View source for James Buchanan Duke

{{short description|Founder of the American Tobacco Company}}
{{Use American English|date = September 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = September 2019}}
{{for|the U.S. president|James Buchanan}}
{{Expand German|date=December 2021|fa=yes|topic=bio}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = James Buchanan Duke
| image              = BuckDuke.jpg
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1856|12|23}}
| birth_place        = [[Durham, North Carolina]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1925|10|10|1856|12|23}}
| death_place        = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_cause        = 
| resting_place      = [[Duke University]]
| spouse             = {{marriage|Lillian Fletcher McCredy<br>|1904|1906|reason=div}}<br />{{marriage|Nanaline Holt Inman|1907}}
| children           = [[Doris Duke]]
| father             = [[Washington Duke]]
| mother             = Artelia Roney
| occupation         = [[tobacco industry|Tobacco]] entrepreneur
| known_for          = [[American Tobacco Company]]
| relatives          = [[Benjamin Newton Duke]] (brother)<br/>[[Brodie Duke]] (half-brother)
}}
'''James Buchanan Duke''' (December 23, 1856 &ndash; October 10, 1925) was an American [[tobacco]] and [[electric power]] industrialist best known for the introduction of modern [[cigarette]] manufacture and marketing,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20042217|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=13 Nov 2012|access-date=13 Nov 2012|title=James Buchanan Duke: Father of the Modern Cigarette|last=Kremer|first=William}}</ref> and his involvement with [[Duke University]]. He was also the founder of the [[American Tobacco Company]] in 1890.

==Early life==
James Buchanan Duke, known by the nickname "Buck", was born on December 23, 1856, near [[Durham, North Carolina]], to tobacco manufacturer, philanthropist, and namesake of [[Duke University]], [[Washington Duke]] (1820–1905), and his second wife, Artelia Roney.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.dukeendowment.org/about/history| title=The Duke Family and its Legacy| publisher=Duke Endowment| access-date=2008-06-02| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517103643/http://www.dukeendowment.org/about/history| archive-date=2008-05-17}}</ref>

==Business career==
Duke's father, Washington, had owned a tobacco company that his sons James and [[Benjamin Newton Duke|Benjamin]] (1855–1929) took over in the 1880s. In 1885, James Buchanan Duke acquired a license to use the first automated [[cigarette]] making machine (invented by [[James Albert Bonsack]]), and by 1890, Duke supplied 40 percent of the American cigarette market (then known as pre-rolled tobacco). In that year, Duke consolidated control of his four major competitors under one corporate entity, the [[American Tobacco Company]], which was a monopoly as he controlled over 90 percent of the American cigarette market. His [[Robber baron (industrialist)|robber baron]] business tactics directly led to the [[Black Patch Tobacco Wars]] in 1906-1908.

[[File:James B Duke House 001.JPG|thumb|[[James B. Duke House]] on Fifth Avenue, New York, as seen in 2010]]
At the start of the 1900s, Duke tried to conquer the British market as he had done the American, eventually forcing the then divided British manufacturers to merge into the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain and Ireland, Ltd ([[Imperial Tobacco]]). After two years of intense competition in Great Britain, Imperial Tobacco took the fight to the U.S.&nbsp;market, forcing American Tobacco to look for a settlement. This resulted in an agreement whereby American Tobacco controlled the [[American trade]], Imperial Tobacco controlled the trade in the British territories, and a third, cooperative venture named the [[British American Tobacco|British-American Tobacco Company]] was set up between the two to control the sale of tobacco in the rest of the world.

During this time, Duke was repeatedly sued by business partners and shareholders. In 1906, the American Tobacco Company was found guilty of antitrust violations, and was ordered to be split into four separate companies: American Tobacco Company, [[Liggett Group|Liggett & Myers]], [[R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company|R. J. Reynolds]], and the [[P.&nbsp;Lorillard Company]]. In 1911, the [[U.S.&nbsp;Supreme Court]] upheld an order breaking up the American Tobacco Company's monopoly. The company was then divided into several smaller enterprises, of which only the British-American Tobacco Company remained in Duke's control.

In 1892, the Dukes opened their first textile firm in [[Durham, North Carolina]], which was run by his brother Benjamin. At the turn of the century, Buck organized the American Development Company to acquire land and water rights on the [[Catawba River]]. In 1904, he established the [[Catawba Power Company]] and the following year he and his brother founded the Southern Power Company, which became known as Duke Power, the precursor to the [[Duke Energy]] conglomerate. The company supplied [[electric power|electrical power]] to the Duke's [[textile]] factory and within two decades, their power facilities had been greatly expanded and they were supplying electricity to more than 300 [[cotton mills]] and other industrial companies. Duke Power established an electrical grid that supplied cities and towns in the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont Region]] of [[North Carolina|North]] and [[South Carolina]]. [[Lake James]], a power-generating reservoir in Western North Carolina, was created by the company in 1928 and named in Duke's honor. [[Buck Steam Station]] in [[Rowan County, North Carolina]], built in 1926, was also named for Duke.

