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Wikipedia

John Hay Whitney

August 27, 2023

Not to be confused with Jack Whitney.
This article is about the ambassador, philanthropist and investor. For the venture capital firm he founded, see J.H. Whitney & Company.

John Hay Whitney (August 17, 1904 – February 8, 1982) was U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, publisher of the New York Herald Tribune, and president of the Museum of Modern Art. He was a member of the Whitney family.

His Excellency
John Hay Whitney
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office
February 11, 1957 – January 14, 1961
PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byWinthrop W. Aldrich
Succeeded byDavid K. E. Bruce
Personal details
BornAugust 17, 1904
Ellsworth, Maine
DiedFebruary 8, 1982 (aged 77)
Manhasset, New York
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1930; div. 1940)​

​
​
(m. 1942)​
ChildrenKate Roosevelt Whitney
Sara D. Roosevelt Whitney
Parent(s)Payne Whitney
Helen Julia Hay
RelativesSee Whitney family
EducationGroton School
Alma materYale College
AwardsLegion of Merit
Benjamin Franklin Medal[1]

Early life Edit

 
Helen Hay Whitney and her six-year-old son, John Hay Whitney (October 12, 1910)

Whitney was born on August 17, 1904, in Ellsworth, Maine, Whitney was a descendant of John Whitney, a Puritan who settled in Massachusetts in 1635, as well as of William Bradford, who came over on the Mayflower. His father was Payne Whitney, and his grandfathers were William C. Whitney and John Hay, both presidential cabinet members. His mother was Helen Hay Whitney.[2]

The Whitneys' family mansion, Payne Whitney House on New York's Fifth Avenue, was around the corner from James B. Duke House, home of the founder of the American Tobacco Co., father of Doris Duke. Whitney's uncle, Oliver Hazard Payne, a business partner of John D. Rockefeller, arranged the funding for Duke to buy out his competitors.

Jock Whitney attended Groton School, then Yale College. He joined Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter), as his father had. Whitney, his father, grandfather, and great-uncle were oarsmen at Yale, and his father was captain of the crew in 1898. He was a member of Scroll and Key. While at Yale, he inspired the coining of the term "crew cut" for the haircut favored by the rowing crew which still bears the name.[3] After graduating in 1926, Whitney went to Oxford University, but the death of his father on May 25, 1927 necessitated his returning home. He inherited a trust fund of $20 million (approximately $343.9 million in 2023 dollars), and later inherited four times that amount from his mother.

Career Edit

Business career Edit

Main article: J.H. Whitney & Company

In 1929, Whitney, despite his vast wealth, was a clerk at the firm of Lee, Higginson & Co where, through his boss, J.T. Claiborne, Jr., he met former Lee, Higginson clerk Langbourne Meade Williams, Jr., who had come to Claiborne for help in his efforts to gain control of Freeport Texas Co. Williams was a scion of a founding investment firm in the sulfur mining company. In 1929, the year after Whitney became one of the wealthiest men in America, through inheritance, Williams enlisted the help of Whitney's boss, who then enlisted Whitney's financial participation, in his efforts to oust founder and Chairman Eric P. Swenson, casting Whitney in the role of corporate raider before the term existed. Whitney was soon Freeport's biggest shareholder, enabling Williams to replace the chairman and his management team. Claiborne was made a vice-president; Williams became Freeport's president in 1933, and Whitney was appointed chairman of the board.[4][5]

In 1946, Whitney founded J.H. Whitney & Company,[2] the oldest venture capital firm in the U.S.,[6] with Benno C. Schmidt, Sr.—who coined the term "venture capital"—with J. T. Claiborne as a partner. Whitney put up $10 million to finance entrepreneurs with business plans who were unwelcome at banks. Companies Whitney invested in included Spencer Chemical and Minute Maid.[2] In 1958, while he was still ambassador to the United Kingdom, his company Whitney Communications Corp. bought the New York Herald Tribune,[7] and was its publisher from 1961 to its closure in 1966.[8] He was chairman of the International Herald Tribune from 1966 until his death.[9] Whitney Communications also owned and operated other newspapers, magazines and broadcasting stations.[10] Whitney's television stations were sold to Dun & Bradstreet in 1969.[11]

Theatre and motion pictures Edit

Whitney invested in several Broadway shows, including Peter Arno's 1931 revue Here Goes the Bride, a failure that cost him $100,000, but was more successful as one of the backers of Life with Father.

An October 1934 Fortune article on the Technicolor Corporation noted Whitney's interest in pictures. He had met Technicolor head Herbert Kalmus at the Saratoga Race Course. In 1932, Technicolor achieved a breakthrough with its three-strip process. Merian C. Cooper of RKO Radio Pictures approached Whitney with the idea of investing in Technicolor. They joined forces and founded Pioneer Pictures in 1933,[2] with a distribution deal with RKO to distribute Pioneer's films. Whitney and his cousin Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney bought a 15% stake in Technicolor.[12]

Whitney was also the major investor in David O. Selznick's production company Selznick International Pictures, putting up $870,000 and serving as chairman of the board. He put up half the money to option Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind for the Selznick film version, in which he then invested, and later in Rebecca (1940).[2]

Military career Edit

Whitney served in the United States Army Air Forces as an intelligence officer during World War II, assigned to the Office of Strategic Services. This is where he met his good friend and former leader of the CIA, Allen Dulles. He was taken prisoner by the Germans in southern France,[13] but escaped when the train transporting him to a POW camp came under Allied fire.[14][15]

Thoroughbred horse racing Edit

 
Jock Whitney on the cover of Time (March 27, 1933)

Whitney inherited his family's love of horses, a predilection he shared with his sister, Joan Whitney Payson. Jock and his sister ran Greentree Stables in the U.S., owned by their mother. In 1928, he became the youngest member ever elected to The Jockey Club.[16]

Whitney and his first wife "Liz" raced horses both in the United States and in Europe. He owned Easter Hero who won the 1929 and 1930 editions of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In the 1929 Grand National, his horse twisted a plate and was beaten by a nose at the finish. Although Whitney entered the Grand National annually, he never again came close to winning.

