All language subtitles for The.Men.Who.Built.America.8of8.The.New.Machine.BDRip.720p.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

- NARRATOR: America has
emerged onto the world stage

rebuilt over the
past five decades

by John Rockefeller, Andrew
Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan.

They've reigned
uncontested for years.

Only now the government
is cracking down

on big business
in a big way.

- (Blues Saraceno playing
"Save My Soul")

♪ When I got to Memphis ♪

♪ I put my old
baby down ♪

♪ He said I can't
take you to Heaven ♪

♪ I can't save
your soul ♪

♪ I can't promise
forever ♪

♪ Whoo ♪

♪ With my heart
in your hands ♪

♪ I can't feel,
fell my soul ♪

- NARRATOR: The case will
be the biggest challenge

of Rockefeller's life.

A fight that will determine the
future of the country.

As Rockefeller is forced
to defend the company

he built from nothing

into one of the most powerful

corporation's on earth.

- Buy now. Buy everything.

Buy the whole company.

- (people murmuring)

- It's Rockefeller.

- The United States
versus Standard Oil.

This hearing is
now in session.

Please state your name.

- John Rockefeller.

- Mr. Rockefeller,
can you tell the court

how in just one year,
in 1872,

you acquired all the
refineries in Cleveland?

- I don't remember.

- (gasps)
- (people murmuring)

- It was 36 years ago.

- You used intimidation to
wipe out the competition,

did you not?

I mean, so ruthlessly
that it became known

as the Cleveland massacre.

- I don't remember
any massacre.

- (people murmuring)

- Are you aware of
payments made by Standard

Oil to a Senator,
$15,000 to block a bill

hostile to Standard Oil?

- I don't remember.

- We have a list of bribes
made by Standard Oil

to politicians
between 1903...

- I stepped down as
Chief Executive

of Standard Oil in 1902.

I can't answer for any
incidents that occurred

after that date.

- You are still President
of Standard Oil,

are you not?

- It's an honorary title.

Much like that of
President of the United States.

- (laughter)

- Can I remind you Mr.
Rockefeller of the seriousness

of the charges
brought against you.

- NARRATOR: As John
Rockefeller fights to keep

his monopoly intact a new
generation of businessmen

is facing a new set
of challenges as they struggle

to get their
companies off the ground.

- I have set out to build
the best motor car

for popular use.

The Ford motor car
is durable and light,

weighing only 1,000lbs.

It has a four cylinder
engine and is capable

of speeds up to 45
miles an hour.

It is priced at $900
compared to $1 500

for the average
licensed car.

Which makes it
the first car

affordable for
the common man.

- NARRATOR: Young
entrepreneur Henry Ford

has created a
new kind of car.

But in order to sell it
he needs to get permission

from the association
of licensed automobile

manufacturers,
also known as ALAM.

ALAM owns the patent on
the automobile giving them

complete control over who
can manufacture and sell cars.

They are, in a sense,
a giant car monopoly

and Ford's future now
rests in their hands.

- ALAM: Thank
you Mr. Ford.

We'll be in touch.

- Thank you, gentleman.

- NARRATOR: Ford is
hopeful he'll be approved

by ALAM, allowing him to
start his own business

and to pursue his dream
for the future

of the car industry.

- When Ford entered the
automobile business

people didn't drive their own
cars, they had drivers.

And so cars were seen
as this luxury item.

Ford's insight was that
cars could be an every day item.

They could be very
utilitarian so that it was

within the reach
of ordinary people.

- NARRATOR: Ford has spent
years developing his car

for the common man.

He builds his first model
at the age of 33 and calls

it the quadricyle.

But the vehicle is
expensive to produce

and prone to breaking down.

Ford's second attempt--
Model A--is much more suited

to the needs
of modern America.

But he can't begin selling
it without permission from ALAM.

- ALAM was successful
in blackmailing

other automobile companies
saying,

"you have to be licensed
by us or we will sue you.

And we own this patent."

- NARRATOR: After months
of deliberation the ALAM

board reaches
its decision.

Henry Ford's
application is rejected.

It's a crushing blow.

The auto cartel has
stopped him in his tracks.

But Henry Ford is
determined to show the world

that to succeed in
America all you need

is integrity and ingenuity.

The next generation of
businessmen is on the rise.

Henry Ford is battling
a powerful cartel

for the right to make
a car he believes in.

The Association of
Licensed Automobiles

manufacturers owns the
patent on the automobile

and budding car makers
like Henry Ford need

its permission to sell cars.

After being rejected by ALAM,
Ford is left with few options

but he isn't about to give up
on his dreams.

