John D. Rockefeller - Wikipedia

17/10/2023 16:29 John D.
Rockefeller - Wikipedia
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate
and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time[1][2][3][4]
and the richest person in modern history.[5][6][3] Rockefeller was born into a large family in
Upstate New York who moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland. He became
an assistant bookkeeper at age 16 and went into several business partnerships beginning at age
20, concentrating his business on oil refining. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in
1870. He ran it until 1897 and remained its largest shareholder.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller# 1/41
17/10/2023 16:29 John D. Rockefeller - Wikipedia
John D. Rockefeller
Rockefeller in 1895
Born John Davison Rockefeller

July 8, 1839
Richford, New York, U.S.
Died May 23, 1937 (aged 97)

Ormond Beach, Florida, U.S.
Burial place Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland 41.511°N

81.591°W (https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.
php?pagename=John_D._Rockefeller&params=41.
511_N_81.591_W_type:landmark%5Cregion:US-O
H)
Occupations Businessman · philanthropist
Known for Founding and leading the Standard Oil

Company
Founding the University of Chicago, Rockefeller

University, Central Philippine University, General
Education Board, and Rockefeller Foundation
Political party Republican
Spouse Laura Spelman

(m. 1864; died 1915)
Children Elizabeth · Alice · Alta · Edith · John Jr.
Parents William Rockefeller Sr.
Eliza Davison
Relatives Rockefeller family
Rockefeller's wealth soared as kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, and he became the
richest person in the country, controlling 90% of all oil in the United States at his peak.[a] Oil was
used throughout the country as a light source until the introduction of electricity, and as a fuel
after the invention of the automobile. Furthermore, Rockefeller gained enormous influence over
the railroad industry which transported his oil around the country. Standard Oil was the first
great business trust in the United States. Through use of the company's monopoly power,
Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and, through corporate and technological
innovations, was instrumental in both widely disseminating and drastically reducing the
production cost of oil.
Rockefeller's company and business practices came under criticism, particularly in the writings of
author Ida Tarbell. The Supreme Court ruled in 1911 that Standard Oil must be dismantled for
violation of federal antitrust laws. It was broken up into 34 separate entities, which included
companies that became ExxonMobil, Chevron Corporation, and others—some of which still have
the highest level of revenue in the world. Consequently, Rockefeller became the country's first
billionaire, with a fortune worth nearly 2% of the national economy.[7] His personal wealth was
estimated in 1913 at $900 million, which was almost 3% of the US gross domestic product (GDP)
of $39.1 billion that year.[8] That was his peak net worth, and amounts to US$26.6 billion (in 2022
dollars; inflation-adjusted).[9][10][b]
Rockefeller spent much of the last 40 years of his life in retirement at Kykuit, his estate in
Westchester County, New York, defining the structure of modern philanthropy, along with other
key industrialists such as steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.[11] His fortune was used chiefly to
create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy through the creation of
foundations that supported medicine, education, and scientific research.[12] His foundations
pioneered developments in medical research and were instrumental in the near-eradication of
hookworm[13] and yellow fever[14] in the United States. He and Carnegie gave form and impetus
through their charities to the work of Abraham Flexner, who in his essay "Medical Education in
America" emphatically endowed empiricism as the basis for the US medical system of the 20th
century.[15]
Rockefeller was the founder of the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University, and funded
the establishment of Central Philippine University in the Philippines.[16][17][18] He was a devout
Northern Baptist and supported many church-based institutions. He adhered to total abstinence
from alcohol and tobacco throughout his life.[19] For advice, he relied closely on his wife Laura
Spelman Rockefeller: they had four daughters and a son together. He was a faithful congregant
of the Erie Street Baptist Mission Church, taught Sunday school, and served as a trustee, clerk,
and occasional janitor.[20] Religion was a guiding force throughout his life, and he believed it to
be the source of his success. Rockefeller was also considered a supporter of capitalism based on
a perspective of social Darwinism, and he was quoted often as saying, "The growth of a large
business is merely a survival of the fittest".[21][22]
Early life
Rockefeller's birthplace in Richford, New

