Book Review: The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism

Good Book on the Battle Between the Government and the Wealthy But a Weak Ending

In The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism, Susan Berfield describes the confrontation between Theodore Roosevelt, the trust-busting President of the United States, and J.P. Morgan, the powerful banker who never met a monopoly that he did not like. While this is generally a very good book, Berfield’s use of the Northern Securities anti-trust case as the climatic conclusion is something of a disappointment.

Berfield draws the reader into the story by describing the life and times of the early 1900s, a time known as the “Gilded Age”, when a small number of businessmen were growing very rich through rapid economic growth in America. She skillfully brings Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan to life and prepares the reader for the inevitable clash of their worldviews.

While direct interactions between Roosevelt and Morgan were limited, Berfield explains how their interests often overlapped in the major events of the age. One of those events was the anthracite coal miners strike that began on May 12, 1902. Berfield compares the hyperactive Roosevelt, who tried everything in his power to resolve the strike, to the taciturn Morgan, who initially acted as if he knew nothing about it.

As the strike extended into the fall of 1902 there was a real fear that coal might not be available for heating during the winter of 1902-1903. The mine owners, however, continued to refuse to negotiate with the miners. Notwithstanding his best efforts, President Roosevelt was unable to convince the mine owners to enter into negotiations.

While he was initially reluctant to get involved in the strike, Morgan saw that the public was going to blame the mine owners if they started freezing in their homes. He was afraid that this might look bad for business in general. So he used his influence with the owners and convinced them to agree to binding arbitration to end the strike.

In Berfield’s capable hands the coal strike and its settlement is a very compelling story. She shows how Roosevelt and Morgan approached the dispute from different perspectives - Roosevelt wanted what was best for the general public and Morgan wanted what was best for business – to resolve a matter that could have had tragic consequences for the American people. If the book had ended here I would have given it a five star rating and recommended it unconditionally.

Unfortunately, the book did not end with settlement of the coal strike. As the title of the book indicates, Berfield wanted to show a “Battle that Transformed Capitalism”. And to depict that battle she used the Northern Securities anti-trust case in which the federal government sought to break up a major railroad monopoly created by Morgan and two associates.

While the first part of the book, related largely to the coal strike, is filled with the colorful human details that make this type of narrative history so enjoyable, the second part of the book, leading to the Supreme Court decision in the Northern Securities case, veers away from that rich narration and leaves the reader searching for the following types of missing insights:

• What made Roosevelt and his Attorney General, Philander Knox, choose Northern Securities as the target of their first case under the Sherman Anti-trust Act?

• Who would have suffered and what specific harm would they have incurred from the Northern Securities monopoly? The only references to that harm are general objections to the anti-competitive impact of this type of monopoly. Such general objections pale in comparison to Ron Chernow’s Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. in which he describes how Rockefeller used his Standard Oil monopoly to put numerous independent oil refiners out of business.

• Did Roosevelt protect the public interest by following up on the Supreme Court’s decision in Northern Securities to prosecute and break up any other trusts?

• Why did Congress feel it was necessary to pass a second Anti-trust Act, the Clayton Anti-trust Act, ten years after the Supreme Court’s decision in Northern Securities?

Notwithstanding my disappointment with the Northern Securities discussion I generally liked this book. I rate it 3.5 stars and recommend it for anyone interested in learning more about the interaction between the ultra-rich and the government in the early 1900s.