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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- AlSchwimmer
- Israel
- IsraelAircraftIndustries
- ArmsDealer
- NeutralityAct
- JewishAgency
- IranContra
- ShimonPeres
- LakeResources
- PresidentialPardon
alias:
- Al Schwimmer
- Adolph Schwimmer
- Adolph W. Schwimmer
- Adolph William Schwimmer
- A. W. Schwimmer
- Adolf Schwimmer
- Adolf (Al) Schwimmer
summary: "American flight engineer convicted in 1950 of smuggling aircraft to Israel for the Jewish Agency, founder of Israel Aircraft Industries, Peres adviser and Israeli intermediary in the 1985 Iran arms sales, pardoned in 2001."
born: 1917-06-11
died: 2011-06-11
location: "Tel Aviv, Israel"
relations:
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Jewish Agency for Israel]]"
start: 1947-09
end: 1948
role: "aircraft procurement, funded through Nahum Bernstein"
fn: 2
- type: member_of
with: "[[Haganah]]"
start: 1947
role: "volunteer"
fn: 6
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
start: 1948
end: 1950
role: "subject, Neutrality Act and export control investigation, Los Angeles"
fn: 2
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
reverse: true
start: 1949-04
end: 1950-02
role: "defendant, United States v. Schwimmer et al., S.D. Cal. Docket No. 20,636"
fn: 4
- type: founded
with: "[[Israel Aircraft Industries]]"
role: "founder of Bedek, its precursor"
fn: 3
- type: head_of
with: "[[Israel Aircraft Industries]]"
role: "founder and chief executive"
fn: 3
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Shimon Peres]]"
start: 1984-09
role: "special adviser to the prime minister"
fn: 5
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Yaacov Nimrodi]]"
start: 1985
role: "business associate in the Iran arms channel"
fn: 13
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Iran-Contra Affair]]"
start: 1985-01
end: 1986-01
role: "Israeli intermediary in the 1985 TOW and HAWK sales"
fn: 5
- type: funded
with: "[[The Enterprise (Iran-Contra)]]"
start: 1985-11
role: "deposited about $1 million in the Lake Resources account for HAWK flights"
fn: 13
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Adolph W. "Al" Schwimmer (June 11, 1917 to June 11, 2011) was a flight engineer for the [[Air Transport Command]] in the Second World War and for [[Trans World Airlines|TWA]] afterward.[^1] From September 1947 he bought surplus American aircraft for the [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]] and flew them through [[Panama]] and [[Czechoslovakia]] to the forces that became the [[Israeli Air Force]]. He was convicted in [[Los Angeles]] in 1950 of conspiring to violate the [[Neutrality Act]] and export controls, moved to [[Israel]], and built the aircraft maintenance company [[Bedek]] into [[Israel Aircraft Industries]].[^2][^3][^4] From September 1984 he was a special adviser to Prime Minister [[Shimon Peres]], and in 1985 he and [[Yaacov Nimrodi]] were the private Israeli arms dealers through whom American missiles were first shipped to [[Iran]] in the [[Iran-Contra Affair]].[^5] [[Bill Clinton]] pardoned him on January 20, 2001.[^4]
The [[Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles|Jewish Journal]] called him "a New York native" and reported that he died at Tel Hashomer hospital on his 94th birthday; the newsletter of the [[American Veterans of Israel]] called him "a native of Bridgeport."[^1][^6] In September 1947 he lived in [[Bridgeport, Connecticut]].[^2]
### The Jewish Agency's aircraft, 1947 to 1948
Schwimmer gave the FBI his own account in 1949. About September 15, 1947, just back at his Bridgeport home from a transatlantic flight, he received a call from [[Albert Miller]], who met him near Grand Central Station in New York, said he was a representative of the Jewish Agency who lived in [[Palestine]], and said he wanted to start "a nucleus airline" for transport to Palestine. Miller sent him to Los Angeles to look at [[Lockheed Constellation|Constellation]] aircraft. Schwimmer bought three Constellations from the [[War Assets Administration]] for $15,000 each and received $125,000 in all to recondition them, all of it banked in his name. He told the agents he wished "to go on record as being quite aware of the fact that it was illegal to take certain types of planes out of the [[United States]] without proper [[State Department]] clearance," and that he believed the trust placed in him was owed to "his Jewish lineage and his sympathy with the Jewish cause in Palestine."[^2] The [[Lockheed Aircraft Company|Lockheed]] work was done at Burbank under the name of the Schwimmer Aviation Company.[^2]
The money came through [[Nahum Bernstein]], a New York lawyer and veteran of the [[Office of Strategic Services]] who was counsel to the Jewish Agency and secretary of Americans for Haganah. Bernstein later testified that he met Schwimmer in November 1947, that the Jewish Agency's checks were deposited in his law firm's special account at the [[Chase National Bank]] at 20 Pine Street, and that Schwimmer opened an account to receive the funds at the [[Bank of America]] in Hollywood. Another Jewish Agency official told Bernstein that $750,000 was available for the purchases.[^7] The newsletter of the American Veterans of Israel records that Schwimmer volunteered for the [[Haganah]] in 1947.[^6]
The FBI's Los Angeles office divided the case into four phases. In March 1948 a C-46 sold as scrap to a school district near [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]] was dismantled and its engines taken to the Schwimmer company in Burbank; one of the company's associates told a woman who arranged the purchase, when she asked what she would get out of it, "You're working for the cause." Five C-46s that Schwimmer had bought cleared customs on April 13 and 14, 1948, the last days before [[Presidential Proclamation 2776]] barred the export of aircraft at midnight on April 14; they flew to Panama, then [[Žatec]] in Czechoslovakia, and Palestine. One crashed on takeoff at [[Mexico City]], killing both pilots. Forty-two Pratt and Whitney R2800-10W combat engines bought in [[Honolulu]] by [[Hank Greenspun|Herman Greenspun]] and [[William Sosnow]] were declared to customs as an exportable civilian type for shipment by [[Service Airways]] to [[Lineas Aereas de Panama]], and were seized; on April 14 Schwimmer asked an official of [[Pacific Airmotive]] for help with the export and admitted that the engines were the combat type. In May 1948 a box of C-46 radio parts was seized at the airport as a mechanic's personal baggage; a second set was picked up at midnight for cash, and Schwimmer handed the parts to the installers in Panama. In June 1948 about thirty-eight mechanics flew east on the last Constellation on the understanding that they would work on commercial aircraft in [[Rome]]. Customs impounded the two remaining Constellations in the East, and the State Department took the passports of the men who had not yet left. Schwimmer's foreman gave the FBI a signed statement on August 7, 1948 that Schwimmer and his representatives had asked him on July 21 to sign a statement contradicting what he had told customs, and that he had signed it under duress.[^2]
