Introduction

Champion
As a champion of independent American business, Sinclair is second to none. The organization has been for all its life a major factor in the survival of free competition in an area more essential to American life than any except food and shelter. Sinclair has also been a large purchaser of crude oil from independent operators in America. Its "Buy American" policy of the time put $400 million annually into the pockets of independent oil producers. Sinclair also sponsored and sustained about 26,000 so-called "little businessmen," who operated service stations, home fuel delivery systems, or local distributing centers, retailing Sinclair products.

In Four Enormous Industries
Sinclair, one of the largest independents to be organized in the oil industry since the trust-busting era, at age fifty exerted powerful force as an independent in four enormous industries: oil and gas production, manufacturing, transportation and marketing. Thus, the enterprise had made important contributions to keeping alive the independent American spirit throughout the national economy. Sinclair still emphasizes independence: for itself, its suppliers and dealers; and, for its customers, the right of free choice as an essential of American progress.

A New Brand Name
Sinclair added a new brand name, equated with superior quality, at a time when presumably all the big oil companies which the economy could support had been formed. Within six months of its founding, Sinclair went on to create enormous new wealth, investment and career opportunities, job security, vast tax revenues, and a dimension of independence in a vital industry, without all of which this nation would be measurably poorer.

At its Fiftieth Anniversary, Sinclair had successfully made the transition from thirty-three years of one-man leadership to a decentralized management team. In the process, the legacy of Harry F. Sinclair had been doubled, and the Sinclair complex of companies had become a billion dollar enterprise.

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