Word: ponting
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE wrote that America possessed a unique advantage in that it was born a democracy and had none of the trappings of feudalism. The members of the du Pont family would have a horse-laugh at the expense of that thesis. The du Ponts were a self-proclaimed aristocracy, a family that preferred its sons and daughters to marry cousins so as not to sully the family blood. By the 1920s they were the wealthiest and most powerful family in the country. They controlled General Motors and U.S. Rubber, as well as their own corporation. People said they...
...scene is a du Pont Corporation board meeting. The board of officers is gathered awaiting the arrival of P.S. du Pont, their president. His absence is baffling. He is punctilious about company matters, and he never misses a board meeting. The officers begin to speculate that perhaps the influenza epidemic or a terrible accident has stricken the boss. He, in fact, is missing the meeting to be at the sick bed of his chauffeur--his only true friend. Mosley contrasts P.S.'s affection for his servant with his marked coldness toward his wife. P.S. is the first of many...
Mosley spends less than half the book on the nineteenth century, establishing family traditions of unhappy near-incestuous marriages, cousinly battles over control of the company and a heritage of business genius. In the early years, these characteristics are most clearly embodied in General Henry du Pont, who attempted to banish his brother William from company ranks because of his scandalous romances. General Henry started the company's monopolistic control of the gunpowder industry by promoting the establishment of the Gunpowder Trade Association. Originally a cooperative effort amongst gunpowder manufacturers, the association rapidly became the cover for du Pont...
After General Henry, the most successful director of the company was P.S. du Pont; and it is on P.S. and his cousin Alfred I. du Pont that Mosley focuses the rest of the book. His fascination with these two men is obvious; he reveals their motives and characters as if he knew them. If Mosley were any less meticulous with his and notes you might think he had fabricated scenes in order to create lively portraits...
...cause, Connally enlisted two of the state's most popular and powerful politicians: former Governor James Edwards and Republican Senator Strom Thurmond. In particular, Thurmond was campaigning for Connally as though his own career were at stake. With the Texan at his side, Thurmond was at a Du Pont plant gate in Camden at 7:30 one morning last week, buttonholing arriving workers, draping an arm around each and whispering confidingly, "He's a mighty good man. Speak a good word...