![]() ![]() Over 66 years, Vanderbilt (1794–1877) devoted himself to one business: transportation. These corrections, amid an extraordinary wealth of learning and insight about a great man and his times, can be found in the meticulously researched and brilliantly written The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. He left it to his son William to damn the public, and the irresistible potato chip myth - the crusty Commodore sends back fried potatoes as insufficiently thin and salty, and the equally crusty Saratoga Springs chef says, “I’ll give him thin and salty” - is belied by the fact that the chip got to the restaurant ahead of the Commodore. Vanderbilt made the New York Central (founded by others) great, but Commodore was the press’s salute to a shipping mogul. He remarked, “The public? The public be damned!” And he inadvertently caused the potato chip to be invented. His nickname, “Commodore,” referred sardonically to his beginnings sailing a one-man Staten Island ferry. People know four things about Cornelius Vanderbilt: He founded the New York Central Railroad. ![]()
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