Mixing Business and Charity

Did the captains of industry have a positive or negative impact on the public?

For the most part, the captains of industry had a positive impact on the American society.   Andrew Carnegie was an Irish philanthropist that invested a large amount of money in his successful steel industry. John Rockefeller, was a wealthy business man that was a supporter of the Union Army during the Civil War.

Carnegie and Rockefeller were also known as “robber barons”, men who bribed government officials, destroyed rival business, and built personal armies.  

Carnegie was born a poor Scottish man, and eventually became one of the richest Americans of his time by establishing himself in the steel business. Carnegie was a mostly well-liked man, and he also donated a lot of his money towards education, which included promoting the building of public libraries.

Rockefeller was not a very well-liked businessman, because he was known to take “immoral” risks.  With the ambition to become the richest American man, he helped start up his father’s oil business.  As he became more and more successful, he strived to create a monopoly in the oil industry, and did so by buying out other companies that were competing against him.  Many Americans considered his actions both unfair and greedy, but he did do some good deeds.  In Rockefeller’s lifetime, he donated about half a billion dollars to education funds and charities.  

After watching ABC-Clio videos on some of America’s most successful businessmen, I came to the conclusion that both Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller made a positive impact on society.

"John D. Rockefeller had to perform a delicate balancing act to maintain his reputation as a philanthropist while living the live of a wealthy businessman."
Political Cartoon of John Rockefeller
http://www.ushistory.org/us/36b.asp