[shouting] NARRATOR: Just five days after
the end of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln is
the final of the 600,000 deaths in America's bloodiest conflict. The country is
divided, and the world looks at American democracy
as a failed experiment. But what most don't realize
is that a new era has dawned. The nation is entering
an age of advancement. And from the void left by the
death of perhaps the greatest statesmen we will ever
know, a new breed of leader will emerge. The Rockefellers, the
Fords, the Carnegies were the first
generation of what we know as now the
entrepreneurial rock stars, or what today are the Buffets
and the Jobs and the Gates. They were the ones
that set the standard for the American dream. They owned a new frontier,
literally and figuratively, of who we are as a culture. NARRATOR: Men of insight,
innovation, and ingenuity, the likes of which the
world has never seen. And over the next five
decades, this small group will change history, propelling
the United States of America to greatness. These were great men with a
vision that nobody else had. And that's why in the last
century, that 50 year period, we built the world. [theme music] NARRATOR: For the first time in
the country's short existence, the man most capable of leading
America was not a politician. He's a self-made man who,
through sheer force of will turned a poor upbringing on
the docks of New York Harbor into an empire. At 16, Cornelius Vanderbilt
buys a small ferry boat with a $100 loan. He quickly earns a reputation
as a cutthroat businessman, willing to use any means
necessary to get ahead. Back then, it was
just pure competition, my brain against your brain,
my effort against your effort. You just competed. That's the way they
looked at business. It was the wild, wild
West, and by hook or crook, that was just win or
lose, and the best win. He was a tough guy, getting
into scraps with other men, beating the hell out of them
and knocking them unconscious. That competitive streak
and that toughness very much defined his character. NARRATOR: His single ferry
soon becomes a fleet of ships, transporting goods and
passengers to every corner of the growing country. Vanderbilt will
become so synonymous with shipping that his
nickname becomes the Commodore. I think Vanderbilt
recognized that what was going to be important is
transporting goods from one place to another. And he had this idea that
required infrastructure, and not infrastructure the
government was going to provide but that he was
going to provide. NARRATOR: Over
the next 40 years, Vanderbilt builds the largest
shipping empire in the world. Then, at the peak of his power,
just before the Civil War, he does the unthinkable. Work is underway on the first
transcontinental railroad, and the Commodore realizes that
its completion will transform America, slashing cross-country
travel time by months. Railroads were
absolutely liberating, because the railroads
allowed cheap and efficient transportation from one
corner of America to another. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt
sees his future. He sells all of his ships
and invests everything he has in railroads. You talk about
seeing around corners as an element of success,
that's what differentiates the good leader. Not many people have it. Not many people can
predict that corner. That is a characteristic
of great leaders. NARRATOR: His decision to
invest heavily in rail pays off. By the end of the war,
Vanderbilt is the richest man in America, with a net
worth of over $68 million, the equivalent of
$75 billion today. But all that money
can't buy his escape from the war's devastation. [horn blowing] In the wake of the
Civil War, the country mourns publicly, while
Vanderbilt does so privately. The first card is the past,
the second, the present, and the third is the future. There has been an unexpected
loss, someone close to you. My son, George. He died in the war. What about the future? Chariot, there will be a war. War's over. No, your war is
about to begin. Hey. Watch it, man. NARRATOR: Tormented by the
loss of his favorite son, Vanderbilt's empire is more
vulnerable than ever before. For Vanderbilt, this
was a great tragedy. He had one son who had that
same sense of physical strength and ability, and he had died
when he was still quite young. It was deeply troubling
for the Commodore. NARRATOR: For years, Vanderbilt
groomed George to take over the family business. Now the Commodore is forced to
rely on his less accomplished son, William. I'm making you operations
director of the Hudson Railroad. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt
places William in the midst of
negotiations with the owners of a rival railroad. So name your price. If you give us your
freight year-round, we will give you the privilege
of allowing your passengers access into Manhattan
for 200,000. That privilege is
not worth 200,000. Then let us settle on 100,000? I believe that to be a
fair and generous offer. I'm not really interested
in your generosity. I'm only interested
in getting the best deal for my shareholders. And that does not include
handing over $100,000 or even $1. My father wants only
what he believes is right. The trouble is, your father
doesn't know what is right. Your man should be
put out to pasture. NARRATOR: The message is clear. The competition no longer sees
