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John D. Rockefeller & Standard Oil

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john d rockefeller king of standard oil
00:00:06.279 00:00:06.289 vilified as a ruthless predator as evil
00:00:09.560 00:00:09.570 incarnate he had created an industrial
00:00:12.380 00:00:12.390 empire and a personal fortune on a scale
00:00:15.320 00:00:15.330 the world had never known
00:00:18.760 00:00:18.770 in the drama of the Rockefellers John
00:00:21.460 00:00:21.470 Dee jr. was cast in an almost impossible
00:00:24.279 00:00:24.289 role
00:00:26.900 00:00:26.910 in his quest for redemption and
00:00:28.909 00:00:28.919 respectability John D jr. would push his
00:00:32.150 00:00:32.160 family to the pinnacle of American power
00:00:36.369 00:00:36.379 while his sons will reach for the
00:00:38.689 00:00:38.699 highest prize the presidency
00:00:42.380 00:00:42.390 and provoke a new generations rage and
00:00:45.050 00:00:45.060 hostility
00:00:47.370 00:00:47.380 for more than a century the Rockefellers
00:00:49.110 00:00:49.120 wealth and influence have attracted both
00:00:51.000 00:00:51.010 attention and suspicion
00:00:54.730 00:00:54.740 and threatened to tear the family apart
00:00:59.619 00:00:59.629 why do we want to preserve this part why
00:01:02.860 00:01:02.870 do we want to devote our lives to
00:01:05.350 00:01:05.360 maintaining all these institutions that
00:01:07.510 00:01:07.520 have been created by the family what is
00:01:10.749 00:01:10.759 the purpose of all of this john d
00:01:13.180 00:01:13.190 rockefeller founder of Standard Oil was
00:01:15.550 00:01:15.560 the most hated man in America described
00:01:18.850 00:01:18.860 as monstrous evil cruel
00:01:23.850 00:01:23.860 a Baptist preacher once encouraged him
00:01:26.130 00:01:26.140 to make as much money as he could then
00:01:28.800 00:01:28.810 give away as much as he could
00:01:32.390 00:01:32.400 it was at this moment Rockefeller later
00:01:35.520 00:01:35.530 recalled that the financial plan of my
00:01:38.220 00:01:38.230 life was formed I did not go to any
00:01:42.930 00:01:42.940 small establishments in call I was after
00:01:45.930 00:01:45.940 something big
00:01:50.630 00:01:50.640 only a year later the something big he
00:01:53.700 00:01:53.710 was looking for him surfaced in the
00:01:55.890 00:01:55.900 backwoods of Pennsylvania oil to grease
00:02:01.770 00:02:01.780 the wheels of America's infant
00:02:03.450 00:02:03.460 industries
00:02:05.410 00:02:05.420 oil to fuel an explosion of growth
00:02:09.760 00:02:09.770 [Music]
00:02:11.770 00:02:11.780 news of the discovery Unleashed
00:02:13.630 00:02:13.640 pandemonium as thousands of speculators
00:02:15.850 00:02:15.860 descended upon the region
00:02:19.620 00:02:19.630 overnight wildcatters stripped away
00:02:21.810 00:02:21.820 whole forests and put up thousands of
00:02:24.390 00:02:24.400 rickety Derrick's hoping to strike black
00:02:26.790 00:02:26.800 gold
00:02:30.180 00:02:30.190 as the oil gushed skyward fantastic
00:02:33.180 00:02:33.190 stories appeared of instant fortunes he
00:02:39.030 00:02:39.040 was no wildcatter he saw that drilling
00:02:41.820 00:02:41.830 for oil was a very risky business
00:02:47.000 00:02:47.010 refining not drilling he decided was
00:02:50.340 00:02:50.350 where the steady money was to be made
00:02:54.890 00:02:54.900 soon a new rail line linked Cleveland
00:02:57.380 00:02:57.390 with the oil region
00:03:01.010 00:03:01.020 Rockefeller built his refinery right
00:03:03.300 00:03:03.310 beside it
00:03:06.830 00:03:06.840 it was one of the first in the city to
00:03:08.930 00:03:08.940 produce kerosene the new fuel for lamps
00:03:11.780 00:03:11.790 that was cheap and clean
00:03:15.630 00:03:15.640 the poor man's light as John Dee called
00:03:18.090 00:03:18.100 it would bring a brilliant glow into
00:03:20.400 00:03:20.410 American homes
00:03:23.150 00:03:23.160 the soaring demand for it he was
00:03:25.070 00:03:25.080 convinced would make him rich obsessed
00:03:28.730 00:03:28.740 with the business of war he mastered
00:03:31.070 00:03:31.080 every detail developed new products to
00:03:33.740 00:03:33.750 sell by age 25 his refinery was one of
00:03:39.380 00:03:39.390 the largest in the world
00:03:43.960 00:03:43.970 he really mortgaged his life up to the
00:03:47.360 00:03:47.370 hilt he borrowed tens of thousands of
