Links Club

Last updated September 03, 2025

The Links is a private club in New York City. It is located at 36 East 62nd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City.^[1]^[2] Charles B. Macdonald, a golf champion and founder of the United States Golf Association, started the Links in 1917 as a place where powerful members of the golf world could keep the true spirit of the game alive.

History

The club was established in 1916–1917 by Charles B. Macdonald, in a building designed in the Georgian Revival architectural style by Cross & Cross.^[2]^[3] In the 1960s, it was "a preferred social gathering spot for America's most powerful chief executives."^[4] By 2010, it was still a "preserve of the old banking elite", but not all members were WASPs.^[1]

Notable members in 1955

Source:^[5]

A sampling of members in 1955 is listed below:

Government and diplomacy

Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States
Winthrop W. Aldrich, ambassador to Great Britain
Arthur A. Ballantine, Undersecretary of the Treasury and lawyer
Prescott S. Bush, U.S. Senator and father of President Bush (41)
Charles E. Daniel, U.S. Senator from South Carolina
Thomas E. Dewey, governor of New York
C. Douglas Dillon, U.S. ambassador to France, Future Secretary of the Treasury
Joseph E. Davies, U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union
Thomas S. Gates, Jr., future U.S. Secretary of Defense
Walter S. Gifford, former chairman of A T & T, former Ambassador to the U.K.
Stanton Griffis, U.S. ambassador to Poland, Egypt, Spain and Argentina
Amory Houghton, CEO, Corning Glass Works, future U.S. Congressman
George M. Humphrey, Secretary of the Treasury
Herbert C. Hoover Jr., son of the 31st President, Undersecretary of State and a member of the President's cabinet
John A. McCone, future director of the C.I.A.
Jean Monnet, diplomat and founding father of the European Union
Winthrop Rockefeller, son of John D. Rockefeller and Governor of Arkansas
Sir William Wiseman, British intelligence agent and banker
Cyrus R. Vance, future U.S. Secretary of State
John Hay Whitney, future U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain

Military

Oscar C. Badger, a four-star admiral in the U.S. Navy
Ralph A. Bard, undersecretary of the U.S. Navy
Dunbar W. Bostwick, lt. colonel, U.S. Army, helped organize Normandy invasion
Lucius D. Clay, U.S. general, Eisenhower deputy and "father" of the Berlin airlift
Robert A. Lovett, former U.S. Secretary of Defense
Paul Nitze, future Secretary of the Navy
Elwood R. Quesada, lieutenant general, U.S.A.F.
Stanley R. Resor, future U.S. Secretary of the Army
Kenneth Royall, Army brigadier general, last person to serve as Secretary of War
James Hopkins Smith Jr., U.S. Secretary of the Navy
William Bedell Smith, Eisenhower's chief of staff in WWII, four-star general, former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and former C.I.A director
Harold E. Talbott, Secretary of the Air Force
James H. Doolittle, U.S. general and famed aviator

Industry

Sewell L. Avery, chairman of Montgomery Ward
Stephen D. Bechtel of the engineering and construction company
Sosthenes Behn, founder of ITT Corporation
Roger M. Blough, president of U.S. Steel Corporation
Harold Boeschenstein, chairman of Owens-Corning
Richard L. Bowditch, chairman U.S. Chamber of Commerce
H.S.M. Burns, British president of Shell Oil Company
Louis S. Cates, Chairman of Phelps Dodge
Owen R. Cheatham, chairman of Georgia Pacific Corporation
Colby M. Chester, chairman of General Foods Corporation
Hugh J. Chisholm, president of International Paper
George H. Coppers, chairman of Nabisco
Cleo F. Craig, president of AT&T
Walter F. Dillingham, “the Baron of Hawaiian Industry”
Richard R. Depree, president of Procter & Gamble
Benjamin F. Fairless, CEO of U.S. Steel
Henry Ford II, president of the Ford Motor Company
J. Peter Grace Jr., Grace Chemical CEO
Augustus C. Long, CEO of Texaco
Henry R. Luce, publisher of Time Magazine
Joseph H. McConnell, former president of NBC
George W. Merck, president of Merck pharmaceuticals
Roger Milliken, CEO of Milliken textiles
Morehead Patterson, chairman of AMF
G. Willing Pepper, president of the Scott Paper Company
Gwilym A. Price, president of Westinghouse
Edgar Monsanto Queeny, chairman of Monsanto Corporation
Donald J. Russell, future CEO of Southern Pacific Railroad
Sidney A. Swensrud, chairman Gulf Oil
Walter C. Teagle, retired chairman of Standard Oil
Thomas J. Watson Jr., president of IBM
Charles E. Wilson, former president of General Electric

