Career beginnings Zemurray encountered bananas for the first time in Selma in 1893. At the time, bananas were considered a new and exotic
delicacy in the United States, and the industry was growing quickly. Zemurray went to the port of
Mobile, Alabama, in 1895 to enter the banana trade. Because bananas
ripen quickly, the banana trade relied on the ability to quickly bring the produce to market. In Mobile, Zemurray specialized in buying cheap bananas in danger of being overripe and quickly transporting and selling them in the surrounding region by
rail. Starting with only $150, he had saved $100,000 by age 21. His success earned him the nickname "Sam the Banana Man". A deal was completed in 1929, in which Zemurray sold Cuyamel to United Fruit for $31.5 million in stock, making him one of the richest people in the United States. Though Zemurray had prided himself on independence, he sold his company because of increasing pressure from the Department of State and because of the financial insecurity brought on by the
Great Depression in 1929. in New Orleans is now the residence for presidents of
Tulane University As part of the deal with United Fruit, Zemurray agreed to retire from the banana business entirely, to make sure he would not start a new fruit company and continue to compete with United Fruit. During this two year period, Zemurray remodeled his ornate
Beaux Arts mansion in New Orleans at 2 Audubon Place. He also acquired in 1928
Houltonwood, a 25,000-acre plantation located near
Hammond, Louisiana, which became a favorite retreat of Zemurray for the rest of his life. United Fruit suffered financially because of mismanagement and the
Great Depression, so much so that its stock declined in value by 90% after it acquired Cuyamel. Now as president of United Fruit Company, Zemurray succeeded in improving business. He considered his hands-on approach of visiting banana plantations to be the key to his success. He gained a detailed understanding of operations, resulting in mass
terminations of weak employees, improved efficiency in the use of ships, and new financial approaches. Partially as a result of banana diseases Sigatoka and
Panama disease, Zemurray presided over very large acquisitions of land in Central America. Because the diseases were not curable, United Fruit would simply move to a new area of land after previous ones became infected. In this way, United Fruit came to own the majority of private land in countries like Honduras, even though much of it was left uncultivated.
Guatemalan coup In 1953, the
U.S. State Department and United Fruit embarked on a major
public relations campaign to convince the American people and the rest of the U.S. government that Colonel
Jacobo Arbenz intended to make Guatemala a Soviet "satellite". Zemurray authorized
Edward Bernays to launch a propaganda campaign against Col. Arbenz's democratically elected government, which intended to expropriate some of the unused land owned by the United Fruit Co. and redistribute it to the local peasants. In 1954, the campaign succeeded and the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency helped orchestrate a coup that replaced Arbenz with a military junta led by Col.
Carlos Castillo Armas. Zemurray retired as president of United Fruit in late 1951. == Innovations ==