Question

Facts on Andrew Carnegie

Answer 1

Andrew Carnegie [note 1] November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans in history.[3] He became a leading philanthropist in the United States and in the British Empire. During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away $350 million ($350m in 1919 is equivalent to about $5.3 billion in 2019)[4] to charities, foundations, and universities – almost 90 percent of his fortune.[5] His 1889 article proclaiming "The Gospel of Wealth" called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, and stimulated a wave of philanthropy.

Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1848 at age 12. Carnegie started work as a telegrapher, and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges, and oil derricks. He accumulated further wealth as a bond salesman, raising money for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for $303,450,000.[6] It became the U.S. Steel Corporation. After selling Carnegie Steel, he surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest American for the next several years.

Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education, and scientific research. With the fortune he made from business, he built Carnegie Hall in New York, NY, and the Peace Palace and founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, among others.

Answer 2

1. Shaped by poverty.

Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1835. His father was a hand-loom weaver displaced by technological advancements brought about by the Industrial Revolution. The family’s finances were devastated after Carnegie’s father refused to work in local factories, and the household sank into poverty. Carnegie loved his hapless father, but especially revered his mother and her fierce dedication to hard work and to ensuring a better future for her children.

2. An emerging industrialist.

In 1864, Carnegie invested in a Pennsylvania oil field, which soon earned him $1 million. He purchased his first Pittsburgh steel mill and became a partner in the Keystone Bridge Company, setting himself on the course to enormous wealth and fame. By age 30, he had resigned from the Pennsylvania Railroad to concentrate on his own business interests.

3. Giving back to his country that gave him his start.

In 1901, Carnegie retired from business and turned his full-time interest to giving away his vast fortune to improve the lives of others.

An admirer of Abraham Lincoln, Carnegie had maintained a lifelong focus on social justice, education, and the promotion of peace. After selling the Carnegie Steel Company to J.P. Morgan for a sum approaching $500 million, he started numerous nonprofits that are still in existence, including Carnegie-Mellon University and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In 1903, Carnegie handwrote a note establishing the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust with the purpose of enriching the lives of people living in the town of his birth. Today, the trust administers public programs that further education, culture and the arts, sports and recreational activities, and community welfare projects.

Carnegie made major contributions to Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute, as well as to the New York City Public Library. His donations helped New York to expand its branch library system, and they funded close to 3,000 other public libraries in the U.S. and beyond.

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