List of richest Americans in History - wikipedia List of richest Americans in History A caricature of John D. Rockefeller Sr. published in Puck in 1901 For the contemporary list, see ( ( List of Americans by net worthEconomic blogger Scott Sumner, for example, was worth $1.4 billion dollars when he died, which is about $24 billion in dollars nowadays. Meanwhile Bill Gates was worth nearly $150 billion in dollars nowadays in 1999. Second richest in terms of wealth over contemporary GDP is disputed, with various sources listing Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John Jacob Astor IV, Bill Gates or Henry Ford. Most sources agree on Carnegie. Further places are a matter of even bigger debate. Given the economic rise of the United States of America since its origins, with America becoming the foremost economic power in the world by the late 19th century, the wealthiest men in America were often also the wealthiest men in the world. Contents 1 Fortune 's Wealthiest Americans ( 1957 ) 2 Klepper & Gunther ( 1996 ) 3 American Heritage ( 1998 ) 4 Bernstein & Swan ( 2008 ) 5 Business Insider ( 2011 ) 6 CNN Money ( 2014 ) 7 By half decade 8 References Fortune 's wealthiest Americans ( 1957 ) In 1957, Fortune magazine developed a list of the seventy - six wealthiest Americans, which was republished in many American newspapers. Getty, when asked his reaction and whether he was really worth a billion dollars, said `` You know, if you can count your money, you do n't have a billion dollars '' and then famously added, `` But remember, a billion dollars is n't worth what it used to be. '' The person with the greatest impact on the list was arguably Andrew W. Mellon, who had been dead for 20 years : the second category, covering the second to eighth richest individuals, included his son, daughter, niece and nephew. The list also included seven members of the Rockefeller family, five members of the Ford family, four members of the Du Pont family ( and a non-family DuPont executive ), and four General Motors executives. Five separate categories divided the list based on the amount of the fortune. Fortunes smaller than $75,000,000 were not considered worthy of inclusion in the list. For comparison, equivalent amounts in 2005 US dollars are given below each subheading ; the presumed source of the wealth is enclosed in parentheses. $700,000,000 to $1,000,000,000 ( worth $6,099,289,100 to $8,713,270,142 today ) Jean Paul Getty, Oil ; business headquarters is in Los Angeles, California. $400,000,000 to $700,000,000 ( worth $3,485,308,057 to $6,099,289,100 today ) Mrs Mellon Bruce, the former Ailsa Mellon, New York, New York. Inherited wealth : Mellon Bank, Gulf Oil Company, Alcoa. Arthur Vining Davis, Miami, Florida ; Alcoa, Florida real estate., H.L. Hunt, Dallas, Texas ; independent oil operator. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia ; inherited wealth. Richard King Mellon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; inherited wealth : Alcoa, Gulf Oil, Mellon Bank, etc. John D. Rockefeller Jr., New York inherited wealth : Standard Oil Trust. Mrs. Alan M. Scaife, the former Sarah Mellon, Pittsburgh. Inherited wealth. $200,000,000 to $400,000,000 ( worth $1,742,654,028 to $3,485,308,057 today ) Irénée du Pont, Wilmington, Delaware and Cuba ; inherited wealth : E. I du Pont de Nemours & Co. William du Pont, Jr., Wilmington ; inherited wealth : E. I du Pont de Nemours & Co. Mrs. Frederick Guest, the former Amy Phipps, Palm Beach, Florida. Inherited wealth. Howard Hughes, Los Angeles ; inherited wealth : Hughes Tool Company. Joseph P. Kennedy, Boston, Massachusetts - New York ; real estate. Daniel K. Ludwig, New York ; National Bulk Carriers. Sid Richardson, Fort Worth, Texas ; independent Oil operator. Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., New York ; General Motors Corporation. $100,000,000 to $200,000,000 ( worth $871,327,014 to $1,742,654,028 today ) James Abercrombie, Houston, Texas ; independent oil operator. Vincent Astor, New York ; inherited wealth : real estate. Stephen Bechtel, San Francisco ; construction, Bechtel Corporation. William Blakley, Dallas ; Braniff Airways, real estate. Jacob Blaustein, Baltimore, Maryland ; American Oil Company. Lammot du Pont Copeland, Wilmington ; E. I du Pont de Nemours & Co... Clarence Dillon, New York ; Dillon, Read & Co. Doris Duke, New York. New Jersey. Inherited wealth : tobacco Mrs. Alfred I. du Pont, Jacksonville, Florida - Wilmington ; inherited wealth : St. Joe Paper Company, E. I du Pont de Nemours & Co... Mrs. Edsel Ford, Detroit, Michigan. Inherited wealth : Ford Motor Company Amory Houghton, Ambassador to France ; inherited wealth : Corning Glass. Arthur A. Houghton Jr., New York ; Corning Glass. Roy Arthur Hunt, Pittsburgh ; Alcoa. William Keck, Los Angeles ; Superior Oil. Charles F. Kettering, Dayton, Ohio ; General Motors Corporation. Mrs. Jean Mauzé, the former Abby Rockefeller, New York. Inherited wealth : Standard Oil Trust Mrs. Chauncey McCormick, the former Marion Deering, Chicago, Illinois. Inherited wealth William L. McKnight, St. Paul, Minnesota ; Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing John Mecom, Houston ; independent oil operator. Clint Murchison, Dallas ; independent oil operator. Mrs. Charles Payson, the former Joan Whitney, New York. Inherited wealth. John L. Pratt, Fredericksburg, Virginia ; General Motors Corporation. David Rockefeller, New I York ; Chase Manhattan Bank and inherited wealth : Standard Oil Trust. John D, Rockefeller 3d, New York. inherited wealth : Standard Oil Trust. Laurance Rockefeller, New York ; venture capital : Eastern Air Lines, Reaction Motors, International Nickel and inherited wealth : Standard Oil Trust. Nelson Rockefeller, New York ; Rockefeller Center, -, Inc., International Basic Economy Corporation and inherited wealth : Standard Oil Trust. Winthrop Rockefeller, Arkansas ; ranching, Ibec Housing and inherited wealth : Standard Oil Trust. R.E. Smith, Houston ; independent oil operator. John Hay Whitney, New York, Ambassador to Britain ; venture capital and inherited wealth. $75,000,000 to 100,000,000 ( worth $653,495,261 to $871,327,014 today ) Michael Late Benedum, Pittsburgh - West Virginia ; Benedum - Trees Oil Company, Hiawatha Oil and Gas, etc. Donaldson Brown, Port Deposit, Maryland., E. I du Pont de Nemours & Co... George R. Brown, Houston ; Brown & Root, Inc. Herman Brown, Houston ; Brown & Root, Inc. John Nicholas Brown I, Newport, Rhode Island ; inherited wealth : real estate... Godfrey L. Cabot, Boston ; Godfrey L. Cabot, Inc., etc. James A. Chapman, Tulsa, Oklahoma ; inherited oil wealth. Leo Corrigan, Dallas ; real estate. Mrs. Horace Dodge, Jr.,, Palm Beach - Detroit. Inherited wealth : automobiles. John T. Dorrance, Jr., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; inherited wealth : Campbell Soup Company. Benson Ford, Detroit ; inherited wealth : Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford 2d, Detroit ; inherited wealth : Ford Motor Company. William C. Ford, Detroit, inherited wealth : Ford Motor Company. Erle P. Halliburton, Duncan, Oklahoma ; Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company ( died in Los Angeles Oct. 13, 1957 ). Averell Harriman, Albany ¬ New York ; Governor of New York. Inherited wealth : Investment banking. Henry J. Kaiser, Oakland, California ; Kaiser Industries, etc. John W., Kieckhefer, Milwaukee, Wisconsin -- Prescott, Arizona ; Kieckhefer Container, Eddy Paper ( absorbed by Weyerhaeuser ). Robert Kleberg Jr., King Ranch, Texas. ; inherited wealth : cattle, oil, land. John E. Mabee, Tulsa ; independent oil operator. John D. MacArthur, Chicago ; Bankers Life and Casualty Company. A.H. Meadows ; Dallas ; General American Oil. Charles