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May 21, 2025 104 mins
James Cash Penney had an ambitious dream. He wanted to own 50 Golden Rule stores. Over the course of just a few years, he achieved that dream and then some. But tough lessons in his personal life taught him that financial success wasn’t everything. So, he pulled back. He reevaluated his life. He travelled. He sought counsel from his pastor. He even bought a ticket on the Titanic!

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from:
Currey, Mary Elizabeth. Creating an American Institution: The Merchandising Genius of J.C. Penney. Dissertations-G, 1993.
Kruger, David Delbert. J.C. Penney: The Man, the Store, and American Agriculture. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2017.
Penney, James Cash. Fifty Years with the Golden Rule. Harper and Brothers, 1950.

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