda Formula One team. Branson later stated an interest in Formula One, but claimed that, before the Virgin brand became involved with Honda or any other team, Formula One would have to develop a more economically efficient and environmentally responsible image. At the start of the 2009 Formula One season on 28 March, it was announced that Virgin would be sponsoring the new Brawn GP team,^[65] with discussions also under way about introducing a less “dirty” fuel in the medium term.^[66] After the end of the season and the subsequent purchase of Brawn GP by Mercedes-Benz, Branson invested in an 80% buyout of Manor Grand Prix,^[67]^[68] with the team being renamed Virgin Racing.

In 2010, Virgin Hotels was launched under the Virgin Group. In February 2018, Branson announced the first Virgin hotel in the UK would open in Edinburgh.^[69]

Branson and Tony Fernandes, owner of Air Asia and Lotus F1 Racing, had a bet for the 2010 F1 season where the losing team’s boss should work on the winner’s airline during a charity flight dressed as a stewardess. Fernandes escaped as the bet winner, as Lotus Racing ended tenth in the championship, while Virgin Racing ended twelfth and last. Branson kept his word after losing the bet, as he served his duty as a stewardess on an Air Asia flight between Perth and Kuala Lumpur on 12 May 2013.^[70]Branson at the Time 100 Gala in May 2010. Known for his informal dress code,^[71] this was a rare occasion he didn’t wear an open shirt.

In 2010, Branson became patron of the UK’s Gordon Bennett 2010 gas balloon race, which has 16 hydrogen balloons flying across Europe.^[72]

In April 2012, Virgin Care commenced a five-year contract for provision of a range of health services which had previously been under the aegis of NHS Surrey, the local primary care trust.^[73] By March 2015, Virgin Care was in charge of over 230 services nationwide.^[74]

In July 2012, Branson announced plans to build an orbital space launch system, designated LauncherOne.^[75] Four commercial customers have already contracted for launches and two companies are developing standardised satellite buses optimised to the design of LauncherOne, in expectation of business opportunities created by the new smallsat launcher.^[76]

In August 2012, when re-tendered the InterCity West Coast franchise was awarded to FirstGroup after a competitive tender process overseen by the Department for Transport. Branson had expressed his concerns about the tender process and questioned the validity of the business plan submitted by FirstGroup. When Virgin Rail lost the contract, Branson said he was convinced the civil servants had “got their maths wrong”. In October, after an investigation into the bidding process, the deal was scrapped. The Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced there were “significant technical flaws” in the process and mistakes had been made by transport staff. Virgin Rail continued to operate the West Coast line until 7 December 2019, when it was replaced by Avanti West Coast.^[77]

In September 2014, Branson announced his investment in drone company 3D Robotics stating, “It’s amazing to see what a little flying object with a GoPro attached can do. Before they came along the alternative was an expensive helicopter and crew. I’m really excited about the potential 3D Robotics sees in drones. They can do a lot of good in the world, and I hope this affordable technology will give many more people the chance to see our beautiful planet from such a powerful perspective.”^[78]

In 2014, Branson launched the “Foodpreneur” food and drink-focused start-up competition. Winners were provided with mentorship from Branson, legal support, and brand counseling.^[79] The 2014 winners included Proper Beans, Killer Tomato, Sweetpea Pantry and Sweet Virtues. In 2015, the competition expanded to the Virgin StartUp’s Foodpreneur Festival. The 2015 winners were given the opportunity to pitch Target Corporation buyers. The 2015 winners included Pip & Nut, Double Dutch Drinks, Harry Bromptons, Cauli Rice and Mallow and Marsh.^[80]

In March 2015, Virgin Trains East Coast commenced operating the InterCity East Coast franchise; the company was a joint venture between Stagecoach (90%) and Virgin Group (10%).^[81]^[82] Due to the line performing below VTEC’s expectations, it was announced in May 2018 that the contract would be terminated early by the government. VTEC ceased operating on 23 June 2018 and operations passed to a government-owned operator, London North Eastern Railway.^[83]

In November 2015, Branson announced the addition of Moskito Island to the Virgin Limited Edition portfolio. This resort, The Branson Estate on Moskito Island, offers 11 bedrooms for 22 guests.^[84]Branson and Argentina‘s President Mauricio Macri, 22 January 2016

In 2017, Virgin Group invested in Hyperloop One, developing a strategic partnership between the two. Branson joined the board of directors,^[85] and in December 2017, became its chairman.^[86] The announced winner of the 2017 Virgin StartUp’s Foodpreneur prize was The Snaffling Pig Co., which won a six-week rental space at Intu Lakeside, the retail center with the highest foot traffic in the United Kingdom.^[87]

In October 2017, Branson appeared on the Season 9 Premiere of Shark Tank as a guest investor,^[88] where he invested in Locker Board,^[89] a sustainable line of skateboards invented by 11-year-old, Carson Kropfl.^[90] Branson told the young business man that he reminded him of himself.^[91] Branson became the richest Shark to have appeared on the show.^[92]

In April 2018, Branson announced the acquisition of the Las Vegas based Hard Rock Casino-Hotel with plans to re-brand the property under his Virgin Hotels business.^[93] Virgin Hotels Las Vegas opened on 25 March 2021.

In May 2018, it was announced that he would become a partner in a private equity fund that will be co-managed by Metric Capital. The fund will seek out consumer goods firms to invest in.^[94]^[95]

In September 2018, Branson took part in his fourth Virgin Strive Challenge, where he and a core team travelled more than 2,000 km from Cagliari in Sardinia to the summit of Mont Blanc entirely under human and sail power. It was a gruelling month-long challenge where they hiked, biked and kayaked across Europe and had a near-miss on Mont Blanc when a rockfall rained down on them as they crossed the perilous Gouter Couloir. They raised more than £1m for Holly and Sam Branson’s charity Big Change, which supports young people.^[96]

In February 2019, Branson helped organise an international benefit concert, Venezuela Aid Live, to bring worldwide attention to the humanitarian crisis and raise funds for humanitarian aid. The concert took place on 22 February in Cúcuta, Colombia, on the Venezuelan border.

2020–present: COVID-19 difficulties[edit source]

In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic which saw a dramatic decline in international air travel of around 60% globally,^[97] Branson and Virgin attracted criticism by asking staff to take eight weeks’ unpaid leave.^[98] In response to the global pandemic, Branson put his luxury Necker Island up as collateral for a commercial loan to save Virgin Atlantic from going bust.^[99] Branson said: “Over the five decades I have been in business, this is the most challenging time we have ever faced… From a business perspective, the damage to many is unprecedented and the length of the disruption remains worryingly unknown.”^[100] On 5 May 2020, it was announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline would lay off 3000 staff, reduce the fleet size to 35 by the summer of 2022, retire the Boeing 747-400s^[101] and would not resume operations from Gatwick following the pandemic.^[102]Branson receives his corporate astronaut wings after Unity 22

On 11 July 2021, Richard Branson took a flight with Beth Moses, Sirisha Bandla and Colin Bennett and reached edge of space (86 kilometers or 53 miles) on a Virgin Galactic spacecraft called VSS Unity. This made him the first billionaire founder of a space company to travel to the edge of space.^[103]

Failed business ventures[edit source]

Branson has been involved in a number of failed business ventures, such as Virgin Cola, Virgin Cars, Virgin Publishing, Virgin Clothing and Virgin Brides.^[104]^[105] However, Branson holds an optimistic view of failure. He has written: “I suppose the secret to bouncing back is not only to be unafraid of failures but to use them as motivational and learning tools… There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes as long as you don’t make the same ones over and over again.”^[106]

World record attempts[edit source]

The capsule from the Virgin Atlantic Flyer balloon on display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, England A 1998 attempt at an around-the-world balloon flight by Branson, Fossett, and Lindstrand ends in the Pacific Ocean on 25 December 1998.

Branson made several world record-breaking attempts after 1985, when in the spirit of the Blue Riband he attempted the fastest Atlantic Ocean crossing by ship. His first attempt in the Virgin Atlantic Challenger led to the boat capsizing in British waters and a rescue by RAF helicopter, which received wide media coverage. Some newspapers called for Branson to reimburse the government for the rescue cost. In 1986, in his Virgin Atlantic Challenger II, he beat the record by two hours with sailing expert Daniel McCarthy.^[107] A year later his hot air balloon Virgin Atlantic Flyer crossed the Atlantic.^[108]

In January 1991, Branson crossed the Pacific from Japan to Arctic Canada, 6,700 miles (10,800 km), in a balloon of 2,600,000 cubic feet (74,000 m³). This broke the record, with a speed of 145 miles per hour (233 km/h).^[109]

Between 1995 and 1998, Branson, Per Lindstrand, Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Larry Newman, and Steve Fossett made attempts to circumnavigate the globe by balloon. In late 1998, they made a record-breaking flight from Morocco to Hawaii but were unable to complete a global flight before Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones in Breitling Orbiter 3 in March 1999.

In March 2004, Branson set a record by travelling from Dover to Calais in a Gibbs Aquada in 1 hour, 40 minutes and 6 seconds, the fastest crossing of the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle. The previous record of six hours was set by two Frenchmen.^[110] The cast of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, attempted to break this record in an amphibious vehicle which they had constructed and, while successfully crossing the channel, did not break Branson’s record. After being intercepted by the Coast Guard and asked what their intentions were, Clarkson remarked “…our intentions are to go across the Channel faster than ‘Beardy’ Branson!”. The Coast Guard wished them ‘Good luck and Bon Voyage’.^[111]

In September 2008, Branson and his children made an unsuccessful attempt at an eastbound record crossing of the Atlantic Ocean under sail in the 99-foot (30 m) sloop Virgin Money.^[112] The boat, also known as Speedboat, is owned by NYYC member Alex Jackson, who was a co-skipper on this passage, with Branson and Mike Sanderson. After two days, four hours, winds of force 7 to 9 (strong gale), and seas of 40 feet (12 m), a ‘monster wave’ destroyed the spinnaker, washed a ten-man life raft overboard and severely ripped the mainsail. The sloop eventually continued to St. George’s, Bermuda.^[113]

Television, film and print[edit source]

Branson at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

Branson has guest starred, usually playing himself, on several television shows, including Friends, Baywatch, Birds of a Feather, Only Fools and Horses, The Day Today, a special episode of the comedy Goodness Gracious Me and Tripping Over. Branson made several appearances during the 1990s on the BBC Saturday morning show Live & Kicking, where he was referred to as ‘the pickle man’ by comedy act Trev and Simon (in reference to Branston Pickle).^[114]

Branson also appears in a cameo early in XTC‘s “Generals and Majors” video. He was also the star of a reality television show on Fox called The Rebel Billionaire: Branson’s Quest for the Best (2004), in which sixteen contestants were tested for their entrepreneurship and sense of adventure and only lasted one season.^[104]

His high public profile often leaves him open as a figure of satire—the 2000 AD series Zenith features a parody of Branson as a supervillain, as the comic’s publisher and favoured distributor and the Virgin group were in competition at the time. He is also caricatured in The Simpsons episode “Monty Can’t Buy Me Love” as the tycoon Arthur Fortune, as the ballooning megalomaniac Richard Chutney (a pun on Branson, as in Branston Pickle) in Believe Nothing, and voiced himself in “The Princess Guide“. The character Grandson Richard 39 in Terry Pratchett‘s Wings is modelled on Branson.

He has a cameo appearance in several films: Around the World in 80 Days (2004), where he played a hot-air balloon operator, and Superman Returns (2006), where he was credited as a ‘Shuttle Engineer’ and appeared alongside his son, Sam, with a Virgin Galactic-style commercial suborbital shuttle at the centre of his storyline. He also has a cameo in the James Bond film Casino Royale (2006). Here, he is seen as a passenger going through Miami Airport security check-in and being frisked – several Virgin Atlantic planes appear soon after. British Airways edited out Branson’s cameo in their in-flight screening of the movie.^[115] He makes a number of brief and disjointed appearances in the documentary Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979), which follows the exploits of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore recording their final comedy album. Branson and his mother were also featured in the documentary film Lemonade Stories. On the TV series Rove Live in early 2006, Rove McManus and Sir Richard pushed each other into a swimming pool fully clothed live on TV during a “Live at your house” episode.

Branson is a Star Trek fan and named his new spaceship VSS Enterprise in honour of the Star Trek spaceships, and in 2006, reportedly offered actor William Shatner a ride on the inaugural space launch of Virgin Galactic. In an interview in Time magazine, published on 10 August 2009, Shatner claimed that Branson approached him asking how much he would pay for a ride on the spaceship. In response, Shatner asked “how much would you pay me to do it?”

In August 2007, Branson announced on The Colbert Report that he had named a new aircraft Air Colbert. He later doused political satirist and talk show host Stephen Colbert with water from his mug. Branson subsequently took a retaliatory splash from Colbert. The interview quickly ended, with both laughing^[116] as shown on the episode aired on Comedy Central on 22 August 2007. The interview was promoted on The Report as the Colbert-Branson Interview Trainwreck. Branson then made a cameo appearance in The Soup, playing an intern working under Joel McHale who had been warned against getting into water fights with Stephen Colbert, and being subsequently fired.

In March 2008, he launched Virgin Mobile in India; during that period, he made a cameo appearance in Bollywood film London Dreams.^[117] In July 2010, Branson narrated Australian sailor Jessica Watson‘s documentary about her solo sailing trip around the world.

In April 2011, Branson appeared on CNN‘s Mainsail with Kate Winslet.^[118] Together they re-enacted a famous scene from the 1997 film Titanic for the cameras.^[119]^{[better source needed]} On 17 August 2011, he was featured in the premier episode of Hulu‘s first long-form original production entitled, A Day in the Life.^[120]

At the 2012 Pride of Britain Awards on ITV on 30 October, Branson, along with Michael Caine, Elton John, Simon Cowell and Stephen Fry, recited Rudyard Kipling‘s poem “If—” in tribute to the 2012 British Olympic and Paralympics athletes.^[121]

In 1998, Branson released his autobiography, titled Losing My Virginity, an international best-seller.^[122] Branson was deeply saddened by the disappearance of fellow adventurer Steve Fossett in September 2007; the following month he wrote an article for Time magazine, titled “My Friend, Steve Fossett”.^[123]

Humanitarian initiatives[edit source]

In the late 1990s, Branson and musician Peter Gabriel discussed with Nelson Mandela their idea of a small group of leaders working to solve difficult global conflicts.^[124] On 18 July 2007, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Mandela announced the formation of a new group, The Elders. Kofi Annan served as Chair of The Elders and Gro Harlem Brundtland as Deputy Chair. The Elders is funded by a group of donors, including Branson and Gabriel.Richard Branson with his mother Eve, and the board of directors of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, April 2014

In 1999, Branson became a founding sponsor of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (“ICMEC”), the goal of which is to help find missing children, and to stop the exploitation of children, as his mother Eve became a founding member of ICMEC’s board of directors.^[125]^[126]

Through the Carbon War Room, founded in 2009, the entrepreneur sought solutions for global warming and the energy crisis. “We all have a part to play, but I believe entrepreneurs will have a really significant role to play in bringing investment and commercial skills to help develop the new technologies needed to grow a post-carbon economy”, he said in his interview with Vision. Through Carbon War Room initiative he has focused efforts on finding sustainable alternatives for three industry sectors: shipping, energy efficiency and aviation and renewable jet fuels.^[127]

He also launched Virgin Startup, an official delivery partner for the UK’s Start Up Loans programme. Through this new organisation, he provided loans to entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 30 UK-wide. A pilot of the scheme, which ran over 11 months, injected £600,000 into 100 businesses.^[127]

Branson’s other work in South Africa includes the Branson School of Entrepreneurship, set up in 2005 as a partnership between Virgin Unite, the non-profit foundation of Virgin, and entrepreneur Taddy Blecher, the founder of CIDA City Campus, a university in Johannesburg. The school aims to improve economic growth in South Africa by supporting start-ups and micro-enterprises with skills, mentors, services, networks and finance arrangements.^[128]^[129] Fundraising activity to support the school is achieved by The Sunday Times Fast Track 100, sponsored by Virgin Group, at its yearly event, where places to join Richard Branson on trips to South Africa to provide coaching and mentoring to students are auctioned to attendees. In 2009, Jason Luckhurst and Boyd Kershaw of Practicus, Martin Ainscough of the Ainscough Group and Matthew Riley of Daisy Communications helped raise £150,000 through the auction.^[130]

In March 2008, Branson hosted an environmental gathering at his private island, Necker Island, in the Caribbean with several entrepreneurs, celebrities, and world leaders. They discussed global warming-related problems, hoping that the meeting would be a precursor to future discussions regarding similar problems. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, and Larry Page of Google were in attendance.^[131]

On 8 May 2009, Branson took over Mia Farrow‘s hunger strike for three days in protest of the Sudanese government expulsion of aid groups from the Darfur region.^[132] In 2010, he and the Nduna Foundation (founded by Amy Robbins), and Humanity United (an organization backed by Pam Omidyar, the wife of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar) founded Enterprise Zimbabwe.^[133]Branson at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012

Branson is a signatory of Global Zero campaign, a non-profit international initiative for the elimination of all nuclear weapons worldwide.^[134] Since its launch in Paris in December 2008,^[135] Global Zero has grown to 300 leaders, including current and former heads of state, national security officials and military commanders, and 400,000 citizens worldwide; developed a practical step-by-step plan to eliminate nuclear weapons; launched an international student campaign with 75 campus chapters in eight countries; and produced a documentary film, Countdown to Zero, in partnership with Lawrence Bender and Participant Media.^[136]

Since 2010, Branson has served as a Commissioner on the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, a UN initiative which promotes universal access to broadband services.^[137] In 2011, Branson served on the Global Commission on Drug Policy with former political and cultural leaders of Latin America and elsewhere, “in a bid to boost the effort to achieve more humane and rational drug laws.”^[138]

In December 2013, Branson urged companies to boycott Uganda because of its “anti-homosexuality bill”. Branson stated that it would be “against my conscience to support this country…governments must realize that people should be able to love whoever they want.”^[139]

In 2014, Branson joined forces with African Wildlife Foundation and partner WildAid for the “Say No” Campaign, an initiative to bring public awareness to the issues of wildlife poaching and trafficking.^[140]

Branson is an opponent of the death penalty, stating: “the death penalty is always cruel, barbaric and inhumane. It has no place in the world.”^[141] The US is one of the few countries that practises the death penalty, and on 30 September 2015, Branson released a letter in support of American inmate Richard Glossip on the day he was due to be executed, buying an ad in The Oklahoman newspaper which had advocated the execution.^[142] Branson stated the evidence against Glossip was flawed and that “every person is deserving of a fair trial”, adding: “Your state is about to execute a man whose guilt has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”^[142]

In October 2018, Branson spoke out for Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who was killed by Saudi authorities in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey by suspending his advisory role from Saudi Arabia‘s biggest Red Sea tourism project. He issued a statement saying, “The disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, if proved true, would clearly change the ability of any of us in the West to do business with the Saudi Government.”^[143]^[144]

On 1 December 2020 Virgin Orbit launched The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, designed to offer paid work experience and mentorship in the aerospace industry for ‘extraordinary Black students.’^[145]

Climate change pledge[edit source]

Branson discusses climate change with the United States Secretary of State John Kerry in 2016

In 2006, Branson made a high-profile pledge to invest $3 billion toward addressing global warming over the course of the following decade.^[146]^[147] However, author and activist Naomi Klein has criticised Branson for contributing “well under $300 million” as of 2014, far below the originally stated goal.^[148] Additionally, Klein says Virgin airlines’ greenhouse gas emissions increased considerably in the years following his pledge.^[149]

Politics[edit source]

In the 1980s, Branson was briefly given the post of “litter Tsar” by Margaret Thatcher—charged with “keeping Britain tidy”.^[150]^[151] During the BBC Coverage of the 1997 UK General Election, Branson was interviewed at the Labour party celebrations at the Royal Festival Hall.^[152] In 2005, he declared that there were only negligible differences between the two main parties on economic matters.^[153] He was suggested as a candidate for Mayor of London before the first 2000 election, with polls indicating he would be a viable candidate, but he did not express interest.^[154]^[155]^[156]

In March 2015, Branson said that almost all drug use should be decriminalised in the UK, following the example of Portugal.^[157]

Branson has supported continuing British membership of the European Union and was opposed to the 2016 referendum.^[158] On 28 June 2016, interviewed for ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said that his company had lost a third of its value as a result of the referendum result and that a planned venture, employing over 3,000 people, which he had announced before the referendum, had been shelved. He gave his backing for a second referendum.^[159] Branson endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 US presidential election.^[160]

Honours and awards[edit source]

Waxwork of Branson at Madame Tussauds, London
- In 1992, Branson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.^[161]
- In 1993, Branson was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Technology from Loughborough University.^[162]
- In the New Years Honours list dated 30 December 1999, Elizabeth II signified her intention to confer the honour of Knight Bachelor on him for his “services to entrepreneurship”.^[163]^[164]
- He was knighted by Charles, Prince of Wales on 30 March 2000 at an investiture in Buckingham Palace.^[165]
- Also in 2000, Branson received the Tony Jannus Award for his accomplishments in commercial air transportation.
- In 2000, Branson was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.^[166]
- Branson appears at No. 85 on the 2002 list of 100 Greatest Britons on the BBC and voted for by the public. Branson was also ranked in 2007’s Time magazine‘s list of the 100 Most Influential People in The World.^[167] On 7 December 2007, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon presented Branson with the United Nations Correspondents Association Citizen of the World Award for his support for environmental and humanitarian causes.^[168]
- On 24 January 2011, Branson was awarded the German Media Prize (organised by “Media Control Charts“), previously handed to former US president Bill Clinton and the Dalai Lama.
- On 14 November 2011, Branson was awarded the ISTA Prize by the International Space Transport Association in The Hague for his pioneering achievements in the development of suborbital transport systems with “Virgin Galactic”.^[169]
- On 11 February 2012, Branson was honoured with the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences‘ President’s Merit Award for his contributions to the music industry.^[170]
- On 2 June 2013, Branson received an honorary degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from Kaunas Technology University in Kaunas, Lithuania.^[171]
- On 15 May 2014, Branson received the 2014 Business for Peace Award, awarded annually by the Business for Peace Foundation in Oslo, Norway.^[172]
- On 21 September 2014, Branson was recognized by The Sunday Times as the most admired business person over the last five decades.^[173]
- On 9 October 2014, Branson was named as the No. 1 LGBT ally by the OUTstanding organisation.^[174]
- On 29 October 2015, Branson was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 1 in the list of 100 Most Influential British Entrepreneurs.^[175]
- In October 2015, Branson received the International Crisis Group Chairman’s Award at the United Nations Development Programme’s in Pursuit of Peace Awards Dinner.^[176]
Tax evasion[edit source]

In 1971, Branson was convicted and briefly jailed for tax evasion, having fraudulently obtained export documents for records to be sold on the domestic market to avoid paying Purchase Tax.^[177]^[178] Customs officials caught onto the scheme and executed a sting operation, marking records bought for the international market with invisible ink and subsequently buying them on the domestic market. Branson was advised of the sting by an anonymous tip-off and attempted to dispose of the evidence, but this was unsuccessful.^[177]^[178]

Branson’s business empire is owned by a complicated series of offshore trusts and companies. The Sunday Times stated that his wealth is calculated at £3 billion; if he were to retire to his Caribbean island and liquidate all of this, he would pay relatively little in tax.^[179] Branson has been criticised for his business strategy, and has been accused of being a carpetbagger.^[180]^[181]^[182] Branson responded that he is living on Necker for health rather than tax reasons.^[183]

In 2013, Branson described himself as a “tax exile”, having saved millions in tax by ending his mainland British residency and living in the British Virgin Islands.^[184] This was echoed by the then Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Labour’s John McDonnell, in 2016, amid calls for his knighthood to be revoked.^[185]

Personal life[edit source]

Branson married Kristen Tomassi in 1972 and divorced her in 1979. He has a daughter Holly (b. 1981) and a son Sam (b. 1985) with his second wife, Joan Templeman, whom he met in 1976. They were married in 1989 on Necker Island.^[186] He stated in an interview with Piers Morgan that he and Joan also had a daughter named Clare Sarah, who died when she was four days old in 1979.^[187]^[188]

In 2017, Branson’s Necker Island home was left uninhabitable after Hurricane Irma.^[189] It was the second time the Necker Island home had been severely damaged after the building caught fire when it was struck by lightning caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011.^[190] Branson’s mother Eve died from COVID-19 complications in January 2021 at the age of 96. A celebration of her life was posted online by her son.^[191]

In 2007, Branson was ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church Monastery to conduct an on-flight wedding as part of a marketing effort for domestic flights in the USA on Virgin America airline.^[192] From 2013 to 2017, he served as President of the Old Stoic Society of Stowe School.^[193]^[194]

In November 2017, singer Antonia Jenae, a backing singer for Joss Stone, claimed Branson sexually assaulted her at Necker Island by “putting his head between her cleavage and making boat engine noises”, a practice that, when performed consensually, is known as motorboating.^[195] A spokesperson for Branson confirmed to The Sun newspaper that members of the band had been invited for a party on the island in 2010, but that he and friends and family in attendance had “no recollection” of the events and that “there would never have been any intention to offend or make anyone feel uncomfortable. Richard apologises if anyone felt that way.”^[195]^[196]

Branson is an experienced kitesurfer, and set two world records in the sport. The first was as the oldest person to kitesurf across the English Channel.^[197] Then in 2014 he broke the Guinness World Record for most people riding a surfboard by kiting with three women attached to him, including professional kiteboarder Susi Mai and entrepreneur Alison Di Spaltro.^[198]^[199] Also an avid cyclist, in August 2016, he was injured while riding his bicycle in the British Virgin Islands and suffered torn ligaments and a cracked cheek as a result.^[200]

Branson was also an opponent of the death penalty. He was one of the public figures who called on to Singapore to halt the execution of Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, a Malaysian drug trafficker who was convicted and sent to Singapore’s death row for heroin trafficking.^[201]

