The Rockefeller Files: Chapter Three The Family That Preys Together by Gary Allen from archive.org

Chapter Three 

The Family That Preys Together 

"Nelson Rockefeller becomes Vice President or 
events make him President someday, he will 
bump into his family's wealth on practically 
every major public issue. . ." 

-Thomas OToole 
Washington Post 

Although international banking is probably the Rockefellers' most important business, 
Standard Oil remains the keystone in the arch of the Rockefeller Empire. The family is 
still better known to the public for its oil properties than for its bank shares. 

Petroleum is now the single most important commodity in world trade. It supplies the 
fuel, of course, for almost every motor vehicle in the world, it powers most electric 
generating plants, and it is the most vital raw material for the manufacturing of plastics, 
chemicals and drugs. All of this has brought huge benefits to the Rockefellers. As Time 
magazine reported in its, issue of February 18, 1974: 

For 111 years, the business that has been variously known as the Standard Oil Trust, 
Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey), Esso and now Exxon has survived wars, expropriations, 
brutalizing competition, muckraking attacks and even dismemberment by the US Supreme 
Court (in 1911). It has not only survived but has also grown-from a refinery in Cleveland 
to a global behemoth that sells petroleum in more than 100 countries through some 300 
subsidiaries and affiliates that make up a -United Nations of oil. " Not only grown but 
also prospered-so much so that last month it reported the largest annual profit ever 
earned by any industrial company: $2.4 billion after taxes. 

The explosive growth of Exxon, the tiger of the oil industry, is revealed in the following 
UPI release fifteen months after the Time article: 

Fortune magazine has just issued its list of the nation's 500 biggest corporations, and 
never in the 20 years that it has tracked their performance have the rankings been so 
changed. The reason, the May issue of the magazine reports, is oil. 

Fortune's new list of the biggest publicly held industrial corporations for 1974 introduces 
a new No. 1: the Exxon Corporation. It displaced the General Motors Corporation, which 
had been America's biggest industrial company for 40 years. Exxon was No. 2 in 1973. 

Propelled by soaring prices for oil, Exxon's sales-the gauge by which Fortune determines 
size-surged from $25.7 billion in 1973 to $35.8 billion last year. 



To get some idea of the mammoth size of Exxon, consider the following: If Exxon were 
shorn of all its foreign operations, it would still be the ninth or tenth largest industry in 
the United States. Yet it gets only 16% of its oil production and 32% of its sales from this 
country. If Exxon merely transported oil, it would be the world's biggest shipping firm. It 
has 155 tankers of its own and varying numbers under charter at sea. It is a substantial 
international banker, holding fortunes in marks, yen, francs, pounds and dollars all over 
the world. And on and on it goes. 

In order to determine actual Rockefeller family control over Exxon and the other 
offshoots of the original Standard Oil Trust (Mobil, Standard of Indiana, Standard of 
California, Chevron, Sohio, Phillips 66, Marathon, et al)we must gather all of the pieces 
of the puzzle we can find and carefully fit them together. In his testimony before 
Congress, Dilworth revealed that the Rockefeller family has approximately $324,600,000 
worth of oil stock. This represents an average of about 2 % in each of the four giant oil 
companies. But,in 1966, testimony before the Patman Committee indicated that the nine 
Rockefeller family foundations also controlled an average of about 3 % in the Standard 
Oil Trust descendants. This known total of 5% would give the Rockefellers effective 
working control over the four giant corporations: 

In addition, there are shares held in trust by the Rockefeller banks, insurance companies, 
universities and other groups whose boards of directors and trustees are interlocked with 
the Rockefellers. 

And yet, incredibly, oil is not even the Rockefellers' biggest business. That honor is 
reserved for international banking. The Rockefeller family banks are the First National 
City Bank and the Chase Manhattan Bank. The Chase Manhattan is the third largest 
banking establishment in the world; and while only number three', it is by far the most 
influential. 

The largest bank in the world is Bank of America in California, inventor of the bank 
credit card, Bank Americard, which now has 39 million cardholders worldwide. Bank of 
America became a giant through branch banking in California, where it has over 1,000 
offices. Until recently, however, when it linked is overseas operations with the 
Rothschilds of Europe, the Bank of America lacked international horsepower. Now it too 
has joined the internationalists' crusade for World Government. 

