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Business & Labor

Founders and financiers on one side, organizers and union leaders on the other — and the fights between them.

16 people

Henry Ford 1863–1947Business, Finance & IndustryIndustrialist who revolutionized manufacturing with the assembly line and made automobiles affordable.John D. Rockefeller 1839–1937Business, Finance & IndustryEstablished the Rockefeller Foundation and funded medical research, education, and public health initiatives.J. P. Morgan 1837–1913Business, Finance & IndustryBanking titan who stabilized the economy during the Panic of 1907 and shaped modern finance.Andrew Carnegie 1835–1919Business, Finance & IndustrySteel magnate who built one of the largest steel empires in history and later became a major philanthropist.Cornelius Vanderbilt 1794–1877Business, Finance & IndustryShipping and railroad magnate whose empire made him one of the wealthiest Americans in history.George Eastman 1854–1932Business, Finance & IndustryFounder of Kodak who made photography affordable and created a model of mass consumer technology.Levi Strauss 1829–1902Business, Finance & IndustryImmigrant entrepreneur whose company helped turn blue jeans into an enduring American product and symbol.William Boeing 1881–1956Business, Finance & IndustryFounded the aircraft company that became the largest American commercial airplane manufacturer.John Jacob Astor 1763–1848Business, Finance & IndustryAmerica's first multimillionaire, made in furs, the China trade and Manhattan landHenry Clay Frick 1849–1919Business, Finance & IndustryDominated coke supply for steelmaking and ran Carnegie Steel during the Homestead strike.Jay Gould 1836–1892Business, Finance & IndustryControlled major railroad and telegraph systems through aggressive stock manipulation.Thomas J. Watson Sr. 1874–1956Business, Finance & IndustryExecutive who built IBM into the dominant punched-card and business-machine company before the computer age.Charles Koch b. 1935Business, Finance & IndustryIndustrialist and political donor who built Koch Industries into one of America's largest private companies.James J. Hill 1838–1916Business, Finance & IndustryBuilt the Great Northern Railway without federal land grants and shaped northern plains settlement.David Koch 1940–2019Business, Finance & IndustryIndustrialist and political donor who built Koch Industries into a massive conglomerate.Solomon R. Guggenheim 1861–1949Business, Finance & IndustryIndustrialist whose foundation established the Guggenheim Museum of modern art.