1917 painting by John Singer Sargent.

John Davison Rockefeller, Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American industrialist who played a prominent role in the early oil industry with the founding of Standard Oil (ExxonMobil is the largest of its descendants). Over a forty-year period, Rockefeller built Standard Oil into the largest company in the world, and was for a time the richest man in the world. ^[1] His business career was controversial; he was accused of being a monopolist and was bitterly attacked by investigative journalists. However he spent his last forty years primarily focused on philanthropic pursuits, including education and public health, eventually giving away about half of his wealth and by the time he died his reputation was quite benign. He was a devout Northern Baptist and supported many church activities throughout his life. John D. Rockefeller, painted in 1917 by John Singer Sargent File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... John D. Rockefeller, painted in 1917 by John Singer Sargent File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Self Portrait, oil painting, 1907 John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was a painter known for his portraits. ... July 8 is the 189th day of the year (190th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 176 days remaining. ... 1839 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... May 23 is the 143rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (144th in leap years). ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Business magnate. ... The Oil industry brings to market what is currently considered the lifeblood of nearly all other industry, if not industrialized civilization itself. ... Standard Oil (1870–1911) was a large, integrated, oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing organization. ... It has been suggested that some sections of this article be split into a new article entitled Exxon. ... This is a list of Americas richest people (so far only men) who at some time in their lives could have been considered the wealthiest person in the United States. ... It has been suggested that coercive monopoly be merged into this article or section. ... The Northern Baptist Convention was founded in Washington, D.C. on May 17, 1907. ...

Early life

Rockefeller, aged 18

Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York, second of six children to William Avery Rockefeller (November 13, 1810 - May 11, 1906) and Eliza Davison (September 12, 1813 - March 28, 1889). The Rockefeller family is originally from Limousin, France where its name was spelled 'Rochefeuille'. William was a traveling salesmen of dubious products, such as "cancer cures," a philanderer and bigamist. As he was frequently gone for extended periods, Eliza struggled to maintain a semblance of stability at home. Young Rockefeller's contemporaries described him as articulate, methodical, and discreet (Chernow 1998). When he was a boy, his family moved to western New York from Richford to Moravia and, in 1851, to Owego, where he attended Owego Academy. In 1853 his family bought a house in Strongsville, OH, a suburb near Cleveland, Ohio. At fifteen, John entered Central High School in Cleveland. He and his brother, William, lived in a house near their school. John joined the Erie Street Baptist Church, which later became the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, where he became a deacon at the age of nineteen and a trustee at the age of 21. He left high school in 1855 to take a business course at Folsom Mercantile College, completing the six-month course in three months. Image File history File links John_D._Rockefeller_aged_18_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_17090. ... Image File history File links John_D._Rockefeller_aged_18_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_17090. ... Richford is a town located in Tioga County, New York. ... William Avery Rockefeller (November 13, 1810 - May 11, 1906) was the father of American oil tycoon, John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 - May 23, 1937). ... November 13 is the 317th day of the year (318th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 48 days remaining. ... 1810 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years). ... 1813 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... March 28 is the 87th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (88th in leap years). ... 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Capital Limoges Area 16,942 km² Regional President Jean-Paul Denanot Population  - 2004 estimate  - 1999 census  - Density 710,939 42/km² Arrondissements 8 Cantons 106 Communes 747 Départements Corrèze Creuse Haute-Vienne Limousin is a former province of France and now a region of France, around the city... Strongsville is a city located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. ... Nickname The Forest City Motto Progress and Prosperity Location Location in Cuyahoga County, Ohio Government Country State County United States Ohio Cuyahoga Mayor Frank G. Jackson (D) Geographical characteristics Area  - City    - Land    - Water 213. ... Euclid Avenue is a commonly found name applied to streets in American cities; however Cleveland, Ohio’s Euclid Avenue set the standard for the nation from the 1860s to the 1920s for beauty and sheer wealth. ...

After six weeks of looking for a job, the 16-year-old Rockefeller finally found employment as an apprentice bookkeeper at Hewitt & Tuttle, commission merchants and produce shippers, for 50 cents a day. His seriousness, diligence, and honesty led to steadily increasing responsibilities and pay over the next two years. Nevertheless, Rockefeller reached the point where he felt he was no longer getting paid according to his contribution and, in 1859, left to form his own produce commission business with a partner, Maurice Clark. Clark & Rockefeller quickly became a successful firm, and its partners accumulated enough capital to invest in other Cleveland businesses. In 1863, they invested in an oil refinery with chemist Samuel Andrews. Samuel Andrews (1836-1904) was a chemist and inventor. ...

