The Carnegie Boys

In the 1890s, the Carnegie Veterans Association began as a group of boyhood friends and older Andrew Carnegie steel partners united to share business ideas, but it evolved into a powerful secretive network in American business circles. By 1925, these Carnegie lieutenants controlled more than 60 percent of the country’s industrial assets. Haunted by their past with Carnegie Steel, they demanded a new ethical relationship with labor and adopted a philanthropic philosophy of paternal capitalism, building libraries, churches, schools, and hospitals. Ultimately, their experiments in industrial democracy and “progressive industrialism” failed, but their efforts formed the root of future cooperative management and employee participation. This chronicle of the evolution and legacy of this influential association offers a new, more complex perspective on Carnegie and demonstrates how he and his lieutenants helped to shape America’s view of capitalism.

Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr., an international expert in management, manufacturing and globalization, is the author of numerous books on American industrial history, capitalism and notable business leaders. He lives in Maumee, Ohio.

Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr.
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 247
Bibliographic Info: 34 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6455-5
eISBN: 978-0-7864-9054-7
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments vi

Preface 1

Introduction 5

 1. The Reunion 17

 2. The Original Six 29

 3. From Street Gang to Partnership 37

 4. Braddock’s Field and Captain Bill 46

 5. The “Class of 1879” 57

 6. The Boys of Braddock and the King of Coke 66

 7. Carnegie Steel Takes on Labor 80

 8. The Gay Nineties 91

 9. A Clash of Cultures 104

10. Mansions, Parties, and High Living 112

11. Corporate Misfits 123

12. In Charge of American Business 129

13. Bethlehem Takes the Torch of the Veterans 137

14. The Armor Trust and War Dividends 147

15. The Vision of an Industrial Democracy 156

16. Taming of the Lions 165

17. Twilight of the Titans 172

18. The Carnegie Veterans Association 178

19. The Carnegie Organizational Way 192

20. The Legacy of the Veterans 206

21. The Last Roll Call 213

Appendix I: Key Carnegie Partners, Friends and Lieutenants 220

Appendix II: Timeline 224

Chapter Notes 226

Bibliography 231

Index 235