Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

In April 1914, the year after the Rockefeller Foundation receives its charter, “the worst nightmare in Rockefeller history” unfolds in Colorado (571): A labor dispute at the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CFI) erupts into violence. Under poor management, CFI languished for more than a decade as an unprofitable outlier on the Rockefeller portfolio. Furthermore, Rockefeller has always been a staunch enemy of organized labor. In January 1910, a mining explosion kills 79 men, and management blames miners for the accident. When the United Mine Workers appear in Colorado and attempt to organize, the Rockefeller group, including Senior, Junior, and Gates, reacts as if it is “the industrial equivalent of Armageddon” (574).

Battle lines harden in September 1913, when thousands of CFI workers go on strike. Evicted from company homes, the strikers set up tents in nearby Ludlow and hold out for union recognition. CFI hires armed detectives, the Rocky Mountains’ equivalent of the notorious Pinkerton strike-breakers, and the governor calls out the Colorado National Guard. Mother Jones, the pro-union organizer, joins the UMW-supported workers. After a freezing winter in which thousands of miners and their families huddle in tents, the spring thaw brings armed conflict. Colorado guardsmen kill several miners, two women, and 11 children.