All of the long-dead billionaires wound up with their hordes the same way current billionaires do: exploitation. The long-dead billionaires used their immense wealth for political power, funding and writing US policy, just as today's do. They all cleared their names the same way as today's do as well: via charitable donations and foundations.
One scary difference between Mellon, Rockefeller, Ford, and Carnegie and Musk, Gates, Zuck, and Bezos is their popular perception. People (and the press) used to hate billionaires. Called them Robber Barons back then. Today's billionaires are celebrated, idolized. Short term, this means they have less rehabilitating to do in terms of their image/legacy (Musk's attempts at charity are especially bad). Long term, who knows what it what it means? Can't be good.
Drop us a line if you'd like to contribute writing/research here: hi@therichest8.com
Adams, Marcel
Ansin, Edmund
Astor, John Jacob
Bosov, Dmitry
Carnegie, Andrew
Clark, William
Cojuangco, Eduardo
Cooke, Jay
Crocker, Charles
Drew, Daniel
Duke, J.B.
Faria, Aloysio de Andrade
Field, Marshall
Flagler, Henry
Frick, Henry
Ford, Henry
Gates, John
Getty, Jean Paul
Gould, Jay
Harriman, E.H.
Hearst, William
Hill, James
Hilton, Barron
Hopkins, Mark
Jobs, Steve
Jove, Manuel
Kirac, Suna
Kelleher, Herb
Koc, Mustafa Vehbi
Koch, David
Kun-hee, Lee
MacMillan, Whitney
Mellon, Andrew
Morgan, J.P.
Moroun, Manuel
Osgood, John
Perot, Ross
Plant, Henry
Redstone, Sumner
Rockefeller, John
Rollins, Randall
Safra, Joseph
Schwab, Charles
Siu-tong, Lo
Solow, Sheldon
Spreckels, John
Stanford, Leland
Vanderbilt, Cornelius
Wilhelmsen, Arne
Yeon-cha, Park