Vanderbilt as a man to fear. People are always rooting for
very successful people to fail. The day people are not
taking shots at you, it means you're
not on top anymore. NARRATOR: But where
they see weakness, the Commodore sees
an opportunity to assert his dominance and
teach William what it means to be a Vanderbilt. They want a war,
I'll give them a war. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt owns the
only rail bridge into New York City. It's the gateway to the
country's largest port, supplying the entire continent. Vanderbilt knows this is
the hammer he needs to beat his rivals into submission. Sit down. I want you to close
the Albany bridge. NARRATOR: Without the
bridge, every other railroad is shut out of New York City. Vanderbilt, in essence,
single-handedly erected a blockade around the
nation's largest city, cutting it off from contact
with the rest of the country. He was now asserting
his dominance. Ladies and
gentlemen, this train will not be going any farther. We're going to
watch them bleed. NARRATOR: The Civil War
has left America in ruins. For the first time
in its history, the nation must rebuild. Over 50,000 miles
of railroad track have transformed the country. Commodore Cornelius
Vanderbilt grew up poor, but has created a railroad
empire, making him the richest man in the country. At 72, he's 30 years past
the average life expectancy, and his competitors
see him as weak. It's a mistake they'll
come to regret. Locked in a battle for
control of the rail lines east of the Mississippi,
the Commodore is holding nothing back. I want you to close
the Albany bridge. We're going to watch them bleed. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt controls
the only bridge into New York City, America's busiest port. Seizing an opportunity,
he sets up a blockade. This train will not
be going any farther. What do you mean? NARRATOR: Shutting the bridge
leaves millions of pounds of cargo unable to reach
the rest of the country, and slowly bleeds
his competitors dry. Before their stock is
worthless, the presidents of the rival railroad try
to sell all their shares. Word quickly
reaches Wall Street, triggering a massive sell-off. [shouting] Come on, put some
money in there. Come in. New York Central
shares are dropping fast. How low? $20 a share. Buy everything you can. [shouting] Vanderbilt was buying all
of that stock that suddenly flooded the market at
rock bottom prices. Three aces. NARRATOR: In just
days, Vanderbilt takes control of
the rival railroad, creating the largest single
rail company in America. The New York Central
Railroad became the centerpiece of his empire,
and it came to him as the sudden result
of a skillfully executed campaign
to get revenge. NARRATOR: Railroads soon
criss-cross America, tying together the country in a
way that just 15 years earlier was unimaginable, and
providing over 180,000 jobs. Laying tracks becomes
America's engine for unprecedented growth. Railroads allowed
the industrial economy to boom in ways that it
couldn't have before. One advance after the other,
which essentially was led by the railroads largely
because there was a need to close the gap between
those east of the Mississippi and those on the West Coast. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt has made
himself the undisputed king of railroads. And now he wants the
world to know it. He envisions a monument
that will symbolize his immense power. Work will begin on building
a new station that will bring together the three railroads,
the Harlem, the Hudson, and the Central. It shall be in the
heart of New York and be called the
Grand Central Depot. NARRATOR: Thousands of workers
labor over the next two years on the most ambitious
urban construction project America has ever seen. Grand Central is the biggest
building in all of New York City, and the biggest train
station in the country, covering some 22 acres. This enormous building towered
over every other building in New York at the time. And it was a physical
symbol of the size and power of Vanderbilt's railroad empire. Its importance as
a physical symbol, as a physical capital
of his empire, cannot be underestimated. And it still stamps New
York's geography to this day. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt may
be on top of the world, but his blind ambition
will soon make him vulnerable to a challenge
coming from the most unlikely pair imaginable. Mr. Vanderbilt's money! [laughter] NARRATOR: The growth of the
railroads thrusts America into the biggest building
expansion the country has ever seen, led by a new
breed of leader. The story of America
isn't just the story of the patriots that
helped build the democracy. The reason the United States
is the leading economy in the world is because of
the work of entrepreneurs, who create entire industries that
propel the United States to be the leader of the free world. NARRATOR: One man, Cornelius
Vanderbilt, through brute force and intimidation, has made
himself the undisputed king of the railroads. He now owns 40% of
America's train lines. But he wants them all. To me, it's
always what's next. And I think that's what drives
most very successful people. It's never about the money. I mean, that's a way
of keeping score. It's about achievement, and
it's about winning a game, and it's about upping the ante. NARRATOR: Chicago is America's