Influences[edit source]

Branson has stated in a number of interviews that he has been much influenced by non-fiction books. He most commonly mentions Nelson Mandela‘s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, explaining that Mandela was “one of the most inspiring men I have ever met and had the honour to call my friend.” Owing to his interest in humanitarian and ecological issues, Branson also lists Al Gore‘s best-selling book, An Inconvenient Truth, and The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock amongst his favourites. According to Branson’s book, Screw It, Let’s Do It: Lessons in Life, he is also a fan of Jung Chang‘s Wild Swans and Antony Beevor‘s Stalingrad.^[202]^[203] In fiction, Branson has long admired the character Peter Pan,^[204] and in 2006, he founded Virgin Comics LLC, stating that Virgin Comics will give “a whole generation of young, creative thinkers a voice”.^[205]^[206]

Bibliography[edit source]
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- Branson, Richard (2006). Screw It, Let’s Do It. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-7535-1149-7.
- Branson, Richard (2007). Let’s Not Screw It, Let’s Just Do it: New Lessons for the Future. Random House Australia. ISBN 978-1-7416-6688-5.
- Branson, Richard (2008). Business Stripped Bare. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-7535-1503-7.
- Branson, Richard (2008). Arctic Diary: Surviving on Thin Ice. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-7535-1536-5.
- Branson, Richard (2010). Reach for the Skies: Ballooning, Birdmen and Blasting into Space. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-1-905264-91-9.
- Branson, Richard (2010). Globalisation Laid Bare: Lessons in International Business. Gibson Square Books. ISBN 978-1-90614-272-8.
- Branson, Richard (2011). Screw Business as Usual. Portfolio/Penguin. ISBN 978-1-59184-434-1.
- Branson, Richard (2013). Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won’t Teach You at Business School. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-75351-992-9.
- Branson, Richard (2014). The Virgin Way: How to Listen, Learn, Laugh and Lead. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-1-90526-490-2.
- Branson, Richard (2017). Finding My Virginity. Ebury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-75355-108-0.
  - Also published as: The Virgin Way: If It’s Not Fun, It’s Not Worth Doing^[207] and The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership^[208]
Notes[edit source]
1. ^ Another example was the Net Book Agreement, which limited the ability of book outlets, including discount book clubs, to offer deep discounts.
References[edit source]
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168. ^ “United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Awards Citizen of the World to Richard Branson and Honours Other Leading Journalists”. MaximsNews Network. 7 December 2007. Archived from the original on 9 December 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2007.
169. ^ “La première assurance pour les voyageurs de l’espace voit le jour”. Le Parisien (in French). 14 November 2011. Archived from the original on 19 June 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
170. ^ “The Recording Academy, Clive Davis Partner For Pre-GrammyGala”. The Grammys. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
171. ^ Sir Richard Branson Awarded the Title of Honorary Doctor of KTU | Kaunas University of Technology Archived 2 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine. En.ktu.lt. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
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174. ^ “LGBT ally Branson leads OUTstanding Allies rankings”. Financial Times. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
175. ^ “British Entrepreneurs Top 100: From Lord Sugar to Victoria Beckham, These Are the Most Influential Entrepreneurs in the UK”. Richtopia. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
176. ^ “Helen Clark: Speech presenting Sir Richard Branson with the International Crisis Group Chairman’s Award “In Pursuit of Peace” Awards Dinner”. UNDP. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
177. ^ Jump up to:^a ^b Weissmann, Jordan (27 May 2014). “A Portrait of the Billionaire as a Young Tax Cheat”. Slate. Archived from the original on 2 June 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
178. ^ Jump up to:^a ^b “Richard Branson : From Tax Fraud to Billionaire · Guardian Liberty Voice”. 29 May 2014. Archived from the original on 5 February 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
179. ^ Times, The Sunday (12 May 2019). “The Sunday Times Rich List 2019: Sir Richard Branson net worth”. The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
180. ^ Chakrabortty, Aditya (21 November 2011). “Is Richard Branson all he’s cracked up to be?”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013. Branson’s reply is here [3] Archived 13 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
181. ^ Aditya Chakrabortty (24 June 2013). “Don’t be fooled by Richard Branson’s defence of Virgin trains”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013. Branson’s response is here [4] Archived 13 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
182. ^ Aditya Chakrabortty (10 June 2013). “The truth about Richard Branson’s Virgin Rail profits”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 August 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
183. ^ Garside, Juliette (13 October 2013). “Richard Branson denies being a tax exile”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
184. ^ Gribben, Roland (13 October 2013). “I’ve been a tax exile for seven years, says Branson”. The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
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186. ^ “Richard Branson Has Been Married for 30 Years – These Are His Secrets to a Lasting Romance”. Travel + Leisure. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
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204. ^ Branson, Richard (12 November 2012). “Richard Branson on How to Use Age to Your Advantage”. Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on 1 December 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
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207. ^ The Virgin Way: If It’s Not Fun, It’s Not Worth Doing. Portfolio. 20 October 2015. ISBN 978-1591847984.
208. ^ The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership. Portfolio. 9 September 2014. ISBN 978-1591847373.
15 Лютого, 2022

TOP1000 – Business

Tadashi Yanai

The native form of this personal name is Yanai Tadashi. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Tadashi Yanai

Born	7 February 1949 (age 73) Ube, Yamaguchi, Allied-occupied Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Alma mater	Waseda University
Occupation	Businessman
Years active	1972–present
Known for	Founder of Fast Retailing, parent company of Uniqlo
Title	Chairman and president, Fast Retailing
Spouse(s)	Teruyo Nagaoka
Children	2

Tadashi Yanai (柳井正, Yanai Tadashi, born 7 February 1949) is a Japanese billionaire businessman, the founder and president of Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo (“unique clothing”). As of October 2021, he was the richest person in Japan, with an estimated net worth of US$33.4 billion & 40th wealthiest person in the World according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.^[1]

Early life and education[edit source]

Yanai was born in Ube, Yamaguchi in February 1949.^[2] He attended Ube High School and later Waseda University, graduating in 1971 with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science.^[3] His uncle was an activist for the minority group known as Burakumin, who have continued to suffer caste-based discrimination in employment and marriage in modern Japan.^[4]

Career[edit source]

In 1971, Yanai started in business by selling kitchenware and men’s clothing at a JUSCO supermarket.^[5] After a year at JUSCO, he quit and joined his father’s roadside tailor shop.^[5] Yanai opened his first Uniqlo store in Hiroshima in 1984,^[3] and changed the name of his father’s company Ogori Shoji to Fast Retailing in 1991.^[5] He has stated: “I might look successful but I’ve made many mistakes. People take their failures too seriously. You have to be positive and believe you will find success next time.”^[6]

In 2019 Yanai stepped down from the board of Softbank after 18 years as an independent director at the Japanese technology conglomerate.^[7]

Published works[edit source]

One Win, Nine Losses (1991)^[8]
Throw Away Your Success in a Day (2009)

Awards and honours[edit source]

Yanai won the International Retailer of Year award for 2010 from the National Retail Federation in the US. He was the fourth Japanese national to win it, and the first since 1998, when it was won by Masatoshi Ito, owner and honorary chairman of the Ito-Yokado retailing group. He was also chosen as best company president in a survey of Japanese corporate executives by Sanno Institute of Management in 2008 and 2009.^[9]
In 2012 he was included in the 50 Most Influential list of Bloomberg Markets Magazine.

Philanthropy[edit source]

In March 2011, Yanai donated 1 billion yen to victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.^[10]

Personal life[edit source]

He is the son of Kanichi Yanai and Hisako Mori Yanai. Yanai is married and has two sons, Kazumi and Koji, and lives in Tokyo.^[11] He lives in a $50 million, 16,586-square-foot house outside of Tokyo and owns two golf courses in Hawaii.^[12]

References[edit source]

^ Jump up to:^a ^b “Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Tadashi Yanai”. Bloomberg. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
^ 代表取締役会長兼社長　柳井　正 [Managing Director & President Tadashi Yanai]. Nippon Shacho (in Japanese). Japan: Ishin. 2003. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “Fast Retailing Lives Up to Name With Global Gains”. Forbes. 2009-06-22. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
^ 『週刊現代』2014年8月30日号、藤岡雅「ユニクロ・柳井が封印した『一族』の物語」
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c “Uniqlo Billionaire’s Drive for Global Crown Fuels J.Crew Talks”. Bloomberg. 2 March 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
^ Monocle magazine, April 2009
^ Simon Duke Uniqlo founder Tadashi Yanai quits Softbank board, The Times, 28 December 2019
^ Finnigan, Kate (2016-03-12). “The plain truth: Uniqlo boss Tadashi Yanai explains his plans for world domination”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
^ Kensuke Kojima (2011). Uniqlo Syndrome. Toyo Keizai Shinpo Sha. ISBN 4-492-76191-8 Tenkai Japan. ASIN: B004PYDPOK.
^ “Uniqlo operator to donate 1.4 billion yen to quake victims”. Mainichi Shinbun. 2011-03-15. Archived from the original on 2011-03-18. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
^ “Forbes profile: Tadashi Yanai & family”. Forbes. Retrieved 18 Feb 2021.
^ Warren, Katie. “Meet Tadashi Yanai, the richest person in Japan and the founder of Uniqlo, who’s worth nearly $25 billion and owns 2 golf courses in Hawaii”. Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-10-07.

15 Лютого, 2022

TOP1000 – Business

Zhong Shanshan
Zhong Shanshan (Chinese: 钟睒睒; pinyin: Zhōng Shǎnshǎn, born December 1954) is a Chinese billionaire businessman.

He is the founder and chairperson of the Nongfu Spring beverage company, and the majority owner of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise.^[1]

He is the wealthiest Chinese citizen with a net worth of more than $75 billion.^[2]

Zhong is ranked 13th on the Forbes Billionaires 2021 List and has a fortune of 65.7 billion dollars. His source of wealth is mainly beverages and pharmaceuticals.^[3]

Contents
Early life[edit source]

Zhong was born in Hangzhou in 1954.^[4] He dropped out of primary school during the Cultural Revolution^[1] and found work in construction. In 1977, he enrolled at what is now the Zhejiang Radio & TV University studying Chinese. Zhong was a journalist at the Zhejiang Daily before quitting in 1988 to enter business. In 1988, Zhong moved to Hainan, an island off the coast of southern China. He sold mushrooms, prawns, and turtles during his time on the island.^[5] He then went on to work at the Wahaha beverage company as a sales agent, and sold healthcare supplements.^[4]

Career[edit source]

In 1996, Zhong founded a bottled water company in Hangzhou,^[4] which later became Nongfu Spring. In 1999, Nongfu Spring stopped removing natural minerals from its water. This was a savvy marketing move and greatly helped increase exposure to their target audience. It was popular in China, where distilled water was the norm at the time, despite many worrying about its health benefits, or lack thereof.^[5] Under Zhong’s leadership, the company grew to be the largest bottled water maker in China, as well as one of the largest beverage companies in the world. The company beat out behemoths in the industry such as Coca-Cola, Watsons, and Pepsi to become the best-selling package beverage brand. Zhong took advantage of new technologies such as cloud computing and big data in order to gain a key advantage in understanding Nongfu Spring’s customer base.^[6] This allowed for unparalleled market expansion across the country and transformed this once humble company into a leviathan of epic proportions. According to Nielsen research data, Nongfu Springs natural water became the most popular bottled water in the country in 2012.^[7] Starting in 2012, Nongfu Spring was the number one seller of packaged beverages in China. It maintained this dominance for 8 consecutive years.^[8]

Nongfu Spring’s initial public offering in September 2020 massively increased Zhong’s wealth. It expanded his fortune from 18.9 billion dollars to over 50 billion dollars.^[9] This made him China’s wealthiest or second-wealthiest person, according to Bloomberg and Forbes respectively.^[10]^[4] At the end of 2020, Forbes listed Zhong as Asia’s wealthiest person. In January 2021, Forbes reported that the increasing share price of Nongfu Spring made him China’s wealthiest person and the world’s sixth wealthiest person, with a net worth of 95 billion dollars. However he was only shortly the wealthiest Asian but was overtaken by Mukesh Ambani of India.^[1] His rise came alongside a wave of wealth in China, where over 100 billionaires were minted in 2020, adding 0.5 trillion dollars to their wealth, collectively. However he lost over 30 billion US dollars and ranks 3rd in Asia’s wealthiest behind Ambani and Gautam Adani, both Indians.^[11] By September 2020, Zhong owned a 75% stake in Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy.^[4] Wantai went public in April 2020,^[1] which increased Zhong’s wealth and added to his fortune.^[10] As of January 2021, he owned 84.4% of Nongfu Spring and was the company’s chairperson.^[1]

Personal life[edit source]

Zhong maintains a low public profile, and has been called a “lone wolf” by Chinese media.^[10]^[12] He purchased an apartment in Xihu District, Hangzhou, where he primarily resides.^[13] Nongfu Spring’s headquarters are also located in Xihu district, which is known for its proximity to the city’s scenic West Lake. Zhong is married to Lu Xiaoping, and they have three children together.

References[edit source]
1. ^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Wang, Jennifer (5 January 2021). “China’s Bottled Water Mogul Gains $5 Billion In One Day, Becomes World’s Sixth Richest Person”. Forbes. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
2. ^ “Evergrande, Alibaba bosses slip as bottled water king tops China rich list”. 27 October 2021.
3. ^ “Zhong Shanshan”. Forbes. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
4. ^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e “Bricklayer To Billionaire: China’s Second-Richest and Asia’s 1st richest Man Rose From Rags To Extreme Riches—But Will It Last?”. Forbes. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
5. ^ Jump up to:^a ^b “China’s richest man Zhong Shanshan tried journalism, farmed prawns and sold turtle pills before founding Nongfu Spring water”. TODAYonline. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
6. ^ “Case Study: Technology Innovation Enables Nongfu Spring To Strengthen Market Leadership”. www.forrester.com. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
7. ^ “农夫山泉|Nongfu Spring|農夫山泉”. www.nongfuspring.com. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
8. ^ “Nongfu Spring: Drinking Water Leader – Initiate with Buy [1/3]”. EqualOcean. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
9. ^ “Bloomberg Billionaires Index”. Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
10. ^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c Toh, Michelle. “China has a new richest man”. CNN. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
11. ^ Frank, Robert (20 October 2020). “China’s billionaires see biggest gains ever, adding more than $1.5 trillion to their fortunes”. CNBC. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
12. ^ “Bottled water billionaire unseats Jack Ma as China’s richest man”. CTV News. 24 September 2020. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
13. ^ Warren, Katie. “Inside the low-key life of Asia’s new richest man, who’s known as the ‘lone wolf’ and used to be a journalist”. Business Insider. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
15 Лютого, 2022

TOP1000 – Business

J. P. Morgan

John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913)^[1] was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known as J.P. Morgan and Co., he was the driving force behind the wave of industrial consolidation in the United States spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Over the course of his career on Wall Street, J.P. Morgan spearheaded the formation of several prominent multinational corporations including U.S. Steel, International Harvester and General Electric which subsequently fell under his supervision. He and his partners also held controlling interests in numerous other American businesses including Aetna, Western Union, Pullman Car Company and 21 railroads.^[2] Due to the extent of his dominance over U.S. finance, Morgan exercised enormous influence over the nation’s policies and the market forces underlying its economy. During the Panic of 1907, he organized a coalition of financiers that saved the American monetary system from collapse.

As the Progressive Era‘s leading financier, J.P. Morgan’s dedication to efficiency and modernization helped transform the shape of the American economy.^[1]^[3] Adrian Wooldridge characterized Morgan as America’s “greatest banker”.^[4] Morgan died in Rome, Italy, in his sleep in 1913 at the age of 75, leaving his fortune and business to his son, John Pierpont Morgan Jr. Biographer Ron Chernow estimated his fortune at $80 million (equivalent to $1.2 billion in 2019)^[5]

Childhood and education[edit source]

Morgan was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Junius Spencer Morgan (1813–1890) and Juliet Pierpont (1816–1884) of the influential Morgan family.^[6]^[7] Pierpont,^[8] as he preferred to be known, had a varied education due in part to his father’s plans. In the fall of 1848, he transferred to the Hartford Public School, then to the Episcopal Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut (now Cheshire Academy), where he boarded with the principal. In September 1851, he passed the entrance exam for The English High School of Boston, which specialized in mathematics for careers in commerce. In April 1852, an illness struck Morgan which became more common as his life progressed: Rheumatic fever left him in such pain that he could not walk, and Junius sent him to the Azores to recover.^[9]

He convalesced there for almost a year, then returned to Boston to resume his studies. After graduation, his father sent him to Bellerive, a school in the Swiss village of La Tour-de-Peilz, where he gained fluency in French. His father then sent him to the University of Göttingen to improve his German. He attained passable fluency within six months, and a degree in art history; then traveled back to London via Wiesbaden, his formal education complete.^[10]

Career[edit source]

Early years and life[edit source]

Morgan went into banking in 1857 at the London branch of merchant banking firm Peabody, Morgan & Co., a partnership between his father and George Peabody founded three years earlier. In 1858, he moved to New York City to join the banking house of Duncan, Sherman & Company, the American representatives of George Peabody and Company. During the American Civil War, in an incident known as the Hall Carbine Affair, Morgan financed the purchase of five thousand rifles from an army arsenal at $3.50 each, which were then resold to a field general for $22 each.^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14] Morgan had avoided serving during the war by paying a substitute $300 to take his place.^[11] From 1860 to 1864, as J. Pierpont Morgan & Company, he acted as agent in New York for his father’s firm, renamed “J.S. Morgan & Co.” upon Peabody’s retirement in 1864. From 1864 to 1872, he was a member of the firm of Dabney, Morgan, and Company. In 1871, Anthony J. Drexel founded the New York firm of Drexel, Morgan & Company with his apprentice Pierpont. ^[15]

J.P. Morgan & Company[edit source]

Main article: J.P. Morgan & Co.

After the death of Anthony Drexel, the firm was rechristened J. P. Morgan & Company in 1895, retaining close ties with Drexel & Company of Philadelphia; Morgan, Harjes & Company of Paris; and J.S. Morgan & Company (after 1910 Morgan, Grenfell & Company) of London. By 1900 it was one of the world’s most powerful banking houses, focused primarily on reorganizations and consolidations.^{[citation needed]}

Morgan had many partners over the years, such as George W. Perkins, but always remained firmly in charge.^[16] He often took over troubled business and reorganized their structures and management to return them to profitability, a process that became known as “Morganization”.^[17] His reputation as a banker and financier drew interest from investors to the businesses that he took over.^[18]

Railroads[edit source]

Main article: History of rail transport in the United States § Expansion and consolidation (1878–1916)Bond of the New Jersey Junction Railroad Company, issued 30. June 1886, reverse side with signatures of John Pierpont Morgan and Harris C. Fahnestock as trustees

In his ascent to power, Morgan focused on railroads, America’s largest business enterprises.^[19] He wrested control of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad from Jay Gould and Jim Fisk in 1869; led the syndicate that broke the government-financing privileges of Jay Cooke; and developed and financed a railroad empire by reorganization and consolidation in all parts of the United States. He raised large sums in Europe; but rather than participating solely as a financier, he helped the railroads reorganize and achieve greater efficiency. He fought speculators interested only in profit and built a vision of an integrated transportation system. He successfully marketed a large part of William H. Vanderbilt‘s New York Central holdings in 1883. In 1885 he reorganized the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad, leasing it to the New York Central.^[20] In 1886 he reorganized the Philadelphia & Reading, and in 1888 the Chesapeake & Ohio. After Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, Morgan set up conferences in 1889 and 1890 that brought together railroad presidents to help the industry follow the new laws and write agreements for the maintenance of “public, reasonable, uniform and stable rates”. The first of their kind, the conferences created a community of interest among competing lines, paving the way for the great consolidations of the early 20th century. In addition, J P Morgan & Co, and the banking houses which it succeeded, reorganized a large number of railroads between 1869 and 1899. Morgan also financed street railways, especially in New York City.^[21]

A major political debacle came in 1904. The Northern Pacific Railway went bankrupt in the great depression of 1893. The bankruptcy wiped out the railroad’s bondholders, leaving it free of debt, and a complex financial battle for its control ensued. In 1901, a compromise was reached between Morgan, New York financier E. H. Harriman and St. Paul, MN railroad builder James J. Hill. To reduce expensive competition in the Midwest, they created the Northern Securities Company to consolidate the operations of three of the region’s most important railways: the Northern Pacific Railway, the Great Northern Railway, and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The consolidators ran into unexpected opposition, however, from President Theodore Roosevelt. An energetic trustbuster, Roosevelt considered the giant merger bad for consumers and a violation of the (until then) seldom-enforced Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. In 1902, Roosevelt ordered his Justice Department to sue to break it up. In 1904 the Supreme Court dissolved the Northern Security company and the railroads had to go their separate, competitive ways. Morgan did not lose money on the project, but his all-powerful political reputation suffered.^[22]

Treasury gold[edit source]

The Federal Treasury was nearly out of gold in 1895, at the depths of the Panic of 1893. Morgan had put forward a plan for the federal government to buy gold from his and European banks but it was declined in favor of a plan to sell bonds directly to the general public to overcome the crisis. Morgan, sure there was not enough time to implement such a plan, demanded and eventually obtained a meeting with Grover Cleveland where he claimed the government could default that day if they didn’t do something. Morgan came up with a plan to use an old civil war statute that allowed Morgan and the Rothschilds to sell gold directly to the U.S. Treasury, 3.5 million ounces,^[23] to restore the treasury surplus, in exchange for a 30-year bond issue.^[24] The episode saved the Treasury but hurt Cleveland’s standing with the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party, and became an issue in the election of 1896 when banks came under a withering attack from William Jennings Bryan. Morgan and Wall Street bankers donated heavily to Republican William McKinley, who was elected in 1896 and re-elected in 1900.^[25]

Steel[edit source]

J. P. Morgan in his earlier years

After his father’s death in 1890, Morgan took control of J. S. Morgan & Co. (renamed Morgan, Grenfell & Company in 1910). He began talks with Charles M. Schwab, president of Carnegie Co., and businessman Andrew Carnegie in 1900, with the goal of buying Carnegie’s steel business and merging it with several other steel, coal, mining and shipping firms. After financing the creation of the Federal Steel Company, he merged it in 1901 with the Carnegie Steel Company and several other steel and iron businesses (including William Edenbirn’s Consolidated Steel and Wire Company), forming the United States Steel Corporation. In 1901, U.S. Steel was the world’s first billion-dollar company, with an authorized capitalization of $1.4 billion, much larger than any other industrial firm and comparable in size to the largest railroads.

U.S. Steel’s goals were to achieve greater economies of scale, reduce transportation and resource costs, expand product lines, and improve distribution^[26] to allow the United States to compete globally with the United Kingdom and Germany. Schwab and others claimed the company’s size would enable it to be more aggressive and effective in pursuing distant international markets (“globalization“).^[26] U.S. Steel was regarded as a monopoly by critics, as it sought to dominate not only steel but the construction of bridges, ships, railroad cars and rails, wire, nails, and many other products. With U.S. Steel, Morgan captured two-thirds of the steel market, and Schwab was confident that the company would soon hold a 75% market share.^[26] However, after 1901, its market share dropped; and in 1903, Schwab resigned to form Bethlehem Steel, which became the second largest U.S. steel producer.

Labor policy was a contentious issue. U.S. Steel was non-union, and experienced steel producers, led by Schwab, used aggressive tactics to identify and root out pro-union “troublemakers”. The lawyers and bankers who had organized the merger—notably Morgan and CEO Elbert Gary—were more concerned with long-range profits, stability, good public relations, and avoiding trouble. The bankers’ views generally prevailed, and the result was a “paternalistic” labor policy. (U.S. Steel was eventually unionized in the late 1930s.)^[27]

Panic of 1907[edit source]

Morgan’s role in the economy was denounced as overpowering in this political cartoon

The Panic of 1907 was a financial crisis that almost crippled the American economy. Major New York banks were on the verge of bankruptcy and there was no mechanism to rescue them, until Morgan stepped in to help resolve the crisis.^[28]^[29] Treasury Secretary George B. Cortelyou earmarked $35 million of federal money to deposit in New York banks.^[30] Morgan then met with the nation’s leading financiers in his New York mansion, where he forced them to devise a plan to meet the crisis. James Stillman, president of the National City Bank, also played a central role. Morgan organized a team of bank and trust executives which redirected money between banks, secured further international lines of credit, and bought up the plummeting stocks of healthy corporations.^[28]

A delicate political issue arose regarding the brokerage firm of Moore and Schley, which was deeply involved in a speculative pool in the stock of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. Moore and Schley had pledged over $6 million of the Tennessee Coal and Iron (TCI) stock for loans among the Wall Street banks. The banks had called the loans, and the firm could not pay. If Moore and Schley should fail, a hundred more failures would follow and then all Wall Street might go to pieces. Morgan decided they had to save Moore and Schley. TCI was one of the chief competitors of U.S. Steel and it owned valuable iron and coal deposits. Morgan controlled U.S. Steel and he decided it had to buy the TCI stock from Moore and Schley. Elbert Gary, head of U.S. Steel, agreed, but was concerned there would be antitrust implications that could cause grave trouble for U.S. Steel, which was already dominant in the steel industry. Morgan sent Gary to see President Theodore Roosevelt, who promised legal immunity for the deal. U.S. Steel thereupon paid $30 million for the TCI stock and Moore and Schley was saved. The announcement had an immediate effect; by November 7, 1907, the panic was over. The crisis underscored the need for a powerful oversight mechanism.^[28]

Vowing never to let it happen again, and realizing that in a future crisis there was unlikely to be another Morgan, in 1913 banking and political leaders, led by Senator Nelson Aldrich, devised a plan that resulted in the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913.^[31]

Banking’s critics[edit source]

“I Like a Little Competition”—J. P. Morgan by Art Young. Cartoon relating to the answer Morgan gave when asked whether he disliked competition at the Pujo Committee.^[32]

While conservatives in the Progressive Era hailed Morgan for his civic responsibility, his strengthening of the national economy, and his devotion to the arts and religion, the left wing viewed him as one of the central figures in the system it rejected.^[33] Morgan redefined conservatism in terms of financial prowess coupled with strong commitments to religion and high culture.^[34]

Enemies of banking attacked Morgan for the terms of his loan of gold to the federal government in the 1895 crisis and, together with writer Upton Sinclair, they attacked him for the financial resolution of the Panic of 1907. They also attempted to attribute to him the financial ills of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. In December 1912, Morgan testified before the Pujo Committee, a subcommittee of the House Banking and Currency committee. The committee ultimately concluded that a small number of financial leaders was exercising considerable control over many industries. The partners of J.P. Morgan & Co. and directors of First National and National City Bank controlled aggregate resources of $22.245 billion, which Louis Brandeis, later a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, compared to the value of all the property in the twenty-two states west of the Mississippi River.^[35]

Unsuccessful ventures[edit source]

Morgan did not always invest well, as several failures demonstrated.