S. Mott, Flint, Michigan ; General Motors Corporation. John M. Olin, Alton, Illinois ; inherited wealth : Olin Mathieson Chemical. Spencer T. Olin, Alton, Ill. ; inherited wealth : Olin Mathieson Chemical. J. Howard Pew, Philadelphia ; inherited wealth : Sun Oil Company. Joseph Pew, Philadelphia ; inherited wealth : Sun Oil. Mrs. M. Merriweather Post, Washington, DC ; inherited wealth : General Foods. James Sottile Jr., Miami ; Pan American Bank. George W. Strake, Houston ; inherited wealth : independent oil operator. Louis Wolfson, Miami Beach, Florida ; Merritt - Chapman & Scott, New York Shipbuilding, etc. Robert Woodruff, Atlanta, Georgia ; The Coca - Cola Company. Klepper & Gunther ( 1996 ) In the 1996 book The Wealthy 100, authors Michael Klepper and Robert Gunther placed John D. Rockefeller atop the list of the richest Americans in history, followed by Cornelius Vanderbilt and John Jacob Astor. Bill Gates was the top living person, coming in fifth. American Heritage ( 1998 ) American Heritage magazine published the following list of 40 richest Americans ever in 1998. John D. Rockefeller Andrew Carnegie Cornelius Vanderbilt John Jacob Astor Bill Gates Stephen Girard Alexander Turney Stewart Frederick Weyerhaeuser Jay Gould Marshall Field Sam Walton Henry Ford Warren Buffett Andrew W. Mellon Richard B. Mellon James Graham Fair William Weightman Moses Taylor Russell Sage John Insley Blair Cyrus H.K. Curtis Paul Allen J.P. Morgan E.H. Harriman Henry Huddleston Rogers Oliver Hazard Payne Henry Clay Frick Collis Potter Huntington Peter Arrell Browne Widener Nicholas Longworth Philip Danforth Armour James Clair Flood Mark Hopkins Jr. Edward Cabot Clark Leland Stanford Hetty Green James J. Hill William Rockefeller Elias Hasket Derby Claus Spreckels Bernstein & Swan ( 2008 ) Bernstein and Swan in All the Money in the World ( 2008 ) mention the 15 richest Americans of all time. John D. Rockefeller Andrew Carnegie Cornelius Vanderbilt John Jacob Astor Stephen Girard Richard B. Mellon A.T. Stewart Frederick Weyerhäuser Marshall Field Sam Walton Jay Gould Henry Ford Bill Gates Andrew W. Mellon Warren Buffett Business Insider ( 2011 ) Business Insider agreed on Rockefeller in first, but placed Andrew Carnegie second, followed by Vanderbilt, and Gates. John D. Rockefeller Andrew Carnegie Cornelius Vanderbilt Bill Gates John Jacob Astor Stephen Girard A.T. Stewart Frederick Weyerhäuser Jay Gould Stephen Van Rensselaer Marshall Field Sam Walton Warren Buffett CNN Money ( 2014 ) The following is a list compiled by CNN Money in 2014. John D. Rockefeller Cornelius Vanderbilt John Jacob Astor Stephen Girard Richard Mellon Andrew Carnegie Stephen Van Rensselaer A.T. Stewart Frederick Weyerhäuser Jay Gould Marshall Field Bill Gates Henry Ford Warren Buffett J.P. Morgan Sam Walton Moses Taylor Russell Sage James G. Fair William Weightman By half decade This list names the richest American by half decade starting in 1770. Year Name Picture 1770 Peter Manigault 1775 Robert Morris 1780 William Bingham 1785 Benjamin Franklin 1790 John Hancock 1795 Elias Hasket Derby 1800 Thomas Willing 1805 Stephen Girard 1810 1815 1820 1825 1830 1835 Stephen Van Rensselaer 1840 John Jacob Astor 1845 1850 Cornelius Vanderbilt 1855 1860 1865 1870 1875 1880 William Henry Vanderbilt 1885 1890 John D. Rockefeller 1895 1900 Andrew Carnegie 1905 1910 John D. Rockefeller 1915 1920 Henry Ford 1925 1930 Andrew Mellon 1935 1940 Henry Ford 1945 1950 H.L. Hunt 1955 J. Paul Getty 1960 Howard Hughes 1965 1970 1980 Daniel Ludwig 1985 Sam Walton John Kluge 1995 Bill Gates 2000 2005 2015 References Jump up ^ Sumner, Scott ( 24 February 2018 ). `` Virtually all sources are wrong ''. The Money Illusion. Retrieved 27 February 2018. Jump up ^ `` J. Paul Getty Dead at 83 ; Amassed Billions From Oil ''. Nytimes.com. 1976 - 06 - 06. Retrieved 2013 - 04 - 22. Jump up ^ `` The Wealthiest