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John D Rockefeller & The History of Standard Oil

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john d rockefeller king of standard oil
00:00:06.289 00:00:06.299 vilified as a ruthless predator as evil
00:00:09.600 00:00:09.610 incarnate he had created an industrial
00:00:12.390 00:00:12.400 empire and a personal fortune on a scale
00:00:15.329 00:00:15.339 the world had never known
00:00:18.800 00:00:18.810 in the drama of the Rockefellers John
00:00:21.500 00:00:21.510 Dee jr. was cast in an almost impossible
00:00:24.320 00:00:24.330 role
00:00:26.920 00:00:26.930 in his quest for redemption and
00:00:28.960 00:00:28.970 respectability John D jr. would push his
00:00:32.170 00:00:32.180 family to the pinnacle of American power
00:00:37.069 00:00:37.079 while his sons would reach for the
00:00:38.689 00:00:38.699 highest prize the presidency
00:00:42.390 00:00:42.400 and provoke a new generations rage and
00:00:45.060 00:00:45.070 hostility
00:00:47.380 00:00:47.390 for more than a century the Rockefellers
00:00:49.150 00:00:49.160 wealth and the influence have attracted
00:00:50.830 00:00:50.840 both attention and suspicion
00:00:54.549 00:00:54.559 and threatened to tear the family apart
00:00:59.630 00:00:59.640 why do we want to preserve this part why
00:01:02.900 00:01:02.910 do we want to devote our lives to
00:01:05.390 00:01:05.400 maintaining all these institutions that
00:01:07.610 00:01:07.620 have been created by the family what is
00:01:10.790 00:01:10.800 the purpose of all of this john d
00:01:13.219 00:01:13.229 rockefeller founder of Standard Oil was
00:01:15.590 00:01:15.600 the most hated man in America described
00:01:18.859 00:01:18.869 as monstrous evil cruel
00:01:23.910 00:01:23.920 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
00:01:32.480 00:01:32.490 it was at this moment Rockefeller later
00:01:35.550 00:01:35.560 recalled that the financial plan of my
00:01:38.249 00:01:38.259 life was formed I did not go to any
00:01:42.930 00:01:42.940 small establishments even called I was
00:01:45.749 00:01:45.759 after something big
00:01:50.640 00:01:50.650 only a year later but something big he
00:01:53.740 00:01:53.750 was looking for in the surfaced in the
00:01:55.780 00:01:55.790 backwoods of Pennsylvania foil to grease
00:02:01.870 00:02:01.880 the wheels of America's infant
00:02:03.460 00:02:03.470 industries
00:02:05.450 00:02:05.460 oil to fuel an explosion of growth
00:02:11.839 00:02:11.849 news of the discovery Unleashed
00:02:13.640 00:02:13.650 pandemonium as thousands of speculators
00:02:15.890 00:02:15.900 descended upon the region
00:02:19.640 00:02:19.650 overnight wildcatters stripped away
00:02:21.830 00:02:21.840 whole forests and put up thousands of
00:02:24.380 00:02:24.390 rickety Derrick's hoping to strike black
00:02:26.809 00:02:26.819 gold
00:02:30.180 00:02:30.190 as the oil gushed skyward fantastic
00:02:33.210 00:02:33.220 stories appeared of instant fortunes he
00:02:39.060 00:02:39.070 was no wildcatter he saw that drilling
00:02:41.850 00:02:41.860 for oil was a very risky business
00:02:47.120 00:02:47.130 refining not villain he decided which
00:02:50.360 00:02:50.370 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 rockefeller built
00:03:02.330 00:03:02.340 his refinery right beside it
00:03:06.730 00:03:06.740 it was one of the first in the city to
00:03:08.980 00:03:08.990 produce kerosene the new fuel for lamps
00:03:11.800 00:03:11.810 that was cheap and cleaned
00:03:15.680 00:03:15.690 the poor man's light as John Dee called
00:03:18.110 00:03:18.120 it would bring a brilliant glow into
00:03:20.450 00:03:20.460 American homes
00:03:23.170 00:03:23.180 the soaring demand for it he was
00:03:25.119 00:03:25.129 convinced would make him rich obsessed
00:03:28.780 00:03:28.790 with the business of Orden he mastered
00:03:31.119 00:03:31.129 every detail developed new products to
00:03:33.789 00:03:33.799 sell by age 25 his refinery was one of
00:03:39.399 00:03:39.409 the largest in the world
00:03:43.979 00:03:43.989 he really mortgaged his life up to the
00:03:47.380 00:03:47.390 hilt he borrowed tens of thousands of
00:03:50.470 00:03:50.480 dollars which is the equivalent of
00:03:51.610 00:03:51.620 course of millions today he had the
00:03:54.670 00:03:54.680 strength of this vision that this was