fastest growing city. The line connecting
it to New York is the most traveled and
valuable in all the world. And it's not Vanderbilt's. To make his empire complete, he
must gain control of the Erie Line. The Erie was one of the
relatively early publicly traded corporations. Vanderbilt had the advantage
of millions and millions of dollars. Deep pockets are
always an advantage when you're trying to gain
control of a corporation. [shouting] NARRATOR: Vanderbilt
instructs his agents to buy up as much stock as possible. Buy Erie, buy Erie! NARRATOR: Demanding
control of the company by the end of the week. Erie at 45! NARRATOR: It's a
vintage Vanderbilt move, one he pioneered, known
today as a hostile takeover. Erie 50! NARRATOR: But his attempt will
be thwarted by an even more ingenious idea, cooked up by
two unknowns, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. All right, the mistake
that the Erie board had made is that they have
telegraphed where they need to expand without
securing the land first. NARRATOR: Gould and Fisk are
stuck in middle management at the Erie, but they represent
the new America that Vanderbilt is helping to create, one of
self-made men with ruthless ambition. And after years of watching
the Commodore dominate, they're eager to build
their own empire. They recognize Vanderbilt's
plan to buy the line and see the opportunity
they've been waiting for. Competition, I think,
it's good for the system. And it's really, I think,
what most business is about. It's doing a better job on
out-hustling your competitors. NARRATOR: Gould and Fisk begin
printing new shares of stock, using a printing press they set
up in the basement of the Erie offices. Each share they print
dilutes Vanderbilt's stake in the company, and
they print over 100,000. There was some
fine print in one of the clauses of
the Erie's charter that allowed the
board of directors to issue new stock unbeknownst
to the shareholders. Go. And so the more shares
that Vanderbilt bought, the more he had to buy
in order to approach that magic majority. NARRATOR: Their plan is known
as a watering down stock. Highly illegal
today, at the time it had never been imagined. Its simplicity is brilliant. And Wall Street
is never the same. The only rule was,
there were no rules. Whatever it took to put your
competition out of business, they were going to try to do it. NARRATOR: Unaware,
Vanderbilt continues to buy. Think of the look on his face. Oh, God, I wish I could
be a fly on that wall. [laughter] NARRATOR: The freshly
printed shares are hand-delivered
to Vanderbilt. Here are the Erie shares. I assume we control
the company now. A toast, a toast! To money. To Vanderbilt's money! NARRATOR: Vanderbilt
has bought $7 million of watered down stock
from Gould and Fisk. Today, worth over $1 billion. [laughter] Gah! NARRATOR: Vanderbilt has
been underestimated before. But if you come at the king,
you shouldn't expect to win. The greatest growth explosion
in America's short life is underway. Rail lines now connect huge
expanses of the country. Controlling them means
having power that just five years earlier was unimaginable. Many are staking their claim. I think there are people
in every generation that have a vision that transcends
their moment and their time. NARRATOR: Commodore
Cornelius Vanderbilt owns more miles of rail
than anyone in the World but like all men of power,
he faces constant challenges. Gah! Competition gets
very aggressive. People have no idea
how aggressive it is. And sometimes you
don't even hear, because what goes on behind your
back is not a pretty picture. NARRATOR: At the
height of his power, Vanderbilt is outsmarted
by a pair of unknowns. To Vanderbilt's money! NARRATOR: Jay Gould and Jim Fisk
have fleeced the Commodore out of millions. And they want the
world to know it. Thank you. Don't mind if I do. It is no secret what Vanderbilt
has been trying to do. He owns more railroads
than anybody else. Well, Gould and
me, we have struck a blow for the little guy. Now, sure, he may be rich,
and sure, he may be powerful, but somebody had to stand
up to the old bastard! [laughter] It was a humiliating
defeat for the Commodore, a man who was so
fiercely competitive, who wanted to win at absolutely
everything, to whom money was so important, and here he was
defeated and insulted publicly by Gould and Fisk. NARRATOR: Gould and Fisk
maybe on top of the world, but they've awakened
a sleeping lion. Vanderbilt vows to
never be beaten again. They don't think
in terms of money. They think in terms of winning. Now, naturally, if you win big
in business, money follows. But that shouldn't
be your objective. Your objective should be to win. To win, win. Win all the time. Not sometimes, every time. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt immediately
begins looking for a new edge. He realizes that the
railroads have been overbuilt, and the future of the industry
isn't in building new lines, but in transporting new cargo. Innovation is not a big
breakthrough invention every time. Innovation is a constant
thing, but if you don't have an innovative company coming to
work every day to find a better way, you don't have a company. You're getting ready
to die on the vine. NARRATOR: If
Vanderbilt can corner the market on a new source
of freight, one that can keep his trains constantly
