Willard D. Straight and the Diplomacy of International Finance during the First World War

Abstract

The First World War career of the banker-diplomat Willard D. Straight serves as a prism through which to view the contrasting policies of two leading New York banks. J.P. Morgan & Company financed the Allies and believed fiercely in post-war Anglo-American co-operation. In 1916 the vehemently pro-Allied Straight deserted J.P. Morgan to work for the National City Bank of New York, whose policies more directly challenged British commercial and financial predominance. The ease with which Straight moved between these institutions suggests that both banking strategies envisaged a substantial expansion of America's international economic role at British expense.