The Whitneys entered four horses in the Kentucky Derby in the 1930s, "Stepenfetchit," which finished 3rd in 1932, "Overtime," which finished 5th in 1933, "Singing Wood," which finished 8th in 1934, and "Heather Broom," which finished 3rd in 1939.

Jock Whitney was also an outstanding polo player, with a four-goal handicap, and it was as a sportsman that he made the cover of the March 27, 1933, issue of Time magazine.

In 2015, Whitney was posthumously inducted to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame as Pillar of the Turf.[17]

Political life Edit

Whitney was the major backer of Dwight D. Eisenhower and a member of the New York Young Republican Club.[18] Eisenhower appointed him United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom,[2] a post held sixty years earlier by Whitney's grandfather John Hay.[19] Whitney played a major role in improving Anglo-American relations, which had been severely strained during the 1956 Suez Crisis, when Eisenhower demanded that the British, French and Israelis terminate their invasion of Egypt.[20]

Personal life Edit

In 1930, Whitney purchased the Llangollen estate as a bridal gift for his fiancée, the Pennsylvania socialite Mary Elizabeth "Liz" Altemus. It was a 2,200-acre (890 ha) historic equestrian farm just outside Middleburg, Virginia. They were married on September 23, 1931.[21] Although married to Altemus, Whitney was romantically linked to Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Bennett, Paulette Goddard and Joan Crawford. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard met at one of Whitney's parties. In the early 1930s, Jock Whitney began an affair with Nina Gore Vidal; simultaneously, his wife had an affair with Nina Vidal's husband Eugene Vidal.[22] The couple divorced in 1940,[21] but Liz Whitney remained at Llangollen for the rest of her life, becoming an internationally renowned horse breeder and a member of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association Hall of Fame.

On March 1, 1942, he married Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney, ex-wife of James Roosevelt, son of Franklin D. Roosevelt,[23] and adopted her two daughters:[2]

Whitney met Fred Astaire in New York City while the former was a student at Yale University and they became lifelong friends, sharing a passion for horse racing. Whitney became a major investor in two of Astaire's Broadway stage vehicles, The Band Wagon (1930) and Gay Divorce (1932), and played a crucial role in securing for Astaire a contract with RKO Pictures in 1933, using his contacts with Merion C. Cooper; both men were board members of Pan American Airways whose planes were prominently featured in Astaire's breakthrough film with Ginger Rogers: Flying Down to Rio (1933).[24]

During the 1970s, Whitney was listed as one of the ten wealthiest men in the world. The residences at his disposal over the years included an estate on Long Island; an Atlantic Beach, NY beach house;[25] Greenwood Plantation in Georgia; a townhouse and an elegant apartment in Manhattan; a large summer house on Fishers Island, near New London, Connecticut; a 12-room house in Saratoga Springs, which the Whitneys used when they attended horse races; a golfing cottage in Augusta, Georgia, where he was a member of the Augusta National Golf Club; and a spacious house Cherry Hill in Virginia Water, Surrey, England, near the Ascot Racecourse. Mr. Whitney also owned an estate in Aiken, South Carolina, which he considered his "retirement" home and where he hoped to spend his final days.[2]

Whitney died on February 8, 1982, at North Shore Hospital, Manhasset, Long Island, after a long illness.[2]

Philanthropy Edit

Payne Whitney made substantial gifts to Yale, to the New York Presbyterian Hospital, and the New York Public Library. After his father's death, the family built the Payne Whitney Gymnasium at Yale in his honor. The family also financed Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic at New York Presbyterian Hospital in 1932.

Whitney created the John Hay Whitney Foundation for educational projects in 1946.[2] The foundation provided fellowships to the racially and culturally deprived. He became a major contributor to Yale University, where he served as a Fellow of the corporation.[26]

In 1951, he and his wife Betsey Cushing Whitney donated land from their "Greentree" estate in Manhasset, New York toward the building of North Shore Hospital. Currently called North Shore University Hospital, it is the flagship hospital of the 3rd largest not-for-profit secular healthcare system in the United States, the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.[27]

In 1953, Whitney received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York."

In the late 1960s/early 1970's John Hay Whitney donated two small parcels of land in Manhasset to the County of Nassau and to the Manhasset-Lakeville Volunteer Fire Department. The Nassau County parcel was the new home for the 6th Police Precinct of the Nassau County Police, located at the S/E intersection of Community Drive and East Community Drive. Just east of the 6th pct, at 2 E Community Dr., the M-LFD parcel was the new home of Fire Company #2 of the M-LFD, where John Hay Whitney was voted in by the membership of Company number two as an Honorary Member of the company.

