Was John Rockefeller A Robber Baron Or A Captain Of Industry

John Davison Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839 and he would soon take the world by storm (“John). He and his five siblings were born into a humble, middle-class family in Richford, New York (“John). His mother, Eliza, was a devout baptist and her sole purpose in life was to raise her children, as designated by his father, William (“A). William Rockefeller was a traveling salesman and it is thought that this is where John learned the rules of the trade.
At the age of 19, Rockefeller and one of his associates opened up their own trading corporation where they would net $450,000 their first year 9 (“A). In 1863, John and his new associates went into the oil industry and opened their own company named “Standard Oil.” Within the first year they made around 40% profit (“John). This is when John knew that matters must be taken into his own hands in order to further expand his reach and his profits, so the next year, John bought out almost all of his associates and he gained majority control of the corporation (“John). By 1882, Standard Oil would produce 90% of the
In my personal opinion, the man is a Captain of Industry. While yes, he did put many other corporations out of business and he used underhanded trade tactics to get his way, John D. Rockefeller did more for this nation than perhaps anyone else in history. Well, what did he do? Rockefeller donated $530 million to various: charities, hospitals, medical research centers, schools libraries, the building of the University of Chicago, etc.. Furthermore, in today’s society Rockefeller’s $500 million would roughly be worth $8,622,571,428.57 (“Inflation). That’s right, over $8 billion. John D. Rockefeller donated over twice the amount he made himself to further develop the nation and help out his fellow Americans. Also, the Rockefeller family continues to donate their money to various charities even to this