Nikola Tesla[edit source]

In 1900, the inventor Nikola Tesla convinced Morgan he could build a trans-Atlantic wireless communication system (eventually sited at Wardenclyffe) that would outperform the short range radio wave-based wireless telegraph system then being demonstrated by Guglielmo Marconi. Morgan agreed to give Tesla $150,000 (equivalent to $4,666,200 in 2020) to build the system in return for a 51% control of the patents. Almost as soon as the contract was signed Tesla decided to scale up the facility to include his ideas of terrestrial wireless power transmission to make what he thought was a more competitive system.^[36] Morgan considered Tesla’s changes (and requests for the additional amounts of money to build it) a breach of contract and refused to fund the changes. With no additional investment capital available, the project at Wardenclyffe was abandoned in 1906, and never became operational.^[36]^[37]

London Underground[edit source]

Morgan suffered a rare business defeat in 1902 when he attempted to build and operate a line on the London Underground. Transit magnate Charles Tyson Yerkes thwarted Morgan’s effort to obtain parliamentary authority to build the Piccadilly, City and North East London Railway, a subway line that would have competed with “tube” lines controlled by Yerkes.^[38] Morgan called Yerkes’ coup “the greatest rascality and conspiracy I ever heard of”.^[39]

International Mercantile Marine[edit source]

In 1902, J.P. Morgan & Co. financed the formation of International Mercantile Marine Company (IMMC), an Atlantic shipping company which absorbed several major American and British lines in an attempt to monopolize the shipping trade. IMMC was a holding company that controlled subsidiary corporations that had their own operating subsidiaries. Morgan hoped to dominate transatlantic shipping through interlocking directorates and contractual arrangements with the railroads, but that proved impossible because of the unscheduled nature of sea transport, American antitrust legislation, and an agreement with the British government. One of IMMC’s subsidiaries was the White Star Line, which owned the RMS Titanic. The ship’s famous sinking in 1912, the year before Morgan’s death, was a financial disaster for IMMC, which was forced to apply for bankruptcy protection in 1915. Analysis of financial records shows that IMMC was over-leveraged and suffered from inadequate cash flow causing it to default on bond interest payments. Saved by World War I, IMMC eventually re-emerged as the United States Lines, which went bankrupt in 1986.^[40]^[41]

Morgan corporations[edit source]

From 1890 to 1913, 42 major corporations were organized or their securities were underwritten, in whole or part, by J.P. Morgan and Company.^[42]

Manufacturing & construction industry[edit source]

John Pierpont Morgan

Railroads[edit source]

Later years[edit source]

J. P. Morgan, photographed in 1902

After the death of his father in 1890, Morgan gained control of J. S. Morgan & Co (renamed Morgan, Grenfell & Company in 1910). Morgan began negotiations with Charles M. Schwab, president of Carnegie Co., and businessman Andrew Carnegie in 1900 with the intention of buying Carnegie’s business and several other steel and iron businesses to consolidate them to create the United States Steel Corporation.^[26] Carnegie agreed to sell the business to Morgan for $480 million.^[26]^[43] The deal was closed without lawyers and without a written contract. News of the industrial consolidation arrived to newspapers in mid-January 1901. U.S. Steel was founded later that year with an authorized capitalization of $1.4 billion, the first billion-dollar company in the world.^[44]

Morgan was a member of the Union Club in New York City. When his friend, Erie Railroad president John King, was black-balled, Morgan resigned and organized the Metropolitan Club of New York.^[45] He donated the land on 5th Avenue and 60th Street at a cost of $125,000, and commanded Stanford White to “…build me a club fit for gentlemen, forget the expense…”^{[citation needed]} He invited King in as a charter member and served as club president from 1891 to 1900.^[46]

Personal life[edit source]

Marriages and children[edit source]

In 1861, Morgan married Amelia Sturges, called Mimi (1835–1862), a daughter of Jonathan Sturges. She died the following year. He married Frances Louisa Tracy, known as Fanny (1842–1924), on May 31, 1865. They had four children:

Louisa Pierpont Morgan (1866–1946), who married Herbert L. Satterlee; (1863–1947)^[47]
J. P. Morgan Jr. (1867–1943), who married Jane Norton Grew
Juliet Pierpont Morgan (1870–1952), who married William Pierson Hamilton (1869–1950)
Anne Tracy Morgan (1873–1952), philanthropist

Appearance[edit source]

Self-conscious about his rosacea, Morgan hated being photographed without permission

Morgan often had a tremendous physical effect on people; one man said that a visit from Morgan left him feeling “as if a gale had blown through the house.”^[5] Morgan was physically large with massive shoulders, piercing eyes, and a purple nose.^[48] He was known to dislike publicity and hated being photographed without his permission; as a result of his self-consciousness of his rosacea, all of his professional portraits were retouched.^[49] His deformed nose was due to a disease called rhinophyma, which can result from rosacea. As the deformity worsens, pits, nodules, fissures, lobulations, and pedunculation contort the nose. This condition inspired the crude taunt “Johnny Morgan’s nasal organ has a purple hue.”^[50] Surgeons could have shaved away the rhinophymous growth of sebaceous tissue during Morgan’s lifetime, but as a child he suffered from infantile seizures, and Morgan’s son-in-law, Herbert L. Satterlee, has speculated that he did not seek surgery for his nose because he feared the seizures would return.^[51] His social and professional self-confidence were too well established to be undermined by this affliction. It appeared as if he dared people to meet him squarely and not shrink from the sight, asserting the force of his character over the ugliness of his face.^[52]

Morgan smoked dozens of cigars per day and favored large Havana cigars dubbed Hercules’ Clubs by observers.^[53]

Religion[edit source]

Morgan was a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church, and by 1890 was one of its most influential leaders.^[54] He was a founding member of the Church Club of New York, an Episcopal private member’s club in Manhattan.^[55] In 1910, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church established a commission, proposed by Bishop Charles Brent, to implement a world conference of churches to address their differences in their “faith and order.” Morgan was so impressed by the proposal for such a conference that he contributed $100,000 to finance the commission’s work.^[56]

Homes[edit source]

Early view (c. 1855) of 229, 225 and 219 Madison Avenue before the street was paved

His house at 219 Madison Avenue was originally built in 1853 by John Jay Phelps and purchased by Morgan in 1882.^[57] It became the first electrically lit private residence in New York. His interest in the new technology was a result of his financing Thomas Alva Edison‘s Edison Electric Illuminating Company in 1878.^[58] It was there that a reception of 1,000 people was held for the marriage of Juliet Morgan and William Pierson Hamilton on April 12, 1894, where they were given a favorite clock of Morgan’s. Morgan also owned the “Cragston” estate, located in Highland Falls, New York. His son, of the same name, was the owner of East Island in Glen Cove, New York.

Yachting[edit source]

The original steam yacht CorsairJ. P. Morgan’s yacht Corsair II, later bought by the U.S. Government and renamed the USS Gloucester to serve in the Spanish–American War. Photograph by J. S. Johnston

An avid yachtsman, Morgan owned several large yachts, the first being the Corsair, built by William Cramp & Sons for Charles J. Osborn (1837-1885) and launched on May 26, 1880. Charles J. Osborn was Jay Gould‘s private banker. Morgan bought the yacht in 1882.^[59] The well-known quote, “If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it” is commonly attributed to Morgan in response to a question about the cost of maintaining a yacht, although the story is unconfirmed.^[60] A similarly unconfirmed legend attributes the quote to his son, J. P. Morgan Jr., in connection with the launching of the son’s yacht Corsair IV at Bath Iron Works in 1930.

Morgan was scheduled to travel on the ill-fated maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, but canceled at the last minute, choosing to remain at a resort in Aix-les-Bains, France.^[61] The White Star Line, which operated Titanic, was part of Morgan’s International Mercantile Marine Company, and Morgan was to have his own private suite and promenade deck on the ship. In response to the sinking of Titanic, Morgan purportedly said, “Monetary losses amount to nothing in life. It is the loss of life that counts. It is that frightful death.”^[62]

Collector[edit source]

Morgan was a notable collector of books, pictures, paintings, clocks and other art objects, many loaned or given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (of which he was president and was a major force in its establishment), and many housed in his London house and in his private library on 36th Street, near Madison Avenue in New York City.

For a number of years the British artist and art critic Roger Fry worked for the Museum, and in effect for Morgan, as a collector.^[63]

His son, J. P. Morgan Jr., made the Pierpont Morgan Library a public institution in 1924 as a memorial to his father, and kept Belle da Costa Greene, his father’s private librarian, as its first director.^[64]

Benefactor[edit source]

Morgan was a benefactor of the Morgan Library and Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, Groton School, Harvard University (especially its medical school), Trinity College, the Lying-in Hospital of the City of New York, and the New York trade schools.

Gem collector[edit source]

U.S. gemstones from the Morgan collection

By the turn of the century, Morgan had become one of America’s most important collectors of gems and had assembled the most important gem collection in the U.S. as well as of American gemstones (over 1,000 pieces). Tiffany & Co. assembled his first collection under their Chief Gemologist, George Frederick Kunz. The collection was exhibited at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1889. The exhibit won two golden awards and drew the attention of important scholars, lapidaries, and the general public.^[65]

George Frederick Kunz continued to build a second, even finer, collection which was exhibited in Paris in 1900. These collections have been donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York where they were known as the Morgan-Tiffany and the Morgan-Bement collections.^[66] In 1911 Kunz named a newly found gem after his best customer morganite.

Photography[edit source]

Morgan was a patron to photographer Edward S. Curtis, offering Curtis $75,000 in 1906, to create a series on the American Indians.^[67] Curtis eventually published a 20-volume work entitled The North American Indian.^[68] Curtis also produced a motion picture, In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914), which was restored in 1974 and re-released as In the Land of the War Canoes. Curtis was also famous for a 1911 magic lantern slide show The Indian Picture Opera which used his photos and original musical compositions by composer Henry F. Gilbert.^[69]

Death[edit source]

The Morgan Library & Museum

Morgan died while traveling abroad on March 31, 1913, just shy of his 76th birthday. He died in his sleep at the Grand Hotel Plaza in Rome, Italy. His body was brought back to America aboard the SS France, a French Line passenger ship.^[70] Flags on Wall Street flew at half-staff, and in an honor usually reserved for heads of state, the stock market closed for two hours when his body passed through New York City.^[71] His body was brought to lie in his home and adjacent library the first night of arrival in New York City. His remains were interred in the Cedar Hill Cemetery in his birthplace of Hartford, Connecticut. His son, John Pierpont “Jack” Morgan Jr., inherited the banking business.^[72] He bequeathed his mansion and large book collections to the Morgan Library & Museum in New York.John Pierpont Morgan memorial in Cedar Hill Cemetery

His estate was worth $68.3 million ($1.39 billion in today’s dollars based on CPI, or $25.2 billion based on share of GDP), of which about $30 million represented his share in the New York and Philadelphia banks. The value of his art collection was estimated at $50 million.^[73]

Legacy[edit source]

His son, J. P. Morgan Jr., took over the business at his father’s death, but was never as influential. As required by the 1933 Glass–Steagall Act, the “House of Morgan” became three entities: J.P. Morgan & Co., which later became Morgan Guaranty Trust; Morgan Stanley, an investment house formed by his grandson Henry Sturgis Morgan; and Morgan Grenfell in London, an overseas securities house.J.P. Morgan walking alongside his son in the last known photograph of the two together (ca. 1913)

The gemstone morganite was named in his honor.^[74]

The Cragston Dependencies, associated with his estate, Cragston (at Highlands, New York), was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.^[75]

Popular culture[edit source]

A contemporary literary biography of Morgan is used as an allegory for the financial environment in America after World War I in the second volume, Nineteen Nineteen, of John Dos Passos‘ U.S.A. trilogy.
Morgan appears as a character in Caleb Carr’s novel The Alienist,^[76] in E. L. Doctorow’s novel Ragtime,^[77] in Steven S. Drachman’s novel The Ghosts of Watt O’Hugh,^[78] in Graham Moore’s novel The Last Days of Night,^[79] and in Marie Bendedict and Victoria Christopher Murray’s novel, The Personal Librarian.^[80]

Morgan is believed to have been the model for Walter Parks Thatcher (played by George Coulouris), guardian of the young Citizen Kane (film directed by Orson Welles) with whom he has a tense relationship—Kane blaming Thatcher for destroying his childhood.^[81]
According to Phil Orbanes, former Vice President of Parker Brothers, the Rich Uncle Pennybags of the American version of the board game Monopoly is modeled after J. P. Morgan.^[82]The family of the illustrator Daniel Fox, who in 1936 created the mascot for the game, have accredited J. P. Morgan as being the inspiration for the character.^[83]
Morgan’s career is highlighted in episodes three and four of the History Channel’s The Men Who Built America.^[84]
“My Name Is Morgan (But It Ain’t J.P.)” – 1906 popular song released as an Edison cylinder recording, words by Will A. Mahoney, music by Halsey K. Mohr, sung by Bob Roberts. Originally released as a “coon song” but revised over the years, a poor man named Morgan tells his girlfriend not to mistake him for a rich man.^[85]^[86]

Citations[edit source]

^ Jump up to:^a ^b “J.P. Morgan”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
^ Ward, Geoffrey C.; Burns, Ken (2014). The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. Alfred A. Knopf. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-307-70023-0.
^ Kenton, Will. “Morganization”. Investopedia. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
^ Adrian Wooldridge (September 15, 2016). “The alphabet of success”. The Economist. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “John Pierpont Morgan and the American Corporation”. Biography of America. Archived from the original on May 22, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
^ Witzel, Morgan (2003). Fifty Key Figures in Management. Routledge. p. 207. ISBN 9781134201150. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
^ J.P. Morgan’s Way. Pearson Education. 2010. p. 2. ISBN 9780137084371. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
^ “Pierpont Morgan: Banker”. The Morgan Library & Museum. March 12, 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
^ Vincent P. Carosso; Rose C. Carosso (January 1, 1987). The Morgans: Private International Bankers, 1854-1913. Harvard University Press. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-0-674-58729-8.
^ “JP Morgan biography – One of the most influential bankers in history”. Financial-inspiration.com. March 31, 1913. Archived from the original on October 16, 2005. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Zinn, Howard (August 21, 2001). A People’s History of the United States. p. 255. ISBN 978-0060937317.
^ Wasson, R. Gordon (1943). The Hall Carbine Affair: a study in contemporary folklore. Pandick Press.
^ Josephson, Matthew (1995) [1934]. The Robber Barons. Harcourt, Brace & Co. pp. 61ff. ISBN 9780156767903.
^ Morris, Charles (2006). The Tycoons. New York: Holt Paperbacks. p. 337. ISBN 978-0805081343.
^ Rottenberg, Dan (2006). The Man Who Made Wall Street: Anthony J. Drexel and the Rise of Modern Finance. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 98. ISBN 9780812219661. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
^ Garraty, (1960).
^ Timmons, Heather (November 18, 2002). “J.P. Morgan: Pierpont would not approve”. BusinessWeek.
^ “Morganization: How Bankrupt Railroads were Reorganized”. Archived from the original on March 14, 2006. Retrieved January 5, 2007.
^ Jean Strouse, Morgan: American Financier (1999) pp 223-62.
^ Albro Martin, Albro. “Crisis of Rugged Individualism: The West Shore-South Pennsylvania Railroad Affair, 1880-1885.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 93.2 (1969): 218-243. online
^ Vincent P. Carosso, The Morgans: Private International Bankers, 1854-1913 (1987) pp 219-69, 352-96.
^ Carosso, The Morgans: Private International Bankers, 1854-1913 (1987) pp 478-79, 529-30; Strouse, pp 418-33, 515.
^ The value of the gold would have been approximately $72 million at the official price of $20.67 per ounce at the time. “Historical Gold Prices – 1833 to Present”; National Mining Association; retrieved December 22, 2011.
^ “J.P. Morgan: Biography”. Biography.com. A&E Television Networks, LLC. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
^ Gordon, John Steele (Winter 2010). “The Golden Touch” at the Wayback Machine (archived July 2, 2010), American Heritage.com; retrieved December 22, 2011; archived from the original on July 10, 2010.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Krass, Peter (May 2001). “He Did It! (creation of U.S. Steel by J.P. Morgan)”. Across the Board (Professional Collection).
^ Garraty, John A. (1960). “The United States Steel Corporation Versus Labor: the Early Years”. Labor History. 1 (1): 3–38. doi:10.1080/00236566008583839.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c Carosso, The Morgans pp. 528–48
^ Robert F. Bruner and Sean D. Carr (eds.), The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market’s Perfect Storm (2007)
^ Fridson, Martin S. (1998). It Was a Very Good Year: Extraordinary Moments in Stock Market History. John Wiley & Sons. p. 6. ISBN 9780471174004. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
^ Note: The episode politically embarrassed Roosevelt for years; Garraty; 1960; chapter 11.
^ Michael Burgan (2007). J. Pierpont Morgan: Industrialist and Financier. Capstone. p. 93.
^ Jean Strouse, Morgan: American Financier (1999).
^ Charles R. Morris, The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy (2006).
^ Brandeis (1995[1914]), ch. 2
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Seifer, Marc J. (2006). “Nikola Tesla: The Lost Wizard”. ExtraOrdinary Technology. 4 (1).
^ Cheney, Margaret (2001). Tesla: Man Out of Time. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 203–208. ISBN 0-7432-1536-2.
^ Badsey-Ellis, Antony (2005). London’s Lost Tube Schemes. Capital Transport. pp. 157–158. ISBN 1-85414-293-3.
^ Franch, John (2006). Robber Baron: The Life of Charles Tyson Yerkes. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 298. ISBN 0-252-03099-0.
^ Clark, John J.; Clark, Margaret T. (1997). “The International Mercantile Marine Company: A Financial Analysis”. American Neptune. 57 (2): 137–154.
^ Steven H. Gittelman, J. P. Morgan and the Transportation Kings: The Titanic and Other Disasters (Lanham: University Press of America, 2012).
^ Meyer Weinberg, ed. America’s Economic Heritage (1983) 2: 350.^{[ISBN missing]}
^ Andrew Carnegie’s Legacy. carnegie.org. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
^ J. P. Morgan; October 31, 2009; Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia; 2006; .
^ “The Epic of Rockefeller Center”. TODAY.com. September 30, 2003. Archived from the original on May 28, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
^ The Philanthropy Hall of Fame, J.P. Morgan
^ J. Pierpont Morgan, Satterlee, Herbert L., New York: The Macmillan Company, 1939.
^ Gross, Michael (2009). Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money That Made the Metropolitan Museum. New York: Broadway Books. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-7679-2488-7. OCLC 244417339.
^ Brands, H.W. (2010). American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900. New York: Anchor Books. p. 70.
^ Kennedy, David M., and Lizabeth Cohen; The American Pageant; Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston, 2006. p. 541.
^ Strouse, Jean (2000). Morgan, American Financier. Perennial. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-06-095589-2.
^ Strouse, Morgan: American Financier pp. 265–66.
^ Chernow (2001).
^ The Episcopalians, Hein, David and Gardiner H. Shattuck Jr., Westport: Praeger, 2005.
^ “History”. The Church Club of New York.
^ Heather A. Warren, Religion in America: Theologians of a New World Order: Rheinhold Niebuhr and the Christian Realists, 1920-1948 (Oxford University Press, 1997), 16.
^ “J. P. Morgan Home, 219 Madison Avenue”. Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York. Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York is a service of the Metropolitan New York Library Council. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
^ Chernow (2001) Chapter 4.
^ “Yacht Corsair”. Spirit of the Times. May 29, 1880. Archived from the original on July 18, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
^ Business Education World, Vol. 42. Gregg Publishing Company. 1961. p. 32.
^ Chernow (2001) Chapter 8.
^ Daugherty, Greg (March 2012). “Seven Famous People who missed the Titanic”. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
^ Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry: A Biography, London, the Hogarth Press, 1940
^ Auchincloss (1990).
^ Morgan and His Gem Collection; George Frederick Kunz: Gems and Precious Stones of North America, New York, 1890, accessed online February 20, 2007.
^ Morgan and His Gem Collections; donations to AMNH; in George Frederick Kunz: History of Gems Found in North Carolina, Raleigh, 1907, accessed online February 20, 2007.
^ “Biography”. Edward S. Curtis. Seattle: Flury & Company. p. 4. Archived from the original on August 7, 2012. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
^ “The North American Indian“.
^ “The Indian Picture Opera—A Vanishing Race”. Archived from the original on March 11, 2007.
^ The Only Way to Cross by John Maxtone-Graham
^ Modern Marvels episode “The Stock Exchange” originally aired on October 12, 1997.
^ “Cedar Hill Cemetery”. August 27, 2006. Archived from the original on August 27, 2006.
^ Chernow (2001) ch 8.
^ Morganite, International Colored Gemstone Association, accessed online January 22, 2007.
^ “National Register Information System”. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ Carr, Caleb (1994). The Alienist. Random House.
^ Doctorow, E. L. (1975). Ragtime. Random House.
^ Drachman, Steven S. (2011). The Ghosts of Watt O’Hugh. pp. 2, 17–28, 33–34, 70–81, 151–159, 195. ISBN 9780578085906.
^ Moore, Graham (2016). The Last Days of Night. Random House.
^ Benedict, Marie (2021). The Personal Librarian. Berkley. ISBN 978-0593101537.
^ “Citizen Kane (1941)”. Filmsite.org. May 1, 1941. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
^ Association of Game and Puzzle Collectors Quarterly www.AGPC.ORG summer 2013 Vol.15 No. 2. Page 18. Meet Daniel Gidahlia Fox – The Artist Who Created “Mr. Monopoly” by Emily F.Clements.
^ Turpin, Zachary. “Interview: Phil Orbanes, Monopoly Expert (Part Two)”. Book of Odds. Archived from the original on May 2, 2010. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
^ “The Men Who Built America > The History Channel Club”. September 30, 2012. Archived from the original on September 30, 2012.
^ Cass Canfield, The incredible Pierpont Morgan: financier and art collector, Harper & Row – 1974, page 125
^ David A. Jasen, A Century of American Popular Music, Routledge, October 15, 2013, page 142

External links[edit source]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: J. P. Morgan

Wikimedia Commons has media related to J. P. Morgan (banker).

The Morgan Library and Museum, 225 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
The American Experience—J.P. Morgan
Texts on Wikisource:
- “Morgan, John Pierpont” . The Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1918.
- “Morgan, John Pierpont“. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
- “Morgan, John Pierpont“. New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
Newspaper clippings about J. P. Morgan in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

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TOP1000 – Business

George Washington

George Washington (February 22, 1732^[b] – December 14, 1799) was an American soldier, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army, Washington led the Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War, and presided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which established the Constitution of the United States and a federal government. Washington has been called the “Father of the Nation” for his manifold leadership in the formative days of the country.^[10]

Washington’s first public office was serving as official Surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia from 1749 to 1750. Subsequently, he received his initial military training (as well as a command with the Virginia Regiment) during the French and Indian War. He was later elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses and was named a delegate to the Continental Congress. Here he was appointed Commanding General of the Continental Army. With this title, he commanded American forces (allied with France) in the defeat and surrender of the British at the Siege of Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War. He resigned his commission after the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783.

Washington played an indispensable role in adopting and ratifying the Constitution of the United States. He was then twice elected president by the Electoral College unanimously. As president, he implemented a strong, well-financed national government while remaining impartial in a fierce rivalry between cabinet members Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. During the French Revolution, he proclaimed a policy of neutrality while sanctioning the Jay Treaty. He set enduring precedents for the office of president, including the title “Mr. President“, and his Farewell Address is widely regarded as a pre-eminent statement on republicanism.

Washington was a slaveowner who had a complicated relationship with slavery. He slowly developed a cautious sympathy toward abolitionism, privately expressing the desire to see the abolition of the practice through legislation, but did not publicly support any initiatives for bringing about its end during his presidency, believing that it was a nationally divisive issue which could destroy the union between the states. Washington controlled a total of over 577 slaves at one time or another, who worked on his farm and in his houses. As president, he signed laws passed by Congress that both protected and curtailed slavery. His will said that one of his slaves, William Lee, should be freed upon his death, and said the other 123 slaves were to work for his wife and be freed on her death. She freed them during her lifetime to remove any incentive for hastening her death.^[11]^[12]

He endeavored to assimilate Native Americans into the Anglo-American culture but fought indigenous resistance during instances of violent conflict. He was a member of the Anglican Church and the Freemasons, and he urged broad religious freedom in his roles as general and president. Upon his death, he was eulogized by Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen”.^[13]

Washington has been memorialized by monuments, a federal holiday, various media, geographical locations, including the national capital, the State of Washington, stamps, and currency, and many scholars and polls rank him among the greatest U.S. presidents. In 1976, as part of commemorations for the U.S. Bicentennial, Washington was posthumously promoted to the rank of General of the Armies of the United States.

