John Davison Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller in 1885
Born	(1839-07-08)July 8, 1839 Richford, New York, U.S.
Died	May 23, 1937(1937-05-23) (aged 97) The Casements, Ormond Beach, Florida, United States
Resting place	Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio, United States 41°30′40″N 81°35′28″W / 41.511°N 81.591°W / 41.511; -81.591Coordinates: 41°30′40″N 81°35′28″W / 41.511°N 81.591°W / 41.511; -81.591
Nationality	American
Occupation	Founder and former chairman of the Standard Oil Company Founder of the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University Founder of the General Education Board Founder of the Rockefeller Foundation
Net worth	$663.4 billion in 2007 dollars, according to List of wealthiest historical figures, based on information from Forbes – February 2008.
Religion	Baptist

John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company and aggressively ran it until he officially retired in 1897.^[1] Standard Oil began as an Ohio partnership formed by John D. Rockefeller, his brother William Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, Jabez Bostwick, chemist Samuel Andrews, and a silent partner, Stephen V. Harkness. As kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, Rockefeller's wealth soared, and he became the world's richest man and first American worth more than a billion dollars.^[2] Adjusting for inflation, he is often regarded as the richest person in history.^[3][4][5][6]

Rockefeller spent the last 40 years of his life in retirement. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy with foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education, and scientific research.^[7]

His foundations pioneered the development of medical research, and were instrumental in the eradication of hookworm and yellow fever. He is also the founder of both the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University. He was a devoted Northern Baptist and supported many church-based institutions throughout his life. Rockefeller adhered to total abstinence from alcohol and tobacco throughout his life.^[8]

He had four daughters and one son; John D. Rockefeller, Jr. "Junior" was largely entrusted with the supervision of the foundations.

Asteroid 904 Rockefellia is named in his honour.

Early life and business career[link]

Rockefeller was the second of six children born in Richford, New York, to William Avery Rockefeller (November 13, 1810 – May 11, 1906) and Eliza Davison (September 12, 1813 – March 28, 1889). Genealogists trace some of his ancestors to French Huguenots who fled to Germany in the 17th century.^[9][10] His father, first a lumberman, then a traveling salesman, billed himself as a “botanic physician” and sold elixirs. The locals referred to the mysterious but fun-loving man as "Big Bill," and "Devil Bill".^[11] He was a sworn foe of conventional morality, who had opted for a vagabond existence and who returned to his family infrequently. Throughout his life, William Avery Rockefeller gained a reputation for shady schemes rather than productive work.^[12] Eliza, a homemaker and devout Baptist, struggled to maintain a semblance of stability at home, as William was frequently gone for extended periods. She also put up with his philandering and his double life, which included bigamy.^[13] Thrifty by nature and necessity, she taught her son that "willful waste makes woeful want."^[14] Young Rockefeller did his share of the regular household chores, and earned extra money raising turkeys, selling potatoes and candy, and eventually loaning small sums of money to neighbors. He followed his father’s advice to "trade dishes for platters", and always get the better part of any deal. Big Bill once bragged, "I cheat my boys every chance I get. I want to make ‘em sharp."^[15]

In spite of his father’s absences and frequent family moves, young Rockefeller was a well-behaved, serious and studious boy. His contemporaries described him as reserved, earnest, religious, methodical, and discreet. He was an excellent debater, and expressed himself precisely. He also had a deep love of music, and dreamed of it as a possible career.^[16] Early on, he displayed an excellent mind for numbers and detailed accounting.

Rockefeller at age 18, ca. 1857

When he was a boy, his family moved to Moravia, New York and, in 1851, to Owego, where he attended Owego Academy. In 1853, his family moved to Strongsville, a suburb of Cleveland. Rockefeller attended Cleveland's Central High School and then took a ten week business course at Folsom's Commercial College where he studied bookkeeping.^[17] In September 1855, when Rockefeller was sixteen, he got his first job as an assistant bookkeeper, working for a small produce commission firm called Hewitt & Tuttle. He worked long hours and delighted, as he later recalled, in “all the methods and systems of the office”.^[18] He was particularly adept at calculating transportation costs, which served him well later in his career. The full salary for his first three months' work was $50 (50 cents a day).^[19] From the beginning, he donated about 6% of his earnings to charity, which increased to 10% by the age of twenty, when he tithed to his Baptist church.^[20]

In 1859, Rockefeller went into the produce commission business with a partner, Maurice B. Clark, and they raised $4,000 in capital. Rockefeller went steadily ahead in business from there, making money each year of his career.^[21] After wholesale foodstuffs, the partners built an oil refinery in 1863 in "The Flats", then Cleveland's burgeoning industrial area. The refinery was directly owned by Andrews, Clark & Company, which was composed of Clark & Rockefeller, chemist Samuel Andrews, and M. B. Clark's two brothers. The commercial oil business was in its infancy. Whale oil had become too expensive for the masses, and a cheaper, general-purpose lighting fuel was needed.^[22]

While his brother Frank fought in the Civil War, Rockefeller tended his business and hired substitute soldiers. He gave money to the Union cause, as did many rich Northerners who avoided combat.^[23] In February 1865, in what was later described by oil industry historian Daniel Yergin as a "critical" action, Rockefeller bought out the Clark brothers for $72,500 at auction, and established the firm of Rockefeller & Andrews. Rockefeller said, "It was the day that determined my career."^[24] He was well-positioned to take advantage of post-war prosperity and the great expansion westward, fostered by the growth of railroads and an oil-fueled economy. He borrowed heavily, reinvested profits, adapted rapidly to changing markets, and fielded observers to track the quickly expanding industry.^[25]

Marriage and family[link]

In 1864, Rockefeller married Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman. They had four daughters and one son together. He said later, "Her judgment was always better than mine. Without her keen advice, I would be a poor man."^[21]

Beliefs[link]

Rockefeller became a lifelong member of the then-new Republican Party, and a strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln and the party’s abolitionist wing. He was a faithful congregant of the Erie Street Baptist Mission Church, where he taught Sunday school, and served as a trustee, clerk, and occasional janitor.^[26] Religion was a guiding force throughout his life, and Rockefeller believed it to be the source of his success. As he said, "God gave me money", and he did not apologize for it. He felt at ease and righteous following John Wesley’s dictum, "gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can."^[27]

Oil[link]

In 1866, his brother William Rockefeller built another refinery in Cleveland and brought John into the partnership. In 1867, Henry M. Flagler became a partner, and the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was established. By 1868, with Rockefeller continuing practices of borrowing and reinvesting profits, controlling cost and using refineries' waste, the company owned two Cleveland refineries and a marketing subsidiary in New York; it was the largest oil refinery in the world.^[28][29] Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was the predecessor of the Standard Oil Company.

