Jesse Holman Jones
Encyclopedia
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
politician and entrepreneur. He served as United States Secretary of Commerce
United States Secretary of Commerce
The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce"...
from 1940 to 1945. His most important role was to head the Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was an independent agency of the United States government, established and chartered by the US Congress in 1932, Act of January 22, 1932, c. 8, 47 Stat. 5, during the administration of President Herbert Hoover. It was modeled after the War Finance Corporation...
(RFC), (1932–45), a federal agency originally created by Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
that played a major role in combating the Great Depression and financing industrial expansion in World War II. Jones was in charge of spending US$50 billion (US$ in today's terms), especially in financing railways and building munitions factories.
Early life
Born in Robertson County, Tennessee, Jones was the son of tobacco farmer and merchant William Hasque Jones and Laura Anna Holman. His mother died when he was six years old. His father sent him to manage a tobaccoTobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
factory at age 14, and at 19 he was put in charge of his uncle's lumberyards. Five years later, after his uncle, M. T. Jones, died, Jones moved to Houston to manage his uncle's estate and opened a lumberyard company, which grew quickly. During this period, Jesse opened his own business, the South Texas Lumber Company. He also began to expand into real estate, commercial building and banking.
Business activities
In 1908, Jones constructed a new office and plant for the rapidly growing Houston ChronicleHouston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
in exchange for a half-interest in the company, which had been solely owned by Marcellus Foster." The relationship between Jones and the "Chronicle would last the rest of his life." In 1926, Jones became the sole owner of the paper and named himself as publisher. In 1937, he transferred ownership of the paper to the newly-established Houston Endowment Inc.
Houston Endowment Inc.
Houston Endowment Inc. was founded in 1937 by Jesse H. Jones and Mary Gibbs Jones as an extension of their personal philanthropy to help establish institutions and organizations that help facilitate the growth of Houston and develop its people...
Jones retained the title of publisher until his death in 1956.
Sometime after 1908, Jones organized the Texas Trust Company. By 1912, he had become president of Houston's National Bank of Commerce. This bank later merged with Texas National Bank to become the Texas National Bank of Commerce, and grew into a major regional financial institution. It became part of JP Morgan Chase & Co. in 2008.
In 1911, Jones purchased the original five-story Rice Hotel from Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
. He then razed the original buildings and constructed the present 17-story building, now formally named as the Post Rice Lofts
Post Rice Lofts
The Post Rice Lofts, formerly the Rice Hotel, is a historic building at 909 Texas Avenue in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It was constructed in 1912 on the site of the former Capitol building of the Republic of Texas, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
. The new Rice Hotel building opened on May 17, 1913. Jones soon made his mark as a builder across Houston, and helped to secure federal funding for the Houston Ship Channel
Port of Houston
The Port of Houston is a port in Houston—the fourth-largest city in the United States. The Port is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico...
, which opened in 1914 and made the city a viable port.
Political activities
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
offered him the position of Secretary of Commerce, but Jones turned him down to focus on his businesses — though he could not refuse when Wilson asked him to become Director General of Military Relief for the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Reconstruction Finance Corporation chairman
After returning to his businesses, Republican president Herbert HooverHerbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
appointed him to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation board, thereby bringing a Democrat on the team. In 1933 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made him the Chairman of the RFC while also expanding the corporation's powers to make loans and bail out banks, leading some to refer to Jones as "the fourth branch of government." Roosevelt reportedly called Jones "Jesus H. Jones." According to Joseph P. Lash's book "Eleanor and Franklin," the president considered Jones too conservative and shot down a strong movement to make Jones the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1940.
Secretary of Commerce
Jones later served under Roosevelt as Secretary of CommerceUnited States Secretary of Commerce
The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce"...
in 1940 — the same position he had turned down a quarter-century before — and served until 1945, when he was forced out in favor of Roosevelt's outgoing Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
, Henry A. Wallace
Henry A. Wallace
Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A...
.
Suite 8F Group
Jones was also an active participant in the so-called "Suite 8F GroupSuite 8F Group
The Suite 8F Group was a network of politically active businessman in Texas and other southern states in the early 1960s. The name comes from the room in the Lamar Hotel in Houston, Texas where they held their meetings.- Membership :...
." This was composed of very wealthy, politically active businessmen who met in Suite 8F of the Lamar Hotel in downtown Houston. The group raised money to elect influential politicians who supported their conservative business and political views. Beneficiaries included, but were not limited to, Congressman, Senator and President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
, Congressman Albert Thomas
Albert Richard Thomas
This article is about the US Congressman. For the article on the French Socialist and First Director of the International Labour Organisation see Albert Thomas ....
, and Governor and Secretary of the Navy John Connally
John Connally
John Bowden Connally, Jr. , was an influential American politician, serving as the 39th governor of Texas, Secretary of the Navy under President John F. Kennedy, and as Secretary of the Treasury under President Richard M. Nixon. While he was Governor in 1963, Connally was a passenger in the car in...
