}
NORTH AMBRICAN CONGRESS ON LATIN AMERICA woh 1C =
P.O. Box 57, Cathedral Station, N.Y., N.Y. 10025-1709)
SPEGIAL ISSUE
CKEFELLER EMPIRE:
LATIN AMERIGA
( INTRODUCTION
' THER
Nelson Rockefeller is scheduled to undertake a special fact-finding and ambassadorial
tour of Latin America for President Nixon in May. Much more important than being the
governor of New York and a past rival of Nixon's for the Republican Party presidential
nomination is the fact that Nelson is the grandson of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., the
creator of the original Standard Oil trust and founder of the Rockefeller family for-
tune. Nelson and his four brothers manage one of the largest complexes of wealth and
power the world has ever known. The Rockefeller family first established a virtual
monopoly of the U.S. oil industry in the 1870's. Though the family fortune remains
highly concentrated in the ofl industry (the largest and most profitable in the world),
the Rockefellers have expanded into nearly all branches of industry and finance.
Through a network of over 13 foundations, 75 family trusts and other mechanisms of
high finance, the Rockefellers maintain a dominant interest in some of the world's
largest oil companies: the Standard 0i1 companies of New Jersey, Indiana and California
and Mobil Oil; the second largest U.S. commercial bank, Chase Manhattan; the second i
third largest U.S. 1ife insurance companies, Metropolitan and Equitable; Eastern Air
Lines, Consolidated Natural Gas, Union Tank Car, Itek and the world's largest real es-
tate development, Rockefeller Center. The current assets of these companies just men-
tioned totals over $90 billion and there is much more.
The NACLA NEWSLETTER is published ten tines a year by the North American
Congress on Latin America. Minimum contribution for I-yr. subscription:
In This Issue:
Introduction: An Overview of the Rockefeller Empire
Nelson A. Rockefeller ......+++4+
Land Holdings: Resorts and Vacation Sites in Latin America .....
Oil: Including the Special Cases of Peru and Venezuela
‘David Rockefeller and the Chase Manhattan Bank ...
The AIA and IBEC ...
The Rockefeller Foundation
Non-Profit Organizations .....The Rockefeller family power is further augmented by the close financial and political
ties they maintain with the families descended from John D. Rockefeller's brother,
William (the Stillman Rockefellers of the First National City Bank) and those descended
from John D.'s original Standard Of1 partners and associates. These include the Arch~
bolds, Flaglers, Paynes (including John Hay Whitney), Harknesses, Moffetts and Pratts.
According to an official biographer, the brothers meet as often as once a week to co-
ordinate their affairs. Each brother has a particular area of the family empire to
oversee: John D., III, the eldest, is the "philanthropist." He heads the Rockefeller
Foundation and has a particular interest in the Far East (especially Japan) and "pop~
ulation control" (he founded the Population Council). Nelson, the family's "public ser-
vant," has shuttled between government and private business, often with little dis-
tinction between the two, and has a particular interest in Latin America. Laurance is
‘one of the world's leading "venture’ capitalists," backing small innovative industries
(especially in the fields of aviation and electronics and rocket research). One~ of
the small companies he backed was McDonnell Aircraft, which grew into an industry gient
as a result of lucrative World War II contracts. He oversees many of the family's non-
oil interests and has sat on the boards of International Nickel Company and Eastern Air
Lines. Laurance is also the "conservationist" and resort developer (especially in
Hawaii, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico).
Winthrop, once a Mobil Oil executive, moved to Arkansas, developed a vast industrial
and real estate enterprise and has become governor of the state. He is also @ tisjor
contributor to the Urban League and has served on its board. David, the youngest of
the brothers, is the international banker (currently president of Chase Manhattan) and
is active in New York City real estate and political affairs.
The brothers are the epitome of the East Coast Establishment. Their third generation
wealth is managed for them by institutions which they control (especially foundations,
Rockefeller Brothers, Inc., and trusts); they attended (and endow and participate in
the direction of) elite schools -- Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth and the Univer-
sity of Chicago; they belong to the most urbane and elite social clubs \-- Links and
Knickerbocker; they are sponsors of and major contributors to prestigious cultural,
civic, charity and religious institutions -- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Pub-
lic Library, United Negro College Fund, Union Theological Seminary, the Interchur
Genter, and the YM and YWCA; they have luxurious estates and vacation resorts all over
the world; and they are highly conscious of keeping a good public image and present
themselves as being above petty politics and economic interests.
‘The fact is that they are very much concerned with politics and economic interests.
With over half of Standard Oil N.J.'s profits coming from overseas operations and w:
the great untapped markets of the world lying outside U.S. borders (to cite just two
reasons), they are naturally greatly concerned not only with domestic but also fore:
politics and economic interests. As illustrated below, they prefer to operate prina~
rily behind the scenes (Nelson is the exception), laying out the long-range poli
while leaving the details to loyal spokesmen of their interests in positions of public
power.
The Rockefellers, whose grandfather was once a symbol of the abuses of monopolistic
control of industry, use sophisticated public relations techniques to project 2 favor-
able image of themselves to the public. Nelson describes his career in politics as «
service to the public rather than as a use of the government to serve his own class
interests. David and Nelson, who are particularly active in Latin America, describe
NACLA NEWSLETTER III, No. 2, April 1:
Published monthly, except May-June and July-August, when it is published bi-aonthly by
the North American Congress on Latin America, Inc. at 160 Claremont Avenue, New York,
N.Y. 10027. Subscription price: $5 per year, APPLICATION 10 MAIL AT SECOND CLASS
POSTAGE IS PENDING AT NEW YORK, N.Y. :