Quotes About Raskob

John J. Raskob was the money man. Born in Lockport, New York, in 1879, when he was twenty-one he found himself working for Pierre S. du Pont as a bookkeeper. Raskob had a quick and agile mind, and soon became du Pont's secretary.

A stock that Raskob liked was General Motors. Hearing in 1913 that GM founder William C. Durant found himself in financial difficulties that forced him to borrow $15 million from banks, Raskob decided that GM was a good buy. He soon became bullish on GM in particular and the automotive business in general, and he induced Pierre du Pont to invest heavily in GM stock.

Du Pont became a major shareholder, and, after a reorganization, Pierre du Pont became GM chairman, with Raskob his vice president and chairman of the finance committee.

Raskob, the son of an Irish mother and a cigar-maker father of Alsatian descent, was a Roman Catholic from a large family, and he would remain a devout Roman Catholic all his life. In 1928 he was a member of the Knights of Malta and a Knight of St. Gregory, and he was generous to the Church. One

Raskob's only experience in politics had been to register and vote Republican, but Smith asked Raskob to be his campaign manager and to

In all likelihood Smith planted the seed of the Empire State Building in the head of Raskob sometime in the spring of 1929. If Raskob was going to build a skyscraper and if he was going to make a go of it, he could do worse than financing some of it himself and finding others to join in the venture, while having his friend Al Smith serve as the front man.

Who made the first graphic depiction of the Empire State Building depends on who's telling the story, but either Raskob or Lamb pulled out a big pencil and held it skyward.