Richard Whitney was the New York Stock Exchange vice president who made the famous U.S. Steel bid in 1929.
On Black Thursday, October 24, 1929, panicked selling overwhelmed the NYSE. Senior bankers—including Thomas W. Lamont, Albert Wiggin, and Charles E. Mitchell—met to find a way to restore confidence. They selected Whitney, then the Exchange’s vice president, to act publicly on their behalf.
Whitney placed an ostentatious bid for 25,000 shares of U.S. Steel at $205 per share, considerably above the market price. He then made similarly high bids for other blue-chip stocks. The display temporarily steadied prices and echoed tactics used during the Panic of 1907.
A common mix-up is confusing Whitney with the bankers who organized the intervention. Lamont, Wiggin, and Mitchell were influential participants in the rescue effort, but Whitney was the exchange official who physically made the celebrated bid. His reputation later collapsed after embezzlement convictions, making the episode part of a more complicated legacy.