flâneur

Founders Notes: James J Hill

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James J. Hill Michael P. Malone Hill alienated colleagues as often as he inspired them. Arrogant, self-righteous, sometimes too ambitious, and frequently a blatant bully, Hill lashed out at managers and workers alike who failed to meet his taxing demands of production and loyalty. NOTE Personality Clearly he accomplished more than all but a few of the other leading figures in the history of American industry and regional development and was, in fact, a man of remarkable abilities, determination, and drive. Just as clearly, however, he could be quite ruthless, overbearing, and politically domineering. NOTE Dichotomy PERHAPS no other generation in all of American history played so fascinating or central a role in national development as the one that, born in the 1830s and 1840s, came to maturity in the Civil War crisis of 1857–67. For this was the generation that not only forged the modern American nation but also worked the industrial-commercial-transportation revolution that formed its modern economy and society. Most of the men involved in this revolution—whether they are called "industrial statesmen" or "robber barons," each title simplistic and misleading—did not fight in the wa

James J. Hill Michael P. Malone Hill alienated colleagues as often as he inspired them. Arrogant, self-righteous, sometimes too ambitious, and frequently a blatant bully, Hill lashed out at managers and workers alike who failed to meet his taxing demands of production and loyalty. NOTE Personality Clearly he accomplished more than all but a few of the other leading figures in the history of American industry and regional development and was, in fact, a man of remarkable abilities, determination, and drive. Just as clearly, however, he could be quite ruthless, overbearing, and politically…

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