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Johns early life.
John was born to William Rockefeller Sr and Eliza Davison, He was born at Richford NY. His dad was known as Devil Bill or Big Bill. He got these names for his shady business practices and how he ran his business. He even once admitted to regularly cheating his kids to keep them sharp. He later abandoned John in 1849. He fled in order to escape trial for rape. -
Philanthropy
John was a very generous man with his money. From the time he first earned money he donated a portion of it back to churches. This habit stayed with him up to the very end. When he made money from oil he would donate it back into the community. One example is the University of Chicago. He donated $600,000 dollars for the 1 million dollar endowment. Over time he continued to donate money to the University. In total he donated 35 million dollars to the school. -
Standard Oil is founded
John made is money through oil. His practices were a little uneficial. For example he would buy or merge with competing firms. He also used favorable railroad rebates to his advantage. Through his business practices he was able to control 90 - 95 percent of all oil produced in the United States. -
The "Standard Oil" family.
John believed in giving his workers the best and wanted every worker to be invested in the company's success. He often joined them in the field and was quick to complement them. He respected the options of his managers and gave every employee a paid vacation because he believed that workers needed breaks. Through this his workers highly respected him and in turn they worked hard. He didn't like unions and stood against them. -
Quote
I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature. This quote means that a major part in becoming successful is perseverance and that it overcomes everything including human nature. The year he said this quote is not right. In turn no one knows what year he actually said it. -
Impact on society
John had both good and bad impacts on society. Some of the good things where the medical institutions he helped create. He spent millions of dollars on trying to help sick people. He helped to build China's first modern medical institute. One of the bad things is that he was a major reason monopolies became illegal in the United States. It's only bad because he was that big of a problem and the government had to step in. -
Political cartoon
This political cartoon depicts Rockefeller as a big snake tangling itself into the oil rigs and destroying them. The barrel guy is representing the tidewater pipeline. The only pipeline Rockefeller doesn't own at the time, holding Rockefeller off despite the odds not being in his favor. -
Net worth
In 1916 his Net worth was to be at an estimated 1 billion dollars. This made him the world's first billionaire. 1 billion dollars back in 1916 would be $29,339,357,798.17 in todays money -
My verdict
To be fair it is really hard to tell. In some ways he was the captain of the industry. But in others he was a Robber Baron. He actually tried to do good with his wealth by giving it to the less fortunate. But he also held a monopoly over oil and was a main reason monopoly laws are in place today. So to be honest I think he is both. -
Modern figure
I think Elon Musk is doing the same thing that Rockefeller did. The reason being is that he has aggressive business tactics and seems to get his way. He also is currently the richest man in the world and is showing it. He is also starting to get a monopoly. I say this because all the military contracts he canceled while being a part of doge. He gave those contacts to his own companies making him more money and power.