John D. Rockefeller had only one son, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The father, who was ruthless and destroyed millions of peoples livelihoods, did not believe in philanthropy. He would much rather have kept his money in his pockets and focused on continuing to accumulate profits. His son, however, took a different approach.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr, graduated from Brown University and then joined his father business. There, he saw firsthand the ruthlessness of Standard Oil and the illegal measures they took to keep and expand their monopoly. Over time, the younger Rockefeller realized that this life was not for him and decided to focus on the issue that his father despised: philanthropy.
Rockefeller, Jr, even as a young kid, had an aspiration for all things outdoors. He loved playing, hiking, and hunting in the backwoods around his house. As he got older though and saw the ever-growing greed of his father's company, Rockefeller feared that these wild places would be gone forever. Thus, using foundation or his own private money, Rockefeller worked to protect millions of acres of land in the United States from development. He donated $5 million to protect areas in the Great Smoky Mountains, which would later become parts of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (the most visited National Park in the US) and Shenandoah National Park. Next, Rockefeller worked to protect a small set of islands on the coast of Maine that as a kid he used to travel too. That would become know as Acadia National Park. In 1922, Rockefeller generously donated $1 million to save 15,000 acres of ancient Sequoia and Redwood forest in California from logging. His crown jewel though was Grand Teton, National Park.
Mr. Rockefeller would spend much of his time in the 1920s and 1930s in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and a love for the area grew on him. In 1930, Rockefeller told the Department of the Interior, that he had the intention to try to preserve much of the Jackson Hole from exploitation. Thus, under the name of Snake River Land Company, Rockefeller began to buy up land around Jackson Hole. His intention always to donate the land to the federal government but by 1942 he was growing impatient with Franklin Delano Roosevelt's inaction on the park and threatened to sell to another party. Rockefeller's letter to the Department of Interior was enough to create some action. Thus, in 1943, FDR created the Grand Teton National Monument which protected 221,000 acres in and around the greater Jackson Hole area using Rockefeller's bought up land. Eventually, the monument would become part of the Grand Teton National Park.
Rockefeller, Jr, work as a philanthropist has had a lasting effect on American Society and we should be thankful that he was so generous when it came to protecting our natural wonders. If not for the work of Mr. Rockefeller I fear that we would have lost many of our nation's most cherished natural wonders for good.
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/sontag/rockefeller.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Teton_National_Park#Establishment_of_the_park
In class, we have been focusing a lot on the big business magnates like John D. Rockefeller. I thought it was very interesting of you to follow the rockefeller family after John, and how John Jr. differed drastically both in behavior and beliefs than his father. However, I think that this difference in belief comes from the differences in how they were brought up. John Jr. was brought up in basically one of the richest households in the world, and because of that he most likely sees very little value in making more money.
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