John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
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John D. Rockefeller Jr. |
John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (
January 29,
1874 –
May 11,
1960) was a
philanthropist and a member of the prominent
American Rockefeller family. In biographies, he is invariably referred to as "Junior" to distinguish him from his more celebrated father.
He was the fifth child and only son of
John Davison Rockefeller, Sr., founder of
Standard Oil, and one of the wealthiest Americans who has ever lived. He attended The
Browning School in
New York City and then
Brown University. He briefly joined his father's business. During the
Great Depression he funded the building of
Rockefeller Center and as a result became one of the largest real estate holders in
New York City.
In 1921, he received about 10% of the shares of the
Equitable Trust Company from his father, making him the bank's largest shareholder. Subsequently, in 1930, the Equitable merged with the
Chase National Bank, now
JP Morgan Chase, and became at that time the largest bank in the world. Although his stockholding was reduced to about 4% following this merger, he was still the largest shareholder in what became known as the "Rockefeller bank". As late as the 1960's his family still retained about 1% of the bank's shares, by which time his son
David had become the bank's president.
In a celebrated letter to
Nicholas Murray Butler in June, 1932, subsequently printed on the front page of
The New York Times, Junior, a lifelong teetotaler, argued against the continuation of the
Eighteenth Amendment on the principal grounds of an increase in disrespect for the law. This letter became the singular event that pushed the nation to repeal Prohibition.
However, he is most remembered for his philanthropy, dramatically expanding the institutions founded by his father, including the
Rockefeller Foundation,
Rockefeller University and the
International Education Board. An internationalist, he financially supported programs of the
League of Nations and helped fund the formation of the
Council on Foreign Relations in New York in 1921.
He also funded the restoration of
Colonial Williamsburg and the
College of William and Mary's
Wren Building, both in
Virginia. Through his son
Nelson he bought and then donated the land in Manhattan upon which the
United Nations headquarters was built.
He was also instrumental in the development of the research that led to Robert and Helen Lynd's famous
Middletown Studies work that was conducted in the city of
Muncie, Indiana.
He had a special interest in conservation, and purchased and donated land for many American
National Parks, including
Grand Teton (see
Snake River Land Company),
Acadia,
Great Smoky Mountains,
Yosemite, and
Shenandoah. Both the
John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway that connects
Yellowstone National Park to Grant Teton National Park and the Rockefeller Memorial in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park were named after him..
On
October 9,
1901, he married
Abby Greene Aldrich, daughter of U.S. Senator
Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich of
Rhode Island. The couple had six children, a daughter and five sons:
*
Abby Rockefeller Mauzé (
November 9,
1903 -
May 27,
1976)
*
John D. Rockefeller 3rd (
March 21,
1906 -
July 10,
1978)
*
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (
July 8,
1908 -
January 26,
1979)
*
Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (
May 26,
1910 -
July 11,
2004)
*
Winthrop Rockefeller (
May 1,
1912 -
February 22,
1973)
*
David Rockefeller (born
June 15,
1915)
David became an international banker and statesman of considerable repute. Nelson and Winthrop Rockefeller later became state
governors. Nelson went on to become
Vice President of the United States under
Gerald Ford.
*Chernow, Ron.
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. New York: Warner Books, 1998.
*Fosdick, Raymond B.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., A Portrait, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956.
*Harr, John Ensor, and Peter J. Johnson.
The Rockefeller Century: Three Generations of America's Greatest Family, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.
*Harr, John Ensor, and Peter J. Johnson.
The Rockefeller Conscience: An American Family in Public and in Private, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991.
*Okrent, Daniel.
Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center, New York: Viking Press, 2003.
*Rockefeller, David.
Memoirs, New York: Random House, 2002.
*Schenkel, Albert F.
The Rich Man and the Kingdom: John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and the Protestant Establishment, Harvard Theological Studies, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 1995.
*
Rockefeller family*
Rockefeller Center*
John D. Rockefeller*
David Rockefeller*
Nelson Rockefeller*
Chase Manhattan Bank*
Colonial Williamsburg*
United Nations*
Philanthropy*
American philanthropists*
Commission on Industrial Relations whose chairman grilled
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. for three days about the
Ludlow massacre.
