International Chamber of Commerce: Historic Members

Source(s): 1936 CCI document, 'Incoterms 1936', p. 1 (library.iccwbo.org/pdf/Incoterms_1936.pdf: (accessed Sep. 27, 2022): "Bureau de la C.C.I.: ... Presidents Honoraries: Winthrop W. Aldrich..."; 1938 national committee list (member U.S. committee); June 1949, '12th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce' document (honorary president).

ICC functions: Hon. president anno 1936-1949, president/chair 1944-1947.

Son of Senator Nelson Aldrich, who helped the Rockefeller, Morgan, Schiff and Warburg banking families establish the Federal Reserve in 1913. Winthrop's sister Abby married John D. Rockefeller Jr., making Winthrop the uncle of Nelson Rockefeller and the brother-in-law of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Senior legal executive to Equitable Trust Company from about 1919, secretly representing the largest shareholder, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., followed in 1921 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Member CFR 1926-. Member Pilgrims Society from about 1939, followed by positions as vice president and a member of the executive committee. When Equitable Trust merged with Chase National Bank in 1930, the Rockefellers became majority shareholders in Chase. President of Chase National Bank 1930-1934, chair 1934-1953 (John J. McCloy took over as chair of Chase in 1953, also became chair of the CFR and became David Rockefeller's mentor in both). Member, vice president and exec. committee Pilgrims Society from about 1940.

Source(s): 1938 national committee list (alternate member U.S. committee); Feb. 26, 1933, International Herald Tribune (all that is available): "...Commerce luncheon [in Paris] were: Eugene Schneider, Maurice Lewandowski, E. Arthur Baldwin, Colonel William N. Taylor, Theodore Rousseau, Edward A. Sumner, Pierre..."

ICC functions: Alternate member U.S. committee anno 1938.

1874-1947. President for Europe, International General Electric. President of the American Chamber of Commerce 1934-1937.

2000 (1976 original), Antony Sutton, 'Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler': "There were four American directors of A.E.G. (Baldwin, Swope, Minor, and Clark), which was 80 percent owned by International General Electric. ... By 1930, unknown to the German financial press, General Electric had similarly gained an effective technical monopoly of the Soviet electrical industry and was soon to penetrate even the remaining bastions in Germany, particularly the Siemens group. In January 1930 three G.E. men were elected to the board of A.E.G. — Clark H. Minor, Gerard Swope, and E. H. Baldwin — and International General Electric (I.G.E.) continued its moves to merge the world electrical industry into a giant cartel under Wall Street control. In February General Electric focused on the remaining German electrical giant, Siemens & Halske, and while able to obtain a large block of debentures issued on behalf of the German firm by Dillon, Read of New York, G.E. was not able to gain participation or directors on the Siemens board. While the German press recognized even this limited control as" an historical economic event of the first order and an important step toward a future world electric trust,"11 Siemens retained its independence from General Electric — and this independence is important for our story. ...
There is no evidence that Siemens, either through Siemens & Halske or Siemens-Schukert, participated directly in the financing of Hitler. Siemens contributed to Hitler only slightly and indirectly through a share participation in Osram. On the other hand, both A.E.G. and Osram directly financed Hitler through the Nationale Treuhand in substantial ways. ...
Directors of German General Electric (A.E.G.): ... [Gunther] Quandt ... [Otto] Wolff ... [Emil] Kirdorf ... [Hermann] Buecher ... [Friedrich] Flick ... Young. Swope. Minor. Baldwin."

Source(s): Aug. 1920, Advocate of Peace (international relations journal founded in 1837), p. 278, 'The International Chamber of Commerce': "At the meeting held in Paris, in the latter part of June at which 450 delegates from Belgium, Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States were present, an International Chamber of Commerce was organized, with Etienne Clementel ... as president. ... A. C. Bedford, of the Standard Oil Company ... is the American, Baron Edouard Empain the Belgian, A. J. Hobson the British, and Victorio Rolandi Ricci the Italian vice-president."; Oct. 1, 1920, New York Times, 'A.C. Bedford Goes to Paris; To Attend Organization Meeting of International Chamber of Commerce'; 1925, '5th annual meeting of the American Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce' (president); 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of Carnegie Endowment president James T. Shotwell), pp. 30, 38, 60: "American businessmen had taken the lead in proposing the organization of the International Chamber of Commerce by summoning the International Trade Conference early in 1919... The plans for launching collective action by Allied business interests in European reconstruction were germinated at a meeting of the permanent organization committee of the prewar International Congress of Chambers of Commerce held in Paris in the spring of 1919. A group of American businessmen, including E. A. Filene, E. G. Miner, T. W. Lamont, A. C. Bedford, and E. H. Goodwin, laid the plan before leaders and organizations in Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Italy. It was accordingly determined that the United States Chamber of Commerce should invite representatives from each of these countries to come to the United States to discuss these problems with American businessmen Filene, Lamont, and Bedford earned on negotiations in Pans with Georges Pascalis, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Pans and the chairman of the Board of Presidents of French Chambers of Commerce, with Etienne Clementel... A. C. Bedford, the president of the ICC and president of the American Chamber..."

ICC: Co-founder from 1919 on, founding vice president from the U.S., chair U.S. committee, president over 5th annual dinner of U.S. Committee.

1863-1925. Son of Alfred Bedford (1834-1912). Older brother with the name Henry Edward Bedford (1860-1932). His (alleged, as the geneology is unclear) uncle, E.T. Bedford, was a co-founder of Standard Oil. Another uncle, F.H. Bedford also was involved in Standard Oil, ultimately as a director. "A.C." himself was an employee of the Rockefellers' Standard Oil of New Jersey 1882-, treasurer 1882-, president and CEO 1916-1917, chair and CEO 1917-1925. Member Pilgrims Society by 1920, until his death in 1925.

2003 draft paper on the website of Harvard Business School (hbs.edu), Richard S. Tedlow, Courtney Purrington and Kim Eric Bettcher, 'The American CEO in the Twentieth Century: Demography and Career Path', p. 31: "IV. A. Alfred C. Bedford, Standard Oil of New Jersey: ...
- Joined the company of Charles M. Pratt, a family friend, which was being acquired by Standard Oil; under Pratt’s tutelage, advanced from office boy to general manager (in 1889) of a subsidiary.
- Joined Standard Oil Board of Directors in 1907; two cousins were on the board.
- Helped plan the breakup of Standard Oil after the 1911 Supreme Court decision.
- Promoted to vice president of Standard Oil of New Jersey in 1911.
- Became president and chief executive upon predecessor’s death in 1916. ...
- One of the organizers of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce [in 1912]; founder of the American Petroleum Institute.
- Chairman of the Petroleum Committee of the Council of National Defense during World War I.
- Conservative in approach to corporate growth; sought to build industry stability. ...
- Unlike Rockefeller, Rogers, et al., he understood the value of good relations with the press and government."

Edward Thomas "E.T." Bedford (1849-1931): Older son of church deacon and wood carver Frederick Thomas Bedford (1823-1904), whose most famous carving was the portrait of King Henry VII. The Bedford family moved from London to Brooklyn in 1848. E.T. Bedford met John D. Rockefeller Sr. while living in Brooklyn. By 1880 the managing partner in Thompson and Bedford Company, a vaseline company that also served as the eastern-selling agent of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil. Director of Standard Oil 1903-. Director Bank State of New York. Director Manufacturers' Trust. After he left the oil business, E.T. bought the New York Glucose Trust and turned it into the Corn Products Company/Refining, which he headed. Brands he owned included Karo, Mazola, Skippy and Hellmann's. In 1923 he donated the first YMCA building in CT. Died in 1931.

June 1, 1931, Time, 'Business: Father & Son': "Frederick Thomas Bedford, 50, last week mourned the death of his father, Edward Thomas Bedford, 82. Between them there was deep family affection. For the late E. T. Bedford was president of Corn Products Refining Co. and his son was president of its smaller but potent rival, Penick & Ford Ltd., Inc. [E.T.] received late training (after 40) in the hard school that was old Standard Oil. Rockefeller, Pratt, Archbold and Rogers were among his teachers in that school.
In 1901 Mr. [E.T.] Bedford wished to find some business for his son Frederick. The son saw a future in the corn products business and Mr. Bedford agreed. In 1901 New York Glucose Co. was formed. Mr. [E.T.] Bedford became its president, without salary. His son was made treasurer and given the reins. Bitter competition arose from Corn Products Co. ("The Glucose Trust"). The elder Bedford became more & more active. In 1906 Corn Products, its earnings vanishing, pleaded for mercy. It was granted in the form of a merger. Mr. Bedford abandoned his oil interests in order to head the new Corn Products Refining Co. Behind him in the oil business he left his brother, Frederick H. Bedford, and his son Charles Bedford, now vice president of Vacuum Oil Co. Below him he placed his son Frederick as treasurer."

Frederick Henry Bedford (1854-1931): Younger son of church deacon and wood carver Frederick Thomas Bedford. Member Pilgrims Society by 1907, until his death in 1931. Vice president of Standard Oil of New Jersey in charge of lubrication business. His son was Frederick Henry Bedford Jr., the president of Standard Alcohol.

Nov. 21, 1932, Time, 'Business & Finance: Personnel: Nov. 21, 1932': "Frederick Henry Bedford Jr. was elected president of Standard Alcohol Co., a new concern formed to handle Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey's manufacture of alcohol from petroleum. ... Mr. Bedford is a director of Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey). His father was vice president of the company in charge of its lubrication business. His uncle was the late Edward Thomas ["E.T."] Bedford, founder & head of Corn Products Refining. He is not to be confused with his cousin Frederick Thomas Bedford, president of Penick & Ford, Ltd. Dr. Rush Rhees, president of University of Rochester, was elected to the board of Eastman Kodak Co., filling the vacancy caused by the death of his good friend George Eastman."

Standard Oil's Società Italo Americana pel Petrolio with regard to Mussolini:

exxonmobil.it/il-gruppo/chi-siamo/la-nostra-storia (accessed: Jan. 8, 2023): "Established in Venice in 1891 as a bearer share company, with the purpose of trading in oil and the like, Esso Italiana initially took the name of Societa Italo Americana pel Petrolio (SIAP).
SIAP is one of the first foreign affiliates of the Standard Oil Trust, whose origins date back to 1870, when John D. Rockefeller formed the Standard Oil Company (Ohio). From it was born, in 1882, the Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey), known in Italy with the name Esso, from the English pronunciation of its initials (S - O) which in 1972 changed its name to Exxon Corporation and then became, in 1999, the ExxonMobil Corporation.
In 1938 the name of SIAP changed to Standard Societa Italo pel Petrolio, in 1946 to Standard Italo Americana Petroli then, in 1950, to Esso Standard Italiana and from July 1972 it took on the current name of Esso Italiana."

1971, H. M. Larson a. o., 'New Horizons, 1927-1950: History of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey)', p. 336: "[Standard Oil of New] Jersey's principal affiliate in Italy was its wholly owned Societa Italo-Americana pel Petrolio, which in 1928 supplied nearly half of Italy's gasoline and kerosine and large percentages of other major products. The Italian government in 1934 assumed extensive control of the oil industry and established importing and refining quotas. Because Jersey's affiliates in Italy engaged in a little producing and refining as well as marketing, they were able to take advantage of tariff and license regulations which favored the importation of crude as against products. In that country as in France and Germany, the drive for local supplies to provide for a possible emergency became intense. [74]
The eyes of the world were focused on Italy in the fall of 1935, when, contrary to his country's obligations under the League of Nations, Mussolini moved against Ethiopia. Fifty-one countries voted sanctions against Italy and declared an embargo on war supplies - not including oil. The United States, which was not a member of the League, allowed its nationals to carry on trade with Italy at the shipper's own risk. Jersey was in a difficult position; the Italian government was pressing Societa for increased supplies, while many Americans demanded that no assistance be given Italy as the aggressor. Jersey decided that, as in similar instances in the past, its policy should be to maintain its normal operations; it would supply its Italian affiliate, but only to the extent of the preceding year. The parent company was criticized in the American press for this operation. [75] The difficulty over furnishing products to an aggressor was the most striking event in the operations of Societa Italo-Americana during the 1930's."

Jan. 1936, issue 1, 'Philippine Teacher: A Periodical for Philippine Progress', p. 50: "Reported from Paris that Britain and France have given Mussolini another chance to accept peace proposals before an oil embargo is adopted based on proposals, previously rejected by him, including putting Ethiopia under an international mandate with Italy holding the dominant share, plus an exchange of territory between Italy and Ethiopia which would give the latter an outlet to the sea.
The United Press reports from Rome that a gentleman's agreement has been reached with the Societa Italo-Americana pel Petrolio, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, whereby the company would extend credit and undertake to supply oil from Rumania after the proposed League oil' embargo goes into effect, in return for a thirty-year monopoly in Italy. The Standard Oil Company, through its subsidiary would extend Italy a credit of 1,000,000,000 gold lire to buy the oil. The report causes a furore in Geneva and all world capitals.
Dec. 4 [1935] - The Italian government issues a communique denying that it has granted the Standard Oil Company of New York an oil monopoly. The United Press points out that the denial concerns another company. ...
The new Anglo - French proposal to Italy is reported from Paris to be: cessation to Ethiopia by Italy of the port of Assab and a corridor through Eritrea where Ethiopia would build a railroad, funds to be provided by the League modification of the Eritrean frontier, giving Italy part of Tigre province, but leaving the towns of Aksum and Aduwa to Ethiopia; rectification of the Italian Somaliland frontier giving Italy Ogaden province up to 8 ° N. lat ., doubling the size of Italian Somaliland ..."

1939, Anton Zischka, 'Italien in der Welt', pp. 161-162 (translated from German): "So Mr. Rickett appeared at Mussolini's, and he was received because he had announced himself with a telegram which would have made anyone curious about the man who possessed so much impertinence. The telegram had simply ... the Italian government and the Societa Italo-Americana pel Petrolio, a subsidiary of Standard Oil, had reached a gentlemen's agreement on the basis of which the said company agreed to take all of Italy's goods after the oil embargo was imposed on Italy to supply the requested petroleum. In return, the Italian government gave them a 30-year monopoly on the Italian market. The oil destined for delivery to Italy would be taken from wells located outside the United States (delivery from Romania via Hungary-Austria and from the Far East with direct delivery to Eritrea and Somaliland). It is also reported that the Standard Oil Company, through its subsidiary, has promised the Italian government a loan of one billion gold lire to pay for oil supplies. The agreement is to come into force at the time the oil embago is proclaimed by the League of Nations. The report was of course immediately denied, from Rome and London as well as from New York, but still more and more tankers with Standard petroleum came to Italy, the warehouses filled up again, the danger of the oil squeeze seemed averted, and it was averted too, without costing Italy any concessions, because in order to maintain the monopoly, the Americans supplied whatever Mussolini wanted (1).
However, the agreement was only supposed to come into force when the oil embargo was imposed, and the oil embargo did not come about. No sooner had Standard's competitors, above all the all-powerful English Shell group and the Sinclair people, found out about the Roman monopoly negotiations than they kept coming up with new arguments...
( 1 ) According to the Frankfurter Handelsblatt, after the Italian troops marched into Abyssinia, imports of American oil to Italy and Eritrea increased as follows: [numbers mentioned]..."

1937 annual complation of issues, The Journal of Negro History, p. 168: "Oil has been revealed as one of the chief villains of the Ethiopian drama. Mussolini is not fighting for a desert waste. On August 31, 1935, the public was astounded by the news of the Rickett concession, whereby vast oil areas were sold to Anglo-American interests by Ethiopia. Francis M. Rickett, a British promoter, communicated to the Associated Press that Emperor Haile Selassie, seeking to stop an expected Italian advance into Ethiopia, deeded more than half his empire to Anglo-American interests for exploitation and development. The grant embraced an area of 150,000 square miles (more than the combined areas of Indiana, Illinois and Iowa) to the Standard Oil Company and British industrial interests under a 75-year charter. The charter authorized its holders to exploit the oil and mineral resources and develop the country. The significance of the Rickett concession will be discussed below. We are merely calling attention to the fact that Mussolini was aware of the presence of oil in large quantities in the section of Ethiopia outlined in the Rickett concession; hence, his conquest of Ethiopia."

Sep. 10, Kalgoorlie Miner, 'Rickett's Concession - 'Will be exploited'': "I can assure you that the concession will be exploited," said Mr. Rickett to a representative of the British Press Association, intimating his belief that American interests would find a way to carry on. He added that the concession lasts for 75 years and even the Hague Court could not upset it."

1936, World Affairs Interpreter: "President Roosevelt from his Hyde Park Home stated on September 4, 1935, that the cancellation of the Rickett concession was good evidence that "dollar diplomacy is no longer recognized by the American Government.""

presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/excerpts-from-the-press-conference-141 (accessed: Jan. 8, 2023): "September 04, 1935.
Q. Is there anything you want to say further on this Ethiopian situation, that is, the cancellation of the oil leases?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I think it has got pretty full stories from Washington.
Q. It was a good piece of diplomacy.
THE PRESIDENT: A good job. Of course you can—if I were writing the story, I would put it this way: That by no stretch of the imagination has the President or the Secretary of State ever been the least bit concerned over the possibility of this oil lease involving the United States, in any, shape, manner or form in the Ethiopian or Italian problems. Nobody who knows the Administration policies could think for a minute that there could be involvement. The only danger lay in the effect of the oil lease on the negotiations between European powers and Ethiopia that are now going on in Geneva. And of course the result yesterday of the withdrawal from the concession has been a fine thing because it has cleared the air of those conferences. And then, if I were going to write one more paragraph, I would put it this way: "that this is another proof that since March 4, 1933 [when FDR entered office], dollar diplomacy is not recognized by the American Government." (Laughter)
Q. May we quote that?
THE PRESIDENT: I think you could quote that.
MR. EARLY: Just that one sentence.
THE PRESIDENT: Since the 4th of March, 1933, dollar diplomacy is no longer recognized by the United States Government.
Q. Are you sure that this was dollar diplomacy and that there were no other currencies involved? (Laughter)"

2018 (English translation; 2015 original), Matthieu Auzanneau (foreword by Richard Heinberg), 'Oil, Power, and War: A Dark History', p. 143: "The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company ... consistently supplied the Italian Navy, and had refueled their ships that December, according to the New York Times, while Mussolini rejected the part of the Franco-British peace plan that pertained to him. [15]"

1939, Anton Zischka, 'Italien in der Welt', pp. 150-162 (depending on 1939 or 1941 version): "September 4, 1935, the visit of Presidents Walden and Dundas to Standard Oil; the oil people complained for a long time, but Secretary of State Hull [over 1933-1944] only replied that the government would not cover private interests. Five hours later, he announced that after a long effort, Standard Oil had been forced to give up its concession. A line became visible between the past and the present, between dollar politics and the New Deal. The concession document had become a worthless scrap of paper to Haile Selassie. For the Standard Oil people, however, while London was still fuming about the 'shameless profiteers' as well as the 'rapid Italian hordes', Mr. Rickett traveled to Rome. His concession gave him 5 years to start work and if Standard withdrew ... legally the concession was still valid. He could cede them to whoever he wished. So why not the closest prospects, the Italians? So Mr. Rickett appeared at Mussolini's, and he was received because he had announced his arrival with a telegram which would have made anyone curious about the man who possessed so much impertinence. The telegram had said simply: 'Why use a sword when a feather will do?' Rickett asserted nothing more and nothing less than that the Negus [Supreme Ethiopian Ruler Haile Selassie] knew defeat was inevitable, that he wanted to save face and not be beaten. Rickett himself and his backers believed that Italy would not win so easily, they believed that the realist Mussolini would be ready for business. Like most billionaires, they were quite unfamiliar with people and fame, honor and enthusiasm, honesty and open struggle. And it seems as if Mussolini did not first lecture them. It seems like he is pretending to play along. The danger of an oil boom had just become particularly obscure, and so at the beginning of December 1935 there was a new sensation: "United Press" reported from Rome, the Italian government and the Societa Italo Americana pel Petrolio, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, had reached a gentlemen's agreement, on the basis of which the said company had declared its readiness after the imposition of the oil embargo to Italy with everything requested of it to supply petroleum. In return, the Italian government gave them a 30-year monopoly on the Italian market. The oil destined for delivery to Italy should be taken from wells located outside the United States (delivery from Romania via Hungary - Austria and from the Far East with direct delivery to Eritrea and Somaliland). The Standard Oil Company, through its subsidiary, is said to have pledged a billion gold lire [about $50 million at the time] loan to the Italian government to pay for oil supplies. The agreement is to come into force at the time the oil embago is proclaimed by the League of Nations.
The report was of course immediately denied, from Rome and London as well as from New York, but still more and more tankers with Standard petroleum came to Italy, the warehouses filled up again, the danger of the oil [embargo] seemed averted."

Dec. 29-30, 1938, Association of American Law Schools, 'Handbook of the Association of American Law Schools', p. 121: "There [in Liechtenstein], as in the United States the distinction between the natural person and the corporation, has not been drawn. The resultant effect upon government we see before us day by day. The totalitarian state which has shocked the conscience of America is the product of economic concentration through the corporation, but it is bringing about a better comprehension of the principles of democracy than we have had in fifty years.
If you seek the reason for the appearance of dictators like of Hitler and Mussolini and Stalin you will find it in this precise fact: that under the corporate system, unregulated, there has developed an economic concentration which has made the creature more powerful than the creator.
Let me give an illustration. This happened about the time that Mussolini was preparing to invade Ethiopia. I picked up a copy of the New York Times one morning, and there on the front page read two stories of the utmost significance. One was from Rome. It said in effect: 'A representative of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey was in Rome today negotiating with the representatives of Mussolini for a contract to supply oil from the Standard Oil fields in Roumania to enable Mussolini's army to pursue the conquest of Ethiopia.' In a neighboring column was the story from London: 'A representative of the Standard Oil Company of New York was in London today negotiating with a representative of Haile Selassie for a contract to develop the wildcat petroleum fields of Abyssinia."
The Constitution of the United States says, "No state, without the consent of Congress, shall enter into any agreement or compact with any other state or with any other foreign power." Yet..."

it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon (accessed: Jan. 8, 2023): "In 1941, following the outbreak of war with the United States [which would only be in December after Pearl Harbor], the company was seized [6 - Esso Italiana, Esso 115 years 1891-2006 - 115 years of history of Esso Italiana , DVD (preserved at the Fisogni Museum), B&C Publishing and Printing, 2006.] ; it will be returned to Standard only in 1946 [7 - Ibid.] , when it assumes the name of Standard Italo Americana Petroli."

May 1, 1941, Congressional Record, p. A2054, Congressman Bernard J. Gehrmann of Wisconsin, 'Rockefeller's Anguish': "Fellow Americans, there are some burning questions to be answered in connection with Mr. Rockefeller's great anguish of spirit. When has his corporation and their subsidiaries ceased supplying gasoline and crude oil to the Axis partners? At any cost, Mr. Rockefeller? That implies a sacrifice of wordly goods in addition to our manhood. I suggest you take the initiative. How about the sales of Standard Oil and Humble? How about the shipments to the Axis from Humble's Aruba? What has been the activities of Standard Vacuum in the Orient in fueling the bombers of the Japanese aggressors so that they can murder thousands upon thousands of Chinese civilians in open cities? Does Mr. Rockefeller disclaim all liability in connection with the operation of Standard Societa Italo-Americana Pel Petrolio? We must concede that no profit is now being made by Mr. Rockefeller from Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum Gesellschaft. But why? Because of unfavorable exchange rate and difficulty of communication. Has this corporation been written off Standard's books? No. If we are to effectually help Britain and China and other countries -- and God knows we all hate Hitler and want to stop him -- then we must cease furnishing war supplies to the axis--not only as a government but as businessmen--and this includes Standard Oil and subsidiaries. ...
In looking over the map of the empire of the Rockefeller clan, it is easy to see why he is ready to get in this war at all costs. Making allowances for his fine philanthropies, he must still bear the terrible indictment of the American people for urging us into a war for which we are unprepared and which we do not want. It is propaganda such as this, which is given full throat by such big business and designed by such men as Winthrop Aldrich, of the Chase National Bank, and brother-in-law of Rockefeller...
The last war made 16,000 millionaires. This coming war bids fair to do the same. [A war] so that big business and the huge cartels they operate can grow famously rich."

Source(s): 1925, '5th annual meeting of the American Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce' (photocopy); 1959 (2nd version of 1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (the 1959 version contained the foreword of Carnegie Endowment president and ICC participant James T. Shotwell)', p. 31: "Although the United States Chamber of Commerce delegates [to the founding Atlantic City ICC meeting] were of an entirely unofficial character, the Secretary of the Treasury was represented by Norman H. Davis, who gave an address on international finance and trade recovery."

ICC functions: present at meetings.

Businessman who made millions of dollars in trade with Cuba 1902-1917, becoming close to J.P. Morgan partner Henry Pomeroy Davison and future CIA deputy director of operations Richard Bissell. Financial adviser to the Treasury secretary during World War I. Founding CFR director 1921-. Headed a commission of the League of Nations that negotiated the Klaipeda Convention in 1924.

Source(s): : 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of Carnegie Endowment president and ICC participant James T. Shotwell)': "The [ICC's] International Finance Committee appointed in accordance with the London resolutions of the International Chamber met on October 6, 1921... The United States sent E. H. Goodwin, Nelson Dean Jay, ... and Owen D Young..."; 1927 ICC, Report of the Trade Barriers Committee': "Council: America (United States of) - Members: John H. Fahey, Nelson Dean Jay, Owen D. Young. - Alternates: William Butterworth, Henry M. Robinson, Silas H. Strawn."; 1938 national committee list (member U.S. committee).

ICC functions: Involved in the ICC's International Finance Committee since at least 1921. Still a member of the U.S. Committee anno 1938.

Vice president First National Bank of Milwaukee 1910-1915. Manager bond department Guaranty Trust in New York City 1915-1919, in between serving in World War I as the general purchasing agent of the American Expeditionary Force under Chicago banker Gen. Charles G. Dawes (whose 1924 Dawes Plan restructured German reparations). Joined J.P. Morgan & Co., Paris in 1919, head 1920-1941, and again after WWII from 1945 to 1955 (then known as Morgan & Cie., Inc.). Director J.P. Morgan & Co., Inc. 1945-. Member CFR 1942-. Founding Bilderberg visitor in 1954. Visited Bilderberg a second and last time in May 1956.

2009, 'Americans in Paris: Life and Death under Nazi Occupation 1940-1944', p. 13: "Nelson Dean Jay, who had come to Paris during the Great War as an aide to General John Pershing. He had stayed on to work with J. P. Morgan’s Paris bank, Morgan & Cie, expanding its business from a convenience for expatriate American depositors into a major corporate investment house. Dean Jay and his wife, Anne Augustine, lived at 58 avenue Foch, just down the street from Dr Sumner Jackson. The couple entertained most of the prominent Americans, like Charles Lindbergh, IBM chairman Thomas Watson and Allen Dulles of the law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, who came to Paris between the wars."

Source(s): 1938 national committee list (alternate member U.S. committee)

ICC functions: Alternate member U.S. committee anno 1938.

Yale graduate in Law. Admiralty Expert and specialist on International Relations in Shipping. Worked at the law firm Haight, Griffin, Deming Gardner. Director of the United States Leather Company and the Maritime Association of the Port of New York. His grandson, Charles S. Haight Jr., became a judge and was a member of Yale Skull & Bones.

Source(s): 1921 U.S. national committee list.

ICC functions: Member U.S. committee anno 1921.

See Pilgrims Society membership list for bio.

Source(s): June 1949, '12th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce' document: "Vice-Presidents: America (U.S. ...): Henry John Heinz II..."; 1984, 'The International Year Book and Statesmen's Who's Who', p. 269: "Heinz, Henry John II... Trustee... U.S. Council of the International Chamber of Commerce."; 1953 U.S. committee list.

ICC functions: U.S. council member.

Founding and very long-time Bilderberg member, who was among David Rockefeller's closest friends.

Source(s): 1921 U.S. national committee list; 1925, '5th annual meeting of the American Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce' (photocopy).

ICC functions: Member U.S. national committee.

U.S. commerce secretary 1921-1928. U.S. president 1929-1933. Member CFR 1938-.

Source(s): 1938 national committee list (alternate member U.S. committee)

ICC functions: Member U.S. committee anno 1938.

Director of the Bankers Trust of New York from at least 1920 to 1941 (also repeatedly listed as vice president from 1920 on). Founding member CFR 1921-.

Source(s): findit.library.yale.edu /catalog/digcoll:559654 (accessed: Jan. 9, 2023): "Henry A. Kissinger papers, part II > Series III. Post-Government Career > Speeches and writings > General > International Chamber of Commerce, Oct 6, 1978."

ICC functions: Oct. 6, 1978 speaker.

Biography in other lists on this site.

Source(s): 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of Carnegie Endowment president James T. Shotwell)', pp. 30, 38 (see A.C. Bedford for citations); July 8, 1928, New York Times, 'Lamont Makes Plea to Business Men ... He Accepts a New Post: Heads American Committee of International Commerce Chamber': "Thomas W. Lamont of J.P. Morgan Co. has been appointed Chairman of the American Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce, succeeding Owen D. Young..."

ICC functions: Co-founder from 1919 on, chair U.S. committee 1928-1930).

Secretary, treasurer and vice-president Bankers Trust Company 1903-1909. Member Pilgrims Society from at least 1908. Joined J.P. Morgan & Co. as a partner in 1911. Overseer at Harvard 1912-1925. Went to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference in the aftermath of World War I. Founding member CFR 1921-.

Source(s): Digital Who's Who: "Director American Chamber of Commerce, London, Eng., 1930-39; v. chmn. U.S. council International C. of C. [certainly 1950s]; first vice chairman committee on Monetary Relations, International C. of C., 1947; mem. advisory group to N.A.M. [National Association of Manufacturers] Committee on Internat. Economic Relations, 1947"; May 28, 1947 memo of "Le Chef du Department Politique Federal" (dodis.ch/2320 (accessed: May 30, 2022; photocopy)): "Mr. McKittrick is in Switzerland for a while. He will attend the Assembly of the International Chamber of Commerce, which will open at the beginning of June in Montreux."; 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of Carnegie Endowment president and ICC participant James T. Shotwell)', p. 280: "In June 1952, the ICC issued a statement on monetary policy drafted by a commission of the world's leading hankers and financial experts. The chairman of the commission was Thomas H. McKittrick..."; Executive Committee of the United States Council of the International Chamber of Commerce: Chairman: Warren Lee Pierson; vice chairmen: Sigurd S. Larmon, Thomas H. McKittrick, Clarence B. Randall, James D. Zellerbach; Treasurer

ICC functions: Vice chair U.S. national committee. First vice chair Committee on Monetary Relations of the ICC in 1947. Chair ICC monetary committee in 1952.

With [the Rockefeller-Stillman-controlled] National City Bank of N.Y. in N.Y. City, 1916, in Genoa, Italy, 1916-18; with Lee Higginson & Co. in N.Y. City, 1919-21; Higginson & Co., London, 1922-39, partner, 1924-39; president Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Basle, 1940-46; chmn. No. Paper & Pulp Works, Tallinn, Estonia, since 1935; vice president [the Rockefellers] Chase National Bank, N.Y., 1946-49, sr. v.p. since 1949; dir. Chase Bank since 1946. Member CFR 1943-; Member Pilgrims Society from at least 1954 (not on a 1948 list).

Source(s): April 1930, U.S. Bureau of Internal Revenue, Treasury Department, Internal Revenue News bulletin, p. 3, 'Double Taxation': "Statement of Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon at the hearing on the bill to reduce international double taxation before the Ways and Means Committee, Friday, February 28, 1930. ... "The outcome of these efforts was the adoption, by the Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce at Amsterdam, Jyly, 1929, of a uniform code of principles for eliminating double taxation.""; 1932, Mary Agnes Hamilton, 'In America To-day', p. 172: "Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary to the Treasury - Address before the Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce June 15, 1931."; 1946, Christensen Kirkpatrick, 'Running the Country', p. 631: "In the spring of 1931 the equally rugged individualism of Andrew W. Mellon assured the Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce that reductions in wages [due to the Great Depression, a President Hoover negotiation to try and prevent riots] would be avoided "at all costs." A couple of months later he reduced the wages of all employees of the Aluminum Company of America [Alcoa, a company owned by Andrew Mellon, with shares given to his brother upon Andrew becoming treasury secretary] by 10%."

ICC functions: Speaker at the 1931 international congress of the ICC. Known to have promoted policy implemented at the 1929 international congress. It is not clear how often Mellon visited ICC conferences.

Robber baron who served as treasury secretary 1921-1932, under presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. See his biographical details in ISGP's Pilgrims Society biographies.

Source(s): 1938 national committee list (alternate member U.S. committee)

ICC functions: Alternate member U.S. committee anno 1938.

Dist. mgr. Internat. Western Electric Co., 1912-15, acting fgn. sales mgr., N.Y.C., Central dist. mgr., Chgo., contract sales mgr. N.Y.C., 1915-16, organizer China Electric Co., Ltd., Pekin, China, 1918, European comml. mgr. Internat. Western Electric Co., London, 1921-24; vice president International General Electric Co., 1924-25, pres., 1925-45, chmn. exec. com., 1945-47. Member CFR 1933-. Member Pilgrims Society by 1936. Dir. Grace National Bank, Cathay Ins. Co.; chmn. bd. Courier Assos., Inc.; dir. Robert Appleby & Co., China Industries. Inc., Cathay Ins. Co., Andersen, Meyer & Co., Ltd.

Source(s): (chair U.S. council 1978-1979)

Chair and CEO Lehman Brothers 1973-1984. Co-founder Blackstone Group in 1985, which held the mortgage on WTC 7 on 9/11. Member CFR 1970-, director 1973-1984, chair 1985–2007. Founding member Trilateral Commission from 1973 until about 1978. Member Pilgrims Society from at least 2002. Good friend of David Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger and a major superclass member involved in many NGOs.

Source(s): 1936 CCI document, 'Incoterms 1936', p. 1 (library.iccwbo.org/pdf/Incoterms_1936.pdf: (accessed Sep. 27, 2022): "Bureau de la C.C.I.: ... Presidents Honoraries: ... Philip D. Reed, President de Conseil d'Aministration, General Electric..."; June 1949, '12th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce' document (honorary president).

ICC functions: chair 1949-1951.

President and CEO General Electric 1940-1942 and 1945-1959, chairman International General Electric 1945-1952. Member CFR 1942-. Legal consultant to the U.S. delegation to the 1945 United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, the founding UN conference. This led to Reed's ICC affiliation. Member ICC 1945-1975, president 1949-1951. Member of the Pilgrims Society from at least 1954 until his death in 1989. Director Federal Reserve Bank of New York 1959-1960, chair 1960-1965. Bohemian Grove camp Mandalay member by 1968.

Source(s): March 25, 1966 visitor of the ICC meeting in Essen, Germany (gettyimages.nl/detail/ nieuwsfoto's/during-the-annual-meeting-of-the-international-chamber-of-nieuwsfotos/1063477648 (accessed: Nov. 13, 2022).

Part of the family that played a key role in setting up the ICC and CFR. Member CFR 1942-2017; chair 1970–1985, member 1942-1949, director 1949-1985. Member of the Pilgrims Society from at least 1948, with his father and brother John D. Rockefeller III already having joined in the 1930s. Key founder of Bilderberg in 1954. Key founder Trilateral Commission in 1973.

Source(s): 1927 ICC, Report of the Trade Barriers Committee': "Council: America (United States of) - Members: John H. Fahey, Nelson Dean Jay, Owen D. Young. - Alternates: William Butterworth, Henry M. Robinson, Silas H. Strawn."

ICC functions: Member U.S. committee anno 1927, chair 1930-.

Partner in Winston & Strawn, Chicago. President United States Golf Association 1911-1912. Member CFR 1928-. President United States Chamber of Commerce during the early years of the Great Depression (lasted from 1929 to 1939). Strenuously opposed the extension of unemployment benefits to the unemployed. Chair Montgomery Ward. Trustee Northwestern University 1930-1946.

Source(s): 1938 national committee list (member U.S. committee)

ICC functions: Member U.S. committee anno 1938.

A.B., Harvard, 1898. Boston lawyer. Member of Stone & Webster until 1916. Vice Chairman of the Central Committee and executive head in Washington of the American Red Cross, 1916-1919. Member Harvard University's board of overseers anno 1920. Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Harvard Endowment Fund Campaign anno 1920. President of the Harvard Alumni Association 1920-1921. Assistant secretary of the treasury for U.S. presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge 1921-1925, in both cases under robber baron Andrew W. Mellon (treasury secretary 1921-1932). Went back into private practice afterwards. Member CFR 1933-. Died in 1959.

Source(s): 1936 CCI document, 'Incoterms 1936', p. 1 (library.iccwbo.org/pdf/Incoterms_1936.pdf: (accessed Sep. 27, 2022): "Bureau de la C.C.I.: ... Presidents Honoraries: ... Thomas J. Watson, President, International Business Machines..."; June 1949, '12th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce' document (honorary president).

ICC functions: President June 1937-1939.

Member CFR 1924-. Member of the Pilgrims Society from at least 1933, with younger family members joining in later decades. Founder of IBM.

July 6, 1937, New York Times, 'Atson Sends Hitler Notes of Gratitude; President of World Chamber Tells of Pride in High Honor and Praises Berlin's Hospitality': "The new American president of the International Chamber of Commerce, Thomas J. Watson, who recently received the Order of the German Eagle from Chancellor Adolf Hitler, sent him personal and official telegrams of gratitude for the reception the chamber received in Berlin."

Source(s): 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of Carnegie Endowment president James T. Shotwell)', p. 75: "... the active leaders in the International Chamber were, in addition to Young..."; 1927 ICC, Report of the Trade Barriers Committee': "Council: America (United States of) - Members: John H. Fahey, Nelson Dean Jay, Owen D. Young. - Alternates: William Butterworth, Henry M. Robinson, Silas H. Strawn."; 1929 ICC brochure: "Council: America (United States of) - Members: John H. Fahey, Silas H. Strawn, Owen D. Young. - Alternates: William Butterworth, Robert E. Olds, Henry M. Robinson."

ICC functions: co-founder, councel member, chair U.S. committee 1925-1928 ("American Committee of the [ICC]")

Lawyer who became chief counsel to General Electric in 1912. Founder Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1919, under GE auspices, and first chair of RCA 1919-1929. Founding member CFR 1921-. Chair GE 1922-1939. Trustee Rockefeller Foundation 1928-. Director NY Fed 1923-1938, chair 1938-1940. Member of the Pilgrims Society from at least 1924.

Source(s): 1923 chair ICC's Transport Group 1923, 1925, reported vice president.

1873-1957. Not to be confused with the prime minister (1902-1905) and foreign secretary (1916-1919) Sir Arthur Balfour: PM UK 1902-1905.

Steel baron. Chairman of Arthur Balfour & Co Ltd and of C. Meadows & Co Ltd. President of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce 1923-1924. Chair Committee on Industry and Trade 1924-1928. Chair Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 1937-1957. President British Council 1947-1950.

Source(s): 1921 ICC list: "British National Committee: ... Mr. Arthur J. Hobson ... Sir Arthur Shirley Benn, K.B.E."

1858-1937. Conservative MP who was a member of the House of Commons' Ammunition Committee during World War I. By 1920 a director of Equitable Trust of London, a bank whose New York headquarters was majority-owned by John D. Rockefeler Sr./Jr., with Rockefeller inlaw Wintrhop Aldrich (Pilgrims, ICC) serving as a key advisor to the bank until it was absorbed into the Rockefeller Chase National Bank. President of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce 1921-1925. Member Pilgrims Society at the time of the founding of the ICC in 1920.

Source(s): 1921 ICC list: "British National Committee: ... Mr. Arthur J. Hobson ... Sir Arthur Shirley Benn, K.B.E., M.P., Director of the Equitable Trust of London. Sir Algernon F. Firth, Bart., T.F. Firth and Sons, Brighouse. Dr. Walter Leaf, President of the Institute of Bankers. Sir Felix Schuster, Bart., Director, National Provincial and Union Bank of England Ltd. Hon. J. G. Jenkins, Late Premier of South Australia. Mr. A. Barton Kent, Member of the Council, Federation of British Industries."; 1929, International Chamber of Commerce brochure, council members: "Great Britain - Members: Sir Algernon F. Firth ... Sir Felix Schuster ... Sir J. Sandeman Allen ... Alternates: Sir Geoffrey Clarke ... Sir Roland Nugent, Lord Luke of Pavenham..."

An obscure manufacturer with a degree of politico-economic influence in the 1910s. Member Pilgrims Society at the time of the founding of the ICC in 1920.

Source(s): 1921 ICC list: "British National Committee: ... Mr. A. Barton Kent, Member of the Council, Federation of British Industries."

Council member of the Federation of British Industries. Member Pilgrims Society at the time of the founding of the ICC in 1920.

Source(s): 1921 ICC list: "British National Committee: ... Dr. Walter Leaf, President of the Institute of Bankers."

Chairman of Westminster Bank from 1918 until his death in 1927. President of the Institute of Banking from 1918 to 1921, and was a member of the Pilgrims Society from at least 1924 on. A Cambridge Apostle and a member of the curious paranormal research group Society for Psychical Research.

Source(s): 1929, International Chamber of Commerce brochure, council members: "Great Britain - Members: Sir Algernon F. Firth ... Sir Felix Schuster ... Sir J. Sandeman Allen ... Alternates: Sir Geoffrey Clarke ... Sir Roland Nugent, Lord Luke of Pavenham..."

Second son of John Lawson Johnston, the founder of Bovril Ltd., a company that produced a thick and salty meat extract paste. Vice chair Bovril 1900-. Founding director Daily Express 1900-1917. Director of Lloyds Bank. During World War I he was a member of the Leather Control Board and chair of committees in the Raw Materials Department at the War Office.

Source(s): 1959 (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway, 'Merchants of Peace', pp. 63-65: "The Rome congress assembled on March 18, 1923. ... Although the nonpolitical character of the Rome congress was its salient feature, it was given that governmental recognition which has become customary for ICC congresses. The opening session of the congress resembled a function of state, with Mussolini in the chair and the full diplomatic corps, excepting the German ambassador, in attendance. Sir Arthur Salter represented the League of Nations."

Educated at Oxford and in 1934 he was appointed to the Gladstone professorship of political theory and institutions at Oxford, a chair which carried with it a fellowship of All Souls. Contributor to the Round Table and Carroll Quigley identified him as a member of the Milner Group. First met "Europe's founder", Jean Monnet, in 1914. Had dinner with Monnet in 1917, talking about the Inter-Allied Maritime Transport Council that they both became important founders and players in. Secretary of the Supreme Economic Council at Versailles in 1919, which also counted the involvement of Monnet from the French side. Head of the economic and financial section of the League of Nations secretariat, and in the League secretariat at Geneva, where he worked for stabilization of the currencies of Austria and Hungary, the former Habsburg empire, in the years after the end of World War I in 1918. General secretary of the Reparations Commission 1920-1922. Wrote 'The United States of Europe' in 1931, a collection of papers which advocated a federal Europe within the framework of the League of Nations. Probably not by coincidence, Monnet's post-WWII proposal for a political structure of a united Europe was almost exactly the same. Chair of International Relations at Oxford in the 1930s, together with the Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, of the extremely influential Cecil family. Involved in the Pilgrims Society from at least the 1930s where the rest of his biography is located.

Source(s): 1929, International Chamber of Commerce brochure, council members: "Great Britain - Members: Sir Algernon F. Firth ... Sir Felix Schuster ... Sir J. Sandeman Allen ... Alternates: Sir Geoffrey Clarke ... Sir Roland Nugent, Lord Luke of Pavenham..."

...

Source(s): 1936 CCI document, 'Incoterms 1936', p. 1 (library.iccwbo.org/pdf/Incoterms_1936.pdf: (accessed Sep. 27, 2022): "Bureau de la C.C.I.: ... Presidents Honoraries: ... Dr. F. H. Fentener van Vlissingen..."; 1938 list (honorary president); gettyimages.de/detail/ nachrichtenfoto/schacht-hjalmar-financier-politician-nsdap-germany22-nachrichtenfoto/541785919 (accessed: Nov. 5, 2022): "Schacht, Hjalmar - Financier, Politician, NSDAP [at the] Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce in Berlin ... decorating the present and former presidents of the ICC, Thomas I. Watson and Fentener von Vlissingen..."; 1945, Senate Committee on Military Affairs, 'Elimination of German Resources for War': "From 1933 to 1937 van Vlissingen was president of the International Chamber of Commerce."; 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of Carnegie Endowment president James T. Shotwell)', pp. 139, 175: "On March 29, 1940, a meeting of the group’s executive committee took place in The Hague under the chairmanship of Van Vlissingen. .. On December 4, 1945, the ICC Commission on Commercial Policy under the chairmanship of the former president, F. H. Fentener van Vlissingen of the Netherlands..."; 1940, Foreign Policy Association, 'Foreign Policy Reports', p. 188 (of a compilation of all 1940 issues): "A "National Committee for Economic Collaboration" [the almost-forgotten Nationaal Comité tot Economische Samenwerking, founded on July 1, 1940 to organize business life under the control of the Nazis] has been formed under the chairmanship of Dr. Fentener van Vlissingen, former chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, and a Nazi sympathizer."; June 1949, '12th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce' document (honorary president).

ICC Functions: (Hon.) president ICC 1934-1937.

1906-1985. Member of a well-known, wealthy industrial family in the Netherlands. More than 40 advisory board appointments by 1938: KLM airlines, Royal Hoogovens and Staalfabrieken, Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG in Germany, etc. Married into the German Henkel family, similar to top Nazi Joachim von Ribbentrop (hanged after the war). Member of the 1001 Club in the 1970 and 1980s. Married Monique van Lanschot, the sister of 1001 Club member Willem "Bib" van Lanschot, who was part of Prince Bernhard's secret and extra-judicial intelligence and special operations clique.