- Ford thought that
the whole thing was ridiculous.

That there could not be a patent
on the idea of the automobile.

That the automobile was
not the property

of one single individual.

- NARRATOR: Ford is
determined to get around

ALAM'S stranglehold
on the auto industry.

But he's just one man going up
against a virtual monopoly.

If he's going to be a
success, without ALAM,

he's going to need to
make a name for himself.

- It's a very simple
thing on the make or break

decision: it's the gut and
that's what separates

the great leaders and
the great successes.

And if you can't listen to
it and you don't have it,

you're never gonna get it
'cause it's never gonna come

from someplace else.

- NARRATOR: Henry Ford
challenges the owner

of the biggest car company
in the country to a race.

Alexander Winton is also
known as the fastest

driver in America and a
prominent member ofALAM.

Beating Winton with a car of his
own design has the potential

to give Ford the
boost he needs to start

his own company.

There's just one problem,

Henry Ford had never
raced a care before.

- It's a David
and Goliath scene.

Winton's famous,
world record holder,

has this fancy race car.

Ford, the local
boy made good.

- NARRATOR: Henry Ford's
upset win over the fastest man

in America makes
him instantly famous.

- Ford's a hero and this
is really the first big time,

I think, that he
becomes a celebrity.

The Ford name gets out
there and he milks it

for everything that
it's worth,

and it was a very crucial
part of Ford

getting investors for the
Ford Motor Company.

- NARRATOR: Ford raises
$28,000--or $700,000 today.

Enough money to build his
first factory in Highland Park,

Michigan and before long he's
producing 1 5 cars a day,

priced low enough for
almost any American.

- When it finally
does break through,

it is sort of gratifying
because you--you're

starting to see the reality of
what you always believe.

That--that the vision you
had that someday the world

would be different is starting
to move in that direction.

- NARRATOR: Henry Ford's early
success puts him on the map.

But ALAM takes notice and
hits him with a lawsuit

claiming he's breaching
their patent on the automobile.

- You see all these huge
conglomerations

suing people over patents.

The big guys are taking
advantage of the little guys,

trying to find
whatever angle they could

and using their might.

And those with the
best tricksters win.

- NARRATOR: While Henry
Ford prepares to bring

his fight for the little
guy to a Detroit court,

the trial to bring
down Standard Oil

is starting to get ugly.

- Mr. Rockefeller, we have
evidence that you placed

several refineries
out of business.

- Not to my knowledge.

- Do you accept that
Standard Oil has enjoyed

profitability higher
than most industries?

- Our profitability is no
higher than that of US Steel.

I haven't heard of
anyone attempting

to break up U.S. Steel.

- NARRATOR: While
Rockefeller is fighting

to save his company,

J.P. Morgan has been able to
keep his steel monopoly

of the government's hit list.

He's used his power and
influence to broker

a number of deals for the nation
applying the might

of U.S. Steel to strengthen
the country's infrastructure.

But Morgan's biggest deal
is just getting started

in Central America.

For years, attempts have
been made to build a canal

linking the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans.

Such a canal would cut
East to West travel time

in half saving ships over
8,000 miles per trip.

But no one's had the power to
make it happen, until now.

J.P. Morgan acts as the middle
man for the government

and raises $40 million dollars
- OR $7 billion today--

to get the project started.

The Panama Canal is
the most ambitious

construction project the United
States has ever undertaken.

Over 75,000 workers
labor in brutal heat,

fighting off
deadly diseases,

digging a canal 51 miles from
the Atlantic to the Pacific.

- To assemble the
manpower, the material,

and the finances; to cut
a swath through the middle

of Panama and join the
Atlantic Ocean with the

Pacific Ocean--only an
industrially sophisticated

nation could do that.

- NARRATOR: The Panama
Canal embodies everything

that makes America the most
powerful country on the planet.

Built on steel,
powered by electricity

and running on gasoline.

And it's all made possible
due to the financial might

of one of the country's
most powerful men.

But the age of the
monopoly is still on trial

and the unchallenged power
the Titans have used

to amass their empires is
not going to last forever.

Decades of unprecedented
growth have transformed

America into an
industrial super power.

The change has been driven
by some of the largest

companies the world
has ever seen:

U.S. Steel,

Standard Oil
and General Electric.

But it also comes
with a cost.

Workers are outraged over
dangerous conditions

at factories across
the country.

- Nobody will break us!
Nobody!

- NARRATOR: And the gap
between the rich and the poor

is bigger than
it's ever been.

Many are convinced
that America's largest companies

are holding
the country back.

The age of monopoly
is under threat.

- I hate monopolists.

