Clews, Henry

Henry Clews was a British-American financier and author. He was an economic advisor to President Ulysses S. Grant, and a friend of Abraham Lincoln. Born in Staffordshire, England, he emigrated to the United States around 1850. He co-founded an investment company that became the second-largest marketer of federal bonds during the American Civil War. Later, he played a reformers role in New York City politics by organizing the "Committee of 70" which helped depose the corrupt Tweed Ring. In 1887 he wrote a well-known book titled "Fifty Years in Wall Street." He held conservative economic views and was hostile toward the labor union movement.