He Invented the Disposable Razor, Preached Against Capitalism, and Died Broke

He invented the disposable razor, built a global empire worth billions, and died nearly broke — all while writing books arguing that capitalism should be abolished. This is the full story of King Camp Gillette and the family behind one of the most paradoxical legacies in American history. From Huguenot refugees fleeing the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572, to a hardware business destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, to the invention of the razor-and-blade business model that shaped modern commerce — the Gillette family's story spans four centuries and ends with no surviving heirs, a sold estate, and a brand worth $57 billion that belonged entirely to other people. We cover King Camp Gillette's four utopian manifestos, his million-dollar offer to Theodore Roosevelt, his collaboration with Upton Sinclair on The People's Corporation (1924), the corporate betrayal that stripped him of his company, the patent warfare waged by Henry Gaisman of AutoStrop, and the Wall Street crash that consumed everything that remained. Sources drawn from Russell B. Adams's biography of King Camp Gillette, Tim Dowling's work on disposable consumer culture, and contemporaneous New York Times reporting. This video is produced for educational and historical documentary purposes. All information is drawn from published historical sources, biographies, and verifiable public records. No content is intended to defame any individual, living or deceased. #GilletteHistory #KingCampGillette #AmericanBusiness #GildedAge #DisposableEconomy #UtopianSocialism #RazorAndBlade #BusinessHistory #HuguenotHistory #DocumentaryNarration #ConsumerCulture #UptonSinclair #WallStreetCrash #ChicagoFire #HistoryDocumentary