Financial History Issue 113 (Spring 2015) | Page 23
JOHN WHITEHEAD (1922–2015)
Wall Street Titan, Cold Warrior, Friend to Thousands
“America was fortunate that John
Whitehead walked so many roads for us,”
said Henry A. Kissinger at the funeral of
his friend in mid-February. “In view of the
vastness of John’s interests and the scope
of his accomplishments, one is tempted to
think of a flamboyant individual operating
by eloquence and force of will. The opposite
would be true. For John, the call to serve
was paired with a reluctance to impose.”
Whitehead was born in 1922 and grew up
in Montclair, New Jersey. Despite being a
mischievous lad, he earned the Eagle Scout
award and entered Haverford College, a
small Quaker liberal arts institution outside
Philadelphia. He was working at the checkout desk of the school library when news
came of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was
graduated under an accelerated program in
January 1943 and joined the Navy.
Having shown aptitude in small vessels, Whitehead was given command of
a small squadron of five landing craft for
the Normandy assault on June 6, 1944,
and he made one of the first major judgment decisions of his life. “Our orders
were to crash straight ahead to the beach,”
he wrote in his autobiography, A Life in
Leadership (Basic Books, 2005). In the
rough waves and dim light, Whitehead
saw ahead obstacles that would have torn
the bottoms out of his boats. He ordered
the squadron to turn and run parallel to
the beach for a hundred yards before finding a clear path. He made many such cool
decisions under duress in his life.
With an MBA from Harvard in hand,
Whitehead joined Goldman Sachs in 1947.
Jammed with half a dozen others into
an unventilated former squash court, he
rose quickly on the strength of his diligent work, scrupulous ethics and dexterity
with a slide rule. Concerned that the firm
was almost entirely reliant on its legendary leader, Sidney Weinberg, for business, Whitehead circulated a plan for new
Elsa Ruiz
By Gregory DL Morris
John Whitehead, pictured here at the 2009 Gala, was co-chair of the Museum’s Advisory Board.
business development. The idea simmered
until 1976 when Whitehead was made
co-chairman, along with John Weinberg,
Sidney’s son.
The idea of soliciting business was
almost radical in those days. Business executives had come to Sidney. It took a couple
of years for the plan to gain traction, but
it became a roaring success and was soon
emulated by other firms. In time, Whitehead implemented a similar initiative for
international business — his second invasion of Europe. There was no gunfire
this time, but active resistance from other
partners at Goldman and a chilly reception
from London firms. But as in the domestic expansion, time and hard work won
over the skeptics, and Whitehead proudly
called Goldman the first truly international
investment banking firm.
After a full career at Goldman Sachs,
he was asked by President Reagan to be
Deputy Secretary of State. In that role, his
effort to cultivate direct and individual
relations with Eastern European countries
was an important element in ending the
Cold War.
“It was one of the great honors of my
life to be admitted to John’s friendship,”
said Kissinger in his eulogy. “I met John
when, in the last days of the Ford administration, he tried to convince me to join
Goldman Sachs as a partner. I told him
that I did not know enough about investment banking. Persuaded of my incapacity to value opportunity, John settled on
friendship.”
Kissinger said he agreed to teach
Whitehead diplomacy, while Whitehead
taught him economics. “This arrangement
stood until John became Deputy Secretary of State under President Reagan — a
job which he interpreted as an opportunity to fulfill his lifetime commitment to
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