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Essay about john rockefeller
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Essay about john rockefeller
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The 600 Billion Dollar Man
To any other person living on July 8, 1839, it may have seen like any other day. Perhaps that day in Richmond, New York it was sunny, or maybe it rained. Whatever the case, the weather on that day could not possibly have been more inconsequential compared to what was happening in the Rockefeller household. William Rockefeller and his wife Eliza were expecting their second child, a son they would name John. William, already living a vagabond lifestyle and rarely visiting his family by the time of John’s birth, would prove to be a far from ideal father. And so John grew up in a home where his mother taught him thriftiness and struggled to keep stability, and on the occasions he saw his father, was taught to always “trade dishes for platters”. In other words, John learned early on to be frugal and always get the better part of any deal. Biographer Allan Nuvins said that “beyond question, early adversity did much to mold and toughen John’s character” (Nuvins 49).
Skipping forward about 50 years, the Standard Oil Company which Rockefeller founded has become nothing short of a force to be reckoned with. Having absorbed dozens of competitors in not only oil production but also in transportation, Standard Oil was in charge of well over 90% of oil refining in the United States. During four months in 1872 Standard Oil absorbed 22 of the competitor companies in Cleveland, one of the top oil producing regions of the time (Nuvins 363). Such rapid expansion of this massive corporation made it quite difficult to manage, and so around 1882 the Standard Oil Trust was created. This idea of a “trust” meant that one massive blanket corporation would be in charge of the dozens of smaller corporations and made up Standard...
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...derbilt and Carnegie and eventually leading to a new era of American governmental policies on business and monopolies. His massive fortune would be shared with the people, and through his philanthropy new frontiers of medical science, public health, education, and civil rights would be breached. His influence was truly felt worldwide, and it might even confidently be said that no man like him will ever be born again.
Bibliography
1. Abels, Jules. The Rockefeller Millions. London: Frederick Muller, 1967. Print.
2. Latham, Earl. Robber Baron or Industrial Statesman? Boston: D.C. Heath and, 1949. Print.
3. Nevins, Allan. John D. Rockefeller: The Heroic Age of American Enterprise. New York: Scribner, 1940. Print
4. Nevins, Allan. Study in Power: John D. Rockefeller, Industrialist and Philanthropist. New York: Scribner, 1953. Print.
Rockefeller was America’s first billionaire, and he was the true epitome of capitalism. Rockefeller was your typical rags-to-riches businessman, and at the turn of the twentieth century, while everyone else in the working class was earning ten dollars max every week, Rockefeller was earning millions. There has been much discussion as to whether Rockefeller’s success was due to being a “robber baron”, or as a “captain of industry”. By definition, a robber baron was an industrialist who exploited others in order to achieve personal wealth, however, Rockefeller’s effect on the economy and the lives of American citizens has been one of much impact, and deserves recognition. He introduced un-seen techniques that greatly modified the oil industry. During the mid-nineteenth century, there was a high demand for kerosene. In the refining process from transforming crude oil to kerosene, many wastes were produced. While others deemed the waste useless, Rockefeller turned it into income by selling them. He turned those wastes into objects that would be useful elsewhere, and in return, he amassed a large amount of wealth. He sold so much “waste” that railroad companies were desperate to be a part of his company. However, Rockefeller demanded rebates, or discounted rates, from the railroad companies, when they asked to be involved with his business. By doing so, Rockefeller was able to lower the price of oil to his customers, and pay low wages to his workers. Using these methods,
Matthew Josephson agreed that Rockefeller was indeed a "robber baron". In the book Taking Sides, he claims that Rockefeller was a deceptive and conspiratorial businessman, whose fortune was built by secret agreements and wrung concessions from America's leading railroad companies (Taking Sides 25). When John D. Rockefeller merged with the railroad companies, he had gained control of a strategic transportation route that no other companies would be able to use. Rockefeller would then be able to force the hand on the railroads and was granted a rebate on his shipments of oil. This was a kind of secret agreement between the two industries.
Sidney M. Milkis, Michael Nelson. The American Presidency Origins & Development, 1776-2011. Washington DC: CQ Press, 2008.
True, Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller may have been the most influential businessmen of the 19th century, but was the way they conducted business proper? To fully answer this question, we must look at the following: First understand how Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller changed the market of their industries. Second, look at the similarities and differences in how both men achieved domination. Third and lastly, Look at how both men treated their workers and customers in order achieve the most possible profit for their company.