Chase Manhattan was created by the union of the Rockefeller-owned Chase Bank with 
the Kuhn, Loeb controlled Manhattan Bank. The marriage has been a huge success for 
both families; in 1971 Chase Manhattan claimed $36 billion in assets. This is impressive 
enough, but the New York Times has pointed out that it is not the whole story:. . a major 
portion of their [Chase Manhattan's business carried on through affiliated banks overseas 
is not consolidated on the balance sheet." 

Time also emphasizes the immense power of the Chase Manhattan, noting that "The 
Chase has 28 foreign branches of its own, but more important, it has a globe encircling 
string of 50,000 correspondent banking offices. "Fifty thousand correspondent banks 



around the world! if each correspondent bank were worth only a paltry $10 million, it 
would give Chase potential world wide clout of five hundred billion dollars ! Such a 
figure is simply incomprehensible. Unfortunately, it is probably, conservative estimate of 
Chase's power and influence. 

Such financial clout would give the Rockefellers the ability to create an international 
monetary crisis over, night. Could it be that it is they who have been yo-yoing the price 
of gold, dollars and foreign currencies during the past few years-creating panics for most 
investors, but profits for themselves? 

Every time an international monetary storm blows up hundreds of millions of dollars 
flow into European banks' When the storm subsides, those who were"in the know': at the 
beginning have made enormous sums of money, That the Rockefellers have been very 
profitably involved through the Chase Manhattan Bank and its overseas facilities, seems 
more than reasonable. 

By almost any standard, Chase Manhattan has become virtually a sovereign state. Except 
it has more money, than most. It even employs a full-time envoy to the United Nations. 

As just one illuminating statistic, during 1973 Chase board chairman David Rockefeller 
met with 27 heads of state, including the rulers of Russia and Red China, plus scores of 
lesser dignitaries. Not even Henry Kissinger, he of the - shuttle diplomacy - and much- 
publicized state dinners, can match Rockefeller's influence with the men at the top. 

Chase Manhattan's annual reports contain much information detailing the worldwide 
expansion of the bank. It has gone international on the grand scale. And it shows no signs 
of slowing down. In fact, Chase Manhattan is the undisputed world heavyweight 
champion when it comes to international banking. 

During the Senate hearing on Nelson's confirmation, he claimed, "I do not own any shares 
in the Chase Manhattan Bank. "However, he neglected to mention that his family owns 
623,000 shares, or 2.54 % of the Chase Manhattan stock. And he also conveniently 
overlooked the fact that the Rockefeller Brothers Fund owns another 148 000 Chase 
shares and Rockefeller University holds 81,296. 

Myer Kutz tells us in the New York Times of April 28, 1974:"The Rockefellers and 
Rockefeller institutions own a major, essentially controlling interest, estimated at more 
than 4%, in The Chase Manhattan Bank- 

The Chase Annual Report for 1974 reports that the total assets of The Chase Manhattan 
Corporation stood at $42,532,003,302. That's over forty-two billion dollars. From this, 
reports Chase, they had a net income of $180,801,382 for the year 1974 That's over $180 
million profit in just one year-or $3.5 million in profit a week-of which the. Rockefeller 
family pockets over four %, or roughly 7.2 million dollars. That's not bad, considering 
Chase is mainly a device for holding and boosting many of the family's other financial 
interests. 



Once again we must note that actual ownership by the family in Chase Manhattan may be 
much greater than is admitted. Professor James Knowles in his highly detailed study, " 
The Rockefeller Financial Group"states: 

It is impossible to establish conclusively that the wealthy families represented on the 
boards of the banks in the Rockefeller Group own a controlling share of the stock. The 
ownership of large banks is a carefully guarded secret. Even when banks are required to 
disclose their largest stockholders, as was the case in the 1962 Patman investigation of 
chain banking, they have used what are called "street names" in referring to stockholding 
in trust. 