Standard Oil[link]

John D. Rockefeller ca. 1875

By the end of the American Civil War, Cleveland was one of the five main refining centers in the U.S. (besides Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and the region in northwestern Pennsylvania where most of the oil originated). In June 1870, Rockefeller formed Standard Oil of Ohio, which rapidly became the most profitable refiner in Ohio. Standard Oil grew to become one of the largest shippers of oil and kerosene in the country. The railroads were fighting fiercely for traffic and, in an attempt to create a cartel to control freight rates, formed the South Improvement Company, in collusion with Standard and other oil men outside the main oil centers.^[30] The cartel received preferential treatment as a high-volume shipper, which included not just steep rebates of up to 50% for their product, but also rebates for the shipment of competing products.^[30] Part of this scheme was the announcement of sharply increased freight charges. This touched off a firestorm of protest from independent oil well owners, including boycotts and vandalism, which eventually led to the discovery of Standard Oil's part in the deal. A major New York refiner, Charles Pratt and Company, headed by Charles Pratt and Henry H. Rogers, led the opposition to this plan, and railroads soon backed off. Pennsylvania revoked the cartel’s charter and equal rates were restored for the time being.^[31]

Undeterred, though vilified for the first time by the press, Rockefeller continued with his self-reinforcing cycle of buying competing refiners, improving the efficiency of his operations, pressing for discounts on oil shipments, undercutting his competition, making secret deals, raising investment pools, and buying rivals out. In less than four months in 1872, in what was later known as "The Cleveland Conquest" or "The Cleveland Massacre", Standard Oil had absorbed 22 of its 26 Cleveland competitors.^[32] Eventually, even his former antagonists, Pratt and Rogers, saw the futility of continuing to compete against Standard Oil: in 1874, they made a secret agreement with their old nemesis to be acquired. Pratt and Rogers became Rockefeller's partners. Rogers, in particular, became one of Rockefeller's key men in the formation of the Standard Oil Trust. Pratt's son, Charles Millard Pratt became Secretary of Standard Oil. For many of his competitors, Rockefeller had merely to show them his books so they could see what they were up against, then make them a decent offer. If they refused his offer, he told them he would run them into bankruptcy, then cheaply buy up their assets at auction. He saw himself as the industry’s savior, "an angel of mercy", absorbing the weak and making the industry as a whole stronger, more efficient, and more competitive.^[33] Standard was growing horizontally and vertically. It added its own pipelines, tank cars, and home delivery network. It kept oil prices low to stave off competitors, made its products affordable to the average household, and to increase market penetration, sometimes sold below cost if necessary. It developed over 300 oil-based products from tar to paint to Vaseline petroleum jelly to chewing gum. By the end of the 1870s, Standard was refining over 90% of the oil in the U.S.^[34] Rockefeller had already become a millionaire.^[35]

In 1877, Standard clashed with the Pennsylvania Railroad, its chief hauler. Rockefeller had envisioned the use of pipelines as an alternative transport system for oil and began a campaign to build and acquire them.^[36] The railroad, seeing Standard’s incursion into the transportation and pipeline fields, struck back and formed a subsidiary to buy and build oil refineries and pipelines.^[37] Standard countered and held back its shipments, and with the help of other railroads, started a price war that dramatically reduced freight payments and caused labor unrest as well. Rockefeller eventually prevailed and the railroad sold all its oil interests to Standard. But in the aftermath of that battle, in 1879 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania indicted Rockefeller on charges of monopolizing the oil trade, starting an avalanche of similar court proceedings in other states and making a national issue of Standard Oil’s business practices.^[38]

Monopoly[link]

Standard Oil gradually gained almost complete control of oil refining and marketing in the United States through horizontal integration. In the kerosene industry, Standard Oil replaced the old distribution system with its own vertical system. It supplied kerosene by tank cars that brought the fuel to local markets and tank wagons then delivered to retail customers, thus bypassing the existing network of wholesale jobbers.^[39] Despite improving the quality and availability of kerosene products while greatly reducing their cost to the public (the price of kerosene dropped by nearly 80% over the life of the company), Standard Oil's business practices created intense controversy. Standard’s most potent weapons against competitors were underselling, differential pricing, and secret transportation rebates.^[40] The firm was attacked by journalists and politicians throughout its existence, in part for these monopolistic methods, giving momentum to the anti-trust movement. By 1880, according to the New York World, Standard Oil was "the most cruel, impudent, pitiless, and grasping monopoly that ever fastened upon a country."^[41] To the critics Rockefeller replied, "In a business so large as ours … some things are likely to be done which we cannot approve. We correct them as soon as they come to our knowledge.”^[41]

At that time, many legislatures had made it difficult to incorporate in one state and operate in another. As a result, Rockefeller and his associates owned dozens of separate corporations operating in just one state, making their management of the whole enterprise rather unwieldy. In 1882, Rockefeller's lawyers created an innovative form of corporation to centralize their holdings, giving birth to the Standard Oil Trust.^[42] The "trust" was a corporation of corporations, and the entity's size and wealth drew much attention. Nine trustees, including Rockefeller, ran the 41 companies in the trust.^[42] The public and the press were immediately suspicious of this new legal entity, but other businesses seized upon the idea and emulated it, further inflaming public sentiment. Standard Oil had gained an aura of invincibility, always prevailing against competitors, critics, and political enemies. It had become the richest, biggest, most feared business in the world, seemingly immune to the boom and bust of the business cycle, consistently racking up profits year after year.^[43]

Its vast American empire included 20,000 domestic wells, 4,000 miles of pipeline, 5,000 tank cars, and over 100,000 employees.^[43] Its share of world oil refining topped out above 90% but slowly dropped to about 80% for the rest of the century.^[44] In spite of the formation of the trust and its perceived immunity from all competition, by the 1880s Standard Oil had passed its peak of power over the world oil market. Rockefeller finally gave up his dream of controlling all the world’s oil refining, he admitted later, “We realized that public sentiment would be against us if we actually refined all the oil.”^[44] Over time foreign competition and new finds abroad eroded his dominance. In the early 1880s, Rockefeller created one of his most important innovations. Rather than try to influence the price of crude oil directly, Standard Oil had been exercising indirect control by altering oil storage charges to suit market conditions. Rockefeller then decided to order the issuance of certificates against oil stored in its pipelines. These certificates became traded by speculators, thus creating the first oil-futures market which effectively set spot market prices from then on. The National Petroleum Exchange opened in Manhattan in late 1882 to facilitate the oil futures trading.^[45]

Even though 85% of world crude production was still coming from Pennsylvania wells in the 1880s, overseas drilling in Russia and Asia began to reach the world market.^[46] Robert Nobel had established his own refining enterprise in the abundant and cheaper Russian oil fields, including the region’s first pipeline and the world’s first oil tanker. The Paris Rothschilds jumped into the fray providing financing.^[47] Additional fields were discovered in Burma and Java. Even more critical, the invention of the light bulb gradually began to erode the dominance of kerosene for illumination. But Standard Oil adapted, developing its own European presence, expanding into natural gas production in the U.S. then into gasoline for automobiles, which until then had been considered a waste product.^[48]

Standard Oil moved its headquarters to New York City at 26 Broadway, and Rockefeller became a central figure in the city’s business community. He bought a personal residence in 1884 on 54th street near the mansions of other magnates such as William Vanderbilt. Despite personal threats and constant pleas for charity, Rockefeller took the new elevated train to his downtown office daily.^[49] In 1887, Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission which was tasked with enforcing equal rates for all railroad freight, but by then Standard was depending more on pipeline transport.^[50] More threatening to Standard’s power was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, originally used to control unions, but later central to the breakup of the Standard Oil trust.^[51] Ohio was especially vigorous in applying its state anti-trust laws, and finally forced a separation of Standard Oil of Ohio from the rest of the company in 1892, the first step in the dissolution of the trust.^[51]

In the 1890s, Rockefeller expanded into iron ore and ore transportation, forcing a collision with steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, and their competition became a major subject of the newspapers and the cartoonists.^[52] Rockefeller also went on a massive buying spree acquiring leases for crude oil production in Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia, as the original Pennsylvania oil fields began to play out.^[53] Amidst the frenetic expansion, Rockefeller began to think of retirement. The daily management of the trust was turned over to John Dustin Archbold and Rockefeller bought a new estate, Pocantico Hills, north of New York City, turning more time to leisure activities including the new sports of bicycling and golf.^[54]

Upon his ascent to the presidency, Theodore Roosevelt initiated dozens of suits under the Sherman Antitrust Act and coaxed reforms out of Congress. In 1901, U.S. Steel, now controlled by J. Pierpont Morgan, having bought Andrew Carnegie’s steel assets, offered to buy Standard’s iron interests as well. A deal brokered by Henry Clay Frick exchanged Standard’s iron interests for U.S. Steel stock and gave Rockefeller and his son membership on the company’s board of directors. In full retirement at age 63, Rockefeller earned over $58 million in investments in 1902.^[55]

One of the most effective attacks on Rockefeller and his firm was the 1904 publication of The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida Tarbell, a leading muckraker. She documented the company’s espionage, price wars, heavy-handed marketing tactics, and courtroom evasions.^[56] Although her work prompted a huge backlash against the company, Tarbell claims to have been surprised at its magnitude. “I never had an animus against their size and wealth, never objected to their corporate form. I was willing that they should combine and grow as big and wealthy as they could, but only by legitimate means. But they had never played fair, and that ruined their greatness for me.” (Tarbell's father had been driven out of the oil business during the South Improvement Company affair.)

