Little known GM-Dupont connection:

[Hannah Bell]

"DuPont’s link with General Motors began with Pierre S. du Pont, who bought GM stock in 1914 and watched wartime demand increase its value sevenfold in a year... After the war GM executive and former DuPont treasurer, John J. Raskob, persuaded DuPont’s directors to invest $25 million in GM. Raskob saw a sure market for DuPont’s artificial leather, plastics and paints; plus the investment would also yield reliable returns.

Pierre became GM’s president in 1920, his brother Irénée succeeding him at DuPont. By then DuPont’s GM holdings had doubled, accounting for a third of all GM stock. In 1929 GM stock provided half of DuPont’s total earnings. During the 1920s DuPont and GM developed new refrigerants (GM owned Frigidaire) and antiknock gasoline additives, and DuPont’s Engineering Department helped GM build plants and workers’ housing.

Most significantly, however, DuPont adopted the bold restructuring plan that Pierre and Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. successfully implemented at GM. The close relationship between the two companies eventually attracted the attention of federal antitrust prosecutors, who filed suit in 1949. Eight years later the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against DuPont, and in 1961 the company finalized the disposal of its GM shares."

http://www2.dupont.com/Heritage/en_US/1918_dupont/1918_indepth.html


Now, guess who's the largest creditor in the GM bankruptcy (as trustee for the big bondholders) & also sitting on the unsecured creditors' committee?

http://www.rttnews.com/Content/QuickFacts.aspx?Node=B1&Id=968922%20&Category=Quick%20Facts

"In its bankruptcy petition, G.M. said it had $82.3 billion in assets and $172.8 billion in debts. Its largest creditors were the Wilmington Trust Company, representing a group of bondholders holding $22.8 billion in debts, and affiliates of the United Auto Workers union, representing nearly $20.6 billion in employee obligations."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/business/02auto.html?_r=1&hp

Wilmington Trust.

& what is Wilmington Trust?

"Wilmington Trust (NYSE: WL) was founded on July 8, 1903 as a banking, trust, and safe deposit company by DuPont president T. Coleman du Pont..."

"Throughout our history, our efforts to grow, innovate,
adapt, and expand have always been—and will always
be—guided by the vision and time-tested values
of our founding family, which have decidedly been
adopted as our own."

http://www.wilmingtontrust.com/repositories/wtc_sitecontent/PDF/heritage_brochure.pdf

wotta coincidence.

[Hannah Bell]

1. Another fun fact about the du ponts:

They were neighbors in the brandywine valley of:

Joseph Shipley (co-founder of brown, shipley, the uk (liverpool slave trade) branch of brown brothers (now brown brothers harriman, the prescott bush venue), whose family ran a flour mill near the duponts gunpowder operation...

& John Welsh, great-great grandfather of the dulles brothers, allen (cia director) & john foster (lawyer for brown brothers harriman). John Welsh was Joseph Shipley's boss; Welsh sent him to the UK as the agent of his shipping business.

http://www.hoteldupont.com/discover-brandywine/sights-activities/index.cfm



"CoreStates Financial Corp is a major, Philadelphia-based regional bank holding company whose basic banking services are concentrated in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. However, beyond these "core states," the holding company also operates a national lending operation (Congress Financial) and is a leader in processing electronic transactions for other banks.

The core of CoreStates is what started out in 1803 as The Philadelphia Bank (later Philadelphia National Bank)...

The Philadelphia Bank began as the pet project of John Welsh. A self-made man who had become a prominent shipowner, Welsh nonetheless was still an outsider in the city's mercantile establishment. ...However, Welsh was shrewd enough to bring in as first president George Clymer, a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution and a well-connected member of the Federalist establishment. The new bank was organized in August 1803 at Welsh's countinghouse with a capitalization of $1 million...

For his part, John Welsh never held an executive post at the bank, but his influence was great. He remained a director all his life. When he died at 84 in 1854, a memorial resolution declared "to him is justly due the appellation 'the Father of the Bank."'

...The Philadelphia Bank also suffered from internal problems--not the least of which was its first cashier's absconding to Georgia in 1805. However, the bank was able to survive with the support of prominent customers like E. I. DuPont..."

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/CoreStates-Financial-Corp-Company-History.html.

[Hannah Bell]

4. kick

[liberal N proud]

2. And all these years GM would only use Dupont paint

I always knew they only used Dupont and there was a connection. Thanks for the rest of the story.

[Hannah Bell]

5. you're welcome. it's my hobby, researching the old financial dynasties.

& genealogies. i'm finding the ruling class is pretty interbred, & 200 years run (e.g. like the folks mentioned here) isn't unusual.

[Octafish]

3. The DuPonts and GM bosses also were involved in the Coup Against FDR

The Coup Attempt of 1934.

Small world.

[Hannah Bell]

6. Wheels within wheels

"One of the main elements in the story of the 1934 coup attempt is the pivotal role of a group of powerful industrial and financial interests—many of which were openly supportive of Hitler and doing business with the Third Reich—in organizing the plot.

Members of the Du Pont family, executives with General Motors (controlled at the time by the Du Ponts), key figures in the Morgan banking constellation and members of the National Association of Manufacturers attempted to translate their hatred of FDR and his New Deal into action. (Note that the Morgan banking interests financed the Du Ponts’ industrial operations to a considerable extent. The Morgan interests were the primary element in financing the Du Ponts’ establishment and operation of General Motors."


I'd read the house of morgan at one point controlled GE, US Steel, GM & a bunch of other stuff, wasn't sure how that fit with the du pont connection - morgan financing du pont = interesting.

looks like that was around 1920, in connnection with dumping will durant.

i didn't know frigidaire = GM, either.

http://books.google.com/books?id=FljKdwotKhoC&pg=PA39&lpg=PA38&ots=CM5T2qaPvQ&dq=morgan+financed+du+pont+gm

[ColbertWatcher]

7. Kick. n/t

[baldguy]

8. This is one of those bondholders that tried to kill GMs bankruptcy & restructuring deal.

[Hannah Bell]

9. the biggest one! poor dupont!

[baldguy]

10. If a casino goes bankrupt, do the biggest losing gamblers get reimbursed?

[Hannah Bell]

11. "sarcasm"