full, he'll be able to control
the railroad industry. And the Commodore knows
just where to look. Oil is revolutionizing
life in America. Crude from the ground is
being refined into kerosene, a safe and inexpensive
source of light. And that access to light is
completely changing the way Americans live. Before kerosene,
the average American didn't have access to a
consistent light source. When the sun came
down, darkness ruled. Kerosene is a phenomenon that
will forever change the world, and Vanderbilt knows it's his
next opportunity to cash in. The idea is to
see what's missing. That's what a creative
entrepreneur does. He serves people with
things that they need. Some people can't find
a new thing to do. But sometimes you see something
that everybody has to have. Oh, man, I gotta give them this. And then you got to work on
it, because they need it. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt
sees the demand for kerosene skyrocketing
all across the country. He knows that to meet the
demand, the makers of kerosene will need a new way
to ship their oil. If Vanderbilt can corner the
market on those oil shipments, he'll propel himself back to the
top of the railroad industry. All he needs to do now
is find a supplier. We're going to extend along
the South shore to Cleveland. Why Cleveland? NARRATOR: Cleveland is a small
city of just under 50,000, but it's sitting on
top of an ocean of oil. Eastern Ohio is the
Middle East of its day. And the area around Cleveland
is one of the largest oil fields in the world. Vanderbilt learns
about a refinery built near the railroads in Cleveland,
the perfect mark for his master plan. He reaches out to the owner,
a struggling young oil man Vanderbilt is hoping to
pluck from obscurity. That oilman is
John D Rockefeller. Why are we paying
so much on plumbers? We run a refinery. So we start making
our own pipes. At this rate, we'll be lucky
if we break even this year. If you want to call it
a day, John, just say. [baby crying] I should go. Is everything all right? It's fine. NARRATOR: At the age
of 27, Rockefeller is in the early stages of
building his refining business, but his company is teetering
on the verge of bankruptcy. Vanderbilt sees him as
someone he can manipulate to his advantage. An exclusive deal to
ship Rockefeller's oil will guarantee that the
Commodore's trains stay filled with cargo. Vanderbilt invites Rockefeller
to meet with him in New York. For the young oil
man, the meeting is the opportunity
of a lifetime, a way out of his troubles,
and a way to save his company from complete collapse. Rockefeller, he
respected Vanderbilt. He could see what
he had achieved. Vanderbilt was setting the
pattern and the archetype of what Rockefeller
himself wanted to be. He wanted to be the
Vanderbilt of petroleum. That's the way he saw himself. NARRATOR: As Rockefeller
prepares for his trip to New York, Vanderbilt's
plan is set in motion. [inaudible] NARRATOR: The train departs
Cleveland at 6:25 AM. America is rising. The country is experiencing
a period of growth like none it's ever seen. Railroads have
United the States, and commerce flows with a speed
never before thought possible. The man at the forefront
of this explosive change is Cornelius
Vanderbilt. But at 76, he realizes that the
railroads have been overbuilt. To stay ahead of
the competition, the Commodore turns to
a new exploding industry and a struggling young oil
man, John D Rockefeller. Vanderbilt invites him to
New York City for a meeting. Fate intervenes. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. He restoreth my soul. NARRATOR: John
Rockefeller narrowly missed the train, one that
would have carried him to his certain death. The close call has a profound
impact on the young oilman. He leadeth me into paths of
righteousness for his namesake. Amen. NARRATOR: A man of deep faith,
he becomes convinced that God has spared him for a reason. Without thinking that he
himself in particular was chosen by God to become
this great business success, Rockefeller believed that
everything was divinely ordained. So nothing happened in the
world without God's will, without God's blessing. NARRATOR: Rockefeller once again
heads to meet with Vanderbilt as a changed man. Where before he was intimidated
and facing bankruptcy, now he's a man of destiny. Cornelius Vanderbilt may be
the richest and most powerful man in the country, accustomed
to getting what he wants, but he has no idea what
he's about to encounter. Every business is about
understanding people. Which people you have to get
through, which people you have to embrace, which people
you have to jump over, which people you have
to push out of the way. That's the game. Do you play cards,
Mr. Rockefeller? No. Shame. You could learn a lot
about competition. I know all I need to know. So I'm looking to do a
deal with an oil refinery. And that could be you. I'm willing to do
an exclusive deal. $1.65 a barrel. That's a discount
of more than a third. There's several
refineries in Cleveland. Why should I give
you such a deal? Because I'll fill all
your trains with my oil. And if you don't
do the deal, I'll fill someone else's trains. Mr. Rockefeller. Do you trust him? I don't know. NARRATOR: Rockefeller may have
gotten the rate he was looking for, but in return, he's
agreed to provide Vanderbilt with over 60 train
cars of oil every day. The only problem is,