1945, Senate Committee on Military Affairs, 'Elimination of German Resources for War', pp. 697-699: "Friedrich H. Fentener van Vlissingen: ... a leading Dutch industrialist and arch-collaborationist, is head of the Internationale Accountants en Trustkantoor, a Dutch administration office which handles securities and trades in international markets. Handelmaatschappij H. Albert de Bary has a financial interest in Trustkantoor.
In Holland, together with members of the van Beuningen family, van Vlissingen is the loading power in Allgemene Kunstzijde Unie (AKU), the largest rayon cartel of the Netherlands which in 1935 consolidated with Vereinigte Glanzstoff A. G., the German rayon cartel.
In the United States this Dutch rayon cartel is tied up with American Enka, American Bemberg and North American Rayon; in Germany it owns a subsidiary company, the Phrix-Werke (one of the largest cellulose producing concerns on the board of which are high ranking Nazi Party officials and big industrialists), and has control of Phrix-Verfahrenverwertung A. G., a company organized by the Phrix-Werke to take care of certain of its foreign interests.
In addition to his German industrial holdings maintained through AKU, van Vlissingen also owns the Administratiekantoor Unitas, Utrecht, the administration office which furnished all of the capital for the Combined Investment Corp., United States of America, and also held other important investments in the American Wine Corp., of St. Louis, a United States company, vested by the United States Alien Property Custodian in 1943.
During the period 1928-38 van Vlissingen was a director of Vereinigte Stahlwerke A. G. (German Steel Trust) and at the outbreak of the present war was still connected through business and personal ties with Steenkohlenvereeniging N. V. (a coal outlet company tied up with German Ruhr mining interests), managed by his son, J. M. Fentener van Vlissingen, and his close friend, Daniel G. van Reuningen.
Van Vlissingen’s German business ties are further complicated by German marriage relationships. Through the marriage of a daughter van Vlissingen has personal ties with the Henkel family, prominent German wine producers. Because of these relations van Vlissingen knows Joachim von Ribbentrop, Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs, who also married into the Henkel family. It has been reported that van Vlissingen's daughter, Leiny, married a prominent Nazi after the death of her first husband, Stefan K. Henkel, in 1940.
From 1933 to 1937 van Vlissingen was president of the International Chamber of Commerce. On the strength of this office held in the past van Vlissingen, according to a recent United States broacdast statement (December 1944), had set up in Switzerland an illegal*organization and named it the International Chamber of Commerce.
Under the occupation, as early as 8 weeks after the Dutch capitulation, July 5, 1940, van Vlissingen gave his services or at least lent his name to collaborationist activities by heading up the National Committee for Economic Collaboration made up of other prominent Dutch industrialists. This committee apparently unsuccessful was superseded by the Committee for Industrial Organization (C. O.). headed by the known collaborator, H. L. W'olterson, which had as its admitted task the gearing of Dutch economic production to the needs of the German war machine in Holland.
In February of 1937 Rollins College, Florida, gave van Vlissingen an honorary LL. D* in July of the same year Adolf Hitler decorated him with the Starred Merit Cross of the German Eagle. Van Vlissingen’s Holland address is Maliebaan 42, Utrecht, and his known connections as of 1941 were: ...
- Allgemene Kunstzijde Unie N. V. (AKU) (largest Dutch rayon cartel; in the United States tied up with American Enka, American Bemberg, and North American Rayon): Chairman of board of directors.
- Werkspoor N. V.: Director.
- N. V. Nederlandsche Maatschappij tot Ontginning van Steenkohlvelden: Chairman of board of directors.
- Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens & Staalfabrieken: Director.
- N. V. Nederlandsche Vliegtuigenfabriek Fokker: Director.
- N. V. Hollandsche Kunstzijde Industrie (HKI): Director.
- The International Viscose Co.: Member of board of directors.
- Steenkohlenvereeniging N. V.: Director."

aandemaliebaan.nl/verhalen/de-tycoon-frits-fentener-van-vlissingen/ (accessed: Nov. 20, 2022): "Het heeft niet veel gescheeld of een van de meest vooraanstaande bewoners van de Maliebaan zou in de Nederlandse Unie, de snel groeiende anti-NSB-beweging uit de zomer van 1940, een leidende rol gespeeld hebben. Frits Fentener van Vlissingen, directeur van de Steenkolen Handels Vereniging en een dominante figuur onder de Nederlandse ondernemers, is in de oorlog de buurman van aartsbisschop De Jong. Hij woont in het zeer aanzienlijke pand aan de Maliebaan 42. Fentener van Vlissingen is in de jaren twintig en dertig al een beroemdheid, een tycoon. Hij wordt geroemd om zijn grote zakelijke talenten en zijn inventieve ondernemerschap. Zo is hij betrokken geweest bij de oprichting van succesvolle ondernemingen als de KLM, de vliegtuigbouwer Fokker en de Kunstzijde Unie, later AKU, later AKZO. Hij treedt voortdurend naar buiten, als voorzitter van het bestuur van de Utrechtse Jaarbeurs, bijvoorbeeld, die onder zijn leiding steeds belangrijker wordt. Ook internationaal rijst zijn ster, hij wordt voorzitter van de Internationale Kamer van Koophandel. In die hoedanigheid wordt hij twee keer door Adolf Hitler ontvangen. Als hij in 1937 afscheid heeft genomen van die organisatie, zet hij zich in toenemende mate in voor een nauwe samenwerking met de opkomende macht in Europa: nazi-Duitsland. Hij wordt de drijvende kracht achter een nieuw samenwerkingsverband, de D-NV, de Duits-Nederlandse Vereniging.
Hij doet dat zo behendig, en houdt het zo goed verborgen, dat hij in Nederland onbetwist blijft gelden als de machtigste ondernemer van het land, ook na de Duitse inval. Zo zetelt in 1940 aan de Maliebaan niet alleen heel veel politieke en kerkelijke macht, maar ook aanzienlijke economische invloed.
Als er in de zomer plannen ontstaan om een organisatie van nationale eenheid op te richten, die de bestaande verdeeldheid overwint, is Fentener van Vlissingen een van de potentiële leiders. Hij treedt toe tot een Nationaal Comité voor Economische Samenwerking. In juli gaat hij met enige medestanders op bezoek bij Seyss-Inquart om dit nieuwe gezelschap aan de rijkscommissaris voor te stellen, maar die vindt het gezelschap niet representatief genoeg. Dat kan ermee te maken hebben dat Fentener van Vlissingen zich inmiddels al een stuk minder pro-Duits heeft opgesteld: hij is heel kritisch over de Duitse inval. Daarmee loopt dit comité, op dood spoor. Als kort erna Fentener van Vlissingen gevraagd wordt voor een Comité van Nationale Eensgezindheid gebeurt zo ongeveer hetzelfde: hij wil een onafhankelijke positie innemen, zonder inmenging van de Duitsers, maar de bezetter voelt daar niets voor. En dus trekt Fentener van Vlissingen zich ook terug als mogelijk lid van het Driemanschap dat eind juli de Nederlandse Unie proclameert. Hij heeft genoeg te doen: hij heeft al zijn kwaliteiten nodig om zijn bedrijf door de oorlog te loodsen, en hij heeft daarnaast de handen vol aan de commissariaten die hij bekleedt.
Bovendien probeert hij de positie van de Jaarbeurs te versterken; daar lijkt hij succes mee te hebben, maar de plannen voor aanzienlijke uitbreiding van de Jaarbeurs in Utrecht worden na aanvankelijke goedkeuring door de bezetter toch van tafel geveegd."

Source(s):

ICC functions: director 2012-, vice chair 2017-.

Daughter of Jos van Gennip, former directeur of the Scientific Institute of the Dutch Christian Democrat Appel (CDA) party. MBA from INSEAD 1995. Davos Young Global Leader 2008-. With McKinsey & Co. in Amsterdan and San Francisco 1994, 1996-2002. Project leader reorganisation Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets 2002-2003. State secretary for economic affairs 2003-2007. Director of European and International Affairs, ING Group (banking) 2007-2010, director of private banking & investment 2010-2015, CEO ING Bank France 2015-2020. Dutch minister of social affairs in the cabinet of frequent Bilderberg prime minister Mark Rutte Jan. 2022. Suggested in June '22 Holland should bring in African workers from France's youth ghettos.

Source(s): 1938 national committee list (president).

ICC functions: President Dutch committee anno 1938.

1880-1951. Member of an old Dutch banking family of Bank Mees & Sons, founded in 1720. Had a son with the same name who lived from 1931 to 2010, although it's a very large family with others in the past also having been called Rudolf/Rudolph.

June 2014, no. 64, Kroniek van de Stichting Geslacht Mees (Chronicle of the Mees Family Foundation) (translated from Dutch): "From 1720, a total of 27 Mezen from eight generations have been members of the firm R. Mees & Sons and in the years 1962-1969 of the firm Mees & Hope. The partners were jointly and severally liable for all debts with their entire private assets of the bank and the insurance brokerage. They were reliable bankers, not coming and going bank directors who put their own interests first. They had many secondary functions in social life. After that the successive names of the bank were Bank Mees & Hope N.V. (from 1969; in Acquired by ABN in 1975), MeesPierson N.V. (from 1993), Fortis MeesPierson (from 2005) and ABN Amro MeesPierson (from 2010). The latter is the name of the private banking division of ABN Amro, whose Rotterdam office happens to be located at Parklaan 11, where the house 'Rozenlust' stood of Rudolf Mees (1880-1951), partner of R. Mees & Sons. Another Rudolf Mees (1931-2010), former chairman of the Gender Mees Foundation is a member. Member of the board of directors of the Nederlandsche Middenstandsbank (merged NMB-Postbank, later renamed ING Bank) and co-founder of Triodos Bank.
Then there are Willem Cornelis Mees (1813-1884), also an economist and lawyer, who was president of De Nederlandsche Bank in the years 1863-1884, and his grandson (1882-1976), who was the founder-director of the Rotterdamsche Bank. Ship mortgage bank and in 1913 co-founder of the Nederlandsche Handels-Hoogeschool. This eventually became part of the economics faculty of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) via the Dutch Economic University of Applied Sciences.”

1945, Senate Committee on Military Affairs, 'Elimination of German Resources for War', pp. 713, 711-712: "Philipp Mees, a director of Hollandsche Koopmansbank in 1941, has held that position at least since 1938. Mees is a partner of R. Mees & Zonen, one of the oldest and most important of the Dutch private banks and one of the few institutions in this category which was favored by the German authorities by being authorized to act as a foreign exchange bank, a privilege otherwise reserved to the eight largest banking corporations. Mees is prominent in Amsterdam banking circles; is connected with a number of industrial and financial enterprises, and a member of the Bankers Association of Amsterdam. His affiliations as of 1941 were as follows:
- Hollandsche Koopmansbank: Director.
- R. Mees & Zonen (private bankers): Partner.
- Rotterdamsche Hypotheekbank voor Nederland (mortgage bank): Director.
- Bankers Association of Amsterdam: Member.
- N. V. Nederlandsche Gist-en Spiritusfabriek (yeast and alcohol factory): Director.
- N. V. Nederlandsche Scheepvaart-Unie (shipping association): Director. ...
N. V. Hollandsche Koopmansbank, hereinafter referred to as N. V. H. K., is a small commercial bank which even before the German occupation of Holland functioned chiefly in financing German trade and industrial enterprises. ... N. V. Hollandsche Koopmansbank, in which Berliner Handelsgesellschaft, Berlin, has a major financial control [controlling from 1940]...
G. M. Fritze, an official of N. V. Hollandsche Koopmansbank, is a former German national who became a naturalized citizen of Holland at sometime prior to 1938. Fritze is well known in Dutch commercial and banking circles and has established and maintained important connections in Germany.
We have received reports that before the outbreak of World War II, Fritze became confidential agent in Europe of the I. G. Farbenindustrie, and it is believed that he is largely responsible for having formed the close ties which exist between that firm and Hollandsche Koopmansbank. Fritze and the Koopmansbank hold interests in enterprises on behalf of I. G. Farben. For example, one of the companies in which Fritze and the Koopmansbank hold 85 percent of the shares in Mapro (N. V. Maatschappij tot Bevorderingvan de Fabricatie van enden Handel in Producten der Chemische Industrie in Nederland en v Kolonien, Amsterdam), a Dutch company which assists in the distribution of the products of I. G. Farben.
In March 1940 Fritze was present at a special meeting of the board of directors of Ozalid Corp., a General Aniline & Film subsidiary in the United States. At that meeting Ozalid decided to export its products to the licensees of the German company, Kalle & Co., which could no longer be supplied from Germany.
Fritze is also credited with having arranged for the Hollandsche Koopmansbank to act as the chief Dutch agent of the Deutsche Golddiskontbank of Berlin, subsidiary of the German central bank.
Following the German invasion of Holland, Fritze was appointed representative of Hollandsche Koopmansbank in New York, and remained in or around New York until 1944 when he left the United States and went to Madrid. It is reported that he recently returned to this country. ...
Hans Furstenberg, a managing partner in the Berliner Handelsgesellschaft and a manager of N. V. Hollandsche Koopmansbank in June 1939, came to Holland sometime in the 1930’s and was presumably connected with the Handels-Unie, Dutch subsidiary of the Berliner Handelsgesellschaft. ... Furstenberg as well as G. M. Fritze, confidential agent in Europe for I. G. Farbenindustrie and also an official of Hollandsche Koopmansbank, was believed to have been active in securing German business for the Dutch institution."

Unsure if this is the same Philip/Philipp Mees from the above report: May 2011, No. 60, Kroniek van de Stichting Geslacht Mees (Chronicle of the Mees Family Foundation) (translated from Dutch), p. 7: "Madeline Ter Horst-Mees has been chairman of the Mees Family Foundation since 2003. She took over the role from Henk Mees, who succeeded her father Philip Mees, the doyen of the family. Philip was a board member for no less than 55 years. ... "I think what also played a role was that he worked in the bank, R. Mees en Zoonen...""

April 1979, No. 28, Kroniek van de Stichting Geslacht Mees (Chronicle of the Mees Family Foundation) (translated from Dutch), p. 21: "Around 1960 Philip Mees was called by Mr. Tj. Greidanus, member of the firm Pierson, Heldring & Pierson, also chairman of the Dutch Bankers Association. Philip was then a member of the firm R. Mees & Zoonen, also chairman of the Rotterdam Bankers Association. So they had a lot to do with each other..."

1946, World Trade magazine: "Dr. Rudolf MEES (Netherlands) , who introduced the resolution on Germany's position in European trade , said that other countries had to choose between two possibilities. Either they accepted German goods and therefore the German competition, or they refused German goods and therefore German economic revival. The conclusion reached by the Chamber was that if we wanted to rebuild Europe we should have to rebuild Germany. German competition, Dr. Mees urged, was far safer than an accumulation of misery and poverty in the middle of Europe."

Source(s): June 21, 2018, iccwbo.org, 'Unilever chief Paul Polman named Chair of ICC, world’s largest business organisation'.

ICC Functions: Chair 2018-2020.

Top superclass member from the Netherlands with a history at Unilever.

Source(s): March 1923, ICC, 'Proceedings of the Second Congress' of the ICC in Rome, p. 166 (participants): "Cav. Ettore Benini... On. Stefano Antonio Benni, Presidente della Confederazione Generale dell' Industria Italiana, Rome..."

President of Confindustria 1923-1934. Supporter of Mussolini.

1938, Angelo Tasca ("A. Rossi" was his pseudonym for the book; socialist who worked with Mussolini in the 1910s), 'The Rise of Italian Fascism: 1918-1922' (English translation), p. 298: "While Rome was chasing the illusion of a Salandra ministry, hard work for Mussolini's cause was being done in Milan. There were lively discussions between Mussolini, the prefect Lusignoli and the leaders of the General Confederation of Industry [Confindustria / Confederazione Generale dell'Industria Italiana], the deputies A. Stefano Benni and Gino Olivetti. The heads of the Banking Association, who had financed the [October 1922] march on Rome to the tune of twenty millions, the heads of the Confederation of Industry and of the Confederation of Agriculture telegraphed to Rome to tell Salandra that a Mussolini government was the only possible way out."

Source(s): 1921, ICC Brochure: "Italy: ... Dionigi BIANCARDI, Presidente del Consiglio Centrale dell'Armamento Italiano; Consigliere della Camera di Commercio e Industria di Genova; Amministratore delegato della Navigazione Generale Italiana."; 1929, ICC Brochure, issue 69-76 compilation, p. 59: "Italy - Members: On. Gr. Cr. Prof. Dionigi Biancardi ... Biagio Borriello ... Giorgio Mylius. - Alternates: ... Giuseppe Bianchini ... Gino Olivetti ... Raimondo Targetti."

1860-1951. Director Navigazione Generale Italia (NGI) anno 1932.

1932, Fortune magazine, p.43: "Senator [Vittorio] Rolandi Ricci [of the ICC] its president, signed for Navigazione Generale Italiana. As a great maritime lawyer, as a learned gentlemen, and as former Ambassador to Washington, he approved with his intelligence the move of his good friend Mussolini. After him signed his co-directors of N. G. I.: Dionigi Biancardi..."

Source(s): 1921 ICC national committee list.

Head of a leather tanning industry. Second president of Confindustria 1914-1918.

Source(s): 1921, ICC Brochure; 1929, ICC Brochure, issue 69-76 compilation, p. 59: "Italy - Members: On. Gr. Cr. Prof. Dionigi Biancardi ... Biagio Borriello ... Giorgio Mylius. - Alternates: ... Giuseppe Bianchini ... Gino Olivetti ... Raimondo Targetti."

1879-1951. Shipping magnate fron Naples. President of the Naples Shipowners' Federation. President of the Regional Committee of the Italian Association of Maritime Law, Naples. President of the Chamber of Commerce of Naples anno 1929. Charter member and President of the Rotary of Naples anno 1929. Governor of the national Rotary 1929-1930, vice president 1931-1933. Member of Parliament, president of

Oct. 1929, The Rotarian, p. 6, 'Rotary in Italy': "To date there are twenty-two clubs and approximately one thousand members. ... His Majesty, King Victor Emmanuel, III, and the princes of the House of Savoia, hold honorary membership. It is likewise interesting to note that Gr. Uff. Arnaldo Mussolini, brother of Il Duce, publisher of "Il Popolo d'Italia," is an active member of the Rotary Club of Milan. The district governor in On. Biagio Borriello, director of a great ocean-shipping business in Naples. Under his leadership, Rotary in Italy may be expected to make still greater progress. ... The concluding admonition is thoroughly characteristic of the spirit of the regime of the New Italy of Il Duce."

Feb. 1951, The Rotarian, p. 20, 'Rotary thrives in Italy': "The first [Rotary] Club to take root in Italian soil was organized in Milan in 1923. Other Clubs followed and prospered. From Genoa came the late Felice Seghezza, a Director of Rotary International in 1926-27. From Naples came Biagio Borriello, a Vice-President of Rotary from 1931 to 1933, and still a member of the Naples Rotary Club. Relations between the Clubs and the early Mussolini Government were as peaceful as the nation itself. But then--as a Milan Rotarian put it in The Rotarian for August, 1948--when Mussolini began to bristle with militarism, those relations deteriorated. In the Summer of 1938, the Fascist Government suddenly passed antisemitic measures and required all organizations to cancel Jews from their rolls. The Rotary Clubs refused to take action. Members were warned to conform or disband. [Hence] they voted to dissolve their 34 Clubs."

Source(s): Not on a 1921 list; 1923, ICC Brochure, p. 101: "The Chairman then introduced Ing. Ettore Conti, former President of [Cofindustria], and President of the Second General Conference on Communications and Transit called by the League of Nations..."; 1938 list (president Italian national committee); 1959 (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway, 'Merchants of Peace', pp. 137-138: "Firm plans for its Committee on International Economic Recovery were drafted at the first wartime meeting of the Chamber’s governing council on November 10, 1939, in neutral Amsterdam. ... A feature of the Amsterdam meeting was a report ... on tbe organization of the Copenhagen-created committee. Thomas J. Watson was to serve as chairman, with former ICC president F H Fentener van Vlissingen of Holland and Winthrop Aldrich as vice chairmen. Paul van Zeeland, former prime minister of Belgium, was chosen as general advisor. Members included ... Ettore Conti of Italy, Rene P. Duchemin of France, ... Karl Lindemann of Germany, and Lord Riverdale of Great Britain..."

ICC functions: Involved since at least 1923 and national committee chairman for Italy anno 1938.

1871-1972. Ettore Conti of Verampio, Count of Verampio. Milan-based electricity magnate from about 1897, in part through the Edison company. Conservative in the Milan City Council from at least 1902-1907. Director of the large Banca Commerciale Italiana (BCI), an important lender to the steel industry, July 1918- (joining under president Giuseppe Toeplitz, a Jew), vice president March 1920-, president 1930-1945. President Confindustria 1920-1921.

storiadimilano.it/repertori/ ettoreconti/cronettoreconti.htm (accessed: Nov. 12, 2022): "1909: Ettore Conti participates with Piero Pirelli [the brother of Alberto Pirelli] and Carlo Feltrinelli in the Società Anonima Quartiere Industriale Nord Milano for the construction of buildings in the vast area of ​​Viale Zara and Fulvio Testi. ...
1912: Edison, chaired by Carlo Esterle, officially announces that it has become the majority shareholder of the Conti Company. This majority must actually have been acquired some years ago. ...
1917: Conti joins the Technical-Administrative Commission for War Industries. ...
July 9 [1918]: He is appointed director of Banca Commerciale [Italiana]. ...
February 22 [1919]: Ettore Conti is appointed senator. ...
March 30 [1920]: Ettore Conti is appointed vice president of Banca Commerciale [Italiana].
June [1920]: Conti is appointed president of Confindustria. He is involved in the strikes and occupations of September 1920. He remains in office until January 1921, when the post is not renewed by the most intransigent industrialists. In his diary, Conti says he remained in office for two years, until 1922. ...
March 14 [1922]: Ettore Conti is appointed President of the Association of Italian Joint Stock Companies (ASIA) and member of the Central Industrial Committee, created to link Assonime and the Confederation of Industry and destined to become, according to Felice Guarneri, "the governing body of economic and financial policy of industrial categories. ...
1926 April: He becomes president of the newly established Agip (appointed by Volpi, at the time minister), a position he leaves after only two years (September 1928), citing the numerous corporate offices assumed in the interest of the BCI (Banca Commerciale Italiana)...
1930 November 1 (or December?): He is appointed President of the Banca Commerciale Italiana, a position he will hold until June 30, 1945. ...
1932: He joined the National Fascist Party. ...
1933 8th of March: Following Toeplitz's resignation as Chief Executive Officer of Banca Commerciale, Facconi and Mattioli were appointed Chief Executive Officers. ...
June [1937]: In Berlin for a congress of the International Chamber of Commerce, he meets Goering and Hitler."

Undersecretary for the Liquidation of Weapons and Munitions at the Ministry of the Treasury 1918-1919. Conservative Party senator 1919-, appointed by King Vittorio Emanuele III. General Secretary of the Lega Industriale di Torino Gino. Participant in the 1922 Genoa Economic and Financial Conference. Very close associate of Mussolini from about the late 1910s or early 1920s, with Conti's Banca Commerciale Italiana tied to the funding of Mussolini's Il Popoli d'Italia newspaper.

2007, Professor George Talbot (University of Hull), 'Censorship in Fascist Italy, 1922-43', pp. 39-40: "On the basis of the Banca Commerciale archives, which have been made available recently [Giorgio] Fabre has demonstrated that [Polish Jew-heritage Giuseppe] Toeplitz made generous payments to Morgagni in 1918 and again in 1921 for advertizing space in Il Popolo d'Italia. Indeed in 1918 the Banca Commerciale had twice as much advertizing space in the pages of Il Popolo d'Italia as did Ansaldo, the steel company. Extensive advertising in a radical newspaper with a low circulation was hardly a strategic necessity for an issuing bank. Just before the 1921 election, Toeplitz made a further payment to Morgagni of 200,000 lire. ...
Donato Barbone, writing in a later issue of the journal which published Fabre's article, argues ... that the document cited by Fabre to support his thesis concerning Banca Commerciale funding of fascism is in fact not a Banca Commerciale document at all, but one from a shadowy organization called the Ufficio Tecnico Di Propaganda Nazionale (UTPN). This body was set up in late 1917, after the military defeat at Caporette, by a 'cross-party group of patriots' based in Milan. Contributors gave up to 3000 lire per month as Pirelli, Marelli, the Banca Commerciale Italiana, Credito Italiana, and the Banca Italiana di Sconto. The executive committee of UTPN was chaired by Eliseo Antonio Porro... Certainly the Banca Commerciale Italiana had already been paying over the odds for advertizing space in Il Popolo d'Italia in 1918, but Barbone argues that Toeplitz's payments to Mussolini's newspaper need to be seen in the context of the UTPN manifesto [in favor of corporatism]."

In 1928 Mussolini asked Conti to join his daughter, Edda, on the 11th cruise of the Italian Naval League in India, so that his wife could take care of Edda's education. Official member National Fascist Party 1932-, although critical of some of Mussolini's economic policies. President Banca Commerciale Italiana in Milan anno 1938. Electricity industry magnate. Present at the 1937 ICC conference in Berlin, meeting with Hitler and Goering. Extraordinary Ambassador of the Italian Economic Mission to (fascist) Japan and Manchukuo/Manchuria in 1938.

Source(s): 1921 Italian national committee list.

1866-1947. President of the Lecco Chamber of Commerce 1901-1912. In 1906 he was a key founder of the company Acciaierie e Ferriere Lombarde / Acciaierie e Ferriere Lombarde Falck in the mlan region. The company became one of the most important steel and iron producers, as well as of products derived from them, such as railway tracks. In 1909 he sponsored the founding of the magazine La Metallurgia Italiana. Anno 1910 he was vice president of the Milanese Congress of Exporters in the East. Honorary vice president of the British Iron and Steel Institute 1911-. Co-founder in 1914 of the Association of Italian Metallurgical Industrialists. Senator 1934-.

Considered a long-time supporter of fascism and Italy's wars. His son, in contrast, was an "anti-fascist". On 29 September 1942, in his home, the leading Catholic politicians as Alcide De Gasperi, Giovanni Gronchi, Achille Grandi, Piero Malvestiti, Giuseppe Brusasca and others met on the initiative of his son Enrico. It was the beginning of a series of clandestine meetings that were preparatory to the founding of the Christian Democrat Party. After July 25, 1943, he edited at his own expense the printing of a million copies of Alcide De Gasperi's pamphlet.

Source(s): March 1923, ICC, 'Proceedings of the Second Congress' of the ICC in Rome, p. 11: "His excellency Signor Benito Mussolini then rose to welcome the delegates of the International Chamber of Commerce in the following terms..."; 1959 (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway, 'Merchants of Peace', pp. 63-65: "The Rome congress assembled on March 18, 1923. ... Although the nonpolitical character of the Rome congress was its salient feature, it was given that governmental recognition which has become customary for ICC congresses. The opening session of the congress resembled a function of state, with Mussolini in the chair and the full diplomatic corps, excepting the German ambassador, in attendance. Sir Arthur Salter represented the League of Nations."; 1938 version, George L. Ridgeway, 'Merchants of Peace', p. 169: "Salter represented the League of Nations [at the 1923 Rome conference]. Mussolini sounded the keynote of the congress. The time was at hand to remove "the last relics of 'war harnass' from the shoulders of the forces of production in every country..."

From at least 1912 Mussolini was a member of the national directorate of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). Journalist at the Avanti! newspaper, the official voice of the Italian Socialist Party. On June 8, 1914 he wrote for the newspaper in response to an attack on one of the socialist party's anti-war rallies, "We hope that with their action the Italian workers will be able to say that it is the time to make it end." His series of articles at the time forced the labor union Confederazione Generale del Lavoro (CGdL) to declare a general nation-wide strike. In August 1914 he towed the socialist line when he wrote, "Down with the War! We remain neutral!"

Mussolini broke abruptly with the socialists in late 1914 when he started advocating for Italian intervention in World War I in support of Great Britain and France. He also turned fascist. Founder in November 1914 and chief editor of the fascist newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia, which was allied with the new "Fascio" movement in calling for war and stating that anti-war MPS should be shot. Founder of the pro-war movement Fascio d'Azione Rivoluzionaria in December 1914, which was mainly active in 1915. Spread propaganda that called for a "government by men in the trenches" who would become a new ruling class, the "aristocracy of tomorrow."

Volunteered to fight when Italy joined the war, but rejected for his radical socialism. Instead, he was drafted in August 2015 and went to war in September. Promoted to corporal and considered a great soldier. He was wounded in February 1917. Discharged from the hospital in August 2017, Mussolini returned as chief editor of his Il Popolo d'Italia, continuing his calls for the war to continue. Apart from receiving funding from major arms manufacturers and businessmen in Milan, from about August 2017 on, Mussolini also received a £100 weekly wage (the equivalent of $9,000 in 2023) from the British security service MI5, authorized by Sir Samuel Hoare, to help keep anti-war protestors at home and to publish pro-war propaganda.

1997 (1959 original, 1969 revised edition), Denis Mack Smith (senior research fellow at Oxford's All Souls College 1962-1987), 'Modern Italy: A Political History' (University of Michigan Press), pp. 284, 293, 313, 432: "A few weeks after the outbreak of war in 1914 he veered around abruptly from ardent neutralism to ardent intervention, instinctlively sensing that war would be a highroad to revolution. In return for this change, the armaments firm of Ansaldo and the sugar and electrical industries helped him to publish a paper of his own, Il Popola d'Italia, with an incendiary quotation from Blanque on its front page. ...
[p. 313:] The fascist gangs must have cost a good deal, and so must their paper, Il Popolo d'Italia. Some contributions came from Ansaldo and the shipowners of Genoa; others from Milan ... where many big concerns were pledged to the fight against strikes, bolshevism, and nationalizations. The saying went that both fascism and socialism obtained their money and brains from Milan, their thugs from Tuscany, and their orators and agitators from the Romagna. Fascism had already been supported by the agrarians, who were now doubly alarmed since a new law of June 1922 threatened to break up large estates. Now finance and industry began to see that their own vital interests were involved. Although national prosperity was returning, Terni and Fiat only just managed to weather the postwar economic crisis. The big industrial cartels of Ilva and Ansaldo were forced into liquidation in 1921, and this caused a succession of bank failures. The General COnfederation of Industry kept in close contact with Mussolini...
[p. 432:] The bigger industries, often privately controlled by individual families, remained in the much richer North--Fiat at Turin, Italsider and Ansaldo at Geonoa, Olivetti in Ivrea, and at Milan the giant companies of Pirelli, Edison, Montecatini, and Snia Viscosa. ...
[p. 293:] Giolitti's position, too, was at least equivocal for he could not help applauding in secret even while he deplored the undermining of military discipline. Members of the royal family were more open and paid visits to D'Annunzio in Fiume. The seaman's union was behind him and so was the Ansaldo munitions cartel."

Oct. 13, 2009, The Guardian, 'Recruited by MI5: the name's Mussolini. Benito Mussolini: Documents reveal Italian dictator got start in politics in 1917 with help of £100 weekly wage from MI5': "A previously unknown area of Il Duce's CV has come to light: his brief career as a British agent. ... Mussolini, then a 34-year-old journalist, was not just willing to ensure Italy continued to fight alongside the allies in the first world war by publishing propaganda in his paper. He was also willing to send in the boys to "persuade'' peace protesters to stay at home. Mussolini's payments were authorised by Sir Samuel Hoare, an MP and MI5's man in Rome, who ran a staff of 100 British intelligence officers in Italy at the time.
Cambridge historian Peter Martland, who discovered details of the deal struck with the future dictator, said: "Britain's least reliable ally in the war at the time was Italy after revolutionary Russia's pullout from the conflict. Mussolini was paid £100 a week from the autumn of 1917 for at least a year to keep up the pro-war campaigning – equivalent to about £6,000 a week today."
Hoare, later to become Lord Templewood, mentioned the recruitment in memoirs in 1954, but Martland stumbled on details of the payments for the first time while scouring Hoare's papers.
As well as keeping the presses rolling at Il Popolo d'Italia, the newspaper he edited, Mussolini also told Hoare he would send Italian army veterans to beat up peace protesters in Milan, a dry run for his fascist blackshirt units.
"The last thing Britain wanted were pro-peace strikes bringing the factories in Milan to a halt. It was a lot of money to pay a man who was a journalist at the time, but compared to the £4m Britain was spending on the war every day, it was petty cash," said Martland.
"I have no evidence to prove it, but I suspect that Mussolini, who was a noted womaniser, also spent a good deal of the money on his mistresses."
After the armistice, Mussolini began his rise to power, assisted by electoral fraud and blackshirt violence, establishing a fascist dictorship by the mid-1920s.
His colonial ambitions in Africa brought him into contact with his old paymaster again in 1935. Now the British foreign secretary, Hoare signed the Hoare-Laval pact, which gave Italy control over Abyssinia." ...
Martland said: "Mussolini ended his life hung upside down in Milan, but history has not been kind to Hoare either, condemned as an appeaser of fascism alongside Neville Chamberlain.""

2002, Gerhard Feldbauer (communism-inclined former GDR journalist stationed in Hanoi 1967-1973, Rome 1973-1983; counselor in Algeria 1981-1983, ambassador to Zaire 1983-), 'Marsch auf Rom: Faschismus und Antifaschismus in Italien, von Mussolini bis Berlusconi und Fini', p. 13: "Before the parliamentary vote on entering the war, the Fasci newspaper "Il Popolo d'Italia" founded by Mussolini incited that MPs who had not yet decided to enter the war (mainly the Socialists) "should be court-martialled". For "the salvation of Italy", if necessary, "several dozen members of parliament should be shot," and others "put in prison." [2]
The "Popolo d'Italia" was a war-focused newspaper that was financed in particular by leading circles in the armaments industry (Dino Ansaldo, shipyards; Ettore Conti, electrical industry; Emilio Benedetti, mechanical engineering; Guido Donegani, chemistry; Giovanni Agnelli, vehicles; Alberto Pirelli, tires and rubber) and represented their war interests in open chauvinism. After the war, the same corporations were among the promoters of the fascist movement that also financed the March on Rome. Four years later, on March 23, 1919, Mussolini then formed the first openly fascist organization in the form of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento..."

1989, Dr. Frank Snowden (Lecturer in history, University of London), published by Cambridge University Press, 'The Fascist Revolution in Tuscany, 1919-22', pp. 128-134: "An additional factor is the discretion of industry itself. In the case of the agrari it was possible to discover ample evidence of their political position from lists of those enrolled in the movement; from public speeches made by leading landowners such as Serragli, Sarrochi, and Aldi Mai; from reports of the deliberations of the AAT and its branches. In the case of industry, these sources of information are generally precluded because the major industrialists seldom joined the movement or campaigned publicly on its behalf. Particularly in the case of industry, then, it would be necessary, in order to establish a more detailed picture of the collusion between the fasci and leading businessmen, to have access to the archives of individual companies and of the economic ministries, as well as of the Ministry of the Interior, which is so fruitful a source of information on the political preferences of farmers. Unfortunately, however, these sources have not been made available. Chance too has played a role. Large sections of the archives of the questori and prefects of the principal industrial centres, Livorno and Florence, were destroyed in the Second World War, while certain important press sources, including the fascist weekly A Noi of Livorno have been lost.
None the less, there is sufficient proof to establish a number of points. First we know that heavy industry in Tuscany, and particularly the armaments sector, provided massive financial aid to the Florence fascio and to the Popolo d'Italia. Secondly, there is direct proof of collusion with the fascists and the 'economic unions' by a number of leading Tuscan companies, including Ilva, Montecatini, the Mineraria, the Officine Galileo, and the Orlando shipyards, and such leading representatives of Tuscan capital as Max Bondi, Eduardo Rotigliano, Guido Donegani, Count Costanzo Ciano, Giuseppe and Luigi Orlando, Count Rosolino Orlando, and Luigi Pasqualini. The politics of Serragli, a leading member of the Boracifera, need little further elaboration. ...
Finally, the very systematic lack of certain types of evidence of industrial involvement with the fascist movement suggests certain tentative conclusions with regard to the particular nature of the pro-fascism of the Tuscan board rooms. The actual involvement of big industry with the reaction began in Florence in the early postwar months when funds for the Citizens' Defence Alliance and its anti-socialist militia were supplied by the armaments manufacturers. The identity of the industrial patrons of the Alliance, unlike the landlords who took part, is characteristically veiled in mystery, apart from a certain Leone Poggi, who played an active role. [35] Banchelli, however, reported that leading companies donated money in large quantities and that by the summer of 1919 the Alliance had obtained an operating fund of 1,000,000 lire. [36] Banchelli's estimate may be exaggerated, but the larger point of the deep commitment of large companies to the venture seems beyond dispute. The premises of the Alliance in Via Cavour were provided by the courtesy of the Mineraria, which had already gained a wide notoriety for its intransigent attitude to the demands advanced by its workers. [37]
It seems probable, moreover, that Ilva was involved. During the early months of the fascist movement up the autumn of 1920, Ilva was perhaps the most important patron of the Popolo d'ltalia, and was largely responsible for Mussolini's political survival during this period of low ebb in his fortunes. [38] Certainly the Nazione, the Florence daily owned by Max Bondi, [39] gave considerable effort to a campaign to rally the middle classes to put a halt to the advance of socialism, and the paper devoted ample space to the Alliance and to its activities, programs, and meetings. [40] That Ilva was interested in Mussolini, and Bondi in the Alliance, is partly explained by the very unstable bases of the company's holdings and the fact that the steel industry, which was the core of Ilva's prosperity, was one of the very first sectors to be depressed, registering a sharp fall in output as early as 1919. [41] Indeed, such an explanation would also account in part for the intransigence of the Mineraria, which was largely dependent on its iron mines at S. Giovanni Valdarno. In addition to the company interest of Ilva in the fasci, a personal motivation was at work involving the political ambitions of Bondi and Luzzatto, who stood in 1919 as candidates for the crumbling Liberal parties. ...
[P. 128:] The expansion of agrarian capital into industry was also apparent in the key positions held by leading aristocrats in the board rooms of the major Tuscan companies. P. F. Serragli himself, vice president of the AAT, was a director of the Societa Boracifera di Lardarello, as were Prince Piero Ginori Conti, Marquis Lorenzo Ginori Lisci, and Count Francesco De Larderel.10 Ginori Lisci was also a director of the Monte Amiata, and had close links with the Orlando shipyards.11 Marquises Emanuele and Vincenzo Trigona were leading figures in the steel company Magona d'ltalia and in the Tuscan Industrial Association.12 Prince Ginori Conti, beyond the Boracifera, was a director of Ilva and of the Monte Amiata. Through his leading position at the Marmifera Nord Carrara, a subsidiary of Montecatini, he was also closely associated with Guido Donegani. Industry and agriculture in Tuscany were bound tightly together.13" ...
[p. 132:] If the rallying to the fascist cause of Max Bondi, Guido Donegani, and Luigi Orlando was based in part on the vulnerable position of the Tuscan economy, there were also important political considerations which justify the metaphor of Tuscan industry as the 'weak link'. The Tuscan industrialists, that is, were particularly attracted by the assistance of the fasci because they were 'outsiders' in the industrial association. Confindustria remained firmly in the control of the Italian industrial elite represented by Agnelli, Alberto Pirelli, and Ettore Conti, by Fiat and the Banca Commerciale. [34] Now, the opposition within Confindustria between an 'intransigent' current led by Ansaldo and Ilva on the one hand and the 'establishment' led by Fiat should not be overstated. When confronted by the greater challenge of the labour movement, the two sides stood united. Moreover, when the recession began to bite deep in late 1920 and as the state showed itself increasingly unable to provide the guarantees for property demanded by all of industry, Confindustria as a whole moved sharply to the right and its leaders began to enter into increasingly cordial relations with the fascists. None the less, there were important differences... Firms such as Ilva [were] no longer confident of their ability to rely on Confindustria or to influence the state, the industrial 'outsiders' were more readily persuaded of the advantage of subversive self-reliance..."

2007, Professor George Talbot (University of Hull), 'Censorship in Fascist Italy, 1922-43', pp. 39-40: "On the basis of the Banca Commerciale archives, which have been made available recently [Giorgio] Fabre has demonstrated that [Polish Jew-heritage Giuseppe] Toeplitz made generous payments to Morgagni in 1918 and again in 1921 for advertizing space in Il Popolo d'Italia. Indeed in 1918 the Banca Commerciale had twice as much advertizing space in the pages of Il Popolo d'Italia as did Ansaldo, the steel company. Extensive advertising in a radical newspaper with a low circulation was hardly a strategic necessity for an issuing bank. Just before the 1921 election, Toeplitz made a further payment to Morgagni of 200,000 lire. ...
Donato Barbone, writing in a later issue of the journal which published Fabre's article, argues ... that the document cited by Fabre to support his thesis concerning Banca Commerciale funding of fascism is in fact not a Banca Commerciale document at all, but one from a shadowy organization called the Ufficio Tecnico Di Propaganda Nazionale (UTPN). This body was set up in late 1917, after the military defeat at Caporette, by a 'cross-party group of patriots' based in Milan. Contributors gave up to 3000 lire per month as Pirelli, Marelli, the Banca Commerciale Italiana, Credito Italiana, and the Banca Italiana di Sconto. The executive committee of UTPN was chaired by Eliseo Antonio Porro... Certainly the Banca Commerciale Italiana had already been paying over the odds for advertizing space in Il Popolo d'Italia in 1918, but Barbone argues that Toeplitz's payments to Mussolini's newspaper need to be seen in the context of the UTPN manifesto [in favor of corporatism]."

Post-World War I Mussolini discovered that inconsistency did not bother his readers, appearing "successively as champion of the League and then nationalist, as socialist and then conservative, as monarchist and then republican", keeping all his options open.

Founder of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (the National Fascist Party from 1921) on 23 March 1919. About fifty supporters were part of the initial meeting, whose meeting place, the Piazza San Sepolcro, was sponsored by (unidentified) Milanese businessmen. His positions at this meeting appeased both the left and right:

1. Less regulations for corporations.
2. A transfer of the economy from public to private control.
3. A foreign policy to conquer Fiume and Dalmatia.
4. Support for the League of Nations.
5. Voting rights for women.
6. The introduction of political referendums.
7. Abolition of the elitist Senate.
8. Elimination of all titles based on caste or class.

1983, Denis Mack Smith, 'Mussolini: A Biography', p. 35: "The meeting of 23 March took place in a hall provided by Milanese businessmen in the Piazzi San Sepolcro... According to Mussolini only about fifty people were there...

His Fasci movement soon exposed itself as a militia, the Squadrismo. On April 15, 1919 the Squadrismo destroyed the offices and printing equipment of his old socialist newspaper, Avanti!. In 1923 the Squadrismo became known as the Blackshirts, which inspired Hitler to dress up his SA paramilitary force in brown shirts.

In the November 1919 elections, Mussolini's Fasci received 5,000 votes versus 190,000 votes for the socialists in Milan alone. Even in Mussolini's home village of Predappio, not a single person voted for him. The socialists mocked him by parading a coffin with his name on it past his house, symbolizing his political death. The Fasci were left with 4,000 members, with Mussolini almost leaving the country and becoming a writer of fiction.

The conservative right still had need for his facist militia though, as millions of peasants and factory workers held massive strikes in the 1919-1921 period in factories of Fiat and other industrial corporations, putting the country on the brink of a communist revolution.

1994, Edwin P. Hoyt, 'Mussolini's Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Fascist Vision', p. 51: "Fiat president Giovanni Agnelli was forced to march through a cordon of red flags to his office, and then to kiss a portrait of Lenin that had replaced that of the King. The communist unions even dominated the farming countryside, and any farmers who would not give in to them found they were boycotted by the barber , the grocer , and the doctor . A line of red flags in a hayfield meant the workers were harvesting their share of the grain, and leaving that employer's share to rot. In this atmosphere Mussolini promised to bring order and stop the harassment of the people by the reds, and little by little, his promises were heard."

1967 compilation, Industrial and Labor Relations Review (Cornell University Press), p. 409: "The industrialists' victory in the March strikes made them confident that in case of a showdown the workers would find themselves in an untenable position. The showdown came with the workers' occupation of the factories in September 1920 when they attempted to run the factories without their employers. It has been argued that on that occasion the workers might have carried out a successful revolution had it not been for the vacillation of their [socialist political] leaders. In spite of subsequent hysterical cries to this effect by the industrialists themselves, the leadership of the Confederation displayed no such fears at the time. At the height of the crisis, the president of the Confederation exuded unlimited confidence in the eventual victory of the industrialists. [48] The Confederation had set into motion the train of events which eventually culminated in in the occupation of the factories by refusing to negotiate on a request for wage increases advanced by the metalworkers' union in June 1920. [49] The union then decided to resort to a slowdown of production...
[No?] doubt that the industrialists intended to provoke the intervention of the police and the army on their side by confronting the government with an illegal act perpetrated by the workers. Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti's well-known refusal to play their game came as an unpleasant surprise. The Confederation asserted that under the circumstances there would be no way of averting economic chaos. [52] Since the government refused to play the role of deus ex machina, the crisis had to be resolved by negotiation. But not all industrialists were agreed. A group of diehards from Turin, among were Giovanni Agnelli, Emilio De Benedetti, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Alberto Pirelli, insisted that to negotiate was tantamount to conceding that there could be a division of powers within the factories. The Confederation gave its support to the moderates who were willing to negotiate..."

At the same time the conservative right tried to prevent the socialists - which were really passive in their support for the massive worker strikes across the country - from gaining full power after the November 1919 elections. Mussolini ran a newspaper campaign in favor of increased armaments, a larger merchant marine, and supported the seizure of power in the city of Fiume by the ultranationalist Gabriele D'Annunzio. All this got Mussolini additional subsidies from business groups. As the factory occupations by workers started to decline in late 1920 and early 1921, Mussolini's big business-funded Squadrismo/blackshirts started their campaign. The Fasci having grown ten-fold during the communist and socialist worker strikes, it blackshirt militias were generally led by army/special forces veterans with a team of farmers and middle class businessmen. They raided socialist headquarters and trade unions.

