The Reporter Who Took Down John D. Rockefeller

About this episode

The episode discusses Ida Tarbell's groundbreaking journalism against John D Rockefeller and Standard Oil during the Gilded Age.

At a time when women couldn't vote or freely enter the workplace, Ida Tarbell took on the richest man in America and triumphed. Ida grew up in the Pennsylvania oil fields of the 1870s, and saw how John D Rockefeller and his company Standard Oil bought or bullied independent firms. Ida's neighbors and even her own father were in Rockefeller's sights.      In adulthood, Ida joined a new movement in journalism. She was a "muckraker" - looking to dig up dirt on the greedy and unscrupulous monopolies of the Gilded Age. She wrote a 19-part investigation of Standard Oil that became a nationwide hit and forced the US government to act and break Rockefeller's empire apart.  Write to us at  [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Topics covered

• journalism
• muckraking
• monopolies
• women in history
• Standard Oil
• Ida Tarbell
• Gilded Age

Keywords

• Ida Tarbell
• John D Rockefeller
• Standard Oil
• muckraker
• Gilded Age
• journalism
• monopolies

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Standard Oil

Places: Pennsylvania

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