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Text originally published in 1935 under the same title.
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THE DU PONT DYNASTY
BY
JOHN K. WINKLER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION
TO
THEODORE SANDERS
C. CHARLES BURLINGAME
Two Gentlemen of Science and Understanding
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
TO
ADELE BAKER NORTON
for her research and hearty co-operation
in the preparation of this biography
AUTHOR
INTRODUCTION
WHO ARE THE DU PONTS?
HIDDEN in one of the smallest states of the Union, living in feudal splendor, is a singular familyproud, aloof, prolific, which today controls a greater slice of American wealth than has ever before fallen into private hands.
They are the Du Ponts of Delaware.
Unlike the Morgans, the Mellons, the Rockefellers and other financial giants of yesterday, now visibly contracting and retrenching, these Du Ponts are not only the outstanding Money Kings of the day, but still in ascendancy. Nor is their supremacy threatened by any rival.
In 1800, following the French Revolution, a turbulent old Huguenot, who had been a noble, and his two sons came to America to retrieve their fortune. One son did, by establishing himself modestly near Wilmington, Delaware, as a maker of gunpowder. Successive wars and successive generations added to the family coffer, until today the fifth generation controls vast industries valued at approximately five billions of dollars.
Following the World War, in which their profits were fantastic, the Du Ponts plunged boldly into new fields. Some of the war gains went into the gigantic General Motors Corporation, over which they now hold absolute sway. They also became pioneers of the Synthetic. Rayon, cellophane, fabrikoid, pyralin, shatterproof glass, paints, dyes, photographic film, artificial rubber, camphor and ammonia, and even pharmaceuticals and cutlery are some of their numerous ventures; not to mention large investments in U.S. Rubber and other lucrative enterprises.
The family, which now numbers several hundred members, has always been ruled by one overlordthe clan chieftain. Seldom has his authority been challenged, but when it is the Du Ponts can wage as royal a battle among themselves as any nation that purchases their powder. Intermarriages became so prevalent during one period that successive clan chieftains were forced to forbid themthough, paradoxically, one of these chieftains was himself wed to his mothers niece.
Chemists, engineers, inventors, plodders, traders, aviators, bankers, politicians, with now and then an artist, poet or knife thrower, are some of the numerous progeny this family has produced and is still producing. Each new generation outnumbers the last, and is carefully culled for promising talent.
The Du Ponts, who have long dominated Delaware, have only recently emerged into the larger arena of national affairs. In 1931, several prominent members of the clan, ardent wets, supported Franklin D. Roosevelt. This they consider their biggest blunder and are now vigorously fighting the New Deal through the American Liberty League.
The present volume is the first full length portrait of this extraordinary family.
Part OneSOURCE
The early chapters of this book, dealing with family history, are largely based upon the extensive writings of Mrs. B. G. du Pont.
Chapter OneANNE DE MONTCHANIN SAYS NO
IN THE boudoir of her Paris mansion, warm and soft I with rich furnishings of damask, silk and velvet, Madame le Marquise de Jaucourt-Epenilles pulled a cord and summoned her fifteen-year-old ward, Anne de Montchanin.
The year was 1735, well along in the reign of that accomplished petticoat pursuer, Louis XV.
Anne Alexandrine de Montchanin herself was the daughter of an ancient and noble French house, now desperately impoverished because of long and stubborn adherence to the Huguenot faith. Her father, a widower with six children, was custodian of the Jaucourt-Epenilles estates in Burgundy. It was there, twelve years earlier, that Madame dEpenilles, attracted by the beauty and bearing of the child, had carried her off to Paris as a playmate for her own little girl.
Anne entered the boudoir on this particular morning with a light and happy step. She was straight and slim and glowing with the first hints of young womanhood. She curtsied and stood with perfect composure before Madame dEpenilles, whose manner seemed strained.
Anne, began the Marquise, many years have passed since Monsieur dEpenilles and I took you into our home. You have always been as one of the family. We have grown to love you and it has been a pleasure to give you the same advantages as we have our own daughter. There has, as you know, been no distinction.
Oh, Madame, do not think that I am not grateful! interrupted the girl. You have indeed been my only mother!
And you have been a true daughter to me, added the Marquise quickly, patting the child with a cool, tapering hand. But the time has come, my dear, to cast your future. You are now becoming a young lady. My husband and I have talked it over and we have decided that it is impractical for you as well as for ourselves to maintain you longer as a member of the family.
Slowly the roses drained from Anne de Montchanins cheeks.
Does that mean, she faltered, that I must leave?
No, no, my dear, the Marquise reassured hurriedly, not if you agree to a plan we have made for you. As a young lady you must have a dot. That is most essential, my dear. M. dEpenilles is not rich. We are not in a position to do for you in this respect as we shall for our own daughter. But we thought if you would care to undertake certain duties here in the household we could manage to pay you a small salary which you could save toward your dot. Now these duties
The girl stood as though stunned. The Marquises assurances made no sense to her save that her words, one by one, were cataclysmically destroying a world. Each duty, like some huge diminishing lens, took this woman, whom but a moment before she had called her only mother, further and further away. Slowly, it seemed, though in reality but a moment, it crashed upon her that she was being offered, here in the only home she had ever known, a position as a domestic!
