Business career In 1929, Whitney, despite his vast wealth, was a clerk at the firm of
Lee, Higginson & Co where, through his boss, J.T. Claiborne Jr., he met former Lee, Higginson clerk
Langbourne Meade Williams Jr., who had come to Claiborne for help in his efforts to gain control of
Freeport Texas Co. Williams was a scion of a founding investment firm in the
sulfur mining company. In 1929, the year after Whitney became one of the wealthiest men in America, through inheritance, Williams enlisted the help of Whitney's boss, who then enlisted Whitney's financial participation, in his efforts to oust founder and Chairman Eric P. Swenson, casting Whitney in the role of
corporate raider before the term existed. Whitney was soon Freeport's biggest shareholder, enabling Williams to replace the chairman and his management team. Claiborne was made a vice-president; Williams became Freeport's president in 1933, and Whitney was appointed chairman of the board. In 1946, Whitney founded
J.H. Whitney & Company, with
Benno C. Schmidt Sr.—who coined the term "venture capital"—with J. T. Claiborne as a partner. Whitney put up $10 million to finance entrepreneurs with business plans who were unwelcome at banks. Companies Whitney invested in included
Spencer Chemical and
Minute Maid. and was its publisher from 1961 to its closure in 1966. He was chairman of the
International Herald Tribune from 1966 until his death. Whitney Communications also owned and operated other newspapers, magazines and broadcasting stations. Whitney's television stations were sold to
Dun & Bradstreet in 1969.
Theatre and motion pictures Whitney invested in several
Broadway shows, including
Peter Arno's 1931 revue
Here Goes the Bride, a failure that cost him $100,000, but was more successful as one of the backers of
Life with Father. An October 1934
Fortune article on the
Technicolor Corporation noted Whitney's interest in pictures. He had met Technicolor head
Herbert Kalmus at the
Saratoga Race Course. In 1932, Technicolor achieved a breakthrough with its three-strip process.
Merian C. Cooper of
RKO Radio Pictures approached Whitney with the idea of investing in Technicolor. They joined forces and founded
Pioneer Pictures in 1933, Whitney was also the major investor in
David O. Selznick's production company
Selznick International Pictures, putting up $870,000 and serving as chairman of the board. He put up half the money to option
Margaret Mitchell's
Gone with the Wind for the
Selznick film version, in which he then invested, and later in
Rebecca (1940). but escaped when the train transporting him to a
POW camp came under
Allied fire.
Thoroughbred horse racing '' (March 27, 1933) Whitney inherited his family's love of horses, a predilection he shared with his sister,
Joan Whitney Payson. Jock and his sister ran
Greentree Stables in the U.S., owned by their mother. In 1928, he became the youngest member ever elected to
The Jockey Club. Whitney and his first wife "Liz" raced horses both in the United States and in Europe. He owned
Easter Hero, the
Jack Anthony–trained horse who was the first to win the
Cheltenham Gold Cup twice in succession, in 1929 under the mount of
Dick Rees and again in 1930, when ridden by
Tommy Cullinan. In the 1929
Grand National, his horse twisted a plate and was beaten by a nose at the finish. Although Whitney entered the Grand National annually, he never again came close to winning. The Whitneys entered four horses in the
Kentucky Derby in the 1930s, "Stepenfetchit", which finished 3rd in 1932, "Overtime", which finished 5th in 1933, "Singing Wood", which finished 8th in 1934, and "Heather Broom", which finished 3rd in 1939. Jock Whitney was also an outstanding
polo player, with a four-goal handicap, and it was as a sportsman that he made the cover of the March 27, 1933, issue of
Time magazine. In 2015, Whitney was posthumously inducted to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame as Pillar of the Turf.
Political life Whitney was the major backer of
Dwight D. Eisenhower and a member of the
New York Young Republican Club. Eisenhower appointed him
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Whitney played a major role in improving Anglo-American relations, which had been severely strained during the 1956
Suez Crisis, when Eisenhower demanded that the British, French and
Israelis terminate their invasion of
Egypt. ==Personal life==