York
Rockefeller was the second of six children born in Richford, New York, to con artist William A.
Rockefeller Sr. and Eliza Davison.[23] Rockefeller had an elder sister named Lucy and four younger
siblings: William Jr., Mary, and fraternal twins Franklin (Frank) and Frances. His father was of
English and German descent, while his mother was of Ulster Scot descent.[24] One source says
that some ancestors were Huguenots, the Roquefeuille family, who fled to Germany from France
during the reign of Louis XIV and a period of religious persecution. By the time their descendants
immigrated to North America, their name had taken German form.[25] William Sr. worked first as
a lumberman and then a traveling salesman. He claimed to be a "botanic physician" who sold
elixirs, and was described by locals as "Big Bill" and "Devil Bill."[26] Unshackled by conventional
morality, he led a vagabond existence and returned to his family infrequently.[23] Throughout his
life, Bill was notorious for conducting schemes.[27] In between the births of Lucy and John, Bill
and his mistress and housekeeper Nancy Brown had a daughter named Clorinda, who died
young. Between John and William Jr.'s births, Bill and Nancy had another daughter, named
Cornelia.[28]
Eliza was a homemaker and a devout Baptist who struggled to maintain a semblance of stability
at home, as Bill was frequently gone for extended periods. She also put up with his philandering
and his double life, which included bigamy.[29] At the height of Rockefeller's fame, Joseph Pulitzer
offered a reward of $8,000 for information about his father. However, journalists could not find
Bill before he died, and details of his bigamous marriage became public only after his death.[30]
Abandoning his family around 1855, but remaining married to Eliza up to her death, Bill
Rockefeller adopted the name William Levingston and contracted a bigamous marriage with
Margaret L. Allen (1834–1910) in Norwich, Ontario, Canada. He died in 1906 and his tomb was
paid from the property of his second wife.[31]
Eliza was thrifty by nature and by necessity, and she taught her son that "willful waste makes
woeful want".[32] John did his share of the regular household chores and earned extra money
raising turkeys, selling potatoes and candy, and eventually lending small sums of money to
neighbors.[33][34] He followed his father's advice to "trade dishes for platters" and always get the
better part of any deal. Bill once bragged, "I cheat my boys every chance I get. I want to make
'em sharp." However, his mother was more influential in John's upbringing and beyond, while he
distanced himself further and further from his father as his life progressed.[35] He later stated,
"From the beginning, I was trained to work, to save, and to give."[36]
When he was a boy, his family moved to Moravia, New York, and to Owego, New York, in 1851,
where he attended Owego Academy. In 1853, his family moved to Strongsville, Ohio, and he
attended Cleveland's Central High School, the first high school in Cleveland and the first free
public high school west of the Alleghenies. Then he took a ten-week business course at Folsom's
Commercial College, where he studied bookkeeping.[37] Rockefeller was a well-behaved, serious,
and studious boy despite his father's absences and frequent family moves. His contemporaries
described him as reserved, earnest, religious, methodical, and discreet. He was an excellent
debater and expressed himself precisely. He also had a deep love of music and dreamed of it as a
possible career.[38]
Pre-Standard Oil career
As a bookkeeper
Rockefeller at age 18
In September 1855, when Rockefeller was sixteen, he got his first job as an assistant bookkeeper
working for a small produce commission firm in Cleveland called Hewitt & Tuttle.[39] He worked
long hours and delighted, as he later recalled, in "all the methods and systems of the office."[40]
He was particularly adept at calculating transportation costs, which served him well later in his
career. Much of Rockefeller's duties involved negotiating with barge canal owners, ship captains,
and freight agents. In these negotiations, he learned that posted transportation rates that were
believed to be fixed could be altered depending on conditions and timing of freight and through
the use of rebates to preferred shippers. Rockefeller was also given the duties of collecting debts
when Hewitt instructed him to do so. Instead of using his father's method of presence to collect
debts, Rockefeller relied on a persistent pestering approach.[41] Rockefeller received $16 a month
for his three-month apprenticeship. During his first year, he received $31 a month, which was
increased to $50 a month. His final year provided him $58 a month.[42]
As a youth, Rockefeller reportedly said that his two great ambitions were to make $100,000
(equivalent to $3.14 million[43] in 2022 dollars) and to live 100 years.[44]
Business partnership and Civil War service
In 1859, Rockefeller went into the produce commission business with two partners, Maurice B.
Clark and George W. Gardner, under Clark, Gardner & Company, and they raised $4,000
($130,281 in 2022 dollars) in capital.[45][46] Clark initiated the idea of the partnership and offered
$2,000 towards the goal. Rockefeller had only $800 saved up at the time and so borrowed $1,000
from his father, "Big Bill" Rockefeller, at 10 percent interest.[47] Rockefeller went steadily ahead in
business from there, making money each year of his career.[48] In their first and second years of
business, Clark, Gardner & Rockefeller netted $4,400 (on nearly half a million dollars in business)
and $17,000 worth of profit, respectively, and their profits soared with the outbreak of the
American Civil War when the Union Army called for massive amounts of food and supplies.
During the second year of the American Civil War, Gardner withdrew from the business, and the
firm became Clark & Rockefeller.[45][46] When the Civil War was nearing a close and with the
prospect of those war-time profits ending, Clark & Rockefeller looked toward the refining of
crude oil.[49] While his brother Frank fought in the Civil War, Rockefeller tended his business and
hired substitute soldiers. He gave money to the Union cause, as did many rich Northerners who
avoided combat. "I wanted to go in the army and do my part," Rockefeller said. "But it was simply
out of the question. There was no one to take my place. We were in a new business, and if I had
not stayed it must have stopped—and with so many dependent on it."
Rockefeller was an abolitionist who voted for President Abraham Lincoln and supported the
then-new Republican Party.[50] As he said, "God gave me money", and he did not apologize for it.
He felt at ease and righteous following Methodist preacher John Wesley's dictum, "gain all you
can, save all you can, and give all you can."[51] At that time, the Federal government was
subsidizing oil prices, driving the price up from $.35 a barrel in 1862 to as high as $13.75.[52] This
created an oil-drilling glut, with thousands of speculators attempting to make their fortunes.
Most failed, but those who struck oil did not even need to be efficient. They would blow holes in
the ground and gather up the oil as they could, often leading to creeks and rivers flowing with
wasted oil in the place of water.[53]
A market existed for the refined oil in the form of kerosene. Coal had previously been used to
extract kerosene, but its tedious extraction process and high price prevented broad use. Even
with the high costs of freight transportation and a government levy during the Civil War (the
government levied a tax of twenty cents a gallon on refined oil), profits on the refined product
were large. The price of the refined oil in 1863 was around $13 a barrel, with a profit margin of
around $5 to $8 a barrel. The capital expenditures for a refinery at that time were small – around
$1,000 to $1,500 and requiring only a few men to operate.[54] In this environment of a wasteful
boom, the partners switched from foodstuffs to oil, building an oil refinery in 1863 in "The Flats",
then Cleveland's burgeoning industrial area. The refinery was directly owned by Andrews, Clark &
Company, which was composed of Clark & Rockefeller, chemist Samuel Andrews, and M. B.
Clark's two brothers. The commercial oil business was then in its infancy. Whale oil had become
too expensive for the masses, and a cheaper, general-purpose lighting fuel was needed.[55]
While other refineries would keep the 60% of oil product that became kerosene, but dump the
other 40% in rivers and massive sludge piles,[56] Rockefeller used the gasoline to fuel the refinery,
and sold the rest as lubricating oil, petroleum jelly and paraffin wax, and other by-products. Tar
was used for paving, naphtha shipped to gas plants.[52] Likewise, Rockefeller's refineries hired
their own plumbers, cutting the cost of pipe-laying in half. Barrels that cost $2.50 each ended up
only $0.96 when Rockefeller bought the wood and had them built for himself. In February 1865,
in what was later described by oil industry historian Daniel Yergin as a "critical" action, Rockefeller
bought out the Clark brothers for $72,500 (equivalent to $1 million[43] in 2022 dollars) at auction
and established the firm of Rockefeller & Andrews. Rockefeller said, "It was the day that
determined my career."[57] He was well-positioned to take advantage of postwar prosperity and
the great expansion westward fostered by the growth of railroads and an oil-fueled economy. He
borrowed heavily, reinvested profits, adapted rapidly to changing markets, and fielded observers
to track the quickly expanding industry.[58]
Beginning in the oil business
In 1866, William Rockefeller Jr., John's brother, built another refinery in Cleveland and brought
John into the partnership. In 1867, Henry Morrison Flagler became a partner, and the firm of
Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was established. By 1868, with Rockefeller continuing practices of
borrowing and reinvesting profits, controlling costs, and using refineries' waste, the company
owned two Cleveland refineries and a marketing subsidiary in New York; it was the largest oil
refinery in the world.[59][60] Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was the predecessor of the Standard
Oil Company.
Standard Oil
Founding and early growth
Rockefeller c. 1872, shortly after