A report of the [[Air Force Office of Special Investigations]] of October 18, 1948, on a reserve lieutenant colonel recruited to ferry B-17 bombers, records that Schwimmer's associate [[Leo Gardner]] told the officer he had been assured by the State Department that there would be no trouble for the men who ferried the aircraft.[^8]
By Schwimmer's account the operation brought about thirty aircraft to Israel through [[Italy]] or [[South America]] and Czechoslovakia, through dummy airline companies that were supposed to fly charters, and recruited crews, mostly Second World War veterans. By May 1948 he was sleeping somewhere different each night. "My philosophy was that we couldn't outsmart them, but if we moved fast, we'd be ahead of them all the time," he told the [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] in 2001. He served in Israel's air force during the war.[^3]
### Indictment and trial, 1949 to 1950
On April 6, 1949 a federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned two indictments. The first charged Schwimmer, [[Rey Selk]], J. Leonard, [[Abe Levin]], Greenspun, [[Sam Lewis]], Sosnow, Leo Gardner and the corporation Service Airways of New York with conspiracy to violate the Neutrality Act and export control laws, under Title 22, sections 452 and 453, Title 50, section 701, and Proclamation 2776. The second charged Schwimmer, Selk, Lewis and [[Elynor Rudnick]] with conspiracy to defraud the government.[^2] A month later Schwimmer and two co-defendants just back from Israel surrendered, with the support of ten Jewish organizations including [[Hadassah]] and the [[American Jewish Congress]], which said the defendants were "accused of aiding victims of aggression."[^9] Bond, first set at $10,000, was reduced to $1,000.[^2]
The trial, *United States v. Schwimmer et al.*, was held before Judge [[Pierson M. Hall]]; the defense attorneys were [[Isaac Pacht]] and [[William Strong]]. On January 15, 16 and 17, 1950 Bernstein testified for the defense that the Jewish Agency had financed the purchases under his direction and that the defendants were its agents; the defense told the court that "the setting up of the plan, the purchase of the planes, the Panamanian situation" and "everything" had been under his supervision. An FBI agent testified in rebuttal that on January 13, 1948 Bernstein had told the bureau he had never met Schwimmer. Schwimmer, Gardner, Selk and Service Airways were convicted and fined $10,000 each; Greenspun, Sosnow and Lewis were acquitted.[^7] The Executive Grant of Clemency of 2001 identifies the conviction as one in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of California]] on Docket No. 20,636, for violation of sections 88 (1946 edition) and 371 of Title 18, section 452 of Title 22, section 701 of Title 50, and Proclamation No. 2776 of March 26, 1948, and records that on February 20, 1950 Schwimmer was sentenced to a fine of $10,000 "and to imprisonment until said fine was paid or otherwise discharged pursuant to the law."[^4]
The assistant United States attorney, [[Herschel E. Champlin]], told the FBI that had the government known of Bernstein's role he would have been indicted with the others; Champlin then declined to prosecute him in Los Angeles because he had committed no overt act there, and referred the matter to the Justice Department. Champlin also told the bureau that the department had "worked out a formula" for the main defendants, indicted in several districts, "so that they would not be sentenced more than once." The FBI's New York office had an espionage case pending on Bernstein; a headquarters memorandum of July 1950 states that the former Israeli military attaché in Washington, [[Ephraim Ben-Arzi]], had named him in a military attaché report of January 27, 1949 as one of four persons who would control Israeli intelligence operations in the United States. In July 1950, sentencing Greenspun, Sosnow and [[Abraham Leven]] in the Miami phase of the case, Hall said that "the Government cannot permit individuals or private groups to conduct their private wars," and of Greenspun: "I think Greenspun was the leader, but I cannot bring myself to send him to prison because I believe that there are other persons more culpable than he in the background but they are not in the jurisdiction of this court." Champlin told the bureau he believed Hall had in mind such persons as Bernstein.[^7]
Schwimmer said the Jewish Agency paid his fine and court costs.[^3] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency later wrote that the case "ultimately cost him his U.S. citizenship"; the American Veterans of Israel wrote that he was "deprived of his civil rights, including the right to vote or claim government benefits."[^6][^9] President [[John F. Kennedy]] pardoned Greenspun, later publisher of the [[Las Vegas Sun]], on October 18, 1961; Greenspun's warrant records a separate indictment, No. 21266-CD, and a fine imposed on July 17, 1950.[^3][^10]