In the run up to the May 1921 elections, the Fasci were supported and protected by 1920-1921 Italian prime minister Giovanni Giolitti, who had been prime minister four times before and thought the Fasci were great as tools to suppress communism and socialism. As a result, Mussolini enjoyed judicial immunity, while the police and army armed his blackshirts to suppress any kind of socialist demonstration. Meanwhile, judges generally found the Fasci innocent of charges. Giolitti ran the National Blocs, with Mussolini starting to represent his Fasci as the extreme right wing" of the National Bloc, and that it was concerned with 'imperialism' and 'national expansion'. His party received 7% of the vote in the May 1921 elections, with another pro-fascist party receiving about 2%.

1983, Denis Mack Smith (senior research fellow at All Souls, Oxford 1962-1987), 'Mussolini: A Biography', p. 51: "...partially neutralised Giolitti by sending privately to say that they wanted him as head of government again. [101] Unbeknown to him, they were saying much the same to Nitti, Salandra and Facta. Giolitti, like the others, therefore used his influence to try to bring the fascists into a coalition, encouraged by leading industrialists in Milan, including [Alberto] Pirelli and [Gino] Olivetti, two of the most familar names in Italian economic life."

2017, Professor Harold James (Princeton University professor) a. o., 'Enterprise in the Period of Fascism in Europe', p. 66: "Since the beginning of the century Agnelli had been a follower of Giovanni Giolitti, the man who tried to turn the elitist Italian state into an industrial democracy; the founder of Fiat never denied his ties with this political leader who, it is important to underline, sponsored the 1921 alliance between Liberals and Fascists. Immediately after the Fascist coup d'etat of October 1922 (the so-called 'March on Rome') Agnelli publicly agreed with the Turin branch of the Liberal Party's declaration which went on to recognize the merits of Fascist action [but] while also criticizing the violence of Fascist squads..."

1994, Edwin P. Hoyt, 'Mussolini's Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Fascist Vision', pp. 51-52: "In the fall of 1920 Mussolini began to make overtures to Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti, who privately regarded the Fascist leader as a clown and a person not to be worried about. Giolitti believed he could use Mussolini against the Socialists and then get rid of him. The Rome government began to show a new tolerance for the Fascists and for Fascist bullyboys who carried out violent raids against their political opponents. And so a deal was struck. Mussolini agreed to support the a Italian government's destruction of the D'Annunzio government of Fiume. On Christmas Eve, 1920, an Italian naval squadron bombarded Fiume and after four days D'Annunzio vacated the city. Mussolini did not stir a muscle to assist D'Annunzio, to whom he had promised everything. Mussolini's answer to his critics was that D'Annunzio had fallen out of touch with Italian political reality. He did not mean a word of it. D'Annunzio was his mentor. He had put together the trappings of dictatorship, and Mussolini had decided to displace and copy him. Mussolini would take over the flamboyance and the corporate dictatorship. He would be Il Duce — The leader."

In November 1921, the Fasci was renamed and reorganized as the National Fascist Party and became a much more centralized organization under Mussolini's full control. Eventually the March on Rome of Benito Mussolini and his army of Blackshirts and fellow fascists took place on October 28, 1922. The liberal Party prime minister, Luigi Facta, asked King Victor Emmanuel III di Savoi to sign a declaration that martial law would be imposed, followed by an army to stop Mussolini's fascist army. The king, whose signature was crucial to martial law, refused. Facta resigned and on October 30 King Victor Emmanuel III appointed Mussolini as Italy's new prime minister. Prime minister and dictator of Italy from 31 October 1922 to 25 July 1943. Duce of the Italian Social Republic from 23 September 1943 to 25 April 1945.

All the while, Mussolini's activities were supported by big business.

2012, Giulia Albanese (fellow Italian Institute for Historical Studies in Naples and Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University College in Florence) and Roberta Pergher (member Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; assoc. professor Indiana University Bloomington), 'In the Society of Fascists' (no page number): "Some years later, industrial magnate Alberto Pirelli would recall the meeting between Mussolini and several industrialists held on October 26, 1922, headquarters of [the Mussolini owned] Il Popolo d'Italia, where business leaders explained "the extremely grave damage to the national economy from the state of anarchic confusion into which the country was sinking" and pleaded for him to come up with an answer. [8]"

2020, Paul M. Hayes, 'Fascism': "The general strike of August 1922 provided Mussolini with still more support. Agrarian, financial and industrial interests flocked to support the fascists asit became increasingly clear that their priviliged positions were threatened. Mussolini's mouthpiece, Il Popolo d'Italia, received heavy investment as fascist counterrevolutionary forces swung into action in Leghorn, Ancona, Genoa and Milan. The prominent industrialist, Pirelli, later admitted that on 26 October 1922, just a few days before the fascist seizure of power, a committee of the General Confederation of Industry visited Mussolini at the offices of the party newspaper."

1938, Angelo Tasca ("A. Rossi" was his pseudonym for the book), 'The Rise of Italian Fascism: 1918-1922' (English translation), pp. VI-VII (preface by Herman Finer), 298: "Signor Rossi (a pseudonym [Angelo Tasca]) is an example of the highest type of Italian... In 1913 [Tasca] was an active socialist with Mussolini - i.e. when Mussolini had arrived at the editorship of the Avanti [the official publication of the Italian Socialist Party], and was an extremist in his demands, and violently revolutionary in tactics. This was in the days when Mussolini was an utter pacifist, anti-imperialist, anti-militarist, and an applauder of regicide... When Italy was faced with Europe at war, Rossi broke with Mussolini in order to continue his deeply felt and sincerely held repudiation of war [while] Mussolini ... advocated the participation of Italy on the side of France and England...
[P. 298:] While Rome was chasing the illusion of a Salandra ministry, hard work for Mussolini's cause was being done in Milan. There were lively discussions between Mussolini, the prefect Lusignoli and the leaders of the General Confederation of Industry [Confindustria / Confederazione Generale dell'Industria Italiana], the deputies A. Stefano Benni and Gino Olivetti. The heads of the Banking Association, who had financed the march on Rome to the tune of twenty millions, the heads of the Confederation of Industry and of the Confederation of Agriculture telegraphed to Rome to tell Salandra that a Mussolini government was the only possible way out. Senator Ettore Conti, a great electricity magnate, and Senator Albertini, editor of the Comerr della Sera, which the fascists harmed next day, telegraphed to Facta, asking him to request the king to entrust Mussolini with the formation of a ministry. On the same day the Pope made an appeal for peace, which amounted to an appeal for disarmament and the condonation of fascist sedition. [Dr. Giorgio Alberto] Chiurco [Fascist Party deputy 1929-1939] informs us that the Vatican took its precautions in good time: 'At this point the Holy See sent word through an important emissary that it would be obliged if Mussolini would state what were the political intentions of fascism towards the Church. The fascist reply gave the most loyal assurances; therefore Mussolini was the favoured candidate of the plutocracy, of the liberals who preferred him to the old politicians such as Salandra, and of the Vatican. In a few hours time he was to have the backing of the monarchy as well.'"

L'unico ostacolo all realizzazione di questo programma i comunisti lo indicavano in alcuni grandi capitalisti che « impediscono l'unione del nostro popolo mettendo fascisti ed antifascisti gli uni contro gli altri, per struttarci tutti con maggiore liberta". Tra i 15 capitalisti "sfruttatori del popolo" erano indicati Pirelli, Agnelli, Achille Gaggia, Ettore Conti, Vittorio Cini. Inoltre il manifesto si schierava decisamente contro un'alleanza con Hitler ( ! ) ed aggiungeva : "Noi vogliamo che l'Italia stipuli dei patti di assistenza mutua con tutti i nostri vicini e anzitutto con la Francia ( era il periodo ...

Among the 15 capitalists "exploiters of the people" were listed Pirelli, Agnelli, Achille Gaggia, Ettore Conti, Vittorio Cini. In addition, the manifesto took sides decidedly against an alliance with Hitler (!) and added: "We want Italy to stipulate mutual assistance pacts with all our neighbors and above all with France (it was the period

Source(s): 1921 ICC national committee list (vice president); 1959 (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway, 'Merchants of Peace': "The International Finance Committee appointed in accordance with the London resolutions of the International Chamber met on October 6, 1921... Italy [was represented] by Giorgio Mylius, Alberto Pirelli, Gino Olivetti, and Giuseppe Zuccoli..."; 1929, ICC Brochure, issue 69-76 compilation, p. 59: "Italy - Members: On. Gr. Cr. Prof. Dionigi Biancardi ... Biagio Borriello ... Giorgio Mylius. - Alternates: ... Giuseppe Bianchini ... Gino Olivetti ... Raimondo Targetti."

1870-1935. Co-founder of the Societa Anonima Commerciale del Benadir, focused on the cotton industry, in Somalia in 1896. Among the earliest member of the ICC by 1921. Director Austrian Bank.

July 1, 1926, New York Times, 'Honor Italian Banker at Club Dinner; Giorgio Mylius Sees Bright Future for His Country Under Mussolini Plans': "A group of bankers and other business men attended a dinner in honor of Commendatore Gtorgio Mylius, the Italian banker, last night, at the Lotos Club, 110 West Fifty-seventh Street. Mr. Mylius is concluding a two-months visit to the United States. He represented the Italian Rotary Club, of which he is President, at the recent International Rotary Convention in Denver."

Source(s): 1929, ICC Brochure, issue 69-76 compilation, p. 59: "Italy - Members: On. Gr. Cr. Prof. Dionigi Biancardi ... Biagio Borriello ... Giorgio Mylius. - Alternates: ... Giuseppe Bianchini ... Gino Olivetti ... Raimondo Targetti."

Jewish. Key founder and first managing director of Confindustria 1910-1934. Freemason in the "Propaganda" Lodge of Grand Orient of Italy from 1907 until his expulsion in 1924 when he appeared on a list of electorates for Mussolini's fascist party. Major supporter of Mussolini's fascist state. President of Juventus soccer club 1920-1923. Fled to Argentina in October 1939 after the introduction of fascist racial laws.

Oct. 2017, Roberta Raspagliesi for Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History, 'Fascist Jews Between Politics and the Economy: Five Biographical Profiles': "After the war [World War I], [Gino Olivetti] took part in the 1919 elections in the Partito Economico, "the right-wing rib of the varied sub-alpine liberalism" (which strived for a greater presence of industrialists in active politics and not only in economic-political organs), entering Parliament and staying there until 1938. [96] ...
The position of Olivetti and that of the Confindustria [Italian Industrialists Association], the day after the March on Rome, was one of “loyal collaboration,” together with the satisfaction for the “streamlining,” “rigor” and “serenity” in the face of the first acts of Mussolini’s government. [97] Halfway through the 1920s, in particular from the Palazzo Vidoni Treaty in 1925 (which eliminated, de facto, free trade unions) until the 1930s, he expressed praise for the regime’s businesses strategy and initiatives. Moreover, with the new agreement, the Confindustria took on the name of fascist: Confederazione Generale Fascista dell’Industria Italiana [General Fascist Confederation of Italian Industry]. Therefore, Olivetti accepted the organization’s role within the totalitarian state and the consequent loss of autonomy.
On 3rd January 1926, he joined the Roman branch of the Fascist party. And it is exactly during this phase that Olivetti’s greatest support for the regime can be identified: there are indications of “general consent,” “instrumental support,” [98] or even “positive collaboration.” [99] From 1927, he worked with the daily La Stampa, for which he wrote about Fascist economic policies:
"Fascism is better than every other regime and in a position to achieve the essential foundations for industry, that is the certainty and stability of judicial and economic situations, the principle of authority and individual initiative, the safeguard of earnings and savings, that is of capital and its reproduction."[100]
In the article Dieci anni di economia italiana [Ten years of Italian economy] he praised Fascism again for having re-established "above all, order where there was disorder, empire where there was anarchy, discipline where there was the most unbridled freedom and especially, giving the State all those powers of command that are indispensable to modern life... the renewed economy is definitely an aspect of political and spiritual renewal." [101]
Since February 1929, he held the chair of Corporative Law at the Faculty of Law in Turin. In 1936, he helped with the autarchic campaign, supporting the battle for the better use of fuels. Mussolini praised him for "his prolific activity and for his remarkable contribution to the Nation’s autarchy," [102] but according to some recent interpretations, the relationship between the Duce and the secretary of the Confindustria was controversial and ambiguous; Mussolini looked on him with mistrust and did not recognize him among the men of certain Fascist faith. [103]"

Source(s): 1921 list (member Italian national committee).

1860-1927. Director Bank of Italy anno 1921, chair anno 1926.

Nov. 1 1926, Time, 'Foreign News: Roundest Robin': "An odd dozen commonplace-seeming men waited simultaneously one morning last week in the several London offices of the world's principal news agencies. ... they laid before thunderstruck news executives a round robin signed by over 100 of the world's most potent financiers, calling upon European nations to remove their tariff hindrances to international trade.
Signatories to this remarkable document: U. S. John Pierpont Morgan; Albert H. Wiggin, President, Chase National Bank, Manhattan; Melvin A. Traylor, President, First National Bank, Chicago... Gates W. McGarrah, Chairman, Mechanics and Metals National Bank, Manhattan. .Other Nations: Montagu Collet Norman, Governor, Bank of England;* Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, President, German Reichsbank;† Nicola Pavoncelli, Chairman, Bank of Italy;** and the presidents of the state banks of the following countries with a large contingent of financiers from each: Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland."

Source(s): 1936 CCI document, 'Incoterms 1936', p. 1 (library.iccwbo.org/pdf/Incoterms_1936.pdf: (accessed Sep. 27, 2022): "Bureau de la C.C.I.: ... Presidents Honoraries: ... Dott. Alberto Pirelli..."; 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of ICC member and Carnegie Endowment president James T. Shotwell)', pp. 53, 75: "The chief liaison officer of the International Chamber and the League of Nations was Alberto Pirelli, who as a member of the Council and of the Finance Committee of the International Chamber and also of the Economic Committee of the League of Nations contributed much to the working out of principles of collaboration. ... another prominent member of the Dawes committee, Alberto Pirelli."; June 1949, '12th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce' document (honorary president).

ICC functions: Co-founder, president 1928-1932, hon. president anno 1936.

Co-founder of Bilderberg in 1954.

Source(s): Aug. 1920, Advocate of Peace (international relations journal founded in 1837), p. 278, 'The International Chamber of Commerce': "An International Chamber of Commerce was organized, with ... Victorio Rolandi Ricci the Italian vice-president."

ICC functions: Founding vice president from Italy 1920-.

Senator since 1912. President of Navigazione Generale Italiana anno 1932, with one of the directors here also being an ICC member. Considered a good friend of Mussolini. Eventually a senator in Mussolini's government and even Mussolini's pro-Nazi "Italian Social Republic" of 1943-1945. Sentenced to 15 years prison after WWII, but received amnesty.

1932, Fortune magazine, p.43: "Senator [Vittorio] Rolandi Ricci [of the ICC] its president, signed for Navigazione Generale Italiana. As a great maritime lawyer, as a learned gentlemen, and as former Ambassador to Washington, he approved with his intelligence the move of his good friend Mussolini. After him signed his co-directors of N. G. I.: Dionigi Biancardi..."

Source(s): 1929, ICC Brochure, issue 69-76 compilation, p. 59: "Italy - Members: On. Gr. Cr. Prof. Dionigi Biancardi ... Biagio Borriello ... Giorgio Mylius. - Alternates: ... Giuseppe Bianchini ... Gino Olivetti ... Raimondo Targetti."

1869-1942. Wool industry tycoon through his company Targetti National Wool Mill. Co-founder and vice president of the Italian Wool Institute. President of Confindustria 1922-1923. Targetti was succeeded by Antonio Stefano Benni (1923-1934). Senator 1930s-.

Source(s): 1921 list (member Italian national committee).

Governor of the colony of Tripolitania in Libya 1921-1925. Leading figure of Mussolini's National Fascist Party and the Grand Council of Fascism. Italy's finance minister 1925-1928. Negotiated Italy's World War I debt repayment with the United States. Founder of the Venice Film Festival in 1932. President of Confindustria 1934-1943. Too sick to appear in court after World War II and acquitted on all charges through the Togliatti amnesty. Died in 1947.

Agnelli, Cini, Volpi, Pirelli, Donegani, Falk, very few others, completely dominate the various branches of the industry. In Italy we have more than ten thousand ...

Agnelli , Cini , Volpi , Pirelli , Donegani , Falk , pochissimi altri , dominano completamente i vari rami dell'industria . In Italia abbiamo piú di diecimila

Source(s): 1959, George L. Ridgeway, 'Merchants of Peace': "[ICC's] distinguished committee of experts to which UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold belonged [anno 1936, not the 1939 date listed in this book]..." (Joint Expert Committee of the ICC and Carnegie End.)

Second Secretary-General of the United Nations April 1953 - September 1961, when he died in a controversial plane crash in Africa.

Source(s): 1921 ICC list (Swedish National Committee).

Swedish foreign minister 1914-1917, during World War I. Employed by the Credit Lyonnais in Paris 1877-1878. Director Stockholms Enskilda Bank (SEB) 1874, president anno 1921. In 1917 he and his wife created the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, one of the main contributors to the Stockholm School of Economics, the only privately funded university in Sweden. Died in 1938.

1958, Swedish Information Service of the Swedish Consulate General, 'News from Sweden' (from Google Books, no exact date or page number): "Sweden's largest donation fund, however, is the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, which was established in 1917 by the banker Knut A. Wallenberg and his wife. The original capital was 20 million, but ... has grown to more than 100 million. So far, 60 million kronor have been distributed. ... Institutions directly or in part created by the Wallenberg Foundation include the Stockholm School of Economics [founded im 1909 with the help of Wallenberg money]..."

hhs.se/en/about-us/history/year-by-year/ (accessed: Oct. 2, 2022; website Stockholm School of Economics): "1900 - The idea of starting a university-level school for further education in business studies is born. The Söderberg and Wallenberg families, among others, are behind the initiative. 1903 - Bank Director K A Wallenberg donates SEK 100,000 as an initial contribution to a business school in Stockholm. 1905 - On K A Wallenberg's initiative, Sweden's National Board of Trade asks the King to commission [officials] to travel Europe and the United States 'to study the newest and best-reputed institutes of higher education in business studies'. 1906- The Stockholm School of Economics Association is formed and constituted in the Main Hall of the Stockholm Stock Exchange. ... 1907 - The SSE Association has 250 members. With members' contributions, the initial contribution of SEK 100,000 and a donation of SEK 200,000 from [the Wallenberg's] Stockholms Enskilda Bank, the Association has a total of SEK 800,000.
1912 - The first female student graduates. As one of very few women admitted during SSE’s early years, Marta Sigrid Lofdahl broke new ground when she became the School’s first female graduate. Moving on to work for Stockholm's Enskilda Bank and Inteckningsbanken, Marta braved an industry where women had been basically non-existent. ...
2016 - First Female Professor in Economics. Anna Dreber Almenberg became SSE’s first female professor in economics in 2016. A member of the Young Academy of Sweden as well as a Wallenberg Academy Fellow..."

hhs.se/sv/om-oss/historia/ar-for-ar/ (accessed: Oct. 2, 2022; website Stockholm School of Economics; translated): "2008 – Major expansion and reconstruction of the Atrium: As the transition to the Bologna Process contributed to increased teaching, SSE realized that the main building would need to be expanded. Thanks to generous donations primarily from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, new lecture halls and seminar rooms could be built. The courtyard was also converted into the glass-enclosed Atrium."

hhs.se/en/research/ institutes/ehff/research1/about-ehff/ (accessed: Oct. 2, 2022; website Stockholm School of Economics): "The Institute for Economic and Business History Research (EHFF) at the Stockholm School of Economics... Further resources became available to the Institute in 1988 when the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation granted funds to support a professorship in economic history associated with the Institute for a period of five years. The first holder of the chair was Ulf Olson, who in 1995 was succeeded by Håkan Lindgren. The financial support from the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation was successively extended, until July 1, 2000 when, in accordance with a previous agreement, the financing of the professorship was shifted to the School’s annual budget. The research pursued at the EHF has, since 1976, to a large degree been directed towards business history."

hhs.se/sv/forskning/center/cemep /news/marcus-wallenberg-tilldelas-sse-research-award-2015/ ccessed: Oct. 2, 2022; posted Feb. 2, 2016; website Stockholm School of Economics; translated from Swedish): "Marcus Wallenberg: ... Through his involvement on the board of several research foundations, especially the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, he has contributed to enabling the School of Economics, its institutes and individual researchers to conduct research at the highest level with the help of generous contributions."

2020, Ph.D. disstertation, Rikard Westernberg (political business historian at the Institute for Economic and Business History Research at the Stockholm School of Economics), 'Socialists at the Gate: Swedish Business and the Defense of Free Enterprise, 1940–1985', pp. 11-12: "The Wallenberg family’s involvement in the more secretive parts of the business community’s information activities during the Cold War era has not been studied to any significant extent. They do show up, however, in political scientist Gullan Gidlund’s study on the funding of the Conservative Party. [26] She finds that in the 1950s, business was behind 97–99 percent of the money raised to the Conservative Party’s central organization. The largest contributors were a stable group of Sweden’s largest business groups, dominated by companies controlled by the Wallenberg family."

Source(s): 1936 CCI document, 'Incoterms 1936', p. 1 (library.iccwbo.org/pdf/Incoterms_1936.pdf: (accessed Sep. 27, 2022): "Bureau de la C.C.I.: ... Vice-Presidents: ... Suede: Marcus Wallenberg, Administrateur-Delegue, Stockholms Enskilda Bank..."

ICC functions: Vice president representing Sweden anno 1936, chair 1965-1967.

1899-1982. Assistant director of Stockholm's Enskilda Bank 1925-, vice CEO and director 1927-. Vice president representing Sweden of the International Chamber of Commerce anno 1936. Chair Federation of Swedish Industries anno 1964, under which he visited Bilderberg. Visited of Bilderberg from 1957 until the year before his death, in 1982, when he was a steering committee member. Chair Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), Stockholm, Sweden. President and CEO Investor AB. Vice chair Ericsson.

Source(s): Jan. 20, 2015, facebook.com/iccwbo/photos (accessed: Nov. 13, 2022): "We are greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Peter Wallenberg [who was] ICC Chairman from 1989 to 1990. Like his grandfather (Knut), father (Marcus) and later his nephew (Marcus), Peter Wallenberg gave his time and efforts generously to ICC."

ICC functions: International chair 1989-1990.

Vice chair Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) when he visited Bilderberg in 1984 and 1987.

Source(s): tradefinanceglobal.com/ posts/author/marcus-wallenberg/ (accessed: Nov. 13, 2022): "Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce from 2006 to 2008."

ICC functions: International chair 2006-2008.

Born 1956. Son of Marc Wallenberg (1924-1971). President and CEO of Investor AB from 1999 to 2005. Regukar visitor of Bilderberg since 1996.

Source(s): iccgermany.de/ueber-icc-germany/geschichte/ (accessed: Sep. 27, 2022): "[Flyer photo:] ueen Ingrid of Denmark presides over the banquet held on the eve of the [ICC's] 1939 Copenhagen Congress." Functions: Present 1939 Copenhagen Conference.

...

Source(s): 2007, Editions ESKA, 'Entreprises et Histoire', p. 60: "Address delivered by Hermann J. Abs at the Dinner of the United States Council of the International Chamber of Commerce, Inc. in New York, January 16, 1957. HADB, V1/2294."; March 25, 1966 visitor of the ICC meeting in Essen, Germany (gettyimages.nl/detail/ nieuwsfoto's/during-the-annual-meeting-of-the-international-chamber-of-nieuwsfotos/1063477648 (accessed: Nov. 13, 2022).

ICC functions: Known to have been present at 1957 and 1966 ICC meetings. Unclear if an official member.

1901-1994. Director Deutsche Bank 1938-1945. Director of the notorious IG Farben chemical concern that made use of slave labor at Auschwitz and created Zyklon B, the gas used in the Nazi gas chamber. Arrested in January 1946, but freed in April by the British, reportedly for not supporting the Nazi regime. Never prosecuted. Post-WWII advisor to German chancellor Konrad Adenauer. Deutsche Bank was broken up in three after World War II. These three banks merged again in 1957 into the new Deutsche Bank, with Abs rejoining the board. "Spokesman" / chair Deutsche Bank 1957-1967. Bilderberg visitor in 1958, 1961, 1966. Appointed as chairman of the second Davos conference in 1972, but had to cancel at the last moment. Chairman of the advisory board of Deutsche Bank 1967-1976, honorary chair 1976-1994.

A more detailed biography is to be found in the Bilderberg membership list.

Source(s): iccgermany.de/ueber-icc-germany/geschichte/ (accessed: Sep. 27, 2022): "In the 1960s, Otto Wolff von Amerongen † was President and then, for many years, Honorary President of the German National Committee."; March 25, 1966 visitor of the ICC meeting in Essen, Germany (gettyimages.nl/detail/ nieuwsfoto's/during-the-annual-meeting-of-the-international-chamber-of-nieuwsfotos/1063477648 (accessed: Nov. 13, 2022).

ICC functions: President German committee anno 1966 and "for many years".

Son of a major Nazi financier through Vereinigte Stahwerke. Bilderberg visitor over 1955-2001, thus a 47-year participant. Member of Chase Manhattan's international advisory council anno 1972. Founding member Trilateral Commission 1973-2007, executive from at least 1981 to at least 1998.

See his biography in the Bilderberg membership list.

Source(s): 1945, Senate Committee on Military Affairs, 'Elimination of German Resources for War', p. 839: "International Chamber of Commerce - Member."

ICC functions: Member.

1945, Senate Committee on Military Affairs, 'Elimination of German Resources for War', p. 839: "Herman Beucher, associated with AEG and Krupp for more than 15 years, is a calculating industrialist who has served three opposing German governments in his efforts to strengthen his own personal position. Originally a career diplomat, Beucher served the monarchy on several continents. The First World brought to a close his diplomatic service and Buecher, then 26 years of age, allied himself with the Weimar Republic, becoming one of the most influential members of the National Economic Council (Reichswirtschaftsrat).
Up to this time Buecher’s industrial interests had been primarilv theoretical and advisory. In the twenties, however, he began his career with the I.G. Farben, Krupp, and AEG concerns, the last of which he successfully reorganized and developed to its present importance among the leading German industrial combines.
In 1933, Buecher joined the Nazis, a move which benefited the party, the AEG combine, and Buecher, himself. He thereafter became intimately associated with the party’s efforts and the Government’s industrial and financial projects. For example, Buecher is a director of the Reichsbank and the Berliner Handelsgesellschaft; he has numerous important connections in the field of public utilities in Germany and abroad; and, among other political posts, is an economic warfare director (wehrwitrschaftsfuhrer)—a post analagous to the one he held under the Weimar Republic. In 1942, furthermore, he was a member of Goring's 12-man Armaments Council. ...
- Handelgesellschaft (Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft): Member of board of directors.
- Deutsch-Sudamerikanische Bank, A. G., Berlin—Director.
- Deutsche Reichsbank—Director. ...
- Mitteldeutsche Stahlwerke A. G. ... Director.
- AEG (Allgemeine Elektricitats Gesellschaft; General Electric Co.): Chairman of the management committee. ...
- AEG-Union Elektrizitats Gesellschaft, Vienna: Chairman of board of directors.
- Olympia Buronaschinenwerke A. G. Enfurt (Office Machine Works, Inc.) - Chairman of board of directors.
- Osram G. m. b. H., K. G., Berlin (subsidiary of AEG and Siemens Halske, also General Electric Co. and Bergmaan Electric Co. reportedly have interests in the company, which manufactures incandescent lamps): Chairman of board of directors.
- AEG Elektricitats-Aktieselskabet: Oslo—Director.
- Geathom Als Thom-I. G. & Co. (S. A.) Madrid (over 25 percent participation of AEG): Director.
- Papierfabrik G. m. b. H. vormals Brudn Kammer Osnabruck (paper factory): Director.
- Gnmdstticks A. G., Marwitz, Berlin (real estate corporation): Chairman of board of directors."

Source(s): 1929, International Chamber of Commerce brochure, council members: "Germany - Members: Abr. Frowein, Dr. L. Ravane, Dr. h.c. Louis Hagen. Altemates: ...Paul Reusch, F. H. Witthoefft, Dr. Wilhelm Cuno."; 1931, issue 76, ICC brochure: "Germany - Members: Abr. Frowein, F. H. Witthoeft, Dr. h. c. Louis Hagen. - Alternates: Dr. Wilhelm Cuno, Dr. h. c. Richard Merton, Dr. h. c. Ernst Poensgen."; May 29 - June 3, 1933, Official Report of the Proceedings of the Seventh Congress of the ICC: "Again this month we have the sad duty of recording the death [in Jan. 1933] of a distinguished collaborator of the International Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Wilhelm Cuno. Chancellor of Germany in 1923, he subsequently returned to the affairs of the Hamburg-Amerika Line...."

ICC functions: German committee member anno ....

Chairman Hamburg-Amerika Line, Germany's largest shipping company, 1918-, which was controlled by the Harriman group from 1920 on. Participated in post World War I negotiations on reparations and related terms. Part of the 1922 Genoa Conference, which he left in protest after the signature of the Treaty of Rapallo here that established friendly relations with the Soviet Union. Chancellor of Germany 22 November 1922 – 12 August 1923, during the peak of hyperinflation.

Returned to head the Hamburg-Amerika Line after his term in government in 1923. In 1925 a supporter of the ultraright World War I general Paul von Hindenburg in 1925, over Centre Party candidate Wilhelm Marx. In 1927/1928 a co-founder Bund zur Erneuerung des Reiches (BER) / Federation for the Renewal of the Reich, alongside top bankers and industrialists Fritz Thyssen, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach, Albert Vogler, Carl Friedrich von Siemens, Robert Bosch, Jakob Goldschmidt, Franz von Mendelssohn, Fritz Springorum, Hermann Rochling, Paul Reusch, Carl Bergmann (advisory board Deutsche Bank), Louis Hagen, Abraham Frowein. Director of Deutsch-Atlantische Telegraphengesellschaft / German Atlantic Cable Company anno 1932, alongside Max Warburg (vice chair) and Averell Harriman. Founding member of Hitler's Keppler Circle, founded in December 1932. Cuno refused to sign an appeal by leading German industrialists to President Hindenburg to appoint Adolf Hitler as Chancellor. He saw the solution to the parliamentary crisis in a non-partisan government. Died in January 1933 at age 56 from a heart attack.

1920, Schiffbau und Schiffart, Kleinshiffbau und Binnenschiffahrt, p. 864 (translated from German): "In the administration of the Hamburg-America Line, according to "I. u. HZtg" June 9th [1920] the following telegram from the directors arrived from New York: "We have entered into an agreement for 20 years, subject to further details, with the Harriman concern, represented by the firm W. A. ​​Harriman & Co."

1952, Karl Obermann, 'Die Beziehungen des amerikanischen Imperialismus zum deutschen Imperialismus in der Zeit der Weimarer Republik, 1918-1925', p. 66: "In June 1920 a direct link was established between the Harriman shipping group of the Rockefeller group and the leading German shipping companies, "Hamburg-America-Line" and "Norddeutscher Lloyd". ... Due to the Versailles Peace Treaty, the German shipping companies had lost a large part of their merchant fleet. Director General Dr. Wilhelm Cuno, Ballin's successor in the "Hamburg-America Line", wrote in 1926 about the situation: "We had two options, either to rebuild slowly and step by step on our own, or to get a share of the transatlantic voyage in cooperation with foreign companies. So they preferred to associate with American companies in order to achieve high profits. In June 1920, the “Hamburg-America- Line" signed an agreement with Standard Harriman Corporation's United American Lines. The facilities of the "Hamburg-America Line" were made available to the "United American Lines" and the "Hamburg-America Line" handed over their orders to the American company. The German shipowners received 50% of the profits, i.e. they secured high profits with the help of American capital and in return they handed over their port facilities in Hamburg and Bremen to the Standard Harriman group. The "Norddeutsche Lloyd" formed a similar "interest group" with the "U.S. Mail Steamship Co."""

1991, Webster Griffin Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin, 'George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography' (digital version): "Averell Harriman and [George Herbert] Bert Walker [and later Prescott Bush] had gained control over the steamship company [Hamburg-Amerika Line] in 1920 in negotiations with its post-World War I chief executive, "Wilhelm Cuno", and with the line's bankers, M.M. Warburg. Cuno was thereafter completely dependent on the Anglo-Americans, and became a member of the Anglo-German Friendship Society [same as Anglo-German Fellowship]. In the 1930-32 drive for a Hitler dictatorship, Wilhelm Cuno contributed important sums to the Nazi Party."

1993, Ron Chernow, 'The Warburgs', p. 325: "Twice in 1930, when Hitler visited Hamburg, [Wilhelm Cuno business partner at HAPAG] Max [Warburg] noted that he had to soften his anti-Semitic rhetoric to cater to local tastes. That September, Hitler assured HAPAG chief Wilhelm Cuno that the Nazis didn't want to persecute the Jews, but just to reduce their political predominance. Cuno was so pleased by this "moderate" Hitler that he arranged for him to address the Hamburg National Club, where the latter avoided anti-Semitic themes and stressed the benefits of the Eastern conquest. In another Nazi breakthrough in business circles, Emil Georg von Stauss of Deutsche Bank invited Dr. Schacht to a private dinner at Hermann Goring's home in January 1931. The [Great] Depression nearly killed off the Warburg bank before Hitler had a chance to do so."

Oct. 27, 1931, New York Times, 'Cuno Agrees to Serve on New Reich Council; Hamburg-America Chairman, Here for Industrial Meeting, Accepts [President] Hindenburg's Invitation.'

July 20, 1920, New York Times, 'Germans Rejoice in Shipping Deal; Believe Harriman-HamburgAmerican Project Will Revive Their Trade. Big Shipbuilding Program; Hamburg Yards Make Extensive Preparations--Hope to ImportAmerican Steel.'

Oct. 6, 1920, New York Times, 'Harriman Calls German Ship Deal Big Opportunity; Gives Full Text of Agreement Between Hamburg and American Companies. Replies to Criticisms; Says Contract Gives No Advantages to Hamburg Line in Shipments to America. Quotes Admiral Benson. Kermit Roosevelt Explains Why He Resigned as Secretary of Harriman's Company.': "W.A. Harriman, President of the American Ship and Commerce Corporation, issued a statement yesterday in which he answered recent criticisms of clauses in the contract to be made between his company and the HamburgAmerican Line for the reopening of the latter's pre-war trade routes."

Oct. 10, 1920, New York Times, 'Germans Welcome Harriman Ship Deal; Hamburg-American Line Hopes to Regain Independence Through U.S. Shipping Board Vessels. They Will Propose Rates; Director Cuno Looks to Friendlier Spirit in America to Build Up German Trade.'

Dec. 4, 1925, New York Times, 'Harriman to Quit Ships?; Wall Street Hears Hamburg-American Will Buy His Holdings.'

2016, Volker Ullrich, 'Hitler's Ascent 1889-1939' (translated from German): "In September 1930, Hitler met the chairman of the Hamburg-America ocean line HAPAG, the former chancellor Wilhelm Cuno, to assure him that the NSDAP would support entrepreneurial initiative and private capital, and only intervene in cases of illicitly acquired wealth."

2007, Christof Brauers, 'Die FDP in Hamburg 1945 bis 1953. Start als bürgerliche Linkspartei.' ('The FDP in Hamburg from 1945 to 1953. Started as a bourgeois left-wing party'), p. 85: Source that Keppler was a founding member of the Keppler Circle.

Source(s): 1936 CCI document, 'Incoterms 1936', p. 1 (library.iccwbo.org/pdf/Incoterms_1936.pdf: (accessed Sep. 27, 2022): "Bureau de la C.C.I.: ... Presidents Honoraries: ... Abr. Frowein..."; 1938 international and national committee list: "Germany: President: Abr. Frowein."; iccgermany.de/ueber-icc-germany/geschichte/ (accessed: Sep. 27, 2022): "The increasing importance of the German National Committee was shown by the election of the German industrialist Abraham Frowein as World President in 1931. ... Abraham Frowein was re-elected President of the German Group [after WWII]..."; June 1949, '12th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce' document (honorary president).

ICC functions: Member German committee, deputy president under Mendelssohn, world president 1931-mid 1930s, hon. president anno 1936, again president from about 1945.

Partner in Frowein & Co. Founding vice chair Reich Association of German Industry (RDI) 1919-. Founding chair of the RDI's cartel office 1920-. Part of the five-man RDI team that visited a 1926 conference in London with the of the five-strong German delegation Federation of British Industries. Forced out of the RDI by the Nazis. President of the German Economic Council in the British occupation zone 1946-.

Source(s): 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of ICC member and Carnegie Endowment president James T. Shotwell), pp. 132-133: "The [1937 Berlin ICC] congress, in the presence of Reich Chancellor Hitler, heard Goering extol the four-year plan and Schacht excoriate the circumstances which had produced economic nationalism."; avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/07-15-46.asp (accessed: Oct. 11, 2022; 'Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 18', p. 274): "Monday, 15 July 1946 [proceedings]: ... that statement at the Berlin Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce, when Schacht in the presence of Hitler, Goering..."; loc.gov/item/2005675732/ (accessed: Oct. 11, 2022; Library of Congress): "Hermann Goring's activities, May-June 1937: ... Includes views of Goring's trip to ... the opening session of the International Chamber of Commerce Conference in Berlin and reception in the Charlottenburg Palace."; officialgazette.gov.ph, 'News Summary, Philippine Magazine: June 14 – July 13, 1937': "June 28. ... Gen. Hermann Goering tells the International Chamber of Commerce meeting in Berlin that Germany’s intentions are peaceful but that it will continue to bring up its colonial problems until its urgent and legitimate desires with regard to colonies are fulfilled”."

ICC functions: Visitorof the 1937 ICC conference in Berlin.

...

Source(s): 1929, International Chamber of Commerce brochure, council members: "Germany - Members: Abr. Frowein, Dr. L. Ravane, Dr. h.c. Louis Hagen. Altemates: ...Paul Reusch, F. H. Witthoefft, Dr. Wilhelm Cuno."

ICC functions: Member German committee.

Born in 1855. Jewish. Born as Louis Levy. Joined his father's Cologne-based bank Bankhaus A. Levy & Co. Eventually took on the name of his wife, Hagen, who was the daughter of Gottfried Hagen, a Cologne metal dealer and lead pipe manufacturer. Came to run the Louis Hagen Bank concurrently. Instrumental in creating a cartel in the explosives industry in 1903. In 1913, Hagen's A. Levy & Co. ("Levybank") and Oppenheim financed the newly founded Deutscher Verlagsverein to take over the Scherl newspaper publishing house for 8 million marks in order to protect it from being acquired by a liberal publisher. In January 1908, Hagen offered his Thyssen share package to the industrialist Hugo Stinnes, who turned it down. After 1918, Louis Hagen, with Otto Wolff, Fritz Thyssen and Klockner acquired majority of shares from Deutsche Bank AG. Until 1923, Hagen, together with Otto Wolff, had the majority of the shares, which he then left to Otto Wolff alone in 1924. Hagen also had banking connections to the Eschweiler Bergwerksverein, in whose merger with the Luxembourg steel company Arbed in 1913 he played a key role, which earned him a position on the board of Arbed (of ICC member Emile Mayrisch). In 1925, Phoenix AG for mining and metallurgy found itself in a crisis caused by liquidity loans from the Darmstädter and Nationalbank and Bankhaus Levy could be averted. Louis Hagen made Bankhaus A. Levy one of the most important private bankers of the Weimar Republic.

Due to his extensive financing of industrial operations, Hagen became known as the "king of supervisory boards", with only Jakob Goldschmidt, who held up to 123 supervisory board mandates, beating him. In 1912 held a total of 39 supervisory board mandates, 58 in 1927, and 93 in 1930. This is why he is known by historians - alongside Jakob Goldschmidt, who held up to 123 supervisory board mandates - the "king of supervisory boards".

Louis Hagen acquired Birlinghoven Castle privately in 1904, and Mayor Konrad Adenauer first immortalized himself in its guest book on October 21, 1917. In 1919 Hagen switched to the Center Party, of which the Mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, was also a member. Became a close ally of Adenauer. In November 1922, Hagen and Mayor Adenauer founded a Cologne emergency community, which was intended to alleviate the financial plight of small pensioners affected by inflation.

From 1922 on, Hagen's Bankhaus Levy was linked to Bankhaus Sal. Oppenheim in a syndicate. Hagen became a co-owner of the Oppenheim Bank in 1928. An unscrupulous speculator, Hagen brought his bank into an escalating liquidity crisis from 1929 onwards, leading him to withdraw from the Levy-Oppenheim banks and the liquidation of Bankhaus Levy, right when the Nazi's AAryanization" was around the corner as well. Hagen died in 1932.

Source(s): 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of ICC participant and Carnegie Endowment president James T. Shotwell), pp. 132-133: "The [1937 Berlin ICC] congress, in the presence of Reich Chancellor Hitler, heard Goering extol the four-year plan and Schacht excoriate the circumstances which had produced economic nationalism."; Dec. 6, 2019, The Guardian, 'This article is more than 2 years old; Google's anti-worker actions evoke IBM’s racist past': "Thomas J Watson, head of IBM and president of the International Chamber of Commerce, and members of the board of the ICC meet with Adolf Hitler in Berlin, Germany, in 1937. Photograph [Tom Watson with Hitler at the ICC]: Associated Press"; avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/07-15-46.asp (accessed: Oct. 11, 2022; 'Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 18', p. 274): "Monday, 15 July 1946 [proceedings]: ... that statement at the Berlin Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce, when Schacht in the presence of Hitler, Goering..."

ICC functions: Visitor of the 1937 ICC conference in Berlin.

...

Source(s): 1937, Hermann Teschemacher, 'Handbuch des Aufbaus der gewerblichen Wirtschaft', p. 437: "Deutsche Gruppe der Internationalen Handelskammer: ... Dr. Jessen, Vorstandsmitglied der Siemens & Halske AG, Berlin-Siemensstadt..."

ICC functions: 1937 member of the German national committee.

Director Deutsche Bank and the Disconto-Gesellschaft in Hamburg 1929-1931. Deputy director Siemens & Halske AG 1931-1937, full director 1937-. In 1944 he was a participant in a secret meeting of leading industrialists (steel circle).

Source(s): 1953, U.S. Government Printing Office, 'Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals', Vol. 10: October 1946 - April 1949', pp. 64-65: "Von Knieriem — The defendant Johann August von Knieriem [of I.G.] Farben. ... Member ... Internationale Handelskammer (International Chamber of Commerce); Member, Ausschuss fuer Fragen internationaler Kartelle (Committee for Questions of International Cartels), Internationale Handelskammer..."

ICC functions: Member of the ICC's German group and member of the ICC's Committee for Questions of International Cartels.

wollheim-memorial.de/en/ august_von_knieriem_18871978 (accessed: Nov. 5, 2022): "He was promoted quickly at BASF, becoming an alternate board member and head of the legal department in 1923. Owing to his specialization in the field of patent and cartel law, he was part of the team working on the contracts for the I.G. Farben conglomerate in 1924 and 1925. With the establishment of I.G. Farben, von Knieriem first was made an alternate member of the managing board, and from 1932 until 1945 he served as a full member of the board. When the military situation shifted to the disadvantage of Germany, the "head of the I.G.'s legal department" took the precaution of working out the initial decartelization proposals for the enterprise in summer 1944, as it was probable “that we would be forced into a splitting up of our enterprise.”
In 1937, he assumed the chairmanship of I.G. Farben’s Legal Committee, and in 1938 he became a member of the managing board’s Central Committee. On the board, von Knieriem was responsible for legal contractual matters in the negotiations with the Wehrmacht regarding the setup of secret plants for making chemical weapons. ... He joined the NSDAP in 1942.
In 1945, August von Knieriem was arrested by the U.S. military administration, and in 1947 he was a defendant in the I.G. Farben Trial at Nuremberg, charged with plundering and enslavement. He was acquitted, as the judges could prove no criminal responsibility in these matters on his part a , and in 1950 he worked as a consultant on the reconstruction of BASF. In 1955, he became chairman of the supervisory board of I.G. Farbenindustrie... Died in Heidelberg on October 17, 1978. ...
"The judges in the I.G. Farben Trial at Nuremberg ruled on count four (enslavement): "It can be subject to no doubt that the defendant Schmitz, the chairman of the board, and the previously unmentioned board members, the defendants von Schnitzler, von Knieriem, Häfliger, Ilgner, Mann, and Oster, all knew that slave laborers in large numbers were employed pursuant to the forced labor program of the Third Reich [...] We cannot come to the conclusion that they are criminally liable for the occasional cases of mistreatment of the laborers employed in the various plants of Farben; nor do we hold these defendants responsible for the incidents at the construction site in Auschwitz." (Das Urteil im I.G.-Farben-Prozess. Der vollständige Wortlaut (Offenbach am Main: Bollwerk, 1948), pp. 139–40. (Transl. KL))"

1953, U.S. Government Printing Office, 'Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals', Vol. 10: October 1946 - April 1949', pp. 64-65: "Von Knieriem — The defendant Johann August von Knieriem, during the period from 1932 to 1945, was: Member of the Vorstand and of the Zentralausschuss (Central Committee); Chairman, Rechtsausschuss (Legal Committee) and Patent-Ausschuss (Patent Committee) of [IG] Farben; ... Member, Ausschuss fuer Fragen des gewerblichen Rechtsschutzes (Committee for Questions of Legal Protection of Industry) ; Internationale Handelskammer (International Chamber of Commerce); Member, Ausschuss fuer Fragen internationaler Kartelle (Committee for Questions of International Cartels), Internationale Handelskammer; Member, Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft (Kaiser Wilhelm Society)..."

