The 38 Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to His Son

letter review

This is a different type of book. Okay it's not really a book. As the title suggests it is a collection of 38 Letters by John D Rockefeller to his son, John D Rockefeller Jr.

This book reminded me of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Funnily enough, while I have not read the book, I have heard about how great it is from Ryan Holiday's books. Meditations is said to be so great as it a collection of personal writings and reflections by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

John D Rockefeller didn't intend for these letters to be public. He wanted to give some advice to his son. Also it must be noted that these letters were from 1897 to 1922, making Rockefeller between the ages of 58 and 83 and he was giving advice to his son who was a grown adult managing his businesses.

Some interesting things from this book were how much Rockefeller talked about how it was his destiny to dominate industries and win. Throughout various letters, he constantly reinforces the fact that second place is actually last place.

When he got his first job at age 16, he celebrated that day as "Job Day" and continued to celebrate that day for the rest of his life as a reminder of the day his adult life began.

He also claims that from a young age, he vowed to be the richest man and that it was his destiny to reach the pinnacle of wealth.

"Stupidly hard work may still get nothing after all the hard work, but if you think of working hard for your boss as a ladder to serve yourself one day, it is undoubtedly the beginning of wealth creation. The feeling of being your own boss is so great, it is beyond words. Of course, I cannot always be immersed in the pride of being amongst the trade agents at the age of 18. I warned myself: “Your future depends on the days that pass by. Your end goal in life is to be the richest man in the United States. Where are you? It is still far, far away. You must continue to work hard for yourself.” Being the richest person is the basis for my efforts and the strength to spur myself. In the past few decades, I have always been a believer in the pursuit of excellence. The one sentence I most often motivates myself with is: For me, second place is no different from last place. If you understand it, you will think that it is not surprising that I ruled the oil industry as the indisputable king."

Another fun part is when he talks about greed. He writes to his son about how the public and media tried to tarnish his philanthropic image by talking about how greedy he was to have that much wealth.

He goes on a long rant to his son about how he would never mention in it public but that greed made him the richest man in the world. He writes about how greed is a good thing and that it made him successful enough to donate money to charitable causes.

"Those who love muckraking always regard greed as a demon. But in my opinion, opening the lock of our greed is not the same as opening the Pandora's Box, and releasing the beating greed all the time is equivalent to releasing the potential of our lives. From a bookkeeper with a weekly salary of only five dollars to the richest person in the United States today, it was greed which made me achieve this miracle. Greed is the force that drives me to create wealth, just as it is the force that drives social evolution."

"Many people have asked me the same question: “Mr. Rockefeller, what supported you on your way to the top of wealth?” I cannot express my true feelings because greed is despised by people. However, the fact is that greed is the support that supported me to become a generation of millionaire, that is, I aroused my greed and deepened my greed."

"John, I am the focus of my life, I decide what suits me, so I do not care what those people say, my heart is still peaceful. To some people, I always seem to be a businessman with despicable motives. Even if I invest in charities that benefit the people, It will be regarded as a trick by them. They suspect that the motivation of my charities is to pursue self-interest, or a form of atoning my sins, but they do not see it as a selfless spirit of public welfare. This is really funny. I want to tell you very sincerely that your father will never make you feel ashamed. Every penny in my pocket is clean. The reason why I became rich is my superior mind and strong career. The heart is rewarded. I firmly believe that God has clear rewards and punishments, and that my money is given by God. And I can always make money. If God helps, this is because God knows that I will return the money to society for the benefit of my fellow citizens."

Also letter 36 was an enjoyable read. It was the letter he wrote after the Panic of 1907 had passed. He writes about how much he despises President Theodore Roosevelt as the federal court had just issued an unprecedented fine to Standard Oil and ordered the dissolution of the company.

Rockefeller proceeds to criticise the Roosevelt administration for not understanding how wealth is built, how much good Standard Oil had done for Americans and how wealth is a form of responsibility. He commented on how he used his wealth to make large bank deposits to restore confidence in the U.S. financial system and how J.P. Morgan (the guy) saved America from yet another financial calamity.

Yet as he writes,

"I am very happy that a financial crisis that almost caused a national crisis has finally passed! Now, I think our President, Theodore Roosevelt, can go to Louisiana to continue hunting with peace of mind, despite his surprising incompetence in this crisis. Of course, Mr. President did not do nothing. He supported Wall Street with “worries”. God! Our taxpayer was so blind that he sent such a New Yorker into the White House. Frankly speaking, the mention of Theodore Roosevelt's name and everything he did to Standard Oil makes me indignant. He is the narrowest and most vengeful villain I have ever seen. Yes, this villain succeeded. With the power in his hands, he became the winner of an unfair competition that was initiated by him. The federal court issued the huge fine that was unprecedented in American history and ordered its dissolution of our company. See what this despicable man has done to us! However, I believe that his so-called punishment will not succeed after all, but he will feel greatly disappointed, because I believe that all our companies are not rubbish. We have an outstanding management team and sufficient funds. We can resist any risks and attacks; our wealth will come from their healthy bodies. Wait and see! There will be times when we secretly cheer. However, we are indeed hurt and treated extremely unfairly. Theodore accused us of being a villain with huge wealth, and the judge insulted us as if we were notorious thieves, as if our wealth were conspired to plunder. Wrong! Those stupid guys do not know how big companies 116 are built, and he does not want to know. Every cent of our money is permeated with our wisdom, and we have paid a load of sweat every step forward. The cornerstone of our business building is laid by our lives. But they do not want to listen, they want to be biased, only believing in their own inferior judgments, insulting our business ability, and even ignoring the fact that we use the cheapest and best quality kerosene to illuminate the United States."

Also just lmao.

"But I did not see myself as a saviour, let alone pretentious. Only fools are pretentious because of money. But because I am a citizen, that knows that I have huge wealth, and I also bear huge public responsibilities because of it. What is more noble than having huge wealth is to serve the motherland in accordance with the needs of the motherland. John, we indeed have money, but at any time, we should not spend money arbitrarily. Our money is only used to create value for mankind, and we must not give any selfish people a little bit of benefit. Of course, we will never donate money to republicans to support their election campaigns anymore. Theodore Roosevelt has already hurt us."