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 annual report on Form 10-K of The Equitable Life
        Assurance Society of the United States (the "Registrant");

2)      Based on my knowledge, this annual 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 annual report;

3)      Based on my knowledge,  the financial  statements,  and other  financial
        information  included in this  annual  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 annual 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 annual report is being prepared;

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

        c) Disclosed in this annual report any change in the Registrant's
           internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
           Registrant's fourth 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:  March 30, 2004



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