founding Standard Oil
By the end of the American Civil War, Cleveland was one of the five main refining centers in the
U.S. (besides Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, New York, and the region in northwestern Pennsylvania
where most of the oil originated). By 1869 there was triple the kerosene refining capacity than
needed to supply the market, and the capacity remained in excess for many years.[61]
On January 10, 1870, Rockefeller abolished the partnership of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler,[62]
forming Standard Oil of Ohio. Continuing to apply his work ethic and efficiency, Rockefeller
quickly expanded the company to be the most profitable refiner in Ohio. Likewise, it became one
of the largest shippers of oil and kerosene in the country. The railroads competed fiercely for
traffic and, in an attempt to create a cartel to control freight rates, formed the South
Improvement Company offering special deals to bulk customers like Standard Oil, outside the
main oil centers. The cartel offered preferential treatment as a high-volume shipper, which
included not just steep discounts/rebates of up to 50% for their product but rebates for the
shipment of competing products.[63]
Rockefeller in 1875. By then, he

shaved off his sideburns, leaving his
iconic mustache.
Share of the Standard Oil Company,

issued May 1, 1878[64]
Part of this scheme was the announcement of sharply increased freight charges. This touched off
a firestorm of protest from independent oil well owners, including boycotts and vandalism, which
led to the discovery of Standard Oil's part in the deal. A major New York refiner, Charles Pratt and
Company, headed by Charles Pratt and Henry H. Rogers, led the opposition to this plan, and
railroads soon backed off. Pennsylvania revoked the cartel's charter, and non-preferential rates
were restored for the time being.[65] While competitors may have been unhappy, Rockefeller's
efforts did bring American consumers cheaper kerosene and other oil by-products. Before 1870,
oil light was only for the wealthy, provided by expensive whale oil. During the next decade,
kerosene became commonly available to the working and middle classes.[56]
Undeterred, though vilified for the first time by the press, Rockefeller continued with his self-
reinforcing cycle of buying the least efficient competing refiners, improving the efficiency of his
operations, pressing for discounts on oil shipments, undercutting his competition, making secret
deals, raising investment pools, and buying rivals out. In less than four months in 1872, in what
was later known as "The Cleveland Conquest" or "The Cleveland Massacre", Standard Oil
absorbed 22 of its 26 Cleveland competitors.[66] Eventually, even his former antagonists, Pratt and
Rogers, saw the futility of continuing to compete against Standard Oil; in 1874, they made a
secret agreement with Rockefeller to be acquired.
Standard Oil Trust Certificate 1896
Pratt and Rogers became Rockefeller's partners. Rogers, in particular, became one of Rockefeller's
key men in the formation of the Standard Oil Trust. Pratt's son, Charles Millard Pratt, became
secretary of Standard Oil. For many of his competitors, Rockefeller had merely to show them his
books so they could see what they were up against and then make them a decent offer. If they
refused his offer, he told them he would run them into bankruptcy and then cheaply buy up their
assets at auction. However, he did not intend to eliminate competition entirely. In fact, his partner
Pratt said of that accusation "Competitors we must have ... If we absorb them, it surely will bring
up another."[56]
Instead of wanting to eliminate them, Rockefeller saw himself as the industry's savior, "an angel
of mercy" absorbing the weak and making the industry as a whole stronger, more efficient, and
more competitive.[67] Standard was growing horizontally and vertically. It added its own pipelines,
tank cars, and home delivery network. It kept oil prices low to stave off competitors, made its
products affordable to the average household, and, to increase market penetration, sometimes
sold below cost. It developed over 300 oil-based products from tar to paint to petroleum jelly to
chewing gum. By the end of the 1870s, Standard was refining over 90% of the oil in the U.S.[68]
Rockefeller had already become a millionaire ($1 million is equivalent to $30 million[43] in 2022
dollars).[69]
He instinctively realized that orderliness would only proceed from

centralized control of large aggregations of plant and capital, with the one
aim of an orderly flow of products from the producer to the consumer. That
orderly, economic, efficient flow is what we now, many years later, call
'vertical integration' I do not know whether Mr. Rockefeller ever used the
word 'integration'. I only know he conceived the idea.
— A Standard Oil of Ohio successor of Rockefeller.[61]
Standard Oil Refinery No. 1 in Cleveland,

Ohio, 1897
In 1877, Standard clashed with Thomas A. Scott, the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad,
Standard's chief hauler. Rockefeller envisioned pipelines as an alternative transport system for oil
and began a campaign to build and acquire them.[70] The railroad, seeing Standard's incursion
into the transportation and pipeline fields, struck back and formed a subsidiary to buy and build
oil refineries and pipelines.[71]
Standard countered, held back its shipments, and, with the help of other railroads, started a price
war that dramatically reduced freight payments and caused labor unrest. Rockefeller prevailed
and the railroad sold its oil interests to Standard. In the aftermath of that battle, the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania indicted Rockefeller in 1879 on charges of monopolizing the oil
trade, starting an avalanche of similar court proceedings in other states and making a national
issue of Standard Oil's business practices.[72] Rockefeller was under great strain during the 1870s
and 1880s when he was carrying out his plan of consolidation and integration and being
attacked by the press. He complained that he could not stay asleep most nights. Rockefeller later
commented:[61]
All the fortune that I have made has not served to compensate me for the anxiety
of that period.
Monopoly
Portrait of John D Rockefeller by

