Who was Fred Trump and how did he build his real estate empire?

Frederick Christ Trump was an American real estate developer and businessman who built thousands of apartments and homes across New York City. Born to German immigrant parents, he expanded his family's construction business and later handed leadership over to his son, Donald Trump. His career was marked by immense financial success, war-time housing projects, and government investigations into profiteering and housing discrimination.

What we know

• Fred Trump built and managed single-family homes in Queens, apartments for war workers during World War II, and over 27,000 apartments in New York overall. [2]
• He was investigated for profiteering by a U.S. Senate committee in 1954 and by New York State in 1966. [2]
• In 1973, Fred Trump and his son Donald were sued by the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division for racial discrimination against black people. [2]
• Donald Trump became the president of his father's real-estate business in 1971 after Fred Trump Jr. chose to become an airline pilot instead. [2, 3]

Still open

• Although Fred Trump was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan demonstration in 1927, the sources note there is no conclusive evidence that he supported the organization.

Where to go next

• the bigger pictureWho is Donald Trump?
• a case in pointWhat happened to Fred Trump Jr.?
• whoWho was Mary Anne MacLeod Trump?
• what followedWho is Mary L. Trump?
• what caused itHow did German ancestry affect the Trump family during World War II?
• an unexpected connectionHow did a Scottish Gaelic speaker become the matriarch of the Trump family?Fred Trump's wife and mother of his children, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, was born a native Scottish Gaelic-speaker in the Outer Hebrides before emigrating to the United States.

Sources

• [1]Fred Trump (Wikidata Q3752663) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Fred Trump · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Fred Trump Jr. · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Mary Anne MacLeod Trump · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Mary L. Trump · CC BY-SA 4.0