How equal was the opportunity for business success prior to World War II? Did men make their way by their own efforts or did they require help if they were to succeed? This paper endeavors to suggest answers to these questions by studying businessmen in one reasonably typical community-Boulder, Colorado.' These men, on the average, took their first jobs before World War I and went into business for themselves shortly after that conflict. The background of two separate groups of business owners is reported. One group of 50 men were the most successful business owners in the city, and a second group of 33 men were more or less average. Comparison of these groups should help to disclose why some men are successful and others not. Only success in business ownership is studied. Omitted is success in the professions, in labor union leadership, political office and the like. Clearly, the overwhelming proportion of Boulder's citizens sought to realize their own American Dream through business. The study of businessmen in a single community was undertaken for several reasons. Apart from convenience in collecting data, this approach holds constant many factors that might distort comparisons of successful businessmen in different cities. Second, this method concentrates attention on the most typical form of business success in the United States-the small businessman whose income only puts him in the middle class, but who is outstanding in his community. Former studies of successful businessmen described the heads of the nation's largest business organizations.2 But success is a relative matter. Both top executive position and independent local business ownership represent the kinds of success sought by the average American. Both groups of people probably exercise influence out of porportion to their numbers on allocation of economic resources, on government, the press and the educational system; moreover they tend to be models for others in the community.