Rockefeller responded by calling her “Miss Tarbarrel” in private but held back in public saying only, “not a word about that misguided woman.”^[56] Instead Rockefeller began a publicity campaign to put his company and himself in a better light. Though he had long maintained a policy of active silence with the press, he decided to make himself more accessible and responded with conciliatory comments such as, “capital and labor are both wild forces which require intelligent legislation to hold them in restriction.”^[57] He wrote and published his memoirs beginning in 1908.

Rockefeller as an industrial emperor, 1901 cartoon from Puck magazine

Critics found his writing to be sanitized and disingenuous and thought that statements such as “the underlying, essential element of success in business is to follow the established laws of high-class dealing” seemed to be at odds with his true business methods.^[57]

Rockefeller and his son continued to consolidate their oil interests as best as they could until New Jersey, in 1909, changed its incorporation laws to effectively allow a re-creation of the trust in the form of a single holding company. Rockefeller retained his nominal title as president until 1911 and he kept his stock. At last in 1911, the Supreme Court of the United States found Standard Oil Company of New Jersey in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. By then the trust still had a 70% market share of the refined oil market but only 14% of the U.S. crude oil supply.^[58] The court ruled that the trust originated in illegal monopoly practices and ordered it to be broken up into 34 new companies. These included, among many others, Continental Oil, which became Conoco, now part of ConocoPhillips; Standard of Indiana, which became Amoco, now part of BP; Standard of California, which became Chevron; Standard of New Jersey, which became Esso (and later, Exxon), now part of ExxonMobil; Standard of New York, which became Mobil, now part of ExxonMobil; and Standard of Ohio, which became Sohio, now part of BP. Pennzoil and Chevron have remained separate companies.^[59]

Rockefeller, who had rarely sold shares, held over 25% of Standard’s stock at the time of the breakup.^[60] He, as well as all stockholders, received proportionate shares in each of the 34 companies. In the aftermath, Rockefeller’s control over the oil industry was somewhat reduced but over the next ten years, the breakup also proved immensely profitable for him. The companies’ combined net worth rose fivefold and Rockefeller’s personal wealth jumped to $900,000,000.^[58]

Philanthropy[link]

From his very first paycheck, Rockefeller tithed ten percent of his earnings to his church.^[61] His church was later affiliated with the Northern Baptist Convention, which formed from American Baptists in the North with ties to their historic missions to establish schools and colleges for freedmen in the South after the American Civil War. As Rockefeller's wealth grew, so did his giving, primarily to educational and public health causes, but also for basic science and the arts. He was advised primarily by Frederick Taylor Gates^[62] after 1891,^[63] and, after 1897, also by his son.

Rockefeller believed in the Efficiency Movement, arguing that: "To help an inefficient, ill-located, unnecessary school is a waste...it is highly probable that enough money has been squandered on unwise educational projects to have built up a national system of higher education adequate to our needs, if the money had been properly directed to that end."^[64]

He and his advisers invented the conditional grant, which required the recipient to "root the institution in the affections of as many people as possible who, as contributors, become personally concerned, and thereafter may be counted on to give to the institution their watchful interest and cooperation."^[65]

In 1884, Rockefeller provided major funding for a college in Atlanta for African-American women, which became Spelman College (named for Rockefeller's in-laws who were ardent abolitionists before the Civil War).^[66] The oldest existing building on Spelman's campus, Rockefeller Hall, is named after him.^[67] Rockefeller also gave considerable donations to Denison University^[68] and other Baptist colleges.

Rockefeller gave $80 million to the University of Chicago^[69] under William Rainey Harper, turning a small Baptist college into a world-class institution by 1900.

His General Education Board, founded in 1903,^[70] was established to promote education at all levels everywhere in the country.^[71] In keeping with the historic missions of the Baptists, it was especially active in supporting black schools in the South.^[71] Rockefeller also provided financial support to such established eastern institutions as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley and Vassar. The study had been undertaken by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; it revolutionized the study of medicine in the United States.

Rockefeller and his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1915

Despite his personal preference for homeopathy, Rockefeller, on Gates's advice, became one of the first great benefactors of medical science. In 1901, he founded the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research^[70] in New York City. It changed its name to Rockefeller University in 1965, after expanding its mission to include graduate education.^[72] It claims a connection to 23 Nobel laureates.^[73] He founded the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission in 1909,^[70] an organization that eventually eradicated the hookworm disease,^[74] which had long plagued rural areas of the American South. His General Education Board made a dramatic impact by funding the recommendations of the Flexner Report of 1910.

He created the Rockefeller Foundation in 1913^[75] to continue and expand the scope of the work of the Sanitary Commission,^[70] which was closed in 1915.^[76] He gave nearly $250 million to the foundation,^[66] which focused on public health, medical training, and the arts. It endowed Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health,^[70] the first of its kind.^[77] It also built the Peking Union Medical College in China into a notable institution.^[68] The foundation helped in World War I war relief,^[78] and it employed William Lyon Mackenzie King of Canada to study industrial relations.^[79]

Rockefeller's fourth main philanthropy, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation, was created in 1918.^[80] Through this, he supported work in the social studies; this was later absorbed into the Rockefeller Foundation. In total Rockefeller donated about $550 million.

Rockefeller became well known in his later life for the practice of giving dimes to adults and nickels to children wherever he went. He even gave dimes as a playful gesture to wealthy men, such as tire mogul Harvey Firestone.^[81]

John D. Rockefeller's painting by John Singer Sargent in 1917

As a youth, Rockefeller reportedly said that his two great ambitions were to make $100,000 and to live 100 years.^[82]

Death[link]

Rockefeller died of arteriosclerosis on May 23, 1937, two months shy of his 98th birthday,^[83] at the Casements, his home in Ormond Beach, Florida. He was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.

Legacy[link]

Rockefeller had a long and controversial career in the oil industry followed by a long career in philanthropy. His image is an amalgam of all of these experiences and the many ways he was viewed by his contemporaries. These contemporaries include his former competitors, many of whom were driven to ruin, but many others of whom sold out at a profit (or a profitable stake in Standard Oil, as Rockefeller often offered his shares as payment for a business), and quite a few of whom became very wealthy as managers as well as owners in Standard Oil. They also include politicians and writers, some of whom served Rockefeller's interests, and some of whom built their careers by fighting Rockefeller and the "robber barons".

