<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>EX-31.1
<SEQUENCE>2
<FILENAME>file002.txt
<DESCRIPTION>CEO 302 CERTIFICATION
<TEXT>
                                                                   Exhibit 31.1



I, Christopher M. Condron,  Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive
Officer of The Equitable  Life Assurance  Society of the United States,  certify
that:

1)      I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of The Equitable Life
        Assurance Society of the United States (the "Registrant");

2)      Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
        statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary
        to make the statements made, in light of the  circumstances  under which
        such  statements  were made, not  misleading  with respect to the period
        covered by this quarterly report;

3)      Based on my knowledge,  the financial  statements,  and other  financial
        information  included in this  quarterly  report,  fairly present in all
        material  respects the financial  condition,  results of operations  and
        cash flows of the  Registrant  as of, and for, the periods  presented in
        this quarterly report;

4)      The  Registrant's  other  certifying  officer and I are  responsible for
        establishing  and  maintaining  disclosure  controls and  procedures (as
        defined  in  Exchange  Act  Rules   13a-15(e)  and  15d-15(e))  for  the
        Registrant and we have:

        a) Designed  such  disclosure  controls and  procedures,  or caused such
           disclosure   controls  and   procedures  to  be  designed  under  our
           supervision,  to ensure  that  material  information  relating to the
           Registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
           us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in
           which this quarterly report is being prepared;

        b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the Registrant's  disclosure  controls
           and procedures and presented in this quarterly report our conclusions
           about the effectiveness of the disclosure  controls and procedures as
           of the end of the period  covered by this  quarterly  report based on
           such evaluation; and

        c) Disclosed  in this  quarterly  report any change in the  Registrant's
           internal  control over financial  reporting that occurred  during the
           Registrant's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected,
           or  is  reasonably  likely  to  materially  affect,  the Registrant's
           internal control over financial reporting; and

5)      The Registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
        our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,
        to the  Registrant's  auditors and the audit  committee of  Registrant's
        board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):

        a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
           operation of internal  control  over  financial  reporting  which are
           reasonably  likely to adversely  affect the  Registrant's  ability to
           record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

        b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
           employees who have a significant  role in the  Registrant's  internal
           control over financial reporting.


Date:  August 12, 2004



                                         /s/ Christopher M. Condron
                                         --------------------------
                                         Christopher M. Condron
                                         Chairman of the Board,
                                         President and Chief Executive Officer

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</DOCUMENT>