The Family That Built Its Factory to Explode

How did a family of penniless refugees from the French Revolution build one of the oldest fortunes in America — and why did the gunpowder that made them rich keep trying to kill them? This is the story of the du Ponts: a man who escaped the guillotine by days, powder mills built to explode the right way, a secret mission to buy up Britain's saltpeter during the Civil War, a company bought for $12 million with almost no cash, a family war fought in court, General Motors, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar, the Manhattan Project — and the tragedy at Foxcatcher. CHAPTERS 0:00 January 1996 2:55 I. The Terror (1794) 7:04 II. The Powder Mills (1802) 9:04 III. The Kingdom (1834) 11:19 IV. The Secret Mission (1861) 14:00 V. The Three Cousins (1902) 16:13 VI. Merchants of Death (1914) 17:26 VII. The Cousin War (1915) 19:09 VIII. General Motors (1914) 20:05 IX. The Chemists (1935) 24:03 X. Foxcatcher (1996) 26:15 XI. The Heirs (Today) Next time on Old Fortunes: the Morgans. Old Fortunes tells the stories of America's great family fortunes: how they were made, kept, and lost. Subscribe for a new dynasty every episode. Sources and notes: figures marked "by some estimates" or "the story goes" in the film are disputed or rest on family tradition. Main sources include the Hagley Museum and Library, the Library of Congress, the U.S. National Archives, and published histories of the du Pont family and company. CREDITS Images: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain works from the Library of Congress, NARA, HABS/HAER, Hagley Museum and Library, DPLA, Rijksmuseum, Deutsche Fotothek, Imperial War Museums and others. Creative Commons images (license: authors): CC BY 2.0: Esther Westerveld; Jennifer Johns; Robert Lyle Bolton; Sicnag; Thomas Bresson from Belfort, France; USMC Archives; WorldIslandInfo.com CC BY 2.5: Ravedave CC BY 3.0: GYassineMrabet; Luigi Chiesa; CSIRO CC BY 4.0: Wellcome Collection CC BY-SA 2.0: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States CC BY-SA 2.5: Mark Pellegrini; Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) CC BY-SA 3.0: Ad Meskens; Arz; Benutzer:ErnstA (Ernst Schütte); Chemical Heritage Foundation; Harry Kalish; Museum Rotterdam; PMullahaa; Photographed by User:Bullenwächter; Staff videographer; Stevage; Ukexpat CC BY-SA 4.0: Adam Rędzikowski; Desfontaines/Swebach; Frank Schulenburg; Jerrye & Roy Klotz, M.D.; Jacek Halicki; Leiem; Lighbulbz; MRousse; Melissa Fague / PI Photography and Fine Art; P. Hughes; Pi3.124; Suyash Dwivedi Video: Pexels (free license; various creators). Music (public-domain compositions): Brahms, Mahler, Mozart, Vivaldi, Chopin, Beethoven, Sousa, Saint-Saëns, Dvořák, Bach, Handel, Wagner, Verdi, Holst, and "La Marseillaise" (1907 recording, public domain). Recordings: U.S. Marine Band, U.S. Air Force Band (public domain); Musopen and others (CC0/public domain); "Saturn" mix by the U.S. Marine Band & Omega13a (CC BY 4.0); Mozart Symphony 25 and Vivaldi "Winter" by John Harrison (CC BY-SA 4.0); Dvořák Symphony 8 (CC BY 3.0); Handel Sarabande (CC BY-SA 3.0); Beethoven Pathétique (CC BY-SA 3.0); Verdi Requiem, ICBSA (CC BY-SA 4.0); pendulum clock by klankbeeld (CC BY 4.0). Sound effects: synthesized for this channel; thunderstorm ambience public domain. Narration: AI voice. #dupont #oldmoney #americanhistory