James B. Brady's Successful Career

Born August 12th, 1856, James Buchanan Brady was raised in a poor working class section of New York City with very little money to his family's name. James Brady grew up working as a bellhop in his father's dingy saloon , with little food to eat, hunger was not an uncommon feeling in the Brady household. Brady resented his father as a child and did not agree with who his father welcomed in the saloon and the business they did together. Brady soon ran away, and within a few years he found his first real job as a equipment salesman for the New York Central Railroad Company. The life of a salesman suited Brady very well and would start his outstanding career as a charming, and ostentatious businessman. As a man Brady was a symbolic figure of the
“Gilded Age.” His life also told the commonly wished for story of rags to riches and the luxurious life he lived would be a life any American at the time dreamed to live. At the age of 21 Brady became chief assistant to the manager of New York Central Railroad company.
“He developed into an extremely effective salesman, becoming very charming, affable and personable. Over the years he earned a reputation of being able to sell anything to anyone.”(Historyspaces.com). By the age of 23 Brady’s talents would catch the attention of a Railroad company Manning, Maxwell,and Moore and he would soon became a figurehead for the company and develop an extremely reputable career as a salesman. At often times Brady was referred to as the “Super-Salesman” , his success as a salesman and the investments he put into companies led him to a superfluous amount of money,and by the age of 30 he decided to retire. Brady did not need to worry about how much he spent on anything, and this carried him into a life of flamboyancy and
leisure. When retired Brady loved three things in life food,diamonds,and his new girlfriend Lillian Russell.
Brady became a very ostentatious man always wearing hundreds of diamonds on his clothes he soon picked up the nickname Diamond Jim Brady. It was said that “When strolling along Broadway in the evening it was estimated that he was wearing on his body approximately 2,500 diamonds.”(Historyspaces.com). Along with diamonds Brady adored food, him and Russell would have a plethora of food showcased on their dining table during every meal. The ironic part of his obsession with food was that as a kid struggling, he had no food and this could be why as a rich man he is obsessed with it now.One restaurant owner referred to Brady as “The best 25 customers I have ever had.” With every feast Brady would down a gallon of orange juice because he oddly did not drink alcohol. Brady could be a spokesperson for the saying “Go Big or Go Home.” Everything he did, he went big it was said that as he walked down the street beams of light would reflect off his diamonds and it looked as if he was glowing. “He sported a cane that had a 3 carat diamond embedded in the knob of its head. He wore what was considered the largest diamond rings in the city of New York.”(Historyspaces.com). Brady represented the dream of rags to riches, born a poor man and soon becoming one of the richest men in New York, but his flamboyant lifestyle led him to became more a symbol of the “Gilded
Age.” Mark Twain coined the term “Gilded Age” in one of his stories and it means that America appeared to be an amazing journey for everyone and if immigrants came here they would succeed. From the outside America looked amazing, but in reality for the majority of the people who lived there they lived in destitution. These people did not have that much money or food and instead of these hard working poor men being portrayed as the symbol of America people like Diamond Jim Brady became symbols of working Americans. Brady was a multimillionaire and very flashy with his fortune, most people did not live like this though, and him being the symbol of America could be described as gilded. When looking at America you see Jim Brady and it makes people think gold, money,and diamonds, but in reality the majority of Americans were common men,and hard working people. To say that James Buchanan Brady impacted society significantly would be a lie. Brady did not make any differences or break any barriers of his generation. Although Brady did not impact American society, he did reflect the social problems going on during this “Gilded Age” , he reflected how society tried to avoid these problems and make it seem like everybody lived this luxurious lifestyle . Unfortunately, James Buchanan Brady died in 1917 at the age of 61 some say he ate himself to death. “ He died in his sleep of either a stroke or heart attack. An autopsy revealed that his stomach had been stretched to 5-6 times its normal size.”(Historyspaces.com). Brady’s life of luxury had finally caught up with him and his million dollar appetite could be called an accomplice to his demise.