1952, NMT report, 'Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunal', pp. 1195-1196: "There can be no doubt that the Defendant Schmitz, Chairman of the vorstand, and the other vorstand members not previously mentioned, namely, the Defendants von Schnitzler, von Knieriem, Haefliger, Ilgner, Mann, and Oster, all knew that slave labor was being employed on an extensive role under the forced labor program of the Third Reich. Schmitz twice reported to the Aufsichtsrat on the manpower problems of Farben pointing out that it had become neoessary to make up for the shortage of workers by employment of foreigners and prisoners of war. This evidence does not establish that Farben was taking the initiative in the illegal employment of prisoners of war. Neither Schmitz nor any of the members of the vorstand here under discussion were shown to have ever exercised functions in the allocation or recruitment of compulsory labor. We cannot say that it has been proved that initiative in the procurement of concentration camp inmates was ever exercised by these defendants. The proof does not establish to our satisfaction that, in approving the Auschwitz project, the vorstand considered the employment of concentration camp inmates to be one of the factors entering into the decision for the location of the Auschwitz plant. It is not even clearly established that they knew inmates would be so used at the time of giving such approval. ... We cannot hold that they are responsible criminally for the occasional acts of mistreatment of labor employed in the various Farben plants nor do we consider these defendants to be responsible for the occurrences at the Auschwitz construction site."

Dec. 1945, Senate Committee on Military Affairs, 'Elimination of German Resources for War', part 7 on I. G. Farben, pp. 943-944: "I. G. Farben, nominally a private business enterprise, has been and is, in fact, a colossal empire serving the German State as one of the principal industrial cores around which successive German drives for world conquest have been organized. With a net worth of RM. 6,000,000,000 at the very minimum, its domestic participations comprised over 380 other German firms. Its factories, power installations, and mines are scattered all over Germany. It owns its own lignite and bituminous coal mines, electric power plants, coke ovens, magnite, gypsum, and salt mines. Its foreign participations, both admitted and concealed, number over 500 firms valued at a minimum of RM. 1,000,000,000. Its holding companies and plants blanket Europe; and its house banks, research firms, and patent offices are clustered around every important commercial and industrial center in both hemispheres. In addition to its numerous foreign subsidiaries, I. G.'s world-wide affiliations included hundreds of separate non- German concerns and ranged over a score of industries. Its cartel agreements numbered over 2,000 and included such major industrial concerns as Standard Oil (New Jersey), the Aluminum Co. of America, E. I. du Pont de Nemours, Ethyl Export Corp., Imperial Chemical Industries (Great Britain), the Dow Chemical Co., Rohm & Haas, Etablissments Kuhlmann (France), and the Mitsui interests of Japan.
Not only did Farben furnish Germany with the sinews of war, but it constituted one of Germany’s most effective weapons of economic and political warfare against the other nations of the world. So tremendous and complex were its operations, however, that their full significance and scope may never be known. This report does not pretend to tell the complete story. In anticipation of Allied victory, thousands of Farben’s secrets went underground along with other German resources to lay the foundation for World War III; and thousands of its important files were, according to the testimony of its responsible officials, destroyed just prior to the advent of the Allied troops. The investigation reported herein, however, has confirmed what heretofore have been mere speculations; and has uncovered a wealth of evidence proving conclusively (1) that without I. G.’s immense productive facilities, its intensive research, and vast international affiliations, Germany’s prosecution of the war would have been unthinkable and impossible; (2) that Farben not only directed its energies toward arming Germany, but concentrated on weakening her intended victims, and (3) that this double-barreled attempt to expand the German industrial potential for war and to restrict that of the rest of the world was not conceived and executed “in the normal course of business.” The proof is overwhelming that I. G. Farben officials had full prior knowledge of Germany’s plan for world conquest and of each specific aggressive act later undertaken pursuant thereto, that they planned their operations accordingly and anticipated expanding their empire on the plunder acquired.
It was Farben’s task to make Germany self-sufficient in certain critical war materials which Germany lacked and which are indispensable to modern warfare - rubber, gasoline and lubricating oils, magnesium, fibers, tanning agents, fats, explosives, and so forth. The nature and purpose of I. G.'s assignment were clearly stated by Dr. Struss, chief of I. G.’s technical bureau and one of the principal technicians responsible for carrying out this assignment, in a speech exhorting increased production of synthetic gasoline. ...
Between 1933 and 1943 vast sums were devoted to an extraordinary intensification of I. G.’s research activities designed to develop substitutes for products not available to Germany and processes for the expansion of production from indigenous raw materials. These are a few examples of what was done. To compensate for Germany’s deficiency in bauxite, the raw material necessary in the manufacture of aluminum, I. G. concentrated on the development of magnesium. To make Germany independent of rubber imports, I. G.’s experts developed the famous buna process for the manufacture of synthetic rubber. Whereas, prior to 1936, Germany had obtained all pyrites from abroad, I. G. built a new plant at Wolfen for the production of sulfuric acid from German gypsum. Lacking America’s wealth of natural oil, I. G. with its famous hydrogenation process, manufactured motor fuels and lubricating oils from coal.
Certain processes and materials which I. G. could not present to the Nazis directly from its own laboratories and stock piles, it procured for them from its cartel cohorts in foreign countries. From America I. G. obtained the newly discovered method for the production of iso-octane and its utilization for motor fuels. This process, according to one of I. G.’s leading scientists, originated— in fact entirely with the Americans and has become known to us in detail in its separate stages through our agreements with them (Standard Oil, New Jersey) and is being used very extensively by us.
The process for producing tetraethyl lead, essential for the manufacture of aviation gasoline, was obtained for the Nazis by I. G. Farben in exactly the same way. Of this important acquisition, an I. G. official stated:
"It need not be especially mentioned that, without lead-tetraethyl the present method of warfare would be unthinkable. The fact that since the beginning of the war w’e could produce lead-tetraethyl is entirely due to the circumstances that shortly before, the Americans had presented us with the production plants complete with experimental knowledge; thus the difficult work of development (one need only recall the poisonous property of lead-tetraethyl which caused many deaths in the United States of America) was spared us, since we could take up the manufacture of this product together with all the experience that the Americans had gathered over long years.
"It was, moreover, the first time that the Americans decided to give a license on this process in a foreign country (besides communication of unprotected secret experimental knowledge) and this only on our urgent requests to Standard Oil to fulfill our wish. Contractually we could not demand it, and we found out later that the War Department in Washington gave its permission only after long deliberation."
I. G. exploited its cartel connections with American firms not only to obtain these important processes, but also to obtain certain critical materials themselves. Because of its relations with Standard Qil of New Jersey, I. G. acted as agent of the German Government in con¬ tracting for $20,000,000 worth of high-grade aviation gasoline and lubricants. (Actually, $14,000,000 worth was delivered.) This fuel was transported to Germany and stored there; and the foreign ex¬ change necessary for payment was supplied by the German Govern¬ ment. And, in 1938, when Germany had not yet begun to produce tetraethyl lead, essential to aviation gasoline, Farben, at the request of the Air Ministry and in conjunction with one of its Swiss subsidiaries, arranged to borrow 500 tons of the lead from the Ethyl Export Corp. of the United States. Farben, of course, did not return the borrowed lead to the American company and willingly forfeited the $1,000,000 which it had put up to secure the return of the lead."

Source(s): iccgermany.de/ueber-icc-germany/geschichte/ (accessed: Sep. 27, 2022): "Frowein was forced by the National Socialists to resign as President of the German Group. The appointment of a new president by the state was averted by the election of the entrepreneur and member of the presidium of the German group, Karl Lindemann..."; 1945, Senate Committee on Military Affairs, 'Elimination of German Resources for War', p. 820: "Gesellschaft zur Fordering des Institute Handelskammer, Berlin (International Chamber of Commerce)--Chairman."

ICC functions: Chair German committee during Nazi Germany from the mid 1930s. Chairman of the Gesellschaft zur Forderung des Institute fur Weltwirtschaft / Society for the Promotion of the Institute for World Economy, founded in 1914 in Kiel.

1945, Senate Committee on Military Affairs, 'Elimination of German Resources for War', pp. 819-820: "Karl Lindemann, a director of the Dresdner Bank, Germany’s second largest banking institution, is also a member of the advisory board of the Deutsche Reichsbank. In addition to holding these important posts Lindemann is the owner of C. Melchers & Co., assumedly a private banking house.
Among his other financial directorships should be mentioned Norddeutsche Kreditbank A. G.. a banking and brokerage house, successor to the J. F. Schroder Bank K. G. Although its capital is only RM. 12,000,000, it had asets of RM. 52,000,000 in 1936. Its importance is further indicated by its interest in a number of companies, including a small particiption in Hamburg-Amerika Linie and in the German Government’s propaganda news agency, Transocean. Hamburg-Amerika Linie, before the war, was extremely active in South America, the main field of Transocean’s endeavor.
Lindemann is particularly prominent in the field of transportation, especially shipping and is recognized as one of the outstanding shipping experts in Europe. In June 1933 he was elected chairman of the governing board of the North German Lloyd. A little more than a month later he retired from the board, giving for his reason that the new shipping plans of the Hamburg and Bremen senate, at that time already under Nazi control, had not been made known to him. Be that as it may, the latest information indicates that he has reoccupied that position and still holds it.
Lindemann is also on the board of the Hamburg-America Line, which has cartel agreements with Norddeutsche Lloyd, with Deutsche Lufthansa A. G., large air transport corporation, and with Eckener’s enterprise, Deutsche Zeppelin Reederi G. m. b. H.
According to a reliable source Karl Lindemann had on deposit in the United States, life insurance policies totaling $100,000 w ith a surrender value of $36,720 as of June 14, 1941. The beneficiaries of these policies are his estate.
General background: Karl Lindemann, prominent in German shipping circles, is a State councilor of the Brunen district. He was born on April 17, 1881, in Goldberg/Mecklenburgh. ... 4 years of business training in Hamburg. By 1900 he had volunteered to participate in the Boxer rebellion in China where he subsequently remained to manage the agency of Melcherf & Co. This company eventually elected Lindemann to a partnership in 1920.
After having accepted this partnership in Germany he interested himself in the shipping affairs of Bremen and by 1933 was elected a member of the foreign business council of that city. Lindemann is active in various promotional and educational associations. Among these may be mentioned the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for the Advancement of Science in Berlin; the Institute for World Economy and Sea Transport at the University of Kiel and the Bremen Chamber of Commerce.
His reaction to the Nazis when they came into power seemed to have been lukewarm, but when they manifested strength and staying power, he apparently ingratiated himself with the party. By 1938 Lindemann was elected president of the German division of the International Chamber of Commerce. He is reported to reside at No. 76 Bachmann-Strasse in Bremen and his known financial and business associations are as follows: ...
- Deutsche Reichsbank: Member of the advisory board.
- Dresdner Bank: Berlin—Director.
- Melchers & Company, Bremen (Private bankers): Owner.
- Norddeutsche Kredit bank A. G., Bremen (connected with Norddeutsche Lloyd through interlocking directorate): Director.
- Assecuran-Compagnie Mercur, Bremen (specializes in freight insurance; capital, Rm. 1,000,000; two insurance companies closely associated with - Merck, Finck & Company, Allianz and Mtinchener Ruckversicherungs Ges. each hold 38.83 percent interest): Director.
- Hamburg-Bremen-Feuer-Versicherungs Gesellschaft, Hamburg (fire and reinsurance): Director.
- Hamburg-Bremer Ruckversicherungs, A. G. (fire and reinsurance): Director. ...
- Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen—Chairman of advisory Board.
- Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg—Director.
- Vereinigte Industrie-Untemehmungen, A. G. "VIAG" (Rm. 180,000,000 Reich holding company): Director.
- Norddeutsche Woll- und Kammgarn-industrie A. G., Delmenhorst (textiles): Deputy chairman of advisory board.
- Wollgarnfabrik Tittel & Kruger u. Stemwoll-Spinnerei A. G., Leipzig (textiles): Deputy chairman of advisory board.
- Mttlheimer Bergwerksverein, Essen/Ruhr (utility holding company; Capital, Rm. 20,000,000, majority owned by Gewerkschaft Mathias Stinnes, Essen, of the Stinnes group): Director.
- Atlas-Werke, A. G., Bremen (ship building: interlocking directorates with Mttlheimer Bergwerksverein): Chairman, board of directors.
- Deutsche-Amerikanische Petroleum A. G., Hamburg (oil products; majority owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey)—Director. ...
- Deutsche Revisions- und Treuhand A. G., Berlin (auditing; 70 percent owned by VIAG; 30 percent by the State of Prussia): Director.
- Akademie fur Deutsches Recht, Berlin, Ausschuss fur Seerecht (law association): Member.
- Aussenhandelsausschuss Reichsbank (foreign trade council): Member.
- Industrie und Handelskammer, Bremen (chamber of commerce): Member.
- Deutsche Gruppe der Internationalen Handelskammer, Berlin (International Chamber of Commerce): Chairman.
- Gesellschaft zur Forderung des Institute fur Weltwirtschaft, Kiel (Institution for the Advancement of World Economy): Chairman."

1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of ICC member and Carnegie Endowment president James T. Shotwell)': "The survival of the ICC during World War II is good evidence of the basic interest of all governments in foreign trade as well as of the respect in which the ICC was held. Throughout the war the Chamber proved able to keep its Paris office intact and to function, from its president’s office in neutral Stockholm, as a center for private postwar economic planning.
Eight weeks after the close of the Copenhagen congress, on September 1, 1939, German troops invaded Poland. Two days later France and Great Britain honored then treaty commitments and declared war on Germany. The Copenhagen appeal for peace lost all meaning, like President Roosevelt's April 14 message to Mussolini and Hitler calling for similar assurances and also proposing an international conference where trade would be discussed.
However, the Copenhagen plan for a massive assault by experts on the economic causes of war was not abandoned. Firm plans for its Committee on International Economic Recovery were drafted at the first wartime meeting of the Chamber’s governing council on November 10, 1939, in neutral Amsterdam. Under the chairmanship of the recently elected president, J. Sigfrid Edstrom of Sweden, the meeting brought together forty delegates from twenty-one countries, including nations at war with each other. In a significant decision, the Council agreed unanimously to continue the work of the Chamber during the war. It was decided to transfer the domicile of the Chamber to Stockholm and to establish an arbitration court there for disputes that could not be handled by the ICC court in Paris. A feature of the Amsterdam meeting was a report by the Chamber's secretary general, Pierre Vasseur, on the organization of the Copenhagen-created committee. Thomas J. Watson was to serve as chairman, with former ICC president F. H. Fentener van Vlissingen of Holland and Winthrop Aldrich as vice chairmen Paul van Zeeland, former prime minister of Belgium, was chosen as general advisor. Members included eminent business figures of the world's leading nations: [close Mussolini friend] Ettore Conti of Italy, Rene Duchemin [Vichy collaborator] of France, Hisaakira Kano of Japan, Karl Lindemann [major Nazi industrialist] of Germany, and Lord Riverdale of Great Britain."

1952, U.S. Government Printing Office, 'Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals', Vol. VI: Oct. 1946 - April 1949, pp. 301-317, testimony of Karl Lindemann: "Q. And now, Witness, I would like to ask you some questions about an organization called the Circle of Friends of Himmler, or the Keppler Circle. You were a member of that organization, were you not?
A. Yes. ... Aas a result of my activity in the Aufsichtsrat of the North German Lloyd; as chairman, I had close personal contact with the chairman of the Aufsichtsrat of the Hamburg-America Line, Emil Helfferich. This contact between Hellferich and myself became all the closer since both of us, who knew each other from East Asiatic connections, had the aim of eliminating the old competition between North German Lloyd and the Hamburg-America Line by closer personal collaboration, or, at the very least, of lessening it. Therefore, I had closer personal and friendly contact with Hellferich. ... As a result of [our] common sojourns in Berlin, Helfferich, about August of 1933, asked me to meet Wilhelm Keppler, the Fuehrer's adviser on economic questions, because he believed at the time that Keppler would become the future Reich Minister of Economics. Helfferich then invited Keppler and myself to a breakfast at the Kaiserhof. ... This is the first time I met Keppler...
Shortly afterward I received from the Fuehrer, from Adolf Hitler, an invitation to be guest of honor at the Reich Party rally in Nuernberg. As I did not intend to concern myself with Party or political matters at all, I did not accept this invitation and did not go to Nuernberg. Then from September 1933, during the time which followed, I met Keppler several times in Berlin, through Helfferich--perhaps two or three times. Then, in August 1934, I again received an invitation to the Reich Party rally at Nuernberg as guest of honor and since, in the meantime, both Helfferich and others who had already taken part in the Reich Party rally since 1933, told me that I had missed something in 1933 and that it was a most impressive ceremony at Nuernberg, and as my colleagues in the Aufsichtsrat of the North German Lloyd held the view that I ought to accept such invitation in view of the fact that the North German Lloyd, to a large extent, was financially dependent on the Reich government-I went to Nuernberg in September 1934. I did not take part in all the Party rally ceremonies. I was only there for the first three days. On the fourth day I left Nuernberg, and Helfferich and Kranefuss reproached me for leaving early. An invitation like this from Hitler was regarded as a special honor and it was expected that I remain for the whole affair. ...
When in 1934 I spent these 3 days in Nuernberg at the Party rally, I discovered that I was being introduced into a circle which consisted practically only of industrialists. I further discovered that in the Grand Hotel, where as guests we were housed, these industrialists took their meals in a room reserved for them. On the very first day I saw a notice up put up there--"Reserved for the guests of the Reich Leader SS." I further saw that those who had a position in the SS appeared in uniform and that the guests were looked after--they were given cars for the ceremonies, and so on. All this was done by the SS. I think that during my first day in Nuernberg I heard for the first time the words Keppler Circle. ... During the first 3 days I did not have this impression [that this was a definite, established organization], but in the months which followed, when I met these gentlemen again regularly, particularly of course Helfferich, the expression, Keppler Circle, was repeated and I slowly gained the impression that the intention was to form a circle of industrialists... The moving spirit who apparently, according to my impression, mainly had this intention, was not so much Keppler as Fritz Kranefuss, a very active [and] ambitious person. A practical real effect of this Kranefuss plan, if I may describe it as such, did not develop in the following years. ... From 1935 onward I attended all the Party rallies. That was then the occasion in Nuernberg, where the so-called Keppler Circle met. This Keppler Circle also met, I think from 1935 onward in Munich, as a result of an invitation from Himmler to participate in the SS ceremony on 9 November. [Those who wore their SS uniforms at Nuernberg meetings were:] the Reich Minister of Economics, [Kurt] Schmidt; Baron [Kurt] von Schroeder. In the course of time--I don't know from what year on--Hecker, Hannover, Steinbrinck, Rasche, Mayer, of course, Keppler, and Kranefuss. ... Yes [Wirtschaftsgruppe Einzelhandel head Franz Hayler]. Yes, of course. ... Karl Wolff was in Nuernberg in the so-called Keppler Circle. He perhaps appeared there very briefly, but I don't remember, for instance, that Wolff was present at any meal in that room. ... I did not meet [the SS' head administrator of concentration camps, Oswald] Pohl in Nuernberg. That was only later, in Berlin... Oh, I am sure he did [attend Reich Party celebrations]... Yes. From 1936, I think, the so-called Keppler Circle met several times at Himmler's invitation. ... On all these four occasions Himmler himself was present. ... [I also had] an invitation from Himmler to his headquarters in December 1943. ...
At the Nuernberg Party rally not only the diplomatic corps was represented ; I remember, also that in Nuernberg I talked to the British Ambassador, Sir Neville Henderson. Foreign guests were present, too, from England — I remember particularly England and Holland. In Nuernberg, I don’t remember exactly in what year, I had a long discussion with Lord McGowan, the chairman of I.C.I., the Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd. Also with Lord — I don’t remember the name exactly — who talked to me for some time in 1938 and told me that he was on his way to see Lord Runciman in Prague, where Lord Runciman had a special political mission at that time. I can therefore confirm that these Party rallies in Nuernberg were a representative state affair which went far beyond the scope of a normal congress of a political party. ...
Without doubt, according to my view, if I had tried to get out of it or if I had resigned from the Circle, or had not paid anything, then the result would have been just the contrary. I would only have harmed the interests of the Norddeutsche Lloyd. ... Before the war and during the war I believed that I would help the interests of the Norddeutsche Lloyd and also of the other functions I had, among others, those of the International Chamber of Commerce. Whether only by consideration of these factual matters were the reason for me to pay these [minimum 4,000 Mark] sums. I believed in my good faith, but also perhaps personal ambition had a part in it, or a certain weakness or lack of moral character existed which prevented me, in spite of the fact that my attitude was opposed to the events, that I remained in the Circle all the same. ...
When in 1934 I was in Nuernberg for the first time, I did not see Himmler at all. When, in 1935, for the first time, I attended the entire Reich Party rally, I was presented on Thursday, the fourth day, to Himmler, with the rest of the Circle, and we were invited by him to a dinner in a special room of the Grand Hotel. On that occasion I heard that this event had taken place already in the preceding year, that is in 1934, and perhaps even already in 1933. This invitation on the Thursday evening was repeated in the following years as what one might call a fixed part of the program. I only want to point out that that evening not only members of the Keppler Circle took part, but that rather, at least on some occasions -- I do not know whether it was on all occasions -- Mrs. Himmler was present too, and that on one of these evenings, for instance, Admiral [Wilhelm] Canaris* was present also. He was my neighbor at the table, and that is why I remember that he was also present. ...
1937 [is when it became known as the Himmler Circle]. ... As I just pointed out, I think that in 1937 the Himmler Circle started its activities, and I believe that at about the same time, that is, in 1937, these Wednesday evenings started, and these evenings went on during the whole war. I think that during the war Himmler did not attend these Wednesday evenings at all. From 1937 until the autumn of 1939, that is, until the outbreak of the war, Himmler may have been at those evenings; I think the total of them were about, well, let us say 20; out of these 20 evenings in the 2 years, Himmler may have been present 4 times at the very most. ... Himmler used to be the last one to come, and one may well say that he was considered the main person and treated as such. ... Well, when he came we were already standing. ... Well, most of the time he was the last one to come into that room and he came to every single one and greeted him, gave him his hand. ...
No, there was no difference between these meetings and any other social meeting within a circle of acquaintances or friends. The whole thing went on in the following way: Before the meal one would take a glass of sherry; then we would proceed to the table, in accordance with predetermined plans; the places at the table were established. After dinner we spread out to take our coffee at individual tables — we chose our own tables. ... No [you could not question the war]. ... Well, I can confirm that [the industrialists became less prominent], insofar as [SS members] Fischboeck, Schieber, Kehrl, and maybe also some others joined the Circle; while as far as the Circle of the industrialists was concerned, if I remember well, there were no newcomers. ...
Q. And what about these changes in membership? As far as [Friedrich] Flick remembers, this influx of higher SS leaders, that is people such as Ohlendorf, Pohl, Schieber, Kehrl, Fischboeck — in fact only happened in the years 1940-41 and later. Does that correspond to your memory?
A. I think I can confirm that as far as my memory goes, we had already been in Berlin for some years and met there regularly without these [SS] gentlemen who later joined the Circle. ... When we were at dinner we really discussed only such questions as just indicated by Your Honor --- objects of general family nature or other personal character. After dinner I personally tried at least on various occasions to get a small table and to sit together with the industrialists whom I knew to share my opinions, especially during the war — or at least I assumed that — in order to discuss with these gentlemen my troubles, for instance, which increased during the war. ...
Well, I personally have no experience in that field and I had no opportunity and no reason whatsoever and I didn’t observe it either. If, for instance, I had been active in the armament industry in some manner, and if from that activity I had dealings with the office of which Schieber or Kehrl was in charge, be it in an official character or in a business way; and if I would have had discussions to conduct with them in their offices, well, then, I could imagine that I would have used this opportunity which was given to me in a natural way to discuss matters with them which normally I would have discussed in their offices. ... Yes. But personally at least I have no knowledge of members of this Circle using their membership as such or having the opportunity to use the membership to conduct such business deals. ...
I think I can remember fairly accurately things which I experienced and saw during these years when they interested me and when they made a certain impression on me. I must say frankly that of this [Keppler Circle] visit to [Himmler's] Ahnenerbe [Society] in Berlin, I remember practically nothing. I have a vague recollection that we were led through rooms where on the walls there were charts concerned with the Germanic race and pictures of excavations of burial mounds, and similar things. I believe I also remember that with a certain amount of irony I asked myself, “What is all this?""

1952, U.S. Government Printing Office, 'Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals', Vol. VI: Oct. 1946 - April 1949, pp. 297-298, 28 January 1947 affidavit of Otto Ohlendorf: "I, Otto Ohlendorf, former Ministerial Director in the Reich Ministry of Economics, SS Major General and Chief of Department III in the Reich Security Main Office... [I] declare the following:
1. ... I know that Hitler charged Keppler with the formation of the Circle. The Circle was later sponsored by Himmler, especially at the Reich Party rallies. I probably participated for the first time in a meeting of the Circle of Friends in 1941 or 1942, at which time I was introduced to the Circle of Friends by Kranefuss against Himmler’s will. ...
2. As to the financial contributions, I only know that they were used for expenses Himmler could not finance out of his own budget. Only about 1 1/2-2 millions came out annually, whereas the members of the Circle in their official positions had a certain advantage in their reputation as Himmler’s friends. To my knowledge some of the money went to the "Ahnenerbe" and to the debt clearance funds, most of all to the SS leaders.
3. Hayler and I thought that the means that were raised by the Circle of Friends also could be easily raised anonymously, that is, indirectly, which would have excluded moral obligations toward individual persons.
4. Hayler and I endeavored to eliminate the money contributions. We thought it unworthy that the Reich Leader SS accepted the money. I approved wholeheartedly of the Circle of Friends because I thought it right that the Reich Leader should have people with whom he could speak freely.
5. One of the advantages resulting from the membership in Himmler’s Circle of Friends was that the members were somehow respected by the Party and the police.
6. I participated in the trip to Himmler’s headquarters mainly because I wanted to meet the businessmen. I expected a closer contact with people who were strangers to me. As a member of the SD, this was very interesting. I knew the connections of the combines but not their directors. I knew for example, about the personal relationship between Kranefuss and Buetefisch, Kranefuss and Roehnert, Blessing, Bingel, Walz, Waldecker, and others.
7. My impression that the members only wanted to protect their interests in the combines was strengthened.
8. With the exception of a speech made by Rudolf Bingle, I don’t know that the Circle of Friends discussed postwar problems. Bingel, in various speeches before his closer circle of colleagues, expressed the opinion that the loss of the war should be faced with open eyes, but that the Siemens Works were prepared to carry on after the war under any circumstances.
9. I have not noticed any special relationship between Flick and Kranefuss. Kranefuss was more or less the business manager of the Circle, who had to make due concessions to Flick. I never noticed any special consideration on the part of Flick toward Kranefuss. Flick was more reserved, as he was in direct contact with Himmler. Therefore it was not necessary for him to take a special interest in other circles.
10. On several occasions I saw Himmler in company of others, two or three times among the Circle of Friends, and then on the trip to Hochwald. And on these occasions Flick, being one of the few who had the opportunity to speak to the Reich Leader alone, did so for some time so that I conclude that a closer contact existed between them.
11. I simply couldn’t understand how Flick could play such a part, because I recall very well the time of 1931-32 when he [Flick] was vehemently attacked by the Voelkischer Beobachter because of his doubtful business transactions. He was considered to be a typical example of the man who strives to expand his business. So I never had any doubts that he wanted to establish his position as an individual, and that he found this in the Circle of Friends, which was most necessary for him.
12. I do not know, whether the backing that he obtained through Steinbrinck was sufficient, because the Flick Konzern was already too large and Flick as the central figure somehow remained very obvious. The great expansion of Flick’s sphere of influence was striking and had to be concealed."

Source(s): 1937, Hermann Teschemacher, 'Handbuch des Aufbaus der gewerblichen Wirtschaft', p. 437 (member "Deutsche Gruppe der Internationalen Handelskammer"); 1938 international and national committee list: "Germany: President: Abr. Frowein. Members of the Council: Dr. Ernst Poensgen... Dr. Karl Luer ... Kurt Freiherr von Schroeder..."

ICC functions: German committee member anno 1938.

Director of the Dupont/General Motors-owned Opel AG in Germany from at least 1938 to 1940, alongside Alfred Sloan Jr. and James D. Mooney, as well as chairman Wilhelm von Opel. In 1940 Luer became president of Opel AG. Sloan and Mooney kept sitting on the board of directors until at least 1941. From November 1942 to May 1945 Luer served as "custodian" of Opel, which continued to be a major war producer for Nazi Germany. In fact, in August 1944 a 1,400-plane RAF bombing mission attacked a 35,000-worker Opel plant that was continuing to produce crucial military transport vehicles and rocket technology. After the war, General Motors was compensated by the U.S. government for the destruction of thee Nazi assets.

Dec. 6, 2006, Jerusalem Post, 'Hitler's carmaker': "During the late 1930s, Hitler's persecution of Jews was building to a frenzy even as fears of a war escalated. Nevertheless, General Motors' German automotive subsidiary, Opel, remained a loyal corporate citizen of the Third Reich - content to obediently do the Nazi regime's bidding, and unstintingly supporting Hitler's program on many fronts. These included economic and employment recovery, anti-Jewish persecution, war preparedness and domestic propaganda. In return, Opel prospered. Hitler was pleased - very pleased. In 1938, just months after the Nazis' annexation of Austria, James D. Mooney, head of GM's overseas operations, received the German Eagle with Cross, the highest medal Hitler awarded to foreign commercial collaborators and supporters. ...
After Germany declared war on America, all American corporate interests in Germany or under German control were systematically placed under the jurisdiction of a Reich-appointed "custodian" for enemy-owned property. In practice, the "custodian" was akin to a court-appointed receiver. Generally, the Reich custodian's duty was not to dismember the firm or Aryanize it, but to continue to run the enterprise as efficiently and profitably as possible, holding all assets and profits in escrow until matters would be resolved after the war. This generally meant reappointing members of the pre-existing management team, although these managers no longer reported directly to their American masters in the United States. In the case of Opel, Carl Luer, the longtime member of the Opel Supervisory Board, company president and Nazi Party stalwart, was appointed by the Reich to run Opel as custodian, but only some 11 months after America entered the war. In anticipation of the outbreak of hostilities, GM had appointed Luer to be president of Opel in late 1941, just before war broke out. In other words, the existing GM-approved president of Opel continued to run Opel during America's war years. The company continued as a major German war profiteer, and GM knew its subsidiary was at the forefront of the Nazi war machine. An August 27, 1944, New York Times article detailed that Opel was the principal target of a 1,400-plane RAF bombing mission because its 35,000-worker plant was turning out crucial military transport and was known to be developing rocket technology. In the wartime months and years that ensued, 1941-1945, GM built and operated some $900 million worth (about $120 billion in today's dollars) of defense manufacturing facilities for the Allies. Almost all of the company's undertakings were propped up by federal programs that guaranteed profit and "cost-plus" contracts, various subsidies, tax benefits and other incentives then available to defense contractors to produce goods for the war effort. Secretary of War Henry Stimson later explained that when a capitalist country wages war, "you have got to let business make money out of the process, or business won't work." Gen. Lucius Clay, who oversaw war materiel contracts, confessed, "I had to put into production schedule the largest procurement program the world had ever seen. Where would I find somebody to do that? I went to General Motors." GM also reaped the financial benefits of its relationship with the Third Reich. During the pre-war Hitler years, GM entered its Opel proceeds under "reserves" instead of listing the profits as ordinary income. Then during America's war years GM declared it had abandoned its Nazi subsidiary, and took a complete tax write-off under special legislation signed by Roosevelt in October 1942. The write-off of nearly $35 million created a tax reduction of "approximately $22.7m." or about $285b. in 21st-century money, according to an internal Opel document. But Opel's friendly Nazi custodian, Carl Luer, kept on making profits for the company during those war years. Opel produced trucks, bomber engines, land mines, torpedo detonators and other war materiel, a significant amount of it by the sweat of thousands of prisoner laborers or other coerced workers; some of those workers were tortured if they did not meet expectations. Those profits and GM's 100 percent stock ownership were preserved by the Reich custodian, even though GM and Opel ostensibly severed ties with each other after America entered the war. During the Hitler years, many of those excess profits were used to acquire other companies and properties, only increasing Opel's assets in Germany. After the war, starting in 1948, GM began regaining control over Opel operations and eventually its monumental assets as well as blocked dividends. GM also collected some $33m. in "war reparations" because the Allies had bombed its German facilities. ...
The Transit Scam Ironically, while GM was mobilizing the Third Reich, the company was also leading a criminal conspiracy to monopolistically undermine mass transit in dozens of American cities that would help addict the United States to oil. The war in Europe had only been over for 16 months when on October 2, 1946, a memo from the Department of Justice landed on the desk of J. Edgar Hoover, outlining the elements of the GM conspiracy. At the center of the conspiracy was National City Lines, an Enronesque company that suddenly arose in 1937, ostensibly run by five barely educated Minnesota bus drivers, the Fitzgerald brothers. Yet the Fitzgeralds miraculously marshaled millions of dollars to buy up one failing trolley system after another. Soon, through a patchwork of subsidiaries, the brothers owned or controlled transit systems in more than 40 cities. Generally, when National City Lines acquired the system, the tracks were pulled from the street, the beloved electric trolleys were trashed or burned, and the whole system was replaced with more expensive, unpopular and environmentally hazardous motor buses that helped addict America to oil. The Justice Department discovered that National City Lines was just a front company for General Motors, in league with Mack Truck, Phillips Petroleum, Standard Oil of California and Firestone Tires - all petroleum interests. The companies became the major preferred stockholders of National City Lines, but operated behind the scenes. The scheme worked this way: The manufacturers purchased NCL preferred stock to acquire transit lines on condition that when the systems were acquired, the trolleys would be dismantled and replaced with motor buses. That is exactly what happened. All the conspirators gained immensely when non-polluting electric systems were replaced by oil-burners. Phillips and Standard sold oil products. Firestone sold the tires. GM and Mack divvied up the bus manufacturing and sales market according to an agreed-upon formula. Transit systems in 16 states were converted, adversely affecting millions of Americans, who had to pay higher fares for lesser, more unpopular service. Dozens more cities were targeted in the $9.5m. scheme. In April 1947, indictments alleging two counts of criminal conspiracy were handed down against General Motors, Mack Truck, Phillips Petroleum, Standard Oil of California and Firestone Tires, as well as against numerous key executives of the companies. The defendants were found guilty on one of the two counts: conspiring to monopolize the bus business by creating a network of petroleum-based transit companies that were forbidden to use transportation or technology products other than those supplied by the defendants themselves. The jury found the defendants not guilty on the count alleging a conspiracy to actually control those transit systems. On April 1, 1949, the judge handed down his sentence: a $5,000 fine to each corporate defendant except Standard, which was fined $1,000. As for National City Lines, president E. Roy Fitzgerald and his co-conspirators at GM and the other companies, they too were fined. Each was ordered to "forfeit and pay to the United States of America a fine in the amount of one dollar." The cases were appealed - even the one-dollar penalties - all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which allowed the convictions to stand. The government filed a civil action against the same circle of companies trying to stop their continued conduct. But the government was unsuccessful. Undaunted, National City Lines and its many subsidiaries continued into the 1950s to acquire, convert and operate urban transit systems using evolved methods."

1984, Timothy P. O'Hanlon, 'General motors, Nazis, and the demise of urban rail transit': "In 1974, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly conducted hearings on concentration in America's ground transportation industries. A considerable portion of the testimony and supporting materials was related to a controversial report written by then Subcommittee staffer Bradford Snell. Snell cited General Motors as an example of a corporation that was powerful enough to adversely affect the national welfare by merely pursuing its own economic interests. The report stated that the G.M. owned Opel plant in Germany made a significant contribution to the Nazi war effort. Snell also accused the company of pursuing transportation policies that had a major effect on the demise of electric urban rail mass transit systems in the United States. General Motors voiced strong opposition to Snell's charges and presented considerable testimony in rebuttal."

Source(s): iccgermany.de/ueber-icc-germany/geschichte/ (accessed: Sep. 27, 2022): "This is how the German National Committee was founded in 1925. The first president of the "German Group of the International Chamber of Commerce" was Franz von Mendelssohn..."

ICC functions: founding president "German Group of the International Chamber of Commerce" 1925-.

Chaired the German Industry and Commerce Association in 1925, when he was appointed the first president of the ICC's German committee.

Source(s): 1937, Hermann Teschemacher, 'Handbuch des Aufbaus der gewerblichen Wirtschaft', p. 437: "Deutsche Gruppe der Internationalen Handelskammer: ... Direktor Dr.-Ing. e. b. Ernst Poensgen..."; 1938 international and national committee list: "Germany: President: Abr. Frowein. Members of the Council: Dr. Ernst Poensgen... Dr. Karl Luer ... Kurt Freiherr von Schroeder..."

ICC functions: German committee member anno 1938.

....

Source(s): 2005, Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus, 'Dictionary of German Biography: Volume 8', p. 272: "Reusch, Paul ... held a seat on the administrative board of the International Chamber of Commerce from 1924 to 1931..."; 1929, International Chamber of Commerce brochure, council members: "Germany - Members: Abr. Frowein, Dr. L. Ravane, Dr. h.c. Louis Hagen. Alternates: ...Paul Reusch, F. H. Witthoefft, Dr. Wilhelm Cuno."

ICC functions: German committee member 1924-1931.

1868-1956. German steel industralist of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. Key founder in 1919 of the Essener Montagsgesellschaft / Essen Monday Club, a precursor to the Ruhrlade, with Fritz Thyssen and Gustav Krupp among fellow founders. The group was disbanded during the 1923-1925 Ruhr occupation after Germany defaulted on paying its WWI debts. Member Industrie Club Dusseldorf, together with Fritz Thyssen, August Thyssen, Gustav Krupp and otjer industrialists.

2005, Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus, 'Dictionary of German Biography: Volume 8', p. 272: "Reusch, Paul ... In 1905 R. became a member of the board of directors of the Gutehoffnungshutte iron- and steelworks in Oberhausen; he took over as chairman of the board in 1909 and later as managing director. Under his management, the company expanded into processing after World War I and became a mixed concern. R. was a co-founder of the Deutsche Werft shipyard in 1918 and acquired numerous shareholdings fore Gutehoffnungshutte AG, including a majority stake in the Augsburg-Nuremberg Machine Factory (MAN) in 1921 as well as in three newspapers in southern Germany (including the Munchner Neueste Nachrichten). As chairman of the "northwest group" of the Association of German Steel Industrialists from 1924 to 1930 and as the holder of numerous other leading positions in heavy industry, R. was one of the most influential industrialists of the Weimar Republic. He belonged to the leaership of the Association for the Protection of the Common Economic Interests of the Rhineland and Westphalia and the presiding committee of the National Federation of German Industry (1923-1933). ... He held a seat on the administrative board of the International Chamber of Commerce from 1924 to 1931 and of the of the International Settlement Bank in Basel [1930-1938]. R. was involved in the foundation of the Bundes zur Erneuerung des Reiches / League for the Revival of the Empire (1928), which pressed for the dismantling of parliamentary democracy. For a short period in 1932 he supported collaboration with the NSDAP but found himself increasingly in opposition to the regime after 1933 over matters of economic policy; in 1942 he was forced to reign from his offices."

Source(s): 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of ICC member and Carnegie Endowment president James T. Shotwell), pp. 132-133: "The [1937 Berlin ICC] congress, in the presence of Reich Chancellor Hitler, heard Goering extol the four-year plan and Schacht excoriate the circumstances which had produced economic nationalism."; gettyimages.nl/detail/nieuwsfoto's/ schacht-hjalmar-financier-politician-nsdap-germany22-01-nieuwsfotos/541783905: "30 juni 1937 ... Schacht, Hjalmar [at the] Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce in Berlin, reception of the ICC in the Berlin Castle, the President of the Reichsbank Schacht welcoming members of the IC."; avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/07-15-46.asp (accessed: Oct. 11, 2022; 'Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 18', p. 274): "Monday, 15 July 1946: ... that statement at the Berlin Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce, when Schacht in the presence of Hitler, Goering, and other exponents of the Government called out to the assembly: "Believe me, my friends, all nations desire to live, not to die!""

ICC functions: Present at the 1937 Berlin conference.

avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/07-15-46.asp (accessed: Oct. 11, 2022; 'Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 18'): "Monday, 15 July 1946: ... Schacht was opposed to the Treaty of Versailles, says the Prosecution. That he was indeed. The Prosecution does not hold this opposition in itself against him. However, it concludes from this that Schacht wanted to do away with the treaty by force. Schacht favored colonial activity, says the Prosecution. He did so indeed. They do not reproach him for this, either, but conclude from this fact that he wanted to conquer the colonies by force, and so it goes on.""

Source(s): 1937, Hermann Teschemacher, 'Handbuch des Aufbaus der gewerblichen Wirtschaft', p. 437: "Deutsche Gruppe der Internationalen Handelskammer: ... Dr. Georg von Schnitzler, Direktion der I.G. Farbenindustrie AG, Frankfurt a. Main...."; 1953, U.S. Government Printing Office, 'Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals', Vol. VII: '"The I.G. Farben Case"': October 1945 - April 1949, pp. 62-63: "VON SCHNITZLER--The defendant Georg Augusat Eduard von Schnitzler... Member, Deutsch-Franzoesische Gesellschaft (German-French Society); Member, Directorate, Deutsche Gruppe der Internationalen Handelskammer... "

ICC functions: German committee member anno 1937.

Great-grandson (estimatel not checked in detail yet) of Karl Eduard Schnitzler (1792-1864), who married into the Stein family and became a partner in the JH Stein banking house in 1822.

Nephew of Richard Von Schnitzler (1855-1938), who in 1881 married Melanie Stein, the daughter of Carl Martin Stein of the JH Stein banking firm, with Richard becoming another partner. Supervisory board member of IG Farben 1925-, and played an important role in the merger that led to the formation of IG Farben. Richard von Schnitzler's daughter, Ottilie (1892-1951), married Baron Kurt von Schroder .

Son of Paul von Schnitzler (1856-1932), who was a member of the supervisory board of IG Farben-Industrie AG.

Georg von Schnitzler was trained at JH Stein. Joined Hoechst AG in 1912. Front-line soldier in World War I 1914-1918. Moved from the board of Hoechst AG to become commercial manager of IG Farben upon the company's formation in 1925. Part of the secret February 20, 1933 meeting at Herman Goering's Reichstag residence to raise funds for Hitler and the NSDAP. Those involved were Hjalmar Schacht, Gustaf Krupp, Albert Vogler (exec. chair Vereinigte Stahlwerke), Fritz Springorum (Hoechst), Ernst Tengelmann (chair Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG), George von Schnitzler, Hugo Stinnes Jr., Fritz von Opel, Ludwig von Winterfeld (board member of Siemens & Halske AG and Siemens-Schuckert-Werke AG), Wolf-Dietrich von Witzleben (head of Carl Friedrich von Siemens' office), Gunther Quandt, Friedrich Flick, Kurt Schmitt (director Alliaz AG), Paul Stein (director IG Farben), etc. Part of an August 10, 194 meeting of at the Maison Rouge hotel in Strasbourg, along with Emil Kirdorf, Gustav Krupp, Fritz Thyssen, and Kurt von Schroder.

Source(s): 1937, Hermann Teschemacher, 'Handbuch des Aufbaus der gewerblichen Wirtschaft', p. 437: "Deutsche Gruppe der Internationalen Handelskammer: ... Kurt Frhr. von Schroder, Prasident der Industrie- und Handelskammer Koln."; 1938 international and national committee list: "Germany: President: Abr. Frowein. Members of the Council: Dr. Ernst Poensgen... Dr. Karl Luer ... Kurt Freiherr von Schroeder..."

ICC functions: German committee member anno 1937-1938.

....

Source(s): Aug. 1920, Advocate of Peace (international relations journal founded in 1837), p. 278, 'The International Chamber of Commerce': "At the meeting held in Paris, in the latter part of June at which 450 delegates from Belgium, Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States were present, an International Chamber of Commerce was organized, with ... Baron Edouard Empain the Belgian ... vice-president."; 1929, International Chamber of Commerce brochure, council members: "Council ... Belgium- Members: Louis CANON - LEGRAND, Alexandre DE GROOTE, William Thys. Alternates: Alfred DE BROUCKERE, Baron Edouard EMPAIN, Joseph MARCOTTY..."

ICC functions: Founding vice president from Belgium 1920-.

....

Source(s): 1936 CCI document, 'Incoterms 1936', p. 1 (library.iccwbo.org/pdf/Incoterms_1936.pdf: (accessed Sep. 27, 2022): "Bureau de la C.C.I.: ... Vice-Presidents: ... Belgique: Albert-Edouard Janssen..."; 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (1959 version contained the foreword of Carnegie Endowment president James T. Shotwell)', p. 75: "... the active leaders in the International Chamber were, in addition to Young, Robinson, and Pirelli ... and Albert E. Janssen (Belgium, McKenna committee)."; June 1949, '12th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce' document (vice president for Belgium and chair of the national committee).

ICC functions: Vice president representing Belgium anno 1936-1949.

President Societe Belge de Banque. Apparently of the same family as Bilderberger visitor and important Club of Rome member Baron Daniel Janssen.

Source(s): 1936 CCI document, 'Incoterms 1936', p. 1 (library.iccwbo.org/pdf/Incoterms_1936.pdf: (accessed Sep. 27, 2022): "Bureau de la C.C.I.: ... Presidents Honoraries: ... George Theunis..."; June 1949, '12th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce' document (honorary president).

ICC functions: ppresident anno 1929.

Prime minister Belgium 1921-1925. Started his career at Groupe Empain. Board Societe Generale.

