John D. Rockefeller: The Oil Titan Who Built Standard Oil and Became America’s Greatest Philanthropist
John D. Rockefeller Sr. — c. 1905, Standard Oil Era Portrait John D. Rockefeller Sr. — Circa 1905 — Formal portrait taken during the height of his career, when he led Standard Oil and became the world’s first billionaire. Taken shortly before the landmark antitrust lawsuit that would break up his monopoly in 1911. Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons — Public Domain Introduction Few names in American history carry the weight of John D. Rockefeller. His name became synonymous with oil, enormous wealth, corporate power, philanthropy, and controversy. To some Americans of the Gilded Age, he represented ruthless capitalism and the frightening concentration of economic power. To others, especially later generations, he became a model of how extraordinary wealth could be transformed into extraordinary philanthropy. But Rockefeller's story did not begin in a palace. It began in a modest household in Richford, New York, where a young boy learned the value of money, discipline, calculation, and...