### Bedek and Israel Aircraft Industries
In the early 1950s Schwimmer was running an aircraft maintenance company in [[Burbank, California|Burbank]] when [[David Ben-Gurion]] asked him to establish an aircraft company in Israel for commercial and military work.[^1] He founded Bedek, the precursor of Israel Aircraft Industries, and headed the company for nearly twenty-five years.[^3] A former employee who worked on Israel's missile program at the company's Or Yehuda facility from August 1968 to March 1969 told the FBI in June 1970 that the president of IAI was "Al Schwimmer, who actually has dual citizenship (Israel and U.S. of America), and who maintains a residence in the U.S." The source said the program was modifying French missiles, seventeen of a projected fifty-seven delivered, for a range of 500 miles, with the [[Weizmann Institute of Science|Weizmann Institute]], the [[Technion]], [[Elta Systems|Elta]], [[Motorola Israel]] and American Electronics Laboratories taking part, and that he had heard of a reactor at [[Dimona]]. The Albuquerque office captioned its memorandum "Electronics Firm in Pennsylvania Allegedly Owned by the Israeli Government."[^11] In July 1987 the FBI's Honolulu office, in a neutrality investigation concerning the Philippines that followed [[Ferdinand Marcos]]'s attempt to leave Honolulu by private plane in January 1987, listed "Al Schwimmer, 69, Chairman, Israel Aircraft Industries" among fourteen international arms suppliers profiled in wire reports, with [[Adnan Khashoggi]], [[Sarkis Soghanalian]], Sherwood International, Federal Ordnance Corporation, [[Stanford Technology Corporation|Stanford Technology]], [[Civilian Materiel Assistance]] and the Virginia farm known as "Black Eagle," and asked headquarters to run traces through [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] liaison.[^12] The Jewish Journal dated his retirement to 1988, when the company was valued at $1 billion; the American Veterans of Israel dated it to 1980.[^1][^6] He received the [[Israel Prize]] in 2006.[^1]
### Adviser to Shimon Peres
The [[Tower Commission]] described Schwimmer as "a long-time arms merchant and, since September 1984, Special Advisor to Prime Minister Peres."[^5] He took the post, for one shekel a year, as adviser for technology and industry, and in that capacity met President [[Ronald Reagan]] and Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]].[^1][^3] [[Michael Ledeen]] told the Tower board that Schwimmer was one of Peres's "close friends."[^5] [[Richard Secord]], asked in the 1987 hearings what Schwimmer's relationship to the Israeli government was, answered that he was "a long-time friend of the prime minister but I don't believe he had a formal position," and agreed that he was an arms dealer.[^13]
In December 1986 Israeli officials gave the Israeli press their own account of the affair. [[Yoel Marcus]] of [[Haaretz]], in a reconstruction based on Israeli sources, wrote that in March 1985 Peres told his "informal adviser and old friend" Schwimmer that the Americans had asked for help in freeing their hostages, particularly the CIA station chief in [[Beirut]], [[William Buckley]]; that Schwimmer suggested using Nimrodi; and that it was Schwimmer "who came up with the idea of 'arms for Buckley.'" Marcus also wrote that if Israel were pushed further, "I won't be surprised if officials here use" the "bullets in the gun" it still held. [[Thomas L. Friedman]] of the [[New York Times]] reported that the account contained factual errors and conflicted with the American version; Ledeen called it "total nonsense."[^14]
### The Iranian channel, 1985
In a series of meetings beginning in January 1985, Nimrodi, [[Manucher Ghorbanifar]], [[Amiram Nir]] and Schwimmer discussed obtaining the release of American hostages in [[Lebanon]] and a dialogue with Iran.[^5] The congressional committees found that Adnan Khashoggi put Ghorbanifar and [[Cyrus Hashemi]], a naturalized American indicted in 1984 for arms export violations, in touch with "an Israeli group: Al Schwimmer, an adviser to then Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and Ya'accov Nimrodi," and that members of the Israeli team met Hashemi and Ghorbanifar in [[London]], [[Geneva]] and Israel in early spring. Khashoggi's former employee [[Roy Furmark]] placed the introduction in June.[^15] Khashoggi said in 1987 that he had asked Peres to have the [[Mossad]] check Ghorbanifar and that "48 hours later, Schwimmer was at my door with Nimrodi"; at a later meeting in [[Hamburg]], he said, [[David Kimche]] came with Schwimmer, Nimrodi "and another guy from Mossad," and in the first week of July "Schwimmer and Kimche flew over to see McFarlane."[^16] Ledeen recalled Schwimmer reporting that he had met Ghorbanifar "through Schwimmer's friend, Khashoggi."[^5] The committees' minority report cited Schwimmer's reported statement to Ledeen that he had just been introduced to Ghorbanifar, "even though Ghorbanifar had been meeting with them since January."[^15]
On July 7, 1985 Kimche, Nimrodi, Schwimmer, Ghorbanifar and Khashoggi met in Geneva, and on July 8 they met Ghorbanifar's Iranian contact in Hamburg. On July 11, at Kimche's direction, Schwimmer met Ledeen in Washington and told him that Ghorbanifar thought the hostages could be freed and that selling [[TOW Missile|TOW missiles]] to Iran would improve relations; Ledeen said it was the first time he had heard of Ghorbanifar.[^17] On July 13 [[Robert McFarlane]] received a request from Peres carried by an "emissary," Schwimmer, through Ledeen.[^5] At a meeting in Israel at the end of July with Ghorbanifar, Kimche, Schwimmer and Nimrodi, Ledeen said, the subject of weapons and hostages was raised for the first time.[^18] On August 20, Israel, "working through Nimrodi, Schwimmer and Ghorbanifar," shipped 96 TOW missiles to Iran.[^17] After a second shipment of 408, the Reverend [[Benjamin Weir]] was released on September 15, and Schwimmer asked Ghorbanifar why Buckley had not been; Ghorbanifar answered that Buckley was too ill to move.[^18] Buckley had died in June.[^15]
[[Oliver North]]'s calendar shows a meeting with Schwimmer at 11:30 a.m. on September 26. On October 6 North asked the CIA to put Ghorbanifar and Nimrodi under surveillance during their visit, and on October 8 Ledeen, North, Nimrodi, Schwimmer and Ghorbanifar, using the alias Nicholas Kralis, met in the [[Old Executive Office Building]].[^5] Ledeen told the Tower board that Ghorbanifar had urged in one of their meetings that the arms and hostage matters, "which engaged Schwimmer and Nimrodi particularly," be dropped. Ledeen said that in October he asked Schwimmer to open an account for expenses; Schwimmer opened one at [[Credit Suisse]] and gave him the number, which Ledeen passed to North.[^5] After the sales became public Credit Suisse wrote to Ledeen that the account had never been used.[^17] On October 27 Nimrodi, Schwimmer, Ledeen, Ghorbanifar and several Iranians met in Geneva, where the Iranians asked for [[HAWK missile|HAWK missiles]].[^18]