Museum of Modern Art Edit

In 1930 Whitney was elected to the board of trustees of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and named President of the MoMA Film Library in 1935. In 1941 he succeeded Nelson A. Rockefeller as President of MoMA.[28][29] In 1946 he succeeded Stephen C. Clark as chairman of the board of trustees[30]

Art collection Edit

When Whitney moved to England as United States ambassador, he took a number of his favourite artworks with him to enjoy during his posting. Before his return to the US, he agreed for the first time to loan part of his collection for the public to see. He provided the Tate Gallery with 56 paintings from the collection in England and specially brought in a further 11 paintings from the US. The exhibition, the John Hay Whitney Collection, ran from 16 December 1960 to 29 January 1961 [31]

In 1983 the National Gallery of Art, Washington held an exhibition of the John Hay Whitney Collection with paintings loaned by Whitney's wife, The Museum of Modern Art and Yale University Art Gallery [32]

Among the paintings in his collection, Jock Whitney's prized possession was the Bal au moulin de la Galette painted in 1876 by the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir.[2] In 1990, his widow put the painting up for auction with Sotheby's, New York and it sold for US$78 million to Japanese businessman, Ryoei Saito.

Whitney's widow donated a number of paintings from his collection to the Greentree Foundation. One of those paintings by Pablo Picasso, Garçon à la pipe was auctioned by Sotheby's in May 2004 for $104 million [33]

The following works have been publicly exhibited or sold from the former collection of John Hay Whitney.

Sources: John Hay Whitney Collection (Catalogue), Tate Gallery, 1960, John Hay Whitney Collection (Catalogue), National Gallery of Art, 1983, Sotheby's Catalogue, auction 10 May 1999, Sotheby's Catalogue, auction 5 May 2004

Anecdotes Edit

Whitney gave Fred Astaire a pair of big-wheel roller skates as a present. A few years later roller skating was one of his most important dance numbers on film.[35]

Whitney and Jimmy Altemus provided the lyrics for a sing composed by Fred Astaire, "Tappin' the Time."[36]

President Dwight D. Eisenhower took pains to transmit to Ambassador Whitney in London, by telegram, the first round golf scores of the Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club on 5 April 1957. [37]

Ambassador Whitney had a very demanding and exhausting scheduled but was not fazed by it. After having been to three or four receptions one day, his wife was not surprised to find their chauffeur, groggy from his rounds, dozing on the back seat of their limousine and the Ambassador driving the car.[37]

Whitney: "I have just had a heart attack and am on a very strict diet. However if you will twist my arm a little, I will probably give in and we will consume a number of very large dry martinis" [38]

William S. Paley (the legendary founder of CBS), who was Whitney's brother in law, had a gentle rivalry with Whitney. Once while watching television with Whitney at Greentree, Paley wanted to change the channel. 'Where's your clicker?' Paley asked, figuring Jock would have a remote-control switch at his fingertips. Jock calmly pressed a buzzer, and his butler walked up to the TV set to make the switch.[39]

The White House Is Nice, But It's No Greentree! E. J. Kahn, Mr. Whitney's biographer, reported that one of his daughters, Kate, once took her own children on a tour of the White House. Mr. Kahn wrote, After inspecting it, they pronounced it nice enough but hardly on a par with Greentree. [Greentree was the more prestigious of his Long Island residences'] [40]

