Author: Ferdinand Lundberg
He received his M.A in the USA (Columbia University) and he worked as a journalist (“The Wall Street Journal” and the “New York Herald Tribune” among others…). He studied the history of the wealth and power that accompanies it.
“Ferdinand Lundberg wrote a book in the ‘30s that was one of the greatest examples of political reporting. It’s called America’s 60 Families. This would be our one-tenth of 1 percent—it’s about how 60 families controlled 95 percent of the wealth in the United States. I came across that book as I was researching the robber barons and I thought it was the greatest book” – Robert Caro
In how far these families are interwoven and intertwined, the author describes precisely, he also describes how these families monopolize the most important corporations of the USA, which operate worldwide.
Here you will find a small list of the families which, according to the tax records of 1924, were among the richest and thus the most powerful in the USA (NNDB – Notable Names Database):
1 | Rockefeller Family | Standard Oil |
2 | Morgan Family | J. P. Morgan & Co. |
3 | Ford Family | Ford Motors |
4 | Harkness Family | Standard Oil |
5 | Mellon Family | Aluminum Company |
6 | Vanderbilt Family | NY Central R&R |
7 | Whitney Family | Standard Oil |
8 | Standard Oil Families | Standard Oil |
9 | Du Pont Family | DuPont |
10 | McCormick Family | International Harvester, Chicago Times |
11 | Baker Family | First National Bank |
12 | Fisher Family | General Motors |
13 | Guggenheim Family | American Smelting & Refining Co. |
14 | Field Family | Marshall Field’s |
15 | Curtis-Boks Family | Curtis Publishing Co. |
16 | Duke Family | American Tobacco Company |
17 | Berwind Family | Berwind-White Coal Co. |
18 | Lehman Family | Lehman Brothers |
19 | Widener Family | American Tobacco Company, public utilities |
20 | Reynolds Family | R. J. Reynolds |
21 | Astor Family | Real estate |
22 | Winthrop Family | Miscellaneous |
23 | Stillman Family | Citibank |
24 | Timken Family | Timken |
25 | Pitcairn Family | Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. (now PPG Industries) |
26 | Warburg Family | Kuhn, Loeb & Co. |
27 | Metcalf Family | Rhode Island textile mills |
28 | Clark Family | Singer Sewing Machine Co. |
29 | Phipps Family | Carnegie Steel |
30 | Kahn Family | Kuhn, Loeb & Co. |
31 | Green Family | Stocks and real estate |
32 | Patterson Family | Chicago Tribune |
33 | Taft Family | Real estate |
34 | Deering Family | International Harvester |
35 | De Forest Family | Corporate law practice |
36 | Gould Family | Railroads |
37 | Hills Family | Railroads |
38 | Drexel Family | J. P. Morgan & Co. |
39 | Ryan Family | Stock market |
40 | Foster Family | Auto parts |
41 | Johnson Family | Victor Phonograph |
42 | James Family | Copper and railroads |
43 | Nash Family | Automobiles |
44 | Schiff Family | Kuhn, Loeb & Co. |
45 | Patten Family | Wheat market |
46 | Hayden Family | Stock market |
47 | Weber Family | Allied Chemical & Dye Corp. |
48 | Blumenthal Family | Lazard |
49 | Mills Family | Mining |
50 | Friedsam Family | Merchandising |
51 | McLean Family | Mining |
52 | Higgins Family | New York real estate |
53 | Cochran Family | Textiles |
54 | Kirkwood Family | ? |
55 | Tyson Family | ? |
56 | Huntington Family | Railroads |
57 | Storrow Family | Lee Higginson & Co. |
58 | Rosenwald Family | Sears Roebuck |
59 | Baruch Family | Stock market |
60 | Kresge Family | Merchandising |
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