Neil, The Rebel Vanderbilt

The Breakers, a Vanderbilt mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, where Neil spent some of his childhood

August 24, 1918 — Cornelius Vanderbilt IV, who served his country on the battlefields of France during the First World War, was promoted to become a wagoner on this day – the equivalent of a corporal. It was no big deal especially considering that his father, who had risen through the ranks, had reached the heights of brigadier-general only a few weeks earlier.

At the age of 19 the young Cornelius had enlisted in the American Expeditionary Force in 1917 – against the wishes of his parents, especially his mother. It was by no means the last time he would disappoint those close to him. He would go on to become an outcast of high society and would be disowned and disinherited by his father.

The Vanderbilts were an immensely rich family thanks to the fortune built by the first Cornelius Vanderbilt who was known as “the Commodore”.

Sharing some of the wealth was the Commodore’s great-great-grandson, Cornelius IV, who was born in April, 1898, and commonly called "Neil" by his family and friends. He was about to enter Yale University when the United States declared war on Germany shortly before his 19th birthday.

After defying his mother and enlisting in the Army, Neil was assigned as an orderly at a US Army stockade in France. He hated it, especially his commanding officer, whom he described as “my torturer”.

Fortunately, his upbringing came to his rescue when the call went out for anyone who knew how to drive a Rolls-Royce. Neil had often done so at home where his family owned a fleet of the luxury cars.

Soon he had a new posting – as driver to General Douglas Haig, commander of the British forces in France. He was honourably discharged from the Army on January 25, 1919.

His military record in the First World War may have been undistinguished, but a few years before the Second World War he was commissioned into the US Army and rose to the rank of major in the Intelligence Corps. He was awarded the FBI’s Distinguished Service Cross in 1942. Poor health led to him being discharged in the same year.

After his first stint in the army came the problem of what to do next. Neil’s choice put him at odds with his close family in a rift that would last for the rest of his life. He chose to go into journalism.

The Vanderbilts detested the Press and regarded all journalists as invaders of privacy. As a result, Neil was disowned and disinherited by his father, Cornelius Vanderbilt III.

Nevertheless, Neil worked as a staff writer for both the New York Herald and later the New York Times. But not content with just writing for publications, he went on to launch several newspapers of his own including the Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News and the San Francisco Illustrated Daily Herald.

Unfortunately for him, he found himself up against formidable competition from newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst and after only two and a half years Neil’s newspaper operations closed down with losses of around $6 million. He went on to work as an assistant managing editor at the New York Daily Mirror.

But he had wider horizons and began traveling extensively throughout the world as a reporter. His syndicated column, “Going Places with Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr.” continued into the 1940s, along with his newsletter, “Vagabonding with Vanderbilt,” which was published in the 1940s-1960s. In the 1940s, he also wrote a column, “High Spots” for Script magazine. Between the 1930s and the 1960s, he wrote over two hundred articles for many publications. He also wrote twelve books.

If Neil’s business affairs had been chaotic, so was his private life. He was married no less than seven times. His first bride was New York socialite Rachel Littleton whom he married in an elaborate wedding ceremony attended by over 3,000 people. The union lasted seven years – a record for Neil.

In 1957, the 59-year-old Vanderbilt married his 25-year-old secretary. Then in 1967, at the age of 69, he married his seventh bride, 41-year-old Mary Lou Gardiner Bristol. They remained together until July, 1974 when he died in Reno, Nevada, aged 76. He was buried in the Vanderbilt family mausoleum on Staten Island.

The family gained their wealth from the Commodore who made a considerable fortune in the 19th Century through railroads and shipping. It has been estimated that in 2023 terms his personal assets would have been the equivalent of $185 billion, making him one of the richest Americans in history, well above Bill Gates.

Unfortunately, his children, and especially his grandchildren, lived lavishly, building huge mansions in New York and elsewhere, and did little to preserve the fortune. Descendant Arthur T. Vanderbilt II wrote a book in 1989 called Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt. He confessed to “absolute amazement” when researching it to realise just how much money had been earned in two generations of the family – and how quickly much of it was spent by the next two generations.

Within 30 years of the Commodore’s death, he said, the Vanderbilts had fallen off the list of the wealthiest families in America, and less than a century later, in 1973, when 120 members of the family came together for a reunion, there wasn't a single millionaire among them.

Published: January 29, 2023
Updated: December 29, 2023