References Edit

  1. ^ "Whitney Wins Franklin Medal". The New York Times. 24 May 1963. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "JOHN HAY WHITNEY DIES AT 77; PUBLISHER LED IN MANY FIELDS". The New York Times. 9 February 1982. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  3. ^ Schiff, J.A. "John Hay Whitney – Philanthropist, Film Producer, and Father of the Crew Cut", by Judith Ann Schiff, Yale Alumni Magazine, April 2002.
  4. ^ "John Hay Whitney Elevated". The New York Times. 24 March 1934. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  5. ^ Peas, L, et al The assassinations: Probe magazine on JFK, MLK, RFK and Malcolm X, by James DiEugenio, Lisa Pease and Judge Joe Brown, 2003. ISBN 0922915822.
  6. ^ News, Bloomberg (14 June 2000). "Metro Business; A Change of Identity For J. H. Whitney". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2016. {{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  7. ^ "JOHN HAY WHITNEY ILL; Herald Tribune Publisher Is Recovering From Influenza". The New York Times. 25 October 1961. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  8. ^ Bigart, Homer (13 August 1966). "Closing of Herald Tribune Is Reported Decided Upon; Owners of Merged Papers Said to Have Acted After Study Showing Gloomy Outlook for Morning Publication Decision Is Reported Reached For Closing of Herald Tribune". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  9. ^ "Lee Huebner Is Named Publisher Of International Herald Tribune". The New York Times. 1979-05-23. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-13. John Hay Whitney, the paper's chairman, announced yesterday that Mr. Huebner, 38 years old and a native of Sheboygan, Wisc., would take charge of the Paris‐based newspaper on June 18.
  10. ^ Times, Special To The New York (29 August 1958). "Herald Tribune's New Owner Known as Amiable Diplomat; John Hay Whitney, Philanthropist and Sportsman, Proved Himself an Astute Envoy to London". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  11. ^ Abele, John J. (December 2, 1969). "Dun & Bradstreet in an Accord For Corinthian Broadcasting; Merger Actions Are Taken by Varied Concerns". The New York Times.
  12. ^ "NEWS OF THE SCREEN; Selznick Absorbs Pioneer -- Cinema 'Winterset' Under Way -- Prospectus and Other Matters". The New York Times. 22 June 1936. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  13. ^ "J. H. WHITNEY CAPTURED; | Colonel Reported Taken by Germans Somewhere in France". The New York Times. 30 August 1944. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  14. ^ Times, Wireless To The New York (15 September 1944). "Allies Confirm Escape Of Col. 'Jock' Whitney". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  15. ^ "Col. Whitney in Washington". The New York Times. 30 September 1944. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  16. ^ "J. H. WHITNEY IS HONORED; Named Outstanding Horseman of Decade-Gallant Fox Chosen". The New York Times. 3 June 1937. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  17. ^ . www.racingmuseum.org. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  18. ^ "History".
  19. ^ Times, Special To The New York (29 December 1956). "NEW ENVOY TO LONDON". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  20. ^ Times, Special To The New York (1 September 1957). "Whitney Flies Back to London". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  21. ^ a b "MRS. JOHN H. WHITNEY IN RENO FOR DIVORCE; States Intention on Arrival-- Both Interested in Horses, Films". The New York Times. 8 April 1940. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  22. ^ Kaplan, Fred (1999). Gore Vidal, A Biography. New York: Doubleday. p. 61. ISBN 0-385-47703-1.
  23. ^ "Mrs. Cushing Roosevelt Becomes Bride Here of John Hay Whitney; Former Wife of President's Eldest Son Wed to Wealthy Sportsman and Financier in a Simple Home Ceremony". The New York Times. 2 March 1942. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  24. ^ Schwartz, Rosalie (2004). Flying Down to Rio. Texas: Texas A&M University Press. p. 299. ISBN 1-58544-382-4.
  25. ^ "Timeline | Atlantic Beach Historical Society". Atlantic Beach. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  26. ^ Times, Special To The New York (20 December 1950). "SCHOLARS' LECTURESHIPS; Whitney Fund to Underwrite Foreigners' Visits to U.S." The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  27. ^ Times, Special To The New York (23 June 1947). "WHITNEY GIFT DOOMS 'GRUESOME GATEWAY'". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  28. ^ "John Hay Whitney Succeeds Nelson A. Rockefeller as President of Museum of Modern Art" (PDF). moma.org. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  29. ^ "J.H. WHITNEY HEADS MODERN MUSEUM; Head of Art Film Library Is Successor to N. A. Rockefeller, Who Resigned Post ART OF TODAY IS PRAISED New President Pledges His Effort to Widen Public's Appreciation of It". The New York Times. 10 January 1941. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  30. ^ "Press release" (PDF). www.moma.org. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  31. ^ "The John Hay Whitney Collection – Exhibition at Tate Britain". Tate.
  32. ^ "The John Hay Whitney Collection". www.nga.gov.
  33. ^ "Picasso painting sells for $104m". May 6, 2004 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  34. ^ . www.richardgreen.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  35. ^ Levinson, Peter. Puttin' On the Ritz: Fred Astaire and the Fine Art of Panache, A Biography. p. 54.
  36. ^ Riley, Kathleen (2012). The Astaires: Fred & Adele. Oxford University Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0199738410.
  37. ^ a b Kahn, Ely (1981). Jock: The Life and Times of John Hay Whitney. p. 230. ISBN 0385149328.
  38. ^ Rorday, Jane. Dearest Jane...: My Father's Life and Letters (Kindle ed.). Constable.
  39. ^ Buckley, Christopher (November 4, 1990). "Success Was Not Enough". The New York Times.
  40. ^ Nemy, Enid (March 26, 1998). "Betsey Cushing Whitney Is Dead at 89". The New York Times.

Sources Edit

  • Kahn Jr., E.J. (1981). Jock: The Life and Times of John Hay Whitney. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-385-14932-8.

External links Edit

  • John Hay Whitney at IMDb
  • John Hay Whitney at Find a Grave
  • Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department

