Walt Disney Robber Barons Argumentative Essay

Over 240 million people had watched a Disney film by the time of his death in 1966 (Source B). Walter Disney is best known for his prominent role in the entertainment industry. His globally recognized brand simply started with him and short cartoons. Even with that said, there may be more to his claim to fame. Walter Disney was a robber baron because he was unsupportive, fought with people who disagreed with him, and had a bad temper.
To start off with, Disney’s employees have never seem to have his full support. At one point in time, “no screen credit was allowed other than Walt's” (Source E). This shows that Walt Disney refused to give credit to any of the other employees that contributed to the film. He took all of the credit for all of their hard work. He has also been known to ridicule his employees in public, including his brother Roy even though it was Roy’s financial judgement that kept the company running. It is said that at a meeting “Disney kicked (Roy) out of the room, saying: 'Go back down and keep the books'”(Source B). He was unsupportive of all of the other people that put their time and effort into the company. Disney’s unsupportiveness helps to prove that he is a robber baron because it shows his bad treatment of other people.

When he “removed himself to South America for a 10-week vacation” (Source C) during the strike and left the problem to be dealt with by his brother, that can not be blamed on his temper. He made a choice to leave his company in a time that he should have been there. There is no other excuse for that. After a meeting about possibly joining a union “Disney responded by firing Babbitt and 16 other pro-union artists” (Source E). This can not reasonably be blamed on him having a temper. He made the decision to fire these people. A temper is no excuse for someone's bad