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The "baron" theme suggested they were anti-democratic aristocrats who rejected the core values of American [[republicanism]].
The favorite target was oilman [[John D. Rockefeller]]. By contrast [[Henry Ford]], a popularhero, was rarely attacked.
One theme that was added in the 1940s was the false allegation that most businessmen believed in [[Social Darwinism]] whereby their success was "natural" and charity was unwise. In fact no businessmen supported the theory. [[Andrew Carnegie]], for example, propounded the [[Gospel of Wealth]] to the effect that the rich had a duty to share their wealth through philanthropy. Once the richest men in the world, Carnegie, Rockefeller and Ford gave away over 90% of their money to philanthropy.
[[Business History]] scholars beginning in the 1920s and led by Professor [[Alan Nevins]] at Columbia University and later [[Alfred D. Chandler]] at Harvard, refuted the false "Robber Baron" image. The image occasionally appears in textbooks and, more often, in history lectures or editorials written from a leftist perspective. The image is distinctly American--European and Asians rarely displayed it.
==see also==
* [[Business History]]
* [[John D. Rockefeller]]
* [[Andrew Carnegie]]
==Further reading==
* Josephson, Matthew. ''The Robber Barons: The Great American Capitalists, 1861- 1901'' (1933),
[[Category:Economic history]]
[[Category:Business]]
[[Category:HistoriographyHistorians]]