Eastman Johnson, 1895
Although it always had hundreds of competitors, Standard Oil gradually gained dominance of oil
refining and sales as market share in the United States through horizontal integration, ending up
with about 90% of the US market.[52] In the kerosene industry, the company replaced the old
distribution system with its own vertical system. It supplied kerosene by tank cars that brought
the fuel to local markets, and tank wagons then delivered to retail customers, thus bypassing the
existing network of wholesale jobbers.[73] Despite improving the quality and availability of
kerosene products while greatly reducing their cost to the public (the price of kerosene dropped
by nearly 80% over the life of the company), Standard Oil's business practices created intense
controversy. Standard's most potent weapons against competitors were underselling, differential
pricing, and secret transportation rebates.[74]
The firm was attacked by journalists and politicians throughout its existence, in part for these
monopolistic methods, giving momentum to the antitrust movement. In 1879, the New York
State Legislature's Hepburn Committee investigations into "alleged abuses" committed by the
railroads uncovered the fact that Standard Oil was receiving substantial freight rebates on all of
the oil it was transporting by railroad – and was crushing Standard's competitors thereby.[75] By
1880, according to the New York World, Standard Oil was "the most cruel, impudent, pitiless, and
grasping monopoly that ever fastened upon a country". To critics, Rockefeller replied, "In a
business so large as ours ... some things are likely to be done which we cannot approve. We
correct them as soon as they come to our knowledge."[76]
At that time, many legislatures had made it difficult to incorporate in one state and operate in
another. As a result, Rockefeller and his associates owned dozens of separate corporations, each
of which operated in just one state; the management of the whole enterprise was rather
unwieldy. In 1882, Rockefeller's lawyers created an innovative form of corporation to centralize
their holdings, giving birth to the Standard Oil Trust.[77] The "trust" was a corporation of
corporations, and the entity's size and wealth drew much attention. Nine trustees, including
Rockefeller, ran the 41 companies in the trust.[78] The public and the press were immediately
suspicious of this new legal entity, and other businesses seized upon the idea and emulated it,
further inflaming public sentiment. Standard Oil had gained an aura of invincibility, always
prevailing against competitors, critics, and political enemies. It had become the richest, biggest,
most feared business in the world, seemingly immune to the boom and bust of the business
cycle, consistently making profits year after year.[79]
The big corporations such as Standard Oil

made large contributions to McKinley's
presidential campaign under Mark Hanna.
The company's vast American empire included 20,000 domestic wells, 4,000 miles of pipeline,
5,000 tank cars, and over 100,000 employees.[79] Its share of world oil refining topped out above
90% but slowly dropped to about 80% for the rest of the century.[80] Despite the formation of the
trust and its perceived immunity from all competition, by the 1880s Standard Oil had passed its
peak of power over the world oil market. Rockefeller finally gave up his dream of controlling all
the world's oil refining; he admitted later, "We realized that public sentiment would be against us
if we actually refined all the oil."[80] Over time, foreign competition and new finds abroad eroded
his dominance. In the early 1880s, Rockefeller created one of his most important innovations.
Rather than try to influence the price of crude oil directly, Standard Oil had been exercising
indirect control by altering oil storage charges to suit market conditions. Rockefeller then
ordered the issuance of certificates against oil stored in its pipelines. These certificates became
traded by speculators, thus creating the first oil-futures market which effectively set spot market
prices from then on. The National Petroleum Exchange opened in Manhattan in late 1882 to
facilitate the trading of oil futures.[81]
Although 85% of world crude production was still coming from Pennsylvania in the 1880s, oil
from wells drilled in Russia and Asia began to reach the world market.[82] Robert Nobel had
established his own refining enterprise in the abundant and cheaper Russian oil fields, including
the region's first pipeline and the world's first oil tanker. The Paris Rothschilds jumped into the
fray providing financing.[83] Additional fields were discovered in Burma and Java. Even more
critical, the invention of the light bulb gradually began to erode the dominance of kerosene for
illumination. Standard Oil adapted by developing a European presence, expanding into natural
gas production in the U.S., and then producing gasoline for automobiles, which until then had
been considered a waste product.[84]
Fear of monopolies ("trusts") is shown in this

critique of Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company.
Standard Oil moved its headquarters to New York City at 26 Broadway, and Rockefeller became a
central figure in the city's business community. He bought a residence in 1884 on 54th Street
near the mansions of other magnates such as William Henry Vanderbilt. Despite personal threats
and constant pleas for charity, Rockefeller took the new elevated train to his downtown office
daily.[85] In 1887, Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission which was tasked with
enforcing equal rates for all railroad freight, but by then Standard depended more on pipeline
transport.[86] More threatening to Standard's power was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890,
originally used to control unions, but later central to the breakup of the Standard Oil trust. Ohio
was especially vigorous in applying its state antitrust laws, and finally forced a separation of
Standard Oil of Ohio from the rest of the company in 1892, the first step in the dissolution of the
trust.[87]
Rockefeller as an industrial
emperor, 1901 cartoon from
Puck magazine
In the 1890s, Rockefeller expanded into iron ore and ore transportation, forcing a collision with
steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, and their competition became a major subject of the
newspapers and cartoonists.[88] He went on a massive buying spree acquiring leases for crude oil
production in Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia, as the original Pennsylvania oil fields began to
play out.[89] Amid the frenetic expansion, Rockefeller began to think of retirement. The daily
management of the trust was turned over to John Dustin Archbold and Rockefeller bought a new
estate, Pocantico Hills, north of New York City, turning more time to leisure activities including
the new sports of bicycling and golf.[90]
Puck magazine cartoon: "The Infant