Americans Ever ''. The New York Times. July 15, 2007. Jump up ^ Gibson, Christine ( October 1998 ). `` The American Heritage ''. American Heritage. Vol. 49 no. 6. Jump up ^ All the Money in the World ( 2008 ) by Bernstein and Swan, p. 17 `` Introduction '' Jump up ^ Gus Lubin ( April 17, 2011 ). `` The 13 Richest Americans of All Time ''. Business Insider. Jump up ^ Hargreaves, Steve ( 2014 - 06 - 01 ). `` The richest Americans in history ''. CNNMoney. Retrieved 2018 - 03 - 05. Jump up ^ Klepper, Michael ; Gunther, Michael ( 1996 ), The Wealthy 100 : From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates -- A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present, Secaucus, New Jersey : Carol Publishing Group, p. xii, ISBN 978 - 0 - 8065 - 1800 - 8, OCLC 33818143 Jump up ^ Heitzler, Michael James ( 2005 ). Goose Creek, South Carolina : A Definitive History 1670 -- 2003. 1. Charleston, SC : The History Press. p. 86. ISBN 978 - 1 - 59629 - 055 - 6. Jump up ^ Kennedy, John ( 1894 ). Robert Morris and the Holland Purchase. Batavia, NY : J.F. Hall. p. 121. Jump up ^ Spingola, Deanna ( 2011 ). The Ruling Elite : a Study in Imperialism, Genocide and Emancipation. Bloomington, IN : Trafford Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4269 - 5462 - 7. Jump up ^ Gross, Daniel ( April 1, 2002 ). `` Finance & Investment : Cash of the Titans ''. Robb Report. Malibu, CA. Jump up ^ `` Finance & Investment : Cash of the Titans ''. Jump up ^ Kellogg, Day Otis ( 1898 ). New American Supplement to the Latest Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. 2. New York, NY : The Werner Company. p. 1031. Jump up ^ Burke, James ( 2007 ). American Connections : The Founding Fathers. Networked. New York, NY : Simon & Schuster. pp. 157 -- 58. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7432 - 8226 - 0. Jump up ^ Phillips, Kevin ( June 18, 2002 ). Wealth and Democracy : A Political History of America 's Rich. New York, NY : Broadway Books. p. Chapter 1. ISBN 9780767911511. Jump up ^ Jones, Abner Dumont ( 1854 ). The Illustrated American Biography. 2. New York, NY : J. Milton Emerson & Co. p. 463. Jump up ^ Buder, Stanley ( 2009 ). Capitalizing on Change : A Social History of American Business. Chapel Hill, NC : University of North Carolina Press. p. 105. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8078 - 3231 - 8. Cornelius Vanderbilt ( 1794 -- 1877 ) succeeded Astor as the wealthiest American. Jump up ^ Kemp, Michael ( 2016 ). Uncommon Sense : Investment Wisdom Since the Stock Market 's Dawn. New York, NY : John Wiley & Sons. p. 242. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7303 - 2424 - 9. Consider also Cornelius Vanderbilt, the wealthiest American at the time of his death in 1877. Jump up ^ Li, Xiaobing ; Molina, Michael ( 2014 ). Oil : A Cultural and Geographic Encyclopedia of Black Gold. 1. Santa Barbara, CA : ABC - CLIO. p. 335. ISBN 978 - 1 - 61069 - 271 - 7. Jump up ^ `` America 's Richest Man : J.D. Rockefeller and his Enormous Fortune ''. The Star. Canterbury, NZ. Detroit Free Press. April 6, 1895. Jump up ^ National Republic : A Monthly Review of American History, Policy, Politics and Public Affairs. Washington, DC : National Republic Publishing Co. 1940. p. 30. The richest man in America is Henry Ford. Jump up ^ Knowles, Ruth Sheldon ( 1978 ). The Greatest Gamblers : The Epic of American Oil Exploration. Norman, OK : University of Oklahoma Press. p. 302. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8061 - 1513 - 9. Jump up ^ Miller, Stephen ( September 9, 2010 ). `` A One - Man Empire, From TV to Laundry ''. The Wall Street Journal. Jump up ^ `` Forbes magazine profile on Bill Gates ''. Forbes. 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2015. 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Question: who was the richest man in the world in 1970
Answer: Howard Hughes