On August 6, 1890, convicted murderer William Kemmler was strapped into an electric chair. He was about to become the first man executed by electrocution, thanks to one of the most macabre chapters
in the history of marketing.
After the invention of the first practical lightbulb, everyone wanted electricity in their homes. Two men were engaged in a fierce battle to control the market. Thomas Edison favored using direct current,
known as DC. George Westinghouse thought that alternating current (AC) was superior.
Their conflict became known as the war of the currents.
At first, Edison’s DC took the lead, in part to Edison’s great reputation. But then, AC started catching up, because it was easier and cheaper to transmit over long distances. Edison decided to discredit AC by proving how dangerous it was. Not only did he issue dire warnings to the public, he also suggested to the state of New York that it use
a Westinghouse AC generator as a humane method of execution. If it used AC, said
Edison, it should produce “instantaneous death”.
Westinghouse was outraged, and refused to provide a generator. But,
Edison and his allies managed to procure one, and so it was that AC powered the killing chair.
Edison won the battle; but Westinghouse won the war! The advantages
of AC were too hard to ignore, and it became the household standard (and the standard for electrocutions)!