Source(s): Aug. 1920, Advocate of Peace (international relations journal founded in 1837), p. 278, 'The International Chamber of Commerce': "An International Chamber of Commerce was organized, with Etienne Clementel ... as president."

ICC functions: Founding president 1920-.

French minister of commerce 1915-1919, finance 1924-1925.

1985, Philippe Bernard and Henri Dubief (Cambridge University Press), 'The Decline of the Third Republic', 1914-1938, p. 135: "'Neo-capitalists' and hard-line bosses found common ground. Ernest Mercier's movement Le Redressement Francais, drawing inspiration from Saint-Simon, prospered in the nineteen-twenties. Above all, the Confederaton Generale de la Production Francaise (CGPF) was created in 1919 with the decivise encouragement of Clementel, who saw in a powerful employers' organization one way of coping with the difficulties of reconstruction. This brought together the professional groups that had hitherto been independent and in competition with one another, e.g. the Comite des Forges, Union des Industries Metallurgiques et Minieres, Comite des Houilleres, Union des Produits Chimiques, etc. ... However, up to 1936 at least, this organisation did not gain as much influence as had the old bodies, which it claimed to link together."

Source(s): 1938 national committee list (chair French committee).

Kuhlmann-Chemiewerke.

September 18, 1944, Time, 'Foreign News: Tally Ho!': "Among industrialists arrested or marked for arrest: René Duchemin (French Employers Federation [and IGF Francolor / IG Farben Francolor]), Joseph Trotard (Francolor, an I. G. Farben stooge), François Lehideux (auto magnate, ex-Vichy Production Minister), Hypolite Worms (banker)."

1978, Joseph Borkin, 'The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farben', pp. 84, 86: "I.G. gathered intelligence from its employees in Paris about the leaders of the French industry with whom it would eventually have to deal. The most intriguing information concerned Joseph Frossard, Bosch's "trump card" at Versailles. He was now the leading figure in Kuhlmann, along with René Duchemin. ...
As planned, the meeting was held at Wiesbaden on November 21, 1940. Schnitzler and Ter Meer led the I.G. delegation; Duchemin represented the French. Frossard was missing; his French colleagues were informed that he was home sick in bed. ...
Duchemin met with Kramer and others at the headquarters of the German occupation forces. He tentatively presented the French counterproposal. The Germans stated that it was absolutely unacceptable. [60] Duchemin, with a surprising show of backbone, replied that so long as negotiations between the German and French industries continued on a free, voluntary basis, the French would never consent to a fifty-one percent participation by the Germans: "I would rather see my hand cut off than sign such an agreement.
Under these circumstances, Kramer said, there was no point to further negotiations. He pointed out, however, that breaking off negotiations could have "detrimental" consequences. Then, changing his tune, Kramer introduced a new element into the discussion. He would use the carrot rather than the stick. Would the French industrialists change their mind if I.G. offered some sort of compensation? Duchemin was intrigued. In that case, he replied, the transaction might be more bearable.
[62] For the moment the kind or the amount of the compensation was not specified. ...
On November 18, 1941, one year after the Wiesbaden conference, the Francolor agreement was signed in Paris by Schnitzler and Ter Meer for I.G. and by Duchemin, Thesmar, and Frossard for the French dyestuff industry. [84] Frossard was elected president of Francolor by agreement of both contracting parties. This was expected. Schnitzler had already proclaimed earlier: "Of course, there cannot be any doubt that Frossard would be president." [85] As agreed, too, the supervisory board of Francolor was equally divided between French and Germans: Schnitzler, Ter Meer, Ambros, and Hermann Waibel from I.G.; Frossard, Duchemin, and two other Petain collaborators from the French industry. [86]"

Source(s): 1938 national committee list for France

Managing director of the Industrial Bank of North Africa. Chair Chamber of Commerce in Paris 1936-1940. Member of the National Council of the collaborist Vichy government Jan.-Nov. 1941.

Source(s): 1927 ICC, Report of the Trade Barriers Committee': "Alternates: Etienne Fougere, P. Kempf, Paul Roger..."; 1931, issue 76, ICC brochure: "France - Members: Jules Godet, Robert Masson, Eugene Schneider. - Alternate: Andre Gaudet, Etienne Fougere, Henri de Peyerimhof de Fontanelle."; 1938 national committee list for France.

Silk Industrialist very active in employer's organizations. Second governor of the French district of Rotary International 1927-1930. Founding member of the 1926-founded Deutsch-Französisches Studienkomitee / German-French Study Committee, with leading French and German industrialists.

Source(s): 1936 CCI document, 'Incoterms 1936', p. 1 (library.iccwbo.org/pdf/Incoterms_1936.pdf: (accessed Sep. 27, 2022): "Bureau de la C.C.I.: ... Vice-Presidents: ... France: Edmond Giscard d'Estaing..."; 1938 intenational and national committees list (national committee president for Indochina); June 1949, '12th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce' document: "Vice-Presidents: ... France: Edmond Giscard d'Estaing, President, Societe Financiere..."; 1959 version (1938 original), George L. Ridgeway, 'Merchants of Peace', p. 272: "Edmond Giscard d'Estaing, chairman of the French delegation to the ICC 1951 congress in Lisbon."

ICC functions: Vice president representing France anno 1936; national committee president for Indochina anno 1938.

1896-1986. Director of finance at the French High Commission in the Rhineland 1921-1926. Subsequently carried out financial missions in Czechoslovakia, Germany, and in French West Africa. Son-in-law of Jacques Bardoux, a senator from Puy-de-Dome, 400km south of Paris, 1938-1944, and an MP 1945-1955. Mayor Puy-de-Dome 1931-1946, where he lived in Chateau de Varvasse. Chair/president Societe Financiere Francaise et Coloniale 1935-1973. Director Credit Foncier de l'Indochine in the 1930s. Alleged member of the Mouvement Synarchique d'Empire. Chairman French Concessionaire Company for the construction of the tunnel under Mont Blanc 1957-1966. Member l'Institut de l'Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques 1960-, president in 1969. Chair France-America Committee 1964-1966. Director Air France 1970-1976.

Dec. 3, 2020, The Guardian, 'Valery Giscard d’Estaing obituary': "Although Giscard’s father was a strong supporter of the Nazi collaborationist Vichy government and was decorated by its leader, Marshal Philippe Petain, Giscard declared his support of the exiled De Gaulle and was drafted into the French Second Armoured Division as a brigadier after it landed in Normandy in 1944."

Alleged member of the Mouvement Synarchique d'Empire (source: 2006, Annie Lacroix-Riz, 'The Choice of Defeat, the French Elites in the 1930s', p. 37). The key Synarchist banks in Vichy France, reportedly, were Lazard Bank of Jean Frederic Bloch Laine, the Banque Worms of Jacques Barnaud, and the Credit Foncier de l'Ouest Africain, and the Credit Foncier d'Indochine of Edmond Giscard d'Estaing.

2006, Annie Lacroix-Riz, 'The Choice of Defeat, the French Elites in the 1930s': "Worms Hypolite, banker and shipowner. The following lists broadens the scope beyond the Worms, Lehideux, Indochina Banks and the "Nervo Group" which, according to a "serious" source, had dominated the "Synararchic Empire Movement" founded in 1922. He counted, with Hypolite Worms and Jacques Bernaud, at least "four twelve" founders of the "Synarchic Movement of Empire" (numbers 1 and 4 to 6):
- "1. Baron Leon de Nervo;
- 2. Maxime Renaudin;
- 3. Marcel Bourgeois;
- 4. Marcel Marceron;
- 5. Robert Fossorier;
- 6. Robert Lemaignen [son-in-law of the first];
- 7. Louis Formery; real name: Fromage;
- 8. Hypolite Worms;
- 9. Jacques Barnaud;
- 10. [Andre] Marriage.
- 11. Henri de Peyerimhoff;
- 12. unknown." [170]
Among these constantly updated censuses appear, grouped in a "Synarchy file, study 1948", 1 a "list of members" from or after August 1943, counting 364 synarchs (all the previous ones included, except Weiller), 2 no. along... and 3 degrees two extracts from a "note on the fascist secret society called France 1950 (or F. 1950)", synarchic group of which a table of April 17, 1937 quoted 38 "executives" and 26 "members"... There are, with politicians and ideologues, men of big industry, Union of metallurgical and mining industries (UIMM) and Comite des Forges included:
- Raoul Dautry,
- Auguste Detoeuf,
- Jean Fraissinet,
- Edmond Giscard d'Estaing,
- Jacques Lemairgre-Dubreuil,
- Ernest Mercier,
- Georges Jean Painvin,
- Eugene Schueller,
- Emile Taudiere,
- Pierre Waline,
- etc.
-- and of the Haute Banque, such as Jean Tannery, governor of the Banque de France in 1935-1936, and "MM. Ardant brothers" [172], the finance inspectors Gabriel and Henri ("president of the Societe Generale and the Organizing Committee for Banks")[173]."

Father of Valery and Oliver Giscard d'Estaing, the former the president of France 1974-1981.

Source(s): 1936 CCI document, 'Incoterms 1936', p. 1 (library.iccwbo.org/pdf/Incoterms_1936.pdf: (accessed Sep. 27, 2022): "Bureau de la C.C.I.: ... President de la Commission du Budget: Ernest Mercier, President, Societe Lyonnaise des Eaux..."; NOT on a 1938 national committee list.

1878-1955. President Societe Lyonnaise des Eaux, part of the SUEZ Group in the 21st century. Director of the French Petroleum Company (CFP), the forerunner of Total. Member of the 1926-founded Deutsch-Franzosisches Studienkomitee / German-French Study Committee, with leading French and German industrialists. Tied to the technocrat group Groupe X-Crise. Founded group Redressement Francais (1925-1935) that was anti-parliamentarian, anti-state intervention into the economy and in favor of a "government of authority". Became an enemy of the Nazis in 1940.

1945, Andre Ferrat, 'La Republique a Refaire', p. 212: "The second, the Circle of the Redressement Francais, had in its direction: the Comite des Forges represented by its delegate Mr. Lambert-Ribot; the Union of Metallurgical and Mining Industries with Mr. Waleffe; Industries Electriques with M. Mercier, etc."

Source(s): 2016, Andrew Smith (University of Liverpool Management School) a.o., 'The Impact of the First World War on International Business', Chapter 5, writting by Clotilde Druelle-Korn (University of Limoges): "In April 1919, Jean Monnet, Special Representative of the French Minister of Commerce [Etienne Clementel] with the Allied bodies, informed his superior [Clementel] that Edward A. Filene and Edward G. Miner were in France. He had been introduced to them by Thomas [W.] Lamont, the J.P. Morgan banker ... at the Peace Conference. Joined in their mission by Alfred C. Bedford ... they were pursuing several goals: promoting the idea of an International Chamber of Commerce... To achieve these goals, they suggested a mission including a delegation of prominent businessmen from France, Great Britain, Belgium and Italy who would set sail without delay for North America, at the expense of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce... Etienne Clementel (1864-1936), the well-established head of the French Commerce and Industry Ministry, understood the advantages of the offer."

"Europe's founder."

Born in Cognac, France in 1888, in a family of cognac merchants. Abandoned his university-entrance examinations in 1904. Worked in the City of London at J.G. Monnet & Co., his father's company London branch 1904-1906. Represented J.G. Monnet abroad in Scandinavia, Russia, Egypt, Canada, and the United States 1906-1914. Sent to Canada in 1910 to open new markets for the family business. Here he hooked up with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the Lazard Freres banking house. Due to his negotiations, J.G. Monnet's subsidiary United Vineyard Proprietors Co. started shipping large amounts of brandy to HBC, which this company sold on to the Native Indians, a trade prohibited by law. When WWI broke out Monnet tested unfit for military service. In September 1914, one month after WWI started, through his father amd jos HBC and Lazard connections, Monnet managed to meet up with France's prime minister René Viviani. He convinced Viviani of a plan to coordinate the use of Allied ships bringing supplies to beleaguered France. As a result, Monnet was sent to London to set up the International Supply Commission, which organized the Anglo-French pool of ships to supply the Allied forces in France. In London Monnet arranged a $200 million contract for HBC to ship 13 million tons of goods to France on which HBC would take a 1% commission. Chef de Cabinet to France's economics minister Etienne Clementel in 1916. In 1917 he was instrumental in setting up the Inter-Allied Maritime Transport Council, to further improve the coordination of Allied shipping. He wanted this council to have full authority, but didn't get his way. He had, however, created his first supranational body.

Before creating the Inter-Allied Maritime Transport Council, he had diner with Arthur Salter, who would become his lifelong friend, discussing the creation of this supranational body. Salter was a person closely involved with Quigley's Roundtable and his ideas of a federal Europe, which he would write down in 1931, would be adopted by Monnet, almost to the letter. Salter mentioned he was part of "small and secret committee" of economists who advised multiple prime ministers up to the outbreak of WWII.

Assistent to French minister of commerce and industry Etienne Clementel at the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles in 1919. First deputy secretary-general of the League of Nations 1919-1923.

1969, Merry Bromberger, 'Jean Monnet and the United States of Europe', p. 16: "We'll have to requisition French ships that are making a fortune in the Far East while our cargo boats carrying gasoline and vital supplies in the North Sea and in the Atlantic are being sunk by the German submarines," Monnet explained in 1915 to Etienne Clementel, the Minister of Commerce. Clementel accepted Monnet's idea and made him a member of his staff."

No. 1, 1977, UNESCO, International Social Science Journal (published quarterly), Pierre Gerbet, 'Approaches to the Study of International Organizations', pp. 18-19, 82: "On the proposal of the French Minister of Trade, Etienne Clementel, his representative in London, Jean Monnet, and a British senior official, Arthur Salter, 'Executive Commissions' were set up, first of all for wheat, then for oils and fats, meat and sugar, under the authority of the Inter-Allied Provisions Council. An Allied Maritime Transport Council was established, with an Executive Commission the members of which included Salter, Monnet, an Italian, Attolico, and, subsequently, an American. ... From the spring of 1918 they thus controlled the movements and food cargoes of all Allied and neutral ships...
The inter-Allied wartime organization of economic matters disappeared far more rapidly, despite the fact that there was a need for it in a period of reconstruction. Clementel and Monnet would have liked it to continue to distribute raw materials where they were most urgently needed, seeing in it the administration of a system to regulate international economic life. All the commissions had been grouped together at the beginning of 1919 under the authority of a Supreme Economic Council. President Wilson, who had advocated free access to raw materials, was interested. But the scheme was unfavourably received by American economists.. The British, who were initially interested, preferred to go back to the practices of free trade [as well], fearing that the control of raw materials would be used by France as a means of keeping Germany under its thumb. The Supreme Economic Council ceased to exist in April 1919; the Executive Commissions were gradually dismantled, although France would have liked the economic bodies to serve purposes of the groundwork for peace and the instrument of economic sanctions for the use of the league.
However, this wartime experience was not in vain: Jean Monnet and Arthur Salter, who had played the leading parts in it, met again at the league, where, in a similar spirit but in far less favourable conditions, they directed their war efforts towards the development of international economic and financial cooperation. ...
[Chadwick F. Alger article on p. 82:] In other words, Jean Monnet and his followers and collaborators ... advocated a deliberate strategy for unsing economic integration as a base from which supranational political institutions could ultimately be developed. "

1999, Cambridge University Press, Michael J. Hogan, 'The Ambiguous Legacy: U.S. Foreign Relations in the 'American Century'', p. 57, Chapter 2, "Empire by Invitation" in the American Century by Geir Lundestad: "As Michael J. Hogan [in 'Informal Entente' (1977)] has argued, the British wanted to "transform the economic agencies of the wartime coalition into semipermanent reconstruction and relief councils." These councils were to have administrative control over American and other Allied resources... Hogan states that the British had the "support" of the French government when they pressed for the continuation of the wartime councils. It actually seems, however, that the French, led by trade minister Etienne Clementel, himself inspired by his young representative in London, Jean Monnet, pushed this course even harder than the British. [9]"

1996, Oxford University Press, William R. Keylor (professor of international relations and history at Boston University), 'The Twentieth-century World: An International History', p. 79: "The French minister of commerce, Etienne Clementel, assisted by his enterprising young representative in London, Jean Monnet, mounted a vigorous campaign during the winter of 1918–19 to persuade American and British officials to extend this system of wartime economic cooperation to the postwar period."

1994, Andrea Bosco and ‎Cornelia Navari, 'Chatham House and British Foreign Policy 1919-1945', p. 100: "The integrationist patterns identified by Mark Trachtenberg in French post-war reconstruction planning by Etienne Clementel, Jean Monnet, and Henri Hauser, are paralleled in British proposals and plans by [Sir Maurice] Hankey, [Philip] Kerr [the 11th Marquess of Lothian], and [Sir] Arthur Salter."

1981, Max Kohstamm, 'Jean Monnet: The Power of the Imagination', Issue 5 , p. 12: "Powel wished to keep the Allied Executives in being, and he was fully in agreement with Etienne Clementel, Minister of Commerce, when the latter declared: 'It is a complete illusion to hope to restore world equilibrium merely by means of the law of supply and demand.' Clementel accepted Monnet's idea and made him a member of his staff. But the suggestion caused such a commotion that the minister, de Monzie, resigned in protest."

1998, Manfred Boemeke and Gerald D. Feldman, 'The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment After 75 Years', p. 373: "In 1916 an Inter-Allied Wheat Executive had pooled Allied wheat purchases and shipping. The Allied Maritime Transport Council began to coordinate Allied shipping and supplies through an executive body as well as through munitions and food councils in March 1918. Thus emerged the first Allied international organization. Its personnel, among them Jean Monnet and Arthur Salter, pursued the concept of international economic planning by means of supranational organizations after the war. The success of the food exports to the European Allies and shipping control in 1918 also resulted to a considerable extent from Herbert Hoover's work as food administrator in the United States. ... As early as the spring of 1916, Secretary of Commerce Etienne Clementel had proposed the establishment of a postwar economic bloc to England. Yet the powers that participated in the resulting inter-Allied Paris Economic Conference from June 13-17, 1916, refrained from antagonizing the United States by such a far-reaching endeavor and merely endorsed postwar inter-Allied preferences for supplies of raw materials and denial of-most-favored-nation status to the Central Powers."

1995, American Council for Jean Monnet Studies, Clifford P. Hackett, 'Monnet and the Americans: The Father of a United Europe and His U.S. Supporters', pp. 2, 268: "Of the essays in this volume, one describes Monnet's long and close relations with John Foster Dulles which began the Versailles Peace Conference. Later, sealing the friendship, Dulles loaned Monnet and a partner money in 1935 to go into investment banking themselves instead of working for others. In Versailles Monnet also met Walter Lippmann, later to become a close journalist friend...
John Foster Dulles had met Jean Monnet at the Versailles peace conference of 1919, where Dulles was acting as legal counsel to Bernard Baruch, the United States representative on the reparations commission."

Apr. 27, 1959, Time, 'The Administration: The New Secretary': "At the Versailles peace conference, where he met two other promising diplomats named Foster and Allen Dulles, Herter served as aide to U.S. Delegate Joseph Clark Grew. After Versailles, he was in on the birth of foreign aid, traveling around hungry, war-torn Europe as an assistant to Food Commissioner Herbert Hoover. When Hoover became Commerce Secretary under Harding in 1921, he tapped Herter as an assistant.
Only his loyalty to Hoover kept idealistic Chris Herter in Warren Harding's Washington for nearly four years. "Washington is like a dirty kitchen where cockroaches abound," Herter wrote afterward. After getting out of the kitchen in 1924, he spent several unpaid years as co-owner and co-editor of the venerable (founded in 1848), unprofitable Independent, self-styled "Journal of Free Opinion." In Independent editorials, Herter crusaded for clean government, urged the U.S. to "shed its isolationist fears" and join the League of Nations. In 1929-30, after selling his interest in the Independent, he lectured at Harvard on international relations. Then, by what he calls a "pure fluke," he got into politics."

1999, James Srodes, 'Allen Dulles: Master of Spies', p. 87: "The eight months that encompassed the arrival of the first delegations in late November 1918 until the treaty was formally signed on June 28, 1919 gave both Allen and Foster Dulles credentials and acquaintances of the first rank in American foreign affairs. ... Both were extraordinariliy young for the responsibilities they took on; Allen was twenty-give, and Foster would celebrate his thirtieth birthday in Paris. [Others present included:] Herbert Hoover, George Marshall, Bernard Baruch, Adolph Berle, Christian Herter, journalist Walter Lippmann... Statesmen such as Andre Tardieu and Louis Loucher of France and John Maynard Ketnes, Anthony Eden, and Harold Nicolson of Britain dated their first acquaintance with the brothers Dulles from the months they spent in Paris..."

2014, Strobe Talbott, 'Monnet's Brandy and Europe's Fate': "Within three years, Monnet was helping Etienne Clementel, the French minister of commerce and industry, develop a proposal for a postwar “new economic order” but open to other European countries as well. The allies rejected that proposal at Versailles, but by then Monnet had patrons at the highest levels in Paris and London. When the League of Nations was established in 1919, they arranged for him to become its deputy secretary-general. Unfortunately, the unanimity principle under which the League was supposed to make decisions and take action kept it from doing much of either, and it was doomed almost from the start. Disillusioned, Monnet quit his post in 1923 to help his father cope with the family business, which was struggling. ...
It was primarily from behind the scenes that he influenced generations of major actors on the world stage: in his youth, Georges Clemenceau, Arthur Balfour, Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Roosevelt; in his middle years, Dean Acheson, Konrad Adenauer, and John F. Kennedy; in old age, Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt, and Shimon Peres. At crucial moments and on vital issues, these leaders and others took his counsel and adopted his ideas as their own..."

2009, Neil Wynn, 'The A to Z from the Great War to the Great Depression', pp. 160-161: "Lamont, Thomas William (1870-1948): ... Became ... a partner in J. P. Morgan and Co. in 1911. He became chairman of the board in 1943. ... In 1917, Lamont joined the Liberty Loan committee to aid the Treasury selling war bonds. He was also appointed as an unofficial advisor to the Allies and served as a Treasury representative at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1918. In 1924, Lamont was involved in drafting the Dawes Plan and in 1929 the Young Plan... Lamont also headed a commission to deal with the problem of Mexico's debts, and he took part in a consortium established to lend money to China and Japan."

1997, Charles R. Geisst, 'Wall Street: A History', p. 148: "Morgan himself was too gruff and straight-forward to be much of a diplomat, but his colleagues proved much more adept. Thomas Lamont, who became involved in international affairs during the last year of the war, became Wilson's most trusted adviser during the Versailles peace conference that began in 1919. ... Wilson valued his counsel more than that of the other Morgan men who were plentiful at the conference. Bernard Baruch jealously remarked that there were so many Morgan men at the conference that it was apparent they were indeed running the show. [20] This was the beginning of a long relationship that Morgan partners would have with the government and later with the Federal Reserve as well. Wilson's reliance upon bankers opened a new era in banking-government relations. Once openly critical of the money trust and the concentration of economic power it fostered, he came to rely, albeit somewhat late, upon its long list of connections with foreign heads of governments and foreign bankers."

history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/ frus1919Parisv11/d79 (accessed: Nov. 30, 2022): "Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Volume XI: ... 'Stenographic Report of Meeting Between the President, the Commissioners, and the Technical Advisers of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, Hotel Crillon, Paris, June 3, 1919, at 11 o’clock a.m., Paris, June 3, 1919':
Present: The President [Woodrow Wilson]. Honorable Robert Lansing. Honorable Henry White. Honorable Edward M. House. General Tasker H. Bliss. Admiral W. S. Benson, U. S. N. Rear-Admiral H. S. Knapp, U. S. N. Rear-Admiral A. T. Long, U. S. N. Major-General M. N. Patrick, U. S. A. Brigadier-General C. H. McKinstry, U. S. A. Honorable John W. Davis. Mr. Bernard M. Baruch. Mr. Vance McCormick. Mr. Norman H. Davis. Mr. Thomas W. Lamont. Mr. Herbert Hoover. Dr. James Brown Scott. Mr. Leland L. Summers. Dr. Frank W. Taussig. Mr. John Foster Dulles. Mr. Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Mr. E. L. Dresel. Mr. Osborne. Dr. C. H. Haskins. Dr. R. H. Lord. Dr. Clive Day. Captain S. K. Hornbeck. Mr. G. L. Beer. Dr. Charles Seymour. Mr. M. O. Hudson. Colonel T. H. Dillon. Colonel S. D. Embick. Mr. B. W. Palmer. Mr. F. K. Nielsen. Mr. Leland Harrison. Mr. C. A. Herter. Mr. A. C. Kirk. Captain James Garfield. Mr. Ray Stannard Baker."

March 2006 document, European University Institute: Historical Archives of the European Union, 'JMAS: Jean Monnet American Sources', p. 6, 'JMAS.A-01 Dwight Morrow Papers: 1919-1926': "Jean Monnet's initial contact with Dwight Morrow was through the Allied Maritime Transport Council (AMTC), established in 1917, in which Morrow was involved. This Council was later absorbed into the new Supreme Economic Council in 1919. Monnet was the French representative in the Council's supply section. Morrow and the Dulles brothers, John Foster and Allen were also involved with this Council. Morrow's relationship with Monnet continued because of their interest and participation in the world of banking and finance. Monnet upon his resignation from the post of Deputy Secretary General of the League of Nations, got together a consortium, which included Morrow and John Foster Dulles as lawyer to negotiate a Polish loan in 1927 and in 1928 did the same for Rumania."

1982, Professor Joseph Charles Kiger (University of Alabama), 'Research Institutions and Learned Societies', p. 190: "Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. The council was started by a group of Americans at the Versailles Peace Conference who felt that the U.S. delegation had not been as well prepared for some of the problems that came up as it ought to have been and that in the years to come there would be a growing need for Americans to understand international issues. In May and June, 1919, they met with a group of British colleagues and agreed to form a bnational Institute of International Affairs. This did not work out, but it did lead to the creation of two separate national bodies: the Royal Intitute of International Affairs ( known as Chatham House ) and the Council on Foreign Relations , Inc. , which was established under the laws of the State of New York in August, 1921. The American body was made up of the Paris group, somewhat enlarged, and an informal organization that had met in New York sinc elate 1918 to discuss international events. The purpose of the organization was and is to improve the understanding of international issues and thereby to contribute to the shaping of enlightened American policy. The group that met in Paris included leading academic experts who had been attached to the " Inquiry , " the expert staff organized by Colonel House to advise President Wilson at the peace conference (such as George Louis Beer, Archibald C. Coolidge, Clive Day, Charles Haskins, Manley Hudson, Charles Seymour, and James T. Shotwell), and also people of business and political background who had been working on the Commission to Negotiate Peace, such as General Tasker H. Bliss, Herbert Hoover, Thomas W. Lamont, Christian A. Herter, Whitney H. Shepardson, and Colonel House himself. The group in New York with which they merged had a strong business orientation. This mixture of people of differing backgrounds and activities has continued to characterize both the membership of the council and the makeup of its study or discussion groups."

Autumn 1980, no. 4, M. L. Dockrill for RIIA's International Affairs magazine, pp. 665-672, 'Historical Note: The Foreign Office and the 'Proposed Institute of International Affairs 1919': "The establishment of an Institute for International Affairs was initiated by members of the British and American delegations at the Paris Peace Conference in May 1919. It received the blessings of senior members of both delegations, Lord Robert Cecil [1] and the Americans, Colonel Edward House, [2] Henry White [3] and General Tasker H. Bliss. [4] Lionel Curtis, [5 ... Secretary to Lord Milder in South Africa in 1900; Co-founder of The Round Table and editor, 1909; Colonial Office member of British League of Nations section in Paris, 1919...] who was to become a leading enthusiast for the scheme, noted that although it was 'unofficial', the institute was intended to be 'strictly of the nature of public service connected with [the] objects of the present Peace Conference'. [6]
A meeting to discuss the founding of such an institute was convened at the Hotel Majestic, the residence of the British delegation, on the evening of May 30, 1919. It was attended by over thirty members of both delegations. The British side consisted of about twenty-eight representatioves, many of whom later became well known in the worlds of scholarship and of public affairs. The bulk were from the Foreign Office, although the War Office, the Colonial Office and other departments were also represented. Amongst their number were Cecil, Lord Eustace Percy, [7] Major Harold Temperley, [8] James Headlam-Morley, [9] Phlip Baker, [10] Harold Nicolson, [11] Philip Kerr, [12] [Lionel] Curtis, Major C. K. Webster, [13] Captain Clement Jones, [14] Captain Frank P. Walters, [15] Cecil Hurst, [16] Captain J. R. M. Butler, [17] Colonel Frederick Kisch, [18] E. F. Wise, [19] Alexander W. A. Leeper, [20] Captain Edgar Abraham, [21]...
The American delegation fielded nine members, including George L. Beer [professor of European History at Columbia 1893-1897 while in the Tobacco business until 1903; wrote on British colonial history, attracting him as the first American author for the The Round Table from about 1911], [26] [General Tasker] Bliss, Professors James T. Shotwell [director of research Carnegie Endowment 1917-, president 1949-; part of "The Inquiry" in preparaton for WWI peace negotiations 1917-; ICC participant] [27] and Archibald Cary Coolidge [Harvard], [28] Captain Stanley K. Hornbeck [Rhodes Scholar 1904-1907; professor in China 1909-1913; captain in Military Intelligence during World War I, eventually becoming a colonel; head of the State Department Division of Far Eastern Affairs 1928–1937], [29] and Ray Stannard Baker [Wilson's press secretary and assigned historian at Versailles]. [30] [Also: Isaiah Bowman, James Brown Scott, W. H. Shepardson] Many of the Americans were also prominent in scholarly and official circles. General Bliss agreed to chair the meeting. Curtis moved:
(1) That a Committee of three American and three British members be appointed to prepare a scheme for the creation of an Institute of International Affairs.
(2) That the scheme when drafted be submitted to a meeting of those present at this gathering together with any others whom the Committee may see fit to add to their numbers. ...
and Lieutenant-Commander J. G. Latham, 36 and three Americans, Dr James Brown Scott [trustee and secretary Carnegie Endowment 1910-1940, and director of its division of international law] [37] and Professors Coolidge and Shotwell. Curtis and W. H. Shepardson [Rhodes Scholar around 1912; aide to Col. House at Versailles, which started his diplomatic career and where he served as secretary to the commission responsible for drafting the Covenant of the League of Nations; writer Round Table 1920-; founding director CFR in 1921-; director John D. Rockefeller's General Education Board 1925-1927; vice-president of United Fruit's International Railways of Central America 1931-1942; founding head of the CFR's War and Peace Studies project 1939-; OSS during WWII in Washington D.C. and London, becoming head of it Secret Intelligence Branch until 1946; stayed in director Carnegie Corporation's British Dominions and Colonies Fund; president National Committee for a Free Europe 1953-1956] of the American deligation agreed to act as joint secretaries." ...
The sole exception was Eyre Crowe, who voiced an apprehension which was shortly to complicate relations between the Foreign Office staff and the proposed institute. Curtis noted later that 'Crowe ... made the most interesting speech"..."

Aug. 25, 1924, Time, 'Education: Frothy Utterances': "And so to Exhibit B of the week. Sir Arthur Salter's round table had been pouring over the League of Nations for days. There had been dissension."

May 30, 2019, Chatham House, 'The Hotel Majestic and the Origins of Chatham House': "On 30 May 1919, at the Hotel Majestic in Paris, the idea for the Royal Institute of International Affairs began to take shape. A group of scholars, attending the Paris Peace Conference as members of the American and British delegations, were brought together by Lionel Curtis...
There was also an expectation, underpinned by Anglo-American social connections and institutions such as the Rhodes scholarships, that it would be up to Britain and the United States to determine the course of international politics in the post-war period. ...
In the end, the peace that was drawn up at the Paris Peace Conference was not what many of the Anglo-American experts wanted, as it contradicted their recommendations. They were left with the sense that their ideas were not as influential as they would have liked them to be – but this instilled a new sense of urgency.
The original idea was for an Anglo-American institute to provide libraries, research facilities and group discussions. It was to be based on a very intimate link between the two countries... But in the end, as the political climate became increasingly hostile to an Anglo-American institute on both sides of the Atlantic, the paths of the two delegations diverged.
Once they were on their separate tracks, the British institute, which was to become the Royal Institute of International Affairs, successfully established its programme of lectures, publications and study groups. The American group that attended the Majestic meeting and originally planned to set up an American Institute of International Affairs merged with another group made up of New York-based lawyers and businessmen in 1921. The resulting body, the Council on Foreign Relations, took a slightly different direction, and did not manage to rival Chatham House’s research programme on international questions until the era of the Second World War."

2006, Ellen McClay, 'In The Presence of Our Enemies', p. 189: "Columnist Westbrook Pegler had a worked for both the Lamont seniors, saying: "Mrs. Lamont once was described by Herbert Hoover as the reddest American at the Versailles peace conference where she had no business whatever but that of a well-heeled, pestiferous harridan. Old Tom was a gutless, hand washing office boy and little brother of the rich. He died without showing the spark of manhood..." Many years earlier, in 1924, Huxley took Corliss Lamont, the youngest son of Thomas under his wing at Oxford. ... Carroll Quigley ... described Lamont as the chief link "between Wall Street and the Left, especially the communists. [Corliss] with the full support of his parents, was one of the chief ... spokesmen for the Soviet point of view both in these organizations... Eventually Corliss ... was indicted on 23 counts for contempt of Congress in 1954, following his appearance before a Congressional committee investigating Communist activities, particularly in regard to the so-called Institute of Pacific Relations."

Sep. 19, 1934, history.state.gov, 'Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hornbeck) of a Conversation With Mr. Thomas W. Lamont, of J. P. Morgan & Co.': "II. Mr. Lamont then proceeded to give an account of the activities of Mr. Jean Monnet. He said that Monnet had been in 1919 “first choice” for the position of secretary general of the League of Nations, but that Monnet had declined—after which Sir Eric Drummond had been chosen and appointed. Monnet had, however, developed and maintained an active and serious interest in the League. ...
Meanwhile, Mr. Lamont said, Soong had invited Jean Monnet and Sir Arthur Salter to come to China. They had gone. Salter produced a report on the economic situation in China. Monnet had developed the project and taken the initiative which brought into being the China Development Finance Corporation. ... Next, Monnet had set himself - and Mr. Lamont had suggested to him that he do so - to getting acquainted with the Japanese and allaying their suspicions and misunderstanding of him and the China Development Finance Corporation project. Monnet was now in New York and was expecting soon to come to Washington and would call on Mr. Hornbeck."

archives.eui.eu/en/fonds/ 155143?item=JMAS.B-01 (Historical Archives of the European Union; accessed: Nov. 30, 2020): "'JMAS.B-01 John Foster Dulles Papers. Documents from [1931] to [1959]'... The documents in this collection can be found in Princeton, under the section dealing with "Selected Correspondence and Related Material" generally in the folders entitled "Jean Monnet"...
Abstract: The enduring friendship between John Foster Dulles (JFD) and Jean Monnet began at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919 where JFD was legal advisor to the US representative on the reparations committee. Their association continued in the financial world and it was JFD, who was the lawyer for the consortium led by Monnet, for the Polish loan in 1927. In 1935 JFD provided the financial backing for Monnet and George Murnane to go into investment banking. During the second World War Monnet had worked with the British Supply Council in Washington, and Dulles was the legal adviser to this Council. So it was during these years and in the years after the war when peace was being established that JFD came to believe in a unified Europe, a federation of states like the US model. His association with Monnet would have fostered these beliefs and this was to be the basis of an enduring friendship, for Dulles committed himself to the re-building of Germany and its integration into a united Europe. Dulles' talents in the diplomatic field had been shown when he had helped construct the Japanese Peace Treaty 1950-1951. When the Schuman Plan was unveiled in May 1950, it was strongly endorsed by JFD, who had long favoured europeanising coal and steel production and promoting German/French co-operation as the best method of ensuring peace. In 1952, President Eisenhower appointed JFD Secretary of State and JFD used his power and influence in this position to push for US backing for the idea of a united Europe and thus for collective European institutions such as the European Defence Community (EDC). Monnet suggested to Dulles the idea of a US Representative/Ambassador to Europe to underline US support for European integration. Dulles took this suggestion to Eisenhower and so David Bruce was appointed to the position as US representative to the ECSC and observer to the EDC Committee, with William Tomlinson as his chief aide. Dulles, however was becoming impatient with the slow ratification of the EDC Treaty and so was advised to get tough with the French. So in a speech that was approved by Eisenhower, Douglas Dillon, American Ambassador to France and Bruce, JFD linked the success of NATO to the EDC in a speech in Dec 1953. This speech further irritated and worried the French as it appeared the US were dictating how they should run their affairs. To compensate for this hiccup and to show continuing US support for European Unification, Dulles on the advise of Monnet, made an..."

Blair... Murnane? Chase National Bank affiliate (since 1930 majority-owned by John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Wintrhop Aldrich.

Source(s): 1938 national committee list

1871-1953. French businessmen prominently associated with the alleged Mouvement Synarchique d'Empire.

Auditor at the Council of State from 1895 to 1902. Director of agriculture, trade and colonization within the General Government of Algeria from 1902 to 1907. General secretary of the business lobby group Central Committee of Coal Mines of France 1907-, vice-president, president 1925 - late 1940 in Paris. President Union des Mines bank, which supported coal mines, 1923-1932. Chairman of several mining and banking companies. Peyerimhoff, Rene P. Duchemin and Francois de Wendel secretly bought Le Temps newspaper in 1929 at a relatively high price, sparking a controvery in 1931 about press ownership. On behalf of the coal lobby Peyerimhoff formally endorsed the Redressement Francais, a corporate movement existing between 1925-1935 looking to revive the economy by doing away with parliament. Member of the 1926-founded Deutsch-Französisches Studienkomitee / German-French Study Committee, with leading French and German industrialists. In 1940 the Central Committee of Coal Mines was dissolved by the new Vichy government.

2013, Kevin Passmore, 'The Right in France from the Third Republic to Vichy', p. 324: "Widely shared ... was the notion that [the left-wing, social democrat] Popular Front reforms were 'Malthusian'. Henri de Peyerimhoff, head of the coal industry employers' group, defined 'Malthusian' as the 'voluntary mutilation of the nation's productive capacity'--he meant the forty-hour week [implemented in 1936]. [26]"

2011, Matt Perry, 'Memory of War in France, 1914-45: Cesar Fauxbras, the Voice of the Lowly', pp. 101-102: "The press culture in France in the 1930s was vibrant, partisan and venal. ... In 1923 and 1924, the communist newspaper L'Humanite used materials from the Russian state archives to expose the 'abominable venality' of the French press during the period 1897-1917, showing the involvement of [Czarist] Russian ministers, the ambassador and secret envoys in subsidizing such newspapers as Le Matin, Le Figaro, l'Echo de Paris, Le Temps and Le Gaulois, implicating prominent politicians and journalists. ...
During the war, the government's press office surveyed and censored the press.[6] Good news brainwashed the French population... This relationship between industrial interests and newspapers earned Paris-Soir the nickname Paris-Sucre because of the influence of the sugar trust on it.[10] The case of perfume manufacturer Francois Coty illustrates such manipulation. He took over Le Figaro in 1922 converting it into a paper prone to demogagic campaigns for taxpayers, veterans and against the communists. Its outlook fused into a base amalgam of anti-parliamentarism, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory and sympathy for Italian fascism. This agenda was carried a step further in another newspaper that Coty owned, L'Ami du Peuple. [11] Moreover, in 1929, a secret consortium of some of France's most powerful business figures (including industrialists Francois de Wendel, Henri de Peyerimhoff and Rene Duchemin) bought a majority share in Le Temps at four times the market value. They sought political influence over the paper of the liberal bourgeoisie also hoping to prevent it falling into the wrong hands (specially Coty). When the secret deal came to light in 1931, it reinforced the view that the press was 'rotten', 'bought' and venal. [12] Several scandals tied together politicians, financiers and the press. ... Notable figures who provided large subsidies to the press were the conservative politician Louis Martin and the industrialist Francois de Wendel (notably in the case of the latter to Journal des Debats). In terms of foreign sympathies, Le Matin ... was pro-Hitler and Le Journal pro-Mussolini. Even the government dispensed secret funds to newspapers. In this way, Aristide Briand subsidized Jean Luchaire's Notre Temps between 1928 and 1932, followed by Radicals when they were in office in the two subsequent years. The same paper received significant donations from the German ambassy. [Examples of right wing press] If the press was disproportionately right wing compared with the electorate, there was also a left daily press..."

2022, Worms et Cie, '50 Years of Shipbuilding on the Banks of the Seine: ACSM and its Garden City (1917-1972)', pp. 131-132, 'Launch of the steam cargo ship "Charles Schiaffino" - 16 March 1930; Speech by Hipolyte Worms; The ills befalling shipbuilding': "The Honourable Minister, though, for sentimental reasons, I have cause for deep rejoicing that the "Charles Schiaffino" has been built in this shipyard; ... I also take pleasure in seeing the first vessel built in France for an Algerian shipping company depart from this shipyard, especially as this company bears the name Societe Algerienne de Navigation pour l'Afrique du Nord. ... I greet its supervisory board and its Chairman, Mr Henri de Peyerimhoff."

1992, Allen Douglas, 'From Fascism to Libertarian Communism: George Valois Against the Third Republic', p. 242: "This new name [Synarchie] was attached in the minds of many Frenchman (in and out of Vichy) with an alleged conspiracy of high-level technocrats and politically minded businessmen operating behind the scenes of the Vichy government. The grain of truth behind these charges was the rise of power of a coterie of technocrats in Petain's government from 1940 to 1942; for some opinion makers, like Roger Menevee, it became a lifelong obsession. The Occupation widened the appeal of the kinds of conspiratorial explanations that Valois had long favored. [26] ...
"The "Mouvement Synarchique d'Empire" ... the conspiracy of polytechniciens and others against democracy ... had allegedly begun in 1922 or 1923. The leader of this evil band was Valois's occasional ally, and more frequently enemy, Jean Coutrot. Others included Henri de Peyerimhoff, Rene Belin, and other Vichyites."

July 28, 2006, Nouvelle Solidarite, Interview with Annie Lacroix-Riz, 'Fascisme financier hier et aujourd'hui; le choix de la défaite': "["How would you define Synarchy, what are its origins, ideology, founders?"] I drop the more folkloric aspects, i.e. the vaguely Masonic origins or mystics. What is certain is that it existed between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the twenties. For the period concerning my research, what is essential is that it has been refounded in its final form in 1922 by a group of a dozen people including I discovered eleven names only, around groups led on the one hand by the Bank Worms – Hypolite Worms and Jacques Barnaud, who were its main leaders – and any a series of men from Nervo's team, a little-known name, which is a pivotal group of the Synarchy. (2) The de Nervos are financiers and industrialists. Companies, such as Banque Worms [and] industrial groups like those of the Coal Committees, and in particular Henri de Peyerimhoff, who is one of the [Synarchy] founders from 1922. ...
We entered, in 1934, in a very active phase of the political projects of Synarchy, to which must be added all the nebula of economic power. You have to remember that in Synarchy, there is also the coal and therefore, Henri de Peyerimhoff, the chef of the Coal Committee. We don't know who is the twelfth founding member of Synarchy, but considering what happens in 1934, the Comité des Forges [organization of leaders of the French iron and steel industry 1864-1940] is involved in all aspects. ...
What I have shown again is that the Franco-Germany Committee, founded in 1935 by Otto Abetz, German Ambassador in Paris during the war, is almost a small piece of the iceberg [11]. We believed that this committee was something much more political than the Anglo-German Association, of which we know then for a very long time that it is composed of most prominent names in the City and bands industrial. But the real founders of France-Germany Committee are those who are at the origin of the “Franco-German Committee for Information and Documentation” (CFAID) based in Luxembourg, on the initiative of Mayrisch, President of Arbed. The CFAID was formed in 1926, from the so-called phase of reconciliation which accompanied the formation of the steel cartel. Among the founders, we have the Schneiders, the Laurent, Peyerimhoff, of the Committee of Houilleres, Duchemin, president of Kuhlmann and the CGPF, Wladimir d'Ormesson, Schlumberger and others. They were the fundamental part of the future France-Germany Committee which has been set up moreover at the same address as the CFAID. ..
[Note 9:] The CFAID, created in 1926, is the result of weekly meetings of representatives of French and German metallurgical firms chaired by Francois de Wendel, head of the Committee des Forges [from 1918 to 1940], who created a first cartel on that date. The first coal cartelization agreements, the Importscharstrassburg Agreements, were negotiated by Rene Mayer de Rothschild and in 1928, the Compagnie Générale Charbonnière, a joint Franco-German company, was created. With regard to chemistry, a provisional Franco-German cartel agreement was signed on November 15, 1927 by the Central Colorants (Kuhlmann) and IG Farben. Its purpose was the "quotation of production according to the respective turnover of the two parties, the distribution of markets, and the suppression of competition"... 6. Fernand de Brinon. Gilbert Joseph devoted a book to the man he describes as a well-known journalist, a liege man on the payroll of major financial (Banque Lazard) and industrial (Wendel) interests, Daladier's secret missi dominici to Adolf Hitler, friend of Ribbentrop and Abetz. After the debacle, Delegate General of the French State in Paris. Convicted, he was shot on April 15, 1947."