Rockefeller has no way to produce that much kerosene. His capacity is less
than half of that. Rockefeller has
over-promised, but he knows the deal with Vanderbilt
will be the opportunity he's been waiting for. He just needs to find a way
to produce more kerosene. It's a daunting task,
but John D Rockefeller has been beating the
odds his entire life. Rockefeller is raised in a
poor Cleveland household. But even as a young man, he
yearns for something more, something bigger. And he knows it isn't
going to be handed to him. As a young man, he shows a
strong entrepreneurial streak, starting his own small
business selling candy to local children. Thank you very much. Here's three pieces. NARRATOR: From an
early age, Rockefeller helps to support his family,
mostly because he was never able to rely on his father. It cures cancer. Folks, that is right. It cures cancer. Now, you're asking yourself,
sir, I bet in your mind you're saying, Bill, is this true? NARRATOR: John Rockefeller's
father is a con man. Rebecca I met seven years
ago, she had pneumonia. NARRATOR: Better known around
Cleveland as Devil Bill. Who would like to buy
some? $1.25 a bottle. Yes, sir! NARRATOR: He disappears
for months at a time, leaving his family without
money to support themselves. I'm only here for one day. Once I'm gone, I am gone. I may not be back. Never trust anybody, son. Not even me. NARRATOR: With his
father gone, Rockefeller is forced to quit school and
get a job to support his mother and siblings. His work ethic and intuition
will become the building blocks for the American dream. My great-grandfather,
John D Rockefeller, was an absolutely
brilliant businessman. When he started out, he wasn't
even in oil or anything. He worked at it very,
very hard, and there's an ethic in the Rockefeller
family of hard work. NARRATOR: Stuck
in a dead end job, he becomes fixated on finding
a big idea and taking a chance. Be therefore perfect,
even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. Would you please rise? Let us sing hymn 89. (SINGING) Joyful, joyful,
we adore thee, God of glory, lord of love. Get out.
It's gonna blow. Get out! [rumbling] (SINGING) Hearts unfold
like flowers before thee, opening to the sun above. Melt the clouds of
sin and sadness-- Drive the dark of doubt away. Giver of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day. [rumbling] [cheering] I think entrepreneurs and
certain business people just look at life, and look at
things that are changing, and are able to see
those things and say, I can create a
business out of that. NARRATOR: Rockefeller
realizes oil has the potential to change the world, and
make him rich in the process. But Rockefeller knows
that drilling for oil is a gamble, filled
with uncertainty. And since he doesn't
believe in luck, he starts looking for
a way to make money from oil without the risk. He had a mind for efficiency. And there was probably
something in him that looked at the
production process and saw how wasteful that was. In the first place, you drill
wells and they turn up dry. And then you drill
wells and hit a gusher, and half that oil would be lost. And that offended his
sense of efficiency. NARRATOR: Rockefeller
knows there's a better way. Today, everybody wants
to be an entrepreneur. They've heard these great
stories about Apple. But you know what? When you start a company, you
can think what the revenues are going to be, how much it's going
to be worth to shareholders. But you always need
a technical element. You need somebody who knows how
to do it and build the things. You need the scientists. NARRATOR: Refining oil
turns crude from the ground into kerosene, a clean-burning
fuel that can be used in lamps. Once the oil gets
to 350 degrees, the kerosene starts to vaporize. Then once it's cooled, you'll
have a stable, pure product. How much to produce a gallon? $0.50, $0.60. I don't know. NARRATOR: Rockefeller's
insight puts him one step ahead of his competitors. He believes that while
gamblers drill for oil, businessmen refine it. Whoever could control
the refining process could very well have
the whole industry. NARRATOR: At 24 years
old, Rockefeller invests everything
he has, about $4,000, into building his
first refinery. Go higher, higher! NARRATOR: But he
struggles early on to find an edge in the industry. That changes when the most
powerful man in the country comes calling. Mr. Rockefeller. NARRATOR: The deal
with Vanderbilt gives him cheap shipping
rates and the chance to corner the US oil market. But he's over-promised, agreeing
to supply 60 barrels a day when his capacity is
less than half that. And when you've made a deal
with the most powerful man in America, failure
is not an option. You have to be smart. You have to have vision. You have to have all of
these different things. But the most successful
people are the people that had the right idea but
never ever quit or gave up. The people that
really succeed in life are those that don't quit. NARRATOR: Rockefeller needs
to quickly expand his company. And to do that, he
needs investors. The problem is, kerosene
is getting a bad name. Stories of the fuel exploding
and burning down homes are on the front page of
newspapers across the country, making potential
investors skeptical. Due to high demand,
many refiners are rushing to market with