Early life (1732–1752)[edit source]

Further information: Washington family and British America Ferry Farm, the residence of the Washington family on the Rappahannock River

The Washington family was a wealthy Virginia planter family that had made its fortune through land speculation and the cultivation of tobacco.^[14] Washington’s great-grandfather John Washington emigrated in 1656^[15] from Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, England, to the English colony of Virginia where he accumulated 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of land, including Little Hunting Creek on the Potomac River.^[16] George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, at Popes Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia,^[17] and was the first of six children of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington.^[18] His father was a justice of the peace and a prominent public figure who had four additional children from his first marriage to Jane Butler.^[19] The family moved to Little Hunting Creek in 1735. In 1738, they moved to Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia on the Rappahannock River. When Augustine died in 1743, Washington inherited Ferry Farm and ten slaves; his older half-brother Lawrence inherited Little Hunting Creek and renamed it Mount Vernon.

Washington did not have the formal education his elder brothers received at Appleby Grammar School in England, but did attend the Lower Church School in Hartfield. He learned mathematics, trigonometry, and land surveying and became a talented draftsman and map-maker. By early adulthood, he was writing with “considerable force” and “precision”;^[20] however, his writing displayed little wit or humor. In pursuit of admiration, status, and power, he tended to attribute his shortcomings and failures to someone else’s ineffectuality.^[21]

Washington often visited Mount Vernon and Belvoir, the plantation that belonged to Lawrence’s father-in-law William Fairfax. Fairfax became Washington’s patron and surrogate father, and Washington spent a month in 1748 with a team surveying Fairfax’s Shenandoah Valley property.^[22] He received a surveyor’s license the following year from the College of William & Mary.^[c] Even though Washington had not served the customary apprenticeship, Fairfax appointed him surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia, and he appeared in Culpeper County to take his oath of office July 20, 1749.^[23] He subsequently familiarized himself with the frontier region, and though he resigned from the job in 1750, he continued to do surveys west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.^[24] By 1752 he had bought almost 1,500 acres (600 ha) in the Valley and owned 2,315 acres (937 ha).^[25]

In 1751, Washington made his only trip abroad when he accompanied Lawrence to Barbados, hoping the climate would cure his brother’s tuberculosis.^[26] Washington contracted smallpox during that trip, which immunized him and left his face slightly scarred.^[27] Lawrence died in 1752, and Washington leased Mount Vernon from his widow Anne; he inherited it outright after her death in 1761.^[28]

Colonial military career (1752–1758)[edit source]

Lawrence Washington’s service as adjutant general of the Virginia militia inspired his half-brother George to seek a commission. Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Robert Dinwiddie, appointed George Washington as a major and commander of one of the four militia districts. The British and French were competing for control of the Ohio Valley. While the British were constructing forts along the Ohio River, the French were doing the same—constructing forts between the Ohio River and Lake Erie.^[29]

In October 1753, Dinwiddie appointed Washington as a special envoy. He had sent George to demand French forces to vacate land that was being claimed by the British.^[d] Washington was also appointed to make peace with the Iroquois Confederacy, and to gather further intelligence about the French forces.^[31] Washington met with Half-King Tanacharison, and other Iroquois chiefs, at Logstown, and gathered information about the numbers and locations of the French forts, as well as intelligence concerning individuals taken prisoner by the French. Washington was given the nickname Conotocaurius (town destroyer or devourer of villages) by Tanacharison. The nickname had previously been given to his great-grandfather John Washington in the late seventeenth century by the Susquehannock.^[32]^[33]

Washington’s party reached the Ohio River in November 1753, and were intercepted by a French patrol. The party was escorted to Fort Le Boeuf, where Washington was received in a friendly manner. He delivered the British demand to vacate to the French commander Saint-Pierre, but the French refused to leave. Saint-Pierre gave Washington his official answer in a sealed envelope after a few days’ delay, as well as food and extra winter clothing for his party’s journey back to Virginia.^[34] Washington completed the precarious mission in 77 days, in difficult winter conditions, achieving a measure of distinction when his report was published in Virginia and in London.^[35]

French and Indian War[edit source]

Main articles: French and Indian War, George Washington in the French and Indian War, and Seven Years’ War

In February 1754, Dinwiddie promoted Washington to lieutenant colonel and second-in-command of the 300-strong Virginia Regiment, with orders to confront French forces at the Forks of the Ohio.^[36] Washington set out for the Forks with half the regiment in April and soon learned a French force of 1,000 had begun construction of Fort Duquesne there. In May, having set up a defensive position at Great Meadows, he learned that the French had made camp seven miles (11 km) away; he decided to take the offensive.^[37]Lieutenant Colonel Washington holds night council at Fort Necessity

The French detachment proved to be only about fifty men, so Washington advanced on May 28 with a small force of Virginians and Indian allies to ambush them.^[38]^[e] What took place, known as the Battle of Jumonville Glen or the “Jumonville affair”, was disputed, and French forces were killed outright with muskets and hatchets. French commander Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, who carried a diplomatic message for the British to evacuate, was killed. French forces found Jumonville and some of his men dead and scalped and assumed Washington was responsible.^[40] Washington blamed his translator for not communicating the French intentions.^[41] Dinwiddie congratulated Washington for his victory over the French.^[42] This incident ignited the French and Indian War, which later became part of the larger Seven Years’ War.^[43]

The full Virginia Regiment joined Washington at Fort Necessity the following month with news that he had been promoted to command of the regiment and colonel upon the regimental commander’s death. The regiment was reinforced by an independent company of a hundred South Carolinians led by Captain James Mackay, whose royal commission outranked that of Washington, and a conflict of command ensued. On July 3, a French force attacked with 900 men, and the ensuing battle ended in Washington’s surrender.^[44] In the aftermath, Colonel James Innes took command of intercolonial forces, the Virginia Regiment was divided, and Washington was offered a captaincy which he refused, with the resignation of his commission.^[45]Washington the Soldier: Lieutenant Colonel Washington on horseback during the Battle of the Monongahela (oil, Reǵnier, 1834)

In 1755, Washington served voluntarily as an aide to General Edward Braddock, who led a British expedition to expel the French from Fort Duquesne and the Ohio Country.^[46] On Washington’s recommendation, Braddock split the army into one main column and a lightly equipped “flying column”.^[47] Suffering from a severe case of dysentery, Washington was left behind, and when he rejoined Braddock at Monongahela the French and their Indian allies ambushed the divided army. Two-thirds of the British force became casualties, including the mortally wounded Braddock. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gage, Washington, still very ill, rallied the survivors and formed a rear guard, allowing the remnants of the force to disengage and retreat.^[48] During the engagement, he had two horses shot from under him, and his hat and coat were bullet-pierced.^[49] His conduct under fire redeemed his reputation among critics of his command in the Battle of Fort Necessity,^[50] but he was not included by the succeeding commander (Colonel Thomas Dunbar) in planning subsequent operations.^[51]

The Virginia Regiment was reconstituted in August 1755, and Dinwiddie appointed Washington its commander, again with the rank of colonel. Washington clashed over seniority almost immediately, this time with John Dagworthy, another captain of superior royal rank, who commanded a detachment of Marylanders at the regiment’s headquarters in Fort Cumberland.^[52] Washington, impatient for an offensive against Fort Duquesne, was convinced Braddock would have granted him a royal commission and pressed his case in February 1756 with Braddock’s successor, William Shirley, and again in January 1757 with Shirley’s successor, Lord Loudoun. Shirley ruled in Washington’s favor only in the matter of Dagworthy; Loudoun humiliated Washington, refused him a royal commission and agreed only to relieve him of the responsibility of manning Fort Cumberland.^[53]

In 1758, the Virginia Regiment was assigned to the British Forbes Expedition to capture Fort Duquesne.^[54]^[f] Washington disagreed with General John Forbes’ tactics and chosen route.^[56] Forbes nevertheless made Washington a brevet brigadier general and gave him command of one of the three brigades that would assault the fort. The French abandoned the fort and the valley before the assault was launched; Washington saw only a friendly fire incident which left 14 dead and 26 injured. The war lasted another four years, and Washington resigned his commission and returned to Mount Vernon.^[57]

Under Washington, the Virginia Regiment had defended 300 miles (480 km) of frontier against twenty Indian attacks in ten months.^[58] He increased the professionalism of the regiment as it increased from 300 to 1,000 men, and Virginia’s frontier population suffered less than other colonies. Some historians have said this was Washington’s “only unqualified success” during the war.^[59] Though he failed to realize a royal commission, he did gain self-confidence, leadership skills, and invaluable knowledge of British military tactics. The destructive competition Washington witnessed among colonial politicians fostered his later support of a strong central government.^[60]

Marriage, civilian, and political life (1755–1775)[edit source]

Colonel George Washington, by Charles Willson Peale, 1772

On January 6, 1759, Washington, at age 26, married Martha Dandridge Custis, the 27-year-old widow of wealthy plantation owner Daniel Parke Custis. The marriage took place at Martha’s estate; she was intelligent, gracious, and experienced in managing a planter’s estate, and the couple created a happy marriage.^[61] They raised John Parke Custis (Jacky) and Martha “Patsy” Parke Custis, children from her previous marriage, and later Jacky’s children Eleanor Parke Custis (Nelly) and George Washington Parke Custis (Washy). Washington’s 1751 bout with smallpox is thought to have rendered him sterile, though it is equally likely that “Martha may have sustained injury during the birth of Patsy, her final child, making additional births impossible.”^[62] The couple lamented not having any children together.^[63]^[g] They moved to Mount Vernon, near Alexandria, where he took up life as a planter of tobacco and wheat and emerged as a political figure.^[66]

The marriage gave Washington control over Martha’s one-third dower interest in the 18,000-acre (7,300 ha) Custis estate, and he managed the remaining two-thirds for Martha’s children; the estate also included 84 slaves. He became one of Virginia’s wealthiest men, which increased his social standing.^[67]

At Washington’s urging, Governor Lord Botetourt fulfilled Dinwiddie’s 1754 promise of land bounties to all-volunteer militia during the French and Indian War.^[68] In late 1770, Washington inspected the lands in the Ohio and Great Kanawha regions, and he engaged surveyor William Crawford to subdivide it. Crawford allotted 23,200 acres (9,400 ha) to Washington; Washington told the veterans that their land was hilly and unsuitable for farming, and he agreed to purchase 20,147 acres (8,153 ha), leaving some feeling they had been duped.^[69] He also doubled the size of Mount Vernon to 6,500 acres (2,600 ha) and increased its slave population to more than a hundred by 1775.^[70]

Washington’s political activities included supporting the candidacy of his friend George William Fairfax in his 1755 bid to represent the region in the Virginia House of Burgesses. This support led to a dispute which resulted in a physical altercation between Washington and another Virginia planter, William Payne. Washington defused the situation, including ordering officers from the Virginia Regiment to stand down. Washington apologized to Payne the following day at a tavern. Payne had been expecting to be challenged to a duel.^[71]^[72]^[73]

As a respected military hero and large landowner, Washington held local offices and was elected to the Virginia provincial legislature, representing Frederick County in the House of Burgesses for seven years beginning in 1758.^[70] He plied the voters with beer, brandy, and other beverages, although he was absent while serving on the Forbes Expedition.^[74] He won the election with roughly 40 percent of the vote, defeating three other candidates with the help of several local supporters. He rarely spoke in his early legislative career, but he became a prominent critic of Britain’s taxation policy and mercantilist policies towards the American colonies starting in the 1760s.^[75]Martha Washington based on a 1757 portrait by John Wollaston

By occupation, Washington was a planter, and he imported luxuries and other goods from England, paying for them by exporting tobacco.^[76] His profligate spending combined with low tobacco prices left him £1,800 in debt by 1764, prompting him to diversify his holdings.^[77] In 1765, because of erosion and other soil problems, he changed Mount Vernon’s primary cash crop from tobacco to wheat and expanded operations to include corn flour milling and fishing.^[78] Washington also took time for leisure with fox hunting, fishing, dances, theater, cards, backgammon, and billiards.^[79]

Washington soon was counted among the political and social elite in Virginia. From 1768 to 1775, he invited some 2,000 guests to his Mount Vernon estate, mostly those whom he considered “people of rank”. He became more politically active in 1769, presenting legislation in the Virginia Assembly to establish an embargo on goods from Great Britain.^[80]

Washington’s step-daughter Patsy Custis suffered from epileptic attacks from age 12, and she died in his arms in 1773. The following day, he wrote to Burwell Bassett: “It is easier to conceive, than to describe, the distress of this Family”.^[81] He canceled all business activity and remained with Martha every night for three months.^[82]

Opposition to British Parliament and Crown[edit source]

Further information: American Revolution, American Revolutionary War, and George Washington in the American Revolution

Washington played a central role before and during the American Revolution. His disdain for the British military had begun when he was passed over for promotion into the Regular Army. Opposed to taxes imposed by the British Parliament on the Colonies without proper representation,^[83] he and other colonists were also angered by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which banned American settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains and protected the British fur trade.^[84]

Washington believed the Stamp Act of 1765 was an “Act of Oppression”, and he celebrated its repeal the following year.^[h] In March 1766, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act asserting that Parliamentary law superseded colonial law.^[86] In the late 1760s, the interference of the British Crown in American lucrative western land speculation spurred on the American Revolution.^[87] Washington himself was a prosperous land speculator, and in 1767, he encouraged “adventures” to acquire backcountry western lands.^[87] Washington helped lead widespread protests against the Townshend Acts passed by Parliament in 1767, and he introduced a proposal in May 1769 drafted by George Mason which called Virginians to boycott British goods; the Acts were mostly repealed in 1770.^[88]

Parliament sought to punish Massachusetts colonists for their role in the Boston Tea Party in 1774 by passing the Coercive Acts, which Washington referred to as “an invasion of our rights and privileges”.^[89] He said Americans must not submit to acts of tyranny since “custom and use shall make us as tame and abject slaves, as the blacks we rule over with such arbitrary sway”.^[90] That July, he and George Mason drafted a list of resolutions for the Fairfax County committee which Washington chaired, and the committee adopted the Fairfax Resolves calling for a Continental Congress, and an end to the slave trade.^[91] On August 1, Washington attended the First Virginia Convention, where he was selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress, September 5 to October 26, 1774, which he also attended.^[92] As tensions rose in 1774, he helped train county militias in Virginia and organized enforcement of the Continental Association boycott of British goods instituted by the Congress.^[93]

The American Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775, with the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Siege of Boston.^[94] The colonists were divided over breaking away from British rule and split into two factions: Patriots who rejected British rule, and Loyalists who desired to remain subject to the King.^[95] General Thomas Gage was commander of British forces in America at the beginning of the war.^[96] Upon hearing the shocking news of the onset of war, Washington was “sobered and dismayed”,^[97] and he hastily departed Mount Vernon on May 4, 1775, to join the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.^[98]

Commander in chief (1775–1783)[edit source]

See also: American Revolutionary War § American strategyFurther information: Military career of George Washington General Washington, Commander of the Continental Army by Charles Willson Peale (1776)

Congress created the Continental Army on June 14, 1775, and Samuel and John Adams nominated Washington to become its commander-in-chief. Washington was chosen over John Hancock because of his military experience and the belief that a Virginian would better unite the colonies. He was considered an incisive leader who kept his “ambition in check”.^[99] He was unanimously elected commander in chief by Congress the next day.^[100]

Washington appeared before Congress in uniform and gave an acceptance speech on June 16, declining a salary—though he was later reimbursed expenses. He was commissioned on June 19 and was roundly praised by Congressional delegates, including John Adams, who proclaimed that he was the man best suited to lead and unite the colonies.^[101]^[102] Congress appointed Washington “General & Commander in chief of the army of the United Colonies and of all the forces raised or to be raised by them”, and instructed him to take charge of the siege of Boston on June 22, 1775.^[103]

Congress chose his primary staff officers, including Major General Artemas Ward, Adjutant General Horatio Gates, Major General Charles Lee, Major General Philip Schuyler, Major General Nathanael Greene, Colonel Henry Knox, and Colonel Alexander Hamilton.^[104] Washington was impressed by Colonel Benedict Arnold and gave him responsibility for launching an invasion of Canada. He also engaged French and Indian War compatriot Brigadier General Daniel Morgan. Henry Knox impressed Adams with ordnance knowledge, and Washington promoted him to colonel and chief of artillery.^[105]

At the start of the war, Washington opposed the recruiting of blacks, both free and enslaved, into the Continental Army. After his appointment, Washington banned their enlistment. The British saw an opportunity to divide the colonies, and the colonial governor of Virginia issued a proclamation, which promised freedom to slaves if they joined the British.^[106] Desperate for manpower by late 1777, Washington relented and overturned his ban.^[107] By the end of the war, around one-tenth of Washington’s army were blacks.^[108] Following the British surrender, Washington sought to enforce terms of the preliminary Treaty of Paris (1783) by reclaiming slaves freed by the British and returning them to servitude. He arranged to make this request to Sir Guy Carleton on May 6, 1783. Instead, Carleton issued 3,000 freedom certificates and all former slaves in New York City were able to leave before the city was evacuated by the British in late November 1783.^[109]

After the war Washington became the target of accusations made by General Lee involving his alleged questionable conduct as Commander in Chief during the war that were published by patriot-printer William Goddard. Goddard in a letter of May 30, 1785, had informed Washington of Lee’s request to publish his account and assured him that he “…took the liberty to suppress such expressions as appeared to be the ebullitions of a disappointed & irritated mind …”. Washington replied, telling Goddard to print what he saw fit, and to let “… the impartial & dispassionate world,” draw their own conclusions.^[110]^[111]

Siege of Boston[edit source]

Main article: Siege of Boston Washington taking command of the Continental Army, just before the siege

Early in 1775, in response to the growing rebellious movement, London sent British troops, commanded by General Thomas Gage, to occupy Boston. They set up fortifications about the city, making it impervious to attack. Various local militias surrounded the city and effectively trapped the British, resulting in a standoff.^[112]

As Washington headed for Boston, word of his march preceded him, and he was greeted everywhere; gradually, he became a symbol of the Patriot cause.^[113]^[i] Upon arrival on July 2, 1775, two weeks after the Patriot defeat at nearby Bunker Hill, he set up his Cambridge, Massachusetts headquarters and inspected the new army there, only to find an undisciplined and badly outfitted militia.^[114] After consultation, he initiated Benjamin Franklin‘s suggested reforms—drilling the soldiers and imposing strict discipline, floggings, and incarceration.^[115] Washington ordered his officers to identify the skills of recruits to ensure military effectiveness, while removing incompetent officers.^[116] He petitioned Gage, his former superior, to release captured Patriot officers from prison and treat them humanely.^[117] In October 1775, King George III declared that the colonies were in open rebellion and relieved General Gage of command for incompetence, replacing him with General William Howe.^[118]

In June 1775, Congress ordered an invasion of Canada. It was led by Benedict Arnold, who, despite Washington’s strong objection, drew volunteers from the latter’s force during the Siege of Boston. The move on Quebec failed, with the American forces being reduced to less than half and forced to retreat.^[119]

The Continental Army, further diminished by expiring short-term enlistments, and by January 1776 reduced by half to 9,600 men, had to be supplemented with the militia, and was joined by Knox with heavy artillery captured from Fort Ticonderoga.^[120] When the Charles River froze over, Washington was eager to cross and storm Boston, but General Gates and others were opposed to untrained militia striking well-garrisoned fortifications. Washington reluctantly agreed to secure the Dorchester Heights, 100 feet above Boston, in an attempt to force the British out of the city.^[121] On March 9, under cover of darkness, Washington’s troops brought up Knox’s big guns and bombarded British ships in Boston harbor. On March 17, 9,000 British troops and Loyalists began a chaotic ten-day evacuation of Boston aboard 120 ships. Soon after, Washington entered the city with 500 men, with explicit orders not to plunder the city. He ordered vaccinations against smallpox to great effect, as he did later in Morristown, New Jersey.^[122] He refrained from exerting military authority in Boston, leaving civilian matters in the hands of local authorities.^[123]^[j]

Battle of Long Island[edit source]

Main article: Battle of Long Island Battle of Long Island
Alonzo Chappel (1858)

Washington then proceeded to New York City, arriving on April 13, 1776, and began constructing fortifications to thwart the expected British attack. He ordered his occupying forces to treat civilians and their property with respect, to avoid the abuses which Bostonian citizens suffered at the hands of British troops during their occupation.^[125] A plot to assassinate or capture him was discovered and thwarted, resulting in the arrest of 98 people involved or complicit (56 of which were from Long Island (Kings (Brooklyn) and Queens counties), including the Loyalist Mayor of New York David Mathews.^[126] Washington’s bodyguard, Thomas Hickey, was hanged for mutiny and sedition.^[127] General Howe transported his resupplied army, with the British fleet, from Halifax to New York, knowing the city was key to securing the continent. George Germain, who ran the British war effort in England, believed it could be won with one “decisive blow”.^[128] The British forces, including more than a hundred ships and thousands of troops, began arriving on Staten Island on July 2 to lay siege to the city.^[129] After the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, Washington informed his troops in his general orders of July 9 that Congress had declared the united colonies to be “free and independent states”.^[130]

Howe’s troop strength totaled 32,000 regulars and Hessians auxiliaries, and Washington’s consisted of 23,000, mostly raw recruits and militia.^[131] In August, Howe landed 20,000 troops at Gravesend, Brooklyn, and approached Washington’s fortifications, as George III proclaimed the rebellious American colonists to be traitors.^[132] Washington, opposing his generals, chose to fight, based upon inaccurate information that Howe’s army had only 8,000-plus troops.^[133] In the Battle of Long Island, Howe assaulted Washington’s flank and inflicted 1,500 Patriot casualties, the British suffering 400.^[134] Washington retreated, instructing General William Heath to acquisition river craft in the area. On August 30, General William Alexander held off the British and gave cover while the army crossed the East River under darkness to Manhattan Island without loss of life or materiel, although Alexander was captured.^[135]

Howe, emboldened by his Long Island victory, dispatched Washington as “George Washington, Esq.” in futility to negotiate peace. Washington declined, demanding to be addressed with diplomatic protocol, as general and fellow belligerent, not as a “rebel”, lest his men are hanged as such if captured.^[136] The Royal Navy bombarded the unstable earthworks on lower Manhattan Island.^[137] Washington, with misgivings, heeded the advice of Generals Greene and Putnam to defend Fort Washington. They were unable to hold it, and Washington abandoned it despite General Lee‘s objections, as his army retired north to the White Plains.^[138] Howe’s pursuit forced Washington to retreat across the Hudson River to Fort Lee to avoid encirclement. Howe landed his troops on Manhattan in November and captured Fort Washington, inflicting high casualties on the Americans. Washington was responsible for delaying the retreat, though he blamed Congress and General Greene. Loyalists in New York considered Howe a liberator and spread a rumor that Washington had set fire to the city.^[139] Patriot morale reached its lowest when Lee was captured.^[140] Now reduced to 5,400 troops, Washington’s army retreated through New Jersey, and Howe broke off pursuit, delaying his advance on Philadelphia, and set up winter quarters in New York.^[141]

Crossing the Delaware, Trenton, and Princeton[edit source]

Main articles: George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River, Battle of Trenton, Battle of the Assunpink Creek, and Battle of Princeton Washington Crossing the Delaware, Emanuel Leutze (1851)^[k]

Washington crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, where Lee’s replacement John Sullivan joined him with 2,000 more troops.^[143] The future of the Continental Army was in doubt for lack of supplies, a harsh winter, expiring enlistments, and desertions. Washington was disappointed that many New Jersey residents were Loyalists or skeptical about the prospect of independence.^[144]

Howe split up his British Army and posted a Hessian garrison at Trenton to hold western New Jersey and the east shore of the Delaware,^[145] but the army appeared complacent, and Washington and his generals devised a surprise attack on the Hessians at Trenton, which he codenamed “Victory or Death”.^[146] The army was to cross the Delaware River to Trenton in three divisions: one led by Washington (2,400 troops), another by General James Ewing (700), and the third by Colonel John Cadwalader (1,500). The force was to then split, with Washington taking the Pennington Road and General Sullivan traveling south on the river’s edge.^[147]The Passage of the Delaware, by Thomas Sully, 1819 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Washington first ordered a 60-mile search for Durham boats to transport his army, and he ordered the destruction of vessels that could be used by the British.^[148] Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night,^[149] December 25, 1776, while he personally risked capture staking out the Jersey shoreline. His men followed across the ice-obstructed river in sleet and snow from McConkey’s Ferry, with 40 men per vessel. The wind churned up the waters, and they were pelted with hail, but by 3:00 a.m. on December 26, they made it across with no losses.^[150] Henry Knox was delayed, managing frightened horses and about 18 field guns on flat-bottomed ferries. Cadwalader and Ewing failed to cross due to the ice and heavy currents, and awaiting Washington doubted his planned attack on Trenton. Once Knox arrived, Washington proceeded to Trenton to take only his troops against the Hessians, rather than risk being spotted returning his army to Pennsylvania.^[151]

The troops spotted Hessian positions a mile from Trenton, so Washington split his force into two columns, rallying his men: “Soldiers keep by your officers. For God’s sake, keep by your officers.” The two columns were separated at the Birmingham crossroads. General Nathanael Greene’s column took the upper Ferry Road, led by Washington, and General John Sullivan’s column advanced on River Road. (See map.)^[152] The Americans marched in sleet and snowfall. Many were shoeless with bloodied feet, and two died of exposure. At sunrise, Washington led them in a surprise attack on the Hessians, aided by Major General Knox and artillery. The Hessians had 22 killed (including Colonel Johann Rall), 83 wounded, and 850 captured with supplies.^[153]The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776
by John Trumbull

Washington retreated across Delaware River to Pennsylvania and returned to New Jersey on January 3, 1777, launching an attack on British regulars at Princeton, with 40 Americans killed or wounded and 273 British killed or captured.^[154] American Generals Hugh Mercer and John Cadwalader were being driven back by the British when Mercer was mortally wounded, then Washington arrived and led the men in a counterattack which advanced to within 30 yards (27 m) of the British line.^[155]