Hercules and the Standard Oil
serpents", May 23, 1906, issue;
depicting U.S. president Theodore
Roosevelt grabbing the head of
Nelson W. Aldrich and the snake-like
body of John D. Rockefeller
Upon his ascent to the presidency, Theodore Roosevelt initiated dozens of suits under the
Sherman Antitrust Act and coaxed reforms out of Congress. In 1901, U.S. Steel, then controlled by
J. Pierpont Morgan, having bought Andrew Carnegie's steel assets, offered to buy Standard's iron
interests as well. A deal brokered by Henry Clay Frick exchanged Standard's iron interests for U.S.
Steel stock and gave Rockefeller and his son membership on the company's board of directors. In
full retirement at age 63, Rockefeller earned over $58 million (~$1.5 billion in 2021) in
investments in 1902.[91] One of the most effective attacks on Rockefeller and his firm was the
1904 publication of The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida Tarbell, a leading muckraker.
She documented the company's espionage, price wars, heavy-handed marketing tactics, and
courtroom evasions.[92] Although her work prompted a huge backlash against the company,
Tarbell stated she was surprised at its magnitude. "I never had an animus against their size and
wealth, never objected to their corporate form. I was willing that they should combine and grow
as big and wealthy as they could, but only by legitimate means. But they had never played fair,
and that ruined their greatness for me." Tarbell's father had been driven out of the oil business
during the "South Improvement Company" affair. Rockefeller called her "Miss Tarbarrel" in private
but held back in public saying only, "not a word about that misguided woman."[92] He began a
publicity campaign to put his company and himself in a better light. Though he had long
maintained a policy of active silence with the press, he decided to make himself more accessible
and responded with conciliatory comments such as "capital and labor are both wild forces which
require intelligent legislation to hold them in restriction." He wrote and published his memoirs
beginning in 1908. Critics found his writing to be sanitized and disingenuous and thought that
statements such as "the underlying, essential element of success in business are to follow the
established laws of high-class dealing" seemed to be at odds with his true business methods.[93]
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis wags

his pen at John D. Rockefeller, who is
sitting in the witness stand, during the
Standard Oil case on July 6, 1907.
Rockefeller and his son continued to consolidate their oil interests as best they could until New
Jersey, in 1909, changed its incorporation laws to effectively allow a re-creation of the trust in the
form of a single holding company. Rockefeller retained his nominal title as president until 1911
and he kept his stock. At last in 1911, the Supreme Court of the United States found Standard Oil
Company of New Jersey in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. By then the trust still had a
70% market share of the refined oil market but only 14% of the U.S. crude oil supply.[94] The court
ruled that the trust originated in illegal monopoly practices and ordered it to be broken up into
34 new companies. These included, among many others, Continental Oil, which became Conoco,
now part of ConocoPhillips; Standard of Indiana, which became Amoco, now part of BP; Standard
of California, which became Chevron; Standard of New Jersey, which became Esso (and later,
Exxon), now part of ExxonMobil; Standard of New York, which became Mobil, now part of
ExxonMobil; and Standard of Ohio, which became Sohio, now part of BP. Pennzoil and Chevron
have remained separate companies.[95]
Rockefeller c. 1914. By then, his

moustache had fallen off due to
alopecia.
Rockefeller, who had rarely sold shares, held over 25% of Standard's stock at the time of the
breakup.[96] He and all of the other stockholders received proportionate shares in each of the 34
companies. In the aftermath, Rockefeller's control over the oil industry was somewhat reduced,
but over the next 10 years the breakup proved immensely profitable for him. The companies'
combined net worth rose fivefold and Rockefeller's personal wealth jumped to $900 million.[94]
Colorado Fuel and Iron
In 1902, facing cash flow problems, John Cleveland Osgood turned to George Jay Gould, a
principal stockholder of the Denver and Rio Grande, for a loan.[97] Gould, via Frederick Taylor
Gates, Rockefeller's financial adviser, brought John D. Rockefeller in to help finance the loan.[98]
Analysis of the company's operations by John D. Rockefeller Jr. showed a need for substantially
more funds which were provided in exchange for acquisition of CF&I's subsidiaries such as the
Colorado and Wyoming Railway Company, the Crystal River Railroad Company, and possibly the
Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company. Control was passed from the Iowa Group[99] to Gould
and Rockefeller interests in 1903 with Gould in control and Rockefeller and Gates representing a
minority interests. Osgood left the company in 1904 and devoted his efforts to operating
competing coal and coke operations.[100]
Strike of 1913–14 and the Ludlow Massacre
The strike, called in September 1913 by the United Mine Workers over the issue of union
representation, was against coal mine operators in Huerfano and Las Animas counties of
southern Colorado, where the majority of CF&I's coal and coke production was located. The
strike was fought vigorously by the coal mine operators association and its steering committee,
which included Welborn, president of CF&I, a spokesman for the coal operators. Rockefeller's
operative, Lamont Montgomery Bowers,[101] remained in the background. Few miners belonged
to the union or participated in the strike call, but the majority honored it. Strikebreakers (called
"scabs") were threatened and sometimes attacked. Both sides purchased substantial arms and
ammunition. Striking miners were forced to abandon their homes in company towns and lived in
tent cities erected by the union, such as the tent city at Ludlow, a railway stop north of
Trinidad.[102]
Under the protection of the National Guard, some miners returned to work and some
strikebreakers, imported from the eastern coalfields, joined them as Guard troops protected their
movements. In February 1914, a substantial portion of the troops were withdrawn, but a large
contingent remained at Ludlow. On April 20, 1914, a general fire-fight occurred between strikers
and troops, which was antagonized by the troops and mine guards. The camp was burned,
resulting in 15 women and children, who hid in tents at the camp, being burned to death.[102][103]
Costs to both mine operators and the union were high. This incident brought unwanted national
attention to Colorado.
Due to reduced demand for coal, resulting from an economic downturn, many of CF&I's coal
mines never reopened and many men were thrown out of work. The union was forced to
discontinue strike benefits in February 1915. There was destitution in the coalfields. With the help
of funds from the Rockefeller Foundation, relief programs were organized by the Colorado
Committee on Unemployment and Relief. A state agency created by Governor Carlson, offered
work to unemployed miners building roads and doing other useful projects.[102]
The casualties suffered at Ludlow mobilized public opinion against the Rockefellers and the coal
industry. The United States Commission on Industrial Relations conducted extensive hearings,
singling out John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Rockefellers' relationship with Bowers for special
attention. Bowers was relieved of duty and Wellborn restored to control in 1915, then industrial
relations improved.[102]
Rockefeller denied any responsibility and minimized the seriousness of the event.[104] When
testifying on the Ludlow Massacre, and asked what action he would have taken as Director, John
D. Rockefeller Jr. stated, "I would have taken no action. I would have deplored the necessity which
compelled the officers of the company to resort to such measures to supplement the State forces
to maintain law and order." He admitted that he had made no attempt to bring the militiamen to
justice.[105]
Personal life
Family
Against long-circulating speculations that his family has French roots, genealogists proved the
German origin of Rockefeller and traced them to the early 17th century. Johann Peter Rockenfeller
(baptized September 27, 1682, in the Protestant church of Rengsdorf) immigrated in 1723 from
Altwied (today a district of Neuwied, Rhineland-Palatinate) with three children to North America.
He settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania.[106][107]
The name Rockenfeller refers to the now-abandoned village of Rockenfeld in the district of
Neuwied.[108]
Marriage
Kykuit in Westchester County, New

