Buck Duke

Started working at Duke tobacco after the Civil War with his father and quickly began running the company. Duke then moved the company toward manufacturing cigarettes in 1881. Duke was one of the first to use mass production techniques successfully with cigarettes. Duke used this, plus a smart advertising campaign, to undercut his competitors in the New York area and soon became president of the new consolidated company, called American Tobacco Company. The company expanded by slaying and buying out competitors to the point where American Tobacco Company soon controlled over 65 percent of the plug tobacco market and 85 percent of the cigarette market. In working to control tobacco prices, and upsetting farmers in the process, Buck came under the eye of anti-trust officials in Washington. American Tobacco Company was eventually broken up by regulators, and Buck faded from the scene.

Buck Duke was a pioneer in both the...