How was Rockefeller cruel?
To crush his competitors, Rockefeller would create a shortage of the railroad tank cars that transported oil. He'd then buy up all the barrels on the market so his competitors would have no place to store or ship their oil. He bought up all the available chemicals that were necessary to refine oil.Mar 9, 2016
Was John D Rockefeller bad or good?
What are good things John D Rockefeller did?
How did John D. Rockefeller get famous?
John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company acquired pipelines and terminal facilities, purchased competing refineries, and vigorously sought to exp...
What were John D. Rockefeller’s accomplishments?
John D. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Later in life h...
What was John D. Rockefeller remembered for?
John D. Rockefeller was remembered for his wealth and for the aggressive competitive practices of the Standard Oil Company. Public hostility toward...
Why did Rockefeller get an exemption?
While his youngest brother was wounded at Chancellorsville and Cedar Mountain, Rockefeller received an exemption for being the primary means of supporting his family and hired substitute soldiers in his stead, a common practice during the war. “I wanted to go in the army and do my part,” he said.
What did Rockefeller do for his church?
In 1913, America’s first billionaire endowed the Rockefeller Foundation, which had the ambitious goal “to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world .” The foundation contributed to achievements such as development of a yellow fever vaccine and the successful eradication of hookworm disease in the United States.
How old was Rockefeller when he died?
His life spanned from the presidency of Martin Van Buren to that of Franklin D. Roosevelt before his death at age 97 on May 23, 1937. When Rockefeller turned 96, his insurance company was required to pay him the $5 million face value of his policy.
How old was Rockefeller when he started the oil business?
Shortly after the discovery of petroleum in Titusville, Pennsylvania, the 24-year-old Rockefeller entered the fledgling oil business in 1863 by investing in a Cleveland refinery. In 1870, he formed the Standard Oil Company of Ohio along with his younger brother William, Henry Flagler and additional investors.
What was Rockefeller's first job?
On September 26, 1855, a Cleveland merchant company, Hewitt and Tuttle, hired the teenaged Rockefeller as an assistant bookkeeper. From that year forward, the corporate tycoon celebrated “job day” every September 26 to commemorate his entrance into the business world, ...
Why was Standard Oil dismantled?
After years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1911 that Standard Oil must be dismantled because it violated federal anti-trust laws. The monopoly was broken up into 34 separate entities that included companies that would become ExxonMobil, Conoco, Chevron and Amoco. The court order turned out to be a financial windfall for Rockefeller, who still held a quarter of Standard Oil’s stock after his retirement. The individual pieces of the company were worth more than the whole, and as shares of the individual companies doubled and tripled in value in their early years, Rockefeller became the country’s first billionaire with a fortune worth nearly 2 percent of the entire American economy.
Who wrote Rockefeller's biography?
Winston Churchill would have written Rockefeller’s biography—if his price hadn’t been so high. In addition to being a gifted orator, Churchill was a masterful writer who penned 42 books and earned the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature.
How did Rockefeller evade the decision?
Rockefeller evaded the decision by dissolving the trust and transferring its properties to companies in other states, with interlocking directorates so that the same nine men controlled the operations of the affiliated companies.
How did Rockefeller make his fortune?
John D. Rockefeller made his immense riches from monopolizing America’s oil industry. Conspiring with refinery owners, he helped found what became known as the Standard Oil monopoly. The consortium colluded with the railroads to monopolize oil delivery, prompting competitors to allow themselves…
Why were Rockefeller and other heads of monopolistic companies called robber barons?
Public hostility toward monopolies, of which Standard was the best known, caused some countries to enact anti-monopoly laws. For these reasons, Rockefeller and other heads of monopolistic companies were called robber barons by their critics.
How much did Rockefeller give to charity?
Rockefeller’s benefactions during his lifetime totaled more than $500 million.
Where did Rockefeller live?
He moved with his family to Moravia, New York, and, in 1851, to Oswego, New York, where he attended Oswego Academy.
Where was Rockefeller's first refinery?
Sensing the commercial potential of the expanding oil production in western Pennsylvania in the early 1860s, he built his first oil refinery, near Cleveland, in 1863. Within two years it was the largest refinery in the area, and thereafter Rockefeller devoted himself exclusively to the oil business.
Who was the journalist who wrote the history of the Standard Oil Company?
Standard Oil’s questionable ethics were also taken to task by American journalist Ida Tarbell in her 19-part exposé and commentary called The History of the Standard Oil Company, which was released in installments by McClure’s Magazine between 1902 and 1904. John D. Rockefeller and his son, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
Why did people hate Rockefeller?
