Groseclose, Elgin Earl, 1899-1983

Economist, author, Treasurer General of Iran in 1943, and devout Christian.

Elgin Earl Groseclose was born in Waukomis, Oklahoma on November 25, 1899 to M. Clarence and Delta (Wishard) Groseclose. The eldest of five children, Elgin had early ambitions to become a writer. He entered the University of Oklahoma in 1916 and graduated with an A.B. Degree in Sociology in 1920. Uncertain of his career, Groseclose chose to teach at a Presbyterian Mission School in Tabriz, Persia (Iran) from 1920 to 1923. He also spent some time in Armenia and the Soviet Union. While in the latter, Groseclose was arrested and imprisoned by the Soviet secret police (“cheka”). Eventually, he was exiled from the Soviet Union and returned to Washington D.C., where he took a job at the Commerce Department as a specialist in finance.

During his stay in Washington, Groseclose attended American University and received both a Master of Arts Degree (1924) and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree (1928). He also met Louise Williams, daughter of a prominent Washington attorney, and married her on June 25, 1927. After their marriage, the Grosecloses moved to New York City where Dr. Groseclose took on the positions of financial editor of Fortune magazine and lecturer in banking and finance at the City College of New York. By 1932, Dr. Groseclose had moved his family back to his home state of Oklahoma where he was a assistant professor in the College of Business at the University of Oklahoma. While at the University, Groseclose published his first book, Money: The Human Conflict, in 1934. By 1935, he had returned to Washington D.C., and assumed the position of financial economist for the Federal Communications Commission and, then, later as economist for the Internal Revenue Service.

Also at this time, Dr. Groseclose pursued his ambitions as a novelist. In 1937, his first novel, The Persian Journey of the Rev. Ashley Wishard and His Servant Fathi, was published. Ararat, a novel based on Groseclose’s experiences as a prisoner in the Soviet Union, appeared two years later. This latter endeavor earned him the American Booksellers Award (1939), the National Book Award (1939) and the Foundation for Literature Award (1940). Groseclose continued his success as a novelist as he published nine more novels between 1942 and 1980.

At the same time, Elgin Groseclose established himself as an authority in the fields of economics, finance, and monetary policy. In 1943, the Iranian Parliament appointed him a Treasurer General of Iran in an effort to control the runaway inflation that had befallen that country. He succeeded in lowering the rate of inflation in Iran by putting gold on sale to the public. Upon his return to Washington in 1944, Dr. Groseclose established the financial and investment consultant firm of Groseclose, Williams & Associates. The firm dealt mainly with economic questions in taxation, representing individuals as well as major corporations before the U.S. Tax Courts, U.S. Court of Claims, Federal Communications Commission, and U.S. District Courts. Groseclose himself appeared before many of the above, in addition to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee where he fought against the United States’ policies on aid to foreign countries. He also advocated the use of silver currency as a monetary base and made his proposals known by appearing before the House Mining and Minerals Committee and the House Banking and Currency Committees.

The activities of Elgin Groseclose were not limited to economics and writing. Although he did organize the Institute of Monetary Research in 1960, the other interest groups that Groseclose founded and/or supported appealed to his deeply religious beliefs. In 1956, he and his wife started the Welfare of the Blind, Inc., a Christian agency established to help the blind children in the Middle East and Africa. Closer to home, Groseclose served on the Board of directors for the International Council for Christian Leadership, and was Secretary for the Washington City Bible Society.

From 1935 until his death, Elgin Groseclose and his wife, Louise, lived in Washington, D.C. where they raised four daughters. On April 4, 1983 Groseclose succumbed to a stroke at the age of 83.