These "street names- are wholly fictitious and bear no resemblance to the actual 
beneficiary or trustees. In the case of Chase Manhattan Bank, for example, its reported 
twenty largest stockholders in 1962 included fifteen "street names," (e.g., Dudd & Co., 
Don & Co., Atwell & Co.) .... * 

If fifteen of the twenty largest blocs of stocks are held in fictitious names designed to 
hide the identities of the real owners, it is impossible to doubt that some, if not most, of 
the actual owners are part of the Rockefeller Empire. 

* Knowles, James, "The Rockefeller Financial Group,- MSS Modular Publications, NY, 
1973, p. 8. 

When the few facts that are available to the public are considered-that the Rockefellers 
control by far the largest amount of stock in Chase Manhattan, that other families closely 
connected with the Standard Oil fortune from its beginning also own substantial blocks of 
stock, that the board of directors of Chase Manhattan reads like a who's who of 
Rockefeller lieutenants, and that David Rockefeller is chairman of the board of the bank- 
no one can dispute Rockefeller control of the Chase Manhattan Bank. 

But Chase Manhattan is not the only mega-bank in he Rockefeller financial empire. The 
first bank with which the Rockefeller family became directly involved was the National 
City Bank of New York, which actually ranks number two in the international standings. 
Its former president, James Stillman, became a close associate of John D.'s brother, 
William, who was at the time managing the huge Standard Oil Trust. William 
Rockefeller tilted the Standard Oil banking business in Stillman's direction and thus 
National City became the largest bank in New York City. The financial marriage was 
cemented by the marriage of two of William Rockefeller's sons to two of Stillman's 
daughters. 

Until his retirement in 1967, James Stillman Rockefeller, a product of the Stillman- 
Rockefeller merger, was chairman of the board of First National City Bank. Previously, 
James had strengthened the Rockefeller family and financial ties by marrying Nancy 
Carnegie of the fabulously wealthy Carnegie family. 



City Bank has enjoyed such phenomenal growth that it now surpasses the mighty Chase 
in total assets. While it does not have the prestige or political muscle of the Chase, it 
really matters very little since both are Rockefeller family banks. 

Yet a third large New York bank in the Rockefeller orbit is the Chemical Bank, which is 
controlled by the Harkness family. Edward Harkness was one of John D.'s closest 
business associates in the Standard Oil Trust, and as late as 1939 the Harkness family was 
the largest non Rockefeller owner of Standard Oil stock. 

Closely related to the Rockebanks are the gigantic insurance companies, with their 
investment funds worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Life insurance companies play a 
critical role in financing because they are the principal suppliers of long-term credit, 
whereas banks are mainly involved with short-term and medium-term credit. In turn the 
solvency (or bankruptcy) of other corporations is often dependent on their ability to 
obtain loans from the Rockefeller-controlled financial giants. 

The Rockefeller Group of banks is heavily interlocked with the board of directors of three 
of the four biggest life insurance companies: Metropolitan Life, Equitable Life and New 
York Life. The total assets of these three insurance giants amounted to over $113 billion 
in 1969, According to Professor Rnowles, the Rockefeller Group controlled banks 
account for about 25 % of all the assets of the fifty largest commercial banks in the 
country and for about 30 % of, all the assets of the fifty largest life insurance companies. 

Buddy, can you spare a dime? 

The Rockefeller family control over these banks and insurance companies gives them 
leverage over the economy that goes far beyond their direct ownership. 

There are several ways in which the Rockefeller Clan controls vast segments of the 
economy. The first is through the stockholding of the families in the group. Five % 
ownership of a widely- held public corporation, according to a 1974 report by the Senate 
Banking Committee, is considered tantamount to control, especially if your name is 
Rockefeller. But if we consider only those firms where the Rockefellers own twice that 
much stock, or have five % of the stock plus two or more toplevel management positions, 
we can put the following companies in the column controlled by the Rockefellers. (The 
1975 asset-size rating by Fortune magazine is indicated in parenthesis.) 

Exxon (1), Mobil Oil (5), Standard of California (6), Standard of Indiana (13), 
International Harvester (26), 

Inland Steel (78), Marathon Oil (60), Quaker Oats (163),Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel (194), 
Freeport Sulphur, and International Basic Economy Corporation. 

