ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nature of upper-class leadership in the economic life of Philadelphia before 1940. High-level executive decisions are often made by Proper Philadelphia bankers and businessmen within the halls of the Philadelphia and Rittenhouse Clubs. Out of the 770 Philadelphians listed in Who's Who in 1940, a small group-forty-two members of these two clubs-can be said to constitute a primary group of power and influence at the top of the social structure. The Insurance Company of North America, founded in 1792, is one of the oldest property insurance companies in America and has been closely associated with the upper class in the city for generations. John A. Stevenson, President of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, had the longest Who's Who biography in this study of the Philadelphia elite. It has been said that he was one of Philadelphia's best-known citizens in local and national business, education, and civic councils.
