Background
Eugene Black was born on January 7, 1873, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, the second of the three sons of Eugene P. and Zachariah (Harman) Black. His father was the leading real-estate dealer of the city.
Eugene Black was born on January 7, 1873, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, the second of the three sons of Eugene P. and Zachariah (Harman) Black. His father was the leading real-estate dealer of the city.
After elementary and high-school training in the public school system of Atlanta, Eugene entered the University of Georgia and was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1892. He then took a brief course in the Atlanta Law School, and was admitted to the bar in the summer of 1893.
In 1893 Black began the practice of law as the partner of his elder brother, William Harman Black, who afterward removed to New York and became a judge of the supreme court of that state. With the exception of a period of three years, during which time he held the Georgia agency for the Prudential Insurance Company of America, Black practised law continuously in Atlanta until January 1, 1921, when he abandoned the law for banking and became president of the Atlanta Trust Company. Four years later he was elected a Class A director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and in January 1928 he was made governor of the bank. Much of his five years of service in the new position was during the early period of the depression, beginning in the fall of 1929. It was a time of unprecedented strain on banks in general and of problems for the Reserve banks. Black's administration was level headed and confidence inspiring. His contemporaries were unanimous in the view that no better choice could have been made for the position under the conditions that had to be met. Indeed, so successful was Black's management of the Atlanta bank in those dark days that President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 19, 1933, appointed him governor of the Federal Reserve Board. This post, the most important one in the American banking world, he held for only fifteen months, resigning August 15, 1934, to resume his former position as governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Four months after his return to Atlanta, Black died suddenly of a heart attack.
Black's service as governor of the Federal Reserve Board came at a most critical time in the financial history of the country. Public confidence in the banking system had declined alarmingly, and President Roosevelt, to avert a nation-wide catastrophe, had proclaimed a national bank holiday. Black assumed the governorship while the process of reopening the banks and restoring the confidence of the nation was in progress. In his own words this task necessitated the closest cooperation and coordination of effort between the financial departments of the government, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.
Intelligence, good will, a sound knowledge of banking, and ability to work in harness with others were required. Some bankers did not like what they considered the radical monetary measures taken by President Roosevelt to end the depression. Black was himself really a conservative man, but he felt that in the great emergency wisdom required wholehearted cooperation between government and banking. He believed that more might be saved from the wreckage by conciliation than by a bitter fight between the two elements. He was so successful in accommodating divergent views and policies that, at President Roosevelt's special request, he served as a sort of liaison officer between the banks and the government after his resignation as governor of the board.
In his speech of September 5, 1933, before the American Bankers Association, he appeared to disapprove the creation of a condition of scarcity, with respect to cotton, wheat, and pork, in order to force prices upward, but admitted the temporary success of the policy. He approved the policies of the National Recovery Administration which replaced destructive competition with intelligent cooperation. He definitely opposed the transfer of title to the gold held by the Federal Reserve System to the federal government. He approved the federal guarantee of bank deposits. For the act of Congress authorizing the Federal Reserve System to extend credit to small business concerns for working capital purposes he was personally largely responsible. He also favored the enactment of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and took an active part in the framing of the provisions of the act relating to the authority of the board to regulate the use of credit for the purchase or carrying of securities.
Apart from his career as a banker, Black was in all respects a leading citizen of his native city and state. Time, interest, and money he freely gave to all worthy civic, educational, charitable, and religious enterprises. He served as president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and as chairman of the Atlanta Community Chest.
On May 5, 1897, Black was married to Gussie Grady, daughter of Henry W. Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution. Three children were born to them: Eugene, Jr. , Grady, and Julia.