dangerous kerosene that's extremely volatile. Rockefeller sees the
problem as an opportunity. He realizes that there's a need
to calm the public's fears, and provide them with a
product they can rely on. Oil refining,
warehouses, barrel-making, and shipping facilities. Why the name? Because Standard Oil
will be the only company in the industry to guarantee
a uniform quality of kerosene. Rockefeller and
all these guys, they were all great salesmen. And at the end of the
day, it's the salesmen who make the money. Well, you could certainly
understand how Rockefeller could have named his oil
company Standard Oil. Pretty ambitious, organic name. He was creating a
standard, and it worked. NARRATOR: Rockefeller's
Standard Oil quiets fears and immediately becomes
the most sought after product in the country, bringing
in investor after investor. He meets his promise to provide
60 train cars of oil a day, but that level of output
is only enough to supply a small segment of the country. The Ohio oilman knows that
with oil on every train, criss-crossing the
country, he can supply every home in the nation. But to make that happen, he'll
have to take on Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. America is expanding rapidly. Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroads
have united the country, and commerce now moves
faster than ever. But America's newest obsession
is light, clean, safe light, the kind provided by
John D Rockefeller. Oil is changing the world,
and the Ohio refiner is leading the charge. The titans of that day
revolutionized business in America. We became the dominant
economic force in the world because we could make stuff,
we could create stuff, we could build stuff,
we could power stuff. NARRATOR: John Rockefeller's
Standard Oil is now the largest producer of refined
kerosene in the country, and his exclusive
deal with Vanderbilt allows him to ship his product
to homes throughout the country at incredibly cheap rates. But for Rockefeller,
it isn't enough. He's outgrown his deal with
Vanderbilt. Once unable to fill Vanderbilt's
trains, now he has more oil than the
Commodore can possibly ship, and Vanderbilt's biggest
competitor knows it. Tom Scott is the president of
one of the largest train lines in the country. He wants to take Vanderbilt's
place as king of the railroads, and he knows a deal with
Rockefeller is the key. Scott heads to Cleveland
with his protege, a young up and comer named Andrew Carnegie. As Scott's most
trusted lieutenant, Carnegie has helped
craft the pitch. What I'm proposing is
an alliance between-- You want a cartel
between oil and railroads. I prefer to call it by its-- Give me the numbers. Standard Oil will receive
a 40% rebate for every barrel it ships. We'll send papers
over in the morning. No. A verbal contract is fine. NARRATOR: Rockefeller gets
a better deal from Scott than he ever could have
gotten from Vanderbilt. A shyster. NARRATOR: The Commodore has
lost his competitive edge. To the great
frustration of Vanderbilt, Rockefeller very skillfully
played those railroads against each other. Oil was something the railroads
couldn't afford to let go, and so they fought very
hard to get that traffic. NARRATOR: With the
railroads in his pocket, Rockefeller can supply
every home in the nation with Standard Oil kerosene. And with all that
profit, Rockefeller begins to buy out
his competitors. And We need to stand together. I'm offering all
of you a way out, so you can hold your heads high. The opportunity to
sell to Standard Oil will be a godsend to you all. If you take Standard Oil
stock, you and your loved ones will never know want. NARRATOR: His intent is simple. He wants to own every
refinery in the country. It's a concept that's been
impossible to execute. Today, we know it as a monopoly. But Rockefeller isn't just
expanding his company. He's also looking to maximize
profit, by any means necessary. We've got another refinery. One more into the fold. Do you want me to
take a look at it? No, I want you
to shut it down. The business of creating
monopolies, crushing opposition, part of me says he
did that because it was there to be done, and he could do
it better than anybody else. And he made a bloody
fortune out of it. NARRATOR: By the
time he's finished, Rockefeller controls 90% of
the North American oil supply. His company, Standard Oil, is
the country's first monopoly. At 33, the Ohio oilman is
now the most powerful man in the country. The Commodore has
created a monster. He realizes that the only
way to combat Rockefeller is for the railroads to
start working together. He forms an unlikely alliance
with his biggest rival, Tom Scott. And together, they agree to
pull all of Rockefeller's deals. Thank you. NARRATOR: To
Rockefeller, the move is nothing short of
a declaration of war. America is emerging as one of
the mightiest nations on Earth. The country is now
crowded with rail lines, and kerosene lights most homes. The amazing evolution
has been led by two men driven by a desire
to create a world that few imagined. Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt
and John D Rockefeller have sparked the
modernization of the country. But the former partners'
interests are no longer aligned. Vanderbilt has formed
an unlikely alliance with Tom Scott, aimed at forcing
their biggest client to pay going rates. John Rockefeller
