Sometime in early 1971, Fred Trump names Donald Trump the new president of Trump Management.

Donald takes over E. Trump & Son, the company founded in 1923 by Fred and his mother, Elizabeth. In 1973, he renames the company The Trump Organization and uses it as an umbrella company for all other Trump family business.

The short-term goal is to further punish Fred Jr., but the long-term goal is to use Donald’s American accent (Fred has a German accent) and show-off attitude to expand the business into Manhattan and create a reputation larger than Fred could create himself. While Donald would pretend to be the smartest man in the family and the best investor in New York, Fred would do all the business behind the scenes. Fred was the businessman. Donald was branding.

Sources

Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump, Ph.D., pages 83-84, 88-89

The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders and A Presidential Candidate by Gwenda Blair, page 250

Photograph: BETTMANN / GETTY