### The HAWK shipment, November 1985
On November 18 North called Schwimmer, who said the first shipment of 100 missiles had been "approved" in [[Tel Aviv]] and was to be followed by the release of five "boxes," the code word for the hostages. North wrote in his notebook: "Schwimmer to P/U [pick up] HAWKs in U.S."[^15] On November 20 the [[Lake Resources]] account at Credit Suisse in Geneva, a Panamanian company controlled by Secord that North called "our Swiss Co[mpany]," received $1 million.[^15] Secord testified: "Mr. Schwimmer quickly deposited in our account, Lake Resources account, the million dollars and said to go ahead and lease the airplanes."[^13]
On November 22 North called Schwimmer and authorized an aircraft carrying 80 HAWKs to take off for a transit country that had not given landing permission; three and a half hours later he called again, and the aircraft was recalled and unloaded. Schwimmer abandoned his plan to fly the missiles on from the transit country in two DC-8s from a European company and, by his account, told North that the Americans would have to handle the flight logistics.[^18] North wrote to [[John Poindexter]] at 7:00 p.m.: "Unbelievable as it may seem, I have just talked to Schwimmer, in TA [Tel Aviv,] who advises that they have released their DC-8s in spite of my call to DK [David Kimche] instructing that they be put on hold until we could iron out the clearance problem.... Schwimmer released them to save $ and now does not think that they can be re-chartered before Monday." Within minutes North reported that Secord would have one of "our LAKE Resources A/C," then waiting to carry ammunition to the [[Contras]], repainted overnight to take its place.[^15] Secord, whom North had sent to [[Lisbon]], testified that he had never dealt with Schwimmer before and spoke with him "dozens of times" on an unsecured telephone.[^13] The CIA's airline proprietary flew the cargo. Its manager reported that Schwimmer proposed flying an American-registered plane into Iran with a false registration painted on its tail, or in formation with another plane to hide it from radar operators, and that Schwimmer "must be crazy"; the proposals were rejected.[^15] [[Stephen Engelberg]] of the New York Times reported that by American accounts Schwimmer had erred in letting the plane take off before landing rights in [[Portugal]] were secured, and that Israeli officials said North had failed to obtain them.[^19]
Eighteen HAWKs reached Tehran. Secord testified that Schwimmer, at his home in Israel, told him that Ghorbanifar's contact in the Iranian prime minister's office "was literally screaming" about the missiles.[^13] According to Secord, Schwimmer and Nimrodi had promised Ghorbanifar missiles that could shoot down high-flying Soviet reconnaissance aircraft and Iraqi bombers; the I-HAWKs, like all HAWKs, could not.[^15] North wrote to Poindexter on December 4 that "Schwimmer and Ledeen were unfamiliar with the operational parameters of the HAWK" and had agreed to ship 120 missiles "totally inadequate to meet the rqmts established by the Iranians."[^5]
### The money
Iran paid $24.72 million for the 80 HAWKs, about $300,000 a missile. On November 22 Ghorbanifar transferred $18 million and $6 million to the account of an Israeli intermediary, whom the committees did not name, who transferred $1 million to Lake Resources "on North's demand" and paid the Israeli Ministry of Defense $11.2 million for the HAWKs at $140,000 each, keeping $11.8 million more than he had paid out. According to the Israeli Financial Chronology, $6 million of it was held in trust for Ghorbanifar and $5.8 million was for shipping and other expenses, and Ledeen and North agreed that it stay in the intermediary's account. On November 27 the ministry returned $8.17 million to the intermediary, who sent Ghorbanifar $18.6 million; at the end of November the Israelis held more than $5 million in residuals.[^15]
The Israelis had paid the Enterprise $1 million to deliver 120 HAWKs; when only 18 were delivered, at a cost of about $200,000, $800,000 remained, and "with the Israelis' permission to use this money as the United States wished, North directed Secord to spend the $800,000 on Contra support."[^15] Secord testified that North told him he had discussed the use of the money with the Israelis "but not as to destination of the funds. So Mr. Schwimmer made a contribution." Questioned by Senator [[William Cohen]], Secord agreed that the $800,000 was Schwimmer's money, that North told him to keep it, that Nir confirmed this a month later, and that Israel would make no claim on it if it were turned over to the Treasury.[^13] The [[Washington Times]] reported the testimony as $800,000 "paid into Gen. Secord's Swiss bank account by Israeli arms dealer Al Schwimmer."[^20] In late November 1985, the committees found, Secord learned in Israel that proceeds of the earlier TOW sales had been used by Nimrodi and Schwimmer "for purposes other than purchasing the HAWKs." Asked what profits Schwimmer had made, Secord said he had no knowledge.[^13][^15]
### London and removal, December 1985 to January 1986
Secord, Ghorbanifar, Kimche, Schwimmer and Nimrodi met in Paris about December 1, and the group then moved to London.[^18] On December 8 McFarlane met Ghorbanifar at Nimrodi's London home with North, Secord, Kimche, Schwimmer and an Israeli defense official present.[^17] Secord testified that, out of McFarlane's hearing, a dispute broke out among the Israelis over who was in control, Schwimmer or an official of the Ministry of Defense, and that it ended "with Schwimmer asserting that he was in control."[^13] McFarlane told the Tower board he had seen reports that the West End apartment was Schwimmer's but did not know it firsthand.[^5] North wrote: "The Israeli contact, Schwimmer, has arranged deliveries of items which were not requested by Gorbanifahr for the Iranian military. Further, the terms which he negotiated are disadvantageous to the IDF and our ability to replenish the Israelis.... Despite admonishments to the contrary, Schwimmer had already arranged for the 3,300 TOWs as part of the next steps."[^5] By mid-December Poindexter had told North to keep the initiative moving, which included substituting a new team, led by North and Nir, for Ledeen, Schwimmer and Nimrodi.[^15]
On January 15, 1986 North reported to Poindexter Nir's view that Ghorbanifar "probably lied to Schwimmer and that Schwimmer probably lied to Nir re how much there was available."[^5] North's notes of a call with Nir that day refer to a 25 percent cut for "other Iranians" and a 15 percent cut to "accountant," which the committees identified as the code name for Schwimmer, and to "7500 each to Copp. 5300 each to DOD." The committees read North's message of that day as an effort to have more of the residual profit flow to the American side "rather than to Schwimmer and Nimrodi." On January 16 North proposed that Nir deal directly with Ghorbanifar, with Schwimmer and the Iranian officials "cut-out" from the expected profits.[^15] Asked later about his role, Schwimmer said only: "We used the connections we had, which were perhaps better than the United States had, to try to get the hostages out."[^3]