sees their actions as a declaration of war. And he's not going
down without a fight. John Rockefeller had the
ruthlessness that sometimes comes from utter conviction
that what he was doing was right, and not just
correct but divinely inspired. And the people who opposed
him weren't really entitled to their point of view, because
their point of view was wrong. It was almost as though they
had turned aside God's grace. Well, if you turn aside
God's offer of grace, then expect no mercy. NARRATOR: Rockefeller is
determined to find another way to transport his oil. He knows if he can't,
the railroads will win. Rockefeller's solution, again,
comes from the most unlikely of places. So we can increase the
yield of the kerosene, but then we get more
of the volatile waste. We can burn some of it off
as fuel in the refinery, but its high flammability
creates a storage problem. If we get the
higher temperatures, we can start creating
the lubricating oils. I'll need to reconfigure
the refinery. NARRATOR: Oil in the refinery
is moved using large pipes, and Rockefeller realizes if
those pipes can transport oil over short distances,
they could also be used over longer distances. If Rockefeller can build
a pipeline large enough, he'll be able to cut
the railroads out of the oil business for good. [chattering] The pipeline will require
a massive investment and incredible risk. But if he gets it
right, Rockefeller will be able to do what
he loves to do most-- win. It probably comes early in an
entrepreneur's life, where you realize you're willing to do
things in the business world that other people
aren't willing to do. Everybody has got ideas, and
everybody's got ambitions, but most people aren't
willing to cross that line. And I think an entrepreneur
that's successful, that's your nature. Wherever there's change,
wherever there's uncertainty, there's opportunity. [chattering] NARRATOR: Rockefeller's
workers labor around the clock, blasting through
the countryside, and laying over a mile and a
half of pipeline every day. Business, in the end, is
understating the playing field. Tell me who's on it,
what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, and
what is your checkmate play to top them and nail them? And so you're always in
that competitive game. You're looking at innovation. You're looking at leapfrogging,
trying to get a head of them. You're never complacent. You're semi-paranoid
about what they're doing. That's what the
game is all about. NARRATOR: By the time
the pipeline is complete, it's over 4,000 miles long,
stretching across Ohio and Pennsylvania, and connecting
thousands of the world's most lucrative oil wells directly
to Rockefeller's refineries. John Rockefeller has
finally found his way to eliminate the railroads
from the oil business. And in the process, he's
forever revolutionized the way oil is transported. For 25 years, the railroads
have been the biggest industry in the country, the backbone
of the American economy. No one has ever had the nerve
to take them on until now. Rockefeller knows
that without his oil, the railroads will
struggle to stay alive. It's a colossal blow
to the industry. And with all that
leverage, Rockefeller has Vanderbilt and the railroads
right where he wants them. The United States of America
is changing like never before. In just a decade, the
country has become one of the most
advanced on Earth, and darkness no longer
means the end of the day. Two men have driven this
remaking of the country. John D Rockefeller and
Cornelius Vanderbilt are locked in a battle of wills. Commodore. Mr. Rockefeller. NARRATOR: Vanderbilt
and his competitors are in drastic search
of passengers and cargo to fill the trains
running on their lines. In the 1870s,
the country needed to be connected via railroads. And what happens
then is, everybody who thinks they have an edge
in the railroad business goes out and raises money, and
they start their own railroad. And what happened then, as
we've seen happened many a time since then, is it
created a huge bubble. NARRATOR: John D Rockefeller's
oil makes up nearly 40% of the cargo shipped
on the rails. But when Vanderbilt teams
with his biggest rival to push for a rate increase,
Rockefeller takes it as a declaration of war. He builds a pipeline
in response, and begins to pull
his shipments. And since the railroads have
been drastically overbuilt, losing cargo means losing money. Stocks plummet as
investors run scared. When prices get out of
control and smart people decide, wow, this thing is a
bubble, I want out, then you can get a
collapse very quickly. NARRATOR: By the time
the panic is through, 1/3 of the country's
360 railroad companies have gone bankrupt. Every crisis of this type,
whether it's 2008 or 1873, it's got the same roots, namely
that it was unanticipated. So a necessary condition for a
crisis is, nobody expects it. NARRATOR: The crash
is the worst America has seen in its short history. Unsure how to prevent
a complete collapse, the Stock Exchange shuts
down and stays closed for 10 straight days. The Panic of 1873 triggered
the first full blown national depression, and nobody
quite knew what to do about it. For the first time,
large, very large numbers of American workers
were without jobs. Workers got laid
off, but the owners, they still lived in the style
that they were accustomed to. But no one was shedding any