10 Reasons People Hated The Rockefellers. The Rockefellers were so hated in the early 1900s that they had to hire multiple guards to protect them in their residences. As one newspaper reported, “The extra caution is wise. Mr. Rockefeller has every reason to fear assassins. Assassins are the natural sons of Mr. Rockefeller’s business policies.”.
Why did Rockefeller say he needed the money back?
Two months later, Rockefeller pretended that he needed the money back right away because of some “financial embarrassment.”. The men received 24 hours to repay the loan. They scrambled to get a bank loan to repay Rockefeller, but Rockefeller already told the banks that the men’s credit “wasn’t worth a whoop.”.
What did the Rockefellers do after the Ludlow massacre?
After the Ludlow massacre, the Rockefellers needed all the good publicity money could buy. They hired a publicist and started up a trade magazine. They used their money to publish their own pamphlets to sing high praise on the “good” they brought to America.
What were the Rockefellers called?
They were called thieves, murderers of women and children, manipulators, and outright liars. If the people were allowed to have their way, the Rockefellers would have been strung up for all the ill they caused.
What was the Rockefeller Foundation's income in 1916?
In 1916, newspapers cried foul over the Rockefeller Foundation. At that time, the foundation had over $100 million in “income-yielding securities.” The money was earning an estimated extra $6 million dollars a year, none of it taxable.
What was Rockefeller's objective in 1915?
Rockefeller Jr. went to visit one of his coal mines in Colorado. His objective was to show the workers that he was just one of the guys, but he failed miserably. He toured the mine and managed to handle one of their picks for about five minutes of half-hearted work.
Who was hired by the Rockefellers to take charge of their charities?
In comes Reverend Gates, a man hired by the Rockefellers to take charge of their charities. Rev. Gates explains to the owners that John D. Rockefeller has been keeping track of the building of their railroad and that he would lend them the money out of charity. The men accepted the loan for $420,000.
What was Rockefeller's decision to let the facts speak for themselves?
Rockefeller’s decision to “let the facts speak for themselves” was naïve. His “facts” were dwarfed by the negative publicity from McClure’s, from editorial pages, and finally from the White House. In 1911 the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was used against Standard Oil.
What did Rockefeller do during the Civil War?
While most refiners dumped oil byproducts into nearby rivers, Rockefeller wisely hired research-and-development men to produce waxes, paving materials, and detergents from the seemingly unmarketable sludge that was discarded.
How did Rockefeller become a billionaire?
Rockefeller had become a billionaire by making a fraction of a cent per gallon selling millions of gallons of kerosene to illuminate every civilized part of the earth. The result was often win-win for everyone.
What magazine did Tarbell write in?
Tarbell serialized her book in McClure’s magazine, which was a prominent publication of the early 1900s. The timing of her attacks meshed well with certain fears that were growing in America about large companies and their potential for monopoly and price-fixing.
What would happen if Rockefeller cut prices?
As McGee and others have pointed out, since Rockefeller did most of the oil business in the United States, if he cut prices he would be losing the small profits he was earning on the lion’s share of the business he was already doing. Also, even if he gained a 100 percent market share, that gain would be temporary.
Why did Rockefeller avoid predatory price cutting?
Second, Rockefeller avoided predatory price-cutting because it tended to hurt him more than his competitors. That point is often hard to understand, but economist John S. McGee did extensive research on Standard Oil’s pricing policies and discovered that predatory price-cutting was an anathema to Rockefeller.
Who attacked Rockefeller's character?
Tarbell also attacked Rockefeller’s character. She wrote that his “big hand reached out from nobody knew where, to steal their conquest and throttle their future. The suddenness and the blackness of the assault on their business stirred to the bottom their manhood and their sense of fair play.”.
Why was Rockefeller targeted?
In the case of Rockefeller, it’s been proposed that he was targeted for his family’s role in the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado, when several striking miners—and even children—were killed during fighting with the Colorado National Guard and mine guards.
Why did Rockefeller have so much wealth?
Rockefeller’s wealth was a consequence of his obsession with owning the oil industry. He struck deals with railroads to ship his goods cheaply, bought out smaller companies, and helped usher in the concept of a monopoly in modern times.
How did Rockefeller help the United States?
HE HELPED REDUCE HOOKWORM IN THE UNITED STATES. With his fortune, Rockefeller pursued a number of philanthropic efforts in his lifetime. In 1910, that funding led directly to the widespread treatment of a mostly-forgotten illness: hookworm.
How did Rockefeller make his fortune?