==Personal life==
Duke was married twice, first in 1904 to Lillian Fletcher McCredy (also known as Lillian Nanette Duke). They divorced in 1906 and had no children. In 1907 he married the widow Nanaline Holt Inman, with whom he had his only child, a daughter, [[Doris Duke|Doris]], born November 22, 1912. Doris was raised at [[Duke Farms]] located in [[Hillsborough, New Jersey]], where her father had worked with landscapers such as [[James Leal Greenleaf]] (a member of the firm of [[Frederick Law Olmsted]]), and Horatio Buckenham to transform more than {{convert|2000|acre|km2|0}} of farmland and woodlots into an extraordinary landscape containing 2 conservatories, 9 lakes, 35 fountains, 45 buildings, countless pieces of sculpture, over {{convert|2|mi|km|0}} of stone walls and more than {{convert|18|mi|km}} of roadway.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.dukefarms.org/page.asp?pageId=4|title=History | publisher=Duke Farms|access-date=2008-02-11 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080111134008/http://www.dukefarms.org/page.asp?pageId=4 |archive-date = 2008-01-11}}</ref>

Duke died in New York City on October 10, 1925, and is interred with his father and brother in the Memorial Chapel on the campus of [[Duke University]].  He resided at his home, [[James Buchanan Duke House|Lynnwood]] in [[Charlotte, North Carolina]] during the last five years of his life.<ref name = nrhpinv>{{Cite web | author = Davyd Foard Hood and Joe Mobley | title =James Buchanan Duke House| work = National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory | date =n.d. | url = https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/MK0022.pdf | publisher = North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office | access-date = 2015-02-01}}</ref>  It was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1978.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

===Philanthropy and will===
[[File:2008-07-24 Statue of James Buchanan Duke.jpg|thumb|170px|Statue of James B. Duke in front of the West Campus Quad, pictured in July 2008]]
In December 1924, Duke established [[The Duke Endowment]], a $40 million trust fund (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|40000000|1924}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{Inflation/fn|US}}), some of which was to go to [[Trinity College of Arts and Sciences|Trinity College]].  The University was renamed [[Duke University]] in honor of his father. The James B. Duke Library, the main campus library at [[Furman University]], is also named for him because of his philanthropic relationship with the university.<ref>[http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/hall_of_fame/james_b._duke James Duke] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180328172421/http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/hall_of_fame/james_b._duke |date=March 28, 2018 }}, Philanthropy Hall of Fame</ref>

On his death, he left approximately half of his huge estate to the Duke Endowment, adding another $67 million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|67000000|1925}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{Inflation/fn|US}}) to the trust fund.  In the indenture of trust, Duke specified that he wanted the endowment to support Duke University, [[Davidson College]], [[Furman University]], [[Johnson C. Smith University]]; non-profit hospitals and children's homes in the two Carolinas; and rural [[United Methodist]] churches in North Carolina, retired pastors, and their surviving families.

Much of the remainder of Duke's approximately $100 million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|100000000|1925}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{Inflation/fn|US}}) estate went to his daughter [[Doris Duke]], who became "the richest girl in the world".<ref name=nyt19931029>{{Cite news|last=Pace|first=Eric|date=1993-10-29|title=Doris Duke, 80, Heiress Whose Great Wealth Couldn't Buy Happiness, Is Dead|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/29/obituaries/doris-duke-80-heiress-whose-great-wealth-couldn-t-buy-happiness-is-dead.html|access-date=2021-07-29|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1927, Doris sued her mother for control of the family house in Manhattan and won.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1927-02-11|title=Doris Duke, 14, Gets $1,600,000 House|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/02/11/97225323.pdf|page=12|access-date=2021-07-29|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>  Doris also successfully sued for control of the Duke Farms estate. Associating Duke Farms with fond memories of her father, Doris Duke made few major changes to the property other than the adaptation of her father's Conservatory to create [[Duke Gardens (New Jersey)|Display Gardens]] in his honor.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.njskylands.com/atdukgar.htm|title=The Gardens at Duke Farms| publisher=Skylands Visitor Guide|access-date=2008-06-02}}</ref> These gardens showcased her father's extensive sculpture collection and were open to the public from 1964 until closed by her foundation trustees in May 2008.<ref>{{cite press release|title=Duke Farms Promotes 'Greener' Future |publisher=Duke Farms |date=2008-03-02 |url=http://www.dukefarms.org/page.asp?pageId=523 |access-date=2008-04-14 |quote=it's the final months of the gardens being on display in the greenhouses that have enchanted visitors since 1964 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328065214/http://www.dukefarms.org/page.asp?pageId=523 |archive-date=2008-03-28 }}</ref>

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Duke|first=D.W.|title=The Duke Legacy|year=2014|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-1-4917-2621-1 |oclc=875351886}}
* [[Durden, Robert Franklin]] (2003). ''Bold Entrepreneur: A Life of James B. Duke''. Carolina Academic Press
* Jenkins, John Wilbur (1927). ''James B. Duke: Master Builder''. George H. Doran Company
* Kremer, William (November 13, 2012). [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20042217 "James Buchanan Duke: Father of the modern cigarette"],  ''[[BBC News]] Magazine''
*{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Sobel |author-link=Robert Sobel |title=The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition |location=New York |publisher=Weybright & Talley |year=1974 |chapter=James Buchanan Duke: Opportunism Is the Spur |pages=[https://archive.org/details/entrepreneursexp00sobe/page/148 148–194] |isbn=0-679-40064-8 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/entrepreneursexp00sobe/page/148 }}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|James Buchanan Duke}}
*{{Find a Grave|304}}

{{American Tobacco Company}}
{{British American Tobacco}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke, James B.}}
[[Category:1856 births]]
[[Category:1925 deaths]]
[[Category:American Tobacco Company|J]]
[[Category:American energy industry executives]]
[[Category:American philanthropists]]
[[Category:American tobacco industry executives]]
[[Category:Chairmen of British American Tobacco]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from North Carolina]]
[[Category:Duke family]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Durham, North Carolina]]
[[Category:Duke Energy people]]
[[Category:Burials at Memorial Chapel (Duke University Chapel)]]
[[Category:American billionaires]]