Another means by which the Rockefeller Group has potential influence or control over 
major segments of the economy is through the trust departments of the Rockebanks. 
Nearly a decade ago, the assets of commercial bank trust departments were $253 billion, 



almost $100 billion more than those of all mutual savings banks and savings and loan 
companies. Usually a commercial bank trust department exercises sole voting rights over 
the stock it holds. But anyone who believes this is the case for the enormously large trusts 
established for the Rockefeller family probably also hopes to find a real diamond in the 
bottom of his Cracker Jacks box. 

While Dilworth was bending over backwards trying to convince the assembled Senators 
at the hearings that the family never, but never, interferes with management, Fortune 
magazine has reported that the Rockebanks often throw their weight into proxy battles, 
and the very knowledgeable Professor Knowles adds,"No company is secure from 
possible domination by bank trust departments. - 

In 1967, the Rockebanks had a total of $35 billion in trust department assets -nearly 14 % 
of the national total! These included $22.5 billion in stocks. Knowles notes: 

Obviously, such stockholdings, most of which ire either under the direct control of the 
families whose representatives sit on the boards of these [Rockefeller] banks or are 
indirectly under their control through voting rights exercised by the bank trust 
departments, provide a basis for the effective control of a large share of the American 
economy. 

Chase's trust department, with the bank's companion investment management 
corporation, controls the single largest block of stock in 21 major American corporations. 
This means that United Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, Long Island Lighting, Atlantic 
Richfield Oil, National Air lines and 16 other multimillion dollar firms are also under the 
Rockefeller thumb. The Los Angeles Times reports: 

Control of the bank and of its trust department has the effect of multiplying the family's 
economic leverage. Every major bank in New York holds millions of shares in trust for 
other owners-most of whom give the banks the power to vote the shares and, thus 
influence corporate management. 

Corporations which are probably under the control of the Rockefellers- through financial 
institutions, trust departments or foundation ownership of stock, include the following 
(with the 1975 Fortune rating in parenthesis): 

IBM (9), Mobil (5), Texaco (4), IT & T (10), Westinghouse (19), Boeing (39), 
International Paper (56), Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing (59), Sperry Rand (70), 
Xerox (41), National Cash Register (97), National Steel (64), American Home Products 
(92), Pfizer (130), Avon (159), and Merck (1.52). 

But wait, there's more! Still wonder if the Rockefellers have amassed a dangerous 
amount of power? Consider that just the transportation companies under Rockefeller 
influence (with 1975 Fortune ranking for transportation corporations noted in 
parenthesis) are as follows: 



Perm Central (T3), TWA (Tl), Eastern Airlines (T8), United Airlines (T2), National 
Airlines (T26), Delta (T13), Braniff (T19), Northwest Airlines (T18), and Consolidated 
Freightways (T17). 

Other major corporations in which the Rockefellers have significant influence, either 
director indirect, but not enough to prove working control, are: 

AT & T (Ul), Motorola (149), Safeway (R-2), Honeywell (68), General Foods (58), 
Hewlett-Packard (225), and Burlington Industries (86). 

Yet another manner in which the Rockefellers can exert significant control over 
corporations is through loans. 

More and more in recent years companies have had to finance modernization and 
expansion through bank borrowing. Old John D., biographer Allan Nevins tells us, 1 1 
never allowed any finance capitalist to obtain large shares- of his properties. While Big 
Daddy did not want to be eaten by the Wall Street loan sharks, he didn't mind becoming 
one. Roughly 80 % of Chase's loan portfolio, the U.S.'s largest, represents major 
nationwide corporations. Bank of America, the nation's largest, specializes in making 
installment loans to millions of individual customers. The Rockefeller banks make fewer 
loans, but they make them to the giants of industry. According to Professor Knowles, the 
Rockefeller Group's position in the capital market is even greater than its share of 
banking and insurance assets would indicate. When a bank makes a large loan to a 
company, it is in a position to demand that it have a voice in the decision-making 
machinery of that company. Often this comes in the form of having somebody appointed 
to the borrower's board of directors. 

