This biography revives the Captain-of-Industry as opposed to the
Robber Baron tradition. From a spare German-American Catholic
youth, Schwab became Andrew Carnegie's number three man in his
twenties and, having been ousted from U.S. Steel after a naval
supply scandal in 1903, built Bethlehem Steel into "the American
Krupp." No inventive genius himself, Schwab nevertheless had an
excellent instinct for innovation and expansion; to this extent the
book makes its case that the early industrial magnates were not
mere parasites but organizers and developers. The book provides
detailed examination of perennial charges against Schwab for
cheating on government contracts, war profiteering, and the like,
while tending to fudge the sharp practices involved in Schwab's
"normal" operations, which is unfortunate, not just in terms of
moral bookkeeping but for the sake of accuracy regarding the way
turn-of-the-century growth of the industry was accomplished. Hessen
tones down labor clashes like the Homestead strike of 1892 so much
that it will be hard for readers to comprehend why the steel barons
drew such public outrage. And he denies that Schwab deserved the
Nye Committee indictment as a "merchant of death" after WW I. In
short, Hessen, a Hoover Institution associate, makes Schwab the
businessman's businessman: quick, spectacular successes, triumphs
after setbacks, canny coaxings and poundings for his work force,
and the best of both government boons and private prerogatives. He
enjoyed himself, too, as Hessen details, with mistresses, opera,
and the biggest, gauchest house on Riverside Drive. Hessen's
concern for detail, however, is used to best advantage in his lucid
glosses of technological problems. Not exactly a "balanced"
treatment, but useful. (Kirkus Reviews)
Business genius and hedonist, Charles Schwab entered the steel
industry as an unskilled laborer and within twenty years advanced
to the presidency of Carnegie Steel. He later became the first
president of U.S. Steel and then founder of Bethlehem Steel. His
was one of the most spectacular and curious success stories in an
era of great industrial giants.
How did Schwab progress from day laborer to titan of industry?
Why did Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan select him to manage their
multmillion-dollar enterprises? And how did he forfeit their
confidence and lose the preseidency of U.S. Steel? Drawing upon
previously undiscovered sources, Robert Hessen answers these
questions in the first biography of Schwab.
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