00:03:57.250 00:03:57.260 where his destiny was and this is where
00:03:59.199 00:03:59.209 the destiny of this country was the
00:04:00.819 00:04:00.829 country was going to kind of ride to
00:04:02.860 00:04:02.870 greatness on this tidal wave of oil and
00:04:06.039 00:04:06.049 he constantly felt that he would
00:04:08.800 00:04:08.810 inevitably triumph in some fundamental
00:04:11.649 00:04:11.659 way
00:04:14.040 00:04:14.050 in a move that would transform the
00:04:16.570 00:04:16.580 American economy Rockefeller set out to
00:04:19.449 00:04:19.459 replace a world of independent oilmen
00:04:21.670 00:04:21.680 with a giant company controlled by him
00:04:27.330 00:04:27.340 in 1870 begging bankers for more loans
00:04:31.060 00:04:31.070 he formed Standard Oil of Ohio
00:04:37.680 00:04:37.690 next year he quietly put what he called
00:04:40.590 00:04:40.600 our plan his campaign to dominate the
00:04:43.380 00:04:43.390 volatile oil industry
00:04:44.670 00:04:44.680 into devastating effect
00:04:49.340 00:04:49.350 turned into a secret alliance with the
00:04:51.050 00:04:51.060 railroad it's called the South
00:04:52.730 00:04:52.740 improvement company
00:04:55.810 00:04:55.820 in exchange for large regular shipments
00:04:58.890 00:04:58.900 Rockefeller and his allies secured
00:05:01.420 00:05:01.430 transport rates far lower than those of
00:05:03.460 00:05:03.470 their bewildered competitors what it
00:05:08.020 00:05:08.030 really represented was the face of
00:05:09.700 00:05:09.710 monopoly the image that was always used
00:05:12.670 00:05:12.680 was that of the Anaconda the squeezing
00:05:15.190 00:05:15.200 Python like grips of this economic snake
00:05:18.760 00:05:18.770 that was just taking individual
00:05:21.040 00:05:21.050 entrepreneurs and just putting them out
00:05:23.080 00:05:23.090 of business and reducing them to kind of
00:05:26.200 00:05:26.210 economic straight where they had no
00:05:27.640 00:05:27.650 alternative but to really to sell out to
00:05:30.190 00:05:30.200 sell out to the principles in this
00:05:31.630 00:05:31.640 conspiracy it was a conspiracy really it
00:05:35.110 00:05:35.120 was one of the first great economic
00:05:36.610 00:05:36.620 conspiracies in this country his brother
00:05:41.440 00:05:41.450 and business partner William
00:05:42.640 00:05:42.650 characterized the plan as war or peace
00:05:45.480 00:05:45.490 sell out to Standard Oil or suffer the
00:05:48.430 00:05:48.440 consequences
00:05:51.029 00:05:51.039 Rockefeller might create a shortage of
00:05:53.159 00:05:53.169 the railroad tank cars that transported
00:05:55.260 00:05:55.270 oil
00:05:58.159 00:05:58.169 he might go out and buy up all the
00:05:59.869 00:05:59.879 barrels on the market so a competitor
00:06:02.149 00:06:02.159 would have no place to store his work or
00:06:03.890 00:06:03.900 ship it
00:06:07.420 00:06:07.430 he would even buy up all the available
00:06:09.340 00:06:09.350 chemicals that were necessary to refine
00:06:11.950 00:06:11.960 away
00:06:15.820 00:06:15.830 Rockefeller instructed standard oil men
00:06:18.370 00:06:18.380 to communicate in code the company was
00:06:23.500 00:06:23.510 nicknamed Club
00:06:26.190 00:06:26.200 john d rockefeller was referred to as
00:06:29.100 00:06:29.110 chowder
00:06:31.490 00:06:31.500 many of Rockefellers targets had no idea
00:06:34.220 00:06:34.230 that the local refiners who were
00:06:35.690 00:06:35.700 slashing prices and acting like
00:06:37.730 00:06:37.740 competitors were actually part of
00:06:40.100 00:06:40.110 Rockefellers growing empire in just two
00:06:45.110 00:06:45.120 months he had taken over 22 of the 26
00:06:48.500 00:06:48.510 cleveland refineries revealing the
00:06:51.200 00:06:51.210 single-minded drive that would make him
00:06:53.480 00:06:53.490 both the wonder and the terror of
00:06:55.340 00:06:55.350 American business
00:07:01.720 00:07:01.730 methodically secretly john d rockefeller
00:07:05.260 00:07:05.270 was doing more than transforming a
00:07:06.910 00:07:06.920 single industry he was changing forever
00:07:10.240 00:07:10.250 the way american didn't business
00:07:15.320 00:07:15.330 the day of combination is here to stay
00:07:18.080 00:07:18.090 he declared individualism has gone never
00:07:21.680 00:07:21.690 to return
00:07:25.610 00:07:25.620 by 1879 when Rockefeller is 40 he
