John D. Rockefeller as a Robber Baron A "robber baron" was someone who employed any means necessary to enrich themselves at the expense of their competitors. Did John D. Rockefeller fall into that category or was he one of the "captains of industry", whose shrewd and innovative leadership brought order out of industrial chaos and generated great fortunes that enriched the public welfare through the workings of various philanthropic agencies that these leaders established? In the early 1860s Rockefeller was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, who came to epitomize both the success and excess of corporate capitalism. His company was based in northwestern Pennsylvania. A major question historians have disagreed on has been whether or not John D. Rockefeller was a so-called "robber baron". 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. None of the competition knew what the rates were for the rebates or the rates that Rockefeller was paying the railroad. This made it hard for the competition to keep up with the Standard Oil Company. The consequences led to many oil companies getting bought out by Rockefeller secretly. All in all, 25 co... ... middle of paper ... ...ard M. Nixon: The CorporatePresidency" Taking Sides Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History. eds. Larry Madaras et al. Guilford CT: Dushkin/ McGraw-Hill, 1997. Josephson, Matthew. "The Robber Barons : The Great American Capitalists" Taking Sides Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History. eds. Larry Madaras et al. Guilford CT: Dushkin/ McGraw-Hill, 1997. Kutler, Stanley I. "Et Tu Bob?" Taking Sides Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History. eds. Larry Madaras et al. Guilford CT: Dushkin/ McGraw-Hill, 1997. Osborne, John. The Fifth Year of the Nixon Watch. New York: Liveright Press, 1974. Vankin, Jonathan. Conspiracies, Cover-Ups and Crimes. Lilburn, Georgia: IllumniNet Press, 1996. Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present. New York: Harper Perrenial,1995.
Another example of him being a robber baron is because of how he ran his railroad. His disregard for worker safety was very poor. The poor railroad working conditions made for underpaid workers and safety hazards for everyone working for him. It would cost him money to provide safety measures and precautions in the railways. This is how he treated his workers and this shows how greedy and conservative he was with his money. His workers deserved at least a little more safety than what he was providing. His cheap ways were very detrimental to his workers in those conditions. This is a clear example of how he had no consideration for his employers and installed no safety precautions.
Rockefeller was the son of a trader, and began in the oil company when he was 20. He knew this was the area to invest in, because coal was being replaced by oil in the power industries. By 1870, he had his first oil business, called the Standard Oil Company. Like Carnegie, Rockefeller used horizontal integration and within two years, he had also created a monopoly. He made more money because he paid his workers extremely low wages and treated them poorly. Unlike Carnegie who offered his workers benefits and stock options, Rockefeller gave his workers poor conditions and even abused them at times. Even though Rockefeller was a philanthropist and gave a lot of his money away, that does not make up for how he treated other people and put people out of business to become wealthy. He is best known for a robber baron because he simply used his power to destroy other businesses. He did whatever he could to control the oil industry, even if that meant stepping on others on the way to his success. He reduced the costs of his company, and he was then able to drive other companies out of business, which is how he became one of the richest men in history.
In these articles, Tarbell showed the readers how Rockefeller conducted these illegal methods through quotes and even interviews with Henry H. Rogers, the most powerful senior executive of Standard Oil. In this series, Tarbell wrote about how Rockefeller made secret agreements with the South Improvement Company (Ida Tarbell, 1857-1944: She Used Her Reporting Skills Against One of the Most Powerful Companies in the World) and how Rockefeller took someone else’s idea to make pipelines for the oil to travel through. Tarbell also wrote about how Rockefeller threatened the small oil producers to sell their businesses to them. Later Ida Tarbell managed to get anti-trust laws to eliminate monopolistic companies and let other smaller companies have a chance at
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.
Robber Barons in America What is a robber baron? Webster’s New Dictionary defines him as an American capitalist of the late 19th century who became wealthy through exploitation (as of natural resources, governmental influence, or low wage scales) or a person who satisfies himself by depriving another. In America, we have a lot of these kinds of people. For this report, I am going to tell you about the ones that I found most interesting to me.
Rockefeller was a Robber Baron for the simple reason that he was greedy and selfish. He has treated his workers horribly and did use his money for others. He used aggressive tactics to get to where he was.
Let us first look at Mr. Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was a mogul in the steel industry. Carnegie developed a system known as the vertical integration. This method basically cut out the ‘middle man’. Carnegie bought his own iron and coal mines (which were necessities in producing steel) because purchasing these materials from independent companies cost too much and was insufficient for Carnegie’s empire. This hurt his competitors because they still had to pay for raw materials at much higher prices. Unlike Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller integrated his oil business from top to bottom. Rockefeller’s system was considered a ‘horizontal’ integration. This meant that he followed one product through all phases of the production process, i.e. Rockefeller had control over the oil from the moment it was drilled to the moment it was sold to the consu...
When the names Carnagie, Rockefeller, and Pullman come to mind, most of us automatically think of what we saw or read in our history books: "These men were kind and generous and through hard work and perseverance, any one of you could become a success story like them," right? Wrong. I am sick of these people being remembered for the two or three "good deeds" they have done. Publicity and media have exaggerated the generosity of these men, the government has spoiled these names with false lies, and people have been blind to see that these men were ruthless, sly businessmen who were motivated by your money and their struggle for power.
To describe John D. Rockefeller in one word would be an extremely difficult, if not impossible thing to do. Rockefeller was known by so many things in his time and still today; a captain of industry who revolutionised the American economy with new business practices and keen management of what he controlled, a robber baron who lied and cheated his way to the top with back room dealings and taking advantage of the most disadvantaged of people. In his early life, Rockefeller grew up in Richmond, New York with his two brothers and two sisters about 20 years before the start of the Civil War as the child of Eliza Davison and William Avery Rockefeller. His father was con artist who spent most of John’s life traveling selling his various elixirs and his mother was a devout Baptist who John said shaped his life and most of his religious views for the rest of his life. Towards the end of his life, Rockefeller had built up a beyond substantial fortune but, seeing as how he was now retired from the oil industry and had no desire to invest into a new business, he decided to follow Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth by donating the bulk of his wealth to charity. John D. Rockefeller was truly a man who was almost undefinable despite the simple black and white labels that most people and historians have pinned upon him, as we examine his life it can be determined that Rockefeller was neither an evil man nor a good one but someone who lived his life in the grey.
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,
He is a robber baron in the truest sense of the word. However most of the powerful industrialists had financial goals for themselves as well as
In the chapter “Robber Barons and Rebels” from Howard Zinn’s novel A People’s History of the United States, he takes his stance on the increasingly growing american industry and those who have taken advantage of and runs the american economy. Throughout the chapter Zinn’s overall theme was that U.S. Government and society was heavily influenced by these so called “Robber Barons” and by doing this, middle and lower class citizens were exploited and taken advantage of by these big business’. Zinn uses many outside sources along with his own knowledge to support this idea.
The American dream is the ideals of freedom equality and opportunity traditionally held by every American. A life of personal happiness and material comfort sought after by most of America. John D Rockefeller was an entrepreneur who founded the Standard oil company. Rockefeller holds the title for the wealthiest person to ever walk this earth. I believe that John D Rockefeller best exemplifies what it means to live the American dream more than any person dead or alive simply because he had a vision sought after it and achieved it to become what he is today.
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.
Rockefeller caused many families to go into a financial depression. He hated any kind of competition or somebody who got in his way. Whenever he sees another business as a threat he takes them out, which causes a shortage of jobs. Without jobs men don’t have the money to support their families.