By Maury Klein

To americans residing within the early 20th century, E. H. Harriman used to be as regular a reputation as J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. Like his fellow businessmen, Harriman (1847-1909) had develop into the emblem for a complete undefined: Morgan stood for banking, Rockefeller for oil, Carnegie for iron and metal, and Harriman for railroads. the following, Maury Klein deals the 1st in-depth biography in additional than seventy-five years of this influential but strangely understudied determine.

A Wall road banker till age fifty, Harriman catapulted into the railroad enviornment in 1897, gaining keep watch over of the Union Pacific Railroad because it emerged from financial disaster and effectively modernizing each element of its operation. He went directly to extend his empire through buying huge stakes in different railroads, together with the Southern Pacific and the Baltimore and Ohio, within the technique clashing with such foes as James J. Hill, J. P. Morgan, and Theodore Roosevelt.

With its new insights into the myths and controversies that encompass Harriman's profession, this publication reasserts his legacy as one of many nice turn-of-the-century company titans.

Originally released 2000.

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Startled by the o√er, Kennan agonized for days over his reply. Here at last was an opportunity for the financial security that seemed always to elude him, but what should he seek? Finally, on March 26, Kennan sent o√ a long letter saying he would undertake the work for $6,000 a year with a three-year limit. ≤∫ She agreed that Kennan need not give up his other duties at once but could work half-time on the biography until October. That summer, when war erupted in Europe and rang down the curtain on an era of Western history, the shift in Kennan’s life became apparent even though it had scarcely begun.

The dignified Hays, whose smooth, morose features were wreathed in straggly side-whiskers, thought enough of Henry’s ability to make him managing clerk at a salary of $2,000 a year. This promotion merely spurred a growing desire to strike out on his own. He was hardly the type to be content in someone else’s employ, and he had seen enough to believe that his future lay in Wall Street. Henry liked to be where the challenges were great, where victory went to the fleet of mind and staunch of heart. ≤∂ For role models he looked past his father to his uncles.

Members of Congress did his bidding. Laws were enacted at his will. Only two men ever dared to block his path. The late J. P. Morgan stood between him and the possession of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1901; and Theodore Roosevelt thwarted his purpose to become an absolute dictator of the transportation a√airs of the United States. By contrast, Kennan had done his homework well and consulted the men who had been there. ∂∏ To bolster his position, Ripley solicited help from Roosevelt, who in 1916 was eyeing yet another run at the presidency.

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