John Davison Rockefeller is a man known for many things. His best known quality is, of course, his staggering amounts of wealth. In today's dollars, Rockefeller would be worth over an astounding $300 billion, almost three times as much as Bill Gates.
With that being said, as the saying goes with lots money comes great power and responsibility. It has prompted many to say that Rockefeller abused his power without being responsible, using shady methods in order to run his competitors out of business. He often resorted to intimidation tactics, and with all his competitors gone Standard Oil was a monopoly of its own.
However, John Rockefeller was also one of the earliest American philanthropists of his day. His contributions to those in need were in a volume never seen before and changed the structure of charity today.
Even before Rockefeller created his empire, he was giving back to those less fortunate. At 16, he gave 6 percent of his wages to charity, and at 20 he gave back 10 percent. As a very religious man, most of Rockefeller's charity was church related in his early life.
After gaining his enormous amounts of wealth, Rockefeller would turn to giving to education. He founded the General Education Board in 1902, which supported higher education and medical schools in America.
He would fund many colleges such as Spelman College, Denison University, and the University of Chicago. He also expanded his outreach internationally, establishing the Central Philippine University. Outside of founding Universities, Rockefeller also donated to the medical field. Rockefeller helped launch the field of biomedical research, funding scientific investigations that resulted in vaccines for diseases such as meningitis and yellow fever. It is estimated that Rockefeller donated over $500 million in his lifetime.
Rockefeller changed the structure of Philanthropy as he pointed out a need for more focus on healthcare and education, something that while it had been important, was highlighted by these donations. Overall, even though Rockefeller's methods of gaining wealth were bordering the lines of legality, his contributions to charity cannot be unnoticed.
Source:
http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/hall_of_fame/john_d._rockefeller_sr
I agree with you- Rockefeller definitely was someone who used wealth for bettering social change rather than using it solely for his own individual good. Also, adding to on to your point about Rockefeller's flaws, this may have been caused because he, as well as many other powerful and wealthy business leaders', usually possessed a common drive for gaining immense amounts of power. Their motivation for wanting to be extremely successful often came from past hardships; in Rockefeller's case, he had a difficult childhood involving distant family relationships.
ReplyDelete