Biographer Allan Nevins, answering Rockefeller's enemies, concluded:

Biographer Ron Chernow wrote of Rockefeller:

Notwithstanding these varied aspects of his public life, Rockefeller may ultimately be remembered simply for the raw size of his wealth. In 1902, an audit showed Rockefeller was worth about $200 million—compared to the total national GDP of $24 billion then.^[86] His wealth continued to grow significantly (in line with U.S. economic growth) after as the demand for gasoline soared, eventually reaching about $900 million on the eve of the First World War, including significant interests in banking, shipping, mining, railroads, and other industries. According to the New York Times obituary, "it was estimated after Mr. Rockefeller retired from business that he had accumulated close to $1,500,000,000 out of the earnings of the Standard Oil trust and out of his other investments. This was probably the greatest amount of wealth that any private citizen had ever been able to accumulate by his own efforts."^[87] By the time of his death in 1937, Rockefeller's remaining fortune, largely tied up in permanent family trusts, was estimated at $1.4 billion, while the total national GDP was $92 billion.^[88] According to some methods of wealth calculation, Rockefeller's net worth over the last decades of his life would easily place him as the wealthiest known person in recent history. As a percentage of the United States' GDP, no other American fortune — including those of Bill Gates or Sam Walton — would even come close.

The Rockefeller wealth, distributed as it was through a system of foundations and trusts, continued to fund family philanthropic, commercial, and, eventually, political aspirations throughout the 20th century. Grandson David Rockefeller was a leading New York banker, serving for over 20 years as CEO of Chase Manhattan (now part of JPMorgan Chase). Another grandson, Nelson A. Rockefeller, was Republican governor of New York and the 41st Vice President of the United States. A third grandson, Winthrop Rockefeller, served as Republican Governor of Arkansas. Great-grandson, John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV is currently a Democratic Senator from West Virginia and a former governor of West Virginia, and another, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, served ten years as Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas.

Poem about his life[link]

Rockefeller, at the age of 86, penned the following words to sum up his life:^[89]

See also[link]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Bringhurst, Bruce. Antitrust
• Chernow, Ron. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Warner Books. (1998). ISBN 0-679-75703-1 Online review.
• Collier, Peter, and David Horowitz. The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976.
• Ernst, Joseph W., editor. "Dear Father"/"Dear Son:" Correspondence of John D. Rockefeller and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. New York: Fordham University Press, with the Rockefeller Archive Center, 1994.
• Folsom, Jr., Burton W. The Myth of the Robber Barons. New York: Young America, 2003.
• Fosdick, Raymond B. The Story of the Rockefeller Foundation. New York: Transaction Publishers, Reprint, 1989.
• Gates, Frederick Taylor. Chapters in My Life. New York: The Free Press, 1977.
• Giddens, Paul H. Standard Oil Company (Companies and men). New York: Ayer Co. Publishing, 1976.
• Goulder, Grace. John D. Rockefeller: The Cleveland Years. Western Reserve Historical Society, 1972.
• Harr, John Ensor, and Peter J. Johnson. The Rockefeller Century: Three Generations of America's Greatest Family. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.
• Harr, John Ensor, and Peter J. Johnson. The Rockefeller Conscience: An American Family in Public and in Private. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992.
• Hawke, David Freeman. John D: The Founding Father of the Rockefellers. New York: Harper and Row, 1980.
• Hidy, Ralph W. and Muriel E. Hidy. History of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey : Pioneering in Big Business). New York: Ayer Co. Publishing, Reprint, 1987.
• Jonas, Gerald. The Circuit Riders: Rockefeller Money and the Rise of Modern Science. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1989.
• Josephson, Matthew. The Robber Barons. London: Harcourt, 1962.
• Kert, Bernice. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller: The Woman in the Family. New York: Random House, 1993.
• Klein, Henry H. Dynastic America and Those Who Own It. New York: Kessinger Publishing, [1921] Reprint, 2003.
• Knowlton, Evelyn H. and George S. Gibb. History of Standard Oil Company: Resurgent Years 1956.
• Latham, Earl ed. John D. Rockefeller: Robber Baron or Industrial Statesman? 1949.
• Manchester, William. A Rockefeller Family Portrait: From John D. to Nelson. New York: Little, Brown, 1958.
• Morris, Charles R. The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy . New York: Owl Books, Reprint, 2006.
• Nevins, Allan. John D. Rockefeller: The Heroic Age of American Enterprise. 2 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940.
• Nevins, Allan. Study in Power: John D. Rockefeller, Industrialist and Philanthropist. 2 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1953.
• Pyle, Tom, as told to Beth Day. Pocantico: Fifty Years on the Rockefeller Domain. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pierce, 1964.
• Roberts, Ann Rockefeller. The Rockefeller Family Home: Kykuit. New York: Abbeville Publishing Group, 1998.
• Rockefeller, John D.; Random Reminiscences of Men and Events. New York: Sleepy Hollow Press and Rockefeller Archive Center, 1984 [1909].
• Rose, Kenneth W. and Stapleton, Darwin H. "Toward a "Universal Heritage": Education and the Development of Rockefeller Philanthropy, 1884; 1913 " Teachers College Record" 1992/93(3): 536–555. ISSN.
• Sampson, Anthony. The Seven Sisters: The Great Oil Companies and the World They Made. Hodder & Stoughton., 1975.
• Smith, Sharon. Rockefeller Family Fables Counterpunch May 8, 2008 http://www.counterpunch.org/sharon05082008.html
• Stasz, Clarice. The Rockefeller Women: Dynasty of Piety, Privacy, and Service. St. Martins Press, 1995.
• Tarbell, Ida M. The History of the Standard Oil Company 2 vols, Gloucester, Mass: Peter Smith, 1963. [1904].
• Williamson, Harold F. and Arnold R. Daum. The American Petroleum Industry: The Age of Illumination,, 1959; also vol 2, American Petroleum Industry: The Age of Energy, 1964.
• Yergin, Daniel. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.
• Public Diary of John D. Rockefeller, now found in the Cleveland Western Historical Society

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John D. Rockefeller

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John D. Rockefeller

• Works by John D. Rockefeller at Project Gutenberg
• The Rockefeller Archive Center
• The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida Tarbell, full text, HTML
• John D. Rockefeller Biography
• Timeline of the Rockefeller family history since his birth
• A genealogy of his family
• Illustrated article about John D Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company
• Financier's Fortune in Oil Amassed in Industrial Era of 'Rugged Individualism' NY Times Obituary, May 24, 1937
• A Capital Life A New York Times book review of "Titan" by Ron Chernow (1998).
• American Experience: The Rockefellers A full transcript of the PBS documentary on the family history, with contributions from Paul Krugman and author Ron Chernow.
• Edward Parsons (Jan 01, 2001). "John D. Rockefeller, Sr". American financier, oil magnate and philanthropist. Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=886. Retrieved Aug 18, 2011. 
• Booknotes interview with Ron Chernow on Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., June 21, 1998.

