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Purpose and benefits

A consummate showman and raconteur, P.T. Barnum was one of the most colourful figures to grace the business stage. He started out as a clerk but went on to stage a series of extravaganzas, backed by astounding claims, each a little more superlative than the last, and in 1842 hired the diminutive Charles Stratton as General Tom Thumb, who earned him an audience with Queen Victoria in England. Towards the end of his career as a showman, he teamed up with James A. Bailey to take the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show On Earth on tour across America. Fittingly for a man with such great powers of persuasion, he also tried his hand at politics. In 1875 he was elected mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and went on to serve two terms on the state General Assembly. He was even touted as a potential presidential candidate.