Some British troops retreated after a brief stand, while others took refuge in Nassau Hall, which became the target of Colonel Alexander Hamilton‘s cannons. Washington’s troops charged, the British surrendered in less than an hour, and 194 soldiers laid down their arms.^[156] Howe retreated to New York City where his army remained inactive until early the next year.^[157] Washington’s depleted Continental Army took up winter headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey while disrupting British supply lines and expelling them from parts of New Jersey. Washington later said the British could have successfully counterattacked his encampment before his troops were dug in.^[158] The victories at Trenton and Princeton by Washington revived Patriot morale and changed the course of the war. ^[149]

The British still controlled New York, and many Patriot soldiers did not re-enlist or deserted after the harsh winter campaign. Congress instituted greater rewards for re-enlisting and punishments for desertion to effect greater troop numbers.^[159] Strategically, Washington’s victories were pivotal for the Revolution and quashed the British strategy of showing overwhelming force followed by offering generous terms.^[160] In February 1777, word reached London of the American victories at Trenton and Princeton, and the British realized the Patriots were in a position to demand unconditional independence.^[161]

Brandywine, Germantown, and Saratoga[edit source]

Main articles: Battle of Brandywine, Battle of Germantown, and Battle of Saratoga

In July 1777, British General John Burgoyne led the Saratoga campaign south from Quebec through Lake Champlain and recaptured Fort Ticonderoga intending to divide New England, including control of the Hudson River. However, General Howe in British-occupied New York blundered, taking his army south to Philadelphia rather than up the Hudson River to join Burgoyne near Albany.^[162] Meanwhile, Washington and Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette rushed to Philadelphia to engage Howe and were shocked to learn of Burgoyne’s progress in upstate New York, where the Patriots were led by General Philip Schuyler and successor Horatio Gates. Washington’s army of less experienced men were defeated in the pitched battles at Philadelphia.^[163]

Howe outmaneuvered Washington at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, and marched unopposed into the nation’s capital at Philadelphia. A Patriot attack failed against the British at Germantown in October. Major General Thomas Conway prompted some members of Congress (referred to as the Conway Cabal) to consider removing Washington from command because of the losses incurred at Philadelphia. Washington’s supporters resisted, and the matter was finally dropped after much deliberation.^[164] Once the plot was exposed, Conway wrote an apology to Washington, resigned, and returned to France.^[165]

Washington was concerned with Howe’s movements during the Saratoga campaign to the north, and he was also aware that Burgoyne was moving south toward Saratoga from Quebec. Washington took some risks to support Gates’ army, sending reinforcements north with Generals Benedict Arnold, his most aggressive field commander, and Benjamin Lincoln. On October 7, 1777, Burgoyne tried to take Bemis Heights but was isolated from support by Howe. He was forced to retreat to Saratoga and ultimately surrendered after the Battles of Saratoga. As Washington suspected, Gates’ victory emboldened his critics.^[166] Biographer John Alden maintains, “It was inevitable that the defeats of Washington’s forces and the concurrent victory of the forces in upper New York should be compared.” The admiration for Washington was waning, including little credit from John Adams.^[167] British commander Howe resigned in May 1778, left America forever, and was replaced by Sir Henry Clinton.^[168]

Valley Forge and Monmouth[edit source]

Main articles: Valley Forge and Battle of Monmouth Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge, by John Ward Dunsmore (1907)

Washington’s army of 11,000 went into winter quarters at Valley Forge north of Philadelphia in December 1777. They suffered between 2,000 and 3,000 deaths in the extreme cold over six months, mostly from disease and lack of food, clothing, and shelter.^[169] Meanwhile, the British were comfortably quartered in Philadelphia, paying for supplies in pounds sterling, while Washington struggled with a devalued American paper currency. The woodlands were soon exhausted of game, and by February, lowered morale and increased desertions ensued.^[170]

Washington made repeated petitions to the Continental Congress for provisions. He received a congressional delegation to check the Army’s conditions and expressed the urgency of the situation, proclaiming: “Something must be done. Important alterations must be made.” He recommended that Congress expedite supplies, and Congress agreed to strengthen and fund the army’s supply lines by reorganizing the commissary department. By late February, supplies began arriving.^[124]Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth, Emanuel Leutze (1851–1854)

Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben‘s incessant drilling soon transformed Washington’s recruits into a disciplined fighting force,^[171] and the revitalized army emerged from Valley Forge early the following year.^[172] Washington promoted Von Steuben to Major General and made him chief of staff.^[173]

In early 1778, the French responded to Burgoyne’s defeat and entered into a Treaty of Alliance with the Americans. The Continental Congress ratified the treaty in May, which amounted to a French declaration of war against Britain.^[174]

The British evacuated Philadelphia for New York that June and Washington summoned a war council of American and French Generals. He chose a partial attack on the retreating British at the Battle of Monmouth; the British were commanded by Howe’s successor General Henry Clinton. Generals Charles Lee and Lafayette moved with 4,000 men, without Washington’s knowledge, and bungled their first attack on June 28. Washington relieved Lee and achieved a draw after an expansive battle. At nightfall, the British continued their retreat to New York, and Washington moved his army outside the city.^[175] Monmouth was Washington’s last battle in the North; he valued the safety of his army more than towns with little value to the British.^[176]

West Point espionage[edit source]

Main articles: West Point and Military career of Benedict Arnold, 1777–1779

Washington became “America’s first spymaster” by designing an espionage system against the British.^[177] In 1778, Major Benjamin Tallmadge formed the Culper Ring at Washington’s direction to covertly collect information about the British in New York.^[178] Washington had disregarded incidents of disloyalty by Benedict Arnold, who had distinguished himself in many battles.^[179]

During mid-1780, Arnold began supplying British spymaster John André with sensitive information intended to compromise Washington and capture West Point, a key American defensive position on the Hudson River.^[180] Historians^[who?] have noted as possible reasons for Arnold’s treachery his anger at losing promotions to junior officers, or repeated slights^{[clarification needed]} from Congress. He was also deeply in debt, profiteering from the war, and disappointed by Washington’s lack of support during his eventual court-martial.^[181]An engraving of Washington, likely made after his tenure in the army.

Arnold repeatedly asked for command of West Point, and Washington finally agreed in August.^[182] Arnold met André on September 21, giving him plans to take over the garrison.^[183] Militia forces captured André and discovered the plans, but Arnold escaped to New York.^[184] Washington recalled the commanders positioned under Arnold at key points around the fort to prevent any complicity, but he did not suspect Arnold’s wife Peggy. Washington assumed personal command at West Point and reorganized its defenses.^[185] André’s trial for espionage ended in a death sentence, and Washington offered to return him to the British in exchange for Arnold, but Clinton refused. André was hanged on October 2, 1780, despite his last request being to face a firing squad, to deter other spies.^[186]

Southern theater and Yorktown[edit source]

Main article: Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War French King Louis XVI allied with Washington and Patriot American colonists

In late 1778, General Clinton shipped 3,000 troops from New York to Georgia and launched a Southern invasion against Savannah, reinforced by 2,000 British and Loyalist troops. They repelled an attack by Patriots and French naval forces, which bolstered the British war effort.^[187]

In mid-1779, Washington attacked Iroquois warriors of the Six Nations to force Britain’s Indian allies out of New York, from which they had assaulted New England towns.^[188] In response, Indian warriors joined with Loyalist rangers led by Walter Butler and killed more than 200 frontiersmen in June, laying waste to the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania.^[189] Washington retaliated by ordering General John Sullivan to lead an expedition to effect “the total destruction and devastation” of Iroquois villages and take their women and children hostage. Those who managed to escape fled to Canada.^[190]

Washington’s troops went into quarters at Morristown, New Jersey during the winter of 1779–1780 and suffered their worst winter of the war, with temperatures well below freezing. New York Harbor was frozen over, snow and ice covered the ground for weeks, and the troops again lacked provisions.^[191]

Clinton assembled 12,500 troops and attacked Charlestown, South Carolina in January 1780, defeating General Benjamin Lincoln who had only 5,100 Continental troops.^[192] The British went on to occupy the South Carolina Piedmont in June, with no Patriot resistance. Clinton returned to New York and left 8,000 troops commanded by General Charles Cornwallis.^[193] Congress replaced Lincoln with Horatio Gates; he failed in South Carolina and was replaced by Washington’s choice of Nathaniel Greene, but the British already had the South in their grasp. Washington was reinvigorated, however, when Lafayette returned from France with more ships, men, and supplies,^[194] and 5,000 veteran French troops led by Marshal Rochambeau arrived at Newport, Rhode Island in July 1780.^[195] French naval forces then landed, led by Admiral Grasse, and Washington encouraged Rochambeau to move his fleet south to launch a joint land and naval attack on Arnold’s troops.^[196]

Washington’s army went into winter quarters at New Windsor, New York in December 1780, and Washington urged Congress and state officials to expedite provisions in hopes that the army would not “continue to struggle under the same difficulties they have hitherto endured”.^[197] On March 1, 1781, Congress ratified the Articles of Confederation, but the government that took effect on March 2 did not have the power to levy taxes, and it loosely held the states together.^[198]

General Clinton sent Benedict Arnold, now a British Brigadier General with 1,700 troops, to Virginia to capture Portsmouth and conduct raids on Patriot forces from there; Washington responded by sending Lafayette south to counter Arnold’s efforts.^[199] Washington initially hoped to bring the fight to New York, drawing off British forces from Virginia and ending the war there, but Rochambeau advised Grasse that Cornwallis in Virginia was the better target. Grasse’s fleet arrived off the Virginia coast, and Washington saw the advantage. He made a feint towards Clinton in New York, then headed south to Virginia.^[200]Siege of Yorktown, Generals Washington and Rochambeau give last orders before the attack

The Siege of Yorktown was a decisive Allied victory by the combined forces of the Continental Army commanded by General Washington, the French Army commanded by the General Comte de Rochambeau, and the French Navy commanded by Admiral de Grasse, in the defeat of Cornwallis’ British forces. On August 19, the march to Yorktown led by Washington and Rochambeau began, which is known now as the “celebrated march”.^[201] Washington was in command of an army of 7,800 Frenchmen, 3,100 militia, and 8,000 Continentals. Not well experienced in siege warfare, Washington often referred to the judgment of General Rochambeau and used his advice about how to proceed; however, Rochambeau never challenged Washington’s authority as the battle’s commanding officer.^[202]

By late September, Patriot-French forces surrounded Yorktown, trapped the British army, and prevented British reinforcements from Clinton in the North, while the French navy emerged victorious at the Battle of the Chesapeake. The final American offensive was begun with a shot fired by Washington.^[203] The siege ended with a British surrender on October 19, 1781; over 7,000 British soldiers were made prisoners of war, in the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War.^[204] Washington negotiated the terms of surrender for two days, and the official signing ceremony took place on October 19; Cornwallis claimed illness and was absent, sending General Charles O’Hara as his proxy.^[205] As a gesture of goodwill, Washington held a dinner for the American, French, and British generals, all of whom fraternized on friendly terms and identified with one another as members of the same professional military caste.^[206]

After the surrender at Yorktown, a situation developed that threatened relations between the newly independent America and Britain.^[207] Following a series of retributive executions between Patriots and Loyalists, Washington, on May 18, 1782, wrote in a letter to General Moses Hazen^[208] that a British captain would be executed in retaliation for the execution of Joshua Huddy, a popular Patriot leader, who was hanged at the direction of the Loyalist Richard Lippincott. Washington wanted Lippincott himself to be executed but was rebuffed.^[209] Subsequently, Charles Asgill was chosen instead, by a drawing of lots from a hat. This was a violation of the 14th article of the Yorktown Articles of Capitulation, which protected prisoners of war from acts of retaliation.^[208]^[210] Later, Washington’s feelings on matters changed and in a letter of November 13, 1782, to Asgill, he acknowledged Asgill’s letter and situation, expressing his desire not to see any harm come to him.^[211] After much consideration between the Continental Congress, Alexander Hamilton, Washington, and appeals from the French Crown, Asgill was finally released,^[212] where Washington issued Asgill a pass that allowed his passage to New York.^[213]^[208]

Demobilization and resignation[edit source]

General George Washington Resigning His Commission, by John Trumbull, 1824

When peace negotiations began in April 1782, both the British and French began gradually evacuating their forces.^[214] The American treasury was empty, unpaid, and mutinous soldiers forced the adjournment of Congress, and Washington dispelled unrest by suppressing the Newburgh Conspiracy in March 1783; Congress promised officers a five-year bonus.^[215] Washington submitted an account of $450,000 in expenses which he had advanced to the army. The account was settled, though it was allegedly vague about large sums and included expenses his wife had incurred through visits to his headquarters.^[216]

The following month, a Congressional committee led by Alexander Hamilton began adapting the army for peacetime. In August 1783, Washington gave the Army’s perspective to the committee in his Sentiments on a Peace Establishment.^[217] He advised Congress to keep a standing army, create a “national militia” of separate state units, and establish a navy and a national military academy.

The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, and Great Britain officially recognized the independence of the United States. Washington then disbanded his army, giving a farewell address to his soldiers on November 2.^[218] During this time, Washington oversaw the evacuation of British forces in New York and was greeted by parades and celebrations. There he announced that Colonel Henry Knox had been promoted commander-in-chief.^[219] Washington and Governor George Clinton took formal possession of the city on November 25.^[220]

In early December 1783, Washington bade farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern and resigned as commander-in-chief soon thereafter, refuting Loyalist predictions that he would not relinquish his military command.^[221] In a final appearance in uniform, he gave a statement to the Congress: “I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to his holy keeping.”^[222] Washington’s resignation was acclaimed at home and abroad and showed a skeptical world that the new republic would not degenerate into chaos.^[223]^[l]

The same month, Washington was appointed president-general of the Society of the Cincinnati, a newly established hereditary fraternity of Revolutionary War officers. He served in this capacity for the remainder of his life.^[225]^[m]

Early republic (1783–1789)[edit source]

Further information: Confederation Period and Articles of Confederation

Return to Mount Vernon[edit source]

I am not only retired from all public employments but I am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walk and tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction … I will move gently down the stream of life, until I sleep with my fathers.

George Washington
Letter to Lafayette
February 1, 1784^[227]

Washington was longing to return home after spending just ten days at Mount Vernon out of 8+¹⁄₂ years of war. He arrived on Christmas Eve, delighted to be “free of the bustle of a camp and the busy scenes of public life”.^[228] He was a celebrity and was fêted during a visit to his mother at Fredericksburg in February 1784, and he received a constant stream of visitors wishing to pay their respects to him at Mount Vernon.^[229]

Washington reactivated his interests in the Great Dismal Swamp and Potomac canal projects begun before the war, though neither paid him any dividends, and he undertook a 34-day, 680-mile (1090 km) trip to check on his land holdings in the Ohio Country.^[230] He oversaw the completion of the remodeling work at Mount Vernon, which transformed his residence into the mansion that survives to this day—although his financial situation was not strong. Creditors paid him in depreciated wartime currency, and he owed significant amounts in taxes and wages. Mount Vernon had made no profit during his absence, and he saw persistently poor crop yields due to pestilence and poor weather. His estate recorded its eleventh year running at a deficit in 1787, and there was little prospect of improvement.^[231] Washington undertook a new landscaping plan and succeeded in cultivating a range of fast-growing trees and shrubs that were native to North America.^[232] He also began breeding mules after having been gifted a Spanish jack by King Charles III of Spain in 1784. There were few mules in the United States at that time, and he believed that properly bred mules would revolutionize agriculture and transportation.^[233]

Constitutional Convention of 1787[edit source]

Main article: Constitutional Convention (United States)Shays’ Rebellion confirmed for Washington the need to overhaul the Articles of Confederation.

Before returning to private life in June 1783, Washington called for a strong union. Though he was concerned that he might be criticized for meddling in civil matters, he sent a circular letter to all the states, maintaining that the Articles of Confederation was no more than “a rope of sand” linking the states. He believed the nation was on the verge of “anarchy and confusion”, was vulnerable to foreign intervention, and that a national constitution would unify the states under a strong central government.^[234] When Shays’ Rebellion erupted in Massachusetts on August 29, 1786, over taxation, Washington was further convinced that a national constitution was needed.^[235] Some nationalists feared that the new republic had descended into lawlessness, and they met together on September 11, 1786, at Annapolis to ask Congress to revise the Articles of Confederation. One of their biggest efforts, however, was getting Washington to attend.^[236] Congress agreed to a Constitutional Convention to be held in Philadelphia in Spring 1787, and each state was to send delegates.^[237]

On December 4, 1786, Washington was chosen to lead the Virginia delegation, but he declined on December 21. He had concerns about the legality of the convention and consulted James Madison, Henry Knox, and others. They persuaded him to attend it, however, as his presence might induce reluctant states to send delegates and smooth the way for the ratification process.^[238] On March 28, Washington told Governor Edmund Randolph that he would attend the convention but made it clear that he was urged to attend.^[239]Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States by Howard Chandler Christy, 1940. Washington is the presiding officer standing at right.

Washington arrived in Philadelphia on May 9, 1787, though a quorum was not attained until Friday, May 25. Benjamin Franklin nominated Washington to preside over the convention, and he was unanimously elected to serve as president general.^[240] The convention’s state-mandated purpose was to revise the Articles of Confederation with “all such alterations and further provisions” required to improve them, and the new government would be established when the resulting document was “duly confirmed by the several states”.^[241] Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia introduced Madison’s Virginia Plan on May 27, the third day of the convention. It called for an entirely new constitution and a sovereign national government, which Washington highly recommended.^[242]

Washington wrote Alexander Hamilton on July 10: “I almost despair of seeing a favorable issue to the proceedings of our convention and do therefore repent having had any agency in the business.”^[243] Nevertheless, he lent his prestige to the goodwill and work of the other delegates. He unsuccessfully lobbied many to support ratification of the Constitution, such as anti-federalist Patrick Henry; Washington told him “the adoption of it under the present circumstances of the Union is in my opinion desirable” and declared the alternative would be anarchy.^[244] Washington and Madison then spent four days at Mount Vernon evaluating the new government’s transition.^[245]

Chancellor of William & Mary[edit source]

In 1788, the Board of Visitors of the College of William & Mary decided to re-establish the position of Chancellor, and elected Washington to the office on January 18.^[246] The College Rector Samuel Griffin wrote to Washington inviting him to the post, and in a letter dated April 30, 1788, Washington accepted the position of the 14th Chancellor of the College of William & Mary.^[246]^[247] He continued to serve in the post through his presidency until his death on December 14, 1799.^[246]

First presidential election[edit source]

Main article: 1788–89 United States presidential election

The delegates to the Convention anticipated a Washington presidency and left it to him to define the office once elected.^[243]^[n] The state electors under the Constitution voted for the president on February 4, 1789, and Washington suspected that most republicans had not voted for him.^[249] The mandated March 4 date passed without a Congressional quorum to count the votes, but a quorum was reached on April 5. The votes were tallied the next day,^[250] and Congressional Secretary Charles Thomson was sent to Mount Vernon to tell Washington he had been elected president. Washington won the majority of every state’s electoral votes; John Adams received the next highest number of votes and therefore became vice president.^[251] Washington had “anxious and painful sensations” about leaving the “domestic felicity” of Mount Vernon, but departed for New York City on April 16 to be inaugurated.^[252]

Presidency (1789–1797)[edit source]

Main article: Presidency of George Washington President George Washington, Gilbert Stuart (1795)

Washington was inaugurated on April 30, 1789, taking the oath of office at Federal Hall in New York City.^[253]^[o] His coach was led by militia and a marching band and followed by statesmen and foreign dignitaries in an inaugural parade, with a crowd of 10,000.^[255] Chancellor Robert R. Livingston administered the oath, using a Bible provided by the Masons, after which the militia fired a 13-gun salute.^[256] Washington read a speech in the Senate Chamber, asking “that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations—and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, consecrate the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States”.^[257] Though he wished to serve without a salary, Congress insisted adamantly that he accept it, later providing Washington $25,000 per year to defray costs of the presidency.^[258]

Washington wrote to James Madison: “As the first of everything in our situation will serve to establish a precedent, it is devoutly wished on my part that these precedents be fixed on true principles.”^[259] To that end, he preferred the title “Mr. President” over more majestic names proposed by the Senate, including “His Excellency” and “His Highness the President”.^[260] His executive precedents included the inaugural address, messages to Congress, and the cabinet form of the executive branch.^[261]

Washington had planned to resign after his first term, but the political strife in the nation convinced him he should remain in office.^[262] He was an able administrator and a judge of talent and character, and he regularly talked with department heads to get their advice.^[263] He tolerated opposing views, despite fears that a democratic system would lead to political violence, and he conducted a smooth transition of power to his successor.^[264] He remained non-partisan throughout his presidency and opposed the divisiveness of political parties, but he favored a strong central government, was sympathetic to a Federalist form of government, and leery of the Republican opposition.^[265]

Washington dealt with major problems. The old Confederation lacked the powers to handle its workload and had weak leadership, no executive, a small bureaucracy of clerks, a large debt, worthless paper money, and no power to establish taxes.^[266] He had the task of assembling an executive department and relied on Tobias Lear for advice selecting its officers.^[267] Great Britain refused to relinquish its forts in the American West,^[266] and Barbary pirates preyed on American merchant ships in the Mediterranean at a time when the United States did not even have a navy.^[268]

Cabinet and executive departments[edit source]

The Washington Cabinet
Office	Name	Term

President	George Washington	1789–1797

Vice President	John Adams	1789–1797

Secretary of State	John Jay (acting)	1789–1790
Thomas Jefferson	1790–1793
Edmund Randolph	1794–1795
Timothy Pickering	1795–1797

Secretary of the Treasury	Alexander Hamilton	1789–1795
Oliver Wolcott Jr.	1795–1797

Secretary of War	Henry Knox	1789–1794
Timothy Pickering	1795
James McHenry	1796–1797

Attorney General	Edmund Randolph	1789–1794
William Bradford	1794–1795
Charles Lee	1795–1797

Domestic issues[edit source]

Washington was apolitical and opposed the formation of parties, suspecting that conflict would undermine republicanism.^[271] He exercised great restraint in using his veto power, writing that “I give my Signature to many Bills with which my Judgment is at variance….”^[272]

His closest advisors formed two factions, portending the First Party System. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton formed the Federalist Party to promote national credit and a financially powerful nation. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson opposed Hamilton’s agenda and founded the Jeffersonian Republicans. Washington favored Hamilton’s agenda, however, and it ultimately went into effect—resulting in bitter controversy.^[273]

Washington proclaimed November 26 as a day of Thanksgiving to encourage national unity. “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” He spent that day fasting and visiting debtors in prison to provide them with food and beer.^[274]

African Americans[edit source]

In response to two antislavery petitions that were presented to Congress in 1790, slaveholders in Georgia and South Carolina objected and threatened to “blow the trumpet of civil war”. Washington and Congress responded with a series of racist measures: naturalized citizenship was denied to black immigrants; blacks were barred from serving in state militias; the Southwest Territory that would soon become the state of Tennessee was permitted to maintain slavery; and two more slave states were admitted (Kentucky in 1792, and Tennessee in 1796). On February 12, 1793, Washington signed into law the Fugitive Slave Act, which overrode state laws and courts, allowing agents to cross state lines to capture and return escaped slaves.^[275] Many free blacks in the north decried the law believing it would allow bounty hunting and the kidnappings of blacks.^[276] The Fugitive Slave Act gave effect to the Constitution’s Fugitive Slave Clause, and the Act was passed overwhelmingly in Congress (e.g. the vote was 48 to 7 in the House).^[277]

On the anti-slavery side of the ledger, in 1789 Washington signed a reenactment of the Northwest Ordinance which had freed all slaves brought after 1787 into a vast expanse of federal territory north of the Ohio River, except for slaves escaping from slave states.^[278]^[279] That 1787 law lapsed when the new U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1789.^[280] The Slave Trade Act of 1794, which sharply limited American involvement in the Atlantic slave trade, was also signed by Washington. ^[281] And, Congress acted on February 18, 1791, to admit the free state of Vermont into the Union as the 14th state as of March 4, 1791.^[282]

National Bank[edit source]

The President’s House in Philadelphia was Washington’s residence from 1790 to 1797

Washington’s first term was largely devoted to economic concerns, in which Hamilton had devised various plans to address matters.^[283] The establishment of public credit became a primary challenge for the federal government.^[284] Hamilton submitted a report to a deadlocked Congress, and he, Madison, and Jefferson reached the Compromise of 1790 in which Jefferson agreed to Hamilton’s debt proposals in exchange for moving the nation’s capital temporarily to Philadelphia and then south near Georgetown on the Potomac River.^[273] The terms were legislated in the Funding Act of 1790 and the Residence Act, both of which Washington signed into law. Congress authorized the assumption and payment of the nation’s debts, with funding provided by customs duties and excise taxes.^[285]

Hamilton created controversy among Cabinet members by advocating establishing the First Bank of the United States. Madison and Jefferson objected, but the bank easily passed Congress. Jefferson and Randolph insisted that the new bank was beyond the authority granted by the constitution, as Hamilton believed. Washington sided with Hamilton and signed the legislation on February 25, and the rift became openly hostile between Hamilton and Jefferson.^[286]

The nation’s first financial crisis occurred in March 1792. Hamilton’s Federalists exploited large loans to gain control of U.S. debt securities, causing a run on the national bank;^[287] the markets returned to normal by mid-April.^[288] Jefferson believed Hamilton was part of the scheme, despite Hamilton’s efforts to ameliorate, and Washington again found himself in the middle of a feud.^[289]

Jefferson–Hamilton feud[edit source]

