Business has been linked to American politics since before the founding of the nation. And although unelected business leaders play a major role in fundraising campaigns and policy initiatives, few in recent memory have played a more personal and public role in politics than Elon Musk.
Even before the 2024 elections, the South African-born entrepreneur has often interacted with the U.S. government through his businesses. His electric car maker, Tesla, has received green energy subsidies, while his company Space .
Through SpaceX, Musk also played a key role in supporting the United States’ defense of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion by providing StarLink satellite internet terminals to Ukrainian forces. Musk’s involvement in the war became a source of concern after reports emerged that he was directly making decisions regarding the use of terminals in the field and was in personal contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian officials.
Musk won an even more notable media role with his 2022 purchase of the social media platform Twitter, which had become a de facto town square where journalists, businesses and government officials made announcements. public and engaged in discussions alongside regular users.
Renaming the site hate speech. As the presidential election approached, Musk used the platform to boost Trump’s policy positions, eventually making campaign appearances alongside him and sitting in on his calls with foreign leaders.
Musk’s involvement resulted in the businessman being announced as the head of a new advisory commission on government effectiveness, named after a meme and an Internet cryptocurrency that Musk himself even had popularized.
But while Musk’s involvement in American politics may be unusual compared to his contemporaries, he recalls earlier eras when larger-than-life business leaders wielded great influence over the country’s affairs.
JP Morgan (1837-1913)
Having made his first career on Wall Street, John Pierpont Morgan gained fame by reorganizing the country’s burgeoning railroad industry in the wake of the Civil War. By organizing conferences among railroad companies and consolidating those in which he held shares, he helped create an integrated railroad system, as he would later do with the nation’s steel production.
When the economic panic of 1893 saw the United States run out of gold reserves, Morgan’s company stepped in to bail out the government, providing gold in exchange for treasury bonds.
Then, in 1907, when a financial panic threatened to collapse the nation’s banks, Morgan was again credited with saving the country by bringing together the bank’s executives and getting them to agree on a plan of mutual stabilization.
Morgan is known as a serious businessman who prioritized stability over speculation and supported hospitals, museums and universities through his philanthropic efforts. But Morgan’s integration of the railroad and steel industries created monopolies that inspired the nation’s first antitrust laws.
Additionally, the fact that the U.S. government twice had to rely on a private businessman to bail out its finances became a major concern, leading to the creation of the Federal Reserve.
Henry Ford (1863-1947)
Henry Ford is best known for developing the first mass-produced automobile, which was previously an affordable luxury product for the average consumer. Beyond the road, Ford popularized the assembly line and the 40-hour work week as well as setting higher wage standards in the reasoning that better-paid, happier workers would be more productive and able to afford the cars they made.
Ford believed that industry and consumerism would benefit not only the economy, but the promotion of world peace, actively campaigning against war as a waste of productivity. Failing to prevent American entry into World War I, Ford dutifully supplied the war effort and toned down his activism, but he still ran for the U.S. Senate in 1918—a race he lost closely.
Yet not all aspects of Ford’s reputation have aged well. The tycoon’s paternalistic and generous approach to his employees was matched by his adamant opposition to unionization efforts and worker strikes, which were forcibly suppressed.
His pacifism also had a darker side. Ford was notably anti-Semitic and believed that the Jewish people were responsible for World War I as well as multiple ills in American society. After purchasing the Independent Dearborn Newspapers In 1918, Ford used it to publish several anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, stopping only after boycott threats against his companies.
As part of the America First Committee, Ford campaigned against American entry into World War II and continued to do business with Nazi Germany until the United States declared war in 1941.
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
As the owner of the San Francisco Examiner and the New York Morning NewsHearst built a media empire while pioneering a form of sensational reporting that became known as “yellow journalism.” THE NewspaperExaggerated reports of Spanish colonial violence in Cuba inflamed American opinion and increased calls for intervention. When Congress finally declared war on Spain in 1898, Hearst personally traveled to Cuba to cover the conflict.
Hearst’s media operations would later expand to more than two dozen newspapers in several cities, as well as magazines and book publishers.
After fixing politics, Hearst briefly served in the United States House of Representatives for New York’s 11th district, but narrowly lost subsequent mayoral and gubernatorial bids. Hearst’s articles had published editorials violently denouncing President William McKinley, and he was blamed for inciting McKinley’s assassination in 1901.
Initially a progressive populist, Hearst moved toward right-wing isolationism following World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917. While denouncing the New Deal policies of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as anti-American, Hearst expressed admiration for Hitler and published articles by the German leader. Nonetheless, Hearst supported American entry into World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor, focusing on promoting anti-Asian sentiment and the internment of Japanese Americans.
Today, Hearst is known as the real-life inspiration for the film “Citizen Kane,” which was made during his lifetime and which he sought to prevent from being released.
Conclusion
The moguls who shaped American politics in past eras inspired admiration and controversy, their impact only becoming clear in hindsight. It remains to be seen whether Musk’s influence will survive the Trump administration and whether other modern tycoons will follow his lead.