Rockefeller married Laura Celestia ("Cettie") Spelman (September 22, 1839-March 12, 1915), on September 8, 1864 in Cleveland. The couple had four daughters and a son. The eldest daughter, Bessie (1866-1906), married Charles Strong, a philosopher. The second daughter, Alice (1869-1870), died in infancy. Alta (1871-1962), married E. Parmalee Prentice, a lawyer. The youngest daughter, Edith (1872-1932), married Harold Fowler McCormick, a friend of John, Jr., and son of Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the mechanical harvesting reaper. His only son, John D., Jr. (1874-1960), married the daughter of the most powerful leader in the Senate, Nelson W. Aldrich, and eventually inherited much of the family fortune and continued his father's philanthropic work. September 22 is the 265th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (266th in leap years). ... 1839 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in Leap years). ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years). ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Elizabeth Bessie Rockefeller Strong (1866–1906) was the oldest child of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) and his wife Laura Celestia Cettie Spelman (1839–1915). ... Alta Rockefeller Prentice (1871–1962) was the third daughter of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) and his wife Laura Celestia Cettie Spelman (1839–1915). ... Edith Rockefeller McCormick (1872–1937) was an American socialite and opera patron. ... Harold Fowler McCormick (1872–1941) was chairman of the board of International Harvester Company. ... Cyrus Hall McCormick (February 15, 1809 - May 13, 1884) of Virginia was an Irish American farmer, inventor, businessman, marketer, and newspaper editor. ... John D. Rockefeller Jr. ... Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich (November 6, 1841 - April 16, 1915) was an American politician. ...

In 1865 Rockefeller had gotten so involved in the oil business, and was so confident of its future growth, that he sold out his share of the commission business to his partner Clark, then applied the proceeds toward a significant investment in another refinery, and formed the partnership of Rockefeller & Andrews. Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was a business concern formed in 1867 in Cleveland, Ohio which was a predecessor of the Standard Oil organization. ...

At about the same time Rockefeller's brother, William Rockefeller, started another refinery. In 1867, Rockefeller & Andrews absorbed this business, and Henry M. Flagler joined the partnership, forming Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler. In 1870, the two Rockefellers, Andrews, Flagler, and a silent partner, Stephen V. Harkness, formed the Standard Oil Company, with John D. Rockefeller as president. William Rockefeller (May 31, 1841-June 24, 1922), American financier, was a cofounder of the prominent United States Rockefeller family. ... Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was a United States tycoon, real estate promoter, railroad developer and Rockefeller partner. ... Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was a business concern formed in 1867 in Cleveland, Ohio which was a predecessor of the Standard Oil organization. ... Stephen Harkness was an American bussinessman who ate snails and chili dogs and invested along with the oil titan, John D. Rockefeller, Sr. ... Standard Oil (1870–1911) was a large, integrated, oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing organization. ...

Standard Oil

John D. Rockefeller ca. 1875

By the early 1870s, Cleveland had become established as one of the five main refining centers in the U.S. (besides Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and the region in northwestern Pennsylvania where most of the oil originated), and Standard Oil had established itself as the most profitable refiner in Cleveland. When it was found out that at least part of Standard Oil's cost advantage came from secret rebates from the railroads bringing oil into and out of Cleveland, the competing refiners insisted on getting similar rebates, and the railroads quickly complied. By then, however, Standard Oil had grown to become one of the largest shippers of oil and kerosene in the country. File links The following pages link to this file: John D. Rockefeller Categories: U.S. history images ... File links The following pages link to this file: John D. Rockefeller Categories: U.S. history images ...

The railroads were competing fiercely for traffic and, in an attempt to create a cartel to 'stabilize' freight rates, formed the South Improvement Company. Rockefeller agreed to support this cartel if they gave him preferential treatment as a high volume shipper which included not just steep rebates for his product, but also rebates for the shipment of competing products. Part of this scheme was the announcement of sharply increased freight charges, which touched off a firestorm of protest which eventually led to the discovery of Standard Oil's part of 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 the railroads soon backed off. The South Improvement Company was a Pennsylvania corporation in 1871-1872. ... Charles Pratt and Company was formed in Brooklyn, New York in the United States by Charles Pratt and Henry H. Rogers in 1867. ... Charles Pratt Charles Pratt (2 October, 1830 - 4 May, 1891) was a United States capitalist, businessman and philanthropist. ... Henry Huttleston Rogers (January 29, 1840 – May 19, 1909) was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. ...

