The Right” Contacts and the Ability to Create
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Appendices A.1.2 Networking activities A.1.2.i Reference to (the importance of) “the right” contacts and the ability to create them He realised the importance of creating the ‘right’ contacts and networking in general: “Men of my generation often refer to their military service as good or bad. I had a good war. I had been confused and apprehensive at first but soon learned to adapt and then how to use my newly acquired skills effectively for the benefit at my country. I look back at the war years as an invaluable training ground and testing place for much that I would do later in my life. Among other things, I discovered the value of building contacts with well placed individuals as a means of achieving concrete objectives. This would be the beginning of a networking process that I would follow throughout my life.”1 And: “These organisations reflect my belief in the principle of ‘constructive engagement’. As an Intelligence officer during World War II, I learned that my effectiveness depended on my ability to develop a network of people with reliable information and influence. Some may feel this technique is cynical and manipulative. I disagree. Such an approach enabled me to meet people who were useful in achieving goals and gave me opportunities to form lasting friendships that have greatly enriched my life. I have kept a record of most people I have met since the 1940s. Their names are stored in an electronically operated Rolodex that contains upward of one hundred thousand entries. Each card records my first contact and all subsequent meetings, and I can quickly review the nature of my past associations before seeing someone again. In a surprising number of countries -Mexico and Brazil, for instance - I have met every head of state since World War II, several of them many times. The continuity of these relationships has stood me in good stead on many occasions.”2 The following quote shows that Rockefeller realised the importance of knowing the right contacts and that he had no inhibitions to make use of them if need be. As it turned out in this 1 Rockefeller, 2002, p.122 2 Rockefeller, 2002, p.418 ff. 319 Appendices specific case, in the end he did not turn to this social tie for a variety of reasons, which had nothing to do with his willingness or ability to do so or with the relationship to this person: “… Although I admired Dick for his strong beliefs and his decisiveness in acting on them, I was ambivalent about enlisting immediately myself. Peggy was not having an easy time adjusting to being a Rockefeller and had just given birth to our first child, David, Jr. I also felt more than a few misgivings about how I would handle military service. I persuaded myself that my war-related job would exempt me from active military service. Certainly Anna Rosenberg could pull a few strings if I asked. I was classified III-A because of my dependents, which meant I would not be drafted for some time, so I felt there was no need for an immediate decision.”3 “After a few weeks of collating reports prepared by other agencies and growing increasingly frustrated, I asked Colonel Switzer if I could try my hand at reporting on political activities and economic conditions in the region. After some hesitation he agreed to my request, and I set about creating my own intelligence ‘network’ from scratch. Frankly this was an almost impossible task for someone in my position. I was only a second lieutenant and was competing with the more established intelligence services - including Colonel William Donovan’s Office of Strategic Services. However, I did have a few advantages I spoke French and understood the political and economic situation better than most. In addition, I had letters of introduction to a number of influential people, two of whom proved to be of immense help. Henri Chevalier, Standard oil of New Jersey’s general manager in North Africa, had lived in Algiers for many years and had wide contacts within the business community across North Africa. Henri introduced me to a number of ‘colons’ (Algerians of French descent) and to others who had left France after the German occupation. Among the latter was Alfred Pose, the powerful head of the Banque National pour le Commercial l’Industrie’s branch system in North Africa, who introduced me to influential Arab businessmen and political leaders. Prime minister Mackenzie King, my father’s old friend, wrote on my behalf to general George Vanier, the senior Canadian representative in North Africa. The friendship I developed with General Varnier brought me into contact with a number of people in the Allied diplomatic community and with members of the CNL, whom it would have been difficult for me to meet otherwise. Vanier’s military attaché, Colonel Maurice Forget, invited me to join a ten-day trip through Morocco with a group of military attaches. That trip provided me with a number 3 Rockefeller, 2002, p.105 320 Appendices of new contacts and a broader understanding of the precarious French position in North Africa. I also began to meet senior people in Allied diplomatic circles and in the CNL, among them Ambassador Robert Murphy, a staunch Giraud supporter who had prepared the way for the Allied landings in North Africa. I also met several of Murphy’s famous Vice consuls, such as Ridgway Knight who would later join me at Chase. It was in Algiers that I first became friends with William Paley, the founder of CBS, who ran the psychological warfare program in the theatre, and C.D. Jackson, one of Paley’s deputies and later publisher of ‘Furtune’ magazine. Within a few months I developed a large and well-placed network of informants which enabled me to report thoughtfully on the evolving political situation in North Africa. Colonel Switzer saw the merit of my work and gave me a free hand, even to the point of allowing me to make forays - about ten thousand miles of it in a jeep - throughout Algiers, Morocco, and Tunisia as well as a two-week trip to Cairo and Istanbul to deepen my contacts with French intelligence offices. Presumably, the reaction from Washington was favourable since I was not told to stop.”4 “Establishing contact with key local businessmen and government officials in the countries where we wished to do business was a sine qua non if chase was to build personal presence. And that meant my foreign travels assumed an added importance. During my thirty-five years at Chase I visited 103 countries: this included forty-one trips to France, thirty-seven to England, twenty-four to West Germany, fifteen to Japan, fourteen each to Egypt and Brazil and three extensive tours of sub-Saharan Africa. At home I called on bank customers in forty-two of the fifty states. I logged more than 5 million air miles (the equivalent of two hundred round-the-world trips), ate approximately ten thousand business meals (more if you count the ones that I consumed in New York) and participated in thousands of customer calls and client meetings - as many as eight to ten a day when we were on the road. I also met more than two hundred heads of state and government many of whom I got to know on a personal basis. Though at times the pace was a bit hectic, I found these trips productive and enjoyable, and essential to the globalisation of our operations. Fortunately. I was blessed with the Rockefeller traits of energy, stamina, and good health! Some observers at the time criticised my extensive travel as ‘irrelevant’ or ‘a waste of stockholders’ resources’. They completely missed the point. The reason for these trips was to 4 Rockefeller, 2002, p.112 ff. 321 Appendices generate business for the bank, and from the start they produced important links with business and political leaders in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa that were critical to the bank’s expansion. Further testimony to their value came from the fact that Chase officers, both domestic and foreign, continually requested that I travel with them because their customers were eager to talk with me on a broad range of political and economic subjects in addition to banking relationships. (Even today, many years after my retirement, Chase’s management still asks me to travel on behalf of the bank.) I think it’s fair to say that my visits to the far corners of the world in the 1950s and 1960s helped lay the groundwork for the expansion and consolidation of Chase’s global position in the 1970s.”5 “… In an attempt to be diplomatic I spoke of the importance of high-level contacts and said I hoped he and President Johnson would be able to establish close relations, but in a non sequitur, Khrushchev complained bitterly about U.S. interference in Soviet Internal affairs. …”6 He realises the need to establish good relationships with leaders of the Arab countries in order to be able to run his business activities there: “… In May 1964, Chase received a letter from Anwar Ali, the governor of SAMA. The letter was blunt and to the point. … A few weeks later the thirteen Arab League countries voted ‘to ban dealings with the Chase as from the first of January 1965’. Anwar Ali informed us that the ‘ban can be obviated if your bank should cancel its financial agency for the Israeli loan bonds and all relationship with these bonds and undertake not to extend any further loans in future to any person or institution in Israel’.