Season 2: The Capitalist
John Raskob
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American life experienced enormous economic, social, and cultural transformations at the hands of men who, depending on one’s point of view, earned the titles of “captains of industry” or “robber barons.” The most famous of them remain household names to this day: Andrew Carnegie, John J. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, and Henry Ford. Behind them was a second tier of industrial titans, while of significant wealth and influence at the time, whose names are less well known today. These are men like Gustavus Swift, Cornelius Vanderbilt, or Pierre Du Pont. And finally, a host of others whose names have been forgotten in the sweep of time and events but who, nevertheless, gave us in large or small measure the world we know today.
This season is about one of those forgotten men. Without his financial genius, General Motors would have just been a blip in our reality, Dupont Chemical would have just been another small company and never one of the world’s leading chemical firms. Because of this man, the Empire State Building exists.
A man who through his sheer drive willed things into being. A man of financial genius like no other in his time. A man who went from working as a small-time stenographer to one of the richest men in the world. He went on to start one of the first ever Catholic foundations and he changed the world of philanthropy as we know it—even after his death, his generosity and his love of the Catholic faith continues to change the world for the better.