July 28, 2006, Nouvelle Solidarite, Interview with Annie Lacroix-Riz, 'Fascisme financier hier et aujourd'hui; le choix de la défaite': "["Can we say that it is to maintain the payment of these interests at all costs that we are ready to go as far as fascism?"] I think so, that it is as important a fact as anti-Sovietism. We can see this concretely, since it takes on very surprising proportions when Germany lacks gold reserves and the Bank of France and the Bank of England (which are directly involved because gold depends on the central banks of the two countries) made it possible to seize Austrian gold during the Anschluss in 1938, then Czechoslovak gold [10]. There, you enter into a form of collaboration with Germany which is extremely surprising. I believe I have demonstrated, with the help of the archives of the Banque de France, that the Dawes and the Young [plans] were the fundamental factor in the disposition of financial circles to tremble before the demands of the Reich. And I'm not the only one. Sylvain Schiermann, who had worked on Franco-German economic relations from 1932 to 39, had shown very clearly that there was only one priority: that Germany should pay the Dawes and the Young [plans]. And Schacht spends his time, from 1933, blackmailing debt repayment by saying: I'm not paying anymore. But he always ends up paying, and we know that Germany paid until the end since the last payment was made in gold, stolen, as I have shown in other works, with the backing of the banks power stations. The last payment made to the BRI was in April 1945. That is to say, at the time of the surrender, Germany was still paying the interest of Dawes and Young. ...
10. On the looting of Austrian gold during the Anschluss of March 1938, here is a quote from the book "The consent of the partner central banks to this banking Anschluss meant discharge from the German seizure of Austrian gold reserves: more than 91 tons according to an American estimate of 1947 (nearly 103 million dollars), including more than 21 preserved in the greenhouses of the Bank of England (40 tons, according to a French figure of 1945, closer to the official BIS estimate, $46 million). The Bank of England, governed by the head of the Appeasement, the pro-Nazi Montagu Norman, transferred them via Basel. The “currency reserves” of the annexed bank, “about fifteen times those of the Reichsbank”, would cover “the needs of half of the Four Year Plan”."

Source(s): britishpathe.com/video/ex-premier-reynaud-arrives-in-usa-to-address-the-i (accessed: Nov. 20, 2022 'Ex-Premier Reynaud Arrives In USA To Address The International Chamber Of Commerce 1949'): "[Voice of an American narrator of Warner Pathe News:] Former Fench premier Paul Reynaud, currently a member of the National Assembly, arrived in New York to address the U.S. section of the International Chamber of Commerce, calling security the keystone to European recovery, he urged America to send more troops to western Europe."

1878-1966. Minister of the colonies 1931-1932. Minister of Justice April - Nov. 1938. Opposed the Munich Agreement of September 1938, in which the UK allowed Hitler to capture's Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. Minister of Finance 1938-1940. PM France March - June 1940. Minister of National Defence and War June 5-16, 1940. Minister of finance and economic affairs July - August 1948. Deputy PM France June 1953 - June 1954.

Source(s): 1959 (2nd version of 1938 original), George L. Ridgeway (associate professor of history, Wells College), 'Merchants of Peace' (the 1959 version contained the foreword of Carnegie Endowment president and ICC participant James T. Shotwell)', p. 31: "The Atlantic City conference [to set up the ICC involved]: ... The Belgian mission ... included Albert E. Janssen, another director of the National Bank of Belgium... The French delegation was led by Eugene Schneider, head of the Creusot Steel Works... Andre Francois-Poncet, delegate of the Steel Committee in France..."; 1921 list; 1929, International Chamber of Commerce brochure, council members: "France - Members: Jules Goder, Robert Masson, Eugene Schneider. - Alternates: André Baudet, Etienne Fouctar, Henri de Peyerimhoff de Fontanelle..."; 1938 list.

1868-1942. A major railway, banking and armaments magnate in succession to his grandfather Joseph Eugene Schneider. The family company, Schneider-Creusot, continues to this day as Schneider Electric, whose chair and CEO can be found in NGOs as Davos.

His grandfather, Eugene Schneider (1805-1875), founded the Comite des Forges. His father, Henri Schneider (1840-1898), who died young, was vice president of the Comite des Forges in the final years of his life.

Source(s): iccwbo.org/media-wall/news-speeches/icc-mourns-loss-of-gerard-worms/ (accessed Oct. 9, 2022): "Mr Worms led ICC as Chair from 2011-2013 before taking up the role of ICC Honorary Chair. He had served as Chair of ICC France from 2006 to 2017."

1936-2020. Son of the industrialist André Worms and Thérèse Dreyfus. Graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Mines ParisTech. Advisor to 1967-1968 industry minister Olivier Guichard and to 1969-1972 French PM Jacques Chaban-Delmas. At the Hachette Group, the Rhone-Poulenc group, the Societe Generale de Belgique and Telecom Italia from 1972 on. CEO Compagnie de Suez 1990-1995. Chair Compagnie de Suez and Indosuez Private Banking 1995-1999. Chairman Rothschild & Cie Banque (Paris) 1995-1999, lator senior advisor. Vice chair European subsidiary of Banque privee Edmond de Rothschild. CEO N. M. Rothschild & Sons. Vice chair Rothschild Europe. Director Saatchi & Saatchi, Mercapital, Editions Atlas, Paris Orleans, Financiere Saint Merri and Cofide. Chair International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) 2011-2013. Advisors of Degremont. Member Le Siecle, president 1999-2001.

Unclear if Gerard is related to Hypolite Worms, the banker of Worms & Cie who was tied to the Synarchy. There certainly doesn't seem to be a direct line.

Source(s): 1921 list (Luxembourg national committee).

Luxembourg's largest steel baron from 1911 on when he merged Luxembourg's three largest steel companies into ARBED. Supplied Germany with steel during WWI 1914-1918. Organized cenacles at his Colpach Castle in 1920, attended by the likes of Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, Jean Schlumberger and Walter Rathenau (founder AEG; d. 1922). Owner Luxemburger Zeitung 1922-. Key founder of the Deutsch-Französisches Studienkomitee / German-French Study Committee in 1926, brining together major German and French industrialists as Fritz Thyssen, Ernst Poensgen, Rene Duchemin, Henri de Peyerimhoff, Ernest Mercier, etc.

1987, Robert W. D. Boyce (Cambridge University Press), 'British Capitalism at the Crossroads, 1919-1932', p. 108: "The Comite Franco-Allemand d'Information et de Documentation, known as the Mayrisch committee after its moving spirit, the Luxembourg industrialist Emile Mayrisch, was established in 1925 with encouragement of the Quai d'Orsay.[30] The committee brought together leading French, German, Belgian, and Luxembourg industrialists as well as prominent journalists and other opinion-makers, and paved the way for the creation of the European Steel Cartel, the so-called Entente Cordiale d'Acier, in September 1926 with Mayrisch as its president. The Pan-Europa Society, created in 1922 by a young and enthusiastic Austrian, Count Coudenhove-Kalergi, was regarded with suspicion by the Quai d'Orsay on account of Coudenhove's possible Mitteleuropa ambitions and evident readiness to exclude Britain from European affairs."

2005, Gaby Sonnabend (Deutschen Historischen Institut Paris-publication), 'Pierre Vienot (1897-1944): Ein Intellektueller in der Politik', pp. 114, 122-128, 142 (translated from German): "At the time when [Pierre] Vienot came into closer contact with the Mayrischs, considerations were already underway in their environment as to how a functioning Franco-German network could be set up in the interests of understanding. With the death of Jacques Riviere on February 14, 1925, Vienot was finally included in these plans as his successor at the Luxemburger Zeitung ... In January 1925 [Pierre Vienot] a meeting with Mayrisch in Colpach [where Mayrisch lived]. This was followed by talks between the two in Berlin and Paris with those who might be interested in founding a Franco-German organization [24].
Although Vienot complained about the "confused situation," the "incertitudes," and the "obstacles" [64] that he encountered in Berlin, he put all his energy into recruiting members from the end of 1925. Until the committee was finally constituted at the end of May 1926, Vienot repeatedly shuttled back and forth between Paris, Berlin and Colpach to hold talks with candidates for membership or to find personalities who could serve as mediators for Mayrisch [65]. On December 20, 1925, a meeting was held at Jacques Seydoux's, attended by Mayrisch, Vienot, Schlumberger, Henri de Peyerimhoff, the President of the Comite des Houilleres, the physicist Maurice de Broglie, Arthur Fontaine, the President of the Board of Directors at the International Labor Office, and Felix de Vogue participated. In doing so, the definitive list of those people to whom one wanted to contact was drawn up. On the French side were the Germanist Henri Lichtenberger, the steel industrialist Eugene Schneider, the vice-president of the Committee des Forges Theodore Laurent, the silk industrialist Etienne Fougere, the general manager of the Kuhlmann-Chemiewerke Rene-Paul Duchemin, the bankers Charles Sergent and Rene Debrix, the shipping company owner John dal Piaz and Monseigneur Baudrillart, the rector of the Institut catholique. The German list included the names of former foreign minister Walter Simons and industrialist Felix Deutsch and Karl Haniel. The request of Peyerimhoff, who had asked for a generous expansion of the committee in return for his commitment, was satisfied German and Karl Haniel. The request of Peyerimhoff, who had asked for a generous expansion of the committee in return for his commitment, was satisfied ...
The seriousness with which the most important personalities from politics and business devoted themselves to the committee at times seemed to surprise Vienot himself. [76] Nevertheless, there were also a few refusals from prominent quarters. So Eugene Schneider [II] could not be won for the committee. The latter had given [director of commercial relations at the French Foreign Ministry Jacques] Seydoux to understand that he found it [too] delicate to sit on the same committee as a representative of the Krupp company and only wanted to take part if Seydoux officially ordered him to do so as a patriotic duty. [80] However, Seydoux did not want to make such a statement. Likewise, the Lorraine steel producer and president of the Comite des Forges, Francois de Wendel [81], rejected the committee. On the German side, Robert Bosch, head of the Stuttgart electrical company, stayed away from the committee. [82] The sources cited do not provide any information about the reasons for this. [83] Fritz Thyssen first joined the committee, and after a short membership resigned in a scandal at the end of 1926 without ever having attended a meeting. [84] While Mayrisch attributed this to the "impulsive character of the industrial" [85], Seydoux meanwhile evaluated Thyssen's alleged willingness to reach an understanding as a gambit to obtain Anglo-American loans. [86]
Simultaneously with the efforts of Seydoux, the group around Lyautey continued their efforts to give shape to the Committee. Another meeting was held in Lyautey's Parisian apartment in February, attended by Vienot, d'Ormesson, de Peyerimhoff, Fontaine, Goyau, dal Piaz, Schlumberger, Lichtenberger and Vogue. [87] A short time later, Peyerimhoff succeeded in persuading the former ambassador in Berlin, Charles Laurent [88], to take part in the committee. Vienot was really enthusiastic about this and described Peyerimhoff's recruitment as a "masterful coup". [89] At that time, there was no inkling of the differences that would later arise between the two. Rather, Vienot assessed Laurent's participation as very positive for 'his' committee: "He is passionate about this thing [and he] is a leader."
On the German side there were still reservations regarding the planned press work of the committee. [91] The founding meeting, originally planned for March, had to be adjourned because a number of German members were upset about Germany's delayed admission to the League of Nations. [92] Finally, the constitution of the committee took place on 29/30 May 1926 in Luxembourg. The program adopted there was shorter and more streamlined than the original proposals, but the basic ideas about objectives and mode of action were retained. The explanation was supplemented by a definition of what the Franco-German Study Committee should not be. It was made clear that it did not coincide 'with the activities of the various organizations with a 'European tendency' [93] and with the tasks of the International Chamber of Commerce. It turned out, however, that this separation of tasks was not always easy to implement in practice.
The founding members of the committee on the French side were: [94]
- Duke Maurice de Broglie, member of the Academie des Sciences.
- Henri Chardon, member of the Council of State, member of the Institut de France.
- Rene Debrix, General Manager of Societe generale Alsacienne de Banque.
- Rene-Paul Duchemin, President of the Confederation generale de la Production, President of the Union des Industries chimiques.
- Arthur Fontaine, President of the Board of Directors at the International Labor government office.
- Etienne Fougere, President of the Association National d'Expansion economique, President of the Syndicat des Fabricants de Soieries de Lyon.
- Monseigneur Eugene Julien, Bishop of Arras, member of the Institut de France.
- Rene Laederich, President of the Syndicat general de l'Industrie cotonniere french.
- Charles Laurent, former French Ambassador in Berlin, President of the Board of Directors of the Compagnie Franfaise pour l'Exploitation des Precedes Thomson-Houston and the Banque des Pays du Nord.
- Theodore Laurent, Vice President of the Committee des Forges.
- Henri Lichtenberger, Professor of German Studies at the Sorbonne.
- Comte Vladimir d'Ormesson, publicist.
- John dal Piaz, President of the Board of Directors of the Compagnie generale transatlantique, President of the Central Committee for Amateurs in France.
- Henri de Peyerimhoff, President of the Committee of Houilleres de France.
- Jean Schlumberger, writer.
- Edme Sommier, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Societe des Raffineries sommier.
- Comte Felix de Vogue.

On the German side, the founding members included:
- Bruno Bruhn, member of the supervisory board of Krupp, Essen.
- Victor Bruns, Professor of International Law in Berlin.
- Hermann Bucher, board member of the Reich Association of Germans Industry.
- Ernst Robert Curtius, Professor of Romance Literature, Heidelberg.
- Felix Deutsch, CEO of AEG.
- Wilhelm Haas, Professor at the University of Politics in Berlin.
- Louis Hagen, banker, President of the Cologne Chamber of Commerce, member of the Reich Economic Council and the State Council of Prussia.
- Prince Hermann zu Hatzfeld-Wildenburg, Minister a.D.
- Gustav Krukenberg, lawyer.
- Franz von Mendelssohn, banker, chairman of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Reich Economic Council.
- Georg Muller-Oerlinghausen, factory owner, member of the Reich Economic Council and the board of directors of the Reich Association of German Industry.
- Alfred von Nostitz-Wallwitz, Minister of State a.D.
- Alfred Graf von Oberndorff, Minister a.D.
- Alfred Graf von Praschma, member of the Imperial Council.
- Edgar Schiubach, consul, merchant in Hamburg.
- Friedrich Schmidt-Ott, former Minister of State, Chairman of the Notgemein-Society of German science.
- Walter Simons, former Foreign Minister, President of the Reich Court in Leipzig.
- Ernst von Simson, State Secretary a.D., Member of the Board of Directors of IG Farben and the board of directors of the Reich Association of German Industry.
- Emil von Stauss, director of Deutsche Bank.
- Fritz Thyssen, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG, Muhlheim. ...
In mid-February [1928], the Germans presented their list, which included the general director of the German potash syndicate, August Diehn, and the vice president of the Reich Association of German Industry, Abraham Frowein, as well as the historian Hermann Oncken, the philosophy professor Willy Hellpach and the sociologist und Vienot-friend Arnold Bergstrasser. The new members were then elected in March. ... The French had also agreed on five newcomers in the meantime. Among them were Henri Robert, who was a member of the Academie Francaise, the industrialist Ernest Mercier, Count Jean de Nicolai, vice-president of the Societe des Agriculteurs de France, and the publicist Lucien Romier as well as Andre Siegfried."

Source(s): 1938 list (only full non-president council member at that time).

Council member of the Upper Silesian Association of Mining and Metallurgical Industrialists 1922–1932. Council member of Bank Handlowy SA 1932–1939, vice president 1935-. Bank Handlowy was Poland's largest private bank at the time with ICC member Averell Harriman also serving in council from 1927 to 1934. Together with his Nazi partner Friedrich Flick, Harriman also owned the major iron mining company Consolidated Silesian Steel Corporation (CSSC) in the period. Council member of the Upper Silesian Coal Convention and the Polish Coal Convention, with Harriman and Flick also controlling about 20% of Poland's coal mining capabilities. Together with Eng. Szymon Landau, the builder of the Prudential building, the first skyscraper in Warsaw, the co-owners (90% of shares) of the Polish Country Club, the owner of the first golf courses in Warsaw and Powsin. Deputy minister of treasury under Polish PM Wladyslaw Sikorski in exile 1939–1940.

Source(s): 1938 list (alternate member of Japan's national committee)

President of aircraft producer Aichi Tokei Denki company anno 1930, at that point also beginning to produce Japan's first high quality cars. Heinkel Aircraft Works From 1920 on Aichi Tokei Denki produced airplanes in collaboration with Germany's Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke. President of the Eitoku plant, producing 6% of Japan's aircraft by December 1944, close to the end of World War II.

Nov. 15, 2016, carlist.my, 'Review: Lexus LX 570 – Analog Beast In A Digital Void': "The great Kanto earthquake of 1923 had nearly wiped out all of Japan’s rail infrastructure, and hence lorries and trucks were put to work cleaning up and rebuilding what was lost. This presented the perfect opportunity for Ford and GM, who were early pioneers of mass production to enter a relatively untapped and unchallenged marketplace. ...
In 1930, a collection of Japanese corporations, headed by Kamataro Aoki, then President of the Aichi Tokei Denki company, set out to develop a luxury Japanese car, capable of rivalling the Fords and Chevrolets of the time."

Source(s): 1938 list (alternate member of Japan's national committee)

1873-1949. Founded the importing company Ataka Co., Ltd. and the Azuka Sangyo company. President of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Azuka Sangyo grew to become one of the largest general trade corporations, behind Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, Marubeni, Sumitomo, Nissho Iwai, Tomen, Nichimen, and Kanematsue Sho. His sons received positions at Azuka Sangyo, which collapsed in 1977 and was bought up by Sumitomo.

His daughter, Tomiko Azuka, was a tennis player who won the women's doubles title at the All Japan Tennis Championships in 1925 and 1926. His son-in-law, Shushige Hasegawa, who married Tomiko, became president of Sumitomo Chemical Industries.

Patron of the writer DT Suzuki (1877-1966; author who brought Zen Buddhism to the West and inspired the likes of Alan Watts and Jack Kerouac) and the philosopher Kitaro Nishida (1870–1955; founder Kyoto school of philosophy and merged Zen Buddhism with western philosophy).

Source(s): 1929, ICC Brochure, issue 69-76 compilation, p. 59: "Japan - Members: Dr. Takuma Dan, Raita Fujiyama, Keijiro Hori. Alternates: Katsunatro Inabata, Akira Ishii, Kenjiro Matsumoto."

1863-1938. Born into the Fukuoka samurai clan. Graduate of MIT in the U.S. Returned to Japan in 1878. General Manager of Miike Coal Mine Company 1888-, after Mitsui took over the company. Doctor of Engineering in 1899. Councilor Mitsui zaibatsu 1909-, director 1914-, and eventual director-general / chairman. Founding executive of the America-Japan Society in 1917, founded by his brother-in-law. Director Industry Club of Japan. Headed a Japanese Businessmen's Mission to the U.S., UK, and France in 1921. Dan was gunned down by the Ketsumeidan in the extreme right League of Blood Incident on March 5, 1932, in succession to fellow ICC board member Junnosuke Inoue, a past governor of the Bank of Japan in February.

1927, Japan Today and Tomorrow, p. 167 (Google Books): "Dr. Takuma Dan is the only financial magnate who attained the distinction of being created in peer on the occasion of the recent Enthronewent Ceremonies. Baron Dr. Dan is the chairman of the board of directors of the vast Mitsui interests, one of the wealthiest, perhaps the wealthiest multi-millionaires in the empire... Dr. Dan [as] chairman of the board of directors of the vast Mitsui system, which, relatively speaking, is John D. Rockefeller, Guggenheim and J. P. Morgan combined."

He is well known in London and was a member of the Commercial Mission led by the late Baron Takuma Dan which visited this country in 1921.

1927, America-Japan Society, 'Special Bulletin (4)': "THE AMERICA - JAPAN SOCIETY HONORARY PRESIDENTS H. E. MR . CHARLES MACVEAGH, VISCOUNT KENTARO KANEKO. HONORARY VICE - PRESIDENTS: VISCOUNT EIICHI SHIBUSAWA, BARON YOSHIRO SAKATANI, MR . KOREKIYO TAKAHASHI, DR . TAKUMA DAN, MR. LINDSAY RUSSELL, PRESIDENT PRINCE IYESATO TOKUGAWA. VICE - PRESIDENTS: COUNT AISUKE KABAYAMA, MR . E. W. FRAZAR. SECRETARIES MR . YUKICHI IWANAGA, LT . COL . CHARLES BURNETT. TREASURERS: BARON KAISAKU MORIMURA MR . J. R. GEARY AUDITORS MR . KIKUSABURO FUKUI MR . B. W. FLEISHER EXECUTIVE SECRETARY MR . YENJI TAKEDA THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE DR . M. ANESAKI MR . J. INOUYE MR . T. ASABUKI MR . Y. IWANAGA MR . R. ASANO COUNT A. KABAYAMA MR . D. H. BLAKE MR . M. KUSHIDA LT . COL . C. BURNETT MR . O. MATSUKATA MR . H. E. COLEMAN MR . T. MIYAOKA MR . H. A. ENSWORTH BARON K. MORIMURA R . B. W. FLEISHER MR . R. F. MOSS MR . E. W. FRAZAR BARON K. NAKASHIMA MR . K. FUKUI MR . M. NARUSE MR . J. R. GEARY DR . Y. ONO MR . M : HANIHARA MR . T. SAKAI MR . Z. HORIKOSHI PROF . J. T. SWIFT MR ...."

ajstokyo.org/en-about/en-history/ (accessed: Nov. 10, 2022): "Thus, in April 1917, AJS was born pledging friendly interexchange and fosterage of mutual understanding between Japanese and American people. The first president of the Society was Kentaro Kaneko, a Harvard University graduate and one of the members involved in drafting the Constitution of the Empire of Japan.... Inazo Nitobe, Takuma Dan, Junnosuke Inoue were on the list of the Executive Committee."

2013, Susie J. Pak, Harvard University Press, 'Gentlemen Bankers', p. 163: "Jacob Schiff had such close ties with Baron Korekiyo Takahashi (1854-1936), [10] the vice-governor of the Bank of Japan and later the Japanese minister of finance and premier, that Takahashi's fifteen-year-old daughter, Wakiko, lived with Schiff and his wife in New York for three years (1906-1909).[11] Takahashi met Schiff at a dinner in London in 1904 [and] spent the better part of three years in Europe and the United States in order to raise money for the Japanese war effort [against Russia]. ... Takahashi had initially hoped to enlist Pierpont Morgan to Japan's cause, but he found Morgan to be unfriendly and rude. [13] Pierpont's seeming disregard for and disinterest in Japan's business left open the field for his rival. While in New York in 1905, Takahashi told his associate Kentaro Kaneko, the brother-in-law of Takuma Dan, a financier and representative of the Mitsui industrial conglomerate, “Kuhn, Loeb is strong enough to prevent any mischief that might come from Morgan." In 1906, after the Russo-Japanese War, Schiff was invited by the Japanese government to visit Japan, where he met central financial and political leaders, including the Japanese emperor... As long as Kuhn, Loeb & Co. retained their proprietary right as Japan's bank, J. P. Morgan & Co. could not poach Kuhn, Loeb's client without violating their informal code of conduct. [17] Kuhn, Loeb & Co.'s break with Japan over its alliance with Russia and Jacob Schiff's death in 1920 offered the Morgans the opportunity to begin anew with Japan, now the dominant power in East Asia. [18] By the early 1920s, the Morgans made critical steps toward replacing Kuhn, Loeb & Co. as Japan's leading foreign bank..."

February 16, 2020, author Stan S. Katz for his theemperorandthespy.com blog, '1920 – An Important Event Encouraging Good US / Japan Relations. Recently discovered Photo – Frank A. Vanderlip, a leading US business figure and president of the Japan Society of New York City meets with Shibusawa Eiichi and representatives of Mitsui & Co., and other Japanese leaders.': "[Picture shown]... This gathering took place at the home of Baron Shibusawa Eiichi... The invited American guests of the day are as follows: Mr. Frank A. Vanderlip and Mrs. Vanderlip... Mr. Henry W. Taft and Mrs. Taft... Seymour L. Cromwell and Mrs. Cromwell – President of the New York Stock Exchange... Mr. George Eastman [of] Eastman Kodak Company...
Baron Takuma Dan ... is on the far right of the 1908 photo of the original photo segment. ... Baron Takamine Mitsui ... is on the far left in the original photo segment."

1920, Henry Waters Taft, Japan Society, 'Our Relations With Japan', pp. 3-4: "The Vanderlip party which recently visited Japan was organized by Mr. Frank A. Vanderlip on the invitation of the so-called Welcome Association, composed of group of gentlemen prominent in the public and business affairs of Japan. One of the chief objects of that Association is, by affording opportunities for the acquisition of exact information and by friendly exchange of views, to promote cordial relations between Japan and America. The leading spirit in the Welcome Association is Baron Shibusawa, who is well known in this country. Although now 84 years of age and retired from business, he continues very actively engaged in promulgating liberal ideas, and is indefatigable in all kinds of good works designed to improve the welfare of the Japanese people. He and the large element of the people that he represents are strong advocates of peace among the nations of the earth. Recent criticism in America of Japan's national policy led the Welcome Association to invite Mr. Vanderlip to select a group of representative Americans to go to Japan and look into the facts. The Vanderlip party, was, of course, unofficial. It came in close contact, however, not only with the American Embassy in Japan, but also with leading members of the Japanese Government. If it had had official functions it could not have received greater hospitality than it did from the social, business and official world of Japan, and it was afforded the most unusual opportunities to obtain information concerning all questions which are of mutual interest to Japan and America. During our visit in Tokyo a conference was held every morning for six days, at which subjects of international interest were discussed. These conferences were attended by all of the members of our party. Baron Shibusawa and Mr. Vanderlip were the joint chairmen. Viscount Kaneko usually presided, as he understood both the Japanese and the English languages. Besides these, Baron Megata, Baron Sakatani, Mr. Fujiyama, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Tokyo, Dr. Soyeda, Mr. Sumoto and a number of other men prominent in public and business affairs in Japan, some being connected with the government, were present. After our visit to Tokyo, we visited Yokohama, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Nara and Nikko, and at these places, as well as at Tokyo, members of our party came in contact with the leading Japanese citizens and freely discussed with them Japanese affairs. These included Prime Minister Hara, Viscount Uchida, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Yamagata, Count Okuma, Baron Goto, Baron Mitsui, and many others who are now influencing public sentiment in Japan."

jssj.jp/history/ (accessed: Nov. 10, 2022): "The Japan-Sweden Society was founded in November 1929... The following officers were elected at the outset: Patron H. I. H. Prince Chichibu... The successful formation of the Society was made possible through the untiring efforts rendered by Messrs. Yasunosuke Fukukita and Seiichi Takashima, both having served as Managing Directors from the beginning until their deaths, together with Mr. Ino Dan. They were supported and encouraged by Baron Takuma Dan, Mr. Ginjiro Fujihara and others of Japanese business circles..."

"I ask you all to rise and join with me in drinking a silent toast to these great men , Baron Takuma Dan and Mr. Junnosuke Inouye . At the time of my arrival , while conditions between Japan and China were known to be unsatifactory"

April 1, 1997, Zoological Science, 'Obituary: Katsuma Dan': "Dan-sensei was born on October 16, 1904, the second son of Baron Takuma Dan, managing director of the vast Mitsui commercial interests... became Adviser to the Mitsubishi-Kasei Life Science Institute (1981~1987)... Dan-sensei served as President of the Zoological Society of Japan (ZSJ) (1967~1972, 1975~1976) and of the Japanese Society of Developmental Biologists (JSDB) (1967-1972, 1975-1976)."

Takuma Dan married the younger sister of statesman Viscount Kaneko Kentaro. Biography of Kentaro: 1853-1942; born into a Samurai family; Harvard Law graduate graduate; personal secretary to Japan's first PM Ito Hirobumi 1885-1888, who would become PM three more times; MP Japan 1890-; board member Institute of International Law 1891-; justice minister 1900-; founder American Friendship Society / Beiyu Kyoka in 1900; lobbied fellow Harvard graduate Theodore Roosevalt to end the 1904-1905 Russo-Japan War with the Treaty of Portsmouth; made a baron and then viscount in 1907; founder America-Japan Society in March 1917; one of the few senior statesmen in Japan to speak out strongly against war with the United States as late as 1941.

Sources related to old zaibatsu politics and the rise of Nissan/young officers/Kwantum Army opposition

1987, Hyung Gu Lynn (M.A. thesis, University of British Columbia), 'The Mitsui Zaibatsu Tenko, 1932-1936', pp. 2, 6, 8, 10-11, 17-20: "The murder of their top executive and the general anti-zaibatsu atmosphere of the 1930's resulted in Mitsui eventually appointing Ikeda Seihin as the new executive director of Mitsui the holding company, Mitsui Gomei (Mitsui Unlimited Partnership), and undertaking a reform program known popularly as the 'zaibatsu tenko'. [3] The tenko [4] (conversion or about-face) consisted of several policies [5] designed to deflect the criticism directed at Mitsui:
(1) Mitsui Ho-onkai (Repayment of Kindness Society), a charitable organization, was established.
(2) Mitsui family members resigned from the presidencies of the direct Mitsui subsidiaries.
(3) Executives with poor public images were dismissed.
(4) A mandatory retirement age limit was put into effect.
(5) Some of the shares of Mitsui's related companies were offered for 'public sale' (kabushiki kokai )6 on the stock market.
(6) Ties to ultranationalist groups and individuals were either established or strengthened while ties to political parties were loosened. ...
Broadly, policies #1 through #4 were primarily intended to improve Mitsui's public image, policy number #5 was mainly designed to meet the business goals, and strategy #6 addressed the political objectives. ...
The Mitsui zaibatsu tenko was a Mitsui reform, not an across-the-board zaibatsu conversion. ... As for the other zaibatsu, Mitsubishi, the second largest, was the subsidiary target of anti-zaibatsu attacks. Although not subjected to as much criticism as Mitsui, Mitsubishi was clearly ahead of all other zaibatsu on the early 1930's unpopularity list. Mitsubishi underwent a tenko of sorts, but its reforms seem to have been limited to public relations and business management priorities rather than political ones. Of the other big zaibatsu, Sumitomo was exposed to some criticism in the first half of the decade as well; nevertheless the common perception is that the Big Two took the brunt of the anti-zaibatsu attacks, while the others, especially Sumitomo, stood on the lee side. ...
By the time of Ikeda's retirement in April 1936, all six tenko policies had been established, and the decline of the Kodoha (Imperial Way faction) of the military had been basically finalized after the 2-26 [1936] Rebellion. After the 2-26 Incident, the sense of rampant political terrorism dissipated, to be replaced by a transition period before full war-time government controls and the permeation of the economy by military priorities. ...
My definition of a zaibatsu is as follows: by the 1920's a zaibatsu contained a nucleus parent company (usually a holding company), that was owned wholly by a family or a kinship group and formed an enterprise group whose subsidiaries operated in a wide range of industries. The enterprise group included stable sources of capital which enabled the parent company to maintain majority ownership of their key direct subsidiaries. The large-scale subsidiaries occupied varying degrees of monopolistic or oligopolistic positions in their respective fields at the national level.1 5 By this definition, only Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo could be considered 'true' zaibatsu. Yasuda could be included in this group only if Asano were considered as being almost a subsidiary. The mid-sized, small, Chiho, and Hanshin, 'zaibatsu,' often categorized under the rubrics of sangyb (industrial) and kinyu (financial) zaibatsu, were variants of the larger and more financially stable structures of the Big Three (Four). Only the Big Four had enough profit-generating subsidiaries which produced sufficient internal capital to maintain into the 1930's a semblance of majority family ownership in their respective holding companies and in a comparatively high number of their 'flagship' subsidiaries. Also, although some mid-sized zaibatsu, such as Okura, operated in a large variety of industries, whether or not all zaibatsu outside of the Big Three operated in a "wide range" of industries is also questionable. [16] Additionally, with the exception of Ayukawa Yoshisuke's Nissan (Nippon Sangyo) most of the shinko zaibatsu (the so-called new zaibatsu), along with Kawasaki, Furukawa, Okura, Yasuda, and others, did not control subsidiaries which occupied oligopolistic or monopolistic positions in more than one or two fields (if in any field at all) on the national level. Furthermore, with most of the shinko zaibatsu, the nucleus company itself, although controlled by an individual or a family, was not majority-owned by one family.[17] ...
From the start, natural boundaries for alliances between businessmen and parties were present in that the Kaishinto, the forerunner of the Minseito, was led by Mitsubishi's ex-governmental patron, Okuma Shigenobu. Conversely, the Jiyuto and its successor, the Seiyukai, had contacts with Mitsui through connections to the Choshu [clan] genro such as Ito, and even more importantly, Inoue Kaoru, Mitsui's governmental patron deity. Although Mitsubishi supported the Kaishinto financially after Okuma was ousted from the government in 1881,[3] this was more an aberration than a start of the long-term trend in business-party-hanbatsu (the domain/clan faction, the genro) relationships: Mitsubishi supported the party against the Meiji hanbatsu government in 1881- 1882, whereas the eventual outcome was a convergence of parties, business and hanbatsu in the early twentieth century. [4] After the Russo-Japanese War, as ties between genro and political parties were being developed or consolidated, there was a corresponding increase in the influence of individual businessmen and the zaibatsu on the government and politics in general. [5] Toyokawa Ryohei from Mitsubishi became Katsura's economic advisor while ex-Mitsui men such as Yamamoto Jotaro, Mori Kaku, and Noda Utaro, [6] joined the Seiyukai and eventually became prominent members of the party. ...
During the period of the socalled Taisho Democracy and the early Showa years, the zaibatsu expanded their political powers greatly. Hara Kei, the president of the Seiyukai, and Prime Minister during 1918-1921, contributed greatly to the increase in zaibatsu and party ties. [18] To begin with, Hara was close to Inoue Kaoru, and furthermore, was a protege of Mutsu Munemitsu, who had virtually been a retainer to the Mitsui House in the Bakumatsu period. ... Hara wrote in his diary that Okuma received Y1.6 million from the Iwasaki (the owners of Mitsubishi), Mitsui, Yasuda and Okura for the 1915 election. [10] ...
In the case of the 1924 election, one contemporary report had the Seiyukai receiving Y550,000 from Tokyo Dento (Tokyo Electric Light), and Y300,000 from Mitsui Bussan, while three men with particularly strong zaibatsu connections, Yamamoto Jotaro, Yamamoto Teijiro [11] and Takahashi Korekiyo, were among other leading contributor. [12]
Moreover, increasingly, members of the Lower House and House of Peers had connections to Mitsui and/or Mitsubishi through marriages or past or present employment. For example, Kato Takaaki's Cabinet [of 1924-1926] was labelled a "Mitsubishi Cabinet" by the popular press as Kato and Foreign Minister Shidehara Kijuro were both son-in-laws of Iwasaki Yataro while Railways Minister Sengoku Mitsugu was an ex-banto (manager). [13] However, this was a simplistic view of matters, as the zaibatsu had connections to both of the main parties in terms of membership. [14] This was somewhat inevitable considering the array of marriage and blood links between politicians and zaibatsu families, as well as marriage links between the various business families themselves. [15] In other words, the zaibatsu could be said to have diversified their 'investments' in the Diet to some extent...
However, by 1930, in terms of financial support or contributions, it was predominantly Seiyukai-Mitsui and Minseito-Mitsubishi. According to Ayukawa Yoshisuke [Aikawa, founder of Nissan], his older brother-in-law, Kimura Kusayata, the head Mitsubishi executive at the time, and Dan Takuma met to discuss how much to contribute at election time. When Ayukawa asked Kimura how much was donated in the election, Kimura replied that both zaibatsu had cordially agreed to put in the same amount each, one side to the Minseito, and the other to the Seiyukai, and that the sum for each side was about Y5 million.[16]
Aside from the financing and membership, the zaibatsu also increased its influence in political decision-making processes by having its members from the Diet sit on the committees for various industry control laws, or through private business organizations such as Nihon Kogyo Kurabu (Japan Industrial Club- established in 1917), Nihon Keizai Renmei (Japan Economic Federation-est. 1922), the Shoko Kaigisho Rengokai (Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry). The Japan Economic Federation put in resolutions and suggestions on issues ranging from the 1928 Shantung Expeditions to the minimum wage rate.1 7 The various business federations were usually headed by zaibatsu executives, as was the case with the Industrial Club, which was led by executive director Dan Takuma and president Toyokawa Ryohei. Industrial Club vice-president Magoshi Kyohei was an ex-Mitsui Bussan man who had established himself as the "beer king," while others on the board of directors included Go Seinosuke, a director of Oji Seishi, a Mitsui ordinary subsidiary (bokei kaisha), and related by marriage to the Iwasaki, and Nakajima Kumakichi, a Furukawa Gomei director until 1924, among others. [18].
While zaibatsu influence in politics was growing, the number of corruption cases was increasing as well. In the Kondo Affair (Siemens Affair) of 1914, Mitsui was directly embroiled in the alleged bribing of government officials to obtain the contract for the building of a naval battleship. [19] The Yamamoto Gonnohyoe Cabinet resigned en bloc as a result of this particular scandal. The Incident also precipitated the resignation of three top executives of Mitsui Bussan, Yamamoto Jotaro, lida Giichi, and Iwahara Kenzo, and ultimately, Masuda Takashi, the head executive of Mitsui Gomei. It was thought by some that the universal male suffrage law of 1925 would end corruption and bribery, but if anything, the scandals increased in the late 1920's.[20] The Tanaka Cabinet in particular was riddled by numerous corruption cases, and the obvious patronage appointment of Kuhara Fusanosuke as Communications Minister, and the prominent role of ex-Mitsui Bussan men Mori Kaku, appointed Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Yamamoto Jotaro, appointed president of Minami Manshu" Tetsudo Kaisha (South Manchurian Railway Co., or Mantetsu or S.M.R.) further undermined the Cabinet's popularity. Although the established zaibatsu were not directly involved in most of the scandals,2 1 by 1930, the perception that Mitsui had 'bought' the Seiyukai and that Mitsubishi had done the equivalent to the Minseito was widespread among all sectors of society.[22] ...
The Siberian Intervention was Japan's first modern military expedition which did not have popular support at home. The [Gen.] Tanaka [Giichi] Cabinet's decision to send over the three Shantung Expeditions (May-July 1927-1929) at a time of great financial instability in Japan contributed to the unpopularity of the Tanaka Cabinet, while increasing the anti-Japanese feelings in China. These Japanese military expeditions prompted China to boycott Japanese goods, and marked the first step in the escalation of the Kwantung Army's (Kantogun) activities in China. In fact, the resignation of the Tanaka Cabinet in July 1929, was precipitated by the revelation of the Kwantung Army's responsibility in the assassination the Manchurian warlord, Chang Tso-lin on June 4, 1928, and the Cabinet's attempted hush-up and its failure to punish the conspirators.[23] ...
The London Naval Agreement was concluded in April 1930. The military's discontent with most bureaucrats (as opposed to the so-called reform bureaucrats) [24] and party politicians arose largely from the fact that the Minseito Hamaguchi Cabinet had forced through the ratification of the London Naval Treaty against the vehement opposition of the Navy, the naval chief of staff, Admiral Kato Kanji, and many members of the House of Peers and the Privy Council.[25] Newspapers became more strident in handing down the verdict that the conciliatory Shidehara foreign policy was weak, inefficient and had failed the country. In an effort to embarrass the Minseito government, Inukai Tsuyoshi and the Seiyukai also added their voices to the chorus of criticism.[26] The navy (and the newspapers) questioned the civilian politicians' 'invasion' of military operational matters, and claimed that the security of the nation was being compromised for the sake of adherence to the gold standard and budgetary retrenchment. [27] The London Naval Treaty issue was the primary factor in the assassination attempt on Hamaguchi's by a civilian extremist in April 1930, and was also mentioned as a source of motivation by the group who carried out the May 15 Incident. [28] The Manchurian Incident at Mukden on Sept. 18, 1931, capped the chain of foreign affairs events which contributed to the development of an anti-zaibatsu environment. ...
[Nothing but financial crises in the 1920s and early 1930s]
Back on the domestic front, in order to counter the mounting criticism against his policy of adhering to the gold standard, Inoue sought the endorsement of his policy from the private sector. Lead by Ikeda, a group of bankers, including Go (15th Bank) and Yatsuhiro Norihiko (Sumitomo), issued a statement of support in November 1931. [45] During the same period (September-December 1931), in consultation with the Bank of Japan and the Yokohama Specie Bank, many of the large private banks bought up dollars. When the Inukai Seiyukai Cabinet assumed office on Dec. 14, 1931, as he had promised, Takahashi Korekiyo, the new Finance Minister, reimposed the gold embargo and took the yen off the gold standard. The banks now held large amounts of dollars as opposed to the now depreciated yen. The newspapers and popular accounts accused the zaibatsu of raking in huge profits at the expense of the common people and the nation as a whole, from this currency speculation. In an attempt to camouflage the failure of his financial policy, Inoue fanned the flames by calling the dollar-buying "traitorous."[46]
Starting on November 2, 1931 to about the end of the year, several demonstrations against the Mitsui "dollar-buying" occurred. Akamatsu Katsumaro, who had committed tenko in the summer of 1931 [47] led a demonstration of a group of his followers, the Shakai Seinen Domei (Young Socialists League), outside the Mitsui Bank Tokyo head office, and other 'socialist' groups demonstrated outside the Mitsui Bank and Mitsui Hachiroemon's residence, calling for the profits from the dollar-buying to be donated for unemployment relief for the Tohoku region. In January 1932, anti-Mitsui demonstrations took place in Kyoto and Osaka as well.[48] The situation was compounded by the rumors circulating at the time that Adachi Kenzo, the Home Minister in the Hamaguchi Cabinet, had been paid by Mitsui to bring about the downfall of his own cabinet in order to pave the way for the consequent reimposition of the gold embargo by the Seiyukai Cabinet.[49] The most obvious problem to this theory was that neither Mitsui nor the other zaibatsu, made any money from the currency transactions. [note: unexplained] There was also a rash of stories in the newspapers attacking Mitsui Bussan for crushing small merchants, Miike Mine disputes with Oita, and the exorbitant sums reportedly given to politicians during elections. [50] There was little or no substantiation for the accusations; nevertheless, the newspapers were not at all reluctant to voice their 'outrage.'
Some demonstrations and criticisms were directed at Mitsubishi and Sumitomo as well. However, most newspapers and the public singled out Mitsui as the main villain of this "Dollar-Buying Scandal," in spite of the fact that, according to the Toyo Keizai Shimpo Sha's calculations (printed first in Jiii Shinpo^ the National City Bank bought the largest amount of dollars. The estimates are shown below. ...
In January 1932, Adachi left the Minseito to form his own party, the Kokumin Domei (National League), which further added fuel to the rumors that he had been bribed by Mitsui. In the same month, after a Korean activist threw a bomb at the Emperor, the Seiyukai cabinet resigned. The factionalism within the Minseito, the Seiyukai and the socialist parties during 1931-32, did little to enhance their credibility.[57] During the campaign for the February 20, 1932, election, one of the main Minseito slogans was "Defeat Inukai and the Dollar-buyers." Not surprisingly, Inoue Junnosuke was the Minseito campaign manager. Such electioneering tactics kept the dollar-buying controversy and its primary villain, Mitsui, very much in the minds of the populace.
Also in January of 1932, Japanese naval forces clashed with the Chinese 19th Route Army to spark the Shanghai Incident. While the international community censured Japan's actions, the Japanese populace accepted the Army's explanation of "self-defense" but was outraged at revelations that Yasukawa Yunosuke, the executive director of Mitsui Bussan, was selling barbed wire to the 19th Route Army. Furthermore, since the outbreak of the Manchurian Incident, Bussan had also been supplying salt to Marshal Chang Hsueh-Liang (the son of Chang Tso-lin),5 8 the principle enemy of the Kwantung Army.[59] Furthermore, Mitsui and other zaibatsu were unreceptive to the Finance Minister's request to purchase government bonds being floated to defray the costs of the engagement in Shanghai.6 0 An association of the leading bankers met with the Army Minister, and explained that they could not see the point of the expansion of conflict in China. [61] The zaibatsu, having become alarmed at the adverse foreign reactions to Japanese aggression, decided as a bloc not to support the government's bond issue. Although the decision seems to have been made by the business associations as a whole, Dan, as the most prominent leader of the business world, was blamed by the militants in the cabinet and by the press for initiating this 'unpatriotic' act (this on top of the profits that Mitsui was supposed to have made from the Dollar-buying scandal).[62] ...
In 1931, two coup attempts engineered by Sakurakai (Cherry Society) members (Hashimoto Kingoro and the Navy-Army Young Officers) and supported by leading civilian ultranationalist groups led by Okawa ShUmei and Nishida Mitsugu, failed. The news of the March and October Incidents were not revealed to the general public,[63] but the zaibatsu leaders eventually heard the details. Both plots essentially aimed at installing a government under a leading senior Army officer (Ugaki Kazushige in March, Araki Sadao in October), to carry out a domestic reform or restoration, while pursuing an expansionist policy in Manchuria. The October Incident was inspired in part by a desire to maximize the advantages gained from the Manchurian Incident.[64]
This was followed by the more publicized Ketsumeidan "one man one life" assassinations of Inoue and Dan. Inoue Nissho, the former Nichiren Buddhist monk, had recruited young men from the the rural areas, mainly from Ibaraki prefecture, for his Ketsumeidan. A 'hit list' of twenty names was prepared, which included Dan, Inoue, Ikeda, Saionji, Makino, Shidehara, Wakatsuki, Go Seinosuke, and Iwasaki Koyata, among others. [65] Konuma Tadashi, the assassin who shot Inoue Junnosuke, stated that he had killed Inoue to avenge the rural areas for the suffering they had endured as a result of the failure of Inoue's financial policy. Twenty-five days later, Hishinuma Goro declared that, "As the head of the Mitsui zaibatsu, Dan, in collusion with the parties, had corrupted politics, controlled Japan's economy, and brought about economic ruin. To save Japan from her present emergency, and to ring an alarm bell to the political and financial worlds, which are blinded by self-interest and greed, I assassinated Dan." [66] The rest of the would-be assassins were arrested before they could carry out their missions. As the immediate effects of the promised "Inukai Prosperity" failed to materialize, another plot was hatched by the Navy Young Officers, Tachibana Kozaburo's Nohonshugi followers, and Okawa Shumei's Jinmukai group, the May 15 Incident. This particular coup attempt resulted in Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi's assassination, while several buildings, including the Seiyukai Headquarters and Mitsubishi Bank's Tokyo Head Office, were attacked.[67] Another coup attempt, the Shinpeitai Incident of July 1933, organized by civilian extremists including members of the Seisanto, was stopped before the plan could be implemented. In addition to the standard objective of initiating a "Showa Restoration," the Shinpeitai plotters also aimed to release Inoue Nissho from jail. [68] Among those arrested were three owner-executives of the department store Matsuya, which was involved in the financing.[69] Although no details were released to the public for a year, the event further contributed to the sense of crisis among the political and business leaders. ...
The [Mitsui-dominated] Seiyukai was split into three factions, all with strong military and ultranationalist connections, while the Minseito declined in numbers from Adachi Kenzo's departure, and leader Wakatsuki did not enjoy the support of the party rank and file. [70] Also, many of the Socialists, such as Akamatsu, and other party politicians ... converted to national socialism or extra-parliamentary means to increase their political power. Moreover, the relatively light punishments meted out to the military personnel involved in the abortive coups (as opposed to civilian leaders such as Tachibana Kozaburo, who was given a life sentence), was another sign of the growing de facto political power of the military and the factions within it, and the parallel decline in the power of the politics parties. [72] ...
The assassinations of Inoue, Dan and Inukai were manifestations of widespread social unrest and grievances against the existing social and economic system, not merely dissatisfaction with a particular policy, cabinet, or party, although individual policies did contribute significantly to the sense of discontent. Nor were the assassinations isolated by-products of economic instability and individual actions, such as was the case with the assassinations of Hara in 1918 and Yasuda Zenjiro in 1 9 2 1 . ...
The perception among the civilians, the military and ultranationalist in general, was that Mitsui, with its many 'arms' (i.e. the Seiyukai, business associations, personal connections, and numerous subsidiaries), was the head puppeteer of the Japan...
The history of the Mitsui families' business operations began in earnest when Mitsui Sokubei renounced his samurai status in 1616 to engage in business. ... Mitsui family had helped finance the Meiji Restoration. The establishment or acquisition of the Mitsui Bank, Bussan, its dry goods store, and mining operations in the 1870's, aside from giving Mitsui business experience and a 'head start' in accumulating capital, meant a longer period for the populace to become relatively familiar with the Mitsui name. ...
Ayukawa, for example, had a close relationship with Kishi Nobusuke, who in turn, had connections to the leading members of the Kwantung Army. [8] In 1936, Ayukawa toured Manchuria for one month on the invitation of the Kwantung Army. Ayukawa's links to Kishi and the Kanto-gun eventually resulted in Nissan providing most of the private capital of Manchukuo Heavy Industries Co. in 1937. ...
[P. 93:] By expanding the operations of its companies in heavy and munitions-related industries Mitsui could claim to be supporting the nation's and army's needs, while if it was an actual kokai, then Mitsui could claim it was a sincere attempt to decrease the exclusive family ownership of Mitsui stocks. With the army becoming increasingly powerful on the domestic political front, and the likes of Ayukawa developing and consolidating strong connections with the military, Mitsui could see the necessity for catering to the needs of the military to survive the political turmoil, and to obtain an access channel for investments into Manchuria and favorable contracts from the government. ...
Mitsui's investments into Manchuria increased during 1932-36. Some of the companies Mitsui invested in before the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937 were: Manchurian Colonization Co. (Manshu Takushoku ), started in 1936, with Mitsui and Mitsubishi providing ¥1.5 million each of the paid-up capital; Manchurian Oil, incorporated in 1934 (out of a total 100,000 shares, Mitsui Bussan had 10,000 shares, Mitsubishi Shoji 3,000, Mitsubishi Kogyo 7,000); Manchurian Air (Kuko), established in 1932 (Sumitomo invested from the start while Mitsui and Mitsubishi invested in 1934... [Chart showing Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Okura and Nissan investments into Manchuria, with Nissan and Okura being disproportionately overrepresented in the 1937-1939 period]
In terms of direct munitions production, Mitsui did not experience as much growth, so there was not as much demand for capital from this sector. To begin with, of the total sum of donations in 1932-36, about 40% (¥6.45 million) of Mitsubishi's total went to projects related to the military as opposed to about 4% (¥2.68 million) for Mitsui.8 2 As of 1936, the companies which received munitions contracts, Mitsubishi had the lion's share* followed by Sumitomo, Kawasaki, Okura, Asano, then Mitsui, Shibusawa, Kuhara, Kawanishi, Yamashita, Furukawa, Yasuda, Mori, Yasukawa, and others."