Finance

Norborne Berkeley, president of Chemical Bank
Edward Eagle Brown, chairman of the First National Bank of Chicago
Paul C. Cabot, founded State Street Corporation and started the first mutual fund
Asa V. Call, president of Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company
Jean Cattier, Partner at White Weld & Co, and Chairman of the European American Bank^[6]
George Champion, chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank
J. Luther Cleveland, chairman of the Guaranty Trust Company
S. Sloan Colt, president of the Bankers Trust Company
Isaac B. Grainger, president of Chemical Bank and future president U.S.G.A.
Benjamin H. Griswold III, chairman of Alex, Brown
E. Roland Harriman, co-founder of Brown Brothers Harriman
Devereux C. Josephs, chairman of the Board New York Life Insurance
John J. McCloy, future chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank, President World Bank
Henry S. Morgan, grandson of J.P. Morgan and co-founder of Morgan Stanley
Ralph Owen, chairman of American Express
Elmore C. Patterson, future CEO of J.P. Morgan
Ralph T. Reed, future CEO of American Express
David Rockefeller, future chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank
J. Stillman Rockefeller, president National City Bank
Howard C. Sheperd, chairman of National City Bank
Harold Stanley, co-founder of Morgan Stanley
Dean Witter, founder of Dean Witter investment firm

Aircraft and aviation

William E. Boeing, founder of the Boeing Airplane Company
F. Trubee Davison, WWI Naval Aviator
Robert E. Gross, president of Lockheed Aircraft
Frederick B. Rentschler, chairman of Pratt & Whitney Aircraft
Edward V. Rickenbacker, World War I ace pilot
Leon A. Swirbul, founder of Grumman Aircraft

Inheritance

Marshall Field, heir to the department store fortune
James H. McGraw Jr., heir to the book publishing company
Paul Mellon, heir to the Mellon banking fortune and philanthropist
Howard Phipps, heir to the Carnegie Steel partner Henry Phipps Jr.
Joseph N. Pew, heir to Sun Oil fortune, co-founder of the Pew Charitable Trusts
J. Watson Webb, film maker and heir to the Vanderbilt fortune

Golf and other pursuits

Morton G. Bogue, former president of the U.S.G.A.
C. Suydam Cutting, explorer
Donald K. David, dean of the Harvard Business School
Arthur H. Dean, chairman of the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell
Childs Frick, paleontologist and son of Steel magnate Henry Clay Frick
Totton P. Heffelfinger, president of the U.S.G.A.
Eugene V. Homans. Bobby Jones defeated Homans at Merion to win the grand slam in 1930
Roger D. Lapham, Mayor of San Francisco and co-founder of Cypress Point Club
Robert Montgomery, actor
Alfred Easton Poor, architect
Roland L. Redmond, president Metropolitan Museum of Art
Archie M. Reid, secretary of the U.S.G.A.
Clifford Roberts, co-founder of Augusta National Golf Club

Other

Jack C. Massey ^[7]

Other References

List of traditional gentlemen's clubs in the United States
Article on the clubhouse and its architecture.

References

1 2 Frank, Robert (May 15, 2010). "That Bright, Dying Star, the American WASP". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
1 2 Gray, Christopher (July 16, 2006). "A Notable Block With a Hole in Its Heart". The New York Times. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
↑ Dolkart, Andrew (1998). Guide to New York City Landmarks. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 155. ISBN 9780471182894. OCLC 36922554 . Retrieved January 21, 2016.
↑ Waterhouse, Benjamin C. (2013). Lobbying America: The Politics of Business from Nixon to NAFTA. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 76–77. ISBN 9780691149165. OCLC 867926037 . Retrieved January 21, 2016.
1 2 "The most powerful Club in the World". Valuable Book Group. October 1, 2012.
↑ Domhoff, G. William (1974). The Bohemian Grove and Other Retreats: A Study in Ruling-Class Cohesiveness (PDF). New York: Harper & Row. p. 136. ISBN 9780060903954.
↑ "Business Legend Jack Massey Dies" . The Palm Beach Daily News. February 16, 1990. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved December 17, 2017– via Newspapers.com.

40°45′54.5″N73°58′10.5″W / 40.765139°N 73.969583°W / 40.765139; -73.969583

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[wsjthatbrightdyingstar-1] 1 2 Frank, Robert (May 15, 2010). "That Bright, Dying Star, the American WASP". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 21, 2016.

[anotableblock-2] 1 2 Gray, Christopher (July 16, 2006). "A Notable Block With a Hole in Its Heart". The New York Times. Retrieved January 21, 2016.

[guidetonyc-3] Dolkart, Andrew (1998). Guide to New York City Landmarks. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 155. ISBN 9780471182894. OCLC 36922554 . Retrieved January 21, 2016.

[waterhouse-4] Waterhouse, Benjamin C. (2013). Lobbying America: The Politics of Business from Nixon to NAFTA. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 76–77. ISBN 9780691149165. OCLC 867926037 . Retrieved January 21, 2016.

[valuablebook.wordpress.com-5] 1 2 "The most powerful Club in the World". Valuable Book Group. October 1, 2012.

[6] Domhoff, G. William (1974). The Bohemian Grove and Other Retreats: A Study in Ruling-Class Cohesiveness (PDF). New York: Harper & Row. p. 136. ISBN 9780060903954.

[7] "Business Legend Jack Massey Dies" . The Palm Beach Daily News. February 16, 1990. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved December 17, 2017– via Newspapers.com.

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