Life of 'American Titan' illustrates the American dream

After covering the second debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858, a young journalist went to a train station near Freeport, Ill., to wait for passage to the state capitol in Springfield. Much to his surprise, the only other passenger was Lincoln himself, alone and without an entourage.

The train was late, and a thunderstorm forced the reporter and Lincoln to take shelter in an abandoned freight car where they discussed, among other subjects, the existence of God and politics.

'Just think,' Lincoln said to reporter in a line that would become famous, 'of a Sucker such as me as president.'

The young man was Henry Villard, a German immigrant who had urged his employer, Staats-Zeitung, a German-language newspaper, that the Lincoln-Douglas debates would be important in shaping the political landscape in the United States.

It would not be the last time that Villard would be in the right place at the right time, or exhibit a knack for prescient observations.

'He saw the Civil War coming and realized it was not going to be an easy victory for the Union forces,' says Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave. 'He saw that railroads and electricity were going to be the driving forces of America, that they were going to be the two most important industries in building America.'

Villard de Borchgrave, Henry Villard's great-granddaughter, was in Pittsburgh Tuesday to promote her book, 'Villard: The Life and Times of an American Titan.' A photojournalist whose work has appeared on the covers of Newsweek and other publications, Villard de Borchgrave spent five years researching the legacy of her great-grandfather, who was born Heinrich Gustav Hilgard in Speyer, Bavaria, in 1935.

The son of a noted German jurist, the young Hilgard bristled at the idea of following his father into law. In 1853, he fled to America, taking the name of a Belgian classmate to avoid being found and conscripted into the Bavarian army. He arrived in America with little more than six books, a coat, a few articles of clothing and the suit on his back. Villard worked for bricklayers, barrel makers, on farms gathering hay, and soon considered himself to be a vagabond.

But out of such dire circumstances came the resolve that would power Villard's ambition the rest of his life.

'It was clear to me, after being through such difficult circumstances, that his sense of perseverance and determination was borne that first year,' Villard de Borchgrave says. 'He was absolutely determined to succeed and prove his worth to his father.'

Jobs selling literary encyclopedias and real estate preceded Villard's first assignment as a journalist with a small Republican newspaper in Racine, Wis. He then spent time as a schoolteacher in southeastern Pennsylvania before landing the correspondent's position with the Staats-Zeitung, and what would become a longtime relationship with Lincoln, the self-described Sucker (a term similar to an Indiana Hoosier) from Illinois.

'He was not overly impressed with Lincoln. He didn't like his gawkiness, he didn't like his risque stories,' Villard de Borchgrave says. 'But once he got on the inaugural train from Springfield to Washington and was able to observe him much closer at hand, he did change his mind.'

Villard's ability to gain the confidences of important men would stand him well during the time he spent as a journalist covering the Civil War. He forged friendships with Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, and would remain in contact with the Union Army generals the rest of his life.

Villard's knack for being in the right location placed him at the battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Shiloh during the Civil War. At Fredericksburg, especially, he exhibited his determination by eluding a roadblock, gaining passage on a government steamer, and returning to Washington, D.C., to file his story. Villard would later brief Lincoln about the Union Army's dismal showing in the battle.

Villard's ability to gain the trust of others would afford him another career - as a businessman - after covering the Civil War took a toll on his health. By the time he was 46 in 1881, Villard had married the woman of his dreams, Fanny Garrison (daughter of famed abolitionist William Henry Garrison), and amassed a fortune of at least $6 million as president of Oregon & California Railroad, the Oregon Steamship Company, and the Northern Pacific Railroad. He bested noted financier Jay Gould in a battle for control of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and would later do the same with J. Pierpoint Morgan for control of the Edison General Electric Co., with the help of his close friend, Thomas Edison.

Later, Villard de Borchgrave notes, he would lose control of Edison General (now General Electric) to Morgan. But Henry Villard's rise from German immigrant to financial giant still remains an important episode in American history.

'The message of the book is to focus on your dreams, to believe in your ideas, and never give up,' she said. 'Just as Henry Villard always persevered even when he came up against the toughest obstacles, whether they were physical obstacles or financial obstacles. He always picked himself up and went on.

'Henry Villard believed in America,' Villard de Borchgrave says. 'And to this day, our system offers unique opportunities to anyone with the courage and determination to realize their dream. It is my hope 'Villard: The Life and Times of an American Titan' will inspire everyone who reads it.'