00:07:29.030 00:07:29.040 controls 90% of the oil refining in the
00:07:32.090 00:07:32.100 world within a few years who will
00:07:34.100 00:07:34.110 control 90% of the marketing of oil and
00:07:37.070 00:07:37.080 a third of all of the oil wells so this
00:07:39.350 00:07:39.360 very young man controls with is not only
00:07:42.140 00:07:42.150 a national but an international monopoly
00:07:45.260 00:07:45.270 in a commodity that is about to become
00:07:48.020 00:07:48.030 the most important strategic commodity
00:07:50.270 00:07:50.280 in the world economy
00:07:55.440 00:07:55.450 in 1883 Rockefeller moved his family to
00:07:58.740 00:07:58.750 New York the center of America's
00:08:01.020 00:08:01.030 burgeoning industrial economy
00:08:06.290 00:08:06.300 the king of Standard Oil now set out to
00:08:08.690 00:08:08.700 transform his company into something
00:08:10.820 00:08:10.830 bigger and more powerful than anything
00:08:13.190 00:08:13.200 the world had ever seen
00:08:17.270 00:08:17.280 Rockefeller reigned over a patchwork of
00:08:19.890 00:08:19.900 company's cumbersome to manage
00:08:23.399 00:08:23.409 they was looking for a way to skirt a
00:08:25.379 00:08:25.389 law that then prohibited combining the
00:08:28.079 00:08:28.089 operations of businesses in different
00:08:30.029 00:08:30.039 states
00:08:33.240 00:08:33.250 his solution is to have stockholders in
00:08:36.180 00:08:36.190 40 companies secretly trade in their
00:08:38.550 00:08:38.560 shares for certificates in the Standard
00:08:41.040 00:08:41.050 Oil Trust
00:08:44.390 00:08:44.400 the trust became a corporation of
00:08:47.520 00:08:47.530 corporations
00:08:50.770 00:08:50.780 Rockefeller had devised an ingenious
00:08:52.650 00:08:52.660 LegalShield
00:08:55.380 00:08:55.390 behind it he could command his vast
00:08:58.240 00:08:58.250 business empire smoothly and in complete
00:09:01.450 00:09:01.460 secrecy
00:09:06.970 00:09:06.980 in 1885 he moved Standard Oil into an
00:09:10.330 00:09:10.340 imposing granite fortress near Wall
00:09:12.160 00:09:12.170 Street 26 Broadway soon became the
00:09:16.930 00:09:16.940 world's most famous business address it
00:09:20.530 00:09:20.540 was also a hated symbol of the monopoly
00:09:22.660 00:09:22.670 so powerful that no law seemed able to
00:09:25.990 00:09:26.000 control it
00:09:27.790 00:09:27.800 Rockefeller saw himself as a prophet of
00:09:30.350 00:09:30.360 a new order he called it cooperation his
00:09:34.520 00:09:34.530 critics called it monopoly
00:09:37.369 00:09:37.379 his company would be the world's first
00:09:39.349 00:09:39.359 great multinational corporation
00:09:41.619 00:09:41.629 efficient and stable with vast economies
00:09:45.199 00:09:45.209 of scale
00:09:48.510 00:09:48.520 Rockefeller had wanted to remain
00:09:50.460 00:09:50.470 invisible but he wielded such power that
00:09:54.240 00:09:54.250 he became a magnet for suspicion
00:09:58.070 00:09:58.080 hearings investigations and lawsuits
00:10:00.570 00:10:00.580 began to challenge the Standard Oil
00:10:02.790 00:10:02.800 Empire John Dee was called to testify in
00:10:07.110 00:10:07.120 one forum after another he was a kind of
00:10:11.430 00:10:11.440 difficult witness to kind of pin down
00:10:13.340 00:10:13.350 because on the one hand he was verbally
00:10:16.440 00:10:16.450 fairly clever actually and keen and in
00:10:19.380 00:10:19.390 terms of his ability to kind of listen
00:10:21.240 00:10:21.250 to the questions when he was being
00:10:23.190 00:10:23.200 investigated about the South improvement
00:10:24.780 00:10:24.790 company for instance one interrogator
00:10:27.930 00:10:27.940 said something about the southern
00:10:29.699 00:10:29.709 improvement company and he seized him on
00:10:32.160 00:10:32.170 that misnomer to say and John Dee said I
00:10:34.380 00:10:34.390 wasn't part of that one reporter
00:10:39.750 00:10:39.760 described 26 Broadway as a cave for
00:10:42.960 00:10:42.970 pirates a den for the cutthroats of
00:10:45.600 00:10:45.610 commerce half of America seemed willing
00:10:48.150 00:10:48.160 to lynch Rockefeller the other half
00:10:50.699 00:10:50.709 wanted a loan by 1889 John Dee pegged
00:10:56.340 00:10:56.350 his fortune at more than forty million
00:10:57.990 00:10:58.000 dollars

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