Prominent Americans who went down with the ship included Mr. Benjamin Guggenheim, of the family that donated the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Major Archibald Butt, a military aide to [[President Taft]], and Colonel J. J. Astor, whose great grandfather was the wealthiest American prior to the [[Civil War]]. Colonel J. J. Astor was an inventor and science fiction writer who helped build three great hotels in New York City: the Astoria (now the Waldorf-Astoria), the Knickerbocker, and the St. Regis.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/titanic/astor.html Astor]</ref> | Prominent Americans who went down with the ship included Mr. Benjamin Guggenheim, of the family that donated the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Major Archibald Butt, a military aide to [[President Taft]], and Colonel J. J. Astor, whose great grandfather was the wealthiest American prior to the [[Civil War]]. Colonel J. J. Astor was an inventor and science fiction writer who helped build three great hotels in New York City: the Astoria (now the Waldorf-Astoria), the Knickerbocker, and the St. Regis.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/titanic/astor.html Astor]</ref> |