Rockefeller was the founder of Standard Oil and the richest man in the United States at the start of the 20th century. Gates is the founder of Microsoft, the richest man in the world, at the end of the 20th century.
Microsoft dominates the PC software business in much the same way Standard Oil dominated the oil industry at the turn of the century. The federal government broke Standard Oil up with an antitrust suit, which was joined by numerous state antitrust suits. Microsoft's antitrust travail has just begun, and there is no predicting where it will end.
On the one hand, Chernow says, Rockefeller's fortune, even adjusted for inflation (it peaked at $13 billion), was but a fraction of Gates' (now over $50 billion). On the other hand, Chernow says, relative to the total U.S. economy at the time, Rockefeller was far richer.
Chernow's book doesn't mention Bill Gates; it is strictly a Rockefeller biography. But the widespread public interest in comparing the two industrial giants has led Chernow to join in the game of finding parallels between their lives -- among other places, he has done this on the op-ed page of The New York Times.
Chernow spoke recently to Paul Schindler about Rockefeller and Gates. The interview began with a discussion of the fundamental dichotomy in Rockefeller's life (one which, apparently, does not exist in Gates')--between his deeply held religious convictions as a confirmed Baptist, and his ethically dubious business practices.
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Education
Honors
Other Books
Personal
Accomplishments
On Gates' Fortune
On John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
On Bill Gates
Yale and Cambridge University, England
National Book Award for House of Morgan
The Warburgs, Death of a Banker
48, lives in Brooklyn with his wife Valerie, a sociologist and foreign-language teacher
Exposed corruption in Chinatown for New York magazine in 1973. Regular guest on National Public Radio programs "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross and "All Things Considered"Click here to purchase Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
"I don't think you can have in excess of $50 billion and sit on it quite that long without, frankly, it becoming a big political issue."
"Here is a man who is operating on two pistons throughout his life, making as much as he can and giving away as much money as he can."
"I think he really should begin to make time for ... philanthropy."Click here to purchase Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.