James Buchanan Duke

James Buchanan Duke possessed a profoundly entrenched, incredibly lucrative background in industrial monopolization and global commodities trading. Having completely conquered the international tobacco market through aggressive corporate consolidation and highly automated manufacturing, this massive, cutthroat corporate background gave him the exact financial leverage and strategic ruthlessness required to build a sprawling electrical utility monopoly.

James Buchanan Duke was a legendary American industrialist, tobacco tycoon, and the massive financial force behind the creation of Duke Energy. Originally building his immense fortune by founding the American Tobacco Company and completely monopolizing the global cigarette industry, Duke aggressively sought new avenues for massive capital investment. Recognizing the incredible industrial potential of hydroelectric power in the Carolinas, he partnered with Dr. W. Gill Wylie and engineer William States Lee in 1904 to establish the massive Southern Power Company (later renamed Duke Power). Duke pumped immense amounts of capital into damming the Catawba River, actively electrifying the Southern textile industry and laying the massive infrastructural foundation for what is now the multi-billion dollar Duke Energy corporation.