00:03:50.420 00:03:50.430 dollars which is the equivalent of
00:03:51.590 00:03:51.600 course of millions today he had the
00:03:54.650 00:03:54.660 strength of this vision that this was
00:03:57.230 00:03:57.240 where his destiny was and this is where
00:03:59.180 00:03:59.190 the destiny of this country was the
00:04:00.500 00:04:00.510 country was going to kind of ride to
00:04:02.840 00:04:02.850 greatness on this tidal wave of oil and
00:04:05.990 00:04:06.000 he constantly felt that he would
00:04:08.780 00:04:08.790 inevitably triumph in some fundamental
00:04:11.270 00:04:11.280 way
00:04:14.000 00:04:14.010 in a move that would transform the
00:04:16.530 00:04:16.540 American economy Rockefeller set out to
00:04:19.439 00:04:19.449 replace a world of independent oilmen
00:04:21.629 00:04:21.639 with a giant company controlled by him
00:04:27.320 00:04:27.330 in 1870 begging bankers for more loans
00:04:31.050 00:04:31.060 he formed Standard Oil of Ohio next year
00:04:38.520 00:04:38.530 he quietly put what he called our plan
00:04:41.370 00:04:41.380 his campaign to dominate the volatile
00:04:43.740 00:04:43.750 oil industry into devastating effect
00:04:49.129 00:04:49.139 entered into a secret alliance with the
00:04:51.020 00:04:51.030 railroads called the South improvement
00:04:52.939 00:04:52.949 company
00:04:56.060 00:04:56.070 in exchange for large regular shipments
00:04:58.870 00:04:58.880 Rockefeller and his allies secured
00:05:01.430 00:05:01.440 transport rates far lower than those of
00:05:03.620 00:05:03.630 their bewildered competitors what it
00:05:08.000 00:05:08.010 really represented was the face of
00:05:09.680 00:05:09.690 monopoly the image that was always used
00:05:12.650 00:05:12.660 was that of the Anaconda the squeezing
00:05:15.170 00:05:15.180 Python like grips of this economic snake
00:05:18.710 00:05:18.720 that was just taking individual
00:05:21.020 00:05:21.030 entrepreneurs and just putting them out
00:05:23.030 00:05:23.040 of business and reducing them to kind of
00:05:26.180 00:05:26.190 economic straight where they had no
00:05:27.620 00:05:27.630 alternative but to really to sell out to
00:05:30.170 00:05:30.180 sell out to the principles in this
00:05:31.610 00:05:31.620 conspiracy it was a conspiracy really it
00:05:35.090 00:05:35.100 was one of the first great economic
00:05:36.590 00:05:36.600 conspiracies in this country his brother
00:05:41.420 00:05:41.430 and business partner William
00:05:42.590 00:05:42.600 characterized the plan as war or peace
00:05:45.460 00:05:45.470 sell out to Standard Oil or suffer the
00:05:48.410 00:05:48.420 consequences
00:05:51.000 00:05:51.010 Rockefeller might create a shortage of
00:05:53.130 00:05:53.140 the railroad tank cars that transported
00:05:55.230 00:05:55.240 oil
00:05:58.090 00:05:58.100 he might go out and buy up all the
00:05:59.860 00:05:59.870 barrels on the market so a competitor
00:06:02.110 00:06:02.120 would have no place to store his own or
00:06:03.880 00:06:03.890 ship it
00:06:07.370 00:06:07.380 he would even buy up all the available
00:06:09.320 00:06:09.330 chemicals that were necessary to refine
00:06:11.930 00:06:11.940 away
00:06:15.840 00:06:15.850 Rockefeller instructed standard oil men
00:06:18.330 00:06:18.340 to communicate in code the company was
00:06:23.460 00:06:23.470 nicknamed club john d rockefeller was
00:06:27.900 00:06:27.910 referred to as chowder
00:06:30.040 00:06:30.050 00:06:31.500 00:06:31.510 many of Rockefellers targets had no idea
00:06:34.200 00:06:34.210 that the local refiners who were
00:06:35.670 00:06:35.680 slashing prices and acting like
00:06:37.710 00:06:37.720 competitors were actually part of
00:06:40.080 00:06:40.090 Rockefellers growing empire in just two
00:06:45.060 00:06:45.070 months he had taken over 22 of the 26
00:06:48.480 00:06:48.490 cleveland refineries revealing the
00:06:51.180 00:06:51.190 single-minded drive it would make him
00:06:53.460 00:06:53.470 both the wonder and the terror of
00:06:55.320 00:06:55.330 american business
00:07:01.730 00:07:01.740 methodically secretly john d rockefeller
00:07:05.240 00:07:05.250 was doing more than transforming a
00:07:06.860 00:07:06.870 single industry he was changing forever
00:07:10.219 00:07:10.229 the way american did business
00:07:15.270 00:07:15.280 the day of combination is here to stay
00:07:17.790 00:07:17.800 he defend individualism has gone never
00:07:21.660 00:07:21.670 to return