Undeterred, Rockefeller continued with his self-reinforcing cycle of buying competing refiners, improving the efficiency of his operations, pressing for discounts on oil shipments, undercutting his competition, and buying them out. In six weeks in 1872, Standard Oil had absorbed 22 of his 26 Cleveland competitors. Eventually, even his former antagonists, Pratt and Rogers saw the futility of continuing to compete against Standard Oil, and, in 1874, they made a secret agreement with their old nemesis to be acquired. 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 (1858-1913) 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, then make them a decent offer. If they refused his offer, he told them he would run them into bankruptcy, then cheaply buy up their assets at auction. Most capitulated.

Monopoly

Standard Oil gradually gained almost complete control of oil production in America. At that time, many legislatures had made it difficult to incorporate in one state and operate in another. As a result, Rockefeller and his partners owned separate companies across dozens of states, making their management of the whole enterprise rather unwieldy. In 1882, Rockefeller's lawyers created an innovative form of partnership to centralize their holdings, giving birth to the Standard Oil Trust. The partnership's size and wealth drew much attention. 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 percent over the life of the company), Standard Oil's business practices created intense controversy. The firm was attacked by journalists and politicians throughout its existence, giving momentum to the anti-trust movement. It has been suggested that coercive monopoly be merged into this article or section. ... Media:Example. ...

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. Tarbell was a leading muckraker. Although her work prompted a huge backlash against the company, Tarbell claims to have been 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 rich 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.) Ida Tarbell Ida Minerva Tarbell (November 5, 1857 - January 6, 1944) was an American author and journalist, known as one of the leading muckrakers. ... McClures Magazine (cover, Jan, 1901) published many early muckraker articles. ... The South Improvement Company was a Pennsylvania corporation in 1871-1872. ...

JDR as industrial emperor, 1901 cartoon from Puck magazine

Ohio was especially vigorous in applying its state anti-trust laws, and finally forced a separation of Standard Oil of Ohio from the rest of the company in 1892, leading to the dissolution of the trust. Rockefeller continued to consolidate his oil interests as best as he could until New Jersey, in 1899, changed its incorporation laws to effectively allow a re-creation of the trust in the form of a single holding company. At its peak, Standard Oil had about 90 percent of the market for kerosene products. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (563x873, 105 KB) Summary 1907 US cartoon from Puck Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (563x873, 105 KB) Summary 1907 US cartoon from Puck Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ...

By 1896, Rockefeller had shed all of his policy involvement in the affairs of Standard Oil; he retained his nominal title as president until 1911, and he kept his stock. In 1911, the Supreme Court of the United States held that Standard Oil, which by then still held a 64% market share, 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; Standard of Indiana, which became Amoco; Standard of California, which became Chevron; Standard of New Jersey, which became Esso (and later, Exxon); Standard of New York, which became Mobil; and Standard of Ohio, which became Sohio. Rockefeller, who had rarely sold shares, owned stock in all of them. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the judicial branch of the United States federal government. ... Categories: Companies traded on NYSE | Corporation stubs | Oil companies of the United States | Fortune 500 companies | Companies based in Texas ... Amoco Oil Corporation was founded in 1889 by John Rockefeller and first incorporated as Standard Oil of Indiana, formed from the breakup of gasoline giant Standard Oil. ... Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) is one of the worlds largest global energy companies. ... An Esso Station in Toronto Esso in Higashi-Osaka Esso is an international trade name used by ExxonMobil and its related companies. ... Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), headquartered in Irving, Texas, is an oil producer and distributor formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. ... Mobil is a major oil company which merged with the Exxon Corporation in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. ... Standard Oil of Ohio or Sohio was an American oil company that was acquired by British Petroleum, now part of BP. It was one of the successor companies to Standard Oil after the antitrust breakup in 1911. ...

Philanthropy

From his very first paycheck, Rockefeller tithed ten percent of his earnings to his church. As his 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 T. Gates after 1891, and, after 1897, also by his son. Frederick T. Gates (1853-1929) was a leading American philanthropist and the main philanthropic advisor to John D. Rockefeller from 1891 to 1912. ...

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."^[2] The Efficiency Movement was a major dimension of the Progressive Era in the United States. ...

