Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty
Review: I won this book as a giveaway on Goodreads.
I love reading family histories, so I was very curious to learn more about the family behind the Johnson & Johnson family. Oppenheimer argues in the introduction that most of the Johnsons' tragedies and scandals are not because the family is evil but because they have been corrupted by the extreme wealth most of them have been born into. As a family friend argues, "They are a mixed-up, weird bunch. You couldn't make them up in fiction. The whole family is like a great big spiderweb that innocent people drop into - normal people who get caught in the Johnson web of craziness. It's almost like European royalty" (5).
I was frustrated early on in this book because the first section focuses on Robert Wood Johnson IV, or Woody, as he is known. Woody is the current patriarch of sorts of the family and owner of the Jets. I found this beginning to the book abrupt since I anticipated that the book would begin with a family history of the origins of the family company and their wealth. However, this did not come until the second part of the book, when it suddenly jumps back in time to the founding Johnson family members.
Robert Wood Johnson founded Johnson & Johnson in 1887 with his brothers Edward Mead Johnson and James Wood Johnson. They were three of the eleven children of a poor Pennsylvania farmer, Sylvester Johnson. During the Civil War, Robert worked in a drugstore in New York, which was the Johnson's first contact with the world of health care and pharmaceuticals. After the war, Robert initially founded a company with business partner George J. Seabury before later breaking off and going into business with his two brothers under the now well-known Johnson & Johnson name. Although the other two founding brothers, Mead and James, are briefly covered, the vast majority of the book focuses on the descendants of the first company president, Robert Wood Johnson.
I was surprised to learn that the family has not worked in the family business since 1965. Bobby Johnson, grandson of the original Robert Wood Johnson, "was the last known member of the Johnson dynasty to work in what had been the family business. Woody Johnson and his siblings would have nothing to do with the company, career-wise. But each collected the untold tens of millions of dollars in company stock left to them in Johnson dynasty trust funds" (231). With these millions, the family members ran riot, and also explored other business ventures. Family members after exiting the company have been involved in real estate, art, cable television, athletics, acting, and other careers. The book is filled with tales of outrageous spending, dozens of wrecked cars, untold divorces and affairs, unhappy families, and lavish lifestyles all around. The family has been involved with well-known individuals for decades. Names such as Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Georgia O'Keefe, Nicky Hilton, and Tila Tequila are dropped throughout the book.
This book reminded me greatly of Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer. Both the Busch and Johnson families built their companies from the ground up and became internationally known. And both were haunted by scandals, divorces, broken families, and extravagant lifestyles. And both ended up giving up the family business, leaving it to be run by others. Neither of these infamous American families give me much confidence in individuals' ability to be born into a wealthy family and become stable, productive members of society.
Although I know the author had to make decisions about which family members to focus on in the exceedingly large and complex Johnson family, I was disappointed in his focus on the most egregious examples of excess. For example, a large section of the book is devoted to Casey Johnson, daughter of Woody Johnson, who blew millions on her extravagant lifestyle, such as $1000/pair shoes that she would wear usually only once. Casey, who was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, died of complications related to diabetes in 2010. She left behind an adopted daughter, who is still not acknowledged by Woody, who was estranged from his daughter Casey several years before she died. Casey was clearly unstable, so it seems somewhat unfair to use her as an example of the Johnson family craziness. For instance, her sisters are not discussed in much detail at all, likely because, other than her sister's lavish expenses on equestrian pursuits, they lead fairly normal lives.
Part of the complication of this book is due to the large family size and numerous marriages within the family tree. However, I had a hard time following the narrative flow. It seemed to jump between years without explanation and it was occasionally difficult for me to figure out how some Johnson members were related from paragraph to paragraph. The cramped family tree included didn't help explain anything much either. I was also disappointed by how few photographs were included in the book. I know the author was denied access to many photos by family members and the company, but most of the pictures are of just a few family members, while the book covers numerous individuals.
For a company that is currently estimated to reach a billion people a day through its health care products, and preaching a credo of respect, responsibility, and universal care, it was interesting to look behind the veil at its founding family. Although most of the family members' values clearly have diverged greatly from that of the company, this was an interesting look into the lives of an American company whose founding members were savvy enough to capitalize on international health care needs, leaving behind a legacy that is still vibrant today.
Stars: 3
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