“Don’t be afraid to give up the good and go for the great.” John D. Rockefeller said this because to become a successful businessman he had to give up his good job and pay and try to do better. He said that also because he wanted more people in the workforce than there already were. John D. Rockefeller impacted America by Creating the most successful being a hard worker, creating the most successful oil business in the world, and donating millions of dollars to charity. John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was the guiding force behind the creation and development of the Standard Oil Company, which grew to dominate the oil industry and became one of the first big trusts in the United States, thus engendering much controversy …show more content…
He then bought up other refineries in Cleveland and oil wells in Pennsylvania as well. As result of Rockefeller’s efforts taking over the oil industry, other oilmen went out of business. Consequently, the railroads that carried the oil needed Rockefeller’s freight more than ever. Rockefeller was a very intelligent businessman. He arranged for two very big railroads passing through Cleveland to compete for his large business. He did this by bargaining and threatening one or the other railroad, telling them that he might give all of his business to the other. This method worked. He finally forced the railroads to charge him lower prices than they charged anybody else. By confidential dealings he pretended to pay the regular rates. Then later the railroads gave him back a rebate, which was a refund on each barrel of his oil that they had hauled. Shortly, they even gave him rebates on what opposing oil companies shipped. After he perfected these tactics, he went to the small refineries in other parts of the country, and asked them to sell their companies to him. He would say, If you don’t sell your property it will be valueless, because we have advantages with the railroads. Rockefeller would then offer them a much lower price for the refinery then the owners thought it was worth. Still the refineries would sell because they knew the mass power that Rockefeller had and how he could put them …show more content…
Rockefeller was 57 years old in 1896 when he decided that others should take over the day-to-day leadership of Standard Oil. He now focused his efforts on philanthropy, giving away the bulk of his fortune in ways designed to do the most good as determined by careful study, experience and the help of expert advisers. Even while he was still struggling to make his way he gave one-tenth of his profits to charities and Baptist churches. Before his death in 1937, Rockefeller gave away well over 500 million dollars. Most of the money went to foundations and organizations. Some of the more well known foundations that he created are the Rockefeller Foundation, Rockefeller Institute, the General Education Board, and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial. Today the Rockefeller name lives on through the institutions he founded. John D. Rockefeller started with very little, amassed a fortune, and then gave back to the country that made it possible for him to be so