York, where Rockefeller spent his
retirement. It has been home to
four generations of the Rockefeller
family.
In 1864, Rockefeller married Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman (1839–1915), daughter of Harvey
Buell Spelman and Lucy Henry. They had four daughters and one son together. He said later, "Her
judgment was always better than mine. Without her keen advice, I would be a poor man."[48]
Elizabeth "Bessie" Rockefeller (August 23, 1866 – November 14, 1906)
Alice Rockefeller (July 14, 1869 – August 20, 1870)
Alta Rockefeller (April 12, 1871 – June 21, 1962)
Edith Rockefeller (August 31, 1872 – August 25, 1932)
John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960)
The Rockefeller wealth, distributed as it was through a system of foundations and trusts,
continued to fund family philanthropic, commercial, and, eventually, political aspirations
throughout the 20th century. John Jr.'s youngest son David Rockefeller was a leading New York
banker, serving for over 20 years as CEO of Chase Manhattan (now part of JPMorgan Chase).
Second son Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was Republican governor of New York and the 41st Vice
President of the United States. Fourth son Winthrop Aldrich Rockefeller served as Republican
Governor of Arkansas. Grandchildren Abigail Aldrich "Abby" Rockefeller and John Davison
Rockefeller III became philanthropists. Grandson Laurance Spelman Rockefeller became a
conservationist. Great-grandson John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV served from 1985 until 2015 as
a Democratic Senator from West Virginia after serving as governor of West Virginia,[109] and
another Winthrop served as lieutenant governor of Arkansas for a decade.
Religious views
The Euclid Avenue Baptist Church and

its pastor, the Rev. Dr. Charles Aubrey
Eaton in 1904
John D. Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York, then part of the Burned-over district, a New
York state region that became the site of an evangelical revival known as the Second Great
Awakening. It drew masses to various Protestant churches—especially Baptist ones—and urged
believers to follow such ideals as hard work, prayer, and good deeds to build "the Kingdom of
God on Earth." Early in his life, he regularly went with his siblings and mother Eliza to the local
Baptist church—the Erie Street Baptist Church (later the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church)—an
independent Baptist church that eventually associated with the Northern Baptist Convention
(1907–1950; now part of the modern American Baptist Churches USA).
His mother was deeply religious and disciplined, and had a major influence on him in religious
matters. During church service, his mother would urge him to contribute his few pennies to the
congregation. Rockefeller associated the church with charity. A Baptist preacher once encouraged
him to "make as much money as he could, and then give away as much as he could".[110] Later in
his life, Rockefeller recalled: "It was at this moment, that the financial plan of my life was formed".
Money making was considered by him a "God-given gift".[110]
A devout Northern Baptist, Rockefeller would read the Bible daily, attend prayer meetings twice a
week and led his own Bible study with his wife. Burton Folsom Jr. has noted:
[H]e sometimes gave tens of thousands of dollars to Christian groups, while,

at the same time, he was trying to borrow over a million dollars to expand his
business. His philosophy of giving was founded upon biblical principles. He
truly believed in the biblical principle found in Luke 6:38, "Give, and it will
be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running
over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be
measured to you."[110]
Rockefeller would support Baptist missionary activity, fund universities, and deeply engage in
religious activities at his Cleveland, Ohio, church. While traveling the South, he would donate
large sums of money to churches belonging to the Southern Baptist Convention, various Black
churches, and other Christian denominations. He paid toward the freedom of two slaves[111] and
donated to a Roman Catholic orphanage. As he grew rich, his donations became more generous,
especially to his church in Cleveland. Believed to be obsolescent, the church was demolished in
1925, and replaced with a new building.[110]
Philanthropy
Rockefeller in 1911
Rockefeller's charitable giving began with his first job as a clerk at age 16, when he gave six
percent of his earnings to charity, as recorded in his personal ledger. By the time he was twenty,
his charity exceeded ten percent of his income. Much of his giving was church-related.[31] His
church was later affiliated with the Northern Baptist Convention, which formed from American
Baptists in the North with ties to their historic missions to establish schools and colleges for
freedmen in the South after the American Civil War. Rockefeller attended Baptist churches every
Sunday; when traveling he would often attend services at African-American Baptist
congregations, leaving a substantial donation.[31] As Rockefeller's wealth grew, so did his giving,
primarily to educational and public health causes, but also for basic science and the arts. He was
advised primarily by Frederick Taylor Gates[112] after 1891,[113] and, after 1897, also by his son.
Rockefeller with his son John Jr., 1915
Rockefeller believed in the Efficiency Movement, arguing that: "To help an inefficient, ill-located,
unnecessary school is a waste ... it is highly probable that enough money has been squandered
on unwise educational projects to have built up a national system of higher education adequate
to our needs, if the money had been properly directed to that end."[114]
Rockefeller and his advisers invented the conditional grant, which required the recipient to "root
the institution in the affections of as many people as possible who, as contributors, become
personally concerned, and thereafter may be counted on to give to the institution their watchful
interest and cooperation".[115]
In 1884, Rockefeller provided major funding for Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary in Atlanta for
African-American women, which became Spelman College.[116] His wife Laura Spelman
Rockefeller, was dedicated to civil rights and equality for women.[117] John and Laura donated
money and supported the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary whose mission was in line with their
faith based beliefs. Today known as Spelman College, the school is an all women Historically
Black College or University in Atlanta, Georgia, named after Laura's family. The Spelman Family,
Rockefeller's in-laws, along with John Rockefeller were ardent abolitionists before the Civil War
and were dedicated to supporting the Underground Railroad.[117] John Rockefeller was impressed
by the vision of the school and removed the debt from the school. The oldest existing building
on Spelman's campus, Rockefeller Hall, is named after him.[118] Rockefeller also gave considerable
donations to Denison University[119] and other Baptist colleges.
University of Chicago view from the

