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© History Oasis
1901-1927
Judge Gary built America's first billion-dollar company. He despised unions, sparking the brutal 1919 steel strike. Gary, Indiana, bears his name. But something killed him in 1927. The official reason was food poisoning, though he seemed healthy.
1901-1903
Charles Schwab climbed from a ten-dollar grocery clerk to a steel tycoon. He gambled away his reputation at Monte Carlo while reporters watched. Then Andrew Carnegie fired him. Afterward, he built a Manhattan palace but died broke.
1903-1911
William Corey cleaned up Schwab's mess. He spent eight years fusing scattered steel companies into one machine.Unglamorous work, but essential for the long-term growth of US steel.
1911-1932
Farrell led the company for twenty-one years. From World War I, the boom, into the Depression. He made US Steel the king of American manufacturing. His era built industrial America's backbone.
1932-1938
William Irvin inherited chaos. Depression crushed demand. Empty mills everywhere. He closed weak plants and bet on cars and appliances over rails and beams.
1952-1955
Benjamin Fairless was best known for fighting with President Truman. When Truman seized steel mills during the Korean War, Fairless sued. The Supreme Court sided with steel, saving the industry from becoming nationalized.
1955-1969
Roger Blough blindsided JFK. He promised no price hikes in steel, then raised them anyway. Kennedy exploded, calling steel bosses sons of bitches. Blough surrendered in a few days.
1969-1973
Edwin Gott steered the company through chaos. With street riots, foreign steel flooding in, everything was shifting. He kept the company steady while America burned and Japan ate US Steel's market.
1973-1979
Edgar Speer read the future. Steel alone wouldn't survive. He bought other businesses and shut old mills. But the company bled $293 million in its final year. It was a brutal wake-up call for the company.
1979-1989
David Roderick played corporate warfare like chess. He bought Marathon Oil, making US Steel an energy company.When raider Carl Icahn tried to take over the company with $7 billion, Roderick borrowed $3.4 billion to kill the deal.
1989-1995
Charles Corry cleaned house after the Icahn war. He sold oil chunks to pay debt and bought back stock. He was steady hands after a decade of corporate combat.
1995-2004
Thomas Usher resurrected steel. He spun off oil in 2001 and restored the original name. Steel mattered again. And the State Department gave him an award for his efforts.
2004-2013
John Surma weathered 2008's financial tsunami. He expanded globally while the economy collapsed. Nine years playing defense against forces bigger than any company.
2013-2017
Mario Longhi drew the short straw. He had to deal with four years of cheap Chinese steel flooding markets. He kept the lights on when half the industry went bankrupt.
2017-Present
David Burritt executed the ultimate exit. He sold to Japan's Nippon Steel for $14.9 billion. Today, he pushes green steel and carbon goals while investors plot his removal.
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