Jefferson and Hamilton

Thomas Jefferson

Alexander Hamilton

Jefferson and Hamilton adopted diametrically opposed political principles. Hamilton believed in a strong national government requiring a national bank and foreign loans to function, while Jefferson believed the states and the farm element should primarily direct the government; he also resented the idea of banks and foreign loans. To Washington’s dismay, the two men persistently entered into disputes and infighting.^[290] Hamilton demanded that Jefferson resign if he could not support Washington, and Jefferson told Washington that Hamilton’s fiscal system would lead to the overthrow of the Republic.^[291] Washington urged them to call a truce for the nation’s sake, but they ignored him.^[292]

Washington reversed his decision to retire after his first term to minimize party strife, but the feud continued after his re-election.^[291] Jefferson’s political actions, his support of Freneau’s National Gazette,^[293] and his attempt to undermine Hamilton nearly led Washington to dismiss him from the cabinet; Jefferson ultimately resigned his position in December 1793, and Washington forsook him from that time on.^[294]

The feud led to the well-defined Federalist and Republican parties, and party affiliation became necessary for election to Congress by 1794.^[295] Washington remained aloof from congressional attacks on Hamilton, but he did not publicly protect him, either. The Hamilton–Reynolds sex scandal opened Hamilton to disgrace, but Washington continued to hold him in “very high esteem” as the dominant force in establishing federal law and government.^[296]

Whiskey Rebellion[edit source]

Main article: Whiskey Rebellion

In March 1791, at Hamilton’s urging, with support from Madison, Congress imposed an excise tax on distilled spirits to help curtail the national debt, which took effect in July.^[297] Grain farmers strongly protested in Pennsylvania’s frontier districts; they argued that they were unrepresented and were shouldering too much of the debt, comparing their situation to excessive British taxation before the Revolutionary War. On August 2, Washington assembled his cabinet to discuss how to deal with the situation. Unlike Washington, who had reservations about using force, Hamilton had long waited for such a situation and was eager to suppress the rebellion by using federal authority and force.^[298] Not wanting to involve the federal government if possible, Washington called on Pennsylvania state officials to take the initiative, but they declined to take military action. On August 7, Washington issued his first proclamation for calling up state militias. After appealing for peace, he reminded the protestors that, unlike the rule of the British crown, the Federal law was issued by state-elected representatives.^[299]

Threats and violence against tax collectors, however, escalated into defiance against federal authority in 1794 and gave rise to the Whiskey Rebellion. Washington issued a final proclamation on September 25, threatening the use of military force to no avail.^[299] The federal army was not up to the task, so Washington invoked the Militia Act of 1792 to summon state militias.^[300] Governors sent troops, initially commanded by Washington, who gave the command to Light-Horse Harry Lee to lead them into the rebellious districts. They took 150 prisoners, and the remaining rebels dispersed without further fighting. Two of the prisoners were condemned to death, but Washington exercised his Constitutional authority for the first time and pardoned them.^[301]

Washington’s forceful action demonstrated that the new government could protect itself and its tax collectors. This represented the first use of federal military force against the states and citizens,^[302] and remains the only time an incumbent president has commanded troops in the field. Washington justified his action against “certain self-created societies”, which he regarded as “subversive organizations” that threatened the national union. He did not dispute their right to protest, but he insisted that their dissent must not violate federal law. Congress agreed and extended their congratulations to him; only Madison and Jefferson expressed indifference.^[303]

Foreign affairs[edit source]

John Jay, negotiator of the Jay Treaty

In April 1792, the French Revolutionary Wars began between Great Britain and France, and Washington declared America’s neutrality. The revolutionary government of France sent diplomat Citizen Genêt to America, and he was welcomed with great enthusiasm. He created a network of new Democratic-Republican Societies promoting France’s interests, but Washington denounced them and demanded that the French recall Genêt.^[304] The National Assembly of France granted Washington honorary French citizenship on August 26, 1792, during the early stages of the French Revolution.^[305] Hamilton formulated the Jay Treaty to normalize trade relations with Great Britain while removing them from western forts, and also to resolve financial debts remaining from the Revolution.^[306] Chief Justice John Jay acted as Washington’s negotiator and signed the treaty on November 19, 1794; critical Jeffersonians, however, supported France. Washington deliberated, then supported the treaty because it avoided war with Britain,^[307] but was disappointed that its provisions favored Britain.^[308] He mobilized public opinion and secured ratification in the Senate^[309] but faced frequent public criticism.^[310]

The British agreed to abandon their forts around the Great Lakes, and the United States modified the boundary with Canada. The government liquidated numerous pre-Revolutionary debts, and the British opened the British West Indies to American trade. The treaty secured peace with Britain and a decade of prosperous trade. Jefferson claimed that it angered France and “invited rather than avoided” war.^[311] Relations with France deteriorated afterward, leaving succeeding president John Adams with prospective war.^[312] James Monroe was the American Minister to France, but Washington recalled him for his opposition to the Treaty. The French refused to accept his replacement Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and the French Directory declared the authority to seize American ships two days before Washington’s term ended.^[313]

Native American affairs[edit source]

Further information: Native Americans in the United States, Battle of Fallen Timbers, Treaty of New York (1790), Treaty of Greenville, Northwest Territory, and Ohio Country Seneca Chief Sagoyewatha was Washington’s peace emissary with the Western Confederation.

Ron Chernow describes Washington as always trying to be even-handed in dealing with the Natives. He states that Washington hoped they would abandon their itinerant hunting life and adapt to fixed agricultural communities in the manner of white settlers. He also maintains that Washington never advocated outright confiscation of tribal land or the forcible removal of tribes and that he berated American settlers who abused natives, admitting that he held out no hope for pacific relations with the natives as long as “frontier settlers entertain the opinion that there is not the same crime (or indeed no crime at all) in killing a native as in killing a white man.”^[314]

By contrast, Colin G. Calloway writes that “Washington had a lifelong obsession with getting Indian land, either for himself or for his nation, and initiated policies and campaigns that had devastating effects in Indian country.”^[315] “The growth of the nation,” Galloway has stated, “demanded the dispossession of Indian people. Washington hoped the process could be bloodless and that Indian people would give up their lands for a “fair” price and move away. But if Indians refused and resisted, as they often did, he felt he had no choice but to “extirpate” them and that the expeditions he sent to destroy Indian towns were therefore entirely justified.”^[316]

During the Fall of 1789, Washington had to contend with the British refusing to evacuate their forts in the Northwest frontier and their concerted efforts to incite hostile Indian tribes to attack American settlers.^[317]^[p] The Northwest tribes under Miami chief Little Turtle allied with the British Army to resist American expansion, and killed 1,500 settlers between 1783 and 1790.^[318]

As documented by Harless (2018), Washington declared that “The Government of the United States are determined that their Administration of Indian Affairs shall be directed entirely by the great principles of Justice and humanity”,^[319] and provided that treaties should negotiate their land interests.^[319] The administration regarded powerful tribes as foreign nations, and Washington even smoked a peace pipe and drank wine with them at the Philadelphia presidential house.^[320] He made numerous attempts to conciliate them;^[321] he equated killing indigenous peoples with killing whites and sought to integrate them into European-American culture.^[322] Secretary of War Henry Knox also attempted to encourage agriculture among the tribes.^[321]

In the Southwest, negotiations failed between federal commissioners and raiding Indian tribes seeking retribution. Washington invited Creek Chief Alexander McGillivray and 24 leading chiefs to New York to negotiate a treaty and treated them like foreign dignitaries. Knox and McGillivray concluded the Treaty of New York on August 7, 1790, in Federal Hall, which provided the tribes with agricultural supplies and McGillivray with a rank of Brigadier General Army and a salary of $1,500.^[323]Battle of Fallen Timbers by R. F. Zogbaum, 1896. The Ohio Country was ceded to America in its aftermath.

In 1790, Washington sent Brigadier General Josiah Harmar to pacify the Northwest tribes, but Little Turtle routed him twice and forced him to withdraw.^[324] The Western Confederacy of tribes used guerrilla tactics and were an effective force against the sparsely manned American Army. Washington sent Major General Arthur St. Clair from Fort Washington on an expedition to restore peace in the territory in 1791. On November 4, St. Clair’s forces were ambushed and soundly defeated by tribal forces with few survivors, despite Washington’s warning of surprise attacks. Washington was outraged over what he viewed to be excessive Native American brutality and execution of captives, including women and children.^[325]

St. Clair resigned his commission, and Washington replaced him with the Revolutionary War hero General Anthony Wayne. From 1792 to 1793, Wayne instructed his troops on Native American warfare tactics and instilled discipline which was lacking under St. Clair.^[326] In August 1794, Washington sent Wayne into tribal territory with authority to drive them out by burning their villages and crops in the Maumee Valley.^[327] On August 24, the American army under Wayne’s leadership defeated the western confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, and the Treaty of Greenville in August 1795 opened up two-thirds of the Ohio Country for American settlement.^[328]

Second term[edit source]

Originally, Washington had planned to retire after his first term, while many Americans could not imagine anyone else taking his place.^[329] After nearly four years as president, and dealing with the infighting in his own cabinet and with partisan critics, Washington showed little enthusiasm in running for a second term, while Martha also wanted him not to run.^[330] James Madison urged him not to retire, that his absence would only allow the dangerous political rift in his cabinet and the House to worsen. Jefferson also pleaded with him not to retire and agreed to drop his attacks on Hamilton, or he would also retire if Washington did.^[331] Hamilton maintained that Washington’s absence would be “deplored as the greatest evil” to the country at this time.^[332] Washington’s close nephew George Augustine Washington, his manager at Mount Vernon, was critically ill and had to be replaced, further increasing Washington’s desire to retire and return to Mount Vernon.^[333]

When the election of 1792 neared, Washington did not publicly announce his presidential candidacy. Still, he silently consented to run to prevent a further political-personal rift in his cabinet. The Electoral College unanimously elected him president on February 13, 1793, and John Adams as vice president by a vote of 77 to 50.^[322] Washington, with nominal fanfare, arrived alone at his inauguration in his carriage. Sworn into office by Associate Justice William Cushing on March 4, 1793, in the Senate Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Washington gave a brief address and then immediately retired to his Philadelphia presidential house, weary of office and in poor health.^[334]USS Constitution: Commissioned and named by President Washington in 1794

On April 22, 1793, during the French Revolution, Washington issued his famous Neutrality Proclamation and was resolved to pursue “a conduct friendly and impartial toward the belligerent Powers” while he warned Americans not to intervene in the international conflict. ^[335] Although Washington recognized France’s revolutionary government, he would eventually ask French minister to America Citizen Genêt be recalled over the Citizen Genêt Affair.^[336] Genêt was a diplomatic troublemaker who was openly hostile toward Washington’s neutrality policy. He procured four American ships as privateers to strike at Spanish forces (British allies) in Florida while organizing militias to strike at other British possessions. However, his efforts failed to draw America into the foreign campaigns during Washington’s presidency.^[337] On July 31, 1793, Jefferson submitted his resignation from Washington’s cabinet.^[338] Washington signed the Naval Act of 1794 and commissioned the first six federal frigates to combat Barbary pirates.^[339]

In January 1795, Hamilton, who desired more income for his family, resigned office and was replaced by Washington appointment Oliver Wolcott, Jr.. Washington and Hamilton remained friends. However, Washington’s relationship with his Secretary of War Henry Knox deteriorated. Knox resigned office on the rumor he profited from construction contracts on U.S. Frigates.^[340]

In the final months of his presidency, Washington was assailed by his political foes and a partisan press who accused him of being ambitious and greedy, while he argued that he had taken no salary during the war and had risked his life in battle. He regarded the press as a disuniting, “diabolical” force of falsehoods, sentiments that he expressed in his Farewell Address.^[341] At the end of his second term, Washington retired for personal and political reasons, dismayed with personal attacks, and to ensure that a truly contested presidential election could be held. He did not feel bound to a two-term limit, but his retirement set a significant precedent. Washington is often credited with setting the principle of a two-term presidency, but it was Thomas Jefferson who first refused to run for a third term on political grounds.^[342]

Farewell Address[edit source]

Main article: George Washington’s Farewell Address Washington’s Farewell Address (September 19, 1796)

In 1796, Washington declined to run for a third term of office, believing his death in office would create an image of a lifetime appointment. The precedent of a two-term limit was created by his retirement from office.^[343] In May 1792, in anticipation of his retirement, Washington instructed James Madison to prepare a “valedictory address“, an initial draft of which was entitled the “Farewell Address”.^[344] In May 1796, Washington sent the manuscript to his Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton who did an extensive rewrite, while Washington provided final edits.^[345] On September 19, 1796, David Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser published the final version of the address.^[346]

Washington stressed that national identity was paramount, while a united America would safeguard freedom and prosperity. He warned the nation of three eminent dangers: regionalism, partisanship, and foreign entanglements, and said the “name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.”^[347] Washington called for men to move beyond partisanship for the common good, stressing that the United States must concentrate on its own interests. He warned against foreign alliances and their influence in domestic affairs, and bitter partisanship and the dangers of political parties.^[348] He counseled friendship and commerce with all nations, but advised against involvement in European wars.^[349] He stressed the importance of religion, asserting that “religion and morality are indispensable supports” in a republic.^[350] Washington’s address favored Hamilton’s Federalist ideology and economic policies.^[351]

Washington closed the address by reflecting on his legacy:

Though in reviewing the incidents of my Administration I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence, and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.^[352]

After initial publication, many Republicans, including Madison, criticized the Address and believed it was an anti-French campaign document. Madison believed Washington was strongly pro-British. Madison also was suspicious of who authored the Address.^[353]

In 1839, Washington biographer Jared Sparks maintained that Washington’s “… Farewell Address was printed and published with the laws, by order of the legislatures, as an evidence of the value they attached to its political precepts, and of their affection for its author.”^[354] In 1972, Washington scholar James Flexner referred to the Farewell Address as receiving as much acclaim as Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence and Abraham Lincoln‘s Gettysburg Address.^[355] In 2010, historian Ron Chernow reported the Farewell Address proved to be one of the most influential statements on Republicanism.^[356]

Post-presidency (1797–1799)[edit source]

Further information: Post-presidency of George Washington

Retirement[edit source]

Washington retired to Mount Vernon in March 1797 and devoted time to his plantations and other business interests, including his distillery.^[357] His plantation operations were only minimally profitable,^[46] and his lands in the west (Piedmont) were under Indian attacks and yielded little income, with the squatters there refusing to pay rent. He attempted to sell these but without success.^[358] He became an even more committed Federalist. He vocally supported the Alien and Sedition Acts and convinced Federalist John Marshall to run for Congress to weaken the Jeffersonian hold on Virginia.^[359]

Washington grew restless in retirement, prompted by tensions with France, and he wrote to Secretary of War James McHenry offering to organize President Adams’ army.^[360] In a continuation of the French Revolutionary Wars, French privateers began seizing American ships in 1798, and relations deteriorated with France and led to the “Quasi-War“. Without consulting Washington, Adams nominated him for a lieutenant general commission on July 4, 1798, and the position of commander-in-chief of the armies.^[361] Washington chose to accept, replacing James Wilkinson,^[362] and he served as the commanding general from July 13, 1798, until his death 17 months later. He participated in planning for a provisional army, but he avoided involvement in details. In advising McHenry of potential officers for the army, he appeared to make a complete break with Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans: “you could as soon scrub the blackamoor white, as to change the principles of a profest Democrat; and that he will leave nothing unattempted to overturn the government of this country.”^[363] Washington delegated the active leadership of the army to Hamilton, a major general. No army invaded the United States during this period, and Washington did not assume a field command.^[364]

Washington was known to be rich because of the well-known “glorified façade of wealth and grandeur” at Mount Vernon,^[365] but nearly all his wealth was in the form of land and slaves rather than ready cash. To supplement his income, he erected a distillery for substantial whiskey production.^[366] Historians estimate that the estate was worth about $1 million in 1799 dollars,^[367] equivalent to $15,249,000 in 2020. He bought land parcels to spur development around the new Federal City named in his honor, and he sold individual lots to middle-income investors rather than multiple lots to large investors, believing they would more likely commit to making improvements.^[368]

Final days and death[edit source]

Washington on his Deathbed
Junius Brutus Stearns 1799

On December 12, 1799, Washington inspected his farms on horseback. He returned home late and had guests over for dinner. He had a sore throat the next day but was well enough to mark trees for cutting. That evening, he complained of chest congestion but was still cheerful.^[369] On Saturday, he awoke to an inflamed throat and difficulty breathing, so he ordered estate overseer George Rawlins to remove nearly a pint of his blood; bloodletting was a common practice of the time. His family summoned Doctors James Craik, Gustavus Richard Brown, and Elisha C. Dick.^[370] (Dr. William Thornton arrived some hours after Washington died.)^[371]

Dr. Brown thought Washington had quinsy; Dr. Dick thought the condition was a more serious “violent inflammation of the throat”.^[372] They continued the process of bloodletting to approximately five pints, and Washington’s condition deteriorated further. Dr. Dick proposed a tracheotomy, but the others were not familiar with that procedure and therefore disapproved.^[373] Washington instructed Brown and Dick to leave the room, while he assured Craik, “Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.”^[374]

Washington’s death came more swiftly than expected.^[375] On his deathbed, he instructed his private secretary Tobias Lear to wait three days before his burial, out of fear of being entombed alive.^[376] According to Lear, he died peacefully between 10 and 11 p.m. on December 14, 1799, with Martha seated at the foot of his bed. His last words were “‘Tis well”, from his conversation with Lear about his burial. He was 67.^[377]Miniature of George Washington by Robert Field (1800)

Congress immediately adjourned for the day upon news of Washington’s death, and the Speaker’s chair was shrouded in black the next morning.^[378] The funeral was held four days after his death on December 18, 1799, at Mount Vernon, where his body was interred. Cavalry and foot soldiers led the procession, and six colonels served as the pallbearers. The Mount Vernon funeral service was restricted mostly to family and friends.^[379] Reverend Thomas Davis read the funeral service by the vault with a brief address, followed by a ceremony performed by various members of Washington’s Masonic lodge in Alexandria, Virginia.^[380] Congress chose Light-Horse Harry Lee to deliver the eulogy. Word of his death traveled slowly; church bells rang in the cities, and many places of business closed.^[381] People worldwide admired Washington and were saddened by his death, and memorial processions were held in major cities of the United States. Martha wore a black mourning cape for one year, and she burned their correspondence to protect their privacy. Only five letters between the couple are known to have survived: two from Martha to George and three from him to her.^[382]

The diagnosis of Washington’s illness and the immediate cause of his death have been subjects of debate since the day he died. The published account of Drs. Craik and Brown^[q] stated that his symptoms had been consistent with cynanche trachealis (tracheal inflammation), a term of that period used to describe severe inflammation of the upper windpipe, including quinsy. Accusations have persisted since Washington’s death concerning medical malpractice, with some believing he had been bled to death.^[373] Various modern medical authors have speculated that he died from a severe case of epiglottitis complicated by the given treatments, most notably the massive blood loss which almost certainly caused hypovolemic shock.^[384]^[r]

Burial, net worth, and aftermath[edit source]

The sarcophagi of George (right) and Martha Washington at the present tomb’s entrance

Washington was buried in the old Washington family vault at Mount Vernon, situated on a grassy slope overspread with willow, juniper, cypress, and chestnut trees. It contained the remains of his brother Lawrence and other family members, but the decrepit brick vault needed repair, prompting Washington to leave instructions in his will for the construction of a new vault.^[381] Washington’s estate at the time of his death was worth an estimated $780,000 in 1799, approximately equivalent to $17.82 million in 2021.^[388] Washington’s peak net worth was $587.0 million, including his 300 slaves.^[389] Washington held title to more than 65,000 acres of land in 37 different locations.^[87]

In 1830, a disgruntled ex-employee of the estate attempted to steal what he thought was Washington’s skull, prompting the construction of a more secure vault.^[390] The next year, the new vault was constructed at Mount Vernon to receive the remains of George and Martha and other relatives.^[391] In 1832, a joint Congressional committee debated moving his body from Mount Vernon to a crypt in the Capitol. The crypt had been built by architect Charles Bulfinch in the 1820s during the reconstruction of the burned-out capital, after the Burning of Washington by the British during the War of 1812. Southern opposition was intense, antagonized by an ever-growing rift between North and South; many were concerned that Washington’s remains could end up on “a shore foreign to his native soil” if the country became divided, and Washington’s remains stayed in Mount Vernon.^[392]

On October 7, 1837, Washington’s remains were placed, still in the original lead coffin, within a marble sarcophagus designed by William Strickland and constructed by John Struthers earlier that year.^[393] The sarcophagus was sealed and encased with planks, and an outer vault was constructed around it.^[394] The outer vault has the sarcophagi of both George and Martha Washington; the inner vault has the remains of other Washington family members and relatives.^[391]

Personal life[edit source]

The Washington Family by Edward Savage (c. 1789–1796) George and Martha Washington with her grandchildren. National Art Gallery^[395]George Washington’s bookplate with the Coat of arms of the Washington family

Washington was somewhat reserved in personality, but he generally had a strong presence among others. He made speeches and announcements when required, but he was not a noted orator or debater.^[396] He was taller than most of his contemporaries;^[397] accounts of his height vary from 6 ft (1.83 m) to 6 ft 3.5 in (1.92 m) tall,^[398]^[399] he weighed between 210–220 pounds (95–100 kg) as an adult,^[400]^[401] and he was known for his great strength.^[402] He had grey-blue eyes and reddish-brown hair which he wore powdered in the fashion of the day.^[403] He had a rugged and dominating presence, which garnered respect from his peers.

He bought William Lee on May 27, 1768, and he was Washington’s valet for 20 years. He was the only slave freed immediately in Washington’s will.

Washington frequently suffered from severe tooth decay and ultimately lost all his teeth but one. He had several sets of false teeth, which he wore during his presidency, made using a variety of materials including both animal and human teeth, but wood was not used despite common lore.^[404] These dental problems left him in constant pain, for which he took laudanum.^[405] As a public figure, he relied upon the strict confidence of his dentist.^[406]

Washington was a talented equestrian early in life. He collected thoroughbreds at Mount Vernon, and his two favorite horses were Blueskin and Nelson.^[407] Fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson said Washington was “the best horseman of his age and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback”;^[408] he also hunted foxes, deer, ducks, and other game.^[409] He was an excellent dancer and attended the theater frequently. He drank in moderation but was morally opposed to excessive drinking, smoking tobacco, gambling, and profanity.^[410]

Religion and Freemasonry[edit source]

Main articles: Religious views of George Washington and American Enlightenment

Washington was descended from Anglican minister Lawrence Washington (his great-great-grandfather), whose troubles with the Church of England may have prompted his heirs to emigrate to America.^[411] Washington was baptized as an infant in April 1732 and became a devoted member of the Church of England (the Anglican Church).^[412] He served more than 20 years as a vestryman and churchwarden for Fairfax Parish and Truro Parish, Virginia.^[413] He privately prayed and read the Bible daily, and he publicly encouraged people and the nation to pray.^[414] He may have taken communion on a regular basis prior to the Revolutionary War, but he did not do so following the war, for which he was admonished by Pastor James Abercrombie.^[415]George Washington as Master of his Lodge, 1793

Washington believed in a “wise, inscrutable, and irresistible” Creator God who was active in the Universe, contrary to deistic thought.^[411] He referred to God by the Enlightenment terms Providence, the Creator, or the Almighty, and also as the Divine Author or the Supreme Being.^[416] He believed in a divine power who watched over battlefields, was involved in the outcome of war, was protecting his life, and was involved in American politics—and specifically in the creation of the United States.^[417]^[s] Modern historian Ron Chernow has posited that Washington avoided evangelistic Christianity or hellfire-and-brimstone speech along with communion and anything inclined to “flaunt his religiosity”. Chernow has also said Washington “never used his religion as a device for partisan purposes or in official undertakings”.^[419] No mention of Jesus Christ appears in his private correspondence, and such references are rare in his public writings.^[420] He frequently quoted from the Bible or paraphrased it, and often referred to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.^[421] There is debate on whether he is best classed as a Christian or a theistic rationalist—or both.^[422]

Washington emphasized religious toleration in a nation with numerous denominations and religions. He publicly attended services of different Christian denominations and prohibited anti-Catholic celebrations in the Army.^[423] He engaged workers at Mount Vernon without regard for religious belief or affiliation. While president, he acknowledged major religious sects and gave speeches on religious toleration.^[424] He was distinctly rooted in the ideas, values, and modes of thinking of the Enlightenment,^[425] but he harbored no contempt of organized Christianity and its clergy, “being no bigot myself to any mode of worship”.^[425] In 1793, speaking to members of the New Church in Baltimore, Washington proclaimed, “We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition.”^[426]

Freemasonry was a widely accepted institution in the late 18th century, known for advocating moral teachings.^[427] Washington was attracted to the Masons’ dedication to the Enlightenment principles of rationality, reason, and brotherhood. The American Masonic lodges did not share the anti-clerical perspective of the controversial European lodges.^[428] A Masonic lodge was established in Fredericksburg in September 1752, and Washington was initiated two months later at the age of 20 as one of its first Entered Apprentices. Within a year, he progressed through its ranks to become a Master Mason.^[429] Washington had high regard for the Masonic Order, but his personal lodge attendance was sporadic. In 1777, a convention of Virginia lodges asked him to be the Grand Master of the newly established Grand Lodge of Virginia, but he declined due to his commitments leading the Continental Army. After 1782, he frequently corresponded with Masonic lodges and members,^[430] and he was listed as Master in the Virginia charter of Alexandria Lodge No. 22 in 1788.^[431]

Slavery[edit source]

Main articles: George Washington and slavery, Slavery in the colonial United States, and Slavery in the United States Washington as Farmer at Mount Vernon
Junius Brutus Stearns, 1851

In Washington’s lifetime, slavery was deeply ingrained in the economic and social fabric of Virginia.^[432]^[433] Slavery was legal in all of the Thirteen Colonies prior to the American Revolution.^[434]

Washington’s slaves[edit source]