Midway Plaisance
Central Philippine University in the

Iloilo City was founded by the
American Baptist missionaries
through the benevolence as a legacy
university of John D. Rockefeller in
1905. It is the first Baptist and second
American university in Asia.
Rockefeller gave $80 million (~$2.19 billion in 2021) to the University of Chicago[120] under
William Rainey Harper, turning a small Baptist college into a world-class institution by 1900. He
would describe the University of Chicago as "the best investment I ever made." He also gave a
grant to the American Baptist Missionaries foreign mission board, the American Baptist Foreign
Mission Society in establishing Central Philippine University, the first Baptist and second
American university in Asia, in 1905 in the heavily Catholic Philippines.[121][122][18][16][17]
Rockefeller's General Education Board, founded in 1903,[123] was established to promote

education at all levels everywhere in the country.[124] In keeping with the historic missions of the
Baptists, it was especially active in supporting black schools in the South.[124] Rockefeller also
provided financial support to such established eastern institutions as Yale, Harvard, Columbia,
Brown, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley and Vassar. On Gates' advice, Rockefeller became one of the first
great benefactors of medical science. In 1901, he founded the Rockefeller Institute for Medical
Research[123] in New York City. It changed its name to Rockefeller University in 1965, after
expanding its mission to include graduate education.[125] It claims a connection to 23 Nobel

laureates.[126] He founded the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission in 1909,[123] an organization that
eventually eradicated the hookworm disease,[127] which had long plagued rural areas of the
American South. His General Education Board made a dramatic impact by funding the
recommendations of the Flexner Report of 1910. The study, an excerpt of which was published in
The Atlantic,[15] had been undertaken by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching.
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research

in New York City, c. 1912
Rockefeller created the Rockefeller Foundation in 1913[128] to continue and expand the scope of
the work of the Sanitary Commission,[123] which was closed in 1915.[129] He gave $182 million to
the foundation,[116] which focused on public health, medical training, and the arts. It endowed
Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health,[123] the first of its kind.[130] It also built the
Peking Union Medical College in China into a notable institution.[119] The foundation helped in
World War I war relief,[131] and it employed William Lyon Mackenzie King of Canada to study
industrial relations.[132]
In the 1920s, the Rockefeller Foundation funded a hookworm eradication campaign through the
International Health Division. This campaign used a combination of politics and science, along
with collaboration between healthcare workers and government officials to accomplish its
goals.[133]
Rockefeller's fourth main philanthropy, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation, was
created in 1918.[134] Through this, he supported work in the social studies; this was later
absorbed into the Rockefeller Foundation. In total Rockefeller donated about $530 million.[135]
Rockefeller in old age
Rockefeller became well known in his later life for the practice of giving dimes to adults and
nickels to children wherever he went. He even gave dimes as a playful gesture to wealthy men,
such as tire mogul Harvey Firestone.[136]
Rockefeller supported the passage of the 18th Amendment, which banned alcohol in the United
States. He wrote in a letter to Nicholas Murray Butler on June 6, 1932, that his neither Rockefeller
nor his parents or his father's father and mother's mother drank alcohol. In the same letter,
Rockefeller writes that he has "always stood for whatever measure seemed at the time to give
promise of promoting temperance." He believed that measure to be prohibition, as he and his
father donated 350,000 to "all branches of the Anti-Saloon League, Federal and State." But by
1932, Rockefeller felt disillusioned by prohibition because of its failure to discourage drinking
and alcoholism. He supported the incorporation of repealing the 18th amendment into the
Republican party platform.[137]
Florida home
The Casements, in Ormond Beach, Florida
Henry Morrison Flagler, one of the co-founders of Standard Oil along with Rockefeller, bought
the Ormond Hotel in 1890, located in Ormond Beach, Florida, two years after it opened. Flagler
expanded it to accommodate 600 guests and the hotel soon became one in a series of Gilded
Age hotels catering to passengers aboard Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway. One of Flagler's
guests at the Ormond Hotel was his former business partner John D. Rockefeller, who first stayed
at the hotel in 1914. Rockefeller liked the Ormond Beach area so much that after four seasons at
the hotel, he bought an estate in Ormond Beach called The Casements.[138][139] It would be
Rockefeller's winter home during the latter part of his life. Sold by his heirs in 1939,[140] it was
purchased by the city in 1974 and now serves as a cultural center and is the community's best-
known historical structure.[141]
Illnesses and death
Rockefeller in 1922
In his 50s Rockefeller suffered from moderate depression and digestive troubles; during a
stressful period in the 1890s he developed alopecia, the loss of some or all body hair.[142] By 1901
he began wearing toupées and by 1902, his mustache disappeared. His hair never grew back, but
other health complaints subsided as he lightened his workload.[143]
Rockefeller's grave in Lake

View Cemetery, Cleveland
Rockefeller died of arteriosclerosis on May 23, 1937, less than two months shy of his 98th
birthday,[144] at "The Casements", his home in Ormond Beach, Florida. He was buried in Lake
View Cemetery in Cleveland.[145]
Legacy
External video
Booknotes interview with Ron Chernow on Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., June 21, 1998 (http
s://www.c-span.org/video/?105430-1/titan-life-john-d-rockefeller-sr) , C-SPAN
John D. Rockefeller's painting

by John Singer Sargent in 1917
Rockefeller had a long and controversial career in the oil industry followed by a long career in
philanthropy. His image is an amalgam of all of these experiences and the many ways he was
viewed by his contemporaries. These contemporaries include his former competitors, many of
whom were driven to ruin, but many others of whom sold out at a profit (or a profitable stake in
Standard Oil, as Rockefeller often offered his shares as payment for a business), and quite a few
of whom became very wealthy as managers as well as owners in Standard Oil. They include
politicians and writers, some of whom served Rockefeller's interests, and some of whom built
their careers by fighting Rockefeller and the "robber barons".
Biographer Allan Nevins, answering Rockefeller's enemies, concluded:
The rise of the Standard Oil men to great wealth was not from poverty. It was
not meteor-like, but accomplished over a quarter of a century by courageous
venturing in a field so risky that most large capitalists avoided it, by arduous
labors, and by more sagacious and farsighted planning than had been applied
to any other American industry. The oil fortunes of 1894 were not larger than
steel fortunes, banking fortunes, and railroad fortunes made in similar
periods. But it is the assertion that the Standard magnates gained their
wealth by appropriating "the property of others" that most challenges our
attention. We have abundant evidence that Rockefeller's consistent policy
was to offer fair terms to competitors and to buy them out, for cash, stock, or
both, at fair appraisals; we have the statement of one impartial historian that
Rockefeller was decidedly "more humane toward competitors" than
Carnegie; we have the conclusion of another that his wealth was "the least
tainted of all the great fortunes of his day."[146]
Hostile critics often portrayed Rockefeller as a villain with a suite of bad traits—ruthless,
unscrupulous and greedy—and as a bully who connived his cruel path to dominance. Economic
historian Robert Whaples warns against ignoring the secrets of his business success:
[R]elentless cost cutting and efficiency improvements, boldness in betting on the