August 27, 2023
john, whitney, confused, with, jack, whitney, this, article, about, ambassador, philanthropist, investor, venture, capital, firm, founded, whitney, company, august, 1904, february, 1982, ambassador, united, kingdom, publisher, york, herald, tribune, president,. Not to be confused with Jack Whitney This article is about the ambassador philanthropist and investor For the venture capital firm he founded see J H Whitney amp Company John Hay Whitney August 17 1904 February 8 1982 was U S Ambassador to the United Kingdom publisher of the New York Herald Tribune and president of the Museum of Modern Art He was a member of the Whitney family His ExcellencyJohn Hay WhitneyUnited States Ambassador to the United KingdomIn office February 11 1957 January 14 1961PresidentDwight D EisenhowerPreceded byWinthrop W AldrichSucceeded byDavid K E BrucePersonal detailsBornAugust 17 1904Ellsworth MaineDiedFebruary 8 1982 aged 77 Manhasset New YorkPolitical partyRepublicanSpouse s Mary Elizabeth Altemus m 1930 div 1940 wbr Betsey Cushing Roosevelt m 1942 wbr ChildrenKate Roosevelt WhitneySara D Roosevelt WhitneyParent s Payne WhitneyHelen Julia HayRelativesSee Whitney familyEducationGroton SchoolAlma materYale CollegeAwardsLegion of MeritBenjamin Franklin Medal 1 Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2 1 Business career 2 2 Theatre and motion pictures 2 3 Military career 2 4 Thoroughbred horse racing 2 5 Political life 3 Personal life 4 Philanthropy 4 1 Museum of Modern Art 5 Art collection 6 Anecdotes 7 References 7 1 Sources 8 External linksEarly life Edit Helen Hay Whitney and her six year old son John Hay Whitney October 12 1910 Whitney was born on August 17 1904 in Ellsworth Maine Whitney was a descendant of John Whitney a Puritan who settled in Massachusetts in 1635 as well as of William Bradford who came over on the Mayflower His father was Payne Whitney and his grandfathers were William C Whitney and John Hay both presidential cabinet members His mother was Helen Hay Whitney 2 The Whitneys family mansion Payne Whitney House on New York s Fifth Avenue was around the corner from James B Duke House home of the founder of the American Tobacco Co father of Doris Duke Whitney s uncle Oliver Hazard Payne a business partner of John D Rockefeller arranged the funding for Duke to buy out his competitors Jock Whitney attended Groton School then Yale College He joined Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity Phi chapter as his father had Whitney his father grandfather and great uncle were oarsmen at Yale and his father was captain of the crew in 1898 He was a member of Scroll and Key While at Yale he inspired the coining of the term crew cut for the haircut favored by the rowing crew which still bears the name 3 After graduating in 1926 Whitney went to Oxford University but the death of his father on May 25 1927 necessitated his returning home He inherited a trust fund of 20 million approximately 343 9 million in 2023 dollars and later inherited four times that amount from his mother Career EditBusiness career Edit Main article J H Whitney amp Company In 1929 Whitney despite his vast wealth was a clerk at the firm of Lee Higginson amp Co where through his boss J T Claiborne Jr he met former Lee Higginson clerk Langbourne Meade Williams Jr who had come to Claiborne for help in his efforts to gain control of Freeport Texas Co Williams was a scion of a founding investment firm in the sulfur mining company In 1929 the year after Whitney became one of the wealthiest men in America through inheritance Williams enlisted the help of Whitney s boss who then enlisted Whitney s financial participation in his efforts to oust founder and Chairman Eric P Swenson casting Whitney in the role of corporate raider before the term existed Whitney was soon Freeport s biggest shareholder enabling Williams to replace the chairman and his management team Claiborne was made a vice president Williams became Freeport s president in 1933 and Whitney was appointed chairman of the board 4 5 In 1946 Whitney founded J H Whitney amp Company 2 the oldest venture capital firm in the U S 6 with Benno C Schmidt Sr who coined the term venture capital with J T Claiborne as a partner Whitney put up 10 million to finance entrepreneurs with business plans who were unwelcome at banks Companies Whitney invested in included Spencer Chemical and Minute Maid 2 In 1958 while he was still ambassador to the United Kingdom his company Whitney Communications Corp bought the New York Herald Tribune 7 and was its publisher from 1961 to its closure in 1966 8 He was chairman of the International Herald Tribune from 1966 until his death 9 Whitney Communications also owned and operated other newspapers magazines and broadcasting stations 10 Whitney s television stations were sold to Dun amp Bradstreet in 1969 11 Theatre and motion pictures Edit Whitney invested in several Broadway shows including Peter Arno s 1931 revue Here Goes the Bride a failure that cost him 100 000 but was more successful as one of the backers of Life with Father An October 1934 Fortune article on the Technicolor Corporation noted Whitney s interest in pictures He had met Technicolor head Herbert Kalmus at the Saratoga Race Course In 1932 Technicolor achieved a breakthrough with its three strip process Merian C Cooper of RKO Radio Pictures approached Whitney with the idea of investing in Technicolor They joined forces and founded Pioneer Pictures in 1933 2 with a distribution deal with RKO to distribute Pioneer s films Whitney and his cousin Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney bought a 15 stake in Technicolor 12 Whitney was also the major investor in David O Selznick s production company Selznick International Pictures putting up 870 000 and serving as chairman of the board He put up half the money to option Margaret Mitchell s Gone with the Wind for the Selznick film version in which he then invested and later in Rebecca 1940 2 Military career Edit Whitney served in the United States Army Air Forces as an intelligence officer during World War II assigned to the Office of Strategic Services This is where he met his good friend and former leader of the CIA Allen Dulles He was taken prisoner by the Germans in southern France 13 but escaped when the train transporting him to a POW camp came under Allied fire 14 15 Thoroughbred