Quotes from Ron Chernow

This set him up to extract maximum advantage from both the railroads and pipelines so long as these two means of transport coexisted in the oil business.

Wanting to emulate the big killings of his brothers, he was tempted again and again into foolhardy ventures.

In general, however, their two voices blended admirably together.

Taft insisted that his guests bypass the main door and enter through a side door of the east entrance.

To ensure that he won, he submitted to games only where he could dictate the rules.

Despite his slow, ponderous style, once he had thoroughly mulled over his plan of action, he had the power of quick decision.

as if growing more accustomed to the burden that she bore and more reconciled to Bill's absences.

Rebates enabled them to maintain the fiction of listed rates while secretly giving discounts to favored shippers.

By giving small stakes in United to William H. Vanderbilt of the New York Central and Amasa Stone of the Lake Shore, Rockefeller tightened his grip over friendly railroads.

If it taught anything, it taught us thus early that prayer is a mere empty form of words.

With the best intentions, John fed Frank's gambling addiction, even though Frank often did not realize the source of the loans.

The fifty-five delegates representing twelve states—the renegade Rhode Island boycotted the convention—scarcely constituted a cross section of America. They were white, educated males and mostly affluent property owners.

Rockefeller remained a country boy at heart

It would be equivalent to $500 million today.)

Mr. Rockefeller, you are no different from any other citizen before the law, and if I were you, I would appear.

Congress could, at any time, limit how the foundation money was spent.

He had prevailed in almost every major program he had sponsored—whether the bank, assumption, funding the public debt, the tax system, the Customs Service, or the Coast Guard—despite years of complaints and bitter smears.

He wanted payment in bonds, not watered stock. When

Over time, relations grew ever closer and more incestuous between the railroads and large shippers. For decades, Rockefeller and his colleagues enjoyed free passes on all major railroads, which they regarded not as payoffs but as natural perquisites of their business.

The cornerstone of the SIC was a provision that Standard Oil would act as "evener" for the three railroads and ensure that each received a predetermined share of the oil traffic:

Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, a bespectacled Republican with a grizzled beard, who was born in Concord, Massachusetts, and attended Harvard College and Law School. A former member of the Free-Soil Party, an upright gentleman of starchy integrity, he had served on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court where he used sarcasm to savage lesser mortals. "When on the bench," wrote an observer, "he was said to be unhappy because he could not decide against both litigants.

It seems that Frank alienated virtually everyone in the building and was increasingly ostracized.

Much of this last gift was routed to the University of Chicago.

Far more than just a technical document, the Report on Manufactures was a prescient statement of American nationalism.