Muammar Gaddafi
Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution of Libya
In office 2 March 1979 – 23 August 2011[6]
President	See list Abdul Ati al-Obeidi Muhammad az-Zaruq Rajab Mifta al-Usta Umar Abdul Razzaq as-Sawsa Muhammad az-Zanati Miftah Muhammed K'eba Imbarek Shamekh Mohamed Abu Al-Quasim al-Zwai
Prime Minister	See list Jadallah Azzuz at-Talhi Muhammad az-Zaruq Rajab Jadallah Azzuz at-Talhi Umar Mustafa al-Muntasir Abuzed Omar Dorda Abdul Majid al-Qa′ud Muhammad Ahmad al-Mangoush Imbarek Shamekh Shukri Ghanem Baghdadi Mahmudi
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Secretary General of the General People's Congress of Libya
In office 2 March 1977 – 2 March 1979
Prime Minister	Abdul Ati al-Obeidi
Preceded by	Himself (Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council)
Succeeded by	Abdul Ati al-Obeidi
Prime Minister of Libya
In office 16 January 1970 – 16 July 1972
Preceded by	Mahmud Sulayman al-Maghribi
Succeeded by	Abdessalam Jalloud
Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Libya
In office 1 September 1969 – 2 March 1977
Prime Minister	Mahmud Sulayman al-Maghribi Abdessalam Jalloud Abdul Ati al-Obeidi
Preceded by	Idris (King)
Succeeded by	Himself (Secretary General of the General People's Congress)
Chairperson of the African Union
In office 2 February 2009 – 31 January 2010
Preceded by	Jakaya Kikwete
Succeeded by	Bingu wa Mutharika
Personal details
Born	June 1942[nb 1] Sirte, Libya
Died	20 October 2011(2011-10-20) (aged 69) Qasr Abu Hadi, Libya
Resting place	Unknown
Political party	Arab Socialist Union (1971–1977)
Spouse(s)	Fatiha al-Nuri (1969–1970) Safia el-Brasai (1970–2011)
Children	Sons Muhammad (b. 1970) Saif al-Islam (b. 1972) Al-Saadi (b. 1973) Hannibal (b. 1975) Mutassim (1977–2011) Saif al-Arab (1982–2011) Khamis (1983–2011) Milad (adopted) Daughters Ayesha (b. 1976) Hanna (adopted)
Alma mater	Benghazi Military University Academy
Religion	Islam
Signature
Military service
Allegiance
Service/branch	Libyan Army
Years of service	1961–2011
Rank	Colonel
Commands	Libyan Armed Forces
Battles/wars	Libyan coup d'etat (1969) Libyan–Egyptian War Chadian–Libyan conflict Uganda–Tanzania War Bombing of Libya (1986) Libyan civil war
Awards	Order of the Yugoslav Star Order of Good Hope

Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi^[7] (Arabic: معمر محمد أبو منيار القذافي‎) (June 1942^{[nb 1]} – 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi  /ˈmoʊ.əmɑr ɡəˈdɑːfi/ (Arabic: مُعَمَّر القَذَّافِي‎ Muʿammar al-Qaḏḏāfī  audio (help·info)) or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011. Gaddafi seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1969 and served as the country's head of state until 1977, when he stepped down from his official executive role as Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Libya, and claimed subsequently to be merely a symbolic figurehead.^[8][9] He styled himself as "Leader of the Revolution"; in 2008 a meeting of traditional African rulers bestowed on him the title "King of Kings".^[10] A leading advocate for a United States of Africa, he served as Chairperson of the African Union (AU) from 2 February 2009 to 31 January 2010.

Gaddafi replaced the Libyan Constitution of 1951 with laws based on the political ideology^[11] he had formulated, which he called the Third International Theory and published in The Green Book.^[12][13] After establishing the Jamahiriya (جماهيرية, "state of the masses") system in 1977, he officially stepped down from power and after that time held a largely symbolic role within the country's official governance structure.^[8][9] Rising oil prices and extraction in Libya led to increasing revenues. By exporting as much oil per capita as Saudi Arabia and through various welfare programs, Libya achieved the highest living standards in Africa; Libya remained debt-free.^[14]

Critics long described Gaddafi as having been Libya's autocrat^[15][16] or demagogue,^[17] despite the Libyan state's denial of his holding any power.^[8][9] In the 1980s, he acquired chemical weapons,^[18] leading to some calling Libya under Gaddafi a pariah state^[19][20] and countries around the world imposing sanctions.^[21] Six days after the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003 by the United States,^[22] Gaddafi renounced Tripoli's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs and welcomed international inspections to verify that he would follow through on the commitment.^[23]

In February 2011, following revolutions in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia, protests against Gaddafi's rule began. These escalated into an uprising that spread across the country, with the forces opposing Gaddafi establishing a government, based in Benghazi, named the National Transitional Council (NTC). This act led to a civil war, which precipitated military intervention by a NATO-led coalition to enforce a UN Security Council Resolution 1973 calling for a no-fly zone and protection of civilians in Libya. The assets of Gaddafi and his family were frozen, and both Interpol and the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on 27 June for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and his brother-in-law Abdullah Senussi, concerning crimes against humanity.^[7][24][25] Gaddafi and his forces lost the Battle of Tripoli in August and on 16 September 2011 the NTC took Libya's seat at the UN, replacing Gaddafi.^[26] He retained control over parts of Libya, most notably the city of Sirte, to which it was presumed that he had fled.^[27] Although Gaddafi's forces initially held out in the battle for Sirte against NATO's bombing attacks and the NTC's advances, Gaddafi was captured alive in Sirte by members of the Libyan National Liberation Army (NLA) after his convoy was attacked by NATO warplanes as Sirte fell on 20 October 2011.^[28] Gaddafi was then killed by NLA fighters.^[29] His 41-year leadership prior to the civil war made him the fourth-longest-serving non-royal leader since 1900, as well as the longest-serving Arab leader.^[30]

Early life and military academy[link]

Muammar Gaddafi was born in Qasr Abu Hadi, a rural farming area located just outside Sirte.^[31] He was raised in a Bedouin tent in the desert near Sirte. According to many biographies, his family belongs to a small tribe of Arabs, the Qadhadhfa.

According to Gaddafi, his paternal grandfather, Abdessalam Bouminyar, fought against the Italian occupation of Libya and died as the "first martyr in Khoms, in the first battle of 1911".^[32] In 1948, when he was six years old he was wounded and witnessed the death of two cousins when an old mine left by soldiers of the colonial Italian Royal Army exploded near Sirte. This incident is said to have influenced his later views towards the former colonialist powers in general and towards Italy in particular.^[33]

Gaddafi attended a Muslim elementary school far from home in Sabha, during which time he was profoundly influenced by major events in the Arab world. He admired Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and looked to him as a hero during his rise to power in 1952. In 1956 Gaddafi took part in anti-Israeli protests during the Suez Crisis.^[34] In Sabha he was briefly a member of Scouting.^[35] He finished his secondary school studies under a private tutor in Misrata, concentrating on the study of history.

Gaddafi entered the Royal Libyan Military Academy at Benghazi in 1961, and graduated in 1966. Both towards the end of his course and after graduation, Gaddafi pursued further studies in Europe. False rumours have been propagated with regards to this part of his life, for example, that he attended the United Kingdom's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.^[36] He did in fact receive four months' further military training in the United Kingdom in advanced communications as a Signals officer, and spent four months in London.^[37][38] After this, as a commissioned officer he joined the Engineers Corps.^[39] Although often referred to as "Colonel Gaddafi", he was in fact only a Lieutenant when he seized power in 1969.^[40] He was, nonetheless, a holder of the honorary rank of Major General, conferred upon him in 1976 by his own Arab Socialist Union's National Congress. Gaddafi accepted the honorary rank, but stated that he would continue to be known as "Colonel" and to wear the rank insignia of a Colonel when in uniform.^[41]

Libyan revolution of 1969[link]

In Libya, as in a number of other Arab countries, admission to a military academy and a career as an army officer only became available to members of the lower economic strata after independence. A military career offered an opportunity for higher education, for upward economic and social mobility, and was for many the only available means of political action. For Gaddafi and many of his fellow officers, who were inspired by Nasser's brand of Arab nationalism, a military career was a revolutionary vocation.

