The Kennedys. The Bushes. The Fords. The Rockefellers. If you define dynasty as families holding power for at least three generations, with living people of influence, these names rule.

The family name has stood money and power since John D. Rockefeller built one of America’s great fortunes with Standard Oil Co. Subsequent generations have continued to hold sway in politics, finance and philanthropy.

As dynasties go, it was short-lived. Just 68 years elapsed from the time Robert Worth Bingham bought the Louisville Courier-Journal and Times for $1.5 million in 1918 until the newspapers and other family holdings were sold for $448 million in 1986.

The Ford dynasty

The Getty dynasty

The McClatchy dynasty

The Meyer-Graham dynasty

The Ochs-Sulzberger dynasty

The Pritzker dynasty

Relationship map of the Ridder dynasty.

Relationship map of the Chandler dynasty.

Relationship map of the Bush dynasty.

Relationship map of the Vanderbilt dynasty.