John D. Rockefeller, Jr

American philanthropist

• Born: January 29, 1874
• Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio
• Died: May 11, 1960
• Place of death: Tucson, Arizona

The primary heir to the largest fortune in the world at the time, Rockefeller maintained the family fortune while pursuing spectacular philanthropic efforts. His children continued the family legacy of philanthropy, public service, and business success.

Early Life

John D. Rockefeller (RAW-keh-fehl-lur), Jr., was the only son of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., and Laura Celestia Spelman. At the time of the young Rockefeller’s birth, his father’s Standard Oil Company controlled approximately 90 percent of the oil market in the United States. In spite of the enormous wealth of his father, Rockefeller was raised to be humble and was a devout Northern Baptist. His father paid him for various odd jobs around the house, sometimes as little as a few pennies.

Although raised wealthy, Rockefeller kept careful track of his expenses in a ledger and lived his youth avoiding decadence. He developed a reputation for tightness with his money, except for his faithful donations to various charities. Even though he had four sisters born before him, as the only son he carried the responsibility of heir to the Rockefeller name, fortune, and philanthropic efforts. Most records show the relationship between John, Sr., and John, Jr., to be that of proud father and dutiful son.

Rockefeller attended private schools and eventually enrolled at Brown University because it was considered the most prominent Baptist college in the East. At Brown he met the woman he would marry, Abby Greene Aldrich, daughter of Republican U.S. senator Nelson Aldrich from Rhode Island. Immediately after college graduation, Rockefeller joined his father’s business as an adviser to his father’s philanthropic ventures and as a director of Standard Oil. Because his father had retired before his son joined the company, the primary business operations were handled by others in the company. Rockefeller, Jr., was known for working hard but also for being modest and for questioning the privilege that placed him in such a position of power at such a young age. Rockefeller, Jr., would rarely show strong ambition in holding a top position in his father’s companies.

Rockefeller would be father to six children, all with distinguished careers: philanthropists Abigail Rockefeller Mauze and John, III; U.S. vice president and New York governor Nelson; venture capitalist Laurence; Arkansas governor Winthrop; and David, chair of Chase Manhattan Bank.

Life’s Work

Rockefeller, unlike many heirs to great fortunes, had a great sense of duty and obligation to help others. Publicly he was a quiet man, and he kept his family out of the spotlight as much as someone with his notoriety could. Devoutly religious, he began his day with a family prayer, Bible reading, and breakfast. It was clear that he favored serving in the philanthropic ventures of his father over the family’s for-profit business dealings. In 1910, as Standard Oil was facing political bribery scandals and legal action for monopolistic practices, Rockefeller, Jr., resigned from the board of both Standard Oil and U.S. Steel, another major Rockefeller company.

Although Rockefeller’s legacy is mostly that of a benevolent philanthropist, his reputation was deeply harmed by the so-called Ludlow Massacre. In 1914, twelve hundred striking coal miners and their families set up a tent colony after being removed from company housing in Ludlow, Colorado. Violence erupted as the strike endured, and the Colorado State militia set tents ablaze and fired on the camp. Five miners, two women, and eleven children were killed. Because Rockefeller was a 40 percent shareholder in the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, which had requested the militia’s help in breaking the strike, he was considered by many the person most responsible for the violence and massacre.

Over time, and in part because of a successful publicity campaign directed by Ivy Lee, accusations against Rockefeller seemed to wane. However, the whole event led him to reconsider the way he made public comments about labor relations. Depending on one’s interpretation, Rockefeller was considered either a leader in the worker reform movement or a master at covering up his liability in the deaths through an intricately designed public relations policy. After Ludlow, he rarely took an active role in family business operations. The exception was his leadership in the late 1920’s public proxy fight to remove Colonel Robert W. Stewart as chair of the board of Standard Oil of Indiana.

Records indicate that Rockefeller had received transfer of most of his father’s wealth by the late 1920’s. Most estimates mark his peak net worth to be $995 million in 1928 (amounting to billions of twenty-first century dollars). Over his lifetime, he gave approximately $500 million to various organizations and projects. (This was in addition to his father’s lifetime charitable gifts of over $500 million.) Rockefeller, Jr., funded projects concerned with religious issues, medicine, world peace, population control, culture and the arts, and education. He also funded work by Margaret Sanger to publicize birth control as a public good. The Rockefeller Foundation remains influential into the twenty-first century for its assistance in developing modern medical education and research.

Rockefeller also built the Riverside Church in New York, hoping the church would help establish Christian unity in its ability to host more than thirty denominations. His help in developing other buildings, including those for business and the arts, throughout New York City has become legendary. He donated six blocks of land along the East River that became the headquarters of the United Nations. The 22-acre area known as Rockefeller Center became an important business and cultural center for New York City. While the center was to include the Metropolitan Opera, the opera had to back out of its deal to relocate there because of factors related to the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Rockefeller also would develop the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts and the Museum of Modern Art .

Outside New York, Rockefeller played a major role in the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg and other national parks and historical sites. Overseas, he helped restore architectural treasures such as the Palace of Versailles in France and treasured archaeological sites in Egypt and Palestine.

Significance

Rockefeller gained a significant amount of fame through his own work, but his story must be told in the context of the intriguing Rockefeller family legacy. Inheriting hundreds of millions of dollars, he nevertheless favored charity over the day-to-day operations of his family’s business. Indeed, he preferred to stay out of the business entirely. His desire for privacy shielded him as a corporate shareholder and limited his culpability in certain corporate actions; however, he was not disappointed with this arrangement, as it freed him to pursue his real desire: Rockefeller philanthropy.

Bibliography

Chernow, Ron. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. New York: Random House, 1998. This modern account of the Rockefeller family describes a tense relationship between John, Jr., and his children, claiming that the children were expected to be model citizens in order to honor the Rockefeller name.

Ernst, Joseph W. Dear Father-Dear Son: The Correspondence of John D. Rockefeller and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. New York: Fordham University Press, 1994. Letters written between the Rockefeller father and son that demonstrate a deep level of admiration and respect for each other. Because the letters cover more than fifty years, they chronicle the stages of growth, development, and confidence that John, Sr., had in his son for taking over the responsibilities that came with the transfer of wealth.

Harr, John Ensor, and Peter J. Johnson. The Rockefeller Century: Three Generations of America’s Greatest Family. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1988. A story told by insiders with significant experience working for the Rockefeller family. Includes many documented and clarified facts about the Rockefellers. Primary focus moves from John, Sr., to John, Jr., to John III.

Morris, Joe Alex. Those Rockefeller Brothers: An Informal Biography of Five Extraordinary Young Men. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1953. An interesting biography of the education and early lives of five sons of John, Jr. Note that this story was written before each of the sons reached the pinnacle of his respective career.