Considered by many to be the most financially-prosperous individual in modern history with an estimated $900,000,000 bank balance ( unadjusted for inflation) in the early 1910s, Rockefeller (1839-1937) made his massive fortune by dominating the oil industry. While Rockefeller was prone to controversy—he was accused of being a monopoly in ...
Why did Rockefeller give coins to people?
Rockefeller was also known to hand out coins to adults. He reportedly did this in part to instill habits of savings and thrift in people.
How old was Rockefeller when he was drafted?
Due to be drafted to serve the Union in the Civil War in 1863, the 23-year-old Rockefeller did what many men of means had done: He paid for someone to serve in his place. This practice was allowed by the U.S. government, which granted draftees the ability to offer up a substitute.
What did William Avery Rockefeller do before his son was born?
Before his son was born, William spent time as an itinerant, going from place to place pretending to be deaf and soliciting free meals. (Eliza, the daughter of one such target, became his wife and John’s mother.) In other towns, he would hand out sheets referring to himself as “doctor” and pretend to have found a “cure” for cancer. The elder Rockefeller also insisted that his mistress, Nancy, live in the same house as his family, where she bore him two children. William Rockefeller would continue peddling “medicines,” sometimes under the pseudonym of William Levingston—and when he died in 1906, that was the name on his tombstone.
What impact did John D Rockefeller's business have on society?
Rockefeller and his Business Have on Society? While many people nowadays see Rockefeller as a great business and one of the richest men alive, he actually had a business that hurt many. His business hurt many of his workers and many other small businesses with the monopoly that he created.
What would happen if Rockefeller didn't run out of business?
If he didn’t run them out of business, he would buy them out inside. In the article The New Tycoons, they said “Rockefeller introduced techniques that totally reshaped the oil industry. He sold byproducts paraffin to candlemakers and another byproduct petroleum jelly to medical supply companies.”.
How did Robber Baron impact society?
Many people were impacted in a negative way and his business tactics were not always ethical. He exploited his employees and his business and destroyed his competitors when spreading his business. His practices were along what were seen as a “Robber Baron” and he impacted society in a negative way.
Who opposed Rockefeller?
The most famous person that opposed Rockefeller and even exposed him and his impractical business tactics, was Ida Tarbell. Ida Tarbell wrote a 19 part series in McClure’s magazine, exposing standard oil.
Was Rockefeller's business good?
Many Americans saw Rockefellers big business as a very good thing. They thought his business was going to make them powerful and more successful . Eventually, it would lead them to to have lower wages, poor working conditions and possibly in the end without a job.
Family
Quotes
- Although he was a fervent abolitionist, Rockefeller did not take up arms when the Civil War broke out in 1861. While his youngest brother was wounded at Chancellorsville and Cedar Mountain, Rockefeller received an exemption for being the primary means of supporting his family and hired substitute soldiers in his stead, a common practice during the war. I wanted to go in the army an…
Early history
- Shortly after the discovery of petroleum in Titusville, Pennsylvania, the 24-year-old Rockefeller entered the fledgling oil business in 1863 by investing in a Cleveland refinery. In 1870, he formed the Standard Oil Company of Ohio along with his younger brother William, Henry Flagler and additional investors. Through secret alliances with railroads, accumulating segments of the sup…
Philanthropy
- Raised by a pious mother, Rockefeller tithed 10 percent of his earnings to his church from his very first paycheck. After retiring from Standard Oil in 1897, he stepped up his philanthropy and donated more than half a billion dollars to educational, religious and scientific causes. In 1913, Americas first billionaire endowed the Rockefeller Foundat...
Background
- After years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1911 that Standard Oil must be dismantled because it violated federal anti-trust laws. The monopoly was broken up into 34 separate entities that included companies that would become ExxonMobil, Conoco, Chevron and Amoco. The court order turned out to be a financial windfall for Rockefeller, who still held a quar…
Other activities
- In addition to being a gifted orator, Churchill was a masterful writer who penned 42 books and earned the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature. During the 1930s, the Rockefeller family approached the future British prime minister to write an authorized biography of their patriarch, but Churchills proposed advance of $250,000 was too rich even for the deep-pocketed Rockefellers, who inste…
Appearance
- Beginning in his 40s, Rockefeller lost all the hair from his head, his mustache and his body. The hair never grew back, and in the early 1900s the tycoon began to wear rotating wigs of various lengths to give the impression of his hair growing and being shorn.
Later years
- Although he didnt celebrate birthdays with the same gusto as job days, Rockefeller certainly experienced many of them. His life spanned from the presidency of Martin Van Buren to that of Franklin D. Roosevelt before his death at age 97 on May 23, 1937. When Rockefeller turned 96, his insurance company was required to pay him the $5 million face value of his policy.