JDR philanthropy was attacked as "tainted money"; 1910 Puck cartoon shows him purifying it through a foundation

He and his advisors invented the conditional grant that 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 coöperation."^[3] Image File history File links PURE$$.JPG Summary 1908 Puck cartoon (US) Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ... Image File history File links PURE$$.JPG Summary 1908 Puck cartoon (US) Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ...

In 1884, he provided major funding for a college in Atlanta for black women, that became Spelman College (named for Rockefeller's in-laws who were ardent abolitionists before the Civil War). This article is about the abolition of slavery. ...

Rockefeller gave $80 million to the University of Chicago under William Rainey Harper, turning a small Baptist College into a world-class institution by 1900. His General Education Board, founded in 1902, was established to promote education at all levels everywhere in the country. It was especially active in supporting black schools in the South. Its most dramatic impact came funding the recommendations of the Flexner Report of 1910, which had been funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; it revolutionized the study of medicine in the United States The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. ... William Rainey Harper ( 1856- 1906) Noted academic; organizer and first President of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. ... The General Education Board was a philanthopy created by John D. Rockefeller and Frederick T. Gates in 1902. ... The Flexner Report, written by the professional educator Abraham Flexner (1866-1959), advocated radical change in the way medical schools were run in Canada and the United States. ... Carnagie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an Act of Congress. ...

Despite his personal preference for homeopathy, Rockefeller, on Gates's advice, became one of the first great benefactors of medical science. In 1901, he founded the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City. It changed its name to Rockefeller University in 1965, after expanding its mission to include graduate education. It claims a connection to 23 Nobel laureates. He founded the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission in 1909, an organization that eventually eradicated the hookworm disease that had long plagued the South. The Rockefeller Foundation was created in 1913 to continue and expand the scope the work of the Sanitary Commission, which was closed in 1915. He gave nearly $250 million to the Foundation, which focused on public health, medical training, and the arts. It endowed Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, the first of its kind. It built the Peking Union Medical College into a great institution; it helped in war relief, 1914-16; it employed William Lyons Mackenzie King of Canada to study industrial relations. Rockefeller's fourth main philanthropy, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation, created in 1918, supported work in the social studies; it was later absorbed in the Rockefeller Foundation. All told, Rockefeller gave away about $550 million. Rockefeller University is a private university focusing primarily on graduate education and research in the biomedical fields, located between 63rd and 68th street on York Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan island in New York City, New York. ... The hookworm is a nematode parasite that lives in the small intestine of its host, which may be a mammal such as a dog, cat, or human. ... The Rockefeller Foundation is a charitable organization based in New York City. ...

Oddly enough, Rockefeller was probably best known in his later life for the practice of giving a dime to children wherever he went. He even gave dimes as a playful gesture to men like tire mogul Harvey Firestone and President Hoover. During The Great Depression, Rockefeller switched to giving nickels instead of dimes. Harvey Samuel Firestone (December 20, 1868 - February 7, 1938) was the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, one of the first global makers of automobile tires and an important contributor to North American economic growth in the 20th century. ... Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964), the 31st President of the United States (1929-1933), was a successful mining engineer, humanitarian, and administrator. ... The Great Depression was a global economic slump that began in 1929 and bottomed in 1933. ...

Legacy

As a youth, Rockefeller allegedly said that his two great ambitions were to make $100,000 and to live 100 years. He died on May 23, 1937, 26 months shy of this 100th birthday, at the Casements, his home in Ormond Beach, Florida. He was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland. The Casements in Rockefellers day; courtesy of the Florida Photographic Collection The Casements is a building in Ormond Beach constructed in 1910 by the Reverend Harwood Huntington, husband of a Pullman heiress. ... Ormond Beach is a city located in Volusia County, Florida. ... Lakeview Cemetary, Cleveland, Ohio Founded in 1869, Lake View Cemetery sits on 285 acres (1. ...

Rockefeller had a long and controversial career in 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 also 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."^[4]

Biographer Ron Chernow wrote of Rockefeller:

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."^[5]

Notwithstanding these varied aspects of his public life, Rockefeller may ultimately be 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 wealth that year of $101 billion. His wealth grew significantly after as the demand for gasoline soared, eventually reaching about $900 million, including significant interests in banking, shipping, mining, railroads, and other industries. 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. Rockefeller's net worth over the last decades of his life would easily place him among the very wealthiest persons in history. As a percentage of the United States economy, no other American fortune, not Bill Gates's or Sam Walton's, would even come close. William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is the co-founder, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, the worlds largest software company (as of June 2006). ... Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 6, 1992) was the founder of the giant American retailers Wal-Mart and Sams Club. ...