### Inquiries
On January 14, 1987 [[Lee Hamilton]], chairman of the House select committee, asked the acting director of central intelligence, [[Robert Gates]], for all CIA material on arms transactions with Iran, Israel, Ghorbanifar, Khashoggi, Nimrodi, Schwimmer or Nir and on efforts to free the hostages.[^21] On May 22, 1987 FBI headquarters sent its New York office, under the Iran-Contra case name FRONT DOOR, five subpoenas for Israeli officials and businessmen who had been "instrumental, in various degrees, in assisting the United States in selling arms to Iran"; the names are withheld in the copy released in the FBI's file on Schwimmer. The airtel states that the Israeli government had been "steadfast in its refusal" to make them available, that they had been entered in the Treasury Enforcement Communication System, and that the Immigration and Naturalization Service would stop them on arrival and notify the bureau and the independent counsel.[^22] Israel's insistence on diplomatic protocols prevented testimony by Schwimmer, Kimche, Nimrodi and Nir, though it provided written chronologies, which the committees used under a specific agreement with the Israeli government.[^15][^23] North told McFarlane, according to McFarlane's grand jury testimony, that he suspected "Mr. Schwimmer and Michael" had an agreement to share some of the gain from the sales; Ledeen denied profiting, and the independent counsel, [[Lawrence Walsh]], found no evidence that he had, adding that "Israel never gave OIC access to financial accounts or records."[^17] Schwimmer was never charged in the United States or Israel.[^3]
### Pardon
Schwimmer never applied for a pardon. The son of his co-defendant, [[Brian Greenspun]], submitted the petition, and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Greenspun asked Clinton for the pardon over the preceding Thanksgiving weekend.[^3][^6] "You've got to say 'I recognize I was guilty and I did wrong,'" Schwimmer said of the application process. "I wasn't ready to say all that."[^9] His name was on the master warrant of January 20, 2001 that also pardoned [[Marc Rich]]. Before the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] on February 14, 2001, the pardon attorney, [[Roger C. Adams]], testified that for some persons on the warrant his office had received "either no documents at all or very sketchy information from the [[White House]] Counsel in the last hours before the pardons were granted," that individual warrants for nine persons were still being prepared, and that "in one case (that of Adolph Schwimmer), the conviction of which we have knowledge is more than 50 years old."[^24] The individual warrant, dated January 20, 2001 and signed by Adams at the President's direction, grants Adolph W. Schwimmer "a full and unconditional pardon"; Adams's memorandum to the department's public affairs office records it as granted "after completion of sentence." The [[Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy]], which obtained the warrant under the [[Freedom of Information Act]], reported that most records of the clemency applications had been transferred to the National Archives.[^4][^25]
On June 27, 2008 Schwimmer wrote to President [[George W. Bush]] and Attorney General [[Michael Mukasey]] in support of a posthumous pardon for [[Charles Winters]], who had supplied B-17s to Israel and served a prison sentence; others "including myself" convicted of similar crimes, he wrote, "were treated more leniently by the justice system, as we were assessed fines and did not serve any jail time."[^26] Brian Greenspun wrote in the same campaign that Schwimmer was "the man who led the operation in which Mr. Winters participated."[^27] Bush granted the Winters pardon at the end of his term.[^25]
In his eighties Schwimmer worked for an Israeli constitution with civil marriage and equal standing for all branches of Judaism.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Tom Tugend, "Al Schwimmer, Israel Air Force pioneer, dies at 94," *Jewish Journal* (Los Angeles), June 12, 2011, https://jewishjournal.com/news/93036/.
[^2]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Angeles report L.A. 2-86, September 19, 1949 (Neutrality Act and export control investigation; Schwimmer's statement; "Vineland School District," "Forty-two Aircraft Engine," "Aircraft Radio Parts" and "Two Constellation" phases; indictments), FBI file 97-HQ-2912, serial 603, released under FOI/PA 1177948-1, https://archive.org/details/AdolphSchwimmer.
[^3]: JTA Staff, "Pardoned American served Israel in 1948," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 28, 2001, https://www.jta.org/archive/pardoned-american-served-israel-in-1948.
[^4]: Executive Grant of Clemency, Adolph W. Schwimmer, signed by Roger C. Adams, Pardon Attorney, January 20, 2001, and Pardon Attorney memorandum to the Director, Office of Public Affairs, same date, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and published by the Israel Lobby Archive, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/01202001_Schwimmer_Pardon.pdf.
[^5]: *The Tower Commission Report: The Full Text of the President's Special Review Board* (New York: Bantam Books and Times Books, 1987), pp. 24 to 25, 30 to 31, 121 to 122, 125 to 127, 154 to 155, 163 to 165, 189 to 190, 194 to 195, 232 to 233 (page breaks as printed in the scanned text), https://archive.org/details/towercommission00unit.
[^6]: "Al Schwimmer Pardoned by Clinton," *The AVI Newsletter* (American Veterans of Israel), Spring 2001, p. 9, https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~sklausne/Newslettersp01_9.html.
[^7]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, file 65-HQ-59184 (Nahum Bernstein, "Espionage, IS"), serials including New York report of June 13, 1950; Los Angeles report LA 65-5048 of July 28, 1950 by SA Philip J. Reilly ("Neutrality Act, Conspiracy"), summarizing the trial transcript of United States v. Schwimmer et al., vols. XXVIII to XXX; and headquarters memorandum of July 1950, released under FOI/PA 1177948-1, https://archive.org/details/AdolphSchwimmer.