Washington owned and rented enslaved African Americans, and during his lifetime over 577 slaves lived and worked at Mount Vernon.^[435]^[436] He acquired them through inheritance, gaining control of 84 dower slaves upon his marriage to Martha, and purchased at least 71 slaves between 1752 and 1773.^[437] From 1786 he rented slaves, at his death he was renting 41.^[438]^[435] His early views on slavery were no different from any Virginia planter of the time.^[439] From the 1760s his attitudes underwent a slow evolution. The first doubts were prompted by his transition from tobacco to grain crops, which left him with a costly surplus of slaves, causing him to question the system’s economic efficiency.^[440] His growing disillusionment with the institution was spurred by the principles of the American Revolution and revolutionary friends such as Lafayette and Hamilton.^[441] Most historians agree the Revolution was central to the evolution of Washington’s attitudes on slavery;^[442] “After 1783”, Kenneth Morgan writes, “…[Washington] began to express inner tensions about the problem of slavery more frequently, though always in private…”^[443]

The many contemporary reports of slave treatment at Mount Vernon are varied and conflicting.^[444] Historian Kenneth Morgan (2000) maintains that Washington was frugal on spending for clothes and bedding for his slaves, and only provided them with just enough food, and that he maintained strict control over his slaves, instructing his overseers to keep them working hard from dawn to dusk year-round.^[445] However, historian Dorothy Twohig (2001) said: “Food, clothing, and housing seem to have been at least adequate”.^[446] Washington faced growing debts involved with the costs of supporting slaves. He held an “engrained sense of racial superiority” towards African Americans but harbored no ill feelings toward them.^[447] Some enslaved families worked at different locations on the plantation but were allowed to visit one another on their days off.^[448] Washington’s slaves received two hours off for meals during the workday and were given time off on Sundays and religious holidays.^[449]

Some accounts report that Washington opposed flogging but at times sanctioned its use, generally as a last resort, on both men and women slaves.^[450] Washington used both reward and punishment to encourage discipline and productivity in his slaves. He tried appealing to an individual’s sense of pride, gave better blankets and clothing to the “most deserving”, and motivated his slaves with cash rewards. He believed “watchfulness and admonition” to be often better deterrents against transgressions but would punish those who “will not do their duty by fair means”. Punishment ranged in severity from demotion back to fieldwork, through whipping and beatings, to permanent separation from friends and family by sale. Historian Ron Chernow maintains that overseers were required to warn slaves before resorting to the lash and required Washington’s written permission before whipping, though his extended absences did not always permit this.^[451] Washington remained dependent on slave labor to work his farms and negotiated the purchase of more slaves in 1786 and 1787.^[452]Runaway advertisement for Oney Judge, enslaved servant in Washington’s presidential household

Washington brought several of his slaves with him and his family to the federal capital during his presidency. When the capital moved from New York City to Philadelphia in 1791, the president began rotating his slave household staff periodically between the capital and Mount Vernon. This was done deliberately to circumvent Pennsylvania’s Slavery Abolition Act, which, in part, automatically freed any slave who moved to the state and lived there for more than six months.^[453] In May 1796, Martha’s personal and favorite slave Oney Judge escaped to Portsmouth. At Martha’s behest, Washington attempted to capture Ona, using a Treasury agent, but this effort failed. In February 1797, Washington’s personal slave Hercules escaped to Philadelphia and was never found.^[454]

In February 1786, Washington took a census of Mount Vernon and recorded 224 slaves.^[455] By 1799, slaves at Mount Vernon totaled 317, including 143 children.^[456] Washington owned 124 slaves, leased 40, and held 153 for his wife’s dower interest.^[457] Washington supported many slaves who were too young or too old to work, greatly increasing Mount Vernon’s slave population and causing the plantation to operate at a loss.^[458]

Abolition and manumission[edit source]

Main article: Abolitionism in the United States

Based on his letters, diary, documents, accounts from colleagues, employees, friends, and visitors, Washington slowly developed a cautious sympathy toward abolitionism that eventually ended with the manumission, by his will, of his own slaves after his death.^[459] As president, he remained publicly silent on the topic of slavery, believing it was a nationally divisive issue which could destroy the union.^[460]

During the American Revolutionary War, Washington began to change his views on slavery.^[434] In a 1778 letter to Lund Washington, he made clear his desire “to get quit of Negroes” when discussing the exchange of slaves for the land he wanted to buy.^[461] The next year, Washington stated his intention not to separate enslaved families as a result of “a change of masters”.^[462] During the 1780s, Washington privately expressed his support for the gradual emancipation of slaves.^[463] Between 1783 and 1786, he gave moral support to a plan proposed by Lafayette to purchase land and free slaves to work on it, but declined to participate in the experiment.^[446] Washington privately expressed support for emancipation to prominent Methodists Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury in 1785 but declined to sign their petition.^[464] In personal correspondence the next year, he made clear his desire to see the institution of slavery ended by a gradual legislative process, a view that correlated with the mainstream antislavery literature published in the 1780s that Washington possessed.^[465] He significantly reduced his purchases of slaves after the war but continued to acquire them in small numbers.^[466]In 1794, Washington privately expressed to Tobias Lear, his secretary, that he found slavery to be repugnant.

In 1788, Washington declined a suggestion from a leading French abolitionist, Jacques Brissot, to establish an abolitionist society in Virginia, stating that although he supported the idea, the time was not yet right to confront the issue.^[467] The historian Henry Wiencek (2003) believes, based on a remark that appears in the notebook of his biographer David Humphreys, that Washington considered making a public statement by freeing his slaves on the eve of his presidency in 1789.^[468] The historian Philip D. Morgan (2005) disagrees, believing the remark was a “private expression of remorse” at his inability to free his slaves.^[469] Other historians agree with Morgan that Washington was determined not to risk national unity over an issue as divisive as slavery.^[470] Washington never responded to any of the antislavery petitions he received, and the subject was not mentioned in either his last address to Congress or his Farewell Address.^[471]

The first clear indication that Washington seriously intended to free his slaves appears in a letter written to his secretary, Tobias Lear, in 1794.^[472] Washington instructed Lear to find buyers for his land in western Virginia, explaining in a private coda that he was doing so “to liberate a certain species of property which I possess, very repugnantly to my own feelings”.^[473] The plan, along with others Washington considered in 1795 and 1796, could not be realized because he failed to find buyers for his land, his reluctance to break up slave families, and the refusal of the Custis heirs to help prevent such separations by freeing their dower slaves at the same time.^[474]

On July 9, 1799, Washington finished making his last will; the longest provision concerned slavery. All his slaves were to be freed after the death of his wife, Martha. Washington said he did not free them immediately because his slaves intermarried with his wife’s dower slaves. He forbade their sale or transportation out of Virginia. His will provided that old and young freed people be taken care of indefinitely; younger ones were to be taught to read and write and placed in suitable occupations.^[475] Washington freed more than 160 slaves, including about 25 he had acquired from his wife’s brother Bartholomew Dandridge in payment of a debt.^[476] He was among the few large slave-holding Virginians during the Revolutionary Era who emancipated their slaves.^[477]

On January 1, 1801, one year after George Washington’s death, Martha Washington signed an order to free his slaves. Many of them, having never strayed far from Mount Vernon, were naturally reluctant to try their luck elsewhere; others refused to abandon spouses or children still held as dower slaves (the Custis estate)^[478] and also stayed with or near Martha. Following George Washington’s instructions in his will, funds were used to feed and clothe the young, aged, and infirm slaves until the early 1830s.^[479]

Historical reputation and legacy[edit source]

Further information: Legacy of George Washington, Cultural depictions of George Washington, and Historical rankings of presidents of the United States Washington, the Constable by Gilbert Stuart (1797)

Washington’s legacy endures as one of the most influential in American history since he served as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, a hero of the Revolution, and the first president of the United States. Various historians maintain that he also was a dominant factor in America’s founding, the Revolutionary War, and the Constitutional Convention.^[480] Revolutionary War comrade Light-Horse Harry Lee eulogized him as “First in war—first in peace—and first in the hearts of his countrymen”.^[481] Lee’s words became the hallmark by which Washington’s reputation was impressed upon the American memory, with some biographers regarding him as the great exemplar of republicanism. He set many precedents for the national government and the presidency in particular, and he was called the “Father of His Country” as early as 1778.^[482]^[t]

In 1879, Congress proclaimed Washington’s Birthday to be a federal holiday.^[484] Twentieth-century biographer Douglas Southall Freeman concluded, “The great big thing stamped across that man is character.” Modern historian David Hackett Fischer has expanded upon Freeman’s assessment, defining Washington’s character as “integrity, self-discipline, courage, absolute honesty, resolve, and decision, but also forbearance, decency, and respect for others”.^[485]A drawing from a Japanese manuscript of Washington fighting a tiger.

Washington became an international symbol for liberation and nationalism as the leader of the first successful revolution against a colonial empire. The Federalists made him the symbol of their party, but the Jeffersonians continued to distrust his influence for many years and delayed building the Washington Monument.^[486] Washington was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on January 31, 1781, before he had even begun his presidency.^[487] He was posthumously appointed to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States during the United States Bicentennial to ensure he would never be outranked; this was accomplished by the congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 passed on January 19, 1976, with an effective appointment date of July 4, 1976.^[488]^[u] On March 13, 1978, Washington was militarily promoted to the rank of General of the Armies.^[491]

Parson Weems wrote a hagiographic biography in 1809 to honor Washington.^[492] Historian Ron Chernow maintains that Weems attempted to humanize Washington, making him look less stern, and to inspire “patriotism and morality” and to foster “enduring myths”, such as Washington’s refusal to lie about damaging his father’s cherry tree.^[493] Weems’ accounts have never been proven or disproven.^[494] Historian John Ferling, however, maintains that Washington remains the only founder and president ever to be referred to as “godlike”, and points out that his character has been the most scrutinized by historians, past and present.^[495] Historian Gordon S. Wood concludes that “the greatest act of his life, the one that gave him his greatest fame, was his resignation as commander-in-chief of the American forces.”^[496] Chernow suggests that Washington was “burdened by public life” and divided by “unacknowledged ambition mingled with self-doubt”.^[497] A 1993 review of presidential polls and surveys consistently ranked Washington number 4, 3, or 2 among presidents.^[498] A 2018 Siena College Research Institute survey ranked him number 1 among presidents.^[499]

In the 21st century, Washington’s reputation has been critically scrutinized. Along with various other Founding Fathers, he has been condemned for holding enslaved human beings. Though he expressed the desire to see the abolition of slavery come through legislation, he did not initiate or support any initiatives for bringing about its end. This has led to calls from some activists to remove his name from public buildings and his statue from public spaces.^[500]^[501] Nonetheless, Washington maintains his place among the highest-ranked U.S. Presidents, listed second (after Lincoln) in a 2021 C-SPAN poll.^[502]

Memorials[edit source]

Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.Further information: The Washington Papers, List of memorials to George Washington, and Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps

Jared Sparks began collecting and publishing Washington’s documentary record in the 1830s in Life and Writings of George Washington (12 vols., 1834–1837).^[503] The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799 (1931–1944) is a 39-volume set edited by John Clement Fitzpatrick, whom the George Washington Bicentennial Commission commissioned. It contains more than 17,000 letters and documents and is available online from the University of Virginia.^[504]

Educational institutions[edit source]

Further information: Washington (disambiguation) § Education

Numerous secondary schools are named in honor of Washington, as are many universities, including George Washington University and Washington University in St. Louis.^[505]^[506]

Places and monuments[edit source]

Further information: Washington (disambiguation) § Places

Many places and monuments have been named in honor of Washington, most notably the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C. The state of Washington is the only US state to be named after a president.^[507]

Washington appears as one of four U.S. presidents in a colossal statue by Gutzon Borglum on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

Currency and postage[edit source]

Further information: Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps

George Washington appears on contemporary U.S. currency, including the one-dollar bill, the Presidential one-dollar coin and the quarter-dollar coin (the Washington quarter). Washington and Benjamin Franklin appeared on the nation’s first postage stamps in 1847. Washington has since appeared on many postage issues, more than any other person.^[508]

Washington issue of 1862
Washington–Franklin issue of 1917
Washington quarter dollar
George Washington Presidential one-dollar coin
Washington on the 1928 dollar bill

References[edit source]

Notes[edit source]

^ Congress counted the votes of the Electoral College and certified a president on April 6. Washington was sworn in on April 30.^[1]
^ Contemporaneous records used the Old Style Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recording his birth as February 11, 1731. The British Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 implemented in 1752 altered the official British dating method to the Gregorian calendar with the start of the year on January 1 (it had been March 25). These changes resulted in dates being moved forward 11 days and an advance of one year for those between January 1 and March 25. For a further explanation, see Old Style and New Style dates.^[9]
^ Washington received his license through the college, whose charter gave it the authority to appoint Virginia county surveyors. There is no evidence that he actually attended classes there.^[23]
^ Thirty years later, Washington reflected “that so young and inexperienced a person should have been employed”.^[30]
^ The mid-16th-century word Indian described the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. More modern terms for Indians include American Indian and Native American and Indigenous Peoples.^[39]
^ A second Virginia regiment was raised under Colonel William Byrd III and also allocated to the expedition.^[55]
^ Some descendants of West Ford, a slave of John Augustine Washington‘s, maintain (based on family oral history) that Ford was fathered by George Washington, though historians dispute his paternity.^[64]^[65]
^ In a letter of September 20, 1765, Washington protested to “Robert Cary & Co.” the low prices he received for his tobacco and for the inflated prices he was forced to pay on second-rate goods from London.^[85]
^ Historian Garry Wills noted, “before there was a nation—before there was any symbol of that nation (a flag, a Constitution, a national seal)—there was Washington.”^[113]
^ Congress initially directed the war effort in June 1776 with the committee known as “Board of War and Ordnance”; this was succeeded by the Board of War in July 1777, which eventually included members of the military.^[124]
^ This painting has received both acclaim and criticism;^[142] see Emanuel Leutze article for details.
^ Thomas Jefferson praised Washington for his “moderation and virtue” in relinquishing command. King George III reportedly praised him for this act.^[224]
^ The Society of the Cincinnati was formed by Henry Knox in May 1783, to carry on the memory of the War of Independence and to establish a fraternity of officers. The Society was named after Cincinnatus, a famous Roman military leader who relinquished his position after his Roman victory at Algidus (458 BC). However, he had reservations about some of the society’s precepts, including heredity requirements for membership and receiving money from foreign interests.^[226]
^ Starting in 1774, 14 men served as President of the Continental Congress but bore no relationship to the presidency established under Article II of the Constitution. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress called its presiding officer “President of the United States in Congress Assembled”, but this position had no national executive powers.^[248]
^ There has been debate over whether Washington added “so help me God” to the end of the oath.^[254]
^ A modern term for Indian is Native American.^[39]
^ The first account of Washington’s death was written by Doctors Craik and Brown, published in The Times of Alexandria five days after his death on December 19, 1799. The complete text can be found in The Eclectic Medical Journal (1858)^[383]
^ Modern experts have concluded that Washington probably died from acute bacterial epiglottitis complicated by the administered treatments, including Morens and Wallenborn in 1999,^[385] Cheatham in 2008,^[386] and Vadakan in 2005.^[387] These treatments included multiple doses of calomel (a cathartic or purgative) and extensive bloodletting.
^ The Constitution came under attack in Pennsylvania, and Washington wrote to Richard Peters, “It would seem from the public Gazettes that the minority in your State are preparing for another attack of the now adopted Government; how formidable it may be, I know not. But that Providence which has hitherto smiled on the honest endeavours of the well meaning part of the People of this Country will not, I trust, withdraw its support from them at this crisis.”^[418]
^ The earliest known image in which Washington is identified as the Father of His Country is in the frontispiece of a 1779 German-language almanac, with calculations by David Rittenhouse and published by Francis Bailey in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. Der Gantz Neue Verbesserte Nord-Americanische Calendar has a personification of Fame holding a trumpet to her lips juxtaposed with an image of Washington and the words “Der Landes Vater” (“the father of the country” or “the father of the land”).^[483]
^ In Portraits & Biographical Sketches of the United States Army’s Senior Officer,^[489] William Gardner Bell states that Washington was recalled to military service from his retirement in 1798, and “Congress passed legislation that would have made him General of the Armies of the United States, but his services were not required in the field, and the appointment was not made until the Bicentennial in 1976 when it was bestowed posthumously as a commemorative honor.” In 1976, President Gerald Ford specified that Washington would “rank first among all officers of the Army, past and present”.^[490]

Citations[edit source]

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^ “House of Burgesses”. The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington. Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. Retrieved May 9, 2020. After a failed bid for a seat in December 1755, he won election in 1758 and represented Frederick County until 1765.
^ “Enclosure V: Frederick County Poll Sheet, 1758, 24 July 1758”. National Historical Publications and Records Commission (The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). 1758. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “House of Burgesses”. The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington. Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. Retrieved May 9, 2020. That year he ran in Fairfax County, winning a seat which he would retain until 1775 … Dunmore did not call the House again until June of 1775. The House adjourned on June 24 and never again achieved a quorum (enough members to conduct business).
^ Bish, Jim (Spring 2010). “Hugh West and the West Family’s Momentous Role in Founding and Developing Alexandria and Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, Virginia” (PDF). The Alexandria Chronicle. Alexandria Historical Society. pp. 13–14. Retrieved May 10, 2020. In 1755 Hugh West Jr. gave up his seat in Fairfax County and won a House of Burgess election in Frederick County defeating Colonel George Washington. This defeat was Washington’s only electoral loss. Hugh West Jr. served as a Frederick County burgess until 1758 when he was defeated by Washington.
^ “To George Washington from Adam Stephen, 23 December 1755”. National Historical Publications and Records Commission (The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). 1755. Retrieved May 10, 2020. GW kept a copy of the Frederick County poll sheet (c. 10 Dec., DLC:GW) in his papers with the names of the 40 men who voted for him and the names of the 271 men who voted for Hugh West and 270 who voted for Thomas Swearingen.
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^ Chernow 2010, p. 575.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 514.
^ Ferling 2009, pp. 281–282; Cooke 2002, pp. 4–5.
^ Cooke 2002, p. 5; Banning 1974, p. 5.
^ Elkins & McKitrick 1995, p. 290.
^ Ellis, Richard. Founding the American Presidency, p. 133 (Rowman and Littlefield, 1999).
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Cooke 2002, p. 7.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 585, 609; Henriques 2006, p. 65; Novak 2007, pp. 144–146.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 758; Taylor 2016, pp. 399–400.
^ Taylor 2016, pp. 399–400.
^ Taylor, Alan (2016). American Revolutions A Continental History, 1750–1804, p. 400 (W.W. Norton & Company, 2016).
^ Rowe, Jill. Invisible in Plain Sight: Self-Determination Strategies of Free Blacks in the Old Northwest, p. 37 (Peter Lang, 2016).
^ Finkelman, Paul. Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson, p. 77 (Routledge, 2014).
^ Finkelman, Paul. Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century] (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2001), p. 270: “Once the Constitution had been ratified, Congress passed a slightly modified version of the Northwest Ordinance on 7 August 1789, since all nontreaty statutory enactments under the Articles of Confederation lapsed with the adoption of the Constitution.”
^ Bassett 1906, pp. 187–189.
^ First Congress, Third Session (February 18, 1791). “An Act for the admission of the State of Vermont into this Union”. The Avalon Project. Yale Law School. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
^ Chernow 2005, p. 345.
^ Banning 1974, pp. 5–7.
^ Cooke 2002, pp. 7–8.
^ Cooke 2002, p. 8.
^ Sobel 1968, p. 27.
^ Banning 1974, p. 9; Sobel 1968, p. 30.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 673–674.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 515, 627–630, 648–650; Randall 1997, pp. 452, 463, 468–471.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Banning 1974, p. 8; Cooke 2002, p. 9.
^ Cooke 2002, p. 9; Fitzpatrick 1936, v. 19, p. 523.
^ Elkins & McKitrick 1995, pp. 240, 285, 290, 361.
^ Cooke 2002, p. 9; Chernow 2005, p. 427.
^ Ferling 2013, pp. 222, 283–284, 301–302.
^ Ferling 2013, pp. 301–302.
^ Chernow 2005, pp. 342–343.
^ Kohn 1972, pp. 567–568, 570.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Chernow 2010, pp. 719–721; Puls 2008, p. 219.
^ Coakley 1996, pp. 43–49.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 721, 726; Kohn 1972, pp. 567–584.
^ Kohn 1972, pp. 567–584.
^ Ellis 2004, pp. 225–226.
^ Elkins & McKitrick 1995, pp. 335–354.
^ George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Essay, citizenship.
^ Elkins & McKitrick 1995, ch. 9.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 730.
^ Ferling 2009, p. 340.
^ Estes 2000, pp. 393–422; Estes 2001, pp. 127–158.
^ Ferling 2009, p. 344.
^ Ferling 2009, p. 343.
^ Grizzard 2005, p. 263; Lengel 2005, p. 357.
^ Akers 2002, p. 27.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 666.
^ Calloway 2018, p. 38.
^ Sitting down with author and historian Colin G. Calloway, blog.oup.com October 18, 2018, accessed October 20, 2018
^ Fitzpatrick 1936, p. 523; Cooke 2002, pp. 9–10; Chernow 2010, p. 665.
^ Waldman & Braun 2009, p. 149.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Harless 2018.
^ Calloway 2018, p. 2.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Flexner 1969, p. 304; Taylor 2016, p. 406.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Cooke 2002, p. 10.
^ Grizzard 2002, pp. 256–257; Puls 2008, pp. 207–208.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 667–678; Gaff 2004, p. xvii; Waldman & Braun 2009, p. 149.
^ Gaff 2004, pp. 3–6; Ferling 2009, p. 340.
^ Cooke 2002, p. 10; Chernow 2010, p. 668.
^ Taylor 2016, p. 406; Chernow 2010, p. 668.
^ Cooke 2002, p. 14; Taylor 2016, p. 406.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 674.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 675, 678; Ferling 2009, p. 362; Randall 1997, p. 484.
^ Ferling 1988, p. 421; Randall 1997, p. 482; Chernow 2010, pp. 675, 678.
^ Chernow 2005, p. 403.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 687.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 687; Cooke 2002, pp. 10–11.
^ Ferling 2009, pp. 299, 304, 308–311; Banning 1974, p. 2; Cooke 2002, pp. 11–12.
^ Cooke 2002, pp. 12–13.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 692; Cooke 2002, p. 12.
^ Cooke 2002, p. 13.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 713.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 726–727; Cooke 2002, p. 15.
^ Randall 1997, pp. 491–492; Chernow 2010, pp. 752–754.
^ Korzi 2011, p. 43; Peabody 2001, pp. 439–453.
^ Spalding & Garrity 1996, p. 58; Lurie 2018.
^ Spalding & Garrity 1996, pp. 46–47.
^ Flexner 1972, p. 292; Chernow 2010, pp. 752–753; Spalding & Garrity 1996, p. 4744; Hayes 2017, pp. 287–298.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 754; Lurie 2018.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 755; Lurie 2018.
^ Randall 1997, p. 492; Boller 1963, p. 47.
^ Fishman, Pederson & Rozell 2001, pp. 119–120; Gregg & Spalding 1999, pp. 199–216.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 133.
^ Randall 1997, p. 492; Cooke 2002, pp. 18–19; Flexner 1972, pp. 292–297; Avlon 2017, p. 223; Boller 1963, p. 47.
^ Avlon 2017, p. 280.
^ Spalding & Garrity 1996, p. 143.
^ Sparks 1839, p. 444.
^ Flexner 1972, p. 292; Spalding & Garrity 1996, p. 142.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 752–754.
^ Breen & White 2006, pp. 209–220.
^ Ellis 2004, pp. 255–261.
^ Flexner 1974, p. 386.
^ Randall 1997, p. 497.
^ Flexner 1974, pp. 376–377; Bell 1992, p. 64.
^ Bell 1992, p. 64.
^ Fitzpatrick 1936, p. 474, vol. 36.
^ Kohn 1975, pp. 225–242; Grizzard 2005, p. 264.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 708.
^ Hirschfeld 1997, pp. 44–45; Ferling 2009, p. 351.
^ Dalzell & Dalzell 1998, p. 219.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 704–705.
^ “The Death of George Washington”.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 806–810; Morens 1999, pp. 1845–1849.
^ “Death Defied”.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 806–807; Lear 1799, p. 257.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Chernow 2010, pp. 806–810; Felisati & Sperati 2005, pp. 55–58.
^ Ellis 2004, p. 269.
^ Ferling 2009, p. 365.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 808.
^ Flexner 1974, pp. 401–402; Chernow 2010, pp. 808–809.
^ Irving 1857, p. 359.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 808–810.
^ Irving 1857, pp. 374–375.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Chernow 2010, pp. 810–811.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 814.
^ Newton, Freeman & Bickley 1858, pp. 273–274.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 809.
^ Wallenborn 1999; Morens 1999, pp. 1845–1849.
^ Cheatham 2008.
^ Vadakan 2005.
^ Gardner 2013.
^ “The Net Worth of the American Presidents: Washington to Trump”. 24/7 Wall St. 247wallst.com. November 10, 2016. Archived from the original on April 10, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
^ Craughwell 2009, pp. 77–79.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, New Tomb”.
^ Boorstin 2010, pp. 349–350.
^ Strickland 1840, pp. 11–14; Carlson 2016, chapter 1.
^ Strickland 1840, pp. 11–14.
^ “The Washington Family”. www.nga.gov.
^ Ferling 2002, p. 16; Randall 1997, pp. 34, 436; Chernow 2010, pp. 29–30.
^ Ferling 2002, p. 16.
^ Various sources have put Washington’s height between 6 ft and 6 ft 3.5 in. See: Chernow, Ron, Washington: A Life, 2010, The Penguin Press HC ISBN 978-1-59420-266-7; Wilson, Woodrow, George Washington, 2004, Cosimo, Inc., p. 111; Alden, John Richard, George Washington: A Biography, 1984, Louisiana State University Press, p. 11; Lodge, Henry Cabot, George Washington, Vol. I, 2007, The Echo Library, p. 30; Haworth, Paul Leland, George Washington, Kessinger Publishing, 2004, p. 119; Thayer, William Roscoe, George Washington, 1931, Plain Label Books, p. 65; Ford, Paul Leicester, The True George Washington, Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott Company, 1896, pp. 18-19
^ From George Washington to Charles Lawrence, 20 June 1768, founders.archives.gov
^ Ferling 2002, p. 16; Chernow 2010, pp. 29–30.
^ Ford, Paul Leicester, The True George Washington, Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott Company, 1896, p. 18-19
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 123–125.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 30.
^ “George Washington Had Wooden Teeth – Fact or Myth?”. Fact / Myth. Researched by Thomas DeMichele. July 1, 2016. Archived from the original on April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 30, 290, 437–439, 642–643.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 642–643.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 124, 469.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 124.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 469.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 134.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Tsakiridis 2018.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 6; Morrison 2009, p. 136; Alden 1996, pp. 2, 26; Randall 1997, p. 17; Tsakiridis 2018.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 130; Thompson 2008, p. 40; Tsakiridis 2018.
^ Frazer 2012, pp. 198–199; Chernow 2010, pp. 119, 132; Tsakiridis 2018.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 131, 470; Johnstone 1919, pp. 87–195; Frazer 2012, pp. 201–203; Tsakiridis 2018.
^ Randall 1997, p. 67; Tsakiridis 2018.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 131; Tsakiridis 2018.
^ Washington 1788b.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 131–132.
^ Novak 2007, p. 95; Tsakiridis 2018.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 131–132; Morrison 2009, p. 136; Tsakiridis 2018.
^ Frazer 2012, pp. 197–198, 201–203; Novak 2007, pp. 158–161.
^ Boller 1963, p. 125.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 131.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Wood 2001, p. 313.
^ Novak 2007, p. 117, n. 52.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 132, 500; Morrison 2009, p. 136; Stavish 2007, pp. XIX, XXI; Immekus 2018.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 27, 704.
^ Randall 1997, p. 67; Chernow 2010, p. 27.
^ Immekus 2018.
^ “A Brief History” (GWMNMA).
^ Henriques 2006, p. 146.
^ Willcox & Arnstein 1988, pp. 41–42.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Maloy, Mark (April 6, 2021). “The Founding Fathers Views of Slavery”. Archived from the original on April 6, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “The Growth of Mount Vernon’s Enslaved Community”. MountVernon.org. Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. Retrieved July 12, 2021. Over the course of George Washington’s life, at least 577 enslaved people lived and worked at Mount Vernon.
^ Morgan 2000, p. 279; Ellis 2004, p. 45.
^ Morgan 2000, pp. 279–280; Morgan 2005, pp. 405, 407 n7; Hirschfeld 1997, p. 12.
^ Thompson, Mary V. (June 19, 2014). “William Lee & Oney Judge: A Look at George Washington & Slavery”. allthingsliberty.com. Journal of the American Revolution. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
^ Twohig 2001, p. 116.
^ Morgan 2005, p. 413.
^ Twohig 2001, p. 121; Morgan 2005, p. 426.
^ Furstenberg 2011, p. 260.
^ Morgan 2000, p. 299.
^ Wiencek 2003, p. 348.
^ Morgan 2000, pp. 286–287.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Twohig 2001.
^ Morgan 2000, pp. 283, 285, 286.
^ Morgan 2000, pp. 282, 283–285; Chernow 2010, pp. 112–113.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 111; Ferling 2002, p. 46; Schwarz 2001, pp. 27, 83; Slave Labor (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association Essay).
^ Hirschfeld 1997, p. 36; Slave Control (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association Essay).
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 113–114.
^ Twohig 2001, pp. 122–123; Morgan 2000, pp. 283, 289.
^ Blakemore, Erin (February 16, 2015). “George Washington Used Legal Loopholes to Avoid Freeing His Slaves”. Smithsonian. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 759–763.
^ Morgan 2000, pp. 279–287.
^ Morgan 2000, pp. 281–282.
^ Morgan 2000, p. 298; “Ten Facts About Washington & Slavery”.
^ Wiencek 2003, pp. 319, 348–349; Flexner 1974, p. 386; Hirschfeld 1997, p. 2; Ellis 2004, p. 167; Morgan 2000, p. 283.
^ Hirschfeld 1997, p. 3; Morgan 2000, p. 29.
^ Ellis 2004, p. 202; Twohig 2001.
^ Morgan 2005, pp. 416–417.
^ Morgan 2005, p. 417.
^ Ellis 2004, p. 201.
^ Morgan 2000, p. 292.
^ Morgan 2005, pp. 418–419; Furstenberg 2011, pp. 273–274, 284–285.
^ Twohig 2001, pp. 122–123; Morgan 2005, p. 419; Morgan 2000, p. 289.
^ Furstenberg 2011, p. 280.
^ Wiencek 2003, pp. 272–275.
^ Morgan 2005, pp. 422–423.
^ Twohig 2001, pp. 126–127; Morgan 2000, pp. 290, 299; Ellis 2004, p. 202.
^ Twohig 2001, pp. 126–127; Morgan 2000, p. 297; Ferling 2009, p. 363.
^ Ellis 2004, p. 257.
^ Wiencek 2003, p. 274.
^ Morgan 2005, pp. 423–424.
^ Morgan 2005, p. 404.
^ Morgan 2005, pp. 404–405.
^ Wiencek 2003, pp. 352–354.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 802.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 815.
^ Ferling 2009, p. xviii.
^ Ferling 2009, pp. 3–4.
^ Unger 2013, pp. 236–237; Parry & Allison 1991, p. xi; Hindle 2017, p. 92.
^ Lightner & Reeder 1953, p. 133.
^ Ferling 2009, p. 4.
^ Fischer 2004, p. 446.
^ Cunliffe 1958, pp. 24–26.
^ Willard 2017.
^ Bell 1992, pp. 52, 66.
^ Bell 1992, p. 52.
^ “Five-star Generals” 2017.
^ Kleber, Brooks E. (June 1978). “Washington is Now No. 1: The Story Behind a Promotion”. Army. pp. 14–15.
^ Weems 1918, p. 22.
^ Chernow 2010, pp. 813–814; Levy 2013, pp. 6, 217; Weems 1918, p. 22; Delbanco 1999.
^ Levy 2013, p. 6.
^ Ferling 2009, pp. xviii–xix.
^ Wood 1992, p. 205.
^ Chernow 2010, p. 547.
^ Murray & Blessing 1993, pp. 7–9, 15.
^ Siena Expert Poll 1982–2018.
^ Hirsh, Michael. “If Americans Grappled Honestly With Their History, Would Any Monuments Be Left Standing?”. Foreign Policy. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
^ Berger, Knute. “George Washington owned slaves. Should we rename the state?”. Crosscut.com. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
^ “George Washington,” Presidential Historians Survey 2021, C-SPAN. Retrieved 21 Aug 2021.
^ Sparks 1839, p. Title page.
^ Fitzpatrick 1931–1944; Lengel 2011.
^ “A Brief History of GW”. GW Libraries. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
^ “History and Traditions”. Washington University in St. Louis. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
^ “Washington”. Worldatlas. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
^ Shapiro 2006.