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. Grandson David Rockefeller was a leading New York banker, serving for over 20 years as CEO of Chase Manhattan (now the retail financial services arm of JP Morgan Chase). Another grandson, Nelson A. Rockefeller, was Republican governor of New York and the 41st Vice President of the United States. A third grandson, Winthrop Rockefeller, served as Republican Governor of Arkansas. Great-grandson, John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV is currently a Democratic Senator from West Virginia. David Rockefeller (born 15 June 1915) is an American banker, and the son and grandson, respectively, of oil tycoons John D. Rockefeller, Jr. ... Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 - January 26, 1979) was a Governor of New York and the 41st Vice President of the United States of America from December 19, 1974 to January 20, 1977. ... The Vice President of the United States is the second-highest executive official of the United States government. ... Winthrop Rockefeller (1 May 1912 – 22 February 1973), a member of the prominent United States Rockefeller family, was a politician and philanthropist who served as the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. ... This is a list of governors of Arkansas. ... John Davison Rockefeller IV (born on June 18, 1937), generally known as Jay Rockefeller, has served as a Democratic U.S. Senator from West Virginia since 1985. ...

Rockefeller has passed into popular culture as the embodiment of wealth. Oysters Rockefeller was named for him because the dish was so 'rich'. The Rockefeller family was a major benefactor in funding the reconstruction effort in France after World War I. As a consequence, Rockefeller (along with the Rothschilds) was considered in that country the canonical billionaire--synonymous with extreme wealth. John Rockerduck is a Disney character popular in Europe who is a foil to other well-known rich duck, the avaricious Scrooge McDuck. Oysters Rockefeller is a shell-fish dish created by the founder of the New Orleans institution Antoines, Jules Alciatore. ... Combatants Allies: Serbia, Russia, France, Romania, Belgium, British Empire, United States, Italy, and others Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire Casualties Military dead: 5 million Civilian deaths: 3 million Total of dead: 8 million Military dead: 4 million Civilian deaths: 3 million Total dead: 7 million The First... Rothschild Coat of Arms The Mayer Amschel Rothschild family (often referred to simply as The Rothschilds, even though there are some people called Rothschild who do not belong to this family) is an eminent international banking and finance dynasty of German Jewish origin that established operations across Europe, and was... A billionaire is a person who has a net worth or wealth of or more than one billion United States dollars or euros. ... John D. Rockerduck John D. Rockerduck is a fictional character from the Scrooge McDuck Universe. ... Alternate meanings: Disney (disambiguation) The Walt Disney Company (also known as Disney Enterprises, Inc. ... Scrooge McDuck or Uncle Scrooge is a fictional character who first appeared in Dell Comics Four Color Comics #178 Christmas on Bear Mountain in December 1947. ...

See also

• List of America's richest people

This is a list of Americas richest people (so far only men) who at some time in their lives could have been considered the wealthiest person in the United States. ...

References

1. ^ Top 10 Richest Men Of All Time
2. ^ [Rockefeller, 168]
3. ^ [Rockefeller p 183]
4. ^ [Latham p 104]
5. ^ [Chernow, Ron. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. 1998]

• Chernow, Ron. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (1998). ISBN 0679438084.
• Folsom, Jr., Burton W. The Myth of the Robber Barons. (1996)
• Hidy, Ralph W. and Muriel E. Hidy. Pioneering in Big Business, 1882-1911: History of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) (1955)
• Knowlton, Evelyn H. and George S. Gibb. History of Standard Oil Company: Resurgent Years 1911-1927 (1956)
• Latham, Earl ed. John D. Rockefeller: Robber Baron or Industrial Statesman? (1949)
• Morris, Charles R. The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy 2005 ISBN 0805075992
• Nevins, Allan. Study in Power: John D. Rockefeller, industrialist and philanthropist (1954).
• Tarbell, Ida M. The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904)
• Rockefeller, John D.; Random Reminiscences of Men and Events (1933)
• Williamson, Harold F. and Arnold R. Daum. The American Petroleum Industry: The Age of Illumination, 1859-1899 (1959), also vol 2, American Petroleum Industry: the Age of Energy 1899-1959 (1964), economic history

External links

• The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida Tarbell, full text, HTML
• Timeline of the Rockefeller family history since his birth
• A genealogy of his family
• John D. Rockefeller in United States Census Records
• Illustrated article about John D Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company
• Works by John D. Rockefeller at Project Gutenberg