[^8]: Headquarters, United States Air Force, Office of Special Investigations, Report of Investigation, District Office, Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base, October 18, 1948 (subject a reserve lieutenant colonel; character "Subversive Activity"), p. 3, forwarded by the State Department Division of Security, November 23, 1948, Israel Lobby Archive, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/10181948_Zatec.pdf.
[^9]: Julie Wiener, "From the Archive: The idealistic outlaw who built the Israel Air Force," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 17, 2015, https://www.jta.org/2015/05/17/culture/from-the-archive-the-american-jewish-outlaw-who-built-the-israel-air-force.
[^10]: Pardon warrant, Herman Greenspun, signed by President John F. Kennedy, October 18, 1961, Israel Lobby Archive, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/10181961_Greenspun.pdf.
[^11]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albuquerque letterhead memorandum, "Electronics Firm in Pennsylvania Allegedly Owned by the Israeli Government," June 23, 1970 (classified Secret), FBI file 105-HQ-205824, serial 2, released under FOI/PA 1177948-1, https://archive.org/details/AdolphSchwimmer.
[^12]: SAC Honolulu (2-35) to Acting Director, FBI (attention Terrorism Section), "Neutrality Matter, Philippines," July 1987, FBI file 2-HQ-2840, serial 157X, released under FOI/PA 1177948-1, https://archive.org/details/AdolphSchwimmer.
[^13]: *Joint Hearings Before the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran and the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition: Testimony of Richard V. Secord*, 100th Cong., 1st sess., Hearings 100-1, May 5 to 8, 1987 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1987), pp. 80 to 84, 90 to 92, 96, 145, 313 to 314, https://archive.org/details/Iran-ContraReport.
[^14]: Thomas L. Friedman, "Israelis' Account on Arms: How U.S. Set Up the Deals," *The New York Times*, December 11, 1986, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00965R000403730010-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000403730010-7.
[^15]: *Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair*, H. Rept. 100-433, S. Rept. 100-216, November 1987, pp. 164, 166, 169, 171 nn. 16 and 18, 177, 179, 182, 187, 191 n. 147, 194, 200, 207 to 208, 280, and minority report p. 527, https://archive.org/details/Iran-ContraReport.
[^16]: Arnaud de Borchgrave, interview with Adnan Khashoggi, "Khashoggi says he warned against arms for hostages," *The Washington Times*, March 19, 1987, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00965R000201460002-0, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000201460002-0.
[^17]: Lawrence E. Walsh, *Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, vol. 1, ch. 1, "Robert C. McFarlane," text and nn. 74, 82, 86 to 88, 98, 103, 130 and 177, https://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_01.htm.
[^18]: *Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair*, Appendix C, "Chronology of Events," entries of circa July 29, September 15, October 8, October 27, November 22, circa December 1 and December 7, 1985, https://archive.org/details/Iran-ContraReport.
[^19]: Stephen Engelberg, "North Implicated in Contra Supply Through Portugal," *The New York Times*, January 10, 1987, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00965R000201820031-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000201820031-8.
[^20]: Mary Belcher, "Secord says North told Reagan about diversion," *The Washington Times*, May 7, 1987, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00965R000100450003-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000100450003-2.
[^21]: Lee H. Hamilton, Chairman, House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, to Robert M. Gates, Acting Director of Central Intelligence, January 14, 1987, CIA Reading Room document 0001296190, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0001296190.
[^22]: Director, FBI, to ADIC New York, airtel, "FRONT DOOR; Major Case 90; Ethics in Government Act 1978," May 22, 1987, FBI file 211-HQ-26, serials 796 and 1048, released under FOI/PA 1177948-1, https://archive.org/details/AdolphSchwimmer.
[^23]: "Examining the loose ends in the Iran-Contra affair," *U.S. News & World Report*, October 26, 1987, p. 22, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP89T00142R000700920014-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp89t00142r000700920014-7.
[^24]: *President Clinton's Eleventh Hour Pardons: Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate*, 107th Cong., 1st sess., S. Hrg. 107-194, February 14, 2001, statement of Roger C. Adams, Pardon Attorney, pp. 27 to 28, https://archive.org/details/gov.gpo.fdsys.CHRG-107shrg76344.
[^25]: "Presidential Pardons: Greenspun, Schwimmer and Winters," Israel Lobby Archive, Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/.
[^26]: Al Schwimmer to President George W. Bush and Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, June 27, 2008, Israel Lobby Archive, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/06272008_Al_Schwimmer.pdf.
[^27]: Brian Greenspun to President George W. Bush and Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, July 4, 2008, Israel Lobby Archive, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/07042008_Brian_Greenspun.pdf.

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---
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
tags:
- Person
- BuckShlegeris
- RedwoodResearch
- MachineIntelligenceResearchInstitute
- AlignmentResearchCenter
- AISafety
- EffectiveAltruism
- OpenPhilanthropy
alias:
- Buck Shlegeris
- Michael Shlegeris
- Michael Buck Shlegeris
summary: "AI-alignment researcher and recruiter at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute who became chief technology officer and then chief executive of Redwood Research, an Open Philanthropy-funded Berkeley nonprofit, and an Alignment Research Center director."
