Harvey Firestone, Sr. the antithesis of the exploitative American Tycoon.

Harvey Firestone, Sr. was an entrepreneur who harnessed the wave of industrialization and the automobile to build a competitive, profitable tire company that rivalled any in the world.  The Firestone Company, his legacy, was groundbreaking in many ways.  At the same time, Firestone set the seeds of exploitation in Liberia when he gained a concession to establish a rubber plantation in one of two independent nations in Africa in 1926.[1]

On August 13, 1900, Firestone and others founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.  Taking advantage of an improved way to reinforce rubber with steel threads or thin wires, the company focused on supplying rubber tires for horse drawn carriages and bicycle.[2] His farming roots led t a lifelong appreciation and focus on hard work.  “He wrote, “Ambition is something more than looking at the point you want to reach. Ambition is taking off your coat and pulling and dragging your boat up the stream.”[3] After securing a contract with the Ford Motor Company, Firestone grew rapidly as his bike and carriage tire company transformed into a massive industrial machine that supplied the growing new automotive industry.

The purpose of this blog is not to give you a chronological and concise history of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, but rather to expose the reader to the cornerstones of Firestone’s business philosophy.  Firestone was a competitor who understood management.  One of the themes of this era and the readings we looked at was that the early twentieth century was the age of management.  American business excelled and surpassed its competitors overseas because the leaders of American business understood management.  Firestone understood the importance of hiring competent managers and respecting the chain of command in an organization.[4]

Firestone was a nationalist who had originally planned to vertically integrate by building rubber plantations in the Philippines, a new American colony.  However, laws preventing the foreign ownership of large tracts of land forced him to look elsewhere.  In Liberia, American and Caribbean colonists who ruled the nation became active participants, granting Firestone a concession that would become the largest plantation controlled by a corporation on the plant.[5]

Some historians have argued that Firestone as a company was exploitative. It can be tempting to jump on the bandwagon that declares that all big business in the progressive era was damaging to the nation and its people.  Certainly, it was damaging to Liberians, or was it?

Firestone disputed this view.  First, Firestone was among the first employers to really help employees. According to Karwatka, “Firestone provided his employees with comfortable working conditions, a basic health plan, and night-school opportunities. He also offered a recreational park, low-cost grocery store, and even a stock purchase plan.”[6] Firestone believed in treating his employees well, but he expected much in return.  He wrote, “A business won’t stand still and wait while you dally around, wondering what to do.”[7] He expected results.   What’s more, in general, Firestone delivered.  He was also a positive force who was often found reassuring Americans that progress was being made – that things were looking up.[8]

As companies were collapsing across the nation in 1930, Firestone announced that his company was doing well.  In fact, he noted that despite very negative outlooks by some during the depression, Firestone was working six days a week in order to keep up with demand.[9] Finally, Firestone did not agree that his rubber plantations in Liberia were exploiting the people of Liberia.  His son, Harvey Firestone, Jr. would later point out that in 1912, Liberia was in receivership and that the Firestone concessions served to stabilize the nation financially.  Firestone, Jr. also pointed out that the Firestone Company did much to develop leaders and employ thousands of Liberians who badly needed the work.  The rubber plantations served ultimately to raise not lower the Liberian standard of living.[10]

Harvey Firestone stands in sharp contrast to the vision many historians have of a predatory business owner or “robber baron.”  He built the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company into a massive, profitable, positive force in America during the first three decades of the twentieth century.

NOTES:

[1] Gregg Mittman. Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia. New York: The New Press, 2021.p. XIII.

[2] Albert Lief. The Firestone Story: a history of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company. New York. Whittlesey House, 1951.

[3] Peter Krass. The Book of Entrepreneurs’ Wisdom: Classic Writings by Legendary Entrepreneurs. New York: Wiley, 1999. P. 60.

[4] Ibid.; pp. 54-57.

[5] Albert Lief. The Firestone Story: a history of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company. New York. Whittlesey House, 1951.

[6] Dennis Karwatka. “Harvey Stanley Firestone and Rubber Tires.” Tech Directions, 12, 2000. 10,

[7] Peter Krass. The Book of Entrepreneurs’ Wisdom: Classic Writings by Legendary Entrepreneurs. New York: Wiley, 1999. P. 55.

[8] "Outlook for the Rubber Companies: Firestone's Statement Concerning Improbability of Tire Reductions Reassuring--Dealers in Market for Tires." Barron's (1921-1942) 8, no. 17 (Apr 23, 1928): 7

[9] "Firestone Tire & Rubber Active: Operations at Capacity--Pres. Firestone Optimistic-- Second Half Year Earnings to show Subnormal Gain Over First Half." Barron's (1921-1942) 10, no. 34 (Aug 25, 1930):

[10] Harvey S. Firestone, Jr. “Private Enterprise And Point Four: WHAT FIRESTONE PLANTATIONS HAVE DONE FOR THE LIBERIANS.” Vital speeches of the day. 19, no. 3 (1952).