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FROM THE ROCKEFELLERS TO THE VANDERBILTS, THIS IS WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT AMERICAN DYNASTIES.
23/12/2021
Though the Kennedy clan earned their fortune via business endeavors, many modern members of the famous family are now part of the hustle and bustle of Hollywood. It should come as no surprise, then, that several Kennedys have made headlines by dating—and even marrying—some of the biggest stars of the 20th and 21st century.
In 2012, for instance, Conor Kennedy, the grandnephew of JFK, was involved in a whirlwind summer fling with superstar Taylor Swift.
23/12/2021
Though JFK was Jacqueline Bouvier's first husband, he wasn't her first fiancé. Early on, the reporter—yes, Jackie O was a journalist!—was set to wed a stockbroker named John G. W. Husted Jr.
23/12/2021
Widow Jackie Kennedy commissioned artist Aaron Shikler to create the official White House portrait of John F. Kennedy after he had been fatally shot. As such, the only things Shikler had to work with were photographs of the late president—and though he made several sketches based off of snapshots of the figurehead, the sketch that ended up being used was inspired by JFK's brother, Ted Kennedy.
23/12/2021
"There is no question about it. In the next 40 years a [black person] can achieve the same position that my brother has," former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said in 1961. And boy, was his prediction on the money: Just a little more than 40 years later—47 years later, to be precise—Barack Obama became the first black president of the United States of America.
02/12/2021
To say that Cornelius Vanderbilt was a wealthy man would be an understatement. According to the National Railroad Hall of Fame, the transportation tycoon had a fortune of around $95 million when he passed away in 1877, making him the richest man in the world at the time.
02/12/2021
The next time you visit the famous Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, make sure to thank the Vanderbilts. It was sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, great-granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who decided to open the museum in order to showcase American artists' work in the early 1930s. She originally offered her collection of more than five hundred pieces to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but when they declined her proposal, the Whitney Museum was born.
02/12/2021
You don't become an American dynasty without accumulating an enviable amount of money. And what does one do with this much money? Build a massive mansion, of course!
Yes, it was George and Edith Vanderbilt, the grandson and granddaughter-in-law of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who first built the Biltmore Estate, the 250-room mansion widely considered to be the largest privately owned home in America. Today, the Biltmore Company—which owns and operates the estate—is run and managed by Bill Cecil, the great-grandson of the original Vanderbilt owners.
02/12/2021
One of those engineering feats for which we have Cornelius Vanderbilt to thank is the original Grand Central Terminal, which opened its doors in 1871. It was his brainchild. And when conditions at this transportation hub became unsafe and unsanitary in the early 1900s, it was William Kissam Vanderbilt—the grandson of Cornelius—who was tasked with rebuilding the station, alongside his son, William Kissam Vanderbilt II, and William J. Wilgus, chief engineer of the New York Central Railroad. Though they faced their fair share of hardships along the way, the men were hailed as a success when they electrified all of the lines running to and from Grand Central.
02/12/2021
Cornelius Vanderbilt might've been almost three times richer than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos when he was alive, but that isn't to say that his education was top-notch. Since the entrepreneur had to drop out of school at just 11 years old to help his father with his boating business, the Vanderbilt School of Engineering site notes that he was technically illiterate.
"True, he lacked education, but that makes his technical prowess all the more remarkable," the site points out. "He was one of the finest engineers of his day, as self-made in that respect as he was in business."
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12/05/2023