location: "Berkeley, California"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]]"
role: "researcher and recruiter"
fn: 2
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]]"
role: "contractor processing job applications, as of February 2021"
fn: 3
- type: head_of
with: "[[Redwood Research]]"
start: 2021
role: "chief technology officer, later chief executive"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Redwood Research]]"
role: "director, from the return for 2023"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Alignment Research Center]]"
role: "board member"
fn: 9
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Buck Shlegeris is an AI-alignment researcher who worked at the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]] (MIRI) in [[Berkeley]], California, and became chief technology officer and later chief executive of [[Redwood Research]]. Redwood's tax returns list him as Michael Shlegeris.[^1]
### Machine Intelligence Research Institute
In an "Ask Me Anything" post on the [[Effective Altruism Forum]] dated 15 November 2019, Shlegeris described himself as "a researcher at MIRI" who divided his time "roughly equally between technical work and recruitment/outreach work." He wrote that he handled the intake of participants for MIRI's "AI Risk for Computer Scientists" workshops and taught at them, did "most of the technical interviewing for engineering roles at MIRI," and managed the AI Safety Retraining Program, "in which MIRI gives grants to people to study ML for three months." On the technical side, he wrote, "I mostly work on some of our nondisclosed-by-default technical research," adding that "Because the work isn't public, there are many questions about it that I can't answer."[^2]
On 13 February 2021 an applicant asked on the forum LessWrong whether Shlegeris still worked for MIRI, writing that the first stage of its software engineering interviews had been a quiz administered by the recruiting company [[Triplebyte]]. [[Anna Salamon]], a director of MIRI, replied that "Buck is mostly no longer working at MIRI but is doing some contracting, including about processing job applicants I think." Shlegeris wrote that he was "still in the business of talking to people who want to work on alignment stuff" and was "indeed still the person who processes MIRI job applications."[^3][^4] MIRI's return for 2019 lists [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]], Salamon, [[Edwin Evans]], [[Nate Soares]] and [[Blake Borgeson]] among its directors and does not list Shlegeris.[^4]
### Redwood Research
Announcing Redwood on 6 October 2021, [[Nate Thomas]] wrote that it was "a longtermist research lab focusing on applied AI alignment," that "We're led by Nate Thomas (CEO), Buck Shlegeris (CTO), and [[Bill Zito]] (COO/software engineer)," and that "our board is Nate, [[Paul Christiano]] and [[Holden Karnofsky]]," with ten staff.[^5] Karnofsky was co-chief executive of [[Open Philanthropy]]. In November 2021 Open Philanthropy recommended "four grants totaling $9,420,000 to Redwood Research for general support," with [[Nick Beckstead]] as grant investigator; the page states that "Redwood Research staff also reviewed this page prior to publication."[^6]
Redwood Research Group Inc (EIN 87-1702255) received its tax exemption on 1 September 2021 and files in care of Nathaniel Thomas at 2150 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 1200, Berkeley. Its return for 2021 lists Karnofsky as treasurer and Christiano as secretary, both unpaid, and Thomas, Michael Shlegeris (chief technology officer) and William Zito each paid 56,250 dollars. For 2022 Shlegeris, still chief technology officer, was paid 273,567 dollars. The return for 2023 lists him first, as chief executive and director, paid 272,175 dollars, with Thomas as board chair, Christiano and Karnofsky as directors until June and November 2023, and [[Ajeya Cotra]] as a director. The return for 2024 lists Shlegeris as chief executive and director at 272,164 dollars, Cotra as a director until August 2024 and [[Ammon Bartram]] as a director.[^1]
Redwood reported revenue of 13,904,248 dollars for 2021, 12,049,894 dollars for 2022 and 10,036,347 dollars for 2023, nearly all from contributions, against expenses of 2,341,569, 12,759,191 and 12,590,834 dollars. Its return for 2024 reports contributions of 9,659 dollars, total revenue of 22,060 dollars and expenses of 2,922,498 dollars, including grants of 679,955 dollars.[^1][^7]
In 2023 a pseudonymous author signing as "Omega." published a critique of Redwood on LessWrong and the Effective Altruism Forum. It stated that Redwood had received 20 million dollars from Open Philanthropy and 1.27 million dollars from the [[Survival and Flourishing Fund]], had been "granted (but never received) $6.6 million from [[FTX Future Fund]]," and ran the [[Constellation Institute|Constellation]] office of about 30,000 square feet in Berkeley, where "many OP staff work," adding that "OP pays Redwood for use of the space." Of Shlegeris it wrote that he "has 3 years of software engineering experience and a limited ML research background" and "also worked as a researcher at MIRI for two years."[^8]
### Alignment Research Center
The team page of the [[Alignment Research Center]] (ARC), led by Christiano, names its board as "Paul Christiano, Buck Shlegeris, and Ben Hoskin."[^9]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Redwood Research Group Inc, EIN 87-1702255, Forms 990 for 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, Part I and Part VII, Section A, as rendered from IRS e-file data by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, objects 202203149349303980, 202323199349304867, 202413209349327491 and 202503199349302920, retrieved 1 October 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202203149349303980/IRS990 ; https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202323199349304867/IRS990 ; https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202413209349327491/IRS990 ; https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202503199349302920/IRS990
[^2]: Shlegeris, Buck. "I'm Buck Shlegeris, I do research and outreach at MIRI, AMA." Effective Altruism Forum, 15 November 2019. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/tDk57GhrdK54TWzPY/i-m-buck-shlegeris-i-do-research-and-outreach-at-miri-ama
[^3]: "Is MIRI actually hiring and does Buck Shlegeris still work for you?" LessWrong, 13 February 2021, answers by Anna Salamon and Rob Bensinger and comment by Buck Shlegeris. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/y2qaZ7X2jHzqK84TZ/is-miri-actually-hiring-and-does-buck-shlegeris-still-work
[^4]: Machine Intelligence Research Institute Inc, EIN 58-2565917, Form 990 for 2019, Part VII, Section A, as rendered from IRS e-file data by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, object 202003219349318895, retrieved 1 October 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202003219349318895/IRS990
[^5]: Thomas, Nate. "We're Redwood Research, we do applied alignment research, AMA." LessWrong, 6 October 2021. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qHvHvBR8L6oycnMXe/we-re-redwood-research-we-do-applied-alignment-research-ama
[^6]: Open Philanthropy, "Redwood Research, General Support (2021)," award date November 2021, grant investigator Nick Beckstead, Wayback Machine capture of 12 November 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20251112112328/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support/
[^7]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, "Redwood Research Group Inc," EIN 87-1702255, organization record and filing data, retrieved 1 October 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/871702255.json
[^8]: Omega. "Critiques of prominent AI safety labs: Redwood Research." LessWrong, 17 April 2023, linkpost of the Effective Altruism Forum original. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SuZ6Guuos7CjfwRQb/critiques-of-prominent-ai-safety-labs-redwood-research
[^9]: Alignment Research Center, "Team," retrieved 1 October 2026. https://www.alignment.org/team/

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---
category: "Key Figures"
tags:
- Person
- SecretaryOfDefense
- FordAdministration
- GDSearle
- Aspartame
- GileadSciences
- IranIraqWar
- IraqWar
- AbuGhraib
- Guantanamo
- RevolvingDoor
alias:
- Donald Rumsfeld
- Donald H. Rumsfeld
- Donald Henry Rumsfeld
- Don Rumsfeld
- Rumsfeld
summary: "Illinois congressman, Ford chief of staff and twice Secretary of Defense, G.D. Searle and General Instrument chief executive, Gilead chairman, and Reagan's 1983 envoy to Saddam Hussein."