.
Houston Endowment Inc.
In 1937, Jones and his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones, established Houston Endowment Inc.Houston Endowment Inc.
Houston Endowment Inc. was founded in 1937 by Jesse H. Jones and Mary Gibbs Jones as an extension of their personal philanthropy to help establish institutions and organizations that help facilitate the growth of Houston and develop its people...
, which eventually became the largest private foundation in Texas. It was the principal beneficiary of the Jones' estates, ultimately owning a large number of businesses and buildings, mostly in Houston. Jones was named president of the foundation, and remained so until his death. He was succeeded as president by his nephew, John T. Jones.
Commemoration
Texas Southern University
Texas Southern University is a historically black university located in Houston, Texas, United States....
Jesse H. Jones School of Business are historically black institutions. The Jones family had a strong influence on Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
as well, with the eponymous Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management
Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management
The Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business is one of the academic units of Rice University in Houston, Texas. Named in honor of the late Jesse Holman Jones, a prominent Houston business and civic leader, the school received its initial funding in 1974 through a major gift from the Houston...
founded in large part by a gift from Houston Endowment Inc., and Jones College named for Mary Gibbs Jones. The Jesse H. Jones Student Life Center, a recreation facility at the University of Houston–Downtown
University of Houston–Downtown
The University of Houston–Downtown is a four-year state university, and is a distinct component institution of the University of Houston System. Its campus spans 20-acre in Downtown Houston, with a satellite location in northwestern Harris County...
was also named for Jones.
In the Texas Medical Center (Houston), there are the Jesse H. Jones Rotary House Hotel [a hotel for MD Anderson Cancer patients and family members], the Jones library building for the Houston Academy of Medicine/Texas Medical Center; and the Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones Pavilion (1977) connecting Memorial Hermann Hospital to the University of Texas Medical School. The original site of Texas Woman's University Houston campus, across the street from the HAM/TMC library, included Mary Gibbs Jones hall; TWU moved to a new location in 2006 and the original site became part of The Methodist Hospital.
Other Jones buildings include the main building for the Houston Public Library downtown (central) branch and the headquarters for the Houston chapter of the American Red Cross.
The University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
's College of Communication is named after Jones, where there is also the Jesse H. Jones Chair in the Liberal Arts, held by the renowned philosopher T. K. Seung
T. K. Seung
T. K. Seung is a Korean American philosopher and literary critic. His academic interests cut across diverse philosophical and literary subjects, including ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of law, cultural hermeneutics, and ancient Chinese philosophy....
. Baylor University
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
's central libraries comprise the Jesse H. Jones Library (1992) and the Moody Memorial Library (1968).
In 1956 a hospital was built in Springfield, Tennessee
Springfield, Tennessee
Springfield is a city in Robertson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 14,329 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Robertson County.-Geography:Springfield is located at ....
, named the Jesse Holman Jones Hospital, replacing the original hospital there. This hospital operated until 1995 when a new facility, NorthCrest Medical Center, was built.
Beyond buildings, one can also visit the Jesse H. Jones Park and Nature Center in Humble or drive across the Houston Ship Channel (for which Jones was the driving force) on what was once (1982–1994) the Jesse H. Jones Memorial Bridge.
Additional reading
- Buenger, Walter L.Walter L. BuengerWalter Louis Buenger is an historian of Texas and the American South and, since 2003, the head of the department of history at Texas A&M University in College Station.-Background:...
, "Jesse H. Jones" in Profiles in Power: Twentieth-Century Texans in Washington by the editors Kenneth E. Hendrickson, Jr., and Michael L. Collins (2003) - Fenberg, Steven. Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism, and the Common Good (Texas A&M University Press; 2011) 611 pages; biography
- Jones, Jesse H. Fifty billion dollars: My thirteen years with the RFC, 1932-1945 (1951) detailed memoir by longtime chairman
- Koistinen, Paul A. C. Arsenal of World War II: The Political Economy of American Warfare, 1940-1945 (2004)
- Mason, Joseph R. "The Political Economy of Reconstruction Finance Corporation Assistance During the Great Depression." Explorations in Economic History 2003 40(2): 101-121. Issn: 0014-4983 Fulltext in Ingenta
- Olson, James S. Saving Capitalism: The Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the New Deal, 1933-1940. Princeton U. Press, 1988. 246 pp.
- Sprinkel, Beryl Wayne. "Economic Consequences of the Operations of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation." The Journal of Business of the University of Chicago Vol. 25, No. 4 (Oct., 1952), pp. 211–224 online at JSTOR
- White, Gerald Taylor. Billions for Defense: Government Financing by the Defense Plant Corporation During World War II (1980)
- video: Strange, Eric, prod. "Brother, Can You Spare a Billion? The Story of Jesse H. Jones." (1999) Color and black and white. 57 min. Distributed by Houston Public Television, Houston, Tex.