00:07:25.429 00:07:25.439 by 1879 mine Rockefeller is 40 he
00:07:28.999 00:07:29.009 controls 90% of the oil refining in the
00:07:32.059 00:07:32.069 world within a few years he will control
00:07:34.399 00:07:34.409 90% of the marketing of oil and a third
00:07:37.429 00:07:37.439 of all of the oil wells so this very
00:07:39.709 00:07:39.719 young man controls what is not only a
00:07:42.409 00:07:42.419 national but an international monopoly
00:07:45.249 00:07:45.259 in a commodity that is about to become
00:07:47.989 00:07:47.999 the most important strategic commodity
00:07:50.239 00:07:50.249 in the world economy
00:07:55.410 00:07:55.420 in 1883 Rockefeller moved his family to
00:07:58.710 00:07:58.720 New York the center of America's
00:08:01.020 00:08:01.030 burgeoning industrial economy
00:08:05.860 00:08:05.870 the king of Standard Oil now set out to
00:08:08.660 00:08:08.670 transform his company into something
00:08:10.790 00:08:10.800 bigger and more powerful than anything
00:08:13.160 00:08:13.170 the world had ever seen
00:08:17.230 00:08:17.240 Rockefeller reigned over a patchwork of
00:08:19.880 00:08:19.890 company's cumbersome to manage
00:08:23.380 00:08:23.390 it was looking for a way to skirt a law
00:08:25.660 00:08:25.670 that then prohibited combining the
00:08:28.060 00:08:28.070 operations of businesses in different
00:08:30.010 00:08:30.020 states
00:08:31.860 00:08:31.870 00:08:33.260 00:08:33.270 his solution was to have stockholders in
00:08:36.140 00:08:36.150 40 companies secretly trade in their
00:08:38.510 00:08:38.520 shares for certificates in the Standard
00:08:41.000 00:08:41.010 Oil Trust
00:08:42.520 00:08:42.530 00:08:44.950 00:08:44.960 the trust became a corporation of
00:08:47.490 00:08:47.500 corporations
00:08:50.720 00:08:50.730 Rockefeller had devised an ingenious
00:08:52.600 00:08:52.610 LegalShield
00:08:55.360 00:08:55.370 behind it he could command his vast
00:08:58.190 00:08:58.200 business empire smoothly and in complete
00:09:01.430 00:09:01.440 secrecy
00:09:06.930 00:09:06.940 in 1885 he moved Standard Oil into an
00:09:10.290 00:09:10.300 imposing granite fortress near Wall
00:09:12.150 00:09:12.160 Street 26 Broadway soon became the
00:09:16.890 00:09:16.900 world's most famous business address it
00:09:20.460 00:09:20.470 was also a hated symbol of a monopoly so
00:09:23.430 00:09:23.440 powerful that no law seemed able to
00:09:25.950 00:09:25.960 control it
00:09:27.760 00:09:27.770 Rockefeller saw himself as a prophet of
00:09:30.290 00:09:30.300 a new order he called it cooperation his
00:09:34.490 00:09:34.500 critics called it monopoly his company
00:09:38.390 00:09:38.400 would be the world's first great
00:09:39.740 00:09:39.750 multinational corporation efficient and
00:09:42.770 00:09:42.780 stable with vast economies of scale
00:09:48.460 00:09:48.470 Rockefeller had wanted to remain
00:09:50.410 00:09:50.420 invisible but he wielded such power that
00:09:54.190 00:09:54.200 he became a magnet for suspicion
00:09:58.050 00:09:58.060 hearings investigations and lawsuits
00:10:00.550 00:10:00.560 began to challenge the Standard Oil
00:10:02.770 00:10:02.780 Empire John Dee was called to testify in
00:10:07.090 00:10:07.100 one forum after another he was a kind of
00:10:11.410 00:10:11.420 difficult witness to kind of pin down
00:10:13.290 00:10:13.300 because on the one hand he was verbally
00:10:16.420 00:10:16.430 fairly clever actually and keen and in
00:10:19.330 00:10:19.340 terms of his ability kind of listening
00:10:21.250 00:10:21.260 to questions when he was being
00:10:23.230 00:10:23.240 investigated about the South improvement
00:10:24.760 00:10:24.770 company for instance one interrogator
00:10:27.910 00:10:27.920 said something about the southern
00:10:29.680 00:10:29.690 improvement company and he seized him on
00:10:32.110 00:10:32.120 that misnomer to say John Dee said I
00:10:34.360 00:10:34.370 wasn't part of that one reporter
00:10:39.700 00:10:39.710 described 26 Broadway as a cave for
00:10:42.940 00:10:42.950 pirates a den for the cutthroats of
00:10:45.550 00:10:45.560 commerce half of America seemed willing
00:10:48.010 00:10:48.020 to lynch Rockefeller the other half
00:10:50.680 00:10:50.690 wanted a loan by 1889 John Dee pegged
00:10:56.320 00:10:56.330 his fortune at more than forty million
00:10:57.970 00:10:57.980 dollars
00:10:58.860 00:10:58.870

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