Did you know these 10 surprising facts about John D Rockefeller?
On the 175th anniversary of John D. Rockefeller’s birth, explore 10 surprising facts about the oil tycoon and philanthropist. 1. His father was a con artist and a bigamist. The tycoon’s father, William Avery Rockefeller, was a traveling snake-oil salesman who posed as a deaf-mute peddler and hawked miracle drugs and herbal remedies.
Was JFK a good golfer?
Kennedy began playing as a teenager and, a natural athlete, quickly became a good player, making the golf team as a freshman at Harvard. Though he was kept away from golf for long periods by chronic back pain, JFK went on to be the best player of all the presidents.
Did John D Rockefeller fight in the Civil War?
Although he was a fervent abolitionist, Rockefeller did not take up arms when the Civil War broke out in 1861.
Who was ‘Devil Bill’ Rockefeller?
The smooth-talking huckster dubbed “Devil Bill” alternately fathered children, including the future industrialist, with his wife and mistress, the couple’s live-in housekeeper. The itinerant William Rockefeller also lived a double life posing as an eye-and-ear specialist named Dr. William Levingston, and in 1855 he secretly married another woman.
What was Rockefeller's first job?
On September 26, 1855, a Cleveland merchant company, Hewitt and Tuttle, hired the teenaged Rockefeller as an assistant bookkeeper. From that year forward, the corporate tycoon celebrated “job day” every September 26 to commemorate his entrance into the business world, ...
How old was Rockefeller when he died?
His life spanned from the presidency of Martin Van Buren to that of Franklin D. Roosevelt before his death at age 97 on May 23, 1937. When Rockefeller turned 96, his insurance company was required to pay him the $5 million face value of his policy.
What did Rockefeller do for his church?
In 1913, America’s first billionaire endowed the Rockefeller Foundation, which had the ambitious goal “to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world .” The foundation contributed to achievements such as development of a yellow fever vaccine and the successful eradication of hookworm disease in the United States.
How old was Rockefeller when he started the oil business?
Shortly after the discovery of petroleum in Titusville, Pennsylvania, the 24-year-old Rockefeller entered the fledgling oil business in 1863 by investing in a Cleveland refinery. In 1870, he formed the Standard Oil Company of Ohio along with his younger brother William, Henry Flagler and additional investors.
Why did Rockefeller get an exemption?
While his youngest brother was wounded at Chancellorsville and Cedar Mountain, Rockefeller received an exemption for being the primary means of supporting his family and hired substitute soldiers in his stead, a common practice during the war. “I wanted to go in the army and do my part,” he said.
Who wrote Rockefeller's biography?
Winston Churchill would have written Rockefeller’s biography—if his price hadn’t been so high. In addition to being a gifted orator, Churchill was a masterful writer who penned 42 books and earned the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Did Rockefeller lose his hair?
Beginning in his 40s, Rockefeller lost all the hair from his head, his mustache and his body. The hair never grew back, and in the early 1900s the tycoon began to wear rotating wigs of various lengths to give the impression of his hair growing and being shorn.
What golf course did Eisenhower play at?
A 1964 Golf Digest story credited him with rounds of 77 at Cherry Hills and 79s at Augusta National, Burning Tree and Gettysburg. Eisenhower first visited Augusta in 1948 and became a member and a close friend of club co-founder and chairman Clifford Roberts.
When did Fred Astaire play golf?
Fred Astaire | 1899-1987. The multi-talented dancer, singer and actor learned to play golf as a boy during a 1914 vacation in Delaware Water Gap, Pa. "I was so crazy about golf I couldn't sleep nights," he later wrote in material for his autobiography. "I had a terrific desire to be a golf pro.".
What movie was Bob Hope's golf based on?
Golf featured in many of his movies. "The Golf Specialist" was based on an earlier vaudeville act , and in "The Big Broadcast of 1938" -- Bob Hope's debut -- Fields tries to break the speed record for a round of golf using a motor scooter.
What did Faulkner do before he became a literary genius?
Before he became a literary genius, Faulkner had an aimless youth, much of which was spent playing golf. As a 19-year-old, according to one biography, he was "known to drink heavily, write verse, and waste large amounts of time on the local golf courses." The favorite venue was the nine-hole university course in his hometown of Oxford, Miss., essentially a pasture which had oiled "browns" instead of greens, fenced off to keep the cows away. Working in the local post office from 1921-'24, Faulkner would often take off for afternoons of golf; on weekends he would drive 45 miles to Charleston, where better courses awaited. Later, he got a job selling drinks from a stand on the course.
Where did James Bond take his first golf lesson?
The man best known for playing James Bond, aka 007, was well into his 30s when he took his first golf lesson, on a course near Pinewood Studios, outside London, as preparation for the golf scene in the classic, third Bond film, "Goldfinger.". It was the start of a lifelong love affair with the game.
Was Sherlock Holmes a jock?
"The creator of Sherlock Holmes was a jock," Charles McGrath wrote in Golf Digest in 2006. "He was a boxer, a soccer and rugby player, an excellent cricketer (who once scored a hundred runs in a semi-pro match at Lord's), a pioneering skier, a hot-air balloonist and a very serious golfer."
Who played Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind?
"I owned a putter, and Clark had an iron," fellow actor Paul Fix told one biographer, recalling visits to Griffith Park. "We'd look around the roughs for stray balls, then play golf all day with the two clubs."
