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Coordinates: 40°45′54.5″N 73°58′10.5″W / 40.765139°N 73.969583°W / 40.765139; -73.969583
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Links Club in November 2023

The Links is a private club in New York City. It is located at 36 East 62nd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City.[1][2] Charles B. Macdonald, a golf champion and founder of the United States Golf Association, started the Links in 1917 as a place where powerful members of the golf world could keep the true spirit of the game alive.

History

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The club was established in 1916-1917 by Charles B. Macdonald, in a building designed in the Georgian Revival architectural style by Cross & Cross.[2][3] In the 1960s, it was "a preferred social gathering spot for America's most powerful chief executives."[4] By 2010, it was still a "preserve of the old banking elite", but not all members were WASPs.[1]

Notable members in 1955 [5]

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A sampling of members in 1955 is listed below:

Government and diplomacy

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  • Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States
  • Winthrop W. Aldrich, ambassador to Great Britain
  • Arthur A. Ballantine, Undersecretary of the Treasury and lawyer
  • Prescott S. Bush, U.S. Senator and father of President Bush (41)
  • Charles E. Daniel, U.S. Senator from South Carolina
  • Thomas E. Dewey, governor of New York
  • C. Douglas Dillon, U.S. ambassador to France, Future Secretary of the Treasury
  • Joseph E. Davies, U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union
  • Thomas S. Gates, Jr., future U.S. Secretary of Defense
  • Walter S. Gifford, former chairman of A T & T, former Ambassador to the U.K.
  • Stanton Griffis, U.S. ambassador to Poland, Egypt, Spain and Argentina
  • Amory Houghton, CEO, Corning Glass Works, future U.S. Congressman
  • George M. Humphrey, Secretary of the Treasury
  • Herbert C. Hoover, Jr. son of the 31st President, Undersecretary of State and a member of the President’s cabinet
  • John A. McCone, future director of the C.I.A.
  • Jean Monnet, diplomat and founding father of the European Union
  • Winthrop Rockefeller, son of John D. Rockefeller and Governor of Arkansas
  • Sir William Wiseman, British intelligence agent and banker
  • Cyrus R. Vance, future U.S. Secretary of State
  • John Hay Whitney, future U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain

Military

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  • Oscar C. Badger, a four-star admiral in the U.S. Navy
  • Ralph A. Bard, undersecretary of the U.S. Navy
  • Dunbar W. Bostwick, lt. colonel, U.S. Army, helped organize Normandy invasion
  • Lucius D. Clay, U.S. general, Eisenhower deputy and "father" of the Berlin airlift
  • Robert A. Lovett, former U.S. Secretary of Defense
  • Paul Nitze, future Secretary of the Navy
  • Elwood R. Quesada, lieutenant general, U.S.A.F.
  • Stanley R. Resor, future U.S. Secretary of the Army
  • Kenneth Royall, Army brigadier general, last person to serve as Secretary of War
  • James Hopkins Smith, Jr., U.S. Secretary of the Navy
  • William Bedell Smith, Eisenhower’s chief of staff in WWII, four-star general, former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and former C.I.A director
  • Harold E. Talbott, Secretary of the Air Force
  • James H. Doolittle, U.S. general and famed aviator

Industry

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  • Sewell L. Avery, chairman of Montgomery Ward
  • Stephen D. Bechtel of the engineering and construction company
  • Sosthenes Behn, founder of ITT Corporation
  • Roger M. Blough, president of U.S. Steel Corporation
  • Harold Boeschenstein, chairman of Owens-Corning
  • Richard L. Bowditch, chairman U.S. Chamber of Commerce
  • H.S.M. Burns, British president of Shell Oil Company
  • Louis S. Cates, Chairman of Phelps Dodge
  • Owen R. Cheatham, chairman of Georgia Pacific Corporation
  • Colby M. Chester, chairman of General Foods Corporation
  • Hugh J. Chisholm, president of International Paper
  • George H. Coppers, chairman of Nabisco
  • Cleo F. Craig, president of AT&T
  • Walter F. Dillingham, “the Baron of Hawaiian Industry”
  • Richard R. Depree, president of Proctor & Gamble
  • Benjamin F. Fairless, CEO of U.S. Steel
  • Henry Ford II, president of the Ford Motor Company
  • J. Peter Grace, Jr., Grace Chemical CEO
  • Augustus C. Long, CEO of Texaco
  • Henry R. Luce, publisher of Time Magazine
  • Joseph H. McConnell, former president of NBC
  • George W. Merck, president of Merck pharmaceuticals
  • Roger Milliken, CEO of Milliken textiles
  • Morehead Patterson, chairman of AMF
  • G. Willing Pepper, president of the Scott Paper Company
  • Gwilym A. Price, president of Westinghouse
  • Edgar Monsanto Queeny, chairman of Monsanto Corporation
  • Donald J. Russell, future CEO of Southern Pacific Railroad
  • Sidney A. Swensrud, chairman Gulf Oil
  • Walter C. Teagle, retired chairman of Standard Oil
  • Thomas J. Watson, Jr., president of IBM
  • Charles E. Wilson, former president of General Electric

