When adjusted for inflation, who is the wealthiest American ever?
QUESTION OF THE DAY
DECEMBER 31, 2020
With a fortune of somewhere between $400-660 billion when adjusted for inflation, oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller is the wealthiest person in U.S. history. His was not a rags-to-riches story. Rockefeller came from a fairly prosperous, intelligent immigrant family. It is the height of his wealth that is astounding as well as the long-standing cultural influence that the family wields.
Fun Facts about the Rockefeller Family
1. John D Rockefeller moved around a lot as a child
Rockefeller’s father was a business man, but more of a traveling con man. Known as “Doc Rockefeller,” he travelled the country selling an herbal remedy. As a youth, Rockefeller was constantly at work. Besides chores, he would also raise turkeys and sell potatoes in order to make what little money he could. Rockefeller’s family moved several times during his youth (given his dad’s scandalous lifestyle of scamming and bigamy, we’re not too surprised by that). In 1853, the family settled in Strongsville, Ohio. Rockefeller went to Central High School in Cleveland. Interestingly, Central High School was not only the first high school to be built in Cleveland, it was also “the first free public high school west of the Alleghenies.”
In 1855, at the tender age of sixteen, Rockefeller began working as an assistant bookkeeper at a produce commission firm known as Hewitt & Tuttle. Rockefeller became very efficient in money-saving measures and took genuine joy out of learning as much about the business as possible
2. John D Rockefeller was extremely religious
Rockefeller’s own father was more of a religious hypocrite than an example, and perhaps this is what motivated Rockefeller to adopt a truly pious and religous lifestyle.
John D Rockefeller taught Sunday school, served as a trustee, clerk and occasional janitor at the Erie Street Baptist Mission Church in Cleveland. He remained totally abstinent from both alcohol and tobacco for his entire life.
3. He bought his way out of the Civil War
When the US Civil War broke out in 1861, Rockefeller was only twenty-two years old. However, he was already well into his professional career as an accountant and had gone into business with his partner, Maurice B. Clark. While Rockefeller’s brother, Frank, fought in the war, Rockefeller hired substitute soldiers to avoid having to fight himself. As a result, he was able to stay out of the war and keep running his profitable business.
He was outspoken, however, in his views around the Civil War. Rockefeller was a noted abolitionist, which led him to support the newly-formed Republican Party for their anti-slavery stance under President Abraham Lincoln.
4. With every great man, there is a great woman
Rockefeller first met Laura Spelman when they were in accounting classes together at Cleveland. After this, Spelman would return to New England in order to study at the Oread Institute, hoping to become a schoolteacher. She returned to Ohio and married Rockefeller in 1864. During their marriage, she was a constant source of support and advice to Rockefeller, and she was a noted philanthropist in her own right. The women’s college in Atlanta known as Spelman College was named after her. In keeping with her abolitionist beliefs, the college was founded to educate black women in a time when the major institutions forbade them to attend. Spelman and Rockefeller would remain married until her death in 1915.
5. The Rockefellers made their money in oil
By the late 1870’s, the Rockefeller’s Standard Oil controlled 90% of the US oil refining industry.
The original M&M packaging was in small cardbord tubes (see the photo above). These were durable and many of the soldiers would put the candy in their pocket for a quick pick-me-up. When the soldiers returned from the war, many sought out M&Ms at their local markets and fueled the continued surge in demand for the candy. It wasn’t until 1950 that Mars introduced the small brown bag simliar to the packaging of M&Ms today.
6. They gave away a LOT of money
John D Rockefeller made a lot of money, and he gave away a lot of money. Whether their philanthropy was motivated out of a guilt for the societal woes that some of their business practices inflicted – or if it was motivated out of an idea to improve society – is a matter for debate. As a child, Rockefeller was encouraged by his mother to give what few pennies he had to charity. The church that Rockefeller attended put a heavy emphasis on charity as well, with one minister reportedly urging Rockefeller to make as much money as he could to give as much of it away again. This early education gave Rockefeller the idea that his financial success was a gift from God so that he could give that money back to his society.
But what is not up for debate is the positive impact that the Rockefellers were able to make with their money. In today’s dollars, the Rockefeller Foundation has given away about $14 billion dollars. Founded in 1913, as per Rockefeller’s own wishes, the foundation has focused on pushing the arts, medical science, and public health. It has been instrumental in helping to eradicate hookworm, a parasitic infection that was rampant in the early 20th century. Among the many, many public works and buildings for which the foundation is known, the Union Church with its Matisse and Chagall windows, the amazing Stone Barns Center, and the Rockefeller State Park Preserve are some of the most notable.
In his later years, John D Rockefeller also liked to give dimes to adults he would encounter and nickels to children. Sometimes, this was done with a sense of humor, like when he gave fellow billionaire Harvey Firestone a dime.
7. The family spent its money well
By 1937, the Rockefeller wealth accounted for 1.5% of the United States GDP. To put that in perspective, Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man in 2019, was Jeff Bezos was worth around 0.006% of the total United States GDP. So what do you do when you have THAT much money? You buy a lot of property.
A few of the family properites include:
- Rockefeller Plaza – this iconic plaza in Midtown Manhattan was originally part of a much larger parcel that the family owned. It remained under the family’s control until David Rockefeller sold the remaining stake to Tishman Speyer Properties in 2001 for $1.85B.
- The original World Trade Centers – David and Ryan Rockefeller were involved in the development of the Twin Towers in Manhattan’s original World Trade Center complex. The Rockefellers formed the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association in 1959 and the project was developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
- Kykuit – The Rockefeller Estate, known as Kykuit, was constructed during the early 1900s by John D. Rockefeller when he was still the richest man in the world thanks to his Standard Oil business. Rockefeller’s 3,400-acre estate overlooks the Hudson Valley river. The six-story home has 40 rooms, 20 bedrooms and more than 100 works of art in a gallery. The home was turned over to the public in 1994 and is a national landmark.
- Their beautiful Manhattan home on the Upper East Side
- “Hudson Pines,” the country home set on 75 acres in Westchester County
- “Ringing Point,” the summer home in Seal Harbor, Maine
- “Four Winds,” the Norman-style farmstead in Columbia County, New York
8. The family has continued to thrive
John D Rockefeller would have one son (John Davison Rockefeller Jr.) and four daughters (Elizabeth, Alice, Edith, and Alta). His descendants have continued to hold prestigious positions within American society. These include John Davison Rockefeller IV, who served as governor of West Virginia and served thirty years as a US senator. And of course, Nelson Rockefeller who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977, and previously as the 49th governor of New York from 1959 to 1973
Likewise, grandson Laurence Rockefeller was a renowned convervationist and, together with his accomplished wife, donated hundreds of acres to the federal government and also rebuilt the town of Woodstock, Vermont, routinely named one of the most picturesque towns in America. He took great personal pride in both the Woodstock Inn and the Billings Farm, a dairy farm and national park that is in production to this day.