horse racing Edit Jock Whitney on the cover of Time March 27 1933 Whitney inherited his family s love of horses a predilection he shared with his sister Joan Whitney Payson Jock and his sister ran Greentree Stables in the U S owned by their mother In 1928 he became the youngest member ever elected to The Jockey Club 16 Whitney and his first wife Liz raced horses both in the United States and in Europe He owned Easter Hero who won the 1929 and 1930 editions of the Cheltenham Gold Cup In the 1929 Grand National his horse twisted a plate and was beaten by a nose at the finish Although Whitney entered the Grand National annually he never again came close to winning The Whitneys entered four horses in the Kentucky Derby in the 1930s Stepenfetchit which finished 3rd in 1932 Overtime which finished 5th in 1933 Singing Wood which finished 8th in 1934 and Heather Broom which finished 3rd in 1939 Jock Whitney was also an outstanding polo player with a four goal handicap and it was as a sportsman that he made the cover of the March 27 1933 issue of Time magazine In 2015 Whitney was posthumously inducted to the National Museum of Racing s Hall of Fame as Pillar of the Turf 17 Political life Edit Whitney was the major backer of Dwight D Eisenhower and a member of the New York Young Republican Club 18 Eisenhower appointed him United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom 2 a post held sixty years earlier by Whitney s grandfather John Hay 19 Whitney played a major role in improving Anglo American relations which had been severely strained during the 1956 Suez Crisis when Eisenhower demanded that the British French and Israelis terminate their invasion of Egypt 20 Personal life EditIn 1930 Whitney purchased the Llangollen estate as a bridal gift for his fiancee the Pennsylvania socialite Mary Elizabeth Liz Altemus It was a 2 200 acre 890 ha historic equestrian farm just outside Middleburg Virginia They were married on September 23 1931 21 Although married to Altemus Whitney was romantically linked to Tallulah Bankhead Joan Bennett Paulette Goddard and Joan Crawford Clark Gable and Carole Lombard met at one of Whitney s parties In the early 1930s Jock Whitney began an affair with Nina Gore Vidal simultaneously his wife had an affair with Nina Vidal s husband Eugene Vidal 22 The couple divorced in 1940 21 but Liz Whitney remained at Llangollen for the rest of her life becoming an internationally renowned horse breeder and a member of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association Hall of Fame On March 1 1942 he married Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney ex wife of James Roosevelt son of Franklin D Roosevelt 23 and adopted her two daughters 2 Kate Roosevelt Whitney Sara Roosevelt Whitney born March 13 1932 Whitney met Fred Astaire in New York City while the former was a student at Yale University and they became lifelong friends sharing a passion for horse racing Whitney became a major investor in two of Astaire s Broadway stage vehicles The Band Wagon 1930 and Gay Divorce 1932 and played a crucial role in securing for Astaire a contract with RKO Pictures in 1933 using his contacts with Merion C Cooper both men were board members of Pan American Airways whose planes were prominently featured in Astaire s breakthrough film with Ginger Rogers Flying Down to Rio 1933 24 During the 1970s Whitney was listed as one of the ten wealthiest men in the world The residences at his disposal over the years included an estate on Long Island an Atlantic Beach NY beach house 25 Greenwood Plantation in Georgia a townhouse and an elegant apartment in Manhattan a large summer house on Fishers Island near New London Connecticut a 12 room house in Saratoga Springs which the Whitneys used when they attended horse races a golfing cottage in Augusta Georgia where he was a member of the Augusta National Golf Club and a spacious house Cherry Hill in Virginia Water Surrey England near the Ascot Racecourse Mr Whitney also owned an estate in Aiken South Carolina which he considered his retirement home and where he hoped to spend his final days 2 Whitney died on February 8 1982 at North Shore Hospital Manhasset Long Island after a long illness 2 Philanthropy EditPayne Whitney made substantial gifts to Yale to the New York Presbyterian Hospital and the New York Public Library After his father s death the family built the Payne Whitney Gymnasium at Yale in his honor The family also financed Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic at New York Presbyterian Hospital in 1932 Whitney created the John Hay Whitney Foundation for educational projects in 1946 2 The foundation provided fellowships to the racially and culturally deprived He became a major contributor to Yale University where he served as a Fellow of the corporation 26 In 1951 he and his wife Betsey Cushing Whitney donated land from their Greentree estate in Manhasset New York toward the building of North Shore Hospital Currently called North Shore University Hospital it is the flagship hospital of the 3rd largest not for profit secular healthcare system in the United States the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System 27 In 1953 Whitney received The Hundred Year Association of New York s Gold Medal Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York In the late 1960s early 1970 s John Hay Whitney donated two small parcels of land in Manhasset to the County of Nassau and to the Manhasset Lakeville Volunteer Fire Department The Nassau County parcel was the new home for the 6th Police Precinct of the Nassau County Police located at the S E intersection of Community Drive and East Community Drive Just east of the 6th pct at 2 E Community Dr the M LFD parcel was the new home of Fire Company 2 of the M LFD where John Hay Whitney was voted in by the membership of Company number two as an Honorary Member of the company Museum of Modern Art Edit In 1930 Whitney was elected to the board of trustees of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and named President of the MoMA Film Library in 1935 In 1941 he succeeded Nelson A Rockefeller as President of MoMA 28 29 In 1946 he succeeded Stephen C Clark as chairman of the board of trustees 30 Art collection EditWhen Whitney moved to England as United States ambassador he took a number of his favourite artworks with him to enjoy during