I fought monopolists
all my life.

I always wanted an
even playing field,

but I had to fight for an even
playing field for myself.

- NARRATOR: Over a 40 year
career John Rockefeller

used innovation and
ingenuity to create

a corporate empire unlike
any the world has ever seen.

But he was also
notoriously ruthless

and many believe he
went too far.

For John D. Rockefeller,

judgment day
is here in what's become

the trial of the century:
The People versus Standard Oil.

- The picture painted
of Standard Oil

is a depressing one.

No trust in the history
ofAmerica has been

so destructive in its
pursuit of profit.

Time and time again we
have heard how Standard Oil

has used secret
kickbacks from the

railroads, been routinely
engaged in predatory

pricing, used intimidation
and exclusive sales

territories to put
refineries out of business.

For over thirty years,
Standard Oil has been

on a mission to crush its
competition and establish

itself as a monopoly to
hoist up the price of kerosene.

Mr. Rockefeller, before
the court renders its decision,

do you have
anything you wish to say?

- When I came into the oil
industry, there was chaos.

I brought order.

I took a second rate,
inefficient market

and built an industry.

It was done the way it was
because that's the way

it had to be done.

No one complained when I
brought light into every home.

No one complained when
I provided thousands ofjobs,

or millions of
dollars from exports.

Oil is what this
country runs on.

You call it monopoly,
I call it enterprise.

- (people murmuring)

- Now, you tell me,
why am I here?

- (gavel bangs)
- (people murmuring)

- NARRATOR: As the court
adjourns to deliberate

Rockefeller can only
await his company's fate.

Hundreds of miles away a
new kind of businessman,

Henry Ford, also waits.

A panel of federal judges
will decide whether Ford

can continue to freely
manufacture

and sell his model A car.

The association of
licensed automobile

manufacturers is suing
Ford for a royalty on

every car he sells.

Ford knows those royalties
would drive up the cost

of his car putting
it out of the reach

for the average consumer.

For most early car makers,
the lawsuit would be

a devastating setback, but
for Ford it's something

different--an
opportunity.

- People react to failure
in one of two ways.

Either they get
scared and give up.

Or they take that failure
that--as a learning

experience and they kind
of use that experience

to redouble their efforts.

- Ford is convinced
the era of unchecked

monopolies is over.

So as his lawsuit winds
its way through court

he openly defies the order
from ALAM and continues

building and
selling his cars.

He believes there's a
better way to conduct

business in America and
he's determined

to make it a reality.

- Henry Ford was able to
position himself

as an anti-monopolist, really
in a certain way,

as a kind of antithesis of
the Rockefellers

and the Carnegies.

He is a kind of heroic
individual entrepreneur,

who believed
in competition,

who believed in
developing a product

and bringing it
to the people.

- NARRATOR: Ford begins
paying his workers

a livable wage, $5 per day,

more than double the rate
of most U.S. factories.

But Ford isn't just
paying his workers better,

he's also getting
more out of them.

He innovates a new system
for producing cars.

Rather than hand crafting
each car one at a time,

his are assembled by
a line of workers,

piece by piece.

It's called the
assembly line

and it completely changes
manufacturing forever.

- Ford didn't invent
mass production.

But he perfected
mass production.

He understood that a
complicated product

like an automobile could be
simplified and could be

made less expensive if the
same thing was produced

again and again and again.

- NARRATOR: Using
the assembly line,

Ford workers can build
cars up to 8 times faster

than any other automobile
factory in the world.

What once took 12
hours to assemble,

now takes an
hour and a half.

The innovation allows Ford
to standardize

the 8-hour workday,

5 days per week.

But for Ford to
continue to innovate,

he'll need to
win his lawsuit.

His fate, like
John Rockefeller's,

now rests in the hands
of a federal court.

Henry Ford and
John D. Rockefeller

are two
American icons,

from different
generations,

on opposing sides of
battle for the country's future.

As the verdicts come in,
American business

will never be the same.

America is becoming the
most powerful nation on earth.

Transformed from a
post-civil war wasteland

into a budding superpower

by a group of visionaries

who battled the impossible
to build unimaginable

empires that have brought the
country into the 20th century.

- With all the
great entrepreneurs,

it was a mix of
believing in an idea,

but they also recognized
that they had to do

some things to take that
idea and make it real.

- NARRATOR: After decades
of doing whatever it took

to crush the
competition,

John D. Rockefeller is fighting
to save the company he built

from nothing into one
of the largest

and most dominating
corporations on the planet.

- Big business is a
dangerous thing

in the eyes of many because
of the power it wields.

