Insull and Enron: Is There a Parallel? Insull and Edison (Part 1 of 3-Part Series)

Abstract

This article is part one of a three-part series on Samuel Insull, infamously known for presiding over a pyramid of electric utility holding companies which at its collapse left hundreds of thousands of investors in varying degrees of destitution. On the path to becoming one of the most famous and powerful tycoons in America, Insull was hired as an assistant to the chief engineer for Thomas Edison, his boyhood hero. Insull's ambition, energy and super-quick mind allowed him at the young age of 20 to advance to become Edison's personal assistant, and in his first year-and-a-half on the job his main concern was the operation of the electric central station project in downtown Manhattan. The success of this project under Insull's leadership helped the efficient and low-cost central station power grab the media's attention and become the dominant electric power source. Impressed, Edison asked Insull to raise money for and oversee the operations of Edison Machine Works at its new location in upstate New York. Later, Edison General Electric Co. merged with Thomson-Houston Electric and Insull was named a second vice president, but in the search for bigger and better things he took a new job and a significant pay cut to become the chief executive for a fledgling electric company in Chicago. As leader of this company, he was met with unlimited prospects and afforded the ability to initiate and implement his own policies.