his posting Before his return to the US he agreed for the first time to loan part of his collection for the public to see He provided the Tate Gallery with 56 paintings from the collection in England and specially brought in a further 11 paintings from the US The exhibition the John Hay Whitney Collection ran from 16 December 1960 to 29 January 1961 31 In 1983 the National Gallery of Art Washington held an exhibition of the John Hay Whitney Collection with paintings loaned by Whitney s wife The Museum of Modern Art and Yale University Art Gallery 32 Among the paintings in his collection Jock Whitney s prized possession was the Bal au moulin de la Galette painted in 1876 by the French artist Pierre Auguste Renoir 2 In 1990 his widow put the painting up for auction with Sotheby s New York and it sold for US 78 million to Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito Whitney s widow donated a number of paintings from his collection to the Greentree Foundation One of those paintings by Pablo Picasso Garcon a la pipe was auctioned by Sotheby s in May 2004 for 104 million 33 The following works have been publicly exhibited or sold from the former collection of John Hay Whitney Albert Marquet The Beach at Trouville Alfred de Dreux Cheval Blanc Effraye Par L orage Alfred de Dreux Moorish Groom Andre Derain Charing Cross Bridge Andre Derain Collioure Landscape Balthus Balthasar Klossowski Le Salon Bazille Jean Frederic Pots De Fleurs Bernard Perlin Vacant Lots Berthe Morisot Hide and Seek Cache Cache Camille Pissarro Jeanne with Flowers Camille Pissarro Pommes En Fleurs Temps Gris Eragny Claude Monet Bateaux Sur Le Galet Claude Monet Camille on the Beach Edgar Degas Avant la Course Edgar Degas Cheval de Selle Edgar Degas Chevaux de Course Edgar Degas La Promenade Des Chevaux Edgar Degas Le faux Depart Edgar Degas Le faux Depart drawing Edgar Degas Self Portrait Edouard Manet Les Courses au Bois de Bologne Edouard Manet Woman in a Decollete Gown Edouard Vuillard An Artist Edouard Vuillard Demoiselle en Rouge Edouard Vuillard Embroiders near a Window Tapestry Edouard Vuillard La Mere De Vuillard En Profil Edouard Vuillard Portrait of the Artist s Mother Edward Hopper Cape Cod Evening Eugene Boudin Hollyhocks Eugene Boudin Roses George Bellows Club Night George Bellows Crowd at Polo George Bellows Introducing John L Sullivan Georges Braque Bouteiile et Verre Georges Braque Les Cabines Georges Braque The Port of La Ciotat Georges Seurat Grandcamp Evening Georges Seurat The Island of La Grande Jatte Gustave Courbet The Hound Henri de Toulouse Lautrec Marcelle Lender Dancing the Bolero in Chilperic Henri Fantin Latour Roses Henri Fantin Latour Vase of Flowers Henri Matisse Luxe Calme et Volupte Henri Matisse Nature Morte au Purro II Henri Matisse Open Window Collioure Henri Rousseau L Heureux Quatuor the Happy Quartet Henri Rousseau Tropical Forest with Monkeys Henri Edmond Cross Coast near Antibes Henri Edmond Cross The Grape Harvest Honore Daumier Joueurs Des Cartes James McNeill Whistler Wapping on Thames Jean Baptiste Camille Corot Chaumieres Et Moulins Au Bord D un Torrent Morvan Ou Auvergne Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin Still Life John Constable View of the back of a terrace of houses at Hampstead with an elder tree 34 John Singer Sargent Robert Louis Stevenson John Singer Sargent Venetian Courtyard Kees van Dongen Saida Maurice de Vlaminck Tugboat on the Seine Chatou Maurice Utrillo The Rue des Abbesses Montmartre Odilon Redon Fleurs Dans Un Vase Vert Pablo Picasso Ace of Clubs Pablo Picasso Garcon a la pipe Le jeune Apprenti Pablo Picasso Head of a Sleeping Woman Pablo Picasso Homme assis seated man Pablo Picasso Plant de Tomate Pablo Picasso Self Portrait Pablo Picasso Still Life Le Journal Pablo Picasso Still Life with a Bottle of Maraschino Pablo Picasso Still Life with Fruit and Glass Pablo Picasso Still Life with vase Gourd and Fruit Paul Cezanne Route Tournante a Montgeroult Paul Cezanne Still Life With Curtain Pitcher and Bowl of Fruit Paul Gauguin Parau Parau Paul Signac Collioure Le Mohamed El Sadok Paul Signac Fishing Boats in the Sunset Paul Signac The Yawl Pierre Auguste Renoir La Foret de Marly Pierre Auguste Renoir La Yole Pierre Auguste Renoir Liseuse Pierre Auguste Renoir Bal du moulin de la Galette Raoul Dufy Beach at Saint Adresse Raoul Dufy Fete a Sainte Adresse Raoul Dufy Jockeys et Turfistes A Epsom Raoul Dufy Sailboats at Le Havre Roger de La Fresnaye Still Life Coffee Pot and Melon Rufino Tamayo Women Sir Alfred Munnings Before the Start Sir Alfred Munnings Leaving The Paddock At Epsom Downs Sir Alfred Munnings The Red Prince Mare Sir Alfred Munnings The Winner Sir John Lavery Weighing in at Sandown Park Theo van Rysselberghe Port Cette Theodore Gericault Cheval de Napoleon Theodore Gericault Officier de Cavalerie a Cheval Theodore Rousseau The Isle of Capri Thomas Eakins Baby at Play Thomas Eakins The Oarsmen Vincent van Gogh Les Oliviers St Remy Vincent van Gogh Self Portrait William Blake The Good and Evil Angels Struggling For Possession of a Child Winslow Homer Woodshopper in the Adirondacks Fosburgh DaisiesSources John Hay Whitney Collection Catalogue Tate Gallery 1960 John Hay Whitney Collection Catalogue National Gallery of Art 1983 Sotheby s Catalogue auction 10 May 1999 Sotheby s Catalogue auction 5 May 2004Anecdotes EditWhitney gave Fred Astaire a pair of big wheel roller skates as a present A few years later roller skating was one of his most important dance numbers on film 35 Whitney and Jimmy Altemus provided the lyrics for a sing composed by Fred Astaire Tappin the Time 36 President Dwight D Eisenhower took pains to transmit to Ambassador Whitney in London by telegram the first round golf scores of the Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club on 5 April 1957 37 Ambassador Whitney had a very demanding and exhausting scheduled but was not fazed by it After having been to three or four receptions one day his wife was not surprised to find their chauffeur groggy from his rounds dozing on the back seat of their limousine and the Ambassador driving the car 37 Whitney I have just had a heart attack and am on a very strict diet However if you will twist my arm a little I will probably give in and we will consume a number of very large dry martinis 38 William S Paley the legendary founder of CBS who