- JUDGE: The U.S. government
Versus Standard Oil.

- NARRATOR: The biggest
anti-trust trial

of all time is about to
reach a verdict.

444 witnesses have
taken the stand,

12,000 pages of testimony
have been recorded,

but in the end it
all comes down

to the testimony of one man.

ROCKEFELLER: You
call it monopoly,

I call it enterprise.

- NARRATOR: John
Rockefeller has done

all he can to keep his
monopoly intact,

but the fate of Standard
Oil is out of his control.

JUDGE: In the case of the
United States against

the Standard Oil Company,
this hearing

has reached a decision.

This court determines
against the Standard Oil Trust

on account of its
unreasonable business practices,

which are in violation of
the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

The Standard Oil Trust

must be broken
up within six months.

- (gavel bangs)
- (people murmuring)

- (people talking)

- REPORTER: Is this the
end of Standard Oil?

- NARRATOR: John
Rockefeller's Standard Oil

is completely dismantled,

broken up
into 34 smaller companies.

The age of the
monopoly is over.

The takedown of Standard
Oil bodes well

for the rising guard of a new
generation of businessman--

most of all Henry Ford.

Ford awaits the
future of his company.

After the powerful
auto Cartel, ALAM,

charged him with breaching
their patent

on the automobile and tried
to shut him down.

It's a potentially
life-changing moment

not just for Ford,
but for the future

of every industry
in the country.

In a surprise decision,
the court rules

in favor of Henry Ford.

ALAM has no legal claim
to the design of the car.

Henry Ford is free to innovate
without repercussion.

- Well, guys, that was it.

Let's go sell some cars.

- NARRATOR: Ford's
dream is made a reality.

The car belongs
to everyone.

- Ford's success put him
forward in American life

as a new kind of
businessman but,

in crucial ways, unlike
Rockefeller or Carnegie

he wasn't trying to
gain a monopoly.

He was trying to bring
a product to the people.

The American population
ate this up and they made

Henry Ford a kind
of folk hero.

- NARRATOR: Ford seizes
the momentum

and his factories go
into overdrive.

His assembly lines starts
producing a revolutionary

new car at a record rate.

It's called the Model T
and it costs only $825.

For the first time, a car
the common man can afford.

- Henry Ford created what
became the most important

industry in the
American economy.

He had no idea of the
enormous impact it would

have on almost every
sector ofAmerican life.

He literally changed
America, the way we live,

the way we do things, and the
way we go about our business.

Ford's reputation won't
always be so positive,

but his revolution
inspires an entire generation

of visionaries
who will transform

the fabric ofAmerican life.

Childhood friends William
Harley and Arthur Davidson

attach an engine to a
bicycle and begin selling

motorcycles to the masses.

Milton Hershey applies
Henry Ford's assembly line

model to the mass
production of chocolate.

Chicago merchant,
William Wrigley

takes his chewing
gum national

and in Hollywood,

Polish immigrant,
Max Factor,

begins distributing
cosmetics for movie stars

to drug stores across
the country inventing

a completely new consumer
product--make-up.

This new breed of
businessman is doing

things a different way.

They're creating
products for the masses,

while paying their
employees a livable wage.

With safe working
conditions

and a standard
40-hour work week.

The era of Rockefeller,
Carnegie and Morgan looks

like it may have
come to an end.

But America's three
most powerful men

are just as relevant
as ever before.

Standard Oil gasoline
stations

appear across the country
fueling Henry Ford's cars,

cars that are built
using Carnegie's steel

in factories powered by
J.P. Morgan's electricity.

The new breed of
businessman may be doing

things different from
their predecessors

but their innovations wouldn't
be possible without

the groundwork laid by men
like Cornelius Vanderbilt,

Andrew Carnegie,
J.P. Morgan

and John D. Rockefeller.

The result is broad
prosperity shared

throughout the country and
perhaps America's greatest

innovation yet, a thriving
and prosperous middle class.

- The Industrial
Revolution created

the development of
the middle class.

It created wealth
that we never

would've imagined
possible before.

- NARRATOR:
John Rockefeller

may have lost his court case,

but the smaller companies
created from Standard Oil

will go on to become

corporate giants with
names like Exxon,

Mobil and Chevron

and John Rockefeller

is a shareholder in
each new company.

- It's ironic, isn't it?

I mean, it's a great
moment in American history

and it established
the principle

that monopolistic practices
should not be for the future

and that
sounds really good.

Except now they
were all separate

and my great grandfather had
large amounts of stock

in every one of them.

He made more money than
he ever made in his life.

The effect on
John D. Rockefeller

was absolutely
blissful from his point of view.