1987, Hyung Gu Lynn (M.A. thesis, University of British Columbia), 'The Mitsui Zaibatsu Tenko, 1932-1936': "Although Ikeda Seihin [Ikeda Shigeaki] was not appointed the sole head executive director of Mitsui Gomei until September 1933 [joined Mitsui in 1895, rose through the ranks], even prior to that, Ikeda was the main force in the central decision-making process at Gomei after Dan's death. Therefore, the actual tenko policies were first seriously planned and implemented in 1932-33, and accelerated in 1933 after September. By the time of Ikeda's retirement in April 1936 [became finance minister in 1938], all six tenko policies had been established, and the decline of the Kodoha (Imperial Way faction) of the military had been basically finalized after the 2-26 Rebellion. After the 2-26 Incident, the sense of rampant political terrorism dissipated, to be replaced by a transition period before full war-time government controls and the permeation of the economy by military priorities. ...
(A) Mitsui and Politics, 1932-36:
At one point, Ikeda's name was linked to the Banchokai (a group of relatively young executives, of which Go Seinosuke was the head), which was reportedly planning for a return to party cabinets. 136 The movement seemed to have potential since one of the members of Banchokai was Nakajima Kumakichi, Minister of Commerce and Industry in the Saito Cabinet, and it had the support of the Asameshikai (the Breakfast Club), an organization which counted Nagata Tetsuzan, Kido Koichi, Goto Fumio and Ikeda among its members. 137 However, the Banchokai itself was discredited...
In 1936, Ikeda decided to stop funding the parties because of the negative public perception of the connections between zaibatsu and parties. Both parties were split into factions, and in addition, Suzuki Kisaburo and the Seiyukai was aligning itself with the military anyway. But Ikeda relented and gave some funds to individual politicians who had personal contacts with Mitsui (presumably from his naturally philanthropic disposition). [139]
In the meantime, Ikeda explored the alternatives in the political investment market. Even before he became Gomei head, in June 1931, at a dinner with Hiranuma Kiichiro and Hashimoto Kingoro, who was the Russia Section Planning Chief at the time, Ikeda realized the threat posed by the younger officers such as Hashimoto. During the dinner, which was arranged by Hiranuma to hear Hashimoto's analysis of the Russian threat, the army man instead talked about attacking capitalists, not Russia. Hashimoto said, "I won't listen to what the government says; I will listen only to the Emperor... When I shoot, it won't be at the people," and looked at Ikeda meaningfully (jirotto mita). [140] Once he became Gomei head executive, Ikeda arranged for a meeting with four young officers, Mitsui Sakichi, Yamaguchi Ichitaro, Kato Tetsuya and a Capt. Hayakawa. Although Ikeda turned down later requests for money from these officers, he eventually began to fund the ultranationalist theorist Kita Ikki. Ikeda was introduced to Kita in late 1932 by Ariga, who in turn met Kita in Dec. 1931 through Nakano Seigo, a member of the right-wing faction of the Minseito. 141 Ikeda started giving Kita money, ¥20,000 annually in two installments per year so that Kita could support his wife, adopted Chinese son, three maids and a chauffeur. 142 In July or August of 1935, Ikeda gave Kita an additional ¥5,000 which Kita claimed he needed to move to a new house, buy a telephone, and to go for a trip to China on a 'diplomatic mission.' Also, Ikeda had to arrange for the payment of Kita's rents, as Kita was prone to forget to pay at most of the places he lived. The trip to China was cancelled, but Kita requested another ¥10,000 in December of 1935, which, according to Ikeda's statement, turned out to be the last payment. Ikeda conveniently refused to see Kita in Jan. 1936, also refused to arrange for an interview with Mitsui Sakichi in Dec. 1935, and rejected a request for ¥3,000 from Yamaguchi in Jan. 1 9 3 6 . 143
Through Kita and his disciple, Nishida Mitsugu, Ikeda developed ties to the Kodoha (Imperial Way faction). Nishida served as Kita's liaison man with the Kodo faction officers and was the aqueduct for money from Kita to the Kodoha. The Kodoha was greatly influenced by Kita's 1919 work, Nihon Kaizo Hoan Taiko (An Outline Plan of Measures for the Reorganization of Japan), which outlined the program for the "Showa Restoration." In his book, Kita called for four main renovations: 1) End the class war; 2) Confiscation of all individual assets over ¥1 million, and the nationalization of all corporate assets over ¥10 million; 3) Restorethe "people's Emperor"; 4) Japan should lead other Asian countries in the struggle against Western imperialists. 144 In spite of his 1919 opinion of the zaibatsu, Kita managed to end up on Mitsui's payroll. In the meantime, soon after Ikeda refused a request on Feb. 22 by Yamaguchi for an interview, Ikeda's name came up during the trial of Aizawa Saburo for the Aug. 11,1934 murder of Nagata Tetsuzan, a leading figure of the Toseiha (Control faction). Aizawa's military defense counsel was Mitsui Sakichi. Mitsui accused Ikeda of giving Nagata money to try to corrupt the military, just as Ikeda had bought out the genro and the parties. 145 There were also rumors that Nagata and Ikeda were planning to form a cabinet with Ikeda as prime minister. ...

The cast had already been moulded in 1932-36 by Ikeda's own hands. By displaying a willingness to take advantage of the military expansion into Manchuria, in other words, over-flexibility, Ikeda created a firm precedent for compliance with the army that the less dominant and less politically powerful executives who replaced him at Gomei found easy to follow. ...
PART 3: THE 'HIDDEN' SIXTH POLICY: ...
The sixth policy, the disbursement of funds to extremists factions and organizations, the establishment and expansion of the intelligence network, and the jettisoning of connections to the parties, has been studied almost exclusively in works which have focused on the political apsects of the tenko.
In studying the sixth policy, it should be noted that the activities of the Mitsui zaibatsu in the political arena were not undertaken with the objective of acquiring political power as an ends in itself. In general, businessmen did not aspire to the top political positions within the parties, with the exception of Wakao Shohachi and Kuhara Fusanosuke, both of whom attempted to use their business interests to gain political power...
Ikeda's mandate was to navigate the Mitsui zaibatsu through waves of criticism and terrorist attacks. At first glance, the strategy of diversifying and reorganizing political connections, the ryomen sakusen (["two-front war"] double-faced strategy, or Hydra strategy - since at one point there were more than two sides being supported), appears to have been an innovation in Mitsui's history...
instead of withdrawing from further government or political connections, Mitsui became more intertwined with potential wielders of political power. The practice of maintaining a political presence and good relations with those in power (or those who might obtain political power) was sustained by Masuda, Dan and Ariga. However, in applying the Meiji precedents to 1932-36, Ikeda was too hasty, or over-flexible, in jettisoning the connections with the parties. Instead of supporting the parties which advocated peaceful expansion, Mitsui satisfied itself with accomodating the existing external conditions. The ryomen sakusen, like the kata-gawari, ultimately led to developments which were not favorable to the long-term self-interest of Mitsui zaibatsu."

encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economics-business-and-labor/businesses-and-occupations/mitsubishi-corp (accessed: Dec. 28, 2022): "Yataro Iwasaki, however, was not from a rich family. However, in 1870, during the first years of the Meiji government, he was able to purchase Tsukumo Shokai, the official Tosa shipping company. In 1873 he changed its name to Mitsubishi, which is Japanese for “three diamonds.” Iwasaki was dedicated to an occupation as a merchant and to making Japanese shipping companies competitive with the large foreign lines.
Mitsubishi’s greatest supporter in government was a close friend of Iwasaki, the Finance Minister Shigenobu Okuma. He lobbied on behalf of Mitsubishi, designating the company for numerous subsidies and privileges. When the Japanese government launched a punitive military expedition against the island of Formosa (Taiwan) in 1874, Okuma saw to it that Mitsubishi was chosen to provide the ships. The government later offered direct subsidies to Mitsubishi Shokai (company) to ensure that Japan remained competitive in world shipping. With the active support and protection of the government, Mitsubishi, like Mitsui, Sumitomo and Yasuda, evolved into a zaibatsu (literally a “money clique”).
By 1877, 80% of Japanese maritime traffic was controlled by the Mitsubishi Shokai. Iwasaki, however, had made a number of political and professional “enemies” as a result of his privileged influence in government and trading practices. On numerous occasions Iwasaki was personally attacked in newspapers for his unscrupulous business practices. The other zaibatsu, particularly Mitsui, relied heavily on Mitsubishi for shipping and suffered greatly from its monopoly prices. Customers shipping freight on Shokai boats were obliged to use Mitsubishi warehouses and insure their goods with the Mitsubishi Maritime Insurance Company.
In 1880 Mitsui supported the creation of a rival shipping company called Tokyo Fuhansen. Within a year Mitsubishi had succeeded in driving Fuhansen out of business. However, after Count Okuma died in 1881, his political opponents joined Iwasaki’s competitors with the common goal of breaking the Mitsubishi shipping monopoly. The following year Fuhansen was reorganized, merged with several other smaller shipping companies, and renamed Kyodo Unyu (United Transport). Kaoru Inoue, a political enemy of Okuma and close friend of Mitsui’s Takashi Masuda, convinced the government to invest heavily in Kyodo Unyu. Thereafter, Mitsubishi and Kyodo Unyu engaged in an extremely costly and intense competition which drained both companies of virtually all their resources.
During the battle with Kyodo Unyu, Mitsubishi attempted to consolidate its operations by securing a guaranteed source of fuel. In 1881 the company purchased the Takashima coal mine. Iwasaki also sent representatives to the northern island of Hokkaido to investigate its potential for coal mining. After gaining control of coal resources, Iwasaki turned his attention to gaining control of a ship supplier. ...
Iwasaki’s associates, all of whom were samurai, were unable to assert themselves as independent managers until after Iwasaki died. Despite the fact that Mitsubishi was organized as a company, Iwasaki operated it as a family concern and exercised authoritarian control. His younger brother, Yanosuki Iwasaki, assumed the leadership of Mitsubishi Shokai and NYK in 1886.
The following year the Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Company became the first Japanese concern to manufacture a ship made of steel and equipped with a boiler. Japanese production of “black ships” for transportation and the military propelled Japan into a higher class of naval power. The major shipping companies, NYK and OSK (Osaka Shosen Kaisha), expanded their routes to China and Korea, and by 1899 to Europe, North America, India, and Australia.
NYK was a major beneficiary of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), which opened several ports in continental Asia to increased Japanese trade. Like many of the other zaibatsu, Mitsubishi participated in Japan’s colonization of Korea, Manchuria, and Taiwan. Mitsubishi, however, was primarily involved in establishing shipping links and developing an infrastructure in the colonial territories. ...
The common point was that Mitsui had the largest amount of total paid-up capital by a minimum margin of 30% over Mitsubishi. Mitsui controlled an estimated 188 companies [80] by 1929-30, as compared to Mitsubishi's 119. Prior to the 1920's, through the acquisition of ex-government factories and mines in the 1880's, and under Nakamigawa's industrialization. ... During the 1920's, when several companies experienced considerable decline, Mitsui continued to accumulate paid-up capital while expanding operations at an incredible rate. ...
[p. 88:] As a public relations move, the kokai was another part of the effort to appease the masses, but in addition, a move to counter the rise of the so-called new (shinko ) zaibatsu, particularly Ayukawa Yoshisuke. Ayukawa never lost an opportunity to focus attention on the fact that the shares of Nissan were publicly subscribed, and to politely, but clearly, criticize the 'old' zaibatsu for their individualistic monopolization and pursuit of profits. [62] In terms of image, the new zaibatsu were increasingly seen by the public, the press and the military, as being more nationalistic than the 'old' ones. This was because such new zaibatsu as Nissan, Nitchitsu, Mori (Showa or Nippon-Denko), Nisso and R i k e n 6 3 operated in high-risk ventures in the colonies and in industries related to military needs (i.e. chemical and heavy industries), and also, were perceived as being publicly financed.6 4 In terms of financing, however, the positive image was somewhat misleading in that most of the new zaibatsu used loans from banks as the major sources of funds rather than the stock market. All new zaibatsu were initially dependent to a large extent on the willingness of government development banks to finance them. Fortunately for the new zaibatsu, the Colonial Bank, the Kogyo (Japan Industrial) Bank, and other government banks were willing to fund them. Some of the new zaibatsu, such as Nitchitsu, Showa Denko and Riken, initially received most of their financing from zaibatsu banks. Mitsubishi Bank supported Nitchitsu founder Noguchi Jun when he rejected Mitsui's terms for loans, but Noguchi eventually moved free from the Mitsubishi network, while Mori Nobuteru received large loans from the Yasuda Bank, but also became more self-sufficient as the market demand for heavy and chemical industries products increased. ... As of the first half of 1937, Nissan had 51,804 shareholders (before the founding of Manchurian Heavy Industries), Nitchitsu had 6,984, Showa Denko-5,481, Nisso-5,371, and Riken-436.[66] ... With the exception of Nissan, the new zaibatsu were less diversified and more vertically integrated than the 'old' zaibatsu."

Nov. 1921 issue, The Atlantic, 'Are We Giving Japan a Square Deal? II': "THE key to Japanese militarism and imperialism is to be found in the dual government that, exists in Japan. There is the constitutional government — the Cabinet, the Diet, consisting of the House of Peers and the House of Representatives, and the administrative bureaucracy— with which the world is familiar. But there is also an invisible government, an unseen empire, composed of a clique of military men and men with military affiliations, headed by the Genro, or Elder Statesmen, with the General Staff of the Army as its instrument. Of the two governments, the latter is by far the more powerful. Japanese policy, particularly in foreign affairs, is invariably shaped by this unseen government, its wishes generally being translated by the constitutional government’s actions. The two régimes, whose interests are by no means always opposed, are of necessity more or less intermixed, like interlocking directorates. For example, many officials of the permanent civil bureaucracy — that is, the bureau chiefs and their staffs — are drawn from the militaristic clique, which is identical with the unseen government, with which, as might be expected, they work in harmony. ...
At the head of the Japanese State stands the Emperor ... Japan has been ruled by an unbroken dynasty ever since the dawn of her history, in which respect she is unique among all the nations of the world. By the Constitution of 1889 the Emperor combines in himself the rights of sovereignty and exercises the whole of the executive powers, with the advice and assistance of the nine Cabinet ministers. He alone can make war, declare peace, and conclude treaties. But between the Cabinet and the Crown stands a small body of men, the survivors of those by whose genius modern Japan was raised to her present high position among the nations. They are known as the Genro, or Elder Statesmen. At the present time only three remain — Field-Marshal Prince Yamagata, Marquis Okuma [Shigenobu], and Marquis Matsukata. These three old men are the real rulers of Japan.

Now let me make it clear that the Elder Statesmen are neither appointed nor elected. Indeed, there is no such office as that of Elder Statesman per se. You will find no mention of them in the Japan Year-Book or other works of reference. They are not officials, though they hold the reins of power, though by virtue of their rank they have seats in the House of Peers. They are private citizens who, because of their experience and sagacity, are the trusted advisers of the Emperor, as they were of his father before him. They are so firmly intrenched in the confidence of the Emperor and great nobles; they are the embodiment of traditions so indissolubly linked with the history of the Empire; the social, political, financial, and military interests which they represent are so powerful; that all attempts to dislodge them or seriously to weaken their influence have met with failure.
The invisible government of which the Elder Statesmen are the head and brains is not a modern development; it goes back into Japanese history for centuries. For nearly a thousand years Japan has had a nominal government and another unacknowledged government, the latter more or less cloaked and independent of check or control, existing side by side. This unseen empire dates from the period of the Shogunate, during which the Emperor was the titular ruler and the Shogun the actual rider of Japan. When the Shogunate was abolished in 1868, and the unification of the country under the Emperor Mutsuhito begun, the task of reconstruction was undertaken by the daimyo, or feudal nobles. They became the officials of the new government and directed the transformation of Japan into a modern state. Their descendants fill those offices to-day.
When it is remembered that the present officeholders are almost all members of the ancient military clans, it is not difficult to understand the ascendancy of the militarists in Japanese politics. For example, nearly all the members of the military clique belong to the Chosun clan, while the navy clique is recruited from the Satsuma clan. The acknowledged leader of them all, the uncrowned ruler of Japan, is Prince Yamagata, himself a soldier and a field-marshal. The Emperor, feeble in health and mind, in spite of the profound veneration in which he is still held by the great mass of his subjects, is a ruler only in name.
Of the nine members of the Cabinet, two — the Minister of War and the Minister of Marine — are not answerable for their actions to the Premier, but are responsible only to the Emperor— which, translated, means the Elder Statesmen. As a result of this anomalous situation, these two ministers can, and frequently do, defy the Premier and block legislation. In fact, a former Prime Minister resigned because he was unable to find men for these portfolios who would consent to carry out his policies. As the members of the Cabinet are appointed by the Emperor, instead of, as is the custom in most European countries, by the Premier, it is self-evident that no one could obtain the portfolio of war or of marine unless he was persona gratissima to the militarist party. This closest of close corporations is still further bound together by family ties, the present Minister of War, MajorGeneral Giichi Tanaka, being a son-inlaw of Prince Yamagata.
It is this curious relic of feudal times which is responsible for those failures to keep her agreements which have done so much to lose for Japan the confidence of other nations. Japan’s failure to abide by her promise to evacuate Siberia upon the withdrawal of the American and other Allied troops provides a case in point. This commitment was made to the United States and her European allies by the constitutional Government, as represented by Premier Hara. I have good reason to believe that, in making this promise, the Government was entirely sincere and that it fully intended to carry out the evacuation. But the unseen government— by which is meant the militarist party — wished Japan to remain in Siberia, for reasons of its own. It wanted territory in that region, — territory rich in mines and forests, — and here was an easy way to get it. I do not know precisely what procedure was followed by the militarists, of course; but I imagine that it was something like this. Prince Yamagata, speaking with the authority of the Emperor, informed his son-in-law, the Minister of War, that the occupation of Siberia was to be continued; whereupon the Minister of War, presumably without the consent of the Premier, and quite possibly without his knowledge, instead of withdrawing the Siberian garrisons, reinforced them. It thus being made impossible for the constitutional Government to keep the agreement it had made, Premier Hara, in order to ‘save his face,’ as they say in the East, was forced to explain his failure to withdraw the troops by asserting that it had been found necessary to retain them in Siberia temporarily in order to guard Japan from Bolshevist attacks. Result: loss of confidence by the other powers in Japan’s promises.

The effect on foreign opinion of such usurpation of power by the invisible government is recognized by the liberal element in Japan; as witness a recent editorial in the Yomi-Yuri Shimbun:
‘It is regrettable that the declarations of the Japanese Government are often not taken seriously. The Powers regard Japan as a country that does not mean what it says. The most important reasons for this will be found in the actions of the militarists, whose utterances are the cause of the Government’s attitude being misunderstood abroad. Unless the militarist evil is stamped out, a hundred declarations disavowing territorial ambitions will not be able to convince the Powers.’
The militarists placed the Government in almost as embarrassing a position in Korea last year as in Siberia. Premier Hara [PM 1918 until his assassination in Nov. 1921, just before this article], stirred to action by the excesses of the Japanese troops, issued orders that the military forces in Korea should be subordinated to the civil authorities; but the military, backed by the unseen government, virtually ignored these orders, the newly appointed Governor-General, Baron Saito, being unable to enforce his commands where the military were concerned. Should the Prime Minister resent such attempts to block the policy of the Government, and appeal to the Emperor, he would really be appealing to the Elder Statesmen, who, as I have explained, stand between the Emperor and the Cabinet. Or, should the Diet attempt to put a check on the militarists by refusing to pass the army appropriations, it would have no effect on the situation, for in such a case the budget holds over from the previous year. Having direct access to the Emperor and to the funds of the Imperial Household, which is the richest in the world, the militarists never lack for money. Indeed, when all is said and done, it is they who hold the pursestrings. It will be seen, therefore, that the Progressive Premier, Mr. Hara, is in a trying and none too strong position. The military party and the forces of reaction typified by Prince Yamagata have too much power for him. The Premier, speaking for the Government and through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, makes commitments to other powers. The unseen government ignores these commitments and leaves it to the Premier to explain as best he can. There you have the real reason why Japan seems so often to violate her treaty obligations. She is not insincere in milking them. The men who make them are not the men who break them. ...
The militarism which pervades the nation is vitalized, moreover, by Japan’s obsession that she is hemmed in by a ring of enemies. The truth of the matter is that the great majority of Japanese look to the militarists as the saviors of the Empire. ...
That the militarists will remain in the ascendant during the lifetime of the Elder Statesmen there can be little doubt. Not until the grip of those aged dictators has been relaxed by death is the power of the militarists likely to wane. Nor is there any certainty that it will wane then; for in recent years their power has been immensely strengthened by a force far mightier and more sinister than that of the Elder Statesmen. I refer to the force of organized capital, of Big Business. As Mr. Nathaniel Peffer, one of the shrewdest and best-informed students of Far Eastern politics, has shown, it is Big Business that has reinforced and is keeping in power the unseen government — the military party. ...
Those policies of the Japanese Government which are usually attributed by foreigners to the ambitions of the militarists are in reality due to the machinations of the capitalists. Here you have the key to the annexation of Korea, to Japanese aggression in Manchuria and Siberia, to the unreasonable demands made on China, to the opposition to the restoration of Shantung. All of those regions are immensely rich in natural resources; they offer unlimited possibilities for profitable exploitation. And it is Japanese Big Business which proposes to do the exploiting. So, in order to obtain control of the territories which it proposes to exploit, it has joined forces with the land-hungry militarists. It is the most sinister combination of high politics and Big Business that the world has ever seen.
Dominating Japanese business and finance are a few great corporations: Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Okura, Sumitomo, Kuhara, Takata, Furukawa. So much larger than the others that they are in a class by themselves are the Mitsui and Mitsubishi companies, owned respectively by the Mitsui and Iwasaki families. Indeed, it is a common saying in Japan that no one knows where Mitsui ends and the Government begins. Their tentacles sink deep into every phase of national life — commercial, industrial, financial, political. They own banks, railways, steamship lines, mills, factories, dockyards, mines, forests, plantations, insurance companies, trading corporations. They and the leaders of the unseen government are as intertwined by marriage, mutual interest, and interlocking directorates as President Wilson boasted that the Treaty of Versailles was intertwined with the Covenant of the League of Nations.
Each of these great companies, according to Mr. Peffer, has its political, financial, or family alliances with the leaders of the unseen government. Marquis Okuma [Shigenobu], one of the Elder Statesmen, is related by marriage to the Iwasakis, who, as I have said, own the great house of Mitsubishi. The same house is connected with the opposition party through its leader, Viscount Kato, who is Baron Iwasaki’s son-in-law. Another of the Elder Statesmen, Marquis Matsukata, is adviser to one of these political dynasties. The late Marquis Inoue, who held in turn the portfolios of agriculture and commerce, home affairs, finance, and foreign affairs, was closely connected with the house of Mitsui. The late Field-Marshal Terauchi, at one time Prime Minister of Japan and one of the foremost leaders of the military party, was equally close to Okura, a relationship which explains that house’s success in obtaining army contracts and concessions on the mainland of Asia. And so with the highest military men of the Empire and the leading statesmen of both political parties. Each has his relationship to some great financial house, to some captain of industry. Big Business uses these affiliations with the militarists to obtain for its schemes the support of the unseen government, which is enormously strengthened by the affiliations of the militarists with Big Business. ...
‘Japan’s future lies oversea.’ In those four words is found the policy of the military-financial combination that rules Japan. The annexation of Formosa and Korea and Sakhalin, the occupation of Manchuria and Siberia and Shantung, are not, as the world supposes, examples of haphazard land-grabbing, but phases of a vast and carefully laid scheme, which has for its aim the eventual control of all Eastern Asia. ...
In China, Siberia, and the Philippines, in California, Canada, and Mexico, in the East Indies, Australia, and New Zealand, on three continents and on all the islands of the Eastern seas, Japanese merchants and Japanese money are working twenty-four hours a day, building up that overseas empire of which the financiers and the militarists dream. The activities of Japan’s outposts of commerce and finance are as varied as commerce and finance themselves. Their voices are heard in every Eastern market-place; their footsteps resound in every avenue of Oriental endeavor. Their mines in Siberia and China and Manchuria rival the cave of Al-ed-Din. The railways that converge on Peking from the north and east, the great trunk-line across Manchuria, and the eastern section of the trans-Siberian system arc already in their hands. They work tea-plantations in China, coffee-plantations in Java, rubber-plantations in Malaya, cocoanut-plantations in Borneo, hemp-plantations in the Philippines, spice-plantations in the Celebes, sugar-plantations in Hawaii, pruneorchards in California, apple-orchards in Oregon, coal-mines in Manchuria, gold-mines in Korea, forests in Siberia, fisheries in Kamchatka. Their argosies, flying the house-flags of the Toyo Kisen Kaisha, the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, and a score of other lines, bear Japanese goods to Japanese traders on all the seaboards of the Orient, while Japanese warships are constantly a-prowl, all up and down the Eastern seas, ready to protect the interests thus created by the menace of their guns.
In regions where Japanese banks are in control and Japanese settlers abound, it is seldom difficult for Japan to find an excuse for aggression. It may be that a Japanese settler is mistreated or a Japanese consul insulted, or that a Japanese bank has difficulty in collecting its debts. So the slim cables flash the complaint to Tokyo; there arc secret, consultations between the militaristic leaders and the chieftains of Big Business; a spokesman of the unseen government rises in the Diet to announce that, in Siberia or China, Japanese interests have been endangered or Japanese dignity affronted; the newspapers controlled by Big Business inflame the national resentment; the heads of the invisible government, speaking with the authority of the Emperor, issue the necessary orders to the Ministers of War and Marine; and before the country in question awakens to a realization of what is happening, Japanese transports are at anchor in her harbors and Japanese troops are disembarking on her soil. Before they are withdrawn, — if they are withdrawn, — Japan usually succeeds in extorting a concession to build a railway, or to work a coal-field, or to underwrite a loan, or a ninety-nincyear lease of a harbor which can be converted into a naval base, or the cession of a more or less valuable strip of territory — and so the work of building up an overseas empire goes merrily and steadily on.
We have seen Formosa and the Pescadores filched, as spoils of war, from a helpless China. We have witnessed the rape of Korea. We have observed Manchuria become Japanese. ... We have watched the armies of Nippon pushing deeper and deeper into Siberia instead of withdrawing altogether, as the Tokyo Government had promised. ...
Not a little of our suspicion of Japanese imperialism is directly traceable to the circumstantial stories told by Americans returning from the East, particularly army and navy officers, of Japan’s secret designs against the Philippines. In substantiation of these stories they point to the temptation offered by the great natural wealth of the islands; to the alleged alarming increase in the number of Japanese settlers, particularly in Mindanao; and to the geographical fact that the Philippines form a prolongation of the Japanese archipelago. ...
Another reason for our distrust of the peacefulness of Japanese intentions is to be found in the fact that, at a time when other nations are seriously discussing the question of disarmament, Japan announces a military programme which calls for an army with a wartime strength of close to five million men, thereby making her the greatest military power on earth, and a naval programme designed to give her eight battleships and eight battle-cruisers, each to be replaced by a new vessel every eight years. Japan asserts that these vast armies, this powerful armada, should not be interpreted as a threat against ourselves. But, we naturally ask, against whom, then, are they intended? Surely not against her ally, England, or against revolution-torn Russia, or against prostrate Germany, or against decrepit China. Leaving these out of the question, who is left?
But there are two sides to every question. Let us look for a moment at Japan’s. Is it not fair and reasonable to judge her by ourselves? What should we say if the Japanese charged us with planning a war against them because we are increasing our naval strength? We are building a navy for national defense. Japan is building one for precisely the same reason. Defense against whom, you ask? Well, if you wish to know the truth, defense against the United States. For, grotesque as such an assertion may appear to Americans, the majority of Japanese arc convinced that we are deliberately trying to force a war upon them. As evidence of this, they point to the discriminatory and humiliating treatment which we have accorded to Japanese in the United States; to our opposition to Japan’s legitimate ambitions on the mainland of Asia; to our blocking the insertion in the Covenant of the League of Nations of a clause recognizing Japanese racial equality; to our refusal to recognize the Japanese mandate for the former German possessions in the Pacific; to our unofficial but none the less active support of China in the controversy over Shantung; to the strengthening of our naval bases at Cavite and Pearl Harbor; and finally, to the long succession of sneers, gibes, and insults indulged in by American jingoes, antiJapanese politicians, and certain sections of the American press. Viewing the situation without prejudice, it seems to me that Japan has as good ground for her suspicion of us as we have for our suspicion of her. ...
There has been no charge that Japan has failed to keep both letter and spirit of this agreement with absolute integrity [of not allowing laborers into the U.S.]. In fact, the Japanese Foreign Office has at times leaned backward in its endeavor to keep faith. But the labor elements in California, unable to meet Japanese industrial competition and jealous of Japanese success, continued their anti-Japanese agitation, being aided by politicians seeking the labor vote; and in 1913 a law prohibiting the purchase of land by Japanese in that state was placed on the statute-books of California."

Dec. 10, 1934, Time, 'Japan: Soak the Rich': "Japan's "greatest Secretary of the Treasury since Korekiyo Takahashi [established ties with Jacob Schiff in 1906; PM 1921-1922, 15-26 May 1932; president Mitsui-controlled Seiyukei party in the 1920s; finance minister 1927-1929, 1931-1932, 1932-1934, 1934-1936; took Japan off the gold standard in Dec. 1931, after Mitsui in particular hoarded dollars; assassinated in the Feb. 26, 1936 incident by rightist militants who also went after Mitsui]"... Last week he was 80, full of chuckles and shrewd wisdom, when the Son of Heaven gazetted him for the seventh time Minister of Finance, amid popular roars of "Banzai Daruma!'' ... It was less than nothing to Daruma Takahashi last week that he was forced to resign as Finance Minister only a few months ago because of gross and outrageous pilfering in his department, as usual "by others'' (TIME, July 16). ... He was thin with worry then but has since grown fat on the crises he has weathered: the assassination of his friend Premier Hara; the banking crisis of 1927; the tight squeeze in 1931 when Daruma Takahashi boldly took the yen off gold, thus starting the world toward devaluation and perhaps Recovery.
Every Japanese knows that the House of Mitsui ("Morgans of Japan") made millions out of devaluation by selling yen short. It was the Daruma's own luck that patriots assassinated not him but the Mitsui Manager Baron Dan who had filled the campaign coffers of Mr. Takahashi's party. Last week the Seiyukai, still financed by Mitsui, were incensed when their Daruma joined the militarist Cabinet of mild Premier Admiral Okada and dictatorial War Minister General Hayashi."

December 3, 1938, China Weekly Review, pp. 3-4: "It was significant that the Kwantung branch of the Imperial Army turned to Yoshisuke Aikawa, Japan's leading war-time financial magnate to head the so-called Manchukuo Heavy Industries Company. Shinji Yoshino, former Minister of Commerce and Industry was appointed vice - president of this concern, but chief interest was centered on Aikawa as he was expected to way for the investment of vast sums of foreign capital in Japan's developmental schemes on the Continent. Aikawa was largely responsible for the development of the gigantic Nihon Sangyo K. K. or Japan Industrial Company, Ltd., but better known as the Nissan Company, or more recently Mangyo. According to an article in the March number of Contemporary Japan, the Nissan Company had 18 affiliated and 130 related concerns with a total capitalization of Yen 800,000,000. When Mr. Aikawa was a boy he invented a method of shooting an air-rifle that allegedly enabled him to bring down 140 sparrows in a day's hunting. The experience stood him in good stead, for the Nissan Company which he promoted embraced most of the concerns which were earning big profits by supplying munitions and other war materials to the Imperial Army operating on the Continent. Upon the Army's recommendation he went went to Manchukuo and organized the  "Manchukuo Heavy Industries Company,” capitalized at Yen 450,000,000 supplied by the Manchukuo Government and the Nissan Company. The company took over many of the most important industries previously operated as subsidiaries by the South Manchuria Railway, and added some new ones such as the manufacture of motorcars and trucks and an airplane factory. The writer in the Tokyo magazine regarded Aikawa as a sort of Japanese counterpart of Harriman, Rockefeller and Henry Ford.
According to a later article referring to the Nissan Company, published in the December Hanashi, its capital has been expanded from Yen 800,000,000 last March to more than Yen 2,000,000,000 at present. As for its Manchurian "baby" the Manchukuo Heavy Industry Company, it also has expanded in equal proportions. In the course of the year it has invested Yen 12,000,000 in Manchurian Mining Co., Yen 16,000,000 in Manchurian Coal, Yen 6,500,000 in Showa Steel Corporation. Its investments for the first half of the present year in the new state exceeding Yen 173,000,000. Adding the company's domestic investments in Japan, estimated at Yen 256,000,000, it brought the total of the Nissan Company's investments to Yen 429,000,000, a record for all time in Japan for any company within the brief period of six months. Since then the investments of this company in Manchukuo have continued to expand at a phenomenal rate, Yen 16,000,000 more to the Manchurian Coal Mining Company, Yen 12,000,000 additional to Manchurian Mining, Yen 1,600,000 to the new Dowa Automobile Co. The new Manchuria Aircraft Company took Yen 5,000,000 and another concern known as Eastern Frontier District Development Company absorbed Yen 6,800,000. In addition to these large outlays, the Nissan Company, through Manchukuo Heavy Industries, will shortly invest Yen 25,000,000 more in Showa Steel Works. Coal, automobile, mining and aircraft subsidiaries will, by the end of the year demand new capital  to the amount of Yen 200,000,000, according to the writer of the article. A published list of 20 subsidiaries all promoted in Manchukuo within the year, had a combined capital of Yen 1,000,000,000. The writer said, however, “if account is taken of its own capital and some indirect subsidiaries, the total capital would be Yen 2,000,000,000. As a result of these adventures into big figures, Manchukuo Heavy Industries must shortly double its capital to Yen 900,000,000. The correspondent for Domei enthusiastically announced (Nov. 27) that American, Italian and German capitalists would be "invited" to invest in Manchukuo Heavy Industries and it was "rumored" that an American company had offered to cooperate in large - scale production of motorcars "50,000 for the first year 150,000 the second and so on.""

April 23, 1938, China Forum (pp. 268-269 of the 1938 issues compilation): "We are referring to the gigantic scheme, conceived jointly by the Kwantung Army and by Mr. Yushisuke Aikawa, nabob among Japanese captains of industry, to induce investment of American capital in the development of heavy industries in the puppet state in Manchuria. Mr. Thomas J. Watson, President of the International Business Machines Corporation and also of the International Chamber of Commerce, has been approached by the representatives of Mr. Aikawa for a credit of no less than 50 million dollars for the purchase of American machinery to be used in Manchuria. Such circumstantial evidences as are available indicate unmistakably that the industrial leaders of Japan have been conducting an extremely able campaign in the United States and that there is danger that American capitalists may not be able to see the harms of Japan's subtle courtship for their favor.  ...
the closed doors of Manchuria! But are Mr. Watson and his colleagues sufficiently well-informed on the matter as to "see through" the Japanese stories. Mr. Aikawa enjoys a fine reputation in America and the technical standing of the Nippon Sangyo Kabushi Kaisha commands considerable respect. Are...
The Kwantung army picked Mr. Yushisuke Aikawa as the ideal person to head the movement for developing the heavy industries in Manchuria. That was in the winter of 1936-1937. Mr. Aikawa, being the brother-in-law of Fusanosuke Kuhara, one of the ring-leaders in the uprising of February...
Before definite steps were taken to invite the cooperation of certain industrial leaders at home, the Kwantung Army laid down two principal conditions: namely, only heavy industries with an immediate utility for war should be developed, and only those industrial leaders at home who are connected with heavy industries and do not insist upon a laisses-faire policy would be accepted as parties for cooperation..

1939 (annual vol. compilation), Amerasia magazine, pp. 11-12: "In January 1938 it was revealed that the Aikawa interests had approached Thomas J. Watson, president of the International Business Machines Corporation and also of the International Chamber of Commerce , for a loan of fifty million dollars. The credit was to be applied to the development of Manchurian heavy industries through the purchase of American machinery . Recognizing the difficulties likely to be encountered , the Japanese interests formulated their offer in the most attractive terms. They not only secured an undertaking from the Japanese Govern- ment that payments would be exempt from the Exchange Control Act , but apparently suggested that American experts might be retained to install the equipment and operate it during the period required for training the necessary staff. On the face of it, the execution of such a contract by an American business man at this time , when China is being ruthlessly overrun by Japan's war machine , would seem to merit condemnation . It places the executor in the category of those American operators who are now making profits by selling scrap iron to Japan . A credit of this amount for Manchuria's industrial development , moreover , would seem to be a gratuitous slap at the American government's official policy of refusing to extend recognition to the Japanese conquest of Manchuria. While normal American economic relations with Manchoukuo have not been suspended as a consequence of the non - recognition policy , a financial transaction of the size contemplated in this arrangement would have the effect of reducing the policy to an absurdity. It is therefore not surprising that official circles in Washington frowned on the carrying through of such a deal when the details were made public.13 In view of Mr. Watson's disclaimer of any formal approaches from the Aikawa concern it may be hoped that the project is dead. These reflections are incidental. Much more interesting details  are concealed in the ramifications of the Japanese background . As the commentary in the New York Times brings out , the offer was made to sound more palatable by an effort to show that private industrial enterprise in Japan was staging a revolt against the military pressure for a " controlled economy , " and particularly against the brand of state socialism enforced by the Kwantung Army in Manchoukuo."

Nov. 5, 1938, China Weekly Review, p. 325: "... today would be complete without some mention of the newer 'Shinko' groups, whose influence has grown rapidly in the last five years. The most striking of these is led by Yoshisuke Aikawa, a trained engineer of fifty-seven years. After gaining experience in America, Aikawa in 1910 founded the Tobata Casting Works, with capital borrowed from his relations. In 1928 he bought up shares in the Kuhara Mining Company at ridiculously low prices, part of which he sold to the public after the armament boom of 1931, at eight or nine times their earlier quotations. The mining firm was then separated from the main company which became an open holding company, Nissan (or Japan Production )..."

Nov. 2, 1939, John Gunther 'Inside Asia' column in Western Union Mail and other newspapers, 'Men of Yen', p. 91: "The Mitsubishi house played politics exactly as the Mitsuis did. Its "man" was the murdered Marquis [Shigenobu] Okuma [wasn't murdered; provided Mitsubishi with all kinds of favors], one of the first great Japanese nation-builders. ...
The House of Yasuda is as new as Sumitomo is old. Its origin was a money-lending business which began in the 1SGo’s, and its leader, Baron Yasuda, was assassinated in 1921 at the age of eighty-four. The Yasuda bank is the biggest in Japan - bigger even than Mitsui. The House of Okura is the smallest of the Big Five. It is of comparatively recent origin, it specialises in trade and engineering, and it has a strong 'East Asia' policy, seeking expansion on the mainland.
Among old-line financiers must be mentioned Baron Sunosuke Goh, seventy-three years old, stout, independent, and a liberal. Goh came of a noble family, and studied abroad in Germany and Belgium; he is a Ph.D. from Heidelberg. He has never had a government job, but his importance as president ol the Japan Federation of Commerce and Industry is considerable. He has been called the ‘Andrew Mellon of Japan’.
A different type of financier altogether is Yoshisuke Aikawa. This resourceful promoter and organiser compares to the Mitsuis as, say, the young automobile men of Detroit compared twenty years ago to ]. P. Morgan. Bonr in 1880 of a trading family, Aikawa came to the United States to study the steel business, and for a time worked as a labourer in a Pittsburgh mill. His importance has notes of iconoclasra. For one thing, he opened his companies to the public, and thousands upon thousands of small shareholders invested in them, whereas Mitsui and Mitsubishi are owned in private, with the public frozen out. For another, the army likes him, thinks he understands ‘modern conditions’, and backs him against other interests. Finally, he is concentrating in Manchukuo."

1941, Ernest Hauser, 'Honorable Enemy', p. 208: ""Why cant we?" says Mr. Yoshisuke Aikawa, who worked his way through Japanese and American steel mills before he rose to the command of the colossal Nissan combine. Aikawa is an unpleasant fellow with cropped hair army-style. He looks and talks like a soldier, even behind the desk in his shiny new marble office building in Tokyo. He is a parvenu, and proud of it. He did everything the hard way, hates those who didn't, and sneers at such old aristocratic houses as Mitsui. He is Japan's first fascist money man.
There is nothing "non-essential" about his vast steel, mining, and ammunitions empire; the Nissan combine owns heavy industries and practically nothing else. This is why Aikawa became the stooge and ally of the Young Officers. Army men favored him and his business at the expense of those "liberalistic plutocrats" whom they despised; they seized the opportunity to challenge Mitsui capitalism on its own ground."