As a cadet, Gaddafi associated with the Free Officers Movement. Most of his future colleagues on the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) were fellow members of his graduating class at the military academy. The frustration and shame felt by Libyan officers by Israel's massive defeat of the Arab armies on three fronts in 1967 fuelled their determination to contribute to Arab unity by overthrowing the Libyan monarchy. An early conspirator, Gaddafi first started planning the overthrow of the monarchy while a cadet.

On 1 September 1969 a small group of junior military officers led by Gaddafi staged a bloodless coup d'état against King Idris of Libya while the king was in Greece for medical treatment. Idris's nephew, Crown Prince Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Sanussi, was formally deposed by the revolutionary Gaddafi officers and put under house arrest; they abolished the monarchy and proclaimed the Libyan Arab Republic.^[42]

Internal affairs[link]

Gaddafi (left) with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1969

On gaining power he immediately ordered the shutdown of American and British military bases, including Wheelus Air Base. He told Western officials that he would expel their companies from Libya's oil fields unless they shared more revenue. In his warning, he alluded to consultation with Nasser. The oil companies complied with the demand, increasing Libya's share from 50 to 79 percent.^[43] In December 1969, Egyptian intelligence thwarted a planned coup against Gaddafi from high-ranking members of his leadership. Many of the dissenters had grown uneasy with his growing relationship to Egypt.^[44]

Gaddafi expelled Italian settlers in Libya in 1970.^[45] Despising the Christian calendar, he replaced it as the country's official with an Islamic calendar.^[46] He renamed the months of the calendar. August, named for Augustus Caesar, was renamed Hannibal, and July, after Julius Caesar, was renamed Nasser, for Gamal Abdel Nasser. From 1971 to 1977, Gaddafi approved the Arab Socialist Union, modeled on Egypt's Arab Socialist Union (Egypt), to function as a political party in Libya.^[47]

Gaddafi increasingly devoted himself to "contemplative exile" over the next months,^[11] writing a manifesto, The Green Book (an allusion to Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book), in which he denounced capitalism and communism as variations on "slavery" and spurned all political parties as forms of "dictatorship". In the manifesto, he advocated direct rule by People’s Committees according to Islamic law. At this time, routine administrative tasks fell to Major Abdessalam Jalloud, who became prime minister in place of Gaddafi in 1972. Two years later, Jallud assumed Gaddafi's remaining administrative and protocol duties, to allow Gaddafi to devote his time to revolutionary theorizing. Gaddafi remained the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the effective head of state. The foreign press speculated about an eclipse of his authority within the RCC, but Gaddafi soon dispelled such theories by imposing measures to restructure Libyan society.^{[citation needed]}

From 1977 onward, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya officially declared itself to be a direct democracy state in which the people ruled themselves through local popular councils and communes, named Basic People's Congresses, where all adult Libyans were allowed to participate and vote on national decisions.^[48][49] These people's congresses were, in principle, the country's highest authority, with major decisions proposed by government officials or Gaddafi himself requiring the consent of the people's congresses.^[49] Despite officially stepping down from power in 1977 and no longer holding any governmental position, Gaddafi continued to exert considerable influence over the country's affairs, with many of his critics insisting that the structure of Libya's direct democracy gave him "the freedom to manipulate outcomes",^[48] comparing him to a demagogue.^[17] The other surviving members of the Libyan Revolutionary Command Council remained with positions in office by virtue of leading the revolution and were thus not subject to election.^{[citation needed]}

Economy[link]

Libya enjoys large natural resources,^[50] which Gaddafi utilized to help develop the country. Under Gaddafi's Jamahiriya "direct democracy" state,^[48] the country's literacy rate rose from 10% to 90%, life expectancy rose from 57 to 77 years, equal rights were established for women and black people, employment opportunities were established for migrant workers, and welfare systems were introduced that allowed access to free education, free healthcare, and financial assistance for housing.^[51] In addition, financial support was provided for university scholarships and employment programs.^[52] Gaddafi also initiated development of the Great Manmade River,^[51] in order to allow free access to fresh water across large parts of the country.^[51] The country was developed without taking any foreign loans, and, as a result, Libya was debt-free.^[14]

Despite his role in developing the country,^[14][51] critics have accused Gaddafi of concentrating a large part of the country's high gross domestic product on his family and his elites, who allegedly amassed vast fortunes.^[50] Many of the business enterprises were allegedly controlled by Gaddafi and his family.^[53] Despite the regime providing financial assistance for housing,^[51] segments of the population continued to live in poverty, particularly in the eastern parts of the country.^[54][55]

When the rising international oil prices began to raise Gaddafi's revenues in the 1970s, Gaddafi spent much of the revenues on arms purchases and on sponsoring his political projects abroad.^[56] Gaddafi's relatives adopted lavish lifestyles, including luxurious homes, Hollywood film investments and private parties with American pop stars.^[57][58]

The Economy of Libya was centrally planned and followed Gaddafi's socialist ideals. It benefited greatly from revenues from the petroleum sector, which contributed most export earnings and 30% of its GDP. These oil revenues, combined with a small population and by far Africa's highest Education Index gave Libya the highest nominal GDP per capita in Africa. Between 2000 and 2011, Libya recorded favourable growth rates with an estimated 10.6 percent growth of GDP in 2010, the highest of any state in Africa. Gaddafi had promised "a home for all Libyans" and during his rule, new residential areas rose in empty Saharan regions. Entire populations living in mud-brick caravan towns were moved into modern homes with running water, electricity, and satellite TV.^[11]

At the time Gaddafi died, some of the worst economic conditions were in eastern Libya.^[54][55] 97% of urban dwellers have access to "improved sanitation facilities" in Libya, this was 2% points lower than the OECD average, or 21% points above the world average.^[59] During Gaddafi's rule, infant mortality rates went from 125 per 1000 live births, about average for Africa at the time, to 15 per 1000, the best rate in Africa.

Libyans have described the Great Manmade River, a project initiated by Gaddafi, as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".^[60] The Great Manmade River also holds the record as the world's largest irrigation project.^[61] Gaddafi also initiated the Libyan National Telescope Project, costing about 10 million euros.^[62]

On 4 March 2008, Gaddafi announced his proposal to dissolve the country's existing administrative structure and disburse oil revenue directly to the people. The plan included abolishing all ministries; except those of defence, internal security, and foreign affairs, and departments implementing strategic projects.^[63] His reason for this plan was because he believed that the ministries were failing to manage the country’s oil revenues.^[64] Gaddafi claimed he was planning to combat corruption in the state by proposing reforms where oil profits are handed out directly to the country's five million people^[65] rather than to government bodies, stating that "as long as money is administered by a government body, there would be theft and corruption."^[66] Gaddafi urged a sweeping reform of the government bureaucracy, suggesting that most of the cabinet system should be dismantled to "free Libyans from red tape" and "protect the state's budget from corruption." According to Western diplomats, this move appeared to be aimed at putting pressure on the government to speed up reforms.^[65] Gaddafi claimed that the ministries were failing to manage the country’s oil revenues,^[64] and that his "dream during all these years was to give power and wealth directly to the people."^[49]

A national vote on Gaddafi's plan to disband the government and give oil money directly to the people was held in 2009, where Libya's people's congresses, the country's highest authority, voted to delay implementation. The General People's Congress announced that, out of 468 Basic People's Congresses, 64 chose immediate implementation while 251 endorsed implementation "but asked for (it) to be delayed until appropriate measures were put in place." This plan led to dissent from top government officials, who claimed it would "wreak havoc" in the economy by "fanning inflation and spurring capital flight." Gaddafi acknowledged that the scheme, which promised up to 30,000 Libyan dinars ($23,000) annually to about a million of Libya's poorest, may "cause chaos before it brought about prosperity," but claimed that "Do not be afraid to experiment with a new form of government" and that "This plan is to offer a better future for Libya's children."^[49][67]

