Why was Ida Tarbell important?

Ida Tarbell studied Madame Roland because she wanted to prove that women brought moderation and compassion to politics. When she completed her research she said that Madame Roland had performed during the French Revolution as hard as the men did. She believed that men had corrupted the world and women could straighten it out. In the book,” The History of the Standard Oil Company” she exposed the illegal means used by John D. Rockefeller to dominate the early oil industry. Daniel Yergin who was an oil historian, called Ida’s book the most important business book ever written.  She intervened in her disapproval of Standard Oil's illegal practices, tribute for Rockefeller's huge accomplishments in organizing and stabilizing an unpredictable industry. She didn’t like being called a "muckraker" because she was convinced that in the long run the public was trying to stir things out of control and someone might take something the wrong way. She had many chances to make the most of her reputation but instead, she rejected the pleas of the suffragettes to authorize their causes because they denied her own convictions about the role of women. In 1914, Henry Ford and others tried unsuccessfully to have her join the celebrity-laden "Peace Ship" to bring an end to World War I. She considered it unrealistic. In late 1916, she turned down President Wilson's offer to make her the first woman on the Tariff Commission because he believed she had written more common sense about the tariff than any man. She also put off writing her autobiography until she was eighty years old. Journalists should study Ida’s work because it can help them out and give them an idea on what to write about or how to be when they become a journalist.


http://tarbell.allegheny.edu/biobib.html