- NARRATOR:
Even in defeat,

John Rockefeller becomes
the richest man in the history

of the world with
a net worth of almost

$660 billion dollars
in today's money.

With the stranglehold
of the monopolies over,

Americans now realize that
anything is possible

as long as they
work together.

The nation is more
powerful than ever

and that power will
soon be needed.

On a brisk spring morning,
two years after

the breakup of standard oil,
John Rockefeller joins

his old rival Andrew Carnegie
to mourn the loss

of one of their own.

Less than a month from
his 76TH birthday,

J.P. Morgan dies in his sleep.

Morgan leaves such a mark
on American finance

that the New York Stock
Exchange shuts down,

an honor normally reserved
for the passing of a president.

- J.P. Morgan certainly was the
foremost name in banking

in terms of creating
modern finance...

and you can't have a modern
economy without a modern,

effective
functioning banking system.

He was as influential as
any of the Titans of that day.

- NARRATOR: While the old
rivals once saw each other

as cutthroat competitors

now, in their twilight years,
the fathers of American business

have found a mutual respect.

For Rockefeller
and Carnegie,

Morgan's passing is a
reminder--

time is running short

and the realization
triggers a new contest.

No longer is their competition
about who makes more money,

now the question is who
can give more away.

- Andrew Carnegie was
the first of the big

capitalists of this
era to be bitten by

the philanthropy bug.

He decided that he was
going to use his wealth

to good purpose and he said
that a man who dies rich

dies disgraced.

- Andrew Carnegie was not
a very popular man

among his millionaire friends
because he demanded

that the millionaire has to
give away all of his money.

- There's nothing wrong
with making a lot of money.

Making money is fun.
I enjoy that very much.

But I enjoy giving away
money, even more so.

- Carnegie gives away more
than $350 million dollars

- $67 billion, today.

Most goes to education and his
favorite cause--libraries.

As more than 2,500
"Carnegie libraries"

are built in 49 states
and around the world.

But even in this contest
Carnegie will be bested

by his old rival.

John Rockefeller will
outlive Carnegie by 13 years.

That time--and his
greater worth--allows him

to give away more money
than Carnegie Is ever able to.

Throughout his life Rockefeller
has donated millions--

to his church
and numerous universities.

At the age of 73, he
creates the Rockefeller

foundation with a personal
endowment of $100 million

dollars--the equivalent
of 38 billion today.

That money will go on
to advance public health

around the world
for decades.

- My great-grandfather, he went
full bore into philanthropy.

Whether that was a duty under a
sort of a Baptist stricture,

or whether it
just came pouring out of him,

I'm just not sure.

But it doesn't make any
difference, he did it.

- NARRATOR: John
Rockefeller will live to be

97 years old and gives
away more $530 million dollars

in his lifetime.

Gifts that, today, would
total over 100 billion.

- I look at Carnegie, I
look at what Rockefeller did

and I revere these
people--for the second half

of their lives--
and they certainly are,

they're inspirations to
people who have managed

to be able to accumulate some
wealth and want to be able

to say, you know what,
I now want to help others.

- NARRATOR: As the nation
heads deeper into

the 20TH century, millions
ofAmericans,

for the first time ever,
are able to take part

in the American dream,

employed in well-paid
and safe jobs.

Manufacturing products
they themselves can now afford.

The country is united
with a robust economy

that benefits not just the
rich, but everyone.

It's the beginning of one
of the longest periods

of prosperity America
will ever see.

- It wasn't by accident
that the 20th century became,

you know,
the American century.

America made the greatest
strides in terms

of harnessing these
new technologies.

We simply could out
produce any other nation

in this world by the time
the 20th century rolled around.

And that clearly put us
in a position

to drive the global agenda.

It was on the back of the
Industrial Revolution.

- NARRATOR: But as World
War I breaks out in Europe,

the world
looks for help.

It looks to America.

Just 50 years removed from
the ashes of the Civil War,

America has become
a global super power.

By April of 1917, the
country enters the war

sending troops,
supplies and weapons.

Resources that will help
bring peace to the world.

But those resources would
have never been possible

without the contributions
of a small group

of visionary men.

Men who sparked
a revolution

that forever
changed America.

- America was transformed

by the vision,

the incredible hard
work and determination,

and the willingness
to take big risks

that these men display.

There is also no question
that these men

could not have done what they
did anywhere else but America,

because this place allows
more people to dream

than any other place
in the world.

All that matters is how
big do you want to dream

and how hard do
you want to work?

- NARRATOR: From a broken
country into the most powerful

nation on Earth,
they didn't discover

this modern America,
they built it.