Walter Daran

By Sarah C . Haan

In 1951 , AT & T became the first corporation in America with a million shareholders . The company celebrated the milestone with a publicity campaign , flying the onemillionth shareholder — a Michigan couple who bought the stock jointly — to New York for a publicity tour . Photos showed the company ’ s president , Leroy Wilson , presenting a stock certificate to a young automobile salesman , Brady Denton , as the couple ’ s school-age sons looked on . Behind them all , partly obscured by Wilson ’ s arm

The 1956 movie , The Solid Gold Cadillac , fictionalized the rise of women stockholders in the 1950s . Its main character , played by Judy Holliday , may have been loosely based on Wilma Soss , the founder of the Federation of Women Stockholders in American Business , Inc . In this image from the film , the mailcart is filled with proxies belonging to women shareholders . as it reached past her , stood Dorothy Denton , Brady ’ s co-owner and wife , gazing into the camera lens with a thin smile . The image celebrated a young couple ’ s entrance into the shareholder class , but it also arguably depicted Dorothy as marginalized from the transaction . Newspapers around the country printed the photograph with captions proclaiming the “ democratization ” of AT & T ’ s shareholder class : It had become “ a cross section of America , including farmers , businessmen , clerks , mechanics , clergymen , merchants , teachers , housewives , doctors , lawyers , Civil Service workers , people who have retired , widows , home-town folks and neighbors .”

But the staged photo , the list of shareholder occupations that emphasized “ farmers ” and “ businessmen ,” even AT & T ’ s choice of a married couple as its millionth shareholder , was misleading . In 1951 , most of AT & T ’ s stockholders were individual women ( though the majority were married ). At a time before institutional investors dominated the market — 96 % of AT & T ’ s shareholders were individuals — women outnumbered male shareholders at the company by almost two to one . As recently as 1948 , AT & T had disclosed that 43 % of its stock was owned by women , considerably more than the 26 % owned by men ; an additional 12 % was held by husband-wife joint accounts , and the balance by trustees , brokers and institutions .

The New York Times described AT & T ’ s 1951 shareholder ’ s meeting as “ Ladies Day .” During the meeting , Wilma Soss , a well-known shareholder activist and the founder of the Federation of Women Stockholders in American Business , Inc ., gave a short speech . She pointed out that women comprised not only the majority of AT & T ’ s stockholders , but also more than 60 % of its nearly 650,000 employees ,

10 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Summer 2021 | www . MoAF . org