long-term prospects of the industry while others were willing to take quick
profits, and impressive abilities to spot and reward talent, delegate tasks, and
manage a growing empire.[147]
Biographer Ron Chernow wrote of Rockefeller:[148]
What makes him problematic—and why he continues to inspire ambivalent

reactions—is that his good side was every bit as good as his bad side was bad.
Seldom has history produced such a contradictory figure.[149]
Wealth
Rockefeller playing golf, 1932
Rockefeller is largely remembered simply for the raw size of his wealth. In 1902, an audit showed
Rockefeller was worth about $200 million—compared to the total national GDP of $24 billion
then.[150]
His wealth continued to grow significantly (in line with U.S. economic growth) as the demand for
gasoline soared, eventually reaching about $900 million on the eve of the First World War,
including significant interests in banking, shipping, mining, railroads, and other industries. His
personal wealth was 900 million in 1913 worth 23.5 billion dollars adjusted for inflation in
2020.[151] According to his New York Times obituary, "it was estimated after Mr. Rockefeller retired
from business that he had accumulated close to $1,500,000,000 out of the earnings of the
Standard Oil trust and out of his other investments. This was probably the greatest amount of
wealth that any private citizen had ever been able to accumulate by his own efforts."[152] By the
time of his death in 1937, Rockefeller's remaining fortune, largely tied up in permanent family
trusts, was estimated at $1.4 billion, while the total national GDP was $92 billion.[1] According to
some methods of wealth calculation, Rockefeller's net worth over the last decades of his life
would easily place him as the wealthiest known person in recent history. As a percentage of the
United States' GDP, no other American fortune—including those of Bill Gates or Sam Walton—
would even come close.
Rockefeller, aged 86, wrote the following words to sum up his life:[153]
I was early taught to work as well as play,

My life has been one long, happy holiday;
Full of work and full of play—
I dropped the worry on the way—
And God was good to me everyday.
See also
Allegheny Transportation Company
Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway
Ivy Lee
List of German Americans
Rockefeller's Mesabi Range Interests
Explanatory notes
a. Fortune magazine lists the richest Americans by percentage of GDP, not by the changing value of the
dollar. Rockefeller is credited with a Wealth/GDP of 1⁄65.[1]
b. That is, two years after the dissolution of Standard Oil.
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Hawke, David Freeman (1980), John D: The Founding Father of the Rockefellers, New York: Harper and Row
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s/in.ernet.dli.2015.74195) . Favorable scholarly biography
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17/10/2023 16:29 John D.

Born John Davison Rockefeller

Died May 23, 1937 (aged 97)

Burial place Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland 41.511°N

Occupations Businessman · philanthropist

Known for Founding and leading the Standard Oil

Founding the University of Chicago, Rockefeller

Political party Republican

Spouse Laura Spelman

Children Elizabeth · Alice · Alta · Edith · John Jr.

Parents William Rockefeller Sr.

Relatives Rockefeller family

Rockefeller's birthplace in Richford, New

Pre-Standard Oil career

Business partnership and Civil War service

Beginning in the oil business

Founding and early growth

Rockefeller c. 1872, shortly after

Rockefeller in 1875. By then, he

Share of the Standard Oil Company,

Standard Oil Trust Certificate 1896

He instinctively realized that orderliness would only proceed from

— A Standard Oil of Ohio successor of Rockefeller.[61]

Standard Oil Refinery No. 1 in Cleveland,

Portrait of John D Rockefeller by

The big corporations such as Standard Oil

Fear of monopolies ("trusts") is shown in this

Puck magazine cartoon: "The Infant

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis wags

Rockefeller c. 1914. By then, his

Colorado Fuel and Iron

Strike of 1913–14 and the Ludlow Massacre

Kykuit in Westchester County, New

Elizabeth "Bessie" Rockefeller (August 23, 1866 – November 14, 1906)

Alice Rockefeller (July 14, 1869 – August 20, 1870)

Alta Rockefeller (April 12, 1871 – June 21, 1962)

Edith Rockefeller (August 31, 1872 – August 25, 1932)

The Euclid Avenue Baptist Church and

[H]e sometimes gave tens of thousands of dollars to Christian groups, while,

Rockefeller with his son John Jr., 1915

University of Chicago view from the

Central Philippine University in the

Rockefeller's General Education Board, founded in 1903,[123] was established to promote

expanding its mission to include graduate education.[125] It claims a connection to 23 Nobel

Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research

Rockefeller in old age

The Casements, in Ormond Beach, Florida

Illnesses and death

Rockefeller's grave in Lake

John D. Rockefeller's painting

Biographer Allan Nevins, answering Rockefeller's enemies, concluded:

[R]elentless cost cutting and efficiency improvements, boldness in betting on the

Biographer Ron Chernow wrote of Rockefeller:[148]

What makes him problematic—and why he continues to inspire ambivalent

Rockefeller playing golf, 1932

I was early taught to work as well as play,

Allegheny Transportation Company

Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway

List of German Americans

Rockefeller's Mesabi Range Interests

b. That is, two years after the dissolution of Standard Oil.

1. Hargreaves, Steve. "The Richest Americans" (https://money.cnn.com/gallery/luxury/2014/06/01/richest-

2. "The Wealthiest Americans Ever" (https://www.nytimes.com/ref/business/20070715_GILDED_GRAPHIC.

3. "John D. Rockefeller: The Richest Man in the World" (https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?nu