Harriman

Harriman

W(illiam) Averell. 1891--1986, US diplomat: negotiated the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union (1963); governor of New York (1955--58)

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Harriman 

a financial group in the USA. Its founder, Edward Henry Harriman (1848-1909), founded Harriman and Company, a bank and stock-market firm, in 1872. By 1909 he had taken control of major railroads. He left a fortune estimated as high as $600 million. His sons, W. A. (Averell) Harriman and E. R. Harriman, established control over large industrial and banking corporations and doubled the fortune they had inherited from their father. In 1911 they founded the bank Harriman Brothers and Company, which, after merging with another large New York bank, was renamed Brown Brothers Harriman and Company in 1931. After World War I (1914-18) they concluded an agreement with the Hamburg-American Line, a large German shipping line, bought up the stock of Austria’s largest bank, and began to mine a deposit of nonferrous metals in Poland.

During World War II (1939-45) the Harriman financial group was further consolidated, and close ties were established with the First National City Bank of New York, Morgan Guaranty Trust, and other New York and Chicago financial groups. Together with them, the Harrimans control a number of major American corporations, in which they own the controlling blocks of shares and hold directorial positions. According to 1965 data, the Harriman group controlled assets exceeding $5 billion, of which $1.8 billion was in banking and $3.3 billion in industry and transportation.

REFERENCES

Perlo, V. Imperiia finansovykh magnatov. Moscow, 1958. (Translated from English.)
Men’shikov, S. M. Millionery i menedzhery. Moscow, 1965.
Zorin, V. S. Nekoronovannye koroli Ameriki, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1967.

V. G. SARYCHEV