The Economic Club was founded in 1907 by J.W. Beatson, Secretary of the National Economic League in Boston, and four business leaders from New York City. Its founders sought to follow the successful example of the Economic Clubs of Boston, Providence, Worcester, Portland, Springfield, and New Haven with the aim of bringing business people and professionals together for serious discussions of economic, social and other public issues in a non-partisan forum.
As defined by the Club's founders, the issues for discussion were ones of "live and practical interest" and speakers were to be of national reputation. For a century, the Club has been a prominent forum in which leading figures from a variety of fields can present their thoughts and analyses on issues of vital national and international concern to an audience of great influence in America's business, financial, and professional life.
The Club has been host to over 1,000 eminent leaders at its speaker's dais, and the stature, caliber, and variety of speakers has become a tradition. Our audiences have heard from future, current, and past presidents of the United States: Woodrow Wilson, William H. Taft, Hebert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. Among the many distinguished foreign leaders to address the Club have been Winston Churchill, Mikhail Gorbachev, Indira Ghandi, Margaret Thatcher, Yitzak Rabin, Corizon Aquino, and Zhu Rongji.
Other Guests of Honor have included central bankers, justices of the Supreme Court, secretaries general of the United Nations, governors and heads of international business enterprises, as well as many key cabinet members, military leaders, ambassadors, and scientific innovators.
The Club also has a long tradition of selecting outstanding leaders to guide the organization itself. Its membership represents a remarkable cross-section of the nation's business, financial, and public policy world: lawyers, bankers, industrialists, political figures, the news media, diplomats - persons bringing to it a wide variety of experience, insight and attainment.
Former Chairmen
| 1907-09 A. Barton Hepburn | 1959-61 Herbert B. Woodman | |
| 1909-10 Francis Lynde Stetson | 1961-63 Kenneth C. Royall | |
| 1910-12 John G. Milburn | 1963-64 Arthur K. Watson | |
| 1912-14 James Speyer | 1964-65 Monroe E. Spaght | |
| 1914-16 William R. Wilcox | 1965-66 Alfred Hayes | |
| 1916-18 Frank A. Vanderlip | 1966-67 Norman H. Strouse | |
| 1918-20 Henry Morgenthau | 1967-68 William M. Batten | |
| 1920-22 George W. Wickersham | 1968-69 Jesse Werner | |
| 1922-24 William Church Osborn | 1969-70 Gavin K. MacBain | |
| 1924-26 Howard Elliott | 1970-71 Robert V. Roosa | |
| 1926-28 Walker D. Hines | 1971-72 Augustine R. Marusi | |
| 1928-30 Nathan L. Miller | 1972-74 George R. Vila | |
| 1930-32 Samuel McRoberts | 1974-75 Charles C. Tillinghast, Jr. | |
| 1932-34 Thomas J. Watson | 1975-76 J. Paul Lyet | |
| 1934-36 James P. Warburg | 1976-77 James W. Davant | |
| 1936-38 Paul D. Cravath | 1977-79 Francis J. Dunleavy | |
| 1938-40 Wendell L. Willkie | 1979-81 Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. | |
| 1940-42 David Sarnoff | 1981-83 Peter G. Peterson | |
| 1942-44 Winthrop W. Aldrich | 1983-85 F. Ross Johnson | |
| 1944-46 Thomas I. Parkinson | 1985-87 Dwayne O. Andreas | |
| 1946-48 Theodore M. Riehle | 1987-90 Rand V. Araskog | |
| 1948-50 Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. | 1990-92 Richard A. Voell | |
| 1950-52 Juan T. Trippe | 1992-94 Donald B. Marron | |
| 1952-54 Austin S. Igleheart | 1994-96 John M. Hennessy | |
| 1954-56 H.E. Humphreys, Jr. | 1996-00 William J. McDonough | |
| 1956-57 William L. Kleitz | 2000-02 Richard A. Grasso | |
| 1958-59 Roy T. Hurley | 2003-07 Barbara Hackman Franklin |
