John D. saw his competitors as buds to be nipped. "The American Beauty Rose can be produced in all its splendor only by sacrificing the early buds that grow up around it," he said. Rockefeller wasn't very popular with most Americans. Often he behaved as if he were a king. Crusading journalists called him a "robber baron."

But there were two sides to Rockefeller, and they were both exemplified right beside his bed. That was where he kept his safe, filled with money. But on top of that safe was his Bible. The Bible inspired him to be generous. He gave away vast sums. He once said, "I believe power to make money is a gift from God. I believe it is my duty to make money and still more money, and to use the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience."

For the last forty years of his long life, Rockefeller spent much of his time giving away his money. Always orderly and precise, he gave away precisely half of his fortune—half a billion dollars—which went to create the University of Chicago , the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, and a foundation that exists just to give money to worthwhile causes.