The men who built America episode review

The second episode of The Men Who Built America focused on Andrew Carnegie’s rise to power and his fall in popularity. It details Carnegie’s development of better steel manufacturing, his rivalry with Rockefeller, and his doomed partnership with Henry Frick. The documentary starts with explaining how Carnegie began working odd jobs for Thomas Scott, a businessman working in rail, when he is twelve years old. He becomes Scott’s prodigy and begins taking initiative in investments of his own. When Scott asks him to build the first bridge to span the Mississippi river for the railroad, Carnegie realizes he has to do something different to create a mile long bridge strong enough to withstand the currents of the river. He begins looking into steel, and comes upon method to forge two weeks worth of steel in fifteen minutes. Carnegie immediately begins pouring money into the steel bridge and, while initially expensive, it proves to be smart because quickly others are wanting to replace rundown wooden bridges with steel ones. While his business grows, however, the profits from the too many rails go down. Thomas Scott passes away in ruins after Rockefeller backs out of a deal. Carnegie blames Rockefeller for his mentor's death and escapes the recession by repurposing his steel for building materials. He then plans to become even wealthier than Rockefeller. He makes the mistake of hiring Frick to do that. Frick is efficient and calculating, but immoral and spoiled. His dam leads to 2000 people dying when it breaks, and he sets Pinkertons on striking steel workers, leading to even more deaths. After, Carnegie is left to pick up the pieces, donating and investing money to improve public opinion.