Finance

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  • Norborne Berkeley, president of Chemical Bank
  • Edward Eagle Brown, chairman of the First National Bank of Chicago
  • Paul C. Cabot, founded State Street Corporation and started the first mutual fund
  • Asa V. Call, president of Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company
  • Jean Cattier, Partner at White Weld & Co, and Chairman of the European American Bank
  • George Champion, chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank
  • J. Luther Cleveland, chairman of the Guaranty Trust Company
  • S. Sloan Colt, president of the Bankers Trust Company
  • Isaac B. Grainger, president of Chemical Bank and future president U.S.G.A.
  • Benjamin H. Griswold III, chairman of Alex, Brown
  • E. Roland Harriman, co-founder of Brown Brothers Harriman
  • Devereux C. Josephs, chairman of the Board New York Life Insurance
  • John J. McCloy, future chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank, President World Bank
  • Henry S. Morgan, grandson of J.P. Morgan and co-founder of Morgan Stanley
  • Ralph Owen, chairman of American Express
  • Elmore C. Patterson, future CEO of J.P. Morgan
  • Ralph T. Reed, future CEO of American Express
  • David Rockefeller, future chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank
  • J. Stillman Rockefeller, president National City Bank
  • Howard C. Sheperd, chairman of National City Bank
  • Harold Stanley, co-founder of Morgan Stanley
  • Dean Witter, founder of Dean Witter investment firm

Aircraft and aviation

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  • William E. Boeing, founder of the Boeing Airplane Company
  • F. Trubee Davison, WWI Naval Aviator
  • Robert E. Gross, president of Lockheed Aircraft
  • Frederick B. Rentschler, chairman of Pratt & Whitney Aircraft
  • Edward V. Rickenbacker, World War I ace pilot
  • Leon A. Swirbul, founder of Grumman Aircraft

Born rich

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  • Marshall Field, heir to the department store fortune
  • James H. McGraw, Jr. heir to the book publishing company
  • Paul Mellon, heir to the Mellon banking fortune and philanthropist
  • Howard Phipps, heir to the Carnegie Steel partner Henry Phipps, Jr.
  • Joseph N. Pew, heir to Sun Oil fortune, co-founder of the Pew Charitable Trusts
  • J. Watson Webb, film maker and heir to the Vanderbilt fortune

Golf and other pursuits

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  • Morton G. Bogue, former president of the U.S.G.A.
  • C. Suydam Cutting, explorer
  • Donald K. David, dean of the Harvard BusinessSchool
  • Arthur H. Dean, chairman of the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell
  • Childs Frick, paleontologist and son of Steel magnate Henry Clay Frick
  • Totton P. Heffelfinger, president of the U.S.G.A.
  • Eugene V. Homans. Bobby Jones defeated Homans at Merion to win the grand slam in 1930
  • Roger D. Lapham, Mayor of San Francisco and co-founder of Cypress Point Club
  • Robert Montgomery, actor
  • Alfred Easton Poor, architect
  • Roland L. Redmond, president Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Archie M. Reid, secretary of the U.S.G.A.
  • Clifford Roberts, co-founder of Augusta National Golf Club

Other

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[edit]
  • Charles Wilson
  • Colby Chester
  • Cyrus Vance
  • David Rockefeller
  • Dwight Eisenhower
  • Douglas Dillon
  • Eddie Rickenbacker
  • George Merck
  • Gwilym Price
  • Henry Ford II
  • Herbert Hoover, Jr.
  • James Doolittle
  • John McCloy
  • Joseph Davies
  • Joseph Pew
  • Lucius Clay
  • Roger Blough
  • Roger Lapham
  • Stillman Rockefeller
  • Thomas Dewey
  • Thomas Watson
  • Trubee Davison
  • Walter Teagle
  • Winthrop Rockefeller
  • List of traditional gentlemen's clubs in the United States
  • Article on the clubhouse and its architecture.

References

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  1. ^ a b Frank, Robert (May 15, 2010). "That Bright, Dying Star, the American WASP". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Gray, Christopher (July 16, 2006). "A Notable Block With a Hole in Its Heart". The New York Times. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  3. ^ Dolkart, Andrew (1998). Guide to New York City Landmarks. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 155. ISBN 9780471182894. OCLC 36922554. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  4. ^ Waterhouse, Benjamin C. (2013). Lobbying America: The Politics of Business from Nixon to NAFTA. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 76–77. ISBN 9780691149165. OCLC 867926037. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  5. ^ "The most powerful Club in the World".
  6. ^ "Business Legend Jack Massey Dies". The Palm Beach Daily News. February 16, 1990. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved December 17, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "The most powerful Club in the World".

40°45′54.5″N 73°58′10.5″W / 40.765139°N 73.969583°W / 40.765139; -73.969583

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