This relates to yet another method for economic control, interlocking directorates. An 
interlocking directorate exists between two companies when a member of the board of 
directors of one company also sits on the board of directors of the other company. This 
was theoretically outlawed by Section 8 of the Clayton Act, which says that no person 
shall be a director at one time in any two or more competing companies. This law is 
enforced almost as strictly as the one against jaywalking in New York City. Tracing all of 
the interlocks among the Rockefeller Group's representatives on various boards of 
directors is a challenge that would reduce an Einstein to a babbling idiot. Just a few of the 
major corporations not previously mentioned that have interlocking-directorate ties with 
the Rockefeller Groups include: 

Allied (Chemical) (8,5), Anaconda Copper (118),DuPont (17), Monsanto (43), Olin 
Mathison (161), Borden (47), National Distillers (185), Shell (14), Gulf (7), Union Oil 
(34), Dow (27), Celanese (101), Pittsburgh Plate Class (113), Cities Service (61), Stauffer 
Chemical (233), Continental Oil (16), Union Carbide (22), American Cyanamid (107) 
American Motors (93), Bendix (77), Chrysler (11), S. Kresge (R5), and R. H. Macy, 
C.I.T. Financial (F9.), S. (R27). 



In case you were not able to keep a running total of the firms enmeshed in the various 
strands of the Rockefeller web, let us summarize the known results: 37 of the nation's top 
100 industrials, 9 of the top 20 transportation firms, the nation's number one utility, 3 of 
the 4 largest insurance companies, plus scores of smaller companies engaged in 
manufacturing, distribution, retail sales, loans, or investments, are controlled by the 
Rockefellers. 

Staggering, isn't it? Put it all together and it does not spell MOTHER. It spells POWER. 

"The power of the family fortune is beyond measure," the Washington Post has reported. 
And this time the paper was telling the truth. "[It is] a nexus of ownership and leverage 
that is greater than the sum of its parts. "But, say Rocky, it's all a myth! Sure, Rocky. And 
Raquel Welch is skinny, and Mark Spitz can't swim, 

One or two Doubting Thomases have even wondered about whether it might be a conflict 
of interest to merge all of this monetary muscle with the political power of the Vice 
Presidency, and potentially the Presidency. 

Wealth should not be an obstacle to high office, of course, providing that government 
stays out of business and business stays out of government. But, it is obvious that 
business and government have been getting closer and cozier for many decades. Today it 
is virtually impossible to tell who is seducing whom. Those on the ideological Left call it 
Corporate Fascism and those on the right call it State Socialism. Both are correct. 

The point is that the Rockefeller family interests are so closely intertwined with matters 
of public policy, both foreign and domestic, that virtually every major governmental 
decision in some way affects the Rockefeller Empire. As Thomas O'Toole observes in the 
Washington Post (a paper that strongly supported Rocky's confirmation as Vice 
President): 

If Nelson Rockefeller becomes Vice President or events make him President someday, he 
will bump into his family's wealth on practically every major public issue.... 

" Taxes, the environment, government regulation of business, prices, interest rates, 
overseas diplomacy, war and peace - Rockefeller interests are enhanced or hurt by 
government policy-making in practically every major area of American life.... 

.... As Vice President or President, he couldn't very well disqualify himself every time a 
policy decision potentially affected Chase Manhattan Bank. He would be out of work if 
he did. Even if Rockefeller took a vow of poverty, this empire would remain intact, still 
dominated by his family. 

But the Rockefeller wealth goes beyond this conflict - of - interest question. 

What would a middle-level bureaucrat do, for instance, if he knew he was regulating the 
President's family fortune? Would a senator or congressman be able to resist the 



combined might of the White House and Wall Street's second- largest bank, not to 
mention all the corporations which do business there? 

Rocky buried the entire issue, as far as Congress was concerned, when he asked: "Am I 
the kind of man who would use his wealth improperly in public office?" He knew that the 
question would satisfy the politicos on Capitol Hill, many of whom have received 
campaign donations from the Rockefeller Empire. Not one member of the judiciary 
Committee had the nerve to answer his rhetorical question with the resounding -Yes!- it 
so richly deserved. 

As we shall see, the Rockefeller family wants more money and more power. It will use its 
private fortune, its public position, and anything else it can to acquire it. The senior 
Rockefeller was a master Machiavellian who began by scheming against local 
competitors and wound up scheming with cartelists for economic control of: the world. 
His heirs make his ploys look like the friendly bargaining of a Saturday afternoon garage 
sale. 

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Chapter Four 

Profit x Philanthropy = Power