May 1945 issue, The Atlantic, 'The Pacific War': "The new political party, “The Great Japan Political Association,” which replaces the old “Imperial Rule Assistance Political Society,” does not augur a shift of power in Japan. The new party’s president, General Jiro Minami, was War Minister in 1931, the time of the Mukden Incident that launched Japan on her aggression in Manchuria. Well before that he was a bitter foe of disarmament and a proponent of mechanized forces and large Army budgets. He identified the interests of the nation with those of the Army, and stressed the political and economic relation of Manchuria and Mongolia to Japan’s national defense. On excellent terms with the Army, he is also on excellent terms with such men as Yoshisuke Aikawa, chief of the powerful Nissan combine, which was created to exploit Manchuria. ...
The most violent advocates of Japanese imperialism must know they have lost the war; but like the leaders of the Nazi Party, they have nothing to gain from a negotiated peace and prefer to continue the war to an annihilationist conclusion. We are committed to destroy Japanese militarism and its gains, and the wealth and hopes of the "Young Industrialists," of whom Aikawa is typical, are inextricably associated with them."

usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/nissan-legend-1-yoshisuke-aikawa-a-modern-man-with-insight (accessed: Jan. 12, 2023): "Yoshisuke Aikawa was given a big job that he did not want in 1928, when he was asked to head up the restructuring of Kuhara Kogyo, which was led by his brother-in-law, Fusanosuke Kuhara. Aikawa declined the request firmly at first, but eventually he accepted it...This was the moment when Nissan, derived from "Ni"hon + "San"gyo, was born.
Aikawa went further than that. He restructured Nihon Sangyo to make it a public company, and he started to establish the Nissan Konzern conglomerate, bringing Nihon Kogyo, Hitachi, Nissan Chemicals and Nihon Life Insurance under the Nissan umbrella.
Nihon Sangyo grew to be a huge group comparable in size and status to the Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and Sumitomo zaibatsu or conglomerates, but it was fundamentally different from those other corporate groups in its basic characteristics. The other zaibatsu were of a feudal and conservative nature, owned and controlled by families, but Nihon Sangyo had modern characteristics; its companies were public, with their capital paid in by anonymous shareholders and the profits returned to them."

February 2021, Hitachi Review, pp. 120-125, 'The Men who Aided Manufacturing: The Words of Hitachi Founders': "Namihei Odaira identified three key factors behind the growth of Hitachi as a company: [including] the support of Fusanosuke Kuhara and Yoshisuke Aikawa... Fusanosuke Kuhara [2] was the owner-manager of the Hitachi Mine of Kuhara Mining Company, which was the parent company of Hitachi, Ltd. Yoshisuke Aikawa, meanwhile, was the president of Nihon Sangyo following a re-organization of Kuhara Mining Company [in 1928]. He is known as the founder of Nissan Motor. To see how these two men supported Hitachi we need to go back to before the company’s founding. ...
Aikawa was born in Yamaguchi in 1880. Although 11 years younger than Kuhara, because Kuhara had married his younger sister, by Japanese convention it was Aikawa who was considered the older brother-in-law. Also related to Kaoru Inoue [1836-1915; member Meiji oligarchy and member Genro; top financial advisor to Mitsui during his term in government], a prominent member of the Meiji government, he stayed at his relative’s residence while attending Tokyo Imperial University. ...
What he had seen prompted him to travel abroad with the aim of gaining practical experience from working at overseas companies. Aikawa visited the USA in 1905 and took a job as a metal worker at a malleable cast iron manufacturer. Although the diminu- tive Aikawa apparently found factory work in the USA very demanding, he gained confidence from a belief that Japanese workers’ manual dexterity could make up for their difference in physical size from Americans. ...
When Aikawa informed Inoue of his return to Japan at the end of this two-year stint of practical experience, he also expressed his desire to start a business and asked for his assistance. In 1910, the same year that Hitachi, Ltd. was founded, he established Tobata Foundry Co. (later renamed Kokusan Industries, Ltd.) in Kitakyushu..
Faced with the recession that followed the First World War, signs of decline in Kuhara Mining Company were starting to become apparent in the 1920s. Accepting responsibility for this, Kuhara resigned as president in 1928 and was succeeded by Aikawa. Aikawa transformed Kuhara Mining Company into a pure holding company that he renamed Nihon Sangyo (with the mining division becoming Nippon Mining). Recognizing the corporate governance concerns associated with Kuhara Mining Company being a family business, he extricated the company from its clearly outdated status as a family concern by means of a public offering of its stock. In August of the same year, Aikawa was appointed chairman of Hitachi, Ltd. This made Hitachi a core company in the Nissan Group of which Nihon Sangyo was the holding company (Odaira, meanwhile, took up the post of president of Hitachi in 1929). [5]
In 1933, with the business of Nihon Sangyo on an improving trend, Aikawa sold off some of that company’s holdings in Nippon Mining and Hitachi. He used the profi t on this sale to establish Jidosha Seizo Co., Ltd. (renamed Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. a year later). To improve corporate governance, the practice was adopted of designating separate companies for each sector, including Nippon Mining for mining, Hitachi for industrial products, Nissan Motors for the automotive business, and Nippon Suisan for marine products, with each of these companies managing operations in its respective industry. In accordance with this arrangement, Kokusan Industries, Ltd. (previously Tobata Foundry) was absorbed into Hitachi in 1937.
While it is said that Aikawa placed his full trust in Odaira, rarely instructing him on how he should be running Hitachi, it is likely that these two men, who had shared similar ambitions from the beginning, also shared a common approach to management.
In its early years, Hitachi was supported by two great men in the form of Kuhara and Aikawa."

Fusanosuke Kuhara was a financier of the ultraright Feb. 26, 1936 coup in Japan.

2015, Eleanor M. Hadley, 'Antitrust in Japan', pp. 36-37: "The following quotation is from my earlier study.
"Formalizing a relationship that had begun in 1871-72, when Inouye Kaoru was in the finance office, the Mitsuis asked him in 1891 to become the highest adviser to their organization. ... Although Inouye continued his direct participation in the government until 1898, one would not have expected him to see anything contradictory in concurrently holding government and private office. His remarks to the Princes Yamagata and Matsukata on his assumption of the formal post of top adviser to the Mitsuis provide the classic formulation of his view of the identity of Mitsui and national interests. He observed, “The Mitsuis and our economy are very closely related; if failure were to overtake the Mitsuis, the repercussions on our economy would not be small. Therefore, although their request to become top adviser is burdensome to me, I do not believe that I have any alternative but to accept. I am seeking your views in this matter. If you endorse my action, I trust that I may in the future count on your strong support.”
The consequences of a government policy that deliberately favored certain businesses would not have been so widespread had the government not played a directing role in the economy. While Japan's modernization occurred in the format of capitalism, it was the format only, not its spirit. Laissez-faire is not suitable to forced development. Initially Japan's development was forced for the most basic of all motives,"

Sep. 1944 (written in June 1944), E. Herbert Norman (University of British Columbia) for Pacific Affairs, 'The Genyosha: A Study in the Origins of Japanese Imperialism', pp. 261-284 (important still: 276-277): "[p. 274:] The first head of the Genyosha was Hiraoka Kotaro (died 1906) who became one of the most important liaison men with senior government officials in the army and Foreign Office. In the months preceding the Russo-Japanese war he made frequent trips through North China meeting important Chinese officials, threatening those who he regarded as pro-Russian and attempting to cajole and win over to the Japanese side those who were of the opposite tendency. His activity was of so important a nature that he and an associate, Komuchi Chijo, were called the "unofficial ambassadors" of Japan in Korea and China. [20] He was a man of wealth who owned some of the richest coal mines in Kyushu. He drew heavily on his private means to subsidize various enterprises of the Genyosha. Although shortly after the founding of the Genyosha he resigned in order to travel in China, he remained one of the closest associates to Toyama and the inner circle of the Genyosha. ...
[pp. 283-284:] Utilizing to the full their favored position with regard to the army and bureacracy the Genyosha and Kokuryukai succeeded in establishing and maintaining a close but informal alliance with the most ambitious houses, including the Zaibatsu (big capitalists), which were interested in expansion as a means of acquiring lucrative overseas markets and a cheap source of raw material.
Toyama is the army's chief contact man in civilian life. When public opinion is to be mobilized in support, for instance, of the Japanese absorbtion of Manchuria after the "incident" of 1931, Toyama and Uchida throw into high gear the intricate machinery of their various organizations. The flood of propaganda [subsequently] played upon the basest emotions of greed and chauvinism in order to to gain public approval for the army's adventure. ...
Hard on the heels of the Manchurian incident, Uchida Ryohei in December 1931 published a widely circulated pamphlet entitled "The Independence of Manchuria and Mongolia" in which he outlined a scheme of development in Manchuria, placing it within the Japanese economic bloc, a remarkable forecast or even blue-print of Japanese policy in Manchuria. The headquarters for the propaganda campaign aimed at selling the Manchurian invasion to the Japanese people was fashioned from a number of extreme nationalist societies which temporarily federated to form the Manshu Mandai Kaiketsu Domei (League for the Solution of the Manchurian Question). The chairman was Viscount Inouye Kyoshiro, a former director of the South Manchuria Railway; Toyama was its counsellor. The league included prominent politicians, members of the House of Peers, army officers, diplomats, but above all, journalists whose task it was to keep public attention divested from public problems and centred upon the attractive prospects of colonization in Manchuria. The two main themese of his propaganda campaign excusing Japanese aggression were overpopulation and the Communist menace from the Soviet Union."

"After the assassination of Prime Minister Inukai on 15 May 1932 , Hirohito was particularly concerned that his oldest brother , Prince Chichibu , was falling under the influence of the radical young officers who were involved in this"

Source(s): 1929, ICC Brochure, issue 69-76 compilation, p. 59: "Japan - Members: Dr. Takuma Dan, Raita Fujiyama, Keijiro Hori. Alternates: Katsunaro Inabata, Akira Ishii, Kenjiro Matsumoto."; 1934, Foreign Affairs Association of Japan, 'The Japan Year Book', p. 340: "The Yedo (Tokyo) City Assembly was the predecessor of the present Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and dates back 133 years. It was Lord Etchu-no-Kami Matsudaira, the then Vice-Premier (roju) of the Sogunate Government, who advanced a plan to organize a public business body to accomodate merchants with funds and to carry out relief enterprises is now known as the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The late Viscount Eiichi Shibusawa was the first President of the Chamber and served in that capacity for 30 years, until his resignation in 1902. ... Japan attended the plenary conference of the International Chamber in 1923 in London, when Mr. Raita Fujiyama, then president of the Tokyo Chamber and All-American Chamber was the representative. The present chairman of the Japanese Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce is Mr. Manzo Kushida, chairman of the board of directors of the Mitsubishi Bank, and Baron Seinosuke Goh holds the dual position of president of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and the Japan Economic Federation."

1863-1938. Son of the Saga samurai clan. Japanese businessman. Joined the Mitsui Bank in 1892. Ran a number of companies for Mitsui. After leaving Mitsui, he helped to found Tokyo City Railroad, Japan Fire Insurance, and the Imperial Theater. President Dai-Nippon Sugar 1909-. MP 1923-. Served as the Director of The Tokyo Chamber of Commerce 1917-1925. Vice president Japan Netherlands Indian Society under Prince Fumimaro Konoye. Committee member of the Japanese American Relations Committee, founded in 1919 and working with the Japanese Relations Committee in San Francisco and the Japanese-American Relations Committee in New York City.

Feb. 25, 1985, Los Angeles Times, 'Aiichiro Fujiyama, 87; Served as Foreign Minister of Japan': "Fujiyama participated in the negotiations that led to the revision of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in 1960. He was the eldest son of a prominent businessman, Raita Fujiyama. After graduating from Keio University, he succeeded his father as president of the Dai Nippon Sugar Manufacturing Co. in 1930 and later served as chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1941. He entered politics in 1957 when he was appointed minister of foreign affairs in the government of Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. Before retiring from politics in 1975, he was reelected to Parliament five times as a candidate of the governing Liberal Democratic Party and was active in the move to restore diplomatic relations between Japan and China."

Source(s): 1938 list (member Japanese national committee)

Head of Tokyo Electric Power, "long been under the absolute financial control of Mitsui and the political influence of the [Rikken] Seiyukai [party]..."

December 5, 1932, Time, 'Business & Finance: Power in Japan': "Last week Baron Seinosuke Goh, head of Tokyo Electric, declared that the sole hope of Japan's power & light industry [in the wake of the Great Depression] was a merger of all the leading units. Baron Goh's Tokyo Electric is not only the biggest concern in the field but also the biggest corporation in Japan. The great banking house of Mitsui has tremendous holdings in it. Serving the rich industrial area around Tokyo and Yokohama, it produces nearly as much power as New York Edison Co., more than Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Tokyo Electric probably has more customers than any strictly power & light company in the world—2,200,000.
As in the U. S., expansion by merger has been the rule in Japanese utilities, but more than one-half the power is still produced by small units supplying villages or small districts. The big companies, always grouped as the "Big Five"—Tokyo Electric, Great Consolidated Electric Power Co. (Daido). Toho Electric Power Co., Nippon Electric Power Co., Ujigawa Electric Power Co.—produce about 37% of all Japanese current sold. ...
In the U. S.. because franchises insure monopolies, competition among utility companies is practically unknown. In Japan the power companies often become involved in bitter price wars in selling to local distributing concerns or to big industrial users. Last winter the Big Five signed a peace pact, agreeing to respect one another's customers, to pool power at times of peak load or droughts, to refrain from building new plants without permission of the other units.
Before the War, Japan was almost entirely dependent on the U. S. and Europe for its electrical equipment. Though still relying on foreign research, the nimble-fingered Japanese now actually export. Manufacturing branches of the Mitsui are tied up with General Electric, the House of Mitsubishi's with Westinghouse. Nearly 11,500,000 Japanese homes are wired, each having an average of about three bulbs."

Bancho-kai

March 10, 1934, The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld.: 1933-1954), 'Outrage in Japan; Several Shots Fired at Industrialist; Attendant Killed': "Mr. Sanji Muto, Japan's greatest cotton master, and now the chief director of the newspaper "Jiji Shimpo" was gravely wounded this morning by a bullet fired from a pistol. His assailant afterwards committed suicide. ... Mr. Muto's household steward received a bullet in his head, and died instantly. As a result of a blood-transfusion operation this afternoon there is hope that Mr. Muto will recover.
It was assumed at first that the crime was connected with the "Jiji Shimpo's" recent exposures of political and industrial corruption in connection with the steel merger and other deals implicating prominent industrialists. Mr. Muto formerly was president of the Kanegafunchico, the biggest firm of cottonspinners in Japan.
It was stated to-night, however, that the would-be murderer interviewed Mr. Muto recently, and expounded his views regarding the municipalisation of the local crematoy. Mr. Muto expressed sympathy with the idea, and gave the promoter 30 yen (3 pounds). Subsequently Mr. Muto published his views editorially in his newspaper, and the man, annoyed at the appropriation of his ideas, demanded a gift of 3000 yen (300 pounds). ...
Muto .. is a very popular figure in Japan. ... Last year he was appointed a director of the Imperialistic newspaper, "Jiji Shimpo." He represented the commerical and industrial sections of the country on the Imperial Japanese Diet. He is a well-known economist..."

March 11, 1934, New York Times, Tokyo Publisher Dies of Wounds; Sanji Muto, President of the Newspaper Jiji, Was Shot by Unemployed Salesman. Had Aided Labor's Status Millionaire, in His Editorials, Also Urged Better Political Education of Masses.': "Sanji Muto, 66, president of the newspaper Jiji Shimpo, died at 9:20 P.M. today of wounds he suffered when an unemployed salesman shot him three times yesterday."

March 17, 1934, China Weekly Review, 'Japanese Industrial Magnate is Is Assassinated': "It was also intimated that the assassin [of Sanji Muto] might have been instigated to the act by the Banchokai, a town council, which had been subjected to criticisms by Mr. Muto. Neither of these two hypotheses are, however, accepted, and the belief is gaining ground that political motives may have been the impelling cause. The shooting may also have been a sequel to the recent exposure by the murdered man of alleged scandals in connection with the merger of government and private steel and iron works. Mr. Muto had been critical of the merger because the assets of the private concerns absorbed were greatly over-valued. He said that this would result in forcing up selling costs and so prevent the lowering of iron and steel prices by the government. The scandal resulting from the exposure ed to the resignation of Minister of Commerce Baron Kumakichi..."

May 7-8, 1945, Manila, Conference on Psychological Warfare Against Japan, Basic Military Plan for Psychological Warfare Against Japan': "Banji Muto, who was assassinated on March 9, 1934, says in his book "The Story of Applied Economics," page 140, as follows: "When I first came to this paper, the Jiji Shimpo, I was shocked to find that, contrary to my expectations, there was actually no freedom of speech. I had the impression that we had attained a fair degree of freedom of speech. Yet, every month, there will always be seven or eight executive orders not to treat this article in this vein, not to touch this incident, etc. ... We do not have freedom of speech.""

1983, Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, p. 144: "Hiranuma Kiichiro: ... and directed from behind the scenes the prosecution, by the Ministry of Justice, of the Banchokai in the TEIJIN INCIDENT of 1934, a maneuver calculated to topple the government and replace it with a Hiranuma cabinet. But despite Hiranuma's popularity among right-wing politicians, his activities earned him powerful enemies, including SAIONJI KIMMOCHI, who was able to slow Hiranuma's rise to prominence during the early thirties even as party governments and cooperative diplomacy were becoming a thing of the past."

June 2, 1934, China Weekly Review, p. 15, 'Japan's "Tammany Hall" Is Dissolved': "The dissolution of the Bancho-kai was announced May 16 by its leader, Baron Seinosuke Go. Dubbed the "Tammany Hall of Japan", the organization was deemed a source of plots aimed at financial and industrial circles, extending its hidden influence even to political matters. The dissolution is said to be attributed to the recent change of mind of Baron Nakajima, a prominent member who, on the occasion of the assassination of the late Sanji Muto, received a shock from the various criticisms levelled at the Bancho-kai. In this connection Baron Go is quoted as saying: "Originally the body was organized solely with the object of contributing to the moral cultivation of its members; but in course of time with some members being affiliated with undesirable organizations, the Bencho-kai has become the butt of discussion at large." The “Bancho-kai" had twelve members, all influential in political and financial circles, and generally regarded as subordinates of Baron Go, including Baron Kumakichi Nakajima, former Minister of Commerce and Industry."

1951, Nippon Times' Journal of Finance and Commerce, pp. 4, 22: "Another economic leader who has been active since before the war is Ataru Kobayashi, the president of the Life Insurance Association... He was a member of the Banchokai, a prewar club of oustanding economic leaders centering around Seinosuke Goh. (Other surviving members of the group who are still active include Kumakichi Nakajima, Yoshinari Kawai and Mamoru Nagano). With his remarkable aggressiveness, which must have been bred during his Banchokai days, Kobayashi accomplished two major personal ... Considering the sales price unduly cheap, prosecutors caused the arrest of many high-placed Government officials and industrialists on charges of graft. Among the arrested persons were Hideo Kuroda, then Finance Vice-Minister; Chief Okubo of the Bank Bureau, Finance Ministry; President Shimada of the Bank of Taiwan, and members of the Banchokai group of industrialists."

1993, The Branch, 'Summaries of Selected Japanese Magazines, Issues 1-9', p. 32: "However, in the Teijin Case (of 1934), which took place before the War, two incumbent Ministers and a Finance Vice Minister and others were indicted for corruption, and the Minoru SAITO Cabinet, which had been criticized for its "pro-British/pro-US" policy and for its "liberalism," resigned in a body. The Case was regarded as a frame-up of "prosecutor fascism" connected with the military and the right-wing.
Behind that, there was a big wheel in legal circles, Kiichiro HIRANUMA, who founded Kokuhonsha, an organization of rightists, after having served successively in the posts of Public Prosecutor General, Supreme Court President, and Justice Minister, and he had been moving to take political power. The Tokyo District Court’s judgment, in which all were found not guilty, criticized the prosecution, and stated as follows: "This can be compared to trying to take up the moonlight on the water." At the Justice Minister's orders, given from "a broader viewpoint", public prosecutors gave up their right of intermediate appeal. However, the political purpose, which was to wreck the liberal Saito Cabinet, was accomplished."

1936, World Peace Foundation's World Affairs Books, 'Militarism in Japan', pp. 31-32, 77: "Of still greater significance is the Kokuhonsha (Society of the Foundations of the State), which for several years has promoted the appointment of Baron [Kiichiro] Hiranuma as a Fascist premier. After a brilliant career in the courts, Hiranuma entered the Yamamoto cabinet as minister of justice, and in 1926 became vice-president of the Privy Council. His connection with the Kokuhonsha dates from its founding in 1919. At that time, Kozo Ota, with the support of Dr. Kisaburo Suzuki, General Araki (then a field officer) and Kiichiro Hiranuma (then a commoner), organized the Kokuhonsha in order to combat the democratic movement at the Imperial University of Tokyo. The membership of the society has reached one hundred thousand and the roster shows many impressive names from the ranks of the military, the captains of industry, and the bureaucrats. In practice the society has subordinated attacks on democratic principles to blind laudation of the Imperial Throne. A mysterious element is supplied by its intimate connection with the army and navy. While it has promoted the appointment of Baron Hiranuma as a Fascist premier, the figures of General Araki and Admiral Kato lurk in the background. General Araki has used the society to promote Kodo (the Imperial Way) and fanatical patriotism. Other societies and parties of this type are: Odo Gikai (Society of the Imperial Way) founded in... Hiranuma he will swing a political deal that will bring in the "Showa Restoration." But thus far, he is blocked by the major parties in the Diet, while neither the Kokuhonsha nor the Kokumin Domei has come anywhere near winning the confidence of the country. ... "It should be said that in July 1934 Takahashi, as finance minister, took responsibility for the Teikoku Rayon scandal involving a vice-minister of finance, and offered his, and offered his resignation. The Saito cabinet fell, and, when the Okada ministry was formed, the portfolio of finance was given to a follower of Takahashi, by the name of Sadanobu Fujii. Due to ill health, and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task thrust upon him, he resigned on Noveber 26, 1934, and Takahashi was again drafted for the public service."

2003, M. Itoh, 'The Hatoyama Dynasty: Japanese Political Leadership Through the Generations', pp. 62-63: "A don of the right-wing, Hiranuma Kiichiro (1867-1952, later prime minister), was deputy speaker of the Privy Council and wanted to become its speaker. Emperor Hirohito was concerned with the shift to right-wing politics since the 5-15 incident and Saionji did not recommend Hiranuma to the speaker's post. As a reprisal, Hiranuma attempted to breakdown the incumbent Saito cabinet and made Jiji Shimpo, a newspaper run by his group, fabricate bribery scandals involving the financial circles that supported the Saito cabinet. As a result, Teijin's president and officials of the MOF were indicted; the so-called Teijin incident. This was a frame-up, motivated by Hiranuma's personal vendetta; however their innocence was not proven until October 1937, and the Saito cabinet resigned en masse in July 1934. [30]"

July 14, 1934, China Weekly Review, p. 268: "Araki quit office [in Jan. 1934] while Saito considered financiers' interest more than they had anticipated. Forgetting past bitter experiences some of the smart financiers - Banchokaimen - skilfully maneuvred with Baron Go as their head. Their attempt succeeded to some extent but finally failed and those connected with the plot were thrown into prison, and the incident is feared to make further development. What is most regrettable, the Banchokai fire spread to the person of Finance Minister Takahashi whom the financiers trust and worship as their guardian deity. Thus their two years ' laborious work to restore their former confidence has again completely been frustrated. They condemn the progressive element of the Banchokai, but the method the Nippon financial cliques resort to is an exact copy of the plot undertaken by these Banchokai men."

Source(s): 1929, ICC Brochure, issue 69-76 compilation, p. 59: "Japan - Members: Dr. Takuma Dan, Raita Fujiyama, Keijiro Hori. Alternates: Katsunaro Inabata, Akira Ishii, Kenjiro Matsumoto."

President Mitsui's Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK) Lines, Ltd. 1914-1934. Director Nitchitsu anno 1929-1937.

April 14, 1934, China Weekly Review: "The Tokyo Electric Light Company has long been under the absolute financial control of Mitsui and the political influence of the [Rikken] Seiyukai [political party whose PM Hara Takashi was killed in 1921 by a person who said he was corrupt and controlled by the zaibatsu]... formerly a director of the party, who was succeeded by Baron Sinosuke Goh, present administrator of the company. The Toho Electric Power Company in which Mr. Yasuzaemon Matsunaga plays the predemonant role, is also more inclined to the Seiyukai as a result of its financial bondage to Mitsui. Yasuda interest, though, appearing to be little imbued with political taint, may have allied with the party in some way or other, since Korekiyo Takahashi [took over as PM 1921-1922 after Hara's assassination; again PM in 1932; major banker; raised funds from Jacob Schiff's Kuhn Loeb and Rothschild for the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-1905] has been senior advisor to the firm. But the Osaka Shosen Kaisha is known to all as backer of the party, as Mr. Nakahashi dominates the company and Keijiro Hori, former managing director of the company, was nominated to the House of Peers by the recommendation of the Seiyukai statesmen. It operates some subsidiaries including the Ujigawa Hydroelectric Power Company, with a huge total of capital investment. And Mr. Nakahashi has been able to build up his influence in the party thanks to the vast financial strength arising out of the Osaka Shosen and its many subsidiaries. ...
It is the Kojunsha, which is ostensively a social institution but actually the financial headquarters of the Seiyukai. This was established in 1878 by the late Yukichi Fukuzawa, founder of the Keio University, who professed the cause of this social club so as "to exchange knowledge, to discuss social affairs and to give aid to various works intended to promote the welfare of the community at large. What this cultural forerunner was concerned about most in those days was how to free the Meiji Government from the military and political despotism of the "Choshu" and "Satsuma" cliques. In order to achieve this end in view, he opened an educational institution which was the ...
Now I have to deal with the statesmen who haunt this club. They are Messrs. Hatoyama, Minister of Education; K. Oguchi, advisor to the Seiyukai; Z. Horikiri, parliamentary vice-minister of Finance; Kunisuke Okazaki, advisor to the Seiyukai; Chuzo Mitsuchi, Minister of Railways; Toshio Shimada, senior director of the Seiyukai; Keisuke Mochidzuki, advisor to the Seiyukai; and a large number of Seiyukai members of the both houses. Some prominent members of the House of Peers who are on the list of this club are Y. Hatta, vice - president of the South Manchuria Railway Company; Baron Toshimaru Fukuhara, president of the Associated Warehousing Company of Yokohama; Baron Ideka, a leader of the Koseikai; Count Okudaira, a leader of the Kenkyukai party. The foregoing lists will be more than enough to suggest the very close relations existing between the Seiyukai and Mitsui. The very special nature of the relations may well be imagined, if one takes into account the fact that the leading members of the Kojunsha played the initiative and decisive role in the last ban on gold export, which was put into force in 1931 immediately after the late Mr. Inukai's Seiyukai Cabinet displaced its predecessor, a Minseito Cabinet which was diametrically opposed to the ban. It was reported that Mitsui was to incur a loss of millions of yen on its heavy speculation in foreign exchange unless the ban was imposed by the Seiyukai Cabinet, but it made an easy gain of more than one hundred million yen from the same speculation thanks to the ban. The Seiyukai party, thereforem received due rewards in the general election which was held in the following year. It was solely on account of the huge electioneering fund received from Mitsui that the party won the election with an overwhelming majority, which was 304 as against the 140 of the Minseito.
A conversation in Kojunsha is tantamount to the resolution of the executives' council of Mitsui since most of the highest leaders of all principal operatons of Mitsui are always there. And at the same time, the Seiyukai party has always some of its leaders in the club. It may therefore be said that the Kojunsha combines the highest council of Mitsui and the decisive will of the Seiyukai. It is the financial headquarters of the party, and it is the general staff of Mitsui for commanding and directing the Seiyukai together with prominent business men from the Keio University, the Jiji Shimpo and the Chugai Shogyo Shimpo..."

Source(s): 1929, ICC Brochure, issue 69-76 compilation, p. 59: "Japan - Members: Dr. Takuma Dan, Raita Fujiyama, Keijiro Hori. Alternates: Katsunaro Inabata, Akira Ishii, Kenjiro Matsumoto."

Director of Nippon Yusen Kaisha (named a mailing, telegraph, telephone and steamship company) anno 1915-1922. Founding member of the Institute of Pacific Relations, founded in 1925.

June 30 - July 14, 1925, Institute of Pacific Relations, Honolulu Session, pp. 35-36, 99: "Members: ... Akira Ishii, former vice-president of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha Steamship Company. ...
[p. 99:] Masaharu Anesaki, Professor of Comparative Religions and Librarian of Tokyo Imperial University, was to have been a member of the Institute but found it necessary to leave Honolulu the day before the Institute convened. His presence in Japan was required in connection with the rebuilding of the University Library, made possible by a gift of $2,000,000 from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. "

Source(s): 1929, ICC Brochure, issue 69-76 compilation, p. 59: "Vice-Presidents: Sir Arthur Balfour ... Ettore Conti ... Rene Duchemin ... Junnosuke Inoue. Franz von Mendelssohn ... Silas H. Strawn ... Honorary Vice-President: K. A. Wallenberg."

Graduate of the Imperial University of Tokyo. Joined the Bank of Japan in 1896. Educated in London about banking practices here on behalf of the Bank of Japan in 1897 alongside Hisaakira Hijikata (head Industrial Bank of Japan 1918-; governor Bank of Japan June 1928 - June 1935). Head Yokohama Specie Bank 1913-1919. Founding executive of the America-Japan Society in 1917, together with other future ICC members. Governor Bank of Japan March 1919 – September 1923, May 1927 – June 1928. Minister of finance in 1923-1924 and 1929-1931. Founding Japan council member of the Institute of Pacific Relations in 1925, president at some point.

January 2019, Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies (Waseda University), Seiko Mimaki, 'Non-Governmental Organizations and Origins of Asia-Pacific Regionalism: The Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR: 1925‒1961)', p. 59: "Accordingly, national councils were founded in each participant country. The Japan Council was es- tablished in 1925, and 55 members were named to it. Many of them were academics and businessmen, who had actively committed to promoting US‒Japan friendly relationships. Among the members there were some prominent figures in each field, such as Eiichi Shibusawa, Junnosuke Inoue from business and financial sectors, Inazo Nitobe a prominent Japanese liberal intellectual, and his disciples from academia (Katagiri 1994; Yamaoka 1994). ...
Especially in the US academia, the IPR had long been regarded as a mere tool of US cultural imperialism under mask of transnationalism (Arnove 1982; Berman 1983; Fisher 1983). Certainly, despite its multilateral structure, the research activities of the IPR hugely depended on Rockefeller Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic organizations in US. It is estimated that the IPR received approximately $1.5 million to 18.8 million from Rockefeller sources for operating expenses and international research program during its lifetime (Woods 1999)."

Inoue was gunned down in the extreme right League of Blood Incident on February 9, 1932, followed by Mitsui director-general Dan Takuma on March 5, 1932. The assassinations were carried out by the secret group Ketsumeidan, founded by the self-styled priest Nissho Inoue, an ally of extreme right Sakurakai (the Cherry Blossom Society, a secret group) members as Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba (his dojo was a meeting place for Sakurakai), Col. Kingoro Hashimoto, Gen. Sadao Araki, Shumei Okawa (the "Japanese Goebbels"), as well as Ikki Kita, described as the "ideological father of Japanese fascism". The Black Dragon Society fits into this mix as well.

Feb. 1932, About Japan, p. 6, 'Junnosuke Inouye': "With the assassination of Junnosuke Inouye on February ninth Japan lost an eminent financier, a liberal statesman and an earnest worker in the cause of international conciliation. Mr. Inouye was at all times eager to promote good-will between Japan and the United States and was a pioneer in urging Japanese - American cooperation not alone in financial affairs, but in the solution of problems concerning the Orient. He had wide acquaintance here particularly among financiers, because of the important positions he had held in Japan, having been twice Governor of the Bank of Japan, President of the Yokohama Specie Bank during the European War period, serving from 1913 to 1919, and three times Minister of Finance, first in 1923 when he had to deal with important financial problems that arose after the great earthquake and fire, and again accepting the portfolio of Finance Minister in 1929, serving under two Premiers.
Following his passing, the Japan Society sent the following cable through the America Japan Society in Tokyo to Mrs. Inouye: "The Board of Directors of the Japan Society is profoundly shocked and saddened by the tragic death of your illustrious husband. He was a great statesman, a great financier and a great interpreter of Japan to America and of America to Japan Junnosuke Inouye.""

1932 annual issues compilation, The China Weekly Review, p. 131 : "At the same time, Mr. Junnosuke Inouye [1869-1932], while not exactly an adopted son from a legal standpoint, was treated almost as a son by Baron Yataro Iwasaki [1835-1885; likely Yataro's younger brother Baron Yanosuke Iwasaki (1851-1908), Mitsubishi's second president; or Baron Koyata Iwasaki (1879-1945)?], one of the wealthiest men in Japan and connected with the Mitsubishi interests. Mr. Inouye maried a daughter of Baron Iwasaki."

1934 annual issues compilation, China Monthly Review, p. 294: "While Mitsui had been basily engaged in promoting its interests under the aid of the Choshu clan, very conspicuous had been the growing relations between Mitsubishi and the Satsuma military and political clan through a series of marriages. The author has already dealt with the marriage of the daughter of Y. Iwasaki with the son of the late Matsukata. ... Admiral Viscount Saito, a leader of Satsuma, adopted as his heir the fifth son of the late Mr. Toyokawa of Mitsubishi. Marquis Toshitake Okubo, the third son of the late Toshimichi Okubo, who was one of the three most important statesmen of the earlier Meiji, married the daughter of the late Rempei Kondo of Mitsubishi, while his elder brother Viscount Nobuaki Makino, Minister of the Imperial Household Department, has been on close terms with Mitsubishi men through his younger brother. There have been many marriages of convenience ... The late Finance Minister Junnosuke Inouye, a protege of Mitsubishi..."

1958, Harrison M. Holland of George Washington University, 'The Rikken Minseito (Constitutional Democratic Party) of Japan (1927-1940): Its Antecedents, Structure and Operation': "Count Kato, for example, was married to the sister of Baron Iwasaki, the head of the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, and Junnosuke Inouye, the finance minister in the Hamaguchi and Wakatsuki cabinets and a leading Minseito official, was married to the daughter of Baron Iwasaki. Through these intimate connections with the Minseito [founding chair in 1927: Hamaguchi Osachi (favored women voting rights; Great Depression policy to keep yen on gold standard was disastrous, similar to elites forcing this in the U.S.), PM July 1929 - Nov. 1930; March – April 1931; survived an ultraright assassination in Nov. 1930, but died in Aug. 1931 from his wounds; political party; 1930 elections: Minseito: 273 seats with 174 for the Mitsui-controlled Seiyukai;], Mitsubishi was able to obtain favored treatment when the Minseito was in power. In such matters as "

"Hara [Takashi: PM 1918 - until assassination in Nov. 1921; moderate; participated in the Paris Peace Conference and the founding of the League of Nations; tried to implement relaxed oppressive policies in Japanese Korea] antificapted that rising tension swith the West would ensure unless Japn's policy direction was curtailed to accomodate Western objections [and] designed for cooperation and peaceful resolutions with the Western nations. Hara was a new type of political leader. Due to his largely liberal outlook, he would be recognized in future history as one of the two political leaders in Japan who represented the ideology of the Taisho Democracy.The other was Hamaguchi Osachi, who became prime minister ten years later."

Source(s): 1929, ICC Brochure, issue 69-76 compilation, p. 59: "Japan - Members: Dr. Takuma Dan, Raita Fujiyama, Keijiro Hori. Alternates: Katsunaro Inabata, Akira Ishii, Kenjiro Matsumoto."

1862-1949. Received a scholarship to La Martinière technical school in Lyon, France, in 1877. One of his classmates here was Auguste Lumiere, later one of the inventors of the cinematographe. Founded his company Inabata Senryoten (later Inabata & Co., Ltd.) in 1890. Came to focus on dyeing military uniforms. President Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) 1922-1934. Member House of Peers. Key founder of the Institut Franco-Japon du Kansai in 1926. The first Japanese to start shooting of films, but handed the business over to Einosuke Yokota, a founder of one of Japan's first film studios. In his 80s by the time World War II broke out.

Source(s): 1938 list (vice president of Japan and president national committee)

President of Mitsubishi Bank anno 1938. Manager of the Tokyo Club. Died of pneumonia in 1939.

2022, Martin Horn, 'J.P. Morgan & Co. and the Crisis of Capitalism', pp. 290-301: "[Morgan partner Thomas W.] Lamont to Chokyuro Kadono, 24 September 1937... Kadono was the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tokyo and president of the Japanese-American Trade Council, chairman of Okura & Co., and executive director of the Japan Economic Federation. He had headed a Japanese economic mission to the United States in May and June 1937, meeting Lamont. ...
Officers of the Japanese Kwantung army had conspired to manufacture an explosion on the South Manchurian railroad in September 1931 [using it] as a pretext to overrun Manchuria. ... The [League of Nations] Lytton report, made public on 1 October 1932, not only chastised Japan ... it disavowed the existence of the puppet state of Manchukuo... Japan moved to occupy the province of Jehol late in February 1933...
The fullest exposition of [Morgan partner Thomas W.] Lamont's thinking was decanted to Dean Jay in mid-November 1931: "We think that in the Manchurian situation the Chinese have been really the aggressors in that they have apparently had no interest in observing existing treaties and have not hesitated to encourage roving bands to beat up Japanese nationals... No one can say that either side is without fault. But in our judgment, the Japanese have no imperialistic designs in Manchuria... Four years ago when I was last in Japan the Japanese Authorities were earnestly begging the Chinese to sit own with them in a friendly way to thrash out all questions in reference to Manchuria. ... From the press reports it would seem that the League Authorities gave rather complete credence to the Chinese view. If the League should insist that the Chinese should sit down and negotiate with the Japanese or else give the Japanese such assurances as could be relied upon, that Japanese nationals in the railway zone would not have their throats cut, the difficulties would be much lessened. Love from us all." ... Lamont ... believed genuinely, that Tokyo should be absolved. ...
Through these chaotic months [of Feb.-May 1932 in which Japanese liberal politicians were murdered], Lamont chartered a cautious diplomatic cource with the Hoover administration [which didn't levy economic sanctions, but also did not recognize Japan's conquests in Manchuria] and Japanese interlocutors [by saying] the Japanese ability to borrow money in the United States had vanished... [Finance minister Viscount] Takahashi [Korekiyo] replied with a defence of the Japanese army, blaming Chinese provocateurs... This was dismissed as claptrap when [Lamont] forwarded it to [secretary of state Henry] Stimson. ...
[Missing page] Having justified terrorism dedicated to eradicating liberal Japan, [Martin] Egan [AP war correspondent early 20th century; PR director for J. P. Morgan & Co. for the last 25 years of his life; d. 1938] ventured that it was the emperor's influence that was responsible for the crackdown on the ultra-nationalist societies. None of the foregoing, Egan thought, implied a worsening of relations between the United States and Japan. Tokyo, he insisted, was committed to an open-door policy in Manchuria and desired good relations with Washington. ... Distressed at the savagery of the Depression in the United States, distracted by the looming presidential campaign [of FDR in 1932], Japan receded from the Morgan outlook. ...
Matsudaira, among others, had reassured [ambassador Joseph Grew] that the liberals would return to the ascendancy. Until the April 1934 announcement by a foreign ministry spokesman of the Amau Doctrine, which made plain Japan's desire to dominate the Far East, Grew listened. Thereafter he became steadily more sceptical of the notion of liberal restraint. Lamont and Egan, like Grew, knew the same circles - the businessmen, the financiers, the diplomats, the older courtiers around the emperor, whose predisposition to the West... ["was marked"? Unavailable] Consequently, Lamont's view of Japan was through a narrow aperture, often fuzzy, showing a liberal image. Renewed Japanese expansionism, with the seizure of Jehol and their contemptuous departure from the League early in 1933...
[1929-1935 U.S. ambassador to China Nelson] Johnson warned Lamont in April 1935 that Japanese engagement with China was driven by a need to seize control of "China's major resources," which Japan was determined to exclude others from... Lamont was unconvinced, remarking to Johnson after a further exchange of letters: "I am sorry to see China under the control of Japan [but] certainly America is not going to court trouble by any quixotic attempt to checkmate Japan in Asia." ...

[Lamont] wrote to Johnson in October 1933, "I told [1928-1933 Nationalist China finance minister close Chiang Kai-shek ally T.V.] Soong [that past investments were unreliably paid back] [and] there was no hope of getting fresh Western capital for China on any scale as long as practical warfare existed between China and Japan. ... The international situation of Japan is by no means satisfactory. Of course it can be argued as to whether the attitude of the militarists is typical of that of Japan as a whole. But it is clear that for the time being the old and prudent element made up of your Count Makinos, Baron Dans, Inouyes, Shideharras, Uchidas, et al, are killed off or blanketed." ...
Lamont's abiding conviction in the existence of liberal, moderate voices as meaningful actors in Tokyo [instead of hardline military leaders]. ... It became apparent that internal Japanese politics were dominated by competition among military factions, as the February 1936 mutiny in Tokyo illustrated and holding on to Lamont's cherished "liberal" and "militarist" duality became less plausible. A shift in his interactions with Japan was evident from 1934 to 1935. ... One [reason] was the retirement of Egan .. taking with him a consistent pro-Japanese voice. The counsel that issued from Wasson, Egan's replacement as Lamont's principel aide on public relations, was very different. Asked by Lamont in May 1937 to supply a memorandum on talking points for discussion with a Japanese economic mission then touring the United States, an undiplomatic answer returned: "... You might suggest to the Japs that they quit fascism and imperialism, quit the domination of Manchukuo, and the attempted domination of China, and treat these two countries as independent nations, with trade open to all on equal terms."... Lamont was [finally] converted ... with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in August 1937 following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July, the sack of Nanking [and] the subsequent attack on the USS Panay, in December 1937, accidental though it was... His private communications with Japanese correspondents in September and October 1937 were markedly more critical of Japanese policy, even if responses to American interlocutors remained wary. [126] A lengthy reply to Johnson, self-justifying on Manchuria, which Lamont insisted was Japan's "life-line," retreated from his previous position. Professing that the Japanese diplomats whom he met in the United States were liberals opposed to the actions of their government...
Because the [Morgan] firm had played a significant role before 1933 [before the election of FDR] in international relations, American observers thought that it must still have a part to play."

Source(s): 1929 list (alternate); 1938 list (vice president of Japan and president national committee)

Born in 1870. Attended University of Pennsylvania in 1893. Diversified business magnate in coal, steel, cotton-spinning, electrical appliances and other products. President of the Wakamatsu Port Construction Company anno 1921. Chairman of the Federation of Economics Associations. Director of the Coal Control Association and cabinet adviser under Hideki Tojo, the PM of Japan 1941-1944 who was hanged in Dec. 1948. Adviser to the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations.

1943, Foreign Affairs Association of Japan, 'Contemporary Japan: A Review of Japanese Affairs', p. 1034: "As chairman of the Japan Coal Control Council and president of the Japan Coal Company, Kenjiro Matsumoto enjoys the reputation of "the lord of black diamond." In northern Kyushu, particularly in Wakamatsu and Tobata, he has organized various industries success fully. These fourishing concerns, among others, are represented by the Meiji Mining Company, the Meiji Cotton Spinning Company, the Wakamatsu Iron and Steel Company, the Yasukawa Electric Apparatus Company and the Kurosaki Ceramics Company. He is also connected with several business corporations, some of which, dealing in coal and spinning, are located in North China.
While a student, he took his post-graduate course on economics at the Pennsylvania University. He has experienced active military service, having participated in the [First] Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5. He is now an Army captain on the retired list. His hobby consists of reciting nob librettos of the Kita school, walking, travelling and playing golf. He took a practical interest in the Chinese National Revolution and became a well-wisher of Koki Hirota, former Premier [1936-1937] and Foreign Minister [1938, but forced out by the military; eventually sentenced to death, which is often considered too harsh], when both were at school together.
Daigoro Yasukawa, a younger brother of Kenjiro Matsumoto and the fifth son of the late Baron Kei-ichiro Yasukawa, is chairman of the Electric Apparatus Control Council. Born in Fukuoka Prefecture..."

Source(s): 1955, ICC, 'Tokyo Congress 1955' booklet; 1955, Journal of Finance and Commerce, foreword by Keizo Shibusawa, p. 9: "It seems a safe guess that Keizo Shibusawa's selection as chairman of the 15th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce, held in Tokyo in mid - May, was not simply because he was a national of the host country or because he was chairman of ICC's Japanese national committee, but largely because his career fitted him for the role."; April 25, 1957, Vol. III, No. 6, Japan Report, p. 11: "Japan will send a sixty-member delegation to the 16th Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce in Naples, Italy, in May. Keizo Shibusawa, Chairman of the Japanese National Committee, will head the delegation."

Grandson of Shibusawa Eiichi, who:

• introduced joint-stock corporations in Japan;
• introduced the use use of double-entry accounting;
• founded the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in 1872, serving as first president until 1902;
• founded the joint-stock First National Bank / Dai Ichi Kokuritsu Ginko in 1873 and hundreds of joint-stock companies;
• founded the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1878;
• became a member of the Japan Society in Manhattan no later than 1910;
• served as co-chairman alongside Frank Vanderlip in the 1920 Welcome Association (Viscount Kaneko Kentaro served as president) that introduced elite American businessmen to their Japanese counterparts, such as Baron Mitsui; and the most important cabinet officials;
• joined the board of the 1917-founded America-Japan Society, alongside Viscount Kaneko Kentaro, Baron Takuma Dan, Junnosuke Inoue and the American Lindsay Russell.

Source(s): 1936 list (vice president for Japan)

President of Japan's Chamber of Commerce and Industry anno 1936.

Source(s): June 23, 2020, iccwbo.org, 'ICC elects Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga as new Chair'.

ICC Functions: International chair 2020-.

Top superclass member.

Source(s): June 13, 2008, iccwbo.org, 'ICC elects new Chairman and Vice-Chairman'.

ICC Functions: International vice chair 2008-2010.

McKinsey & Company in 1973, head of Scandinavia 1981, head Chicago office 1989, worldwide managing director 1994-2003, partner anno 2008. Director of Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble, AMR Corporation, and Qatar Financial Centre anno 2008. Served as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on UN Reform.

Source(s): June 13, 2008, iccwbo.org, 'ICC elects new Chairman and Vice-Chairman'.

ICC Functions: International chair 2008-2010.

Top superclass member from Hong Kong.

Source(s): (president)

From Turkey. Bilderberg family.