was Whitney s brother in law had a gentle rivalry with Whitney Once while watching television with Whitney at Greentree Paley wanted to change the channel Where s your clicker Paley asked figuring Jock would have a remote control switch at his fingertips Jock calmly pressed a buzzer and his butler walked up to the TV set to make the switch 39 The White House Is Nice But It s No Greentree E J Kahn Mr Whitney s biographer reported that one of his daughters Kate once took her own children on a tour of the White House Mr Kahn wrote After inspecting it they pronounced it nice enough but hardly on a par with Greentree Greentree was the more prestigious of his Long Island residences 40 References Edit Whitney Wins Franklin Medal The New York Times 24 May 1963 Retrieved 1 December 2016 a b c d e f g h i j k JOHN HAY WHITNEY DIES AT 77 PUBLISHER LED IN MANY FIELDS The New York Times 9 February 1982 Retrieved 1 December 2016 Schiff J A John Hay Whitney Philanthropist Film Producer and Father of the Crew Cut by Judith Ann Schiff Yale Alumni Magazine April 2002 John Hay Whitney Elevated The New York Times 24 March 1934 Retrieved 1 December 2016 Peas L et al The assassinations Probe magazine on JFK MLK RFK and Malcolm X by James DiEugenio Lisa Pease and Judge Joe Brown 2003 ISBN 0922915822 News Bloomberg 14 June 2000 Metro Business A Change of Identity For J H Whitney The New York Times Retrieved 1 December 2016 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a last1 has generic name help JOHN HAY WHITNEY ILL Herald Tribune Publisher Is Recovering From Influenza The New York Times 25 October 1961 Retrieved 1 December 2016 Bigart Homer 13 August 1966 Closing of Herald Tribune Is Reported Decided Upon Owners of Merged Papers Said to Have Acted After Study Showing Gloomy Outlook for Morning Publication Decision Is Reported Reached For Closing of Herald Tribune The New York Times Retrieved 1 December 2016 Lee Huebner Is Named Publisher Of International Herald Tribune The New York Times 1979 05 23 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2022 02 13 John Hay Whitney the paper s chairman announced yesterday that Mr Huebner 38 years old and a native of Sheboygan Wisc would take charge of the Paris based newspaper on June 18 Times Special To The New York 29 August 1958 Herald Tribune s New Owner Known as Amiable Diplomat John Hay Whitney Philanthropist and Sportsman Proved Himself an Astute Envoy to London The New York Times Retrieved 1 December 2016 Abele John J December 2 1969 Dun amp Bradstreet in an Accord For Corinthian Broadcasting Merger Actions Are Taken by Varied Concerns The New York Times NEWS OF THE SCREEN Selznick Absorbs Pioneer Cinema Winterset Under Way Prospectus and Other Matters The New York Times 22 June 1936 Retrieved 1 December 2016 J H WHITNEY CAPTURED Colonel Reported Taken by Germans Somewhere in France The New York Times 30 August 1944 Retrieved 1 December 2016 Times Wireless To The New York 15 September 1944 Allies Confirm Escape Of Col Jock Whitney The New York Times Retrieved 1 December 2016 Col Whitney in Washington The New York Times 30 September 1944 Retrieved 1 December 2016 J H WHITNEY IS HONORED Named Outstanding Horseman of Decade Gallant Fox Chosen The New York Times 3 June 1937 Retrieved 1 December 2016 Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and John Hay Whitney elected to Hall of Fame as Pillars of the Turf National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame www racingmuseum org Archived from the original on 14 September 2015 Retrieved 15 January 2022 History Times Special To The New York 29 December 1956 NEW ENVOY TO LONDON The New York Times Retrieved 1 December 2016 Times Special To The New York 1 September 1957 Whitney Flies Back to London The New York Times Retrieved 1 December 2016 a b MRS JOHN H WHITNEY IN RENO FOR DIVORCE States Intention on Arrival Both Interested in Horses Films The New York Times 8 April 1940 Retrieved 1 December 2016 Kaplan Fred 1999 Gore Vidal A Biography New York Doubleday p 61 ISBN 0 385 47703 1 Mrs Cushing Roosevelt Becomes Bride Here of John Hay Whitney Former Wife of President s Eldest Son Wed to Wealthy Sportsman and Financier in a Simple Home Ceremony The New York Times 2 March 1942 Retrieved 1 December 2016 Schwartz Rosalie 2004 Flying Down to Rio Texas Texas A amp M University Press p 299 ISBN 1 58544 382 4 Timeline Atlantic Beach Historical Society Atlantic Beach Retrieved 2020 07 10 Times Special To The New York 20 December 1950 SCHOLARS LECTURESHIPS Whitney Fund to Underwrite Foreigners Visits to U S The New York Times Retrieved 1 December 2016 Times Special To The New York 23 June 1947 WHITNEY GIFT DOOMS GRUESOME GATEWAY The New York Times Retrieved 1 December 2016 John Hay Whitney Succeeds Nelson A Rockefeller as President of Museum of Modern Art PDF moma org Retrieved 3 November 2014 J H WHITNEY HEADS MODERN MUSEUM Head of Art Film Library Is Successor to N A Rockefeller Who Resigned Post ART OF TODAY IS PRAISED New President Pledges His Effort to Widen Public s Appreciation of It The New York Times 10 January 1941 Retrieved 1 December 2016 Press release PDF www moma org Retrieved 2020 05 27 The John Hay Whitney Collection Exhibition at Tate Britain Tate The John Hay Whitney Collection www nga gov Picasso painting sells for 104m May 6 2004 via news bbc co uk John Constable www richardgreen com Archived from the original on 2 October 2018 Retrieved 15 January 2022 Levinson Peter Puttin On the Ritz Fred Astaire and the Fine Art of Panache A Biography p 54 Riley Kathleen 2012 The Astaires Fred amp Adele Oxford University Press p 223 ISBN 978 0199738410 a b Kahn Ely 1981 Jock The Life and Times of John Hay Whitney p 230 ISBN 0385149328 Rorday Jane Dearest Jane My Father s Life and Letters Kindle ed Constable Buckley Christopher November 4 1990 Success Was Not Enough The New York Times Nemy Enid March 26 1998 Betsey Cushing Whitney Is Dead at 89 The New York Times Sources Edit Kahn Jr E J 1981 Jock The Life and Times of John Hay Whitney Garden City NY Doubleday amp Company Inc ISBN 0 385 14932 8 External links EditJohn Hay Whitney at IMDb Philadelphia Inquirer Obituary 9 Feb 1982 John Hay Whitney at Find a Grave Manhasset Lakeville Fire Department Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title John Hay Whitney amp 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