ABSTRACT
Samuel Insull was in exile from the United States, a place where he had made his fame and fortune as the so-called "Emperor of the Utilities". Although Insull's power empire survived the stock market crash in 1929, Insull was eventually caught between large debts and a downturn in revenues due to reduced electricity use. The Samuel Insull saga represents the rise and fall of one of America's greatest industrial entrepreneurs. Indeed, during his trial the prosecution compared Insull's rise and fall to that of Napoleon, as the industrialist, like the French leader, had become intoxicated and corrupted by power. Considering the changing political environment—from the freewheeling capitalism of the 1920s to the grimness of the Great Depression—Insull soon emerged as a perfect scapegoat. Observing the rising public mistrust of the stock market and the manipulations of the corporate world and aware of the Ferdinand Pecora hearings, Insull decided that the heat was only going to intensify.
