Were the Vanderbilts visionary aristocrats building a lasting legacy, or history's most spectacular example of how to lose an unfathomable fortune in three generations?
In this episode of History's Greatest Idiots, we explore the family that controlled 10% of all money in circulation in America and turned it into absolutely nothing through the revolutionary strategy of building 250-room houses nobody needed and throwing $8 million parties to impress people who already hated them.
This is the story of the Vanderbilt dynasty: from ruthless railroad tycoon to 120 descendants without a single millionaire among them in less than a century. Featuring marble palaces, forced marriages to British dukes, and enough champagne-fuelled bad decisions to sink the Lusitania. Oh wait, that happened too.
What You'll Discover:
How Cornelius "The Commodore" Vanderbilt built a $200 billion fortune (in relative economic terms) by being brilliant, ruthless, and too cheap to buy a new coat
Why his son William Henry was the last competent Vanderbilt, doubling the fortune before his descendants set it on fire
The $265 million "summer cottage" with 70 rooms that required 40 full-time servants (The Breakers in Newport)
Alva Vanderbilt's $8 million costume ball that forced New York society to accept them (one guest came dressed as a working lightbulb)
George Vanderbilt's 250-room Biltmore Estate that accidentally became a successful tourist attraction by losing so much money
How Consuelo Vanderbilt was literally sold to the Duke of Marlborough for $95 million and a fancy title
Reginald Vanderbilt's masterclass in drinking and gambling away $400 million in just 23 years
Why Alfred Vanderbilt survived cancelling his Titanic ticket only to die on the Lusitania three years later
The 1973 family reunion where 120 Vanderbilt descendants gathered and not one was a millionaire
How Anderson Cooper became the last wealthy Vanderbilt by doing something radical: getting a job
The Mathematics of Disaster: The Commodore leaves $95 million to one son. That son splits it among eight children. Those eight split it among dozens of grandchildren. Each generation builds million-dollar mansions requiring hundreds of thousands in annual maintenance. None of them work. All of them spend like the money is infinite. Spoiler: it wasn't.
The Gilded Age Arms Race: We explore how the Vanderbilts competed with the Astor's and other old money families by building increasingly absurd monuments to their wealth: Fifth Avenue châteaux that were demolished 40 years later because nobody could afford the property taxes, Newport "cottages" with indoor swimming pools and two-story libraries, and enough marble to build a small Italian village.
Three Generations of Wealth Destruction:
First Generation (The Commodore): Builds empire through ruthless business practices and penny-pinching
Second Generation (William Henry's children): Maintains wealth while building increasingly expensive houses and establishing lavish lifestyles
Third Generation: Drinks it, gambles it, and watches their houses get torn down because they can't afford the heating bills.
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Artist: Sarah Chey
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Animation: Daniel Wilson
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Music: Andrew Wilson
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