Prior to the year of 1999, Exxon and Mobil were the two largest American oil companies, which were direct descendants of the John D. Rockefeller’s broken up Standard Oil Company. In 1998 Exxon and Mobil signed an eighty billion dollar merger agreement in hope to form Exxon Mobil Corporation, the largest company ever created. Such a merger seems astonishing, not only because it reunited parts of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company, but also because it would be extremely difficult for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to approve this merger due to its size and importance in the oil market. In fact, it took the FTC an entire year after the merger was proposed to make a decision due to its rigorous analysis in the product and its geographic market, the concentration of the oil market, the potential anticompetitive effects of the merger, the effects towards their growth and labor force, and lastly, the likelihood of entry and the efficiencies that may affect anticompetitive concerns. Although all of these notions are played a role in the analysis of the merger, it is important to remember that the merger’s result efficiencies did outweigh the the anticompetitive risks that were involved, especially since the oil market was headed towards decreasing prices to expand production.
...mpanies, it eventually came to the point where they couldn’t keep up and eventually became a part of Standard Oil. By the time Rockefeller had reached the age of 40, his company had controlled all national oil refining by 90% and about 70% of international export of said oil.
...interpretations of their assumption of millions of dollars. Due to their appropriation of godlike fortunes, and numerous contributions to American society, they simultaneously displayed qualities of both aforementioned labels. Therefore, whether it be Vanderbilt’s greed, Rockefeller’s philanthropy, or Carnegie’s social Darwinist world view, such men were, quite unarguably, concurrently forces of immense good and evil: building up the modern American economy, through monopolistic trusts and exploitative measures, all the while developing unprecedented affluence. Simply, the captains of late 19th century industry were neither wholly “robber barons” or “industrial statesmen”, but rather both, as they proved to be indifferent to their “lesser man” in their quests for profit, while also helping to organize industry and ultimately, greatly improve modern American society.
Shogan, Colleen. Washington, George. In Genovese, Michael A. Encyclopedia of the American Presidency Revised Edition. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2009. Web. .
In Harold C. Livesay’s Andrew Carnegie and the rise of Big Business, Andrew Carnegie’s struggles and desires throughout his life are formed into different challenges of being the influential leader of the United States of America. The book also covers the belief of the American Dream in that people can climb up the ladder of society by hard work and the dream of becoming an influential citizen, just as Carnegie did.
McCormick, Richard L. “The Discovery that Business Corrupts Politics: A Reappraisal of the Origins of Progressivism.” American Historical Review 86, no. 2 (1981): 247-274.
John D. Rockefeller, born on July 8, 1839, has had a huge impact on the course of American history, his reputation spanning from being a ruthless businessperson to a thoughtful philanthropist (Tarbell 41). He came from a family with not much and lived the American dream, rising to success through his own wit and cunning, riding on the backs of none. His legacy is huge, amassing the greatest private wealth of any American in history. Rockefeller’s influence on our country has been both a positive and a negative one, he donated huge sums of money to various public institutions and revolutionized the petroleum industry. Along with all the positives to the country, Rockefeller also had many negative affects as well, including, by gaining his riches by means of a monopoly, often using illegal methods, by giving others a reason to frown upon capitalism, and by hurting smaller businesses.
During the 1800’s, business leaders who built their affluence by stealing and bribing public officials to propose laws in their favor were known as “robber barons”. J.P. Morgan, a banker, financed the restructuring of railroads, insurance companies, and banks. In addition, Andrew Carnegie, the steel king, disliked monopolistic trusts. Nonetheless, ruthlessly destroying the businesses and lives of many people merely for personal profit; Carnegie attained a level of dominance and wealth never before seen in American history, but was only able to obtain this through acts that were dishonest and oftentimes, illicit. Document D resentfully emphasizes the alleged capacity of the corrupt industrialists. In the picture illustrated, panic-stricken people pay acknowledgment to the lordly tycoons. Correlating to this political cartoon, in 1900, Carnegie was willing to sell his holdings of his company. During the time Morgan was manufacturing
Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It. New York: Vintage, 1989.
In 1870, Rockefeller, along with Samuel Andrews and Henry M. Flager incorporated the Standard Oil Company (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica). Rockefeller’s Standard Oil began prospering and soon began buying out competitors. In 1872, the company had almost complete control over all the refineries in Cleveland. With such power, the company could negotiate...
Mooney, Richard. "Banker of America." The Boston Globe 4 Apr. 1999: L1 "Powerful house of Morgan Changes with the Times." The San Diego Union-Tribune 24 Feb. 1986: 18 Sinclair, Andrew. Corsair: The Life of J. Pierpont Morgan. Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1981.