World War I as Entrepreneurial Opportunity: Willard Straight and the American International Corporation

Abstract

In November 1915, fifteen months after the outbreak of war in Europe, a group of New York bankers announced the formation of a new company, the American International Corporation. This was no ordinary venture by any standards. The firm was capitalized at fifty million dollars, and among its directors (representing the major stockholders) were leading officers of the nation's largest banking and industrial interests.' The president was Charles A. Stone of Boston's Stone & Webster Engineering Company, builder of large-scale electrical utility and traction complexes. Willard Straight, formerly an American diplomat in Asia and since 9gog an officer of J. P. Morgan & Company, was vice-president. Other directors of the AIC included Percy Rockefeller of Standard Oil, J. Ogden Armour of the giant meatpacking firm, and Cyrus McCormick of the farm machinery company; also, Hill of the Great Northern Railroad, Lovett of the Union Pacific, Coffin of General Electric, Ryan of the copper industry, Grace of the export and shipping complex, and Vail of the telephone industry.2