{{Short description|Private club in New York City}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} thumb|Links Club in November 2023 '''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.<ref name=wsjthatbrightdyingstar>{{cite news|last1=Frank|first1=Robert|title=That Bright, Dying Star, the American WASP|url=https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704414504575244622954114574|accessdate=January 21, 2016|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=May 15, 2010|archive-date=January 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127032559/http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704414504575244622954114574|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=anotableblock>{{cite news|last1=Gray|first1=Christopher|title=A Notable Block With a Hole in Its Heart|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/realestate/16scap.html?_r=0|accessdate=January 21, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=July 16, 2006|archive-date=May 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510104708/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/realestate/16scap.html?_r=0|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.
The club has status under 501(c)(7) Social and Recreation Clubs; in 2024 it claimed $6,297,303 in total revenue and total assets of $7,769,211.<ref>{{cite web |title=Financials for Links Club Inc |url=https://app.candid.org/profile/6941516/links-club-inc-13-5679670 |website=candid.org |publisher=Candid. |access-date=20 February 2026 |archive-date=8 December 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251208022338/https://app.candid.org/profile/6941516/links-club-inc-13-5679670 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==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.<ref name=anotableblock/><ref name=guidetonyc>{{cite book|last1=Dolkart|first1=Andrew|title=Guide to New York City Landmarks|date=1998|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=New York|isbn=9780471182894|oclc=36922554|page=155|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwYcSFtdE_AC&dq=%22links+club%22+%22upper+east+side%22&pg=PA155|accessdate=January 21, 2016}}</ref> In the 1960s, it was "a preferred social gathering spot for America's most powerful chief executives."<ref name=waterhouse>{{cite book|last1=Waterhouse|first1=Benjamin C.|title=Lobbying America: The Politics of Business from Nixon to NAFTA|date=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|isbn=9780691149165|oclc=867926037|pages=76–77|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wYuGAAAAQBAJ&dq=%22links+club%22+new+york&pg=PA76|accessdate=January 21, 2016}}</ref> By 2010, it was still a "preserve of the old banking elite", but not all members were WASPs.<ref name=wsjthatbrightdyingstar/>
==Notable members in 1955 == Source:<ref name="valuablebook.wordpress.com">{{cite news|date=October 1, 2012|title=The most powerful Club in the World|url=https://valuablebook.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/the-most-powerful-club-in-the-world-the-links/|publisher=Valuable Book Group|archive-date=August 7, 2022|access-date=August 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807060945/https://valuablebook.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/the-most-powerful-club-in-the-world-the-links/|url-status=live}}</ref>
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<ref>{{cite book |last=Domhoff |first=G. William |year=1974 |url=https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/power/bohemian_grove_appendix.pdf |title=The Bohemian Grove and Other Retreats: A Study in Ruling-Class Cohesiveness |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |page=136 |isbn=9780060903954 |archive-date=2025-05-26 |access-date=2025-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250526071742/https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/power/bohemian_grove_appendix.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> * 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<ref>{{cite news|title=Business Legend Jack Massey Dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/298888555/?terms=%22Jack%2BC.%2BMassey%22|accessdate=December 17, 2017|work=The Palm Beach Daily News|date=February 16, 1990|pages=1; 4|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|archive-date=February 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226230931/https://www.newspapers.com/image/298888555/?terms=%22Jack%2BC.%2BMassey%22|url-status=live}}</ref>
===1955 members featured on the cover of Time Magazine === Source:<ref name="valuablebook.wordpress.com"/> * Charles Wilson * Colby Chester * Cyrus Vance * David Rockefeller * Dwight Eisenhower * Douglas Dillon * Eddie Rickenbacker * George Merck * Gwilym Price * Henry Ford II * Herbert Hoover Jr. * James Doolittle * John McCloy * Joseph Davies * Joseph Pew * Lucius Clay * Roger Blough * Roger Lapham * Stillman Rockefeller * Thomas Dewey * Thomas Watson * Trubee Davison * Walter Teagle * Winthrop Rockefeller
== Other References == *List of traditional gentlemen's clubs in the United States *[http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-neo-georgian-links-club-no-36-38-e.html Article] on the clubhouse and its architecture. ==External links== *[https://www.thelinksclub.org/ Official website]
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Links Club}} Category:Gentlemen's clubs in New York City Category:1917 establishments in New York (state) Category:Georgian Revival architecture in New York City Category:Upper East Side Category:Clubhouses in Manhattan