J.P. Morgan and the Transportation Kings

Download or read book J.P. Morgan and the Transportation Kings written by Steven H. Gittelman and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 2012-03-23 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept was simple, to link American railroads and global dominance of the seas with a railroad line through China and Russia, enter the back door of Europe, and create new royalty: the Transportation Kings. Vanderbilt, Hill, Morgan, and Harriman all pursued the grand dream. They were America’s industrial princes, poised for their greatest accomplishments, only to find that they had not considered the gauntlet awaiting them in the courts of kings and Kaisers, parliaments and congress. They awoke John Bull and helped precipitate revolution in China. They brought about the building of Lusitania and, in reaction, they owned and built the Titanic. We all know how the disaster story ends; this is how the story came about.