tears for John D Rockefeller. People were saving their
tears for themselves, when they found themselves out
of work, out of their homes, out of food, out of hope. NARRATOR: While many of
the biggest companies in the country
struggled to survive, Rockefeller sees opportunity. His belief in the survival
of the fittest kicking in. As his competition collapses,
Rockefeller picks them off, buying out bankrupt oil
companies for next to nothing. I find that I do
better in bad markets. I buy things in bad markets. And you can't do that
in a great economy. You can't buy it. Either you're going to
buy it very expensively or not be able to buy it at all. So there's a lot of opportunity,
I find, in the bad times. NARRATOR: By the time the
depression is through, Rockefeller has created the
largest corporate empire in America. He was playing the
game of industry, and he was simply better
at it than everybody else. He saw the industrial
marketplace as a place for the survival of the fittest. And he was fitter
than anybody else. Therefore he survived. Not only that, therefore
he deserved to survive, and they didn't. NARRATOR: While Rockefeller
expands his company, his adversaries at the railroads
are struggling to survive. Then, at the height
of the depression, the king of the American
railroads, Cornelius Vanderbilt, dies
at the age of 82. Vanderbilt leaves his empire,
worth over $100 million, to his son, William. Rockefeller knows that without
Vanderbilt, he would have never been able to build his empire. But Rockefeller's last
remaining adversaries refuse to go down
without a fight. Tom Scott and his
protege Andrew Carnegie have managed to survive. And since Rockefeller's pipeline
doesn't extend to Pittsburgh, he's forced to continue
to use their trains. But Scott knows if he and
Carnegie don't diversify, they won't survive. Scott devises an aggressive
plan to expand his empire, one that's sure to catch
Rockefeller's attention. He's going to break
into the oil business by building a
pipeline of his own. But if there's one thing
John Rockefeller hates more than anything else,
it's competition. Tom Scott is in for war. I've tried to be friendly
to the Pennsylvania. I've given you plenty
of business, have I not? And now I find that
you're invading my field. And that, my friend, is piracy. We'll take your feelings
into account, Mr. Rockefeller. 2/3 of the oil you
carry comes from me. If you don't retreat, I'll
take it to the other railroads. As far as I'm aware,
there isn't another railroad that runs from
Pittsburgh to New York. NARRATOR: America's
growth after the Civil War is driven by railroads
uniting the country and oil lighting the way. No one has capitalized
on the growth more than John D Rockefeller, who
now controls 90% of the US oil market. With the death of
Cornelius Vanderbilt, only one man stands in
the way of Rockefeller's complete control of oil-- Tom Scott. There was a sort
of mutual admiration among the big capitalists, but
it was an admiration that was accompanied by deep suspicion. The big capitalists
of the day all eyed each other very warily. Rockefeller looked on Tom
Scott of the Penn Railroad as a competitor. NARRATOR: Tom Scott's
trains transport oil to and from Rockefeller's
refineries in Pittsburgh, where the Standard Oil
pipeline doesn't reach. With all that leverage, Scott is
confident he has the ammunition to take on Rockefeller. But Rockefeller isn't one
to back down from a fight. I don't want one drop
of our oil traveling on the Pennsylvania. But what about the
Pittsburgh refineries? Shut them down. NARRATOR: Shutting
down his refineries will cost Standard Oil a
fortune in lost revenue. But for Rockefeller,
crushing his competition matters more than anything else. Without Rockefeller's oil,
Scott loses nearly half of his business, forcing him
to lay off tens of thousands of workers and
drastically cut wages. Those workers take to
the streets in protest. And as darkness falls on
Pittsburgh, they turn violent. A fire is set in Tom
Scott's train yards. Before the night is over,
more than 39 buildings and over 1,200 train
cars are destroyed. Tom Scott's company
lays in ruin. This is how capitalism works. The railroads had been the big
suppliers of transportation in the oil industry. And so the railroads
quite naturally resisted. They dug in their heels
wherever they could. Eventually they lost. Come on. Let's go. NARRATOR: John D Rockefeller has
replaced Cornelius Vanderbilt as the richest man in America. His net worth is now over $150
million, or $225 billion today. It's dazzlingly amazing
that one individual was able to corner about 98% of
all the kerosene and eventually oil production in the world. He was a brilliant
business person. I can only give him
credit for that. I don't have to give
him credit for the way that he became that powerful. NARRATOR: But all
titans are targets. And now Rockefeller is
about to come face-to-face with his biggest challenge ever. The country grows at
an unprecedented pace. Make it stronger. It's impossible. Nothing's impossible. NARRATOR: Driven by the
birth of a new industry that changes everything. I am convinced that
steel is the future. NARRATOR: And Andrew
Carnegie's quest for revenge has unintended consequences-- Fire! NARRATOR: --that threaten
to tear the nation apart. Mr Carnegie-- Get out of my damned way! Let's get out of here! Now!