In December 2009, Gaddafi personally told government officials that Libya would soon experience a "new political period" and would have elections for important positions such as minister-level roles and the National Security Advisor position (a Prime Minister equivalent). He also promised to include international monitors to ensure fair elections. His speech was said to have caused quite a stir. These elections were planned to coincide with the Jamahiriya's usual periodic elections for members of the Popular Committees, Basic People's Committees, Basic People's Congresses, and General People's Congress, in 2011^[68] 2012

Dissent and Revolutionary Committees[link]

In the early 1970s, Gaddafi created the Revolutionary Committees as conduits for raising political consciousness, with the aim of direct political participation by all Libyans rather than a traditional party-based representative system. In 1979, however, some of these committees had eventually evolved into self-appointed, sometimes zealous, enforcers of revolutionary orthodoxy.^[69] During the early 1980s, these committees had considerable power and became a growing source of tension within the Jamihiriya,^[70] to the extent that Gaddafi sometimes criticized their effectiveness and excessive repression,^[69][70] until the power of the Revolutionary Committees were eventually restricted in the late 1980s.^[70]

The Revolutionary Committees occasionally kept tight control over internal dissent; reportedly, ten to twenty percent of Libyans worked as informants for these committees, with surveillance taking place in the government, in factories, and in the education sector.^[71] During the 1970s, Libya executed members of the Islamist fundamentalist Hizb-ut Tahrir faction, and Gaddafi often personally presided over the executions.^[72][73] Libya faced internal opposition during the 1980s because of the highly unpopular war with Chad. Numerous young men cut off a fingertip to avoid conscription at the time.^[74] A mutiny by the Libyan Army in Tobruk was violently suppressed in August 1980.^[75] In 1981, Gaddafi expressed doubts over the effectiveness of the Revolutionary Committees, due to the growing tension they were causing within the Jamahiriya.^[70]

In 1982, there were cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, which led some Libyans to be hesitant when speaking with foreigners.^[76] The government conducted executions and mutilations of political opponents in public and broadcast recordings of the proceedings on public television. Dissent was illegal under Law 75 of 1973, which limited freedom of expression at the time.^[71][77] From time to time, opposition was met with violence. Between 1980 and 1987, a network of diplomats and recruits were employed to assassinate at least 25 critics living abroad.^[71][78] The Revolutionary Committees called for the assassination of Libyan dissidents living abroad in April 1980, sending Libyan hit squads abroad to murder them. On 26 April 1980, Gaddafi stated that a deadline was set for 11 June 1980, for dissidents to return home or be "in the hands of the revolutionary committees".^[79] In 1982, Gaddafi stated that they should "repent" and return to the Jamahiriya, that "Such people are charged with high treason because of their collaboration with the Israelis and Americans," and that "It is the Libyan people's responsibility to liquidate such scums who are distorting Libya's image."^[80] Libyan agents assassinated dissidents in the United States,^[81] Europe,^[82] and the Middle East.^[71][80][83]

In 1988, Gaddafi criticized the excessive measures taken by the Revolutionary Councils, stating that "they deviated, harmed, tortured" and that "the true revolutionary does not practise repression."^[69] That same year, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya issued the Great Green Document on Human Rights, in which Article 5 established laws that allowed greater freedom of expression. Article 8 of The Code on the Promotion of Freedom stated that "each citizen has the right to express his opinions and ideas openly in People’s Congresses and in all mass media."^[84] A number of restrictions were also placed on the power of the Revolutionary Committees, leading to a resurgence in the Libyan state's popularity by the early 1990s.^[70]

Following an abortive 1986 attempt to replace English with Russian as the primary foreign language in education,^[85] English has been taught in recent years in Libyan schools from primary level, and students have access to English-language media.^[86] In 2004, Libya posted a $1 million bounty for journalist Ashur Shamis, under the allegation that he was linked to Al-Qaeda and terror suspect Abu Qatada.^[87] During the 2005 civil unrest in France, Gaddafi called Chirac and offered him his help in quelling the resistors, who were largely North African.^[88] There were indications that Libya's Gaddafi-era intelligence service had a relationship with intelligence organizations such as the CIA, who voluntarily provided information on Libyan dissidents to the regime in exchange for using Libya as a base for extraordinary renditions.^[89][90][91] In 2010, Libya's press was rated as 160th out of 178 nations in the Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.^[92] In January 2011, the state's policies on human rights, including freedom of expression, were generally well received by the United Nations Human Rights Council, where most countries largely praised the country's human rights record.^[84]

Campaign against Berber culture[link]

Gaddafi often expressed an overt contempt for the culture of the Berbers, a non-Arab people of North Africa, and for their language, maintaining that the very existence of Berbers in North Africa is a myth created by colonialists. He adopted new names for Berber towns, and on official Libyan maps, referred to the Nafusa Mountains as the "Western mountains".^[93] In a 1985 speech, he said of the Berber language, "If your mother transmits you this language, she nourishes you with the milk of the colonialist, she feeds you their poison" (1985).^[94] The Berber language was banned from schools and up until 2009, it was illegal for parents to name their children with Berber names.^[95] Berbers living in ancient mud-brick caravan towns such as Ghadames were forced out and moved into modern government-constructed apartments in the 1980s.^[11] During the 2011 civil war, Berber towns rebelled against Gaddafi's rule and sought to reaffirm their ancient identity as Berbers.^[96][97][98] Gaddafi's government strengthened anti-Berber sentiment among Libyan Arabs, weakening their opposition.^[99]

Foreign affairs[link]

Activities in Sudan and Chad[link]

Gaddafi, Algerian President Houari Boumediene, and Syrian President Assad attending the Summit in Libya in December 1977.

After Nasser's death, Gaddafi attempted to become the leader of Arab nationalism. He wanted to create a "Great Islamic State of the Sahel", unifying the Arab states of North Africa into one. As early as 1969, Gaddafi contributed to the Islamization of Sudan and Chad, granting military bases and support to the FROLINAT revolutionary forces.^[100] In 1971, when Muslims took power in Sudan, he offered to merge Libya with Sudan.^[101] Gaafar Nimeiry, the President of Sudan, turned him down and angered Gaddafi by signing a peace settlement with the Sudanese Christians.^[100] Gaddafi took matters into his own hands in 1972, organizing the Islamic Legion, a paramilitary group, to arabize the region.^[102] He dispatched The Islamic Legion to Lebanon, Syria, Uganda, and Palestine to take active measures to ensure Islamic control. The Islamic Legion was highly active in Sudan and Chad, and nearly removed the Toubou population of southern Libya through violence.^[103]

