What was Bernard Baruch's Baruch Plan for atomic energy?
The Baruch Plan was a proposal that Baruch presented to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission on the 14th of June, 1946. It called for international oversight of atomic energy and was a modified version of the Acheson-Lilienthal plan developed within the Truman administration. The Soviet Union rejected it as unfair, arguing that the United States should first dismantle its nuclear arsenal before any system of international controls and inspections was established.
What role did Bernard Baruch play in World War I?
Baruch served as chairman of the War Industries Board, appointed to the post in January 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson. The board managed the United States' entire economic mobilization during the war, coordinating raw materials, manufacturing, and industrial distribution. Baruch received the Army Distinguished Service Medal for this work, with the citation issued under General Orders No. 15 of 1921.
How did Bernard Baruch predict the 1929 stock market crash?
By 1927, losses from the collapse of the Florida real estate bubble and concern over Federal Reserve interest rate cuts had made Baruch skeptical of the bull market. He moved his portfolio into bonds, cash, and gold well before the crash and sold stocks short at intervals. On the 25th of September, 1929, he refused to join a financial pool intended to prop up the falling market.
Why was Bernard Baruch called the Park Bench Statesman?
Baruch was known for sitting in Lafayette Park across from the White House rather than arriving by car for presidential meetings. A popular story held that he would wait on a bench for a signal light indicating the president was ready to see him. In 1960, the Boy Scouts dedicated a commemorative bench to him in Lafayette Park on his ninetieth birthday.
What is Hobcaw Barony and what is its connection to Bernard Baruch?
Hobcaw Barony is a roughly 16,000-acre property in Georgetown County, South Carolina, that Baruch assembled between 1905 and 1907 by consolidating 14 plantations on Waccamaw Neck. He used it as a winter hunting resort and later transferred it to his daughter Belle, who upon her death in 1964 left it to the Belle W. Baruch Foundation as an educational and research preserve. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places on the 2nd of November, 1994.
What institutions and places are named after Bernard Baruch?
Baruch College of the City University of New York and the Baruch Houses public housing development on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, built by the New York City Housing Authority, both carry his name. The Saratoga Race Course named its Bernard Baruch Handicap in his honor. In 1925, Baruch also endowed the Mrs. Simon Baruch University Award to the United Daughters of the Confederacy in memory of his mother.