Changemaker name [38]: James Cash Penney [17]
Dates [15]: 1875–1971 [11]
Quote [190]:
I knew I must learn, specifically, to give myself over to God’s plan for me. … I
had been given both talents and experience as part of a plan.
Quote credit [50]: James Cash Penney, 1950 [11]
Image credit [270]: Smithsonian American Art Museum, museum purchase
through the Robert Tyler Davis Memorial Fund
Subheader [40]: Inspired by Faith [17]
Synopsis copy [220]:
James Cash “J. C.” Penney was a poor Missouri farm boy and son of a Baptist
preacher who founded one of America’s largest department store chains and
operated its business according to the Bible’s Golden Rule. [208]
Image credit [270]: Getty Images
Subheader [40]: Faith in Action [15]
Body copy [227]:
Penney opened his first store, the Golden Rule, in 1902. Its name was derived
from Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount: “Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you.” Matthew 7:12 [192]
Image caption [144]:
The Golden Rule in Kemmerer, Wyoming, ca. 1902 [46]
Image credit [60]: Bettmann / Contributor
Body copy [227]:
Admitted to a sanitarium after a nervous breakdown in 1931, Penney
experienced an awakening: “I came forth with a soaring sense of release, from
a bondage of gathering death to a pulse of hopeful living. I had glimpsed God.”
Image caption [144]:
Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, 1920 [67]
Image credit [60]: Pictures Now / Alamy Stock Photo
Body copy [227]:
Penney: “My faith in God, taught by my parents, convinces me that justice, fair
dealing and right are His will for men … and that the twin laws, love for God
and love for one’s neighbor, will always lead men in the right way.”
Image caption [144]:
Penney saying grace at dinner, 1961 [35]
Image credit [60]:
Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images [59]
Body copy [227]:
Penney’s growing business was later incorporated under the name J. C. Penney
Company, but the Golden Rule remained its organizing principle. “The Penney
Idea” reflected Penney’s belief in Golden Rule capitalism.
Image caption [144]:
“The Penney Idea,” Penney’s principles of business [51]
Image credit [60]: JCPenney Archives Collection at DeGolyer Library
Body copy [227]:
Penney appealed to customers by creating an affordable and accessible place
for shopping in small rural towns as well as in large cities. By the 1940s, there
were 1,600 stores in 48 states. [189]
Image caption [144]:
Penney speaks to customers about silk stockings, 1951 [53]
Image credit [60]:
Carl Iwasaki/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images
Body copy [227]:
J. C. Penney grew his company into one of the most successful store chains in
America, motivated not primarily by profit, but by the public good: “to build a
better community, a better state, a better nation, and a better world.”
Image caption [144]:
The J. C. Penney store in Plainview, New York, 1955 [50]
Image credit [60]: Pleasant Family Shopping
Subheader [40]: J. C. Penney through the Years [26]
Bubble copy [167]:
Over the years, J. C. Penney’s company transformed from a small business with
a single location to a popular national chain. [123]
Date [4]: 1902 [4]
Image credit [60]: JCPenney Archives Collection at DeGolyer Library
Image caption [144]: Penney’s first store was the Golden Rule Store in
Kemmerer, Wyoming. The original store was a one-room wooden building.
Bubble copy [167]:
While the building that originally housed the Golden Rule still exists, Penney’s
business has expanded far beyond its walls. [124]
[JCP_IS_02.png]
Date [4]: 2020 [4]
Image credit [60]: Bloomberg / Contributor
Image caption [144]: A modern-day J. C. Penney store in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee,
2020 [58]
Bubble copy [167]:
J. C. Penney stores remain one of the nation’s largest apparel and home
retailers, with an expansive footprint of hundreds of stores across the United
States.
Subheader [40]: Legacy of Liberty [17]
Question/alignment statement [179]:
Do you think that the Bible’s Golden Rule is essential to a free and humane
market economy? [77]
Image credit [270]:
Wikimedia Commons [26]
Scripture [200]:
Do for others what you want them to do for you: this is the meaning of the Law
of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets. [127]
Scripture credit [50]: Matthew 7:12
Image credit [270]:
Oscar White/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images [39]
Related changemakers: The Tappan Brothers, Anna Jarvis and William
McGuffey