Bibliography[edit source]

For a selected list of published works treating Washington, see Bibliography of George Washington.

Print sources[edit source]

Adams, Randolph Greenfield (1928). “Arnold, Benedict”. In Allen Johnson (ed.). Dictionary of American Biography. Scribner.
Akers, Charles W. (2002). “John Adams”. In Graff, Henry (ed.). The Presidents: A Reference History (3rd ed.). Scribner. pp. 23–38. ISBN 978-0-684-31226-2.
Alden, John R. (1996). George Washington, a Biography. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-2126-9.
Anderson, Fred (2007). Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-42539-3.
Avlon, John (2017). Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-4646-3.

Banning, Lance (1974). Woodward, C. Vann (ed.). Responses of the Presidents to Charges of Misconduct. Delacorte Press. ISBN 978-0-440-05923-3.
Bassett, John Spencer (1906). The Federalist System, 1789–1801. Harper & Brothers. OCLC 586531.
“The Battle of Trenton”. The National Guardsman. Vol. 31. National Guard Association of the United States. 1976.
Bell, William Gardner (1992) [1983]. Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff, 1775–2005: Portraits & Biographical Sketches of the United States Army’s Senior Officer. Center of Military History, United States Army. ISBN 978-0-16-035912-5. CMH Pub 70–14.
Boller, Paul F. (1963). George Washington & Religion. Southern Methodist University Press. OCLC 563800860.
Boorstin, Daniel J. (2010). The Americans: The National Experience. Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-307-75647-3.
Breen, Eleanor E.; White, Esther C. (2006). “A Pretty Considerable Distillery: Excavating George Washington’s Whiskey Distillery” (PDF). Quarterly Bulletin of the Archeological Society of Virginia. 61 (4): 209–20. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 24, 2011.
Brown, Richard D. (1976). “The Founding Fathers of 1776 and 1787: A Collective View”. The William and Mary Quarterly. 33 (3): 465–480. doi:10.2307/1921543. JSTOR 1921543.
Brumwell, Stephen (2012). George Washington, Gentleman Warrior. Quercus Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84916-546-4.

Calloway, Colin G. (2018). The Indian World of George Washington. The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-065216-6.
Carlson, Brady (2016). Dead Presidents: An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nations Leaders. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-24394-9.
Cheatham, ML (August 2008). “The death of George Washington: an end to the controversy?”. American Surgery. 74 (8): 770–4. doi:10.1177/000313480807400821. PMID 18705585. S2CID 31457820.
Chernow, Ron (2005). Alexander Hamilton. Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-101-20085-8.
—— (2010). Washington: A Life. Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-59420-266-7.
Coakley, Robert W. (1996) [1989]. The Role of Federal Military Forces in Domestic Disorders, 1789–1878. DIANE Publishing. pp. 43–49. ISBN 978-0-7881-2818-9.
Cooke, Jacob E. (2002). “George Washington”. In Graff, Henry (ed.). The Presidents: A Reference History (3rd ed.). Scribner. pp. 1–21. ISBN 978-0-684-31226-2.
Craughwell, Thomas J. (2009). Stealing Lincoln’s Body. Harvard University Press. pp. 77–79. ISBN 978-0-674-02458-8.
Cresswell, Julia, ed. (2010). Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-954793-7.
Cunliffe, Marcus (1958). George Washington, Man and Monument. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-16434-4. OCLC 564093853.

Dalzell, Robert F., Jr.; Dalzell, Lee Baldwin (1998). George Washington’s Mount Vernon: At Home in Revolutionary America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512114-8.
Davis, Burke (1975). George Washington and the American Revolution. Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-46388-9.
Delbanco, Andrew (1999). “Bookend; Life, Literature and the Pursuit of Happiness”. The New York Times.

Elkins, Stanley M.; McKitrick, Eric (1995) [1993]. The Age of Federalism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509381-0.
Ellis, Joseph J. (2004). His Excellency: George Washington. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-1-4000-4031-5.
Estes, Todd (2000). “Shaping the Politics of Public Opinion: Federalists and the Jay Treaty Debate”. Journal of the Early Republic. 20 (3): 393–422. doi:10.2307/3125063. JSTOR 3125063.
—— (2001). “The Art of Presidential Leadership: George Washington and the Jay Treaty”. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 109 (2): 127–158. JSTOR 4249911.

Farner, Thomas P. (1996). New Jersey in History: Fighting to Be Heard. Down the Shore Publishing. ISBN 978-0-945582-38-0.
Felisati, D; Sperati, G (February 2005). “George Washington (1732–1799)”. Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica. 25 (1): 55–58. PMC 2639854. PMID 16080317.
Ferling, John E. (1988). The First of Men. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-975275-1.
—— (2002). Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513409-4.
—— (2007). Almost a Miracle. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-975847-0.
—— (2009). The Ascent of George Washington: The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon. Bloomsbury Press. ISBN 978-1-60819-182-6.
—— (2010) [1988]. First of Men: A Life of George Washington. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-539867-0.
—— (2013). Jefferson and Hamilton: the rivalry that forged a nation. Bloomsbury Press. ISBN 978-1-60819-542-8.
Fischer, David Hackett (2004). Washington’s Crossing. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517034-4.
Fishman, Ethan M.; Pederson, William D.; Rozell, Mark J. (2001). George Washington: Foundation of Presidential Leadership and Character. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-96868-7.
Fitzpatrick, John C. (1936). “Washington, George”. In Dumas Malone (ed.). Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. 19. Scribner. pp. 509–527.
Flexner, James Thomas (1965). George Washington: the Forge of Experience, (1732–1775). Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-28597-1. OCLC 426484.
—— (1967). George Washington in the American Revolution, 1775–1783. Little, Brown.
—— (1969). George Washington and the New Nation (1783–1793). Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-28600-8.
—— (1972). George Washington: Anguish and Farewell (1793–1799). Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-28602-2.
—— (1974). Washington: The Indispensable Man. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-28605-3.
—— (1991). The Traitor and the Spy: Benedict Arnold and John André. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0263-7.
Frazer, Gregg L. (2012). The Religious Beliefs of America’s Founders Reason, Revelation, and Revolution. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1845-3.
Ford, Worthington Chauncey; Hunt, Gaillard; Fitzpatrick, John Clement (1904). Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789: 1774. Vol. 1. U.S. Government Printing Office.
Freedman, Russell (2008). Washington at Valley Forge. Holiday House. ISBN 978-0-8234-2069-8.
Freeman, Douglas Southall (1968). Harwell, Richard Barksdale (ed.). Washington. Scribner. OCLC 426557.
—— (1952). George Washington: Victory with the help of France, Volume 5. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
Furstenberg, François (2011). “Atlantic Slavery, Atlantic Freedom: George Washington, Slavery, and Transatlantic Abolitionist Networks”. The William and Mary Quarterly. Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. 68 (2): 247–286. doi:10.5309/willmaryquar.68.2.0247. JSTOR 10.5309/willmaryquar.68.2.0247.

Gaff, Alan D. (2004). Bayonets in the Wilderness: Anthony Wayne’s Legion in the Old Northwest. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-3585-4.
Genovese, Michael A. (2009). Michael Kazin (ed.). The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History. (Two volume set). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-3356-6.
Gregg, Gary L., II; Spalding, Matthew, eds. (1999). Patriot Sage: George Washington and the American Political Tradition. ISI Books. ISBN 978-1-882926-38-1.
Grizzard, Frank E., Jr. (2002). George Washington: A Biographical Companion. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-082-6.
Grizzard, Frank E., Jr. (2005). George!: A Guide to All Things Washington. Mariner Pub. ISBN 978-0-9768238-8-9.

Hayes, Kevin J. (2017). George Washington, A Life in Books. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-045667-2.
Henderson, Donald (2009). Smallpox: The Death of a Disease. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-59102-722-5.
Henriques, Peter R. (2006). Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington. University Press of Virginia. ISBN 978-0-8139-2741-1.
Henriques, Peter R. (2020). First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-4480-7.
Heydt, Bruce (2005). “‘Vexatious Evils’: George Washington and the Conway Cabal”. American History. 40 (5).
Higginbotham, Don (2001). George Washington Reconsidered. University Press of Virginia. ISBN 978-0-8139-2005-4.
Hindle, Brooke (2017) [1964]. David Rittenhouse. Princeton University Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-4008-8678-4.
Hirschfeld, Fritz (1997). George Washington and Slavery: A Documentary Portrayal. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-1135-4.

Isaacson, Walter (2003). Benjamin Franklin, an American Life. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-6084-8.
Irving, Washington (1857). Life of George Washington, Vol. 5. G. P. Putnam and Son.

Jensen, Merrill (1948). The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution, 1774–1781. University of Wisconsin Press. OCLC 498124.
Jillson, Calvin C.; Wilson, Rick K. (1994). Congressional Dynamics: Structure, Coordination, and Choice in the First American Congress, 1774–1789. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-2293-3.
Johnstone, William (1919). George Washington, the Christian. The Abingdon Press. OCLC 19524242.

Ketchum, Richard M. (1999) [1973]. The Winter Soldiers: The Battles for Trenton and Princeton. Henry Holt. ISBN 978-0-8050-6098-0.
Kohn, Richard H. (April 1970). “The Inside History of the Newburgh Conspiracy: America and the Coup d’Etat”. The William and Mary Quarterly. 27 (2): 187–220. doi:10.2307/1918650. JSTOR 1918650.
—— (1975). Eagle and Sword: The Federalists and the Creation of the Military Establishment in America, 1783–1802. Free Press. pp. 225–42. ISBN 978-0-02-917551-4.
—— (1972). “The Washington Administration’s Decision to Crush the Whiskey Rebellion” (PDF). The Journal of American History. 59 (3): 567–84. doi:10.2307/1900658. JSTOR 1900658. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 24, 2015.
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Lancaster, Bruce; Plumb, John H. (1985). The American Revolution. American Heritage Press. ISBN 978-0-8281-0281-0.
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Levy, Philip (2013). Where the Cherry Tree Grew, The Story of Ferry Farm, George Washington’s Boyhood Home. Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-250-02314-8.
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Mann, Barbara Alice (2008). George Washington’s War on Native America. University of Nevada Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-8032-1635-8.
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Middlekauff, Robert (2015). Washington’s Revolution: The Making of America’s First Leader, The revolution from General Washington’s perspective. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-101-87424-0.
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Morgan, Philip D. (2005). “”To Get Quit of Negroes”: George Washington and Slavery”. Journal of American Studies. Cambridge University Press. 39 (3): 403–429. doi:10.1017/S0021875805000599. JSTOR 27557691. S2CID 145143979.
Morrison, Jeffery H. (2009). The Political Philosophy of George Washington. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-9109-0.
Murray, Robert K.; Blessing, Tim H. (1993). Greatness in the White House: Rating the Presidents, from Washington Through Ronald Reagan. Penn State Press. ISBN 978-0-271-01090-8.

Nagy, John A. (2016). George Washington’s Secret Spy War: The Making of America’s First Spymaster. St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 978-1-250-09682-1.
Newton, R.S.; Freeman, Z.; Bickley, G., eds. (1858). “Heroic Treatment—Illness and Death of George Washington”. The Eclectic Medical Journal. 1717: 273.
Novak, Michael & Jana (2007). Washington’s God: Religion, Liberty, and the Father of Our Country. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-7867-2216-7.
Nowlan, Robert A. (2014). The American Presidents, Washington to Tyler What They Did, What They Said, What Was Said About Them, with Full Source Notes. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-0118-2.

Palmer, Dave Richard (2010). George Washington and Benedict Arnold: A Tale of Two Patriots. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-59698-164-5.
Parry, Jay A.; Allison, Andrew M. (1991). The Real George Washington: The True Story of America’s Most Indispensable Man. National Center for Constitutional Studies. ISBN 978-0-88080-013-6.
Parsons, Eugene (1898). George Washington: A Character Sketch. H. G. Campbell publishing Company.
Peabody, Bruce G. (September 1, 2001). “George Washington, Presidential Term Limits, and the Problem of Reluctant Political Leadership”. Presidential Studies Quarterly. 31 (3): 439–453. doi:10.1111/j.0360-4918.2001.00180.x. JSTOR 27552322.
Philbrick, Nathaniel (2016). Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-311019-4.
Puls, Mark (2008). Henry Knox: Visionary General of the American Revolution. St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 978-0-230-61142-9.

Randall, Willard Sterne (1997). George Washington: A Life. Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 978-0-8050-2779-2.
Rasmussen, William M. S.; Tilton, Robert S. (1999). George Washington-the Man Behind the Myths. University Press of Virginia. ISBN 978-0-8139-1900-3.
Rose, Alexander (2006). Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-553-80421-8.

Schwarz, Philip J., ed. (2001). Slavery at the home of George Washington. Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. ISBN 978-0-931917-38-7.
Spalding, Matthew; Garrity, Patrick J. (1996). A Sacred Union of Citizens: George Washington’s Farewell Address and the American Character. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8476-8262-1.
Sparks, Jared (1839). The Life of George Washington. F. Andrews.
Sobel, Robert (1968). Panic on Wall Street: A History of America’s Financial Disasters. Beard Books. ISBN 978-1-893122-46-8.
Stavish, Mark (2007). Freemasonry: Rituals, Symbols & History of the Secret Society. Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 978-0-7387-1148-5.
Strickland, William (1840). The Tomb of Washington at Mount Vernon. Carey & Hart.
Subak, Susan (2018). The Five-Ton Life. Our Sustainable Future. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-9688-6.

Taylor, Alan (2016). American Revolutions A Continental History, 1750–1804. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-35476-8.
Thompson, Mary (2008). In The Hands of a Good Providence. University Press of Virginia. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-8139-2763-3.
Twohig, Dorothy (2001). “”That Species of Property”: Washington’s Role in the Controversy over Slavery”. In Higginbotham, Don (ed.). George Washington Reconsidered. University Press of Virginia. pp. 114–138. ISBN 978-0-8139-2005-4.

Unger, Harlow Giles (2013). “Mr. President” George Washington and the Making of the Nation’s Highest Office. Da Capo Press, A Member of the Perseus Book Group. ISBN 978-0-306-82241-4.
Unger, Harlow Giles (2019). Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence. Da Capo Press, A Member of the Perseus Book Group.

Vadakan, Vibul V. (Winter–Spring 2005). “A Physician Looks At The Death of Washington”. The Early America Review. 6 (1). ISSN 1090-4247. Archived from the original on December 16, 2005.
Van Doren, Carl (1941). Secret history of the American Revolution : an account of the conspiracies of Benedict Arnold and numerous others. Garden City Pub. Co.

Waldman, Carl; Braun, Molly (2009). Atlas of the North American Indian (3rd ed.). Facts On File, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8160-6859-3.
Wiencek, Henry (2003). An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-17526-9.
Willcox, William B.; Arnstein, Walter L. (1988). The Age of Aristocracy 1688 to 1830 (Fifth ed.). D.C. Heath and Company. ISBN 978-0-669-13423-0.
Wood, Gordon S. (1992). The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-679-40493-4.
—— (2001). Don Higginbotham (ed.). George Washington Reconsidered. University Press of Virginia. ISBN 978-0-8139-2005-4.
Wulf, Andrea (2012). Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-39068-4.

Primary sources[edit source]

Elliot, Jonathan, ed. (1827). The Debates, Resolutions, and Other Proceedings, in Convention, on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, Volume 4: Supplementary to the state Conventions. Published by editor.
Fitzpatrick, John C., ed. (1931–1944). The Writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745–1799. U.S. Govt. Print. Off. Retrieved March 7, 2011 – via Hathi Trust Digital Library.
Lengel, Edward G., ed. (2011). “The Papers of George Washington”. The Papers of George Washington: Digital Edition. University Press of Virginia. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
Riley, Edward M. (July 1948). “St. George Tucker’s Journal of the Siege of Yorktown, 1781”. The William and Mary Quarterly. Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. 5 (3): 375–395. doi:10.2307/1923466. JSTOR 1923466.
Washington, George (1799). “Letter to Continental Army, November 2, 1783, Farewell Orders; Letter to Henry Knox, November 2, 1783”. George Washington Papers, 1741–1799: Series 3b Varick Transcripts. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on August 21, 2013. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
Washington, George (1783). “Sentiments on a Peace Establishment”. National Historical Publications and Records Commission (The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). Retrieved July 20, 2018.
Washington, George (April 30, 1788a). “George Washington to Samuel Griffin, April 30, 1788”. Library of Congress. Retrieved April 2, 2021.
Washington, George (September 7, 1788b). “Letter to Richard Peters, September 7, 1788”. National Historical Publications and Records Commission (The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). Retrieved February 11, 2019.
Washington, George (1789). “April 1789”. National Historical Publications and Records Commission (The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). Retrieved February 26, 2020.
Goddard, William (1785). “To George Washington from William Goddard, 30 May 1785”. Founders online. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
Weems, Mason Locke (1918). A history of the life and death, virtues and exploits of General George Washington : with curious anecdotes equally honourable to himself and exemplary to his young countrymen. J.B. Lippincott.

Online sources[edit source]

“The Death of George Washington”. George Washington’s Mount Vernon/Washington Library. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
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“A Brief History”. The George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association (GWMNMA).
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Harless, Richard (2018). “Native American Policy”. George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
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Howat, John K. (March 1968). “Washington Crossing the Delaware” (PDF). The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 26 (7): 289–299. doi:10.2307/3258337. JSTOR 3258337. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 13, 2017.
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Hardy, Ph.D., Rob. “Ancestry”. mountvernon.org. Carleton College.

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TOP1000 – Politiks

Mukesh Ambani

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Early life[edit source]

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1980s–1990s[edit source]

2000s–present[edit source]

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References[edit source]

Gina Rinehart

Contents

Early life and family[edit source]

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Hope Margaret Hancock Trust[edit source]

Net worth[edit source]

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George Soros

Contents

Early life and education[edit source]

Investment career[edit source]

Early business experience[edit source]

Singer and Friedlander[edit source]

F. M. Mayer[edit source]

Wertheim and Co.[edit source]

Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder[edit source]

Soros Fund Management[edit source]

Economic crisis in the 1990s and 2000s[edit source]

Société Générale insider trade[edit source]

Personal life[edit source]

Political involvement[edit source]

Central and Eastern Europe[edit source]

Africa[edit source]

Diplomacy[edit source]

Drug policy reform[edit source]

Death and dying[edit source]

Conspiracy theories and threats[edit source]

Attempted assassination[edit source]

Political and economic views[edit source]

Reflexivity, financial markets, and economic theory[edit source]

Reflexivity in politics[edit source]

View of problems in the free market system[edit source]

Market predictions[edit source]

Views on antisemitism and Israel[edit source]

Views on the U.S.[edit source]

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Television[edit source]

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Journalism[edit source]

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Arkady Rotenberg

Contents

Biography

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Personal life

References