Book Description A gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism.
Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington's presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation's largest fleet of steamships to lord of a railroad empire. Lincoln consulted him on steamship strategy during the Civil War; Jay Gould was first his uneasy ally and then sworn enemy; and Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president of the United States, was his spiritual counselor. We see Vanderbilt help to launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the modern corporation—in fact, as T. J. Stiles elegantly argues, Vanderbilt did more than perhaps any other individual to create the economic world we live in today.
In The First Tycoon, Stiles offers the first complete, authoritative biography of this titan, and the first comprehensive account of the Commodore's personal life. It is a sweeping, fast-moving epic, and a complex portrait of the great man. Vanderbilt, Stiles shows, embraced the philosophy of the Jacksonian Democrats and withstood attacks by his conservative enemies for being too competitive. He was a visionary who pioneered business models. He was an unschooled fistfighter who came to command the respect of New York's social elite. And he was a father who struggled with a gambling-addicted son, a husband who was loving yet abusive, and, finally, an old man who was obsessed with contacting the dead.
The First Tycoon is the exhilarating story of a man and a nation maturing together: the powerful account of a man whose life was as epic and complex as American history itself.
Excerpts from an Interview with T.J. Stiles Question: Your last book was a biography of Jesse James. What drew you to Cornelius Vanderbilt as your next subject?
T.J. Stiles: I was drawn by who he was as a person, the lack of writing about him, and the historical themes that defined his life.
Like Jesse James, Vanderbilt was man of action--decisive, dramatic, and always interesting. He courted physical danger, fought high-stakes financial battles, and always set the terms of his existence. Like Jesse James, Vanderbilt has not been the subject of much serious research. And like Jesse James, Vanderbilt opened a window on the making of modern America. Vanderbilt was central to the rise of the corporation, the emergence of Wall Street, and the birth of big business. His was a dramatic life played out on an enormous stage.
Q:How long have you been working on this book and what kind of research went into it?
TJS: I worked on it for more than six years. My research was challenging because Vanderbilt kept no diary, preserved no letters, and left behind no collection of papers. Second, the last serious biography about him was written in 1942. The increasing digitization of newspapers and Congressional documents helped, but I did most of my work the old-fashioned way, digging through archives and sitting in front of microfilm readers. My biggest discovery came when I stumbled upon the Old Records Division of the New York County Clerk's Office; I spent months there going through original lawsuit papers from as early as 1816. I uncovered entire episodes of Vanderbilt's life that no one ever suspected--fistfights, steamboats ramming each other, inside trading and noncompetition agreements, details about his physical office and epic tales of betrayal. I also focused on Vanderbilt's associates and rivals, and found priceless letters about him in their papers. Of course, I spent months more going through the papers of his various railroad corporations at the New York Public Library. I found so much new material that I decided to include a lengthy bibliographical essay.
Q:Throughout the book, you highlight Vanderbilts role in the making of the modern idea of economic regulation. You also write, The Commodore's life left its mark on Americans' most basic beliefs about equality and opportunity. Where in our modern institutions do you think his legacy is most apparent?
TJS: Vanderbilt early on voiced a political philosophy rooted in radical Jacksonianism. He believed in individual equality, in the right to compete freely. He denounced monopolies and corporations. This strain of thought remains a key part of American values. Yet he ended his life at the pinnacle of an incredibly unequal society, the master of a giant corporation that overshadowed almost every other business in America. That late-life transformation strongly influenced the new acceptance of government regulation that arose after the Civil War. I don't think so much that Vanderbilt's legacy can be seen in our institutions as much as our economic culture--the rise of the modern idea that government should intervene to regulate large businesses, and redress the balance of wealth and power in society.
Q: What do you think Vanderbilt would have to say about our current economic climate; its root causes as well as the ever increasing bail-outs of giant corporations?
TJS: When the Panic of 1873 hit, Vanderbilt gave an immediate analysis to a newspaper reporter that virtually describes the current situation. The problem was asset inflation: a speculative bubble (in his case, railroads, in our case, real estate) that tamped down skepticism about the value of securities issued by overvalued companies (or, in our case, mortgage-backed securities based on shaky home loans). Eager to ride the rising wave, banks in New York marketed the securities abroad, giving a stamp of approval, much as they have done with mortgage-backed securities today. In other words, Vanderbilt would have understood the root causes of our crisis, despite the great differences in the economy between then and now. And, though he usually looked askance at government intervention, the seriousness of the situation might have led him to approve of strong action. It's hard to say, because he denounced subsidies, yet after the Panic of 1873 he also urged the federal government to pump new money into the economy. In any case, he would have had a sophisticated grasp of our conundrum.
Q:Your own family history recently made national news when it was discovered, at The Smithsonian in Washington, DC, that one of President Lincolns watches contained a secret inscription from your great-great grandfather. That must have been pretty exciting for you, not only as a family member but as a historian who has written extensively about the Civil War. How do you feel about this news and what do you make of all the attention it received?
TJS:The news accounts floored me. I never expected this favorite family story, one I never quite believed, to enter national mythology. My great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Dillon, was an Irish immigrant who was working in a Washington, D.C., watch repair shop when Fort Sumter was fired on. He happened to be holding Lincolns watch in his hand. He made an inscription on the back of the dial, closed it up, and said nothing to Lincoln about it. My second cousin, Douglas Stiles, tracked the watch to the Smithsonians Museum of American History, and convinced the director to open the watch up and check. The message was there--a little different from my great-great-grandfathers memory, but it was there.
I think it struck a chord with the nation at the momen
Exceptionally Multi-Dimensional View of the Man and His Times
For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely? -- 1 Samuel 24:19
Cornelius Vanderbilt was driven by a desire to best his commercial rivals while realizing that he might in the future need to ally with them. As a result, he was a tough competitor while being careful to develop a reputation as someone who was trustworthy. Youll learn the consequences of this compulsion in The First Tycoon. And Im sure many will pick up this book wanting to pick up tips on how to accumulate a great fortune.
If you are like me, youll find many pleasant surprises in this book as many unexpected perspectives and dimensions emerge. This book could just easily serve as a primer on continuing business model innovation, an expertise that Vanderbilt seems to have had to an extraordinary degree. In addition, the book is a marvelous look into the dynamics of unregulated markets with relatively few competitors and how quickly monopolies and cozy oligopolies emerge that fleece the public. Further, the work does great justice to explaining how to gain cost and competitive advantages in transportation businesses (reduce the price, the hassle, and the costs). Beyond that, The First Tycoon is a definite primer on how to outmaneuver competitors in business and on the stock market. Youll also learn how to rig an unregulated stock market or to corner the market. Those who are interested in leadership will see many good models of how to go from doing to leading.
If thats not enough, youll also learn about how a great success in business wasnt such a good father . . . and how he coped with the failings of his youngsters.
Those who like social history will find that the book is filled with much good information about the times and what it was like to live then. Youll never look at certain parts of New York and New England in the same way after reading about their origins.
Some may complain that they wanted more of a particular aspect of the story. Those who wanted just a biography, an ever deeper look into the man, may be somewhat disappointed. Much of the book doesnt get below the surface of Vanderbilts psyche. But perhaps there wasnt very much to reveal about someone whom others had reason to avoid annoying.
I thought this book was so revealing that I spent a lot of time studying it, the first time I can say that about any book in recent years. I learned a lot and you will, too!
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