Through the 1970s and 1980s, Gaddafi led an armed conflict against Chad, and occupied the Aouzou strip. During the 1970s, two Muslim leaders, Goukouni Oueddei and Habre, were fighting against the Christian southerners for control of Chad. Gaddafi supported them, and when they seized control in 1979, he offered to merge with Chad. Goukouni turned him down, and Gaddafi withdrew Libyan troops in 1981 because of growing opposition from France and neighboring African nations. Gaddafi's withdrawal left Goukouni vulnerable in Chad, and in 1982, his former partner, Habre, led a coup to remove him from Chad. Gaddafi helped Goukouni regain territory in Chad, and fought with Habre's forces.^[104] As a side note, Gaddafi's occupation of Chad led to the liberation of French archaeologist Françoise Claustre in 1977.^[105] In 1987, Gaddafi engaged in a full-out war with Chad, suffering a humiliating loss in 1987 during the Toyota War. Libya took heavy casualties, losing one tenth of its army (7,500 troops) and 1.5 billion dollars worth of military equipment.^[106] Chad lost 1,000 troops, and was supported by both the United States and France.^[107] During the war, Gaddafi lost his long-time ally, Goukouni Oueddei, who repaired his relationship with Habre in 1987. Gaddafi gave Habre an offer to make complete peace, and promised to return all Chadian prisoners in Libya. He also promised to pay reparations for the damage done to Chad, and promised financial support to fight poverty. He also announced that he would push to end the death penalty in Libya, end "revolutionary" courts, free hundreds of political prisoners, and warmed relations with African leaders concerned about his "Green revolution."^[108] Former Libyan soldiers and rebel groups supported by Libya continued to fight the Chadian government independent of Gaddafi. Their organization, the Arab Gathering, was an Arab supremacist group that also contributing to violence in Sudan. Members of this group later developed into leaders of the Janjaweed.^[109]

War against Egypt[link]

The disappointment and failure Nasser faced for his lost Six-Day War motivated Gaddafi to better coordinate Arab attacks on Israel.^[110] Beginning in 1972, Gaddafi granted financial support and military training to Palestinian militant groups against Israel.^{[111][112][113]} He also strengthened his unity with Egypt, and in 1972, convinced Anwar Sadat to share the same flag and join a partial union with Libya. Gaddafi had offered a fully unified state where Sadat would be president and he would be defence minister. Sadat distrusted Gaddafi and refused. Gaddafi was further disappointed with Egypt's political system, as he spoke to Egypt's Arab Socialist Union and was suggested "a partial merger, in order to allow time for thorough and careful study". Gaddafi quipped back, saying "There's no such thing as a partial merger".^[114] In 1973, Gaddafi secretly sent Libyan military planes to join the Egyptian Air Force. The outbreak of the Yom Kippur War surprised Gaddafi, as Egypt and Syria planned it without his knowledge.^[115] Gaddafi felt that the war wasted resources and manpower to chase limited objectives, and accused Sadat of trying to weaken the FAR by launching the War. According to Gaddafi, Assad and Sadat were foolish to fight for small areas of Israeli-occupied territory when the entire land could be returned to the Palestinians outright. He said, "I will participate only in a war if the aim is to oust the usurpers and send the Jews back to Europe from where they have come since 1948 to colonize an Arab land. Jews from Arab countries ...are our cousins... they will live amongst us in peace as they have done for the past centuries."^[116] Gaddafi's relationship with Egypt further weakened because he opposed a cease-fire with Israel and called Sadat a coward for giving up after one Israeli counteroffensive. Gaddafi also believed that the Soviet Union and the United States would join forces with Israel, and would deploy troops on the demarcation lines to invade and "colonize" the Arab nations.^[117] Anwar Sadat was equally angry with Gaddafi and revealed that he was responsible for foiling a 1973 submarine attack Libya planned for sinking the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 during an Israeli cruise. Gaddafi fired back, saying the Arabs could have destroyed Israel within 12 hours if they had adopted a sound strategy. Gaddafi charged Egyptian reporters with the breakdown of Libyan-Egyptian relations in 1973, and said Sadat was partly to blame because he had "no control" of Egyptian information media.^[118] Egypt's peace talks in 1977 led to the Steadfastness and Confrontation Front, a group Gaddafi formed to reject the recognition of the Israeli state. Libya's relations with Egypt broke down entirely that year, leading to the short-lived Libyan–Egyptian War. During the war, Libya sent its military across the border, but Egyptian forces fought back and forced them to retreat. Gaddafi's animosity with Sadat was so high that in 1981, Gaddafi declared his death a national holiday.^[119] He called it a just "punishment" for his role in the Camp David Accords.^[118]

Maghreb countries[link]

Gaddafi signed an agreement with Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba to merge nations in 1974.^[120] The pact came as a surprise because Bouguiba had rebuked similar offers for over two years previously.^[121] Weeks after the agreement, he postponed a referendum on the issue, effectively ending it weeks later. The idea of merging states was highly unpopular in Tunisia, and cost Bourguiba much of his people's respect. The agreement was said to allow Bourguiba the presidency while Gaddafi would be defence minister. A later treaty with Morocco's Hassan II in 1984 broke down in two years when Hassan II met with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.^[122] Gaddafi said recognition of Israel was "an act of treason".^[123] In 1989, Gaddafi was overjoyed by the Maghreb Pact between Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya. Gaddafi saw the Pact as a first step towards the formation of "one invincible Arab nation" and shouted for a state "from Marrakesh to Bahrain", pumping his fists in the air.^[124]

Lebanon[link]

Gaddafi's image in the Arab world was damaged severely in 1978 when Shia imam Musa al-Sadr disappeared en route to Libya.^[125] The Libyan government consistently denied responsibility, but Lebanon held Gaddafi responsible, and continues to do so. Allegedly, Yasser Arafat asked Gaddafi to eliminate al-Sadr because of his opposition to Palestinians in the Lebanese Civil War.^[88][125] In 1981, Shia Lebanese vigilantes hijacked two Libyan aircraft, demanding information on al-Sadr's whereabouts. Shia Muslims across the Arab world continue to view Gaddafi negatively since this incident. His relations with Shia-populated Lebanon and Iran soured as a result.^[115] Lebanon formally indicted Gaddafi in 2008 for al-Sadr's disappearance.^[126][127]

In 1995 Gaddafi expelled 30,000 Palestinians living in Libya, a response to the peace negotiations that had commenced between Israel and the PLO.^[128]

Weapons of mass destruction programs[link]

Gaddafi's attempts to procure weapons of mass destruction began in 1972, when Gaddafi tried to persuade the People's Republic of China to sell him a nuclear bomb.^[129]

In 1977, he tried to obtain a bomb from Pakistan, but Pakistan severed ties before Libya succeeded in building a weapon.^[129] After ties were restored, it's alleged that in the 1990s Libya once again tried to acquire Nuclear weapons, although this has never been proved.^[130] Also in 1974 Pakistan named its cricket stadium in Lahore in honour of Gaddafi, presently known as Gaddafi Stadium^[131]

Several people around the world were indicted for assisting Gaddafi in his chemical weapons programs. Thailand reported its citizens had helped build a storage facility for nerve gas. Germany sentenced a businessman, Jürgen Hippenstiel-Imhausen, to five years in prison for involvement in Libyan chemical weapons.^[18][129]

Inspectors from the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) verified in 2004 that Libya owned a stockpile of 23 metric tons of mustard gas and more than 1,300 metric tons of precursor chemicals. Disposing of such large quantities of chemical weapons was expected to be expensive.^[132] Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by US forces in 2003, Gaddafi announced that his nation had an active weapons of mass destruction program, but was willing to allow international inspectors into his country to observe and dismantle them. US President George W. Bush and other supporters of the Iraq War portrayed Gaddafi's announcement as a direct consequence of the Iraq War. Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a supporter of the Iraq War, was quoted as saying that Gaddafi had privately phoned him, admitting as much. Many foreign policy experts, however, contend that Gaddafi's announcement was merely a continuation of his prior attempts at normalizing relations with the West and getting the sanctions removed. To support this, they point to the fact that Libya had already made similar offers starting four years before one was finally accepted.^[133][134] International inspectors turned up several tons of chemical weaponry in Libya, as well as an active nuclear weapons program. IREA inspectors returning from Libya on 4 November 2011 stated that they had found two secret sites containing banned chemical weapons that Gaddafi had claimed were already destroyed.^[135]