born: 1932-07-09
died: 2021-06-29
location: "Chicago, Illinois (born); Taos, New Mexico (died)"
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[United States House of Representatives]]"
start: 1963
end: 1969
role: "representative from illinois"
fn: 1
- type: appointed
with: "[[Richard Nixon]]"
reverse: true
start: 1969-05-26
end: 1970-12-10
role: "director, office of economic opportunity"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Cost of Living Council]]"
start: 1971-10-07
end: 1973-02-02
role: "director"
fn: 1
- type: appointed
with: "[[Richard Nixon]]"
reverse: true
start: 1973-02-02
end: 1974-12-05
role: "permanent representative to nato"
fn: 1
- type: appointed
with: "[[Gerald R. Ford]]"
reverse: true
start: 1974-09-27
end: 1975-11-18
role: "assistant to the president and white house chief of staff"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Department of Defense]]"
start: 1975-11-18
end: 1977-01-20
role: "secretary of defense"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[G.D. Searle & Co.]]"
start: 1977-06
end: 1985-09-30
role: "president and chief executive officer; chairman from august 1985"
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[G.D. Searle & Co. Political Action Committee]]"
start: 1979-11-13
end: 1984-10-02
role: "six contributions totaling $4,400"
fn: 15
- type: appointed
with: "[[Ronald Reagan]]"
reverse: true
start: 1983-11-03
end: 1984-04
role: "presidential envoy for the middle east, on leave from searle"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[William Blair & Company]]"
start: 1985-10
end: 1990-10
role: "senior advisor, part time"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[General Instrument Corporation]]"
start: 1990-10
end: 1993-08
role: "chairman and chief executive officer"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Gilead Sciences]]"
start: 1988-07
role: "director; chairman of the board from january 1997"
fn: 25
- type: head_of
with: "[[Gilead Sciences]]"
end: 2001-01
role: "chairman of the board; resigned to become secretary of defense"
fn: 29
- type: director_of
with: "[[Gulfstream Aerospace]]"
role: "director"
fn: 25
- type: director_of
with: "[[ABB Asea Brown Boveri]]"
start: 1999-06
role: "director; nominating committee from december 1999"
fn: 4
- type: director_of
with: "[[Tribune Company]]"
start: 1992-07
role: "director; chairman of the technical advisory committee 1995 to 2000"
fn: 4
- type: director_of
with: "[[Amylin Pharmaceuticals]]"
start: 1991-11
role: "director 1991 to 1996 and from 1999"
fn: 4
- type: head_of
with: "[[RAND Corporation]]"
start: 1981-04
end: 1986-04
role: "chairman, board of trustees"
fn: 4
- type: member_of
with: "[[Jamestown Foundation]]"
start: 1985-10
role: "advisory board"
fn: 4
- type: member_of
with: "[[Bohemian Club]]"
start: 1986-12
role: "member"
fn: 4
- type: head_of
with: "[[Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States]]"
start: 1997-12
end: 1998-07
role: "chairman"
fn: 1
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
start: 1998-07
end: 2001-01
role: "consultant to the director of central intelligence, without compensation"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization]]"
start: 2000-06
end: 2000-12
role: "chairman"
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Republican National Committee]]"
start: 1995-12-28
end: 2000-07-25
role: "six contributions to the rnc state elections committee totaling $84,000"
fn: 15
- type: funded
with: "[[Alexander M. Haig, Jr.]]"
start: 1988-01-27
end: 1988-01-27
role: "$1,000 to haig for president"
fn: 15
- type: head_of
with: "[[Department of Defense]]"
start: 2001
end: 2006-12
role: "secretary of defense"
fn: 2
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Hamdan v. Rumsfeld]]"
role: "named respondent"
fn: 37
- type: investigated
with: "[[Senate Armed Services Committee]]"
reverse: true
role: "inquiry into the treatment of detainees in u.s. custody; conclusions 13 and 19"
fn: 36
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Donald Henry Rumsfeld was born on July 9, 1932, in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]].[^1] He was a member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1963 to 1969, an assistant to [[Richard Nixon]], ambassador to [[NATO]], [[White House]] chief of staff and Secretary of Defense under [[Gerald R. Ford]], chief executive of [[G.D. Searle & Co.]] from 1977 to 1985 and of [[General Instrument Corporation]] from 1990 to 1993, and chairman of [[Gilead Sciences]] until January 2001.[^1] He served a second time as Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under [[George W. Bush]], and died on June 29, 2021, at 88; his family's statement said he "was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, [[New Mexico]]."[^2]
### Congress and the Nixon administration
Before his first campaign Rumsfeld was administrative assistant to Representative [[David Dennison]] of Ohio from 1957 to 1959, a staff assistant to Representative [[Robert Griffin]] of Michigan in 1959, Dennison's campaign manager in 1959 and 1960, and a registered representative at the Chicago investment bank [[A.G. Becker & Co.]] from 1960 to 1962. He was elected to the House in 1962, served on the Science and Astronautics Committee and the Joint Economic Committee, and was a member of the transition team for President-elect Nixon.[^1]
The employment record he filed with the [[Senate Armed Services Committee]] in 2001 lists him as Assistant to the President from May 26, 1969, to February 2, 1973; Director of the [[Office of Economic Opportunity]] from May 26, 1969, to December 10, 1970; member of the Property Review Board from April 20, 1970, and its chairman from September 11, 1971; Counsellor to the President from December 10, 1970; and Director of the [[Cost of Living Council]], the Economic Stabilization Program, from October 7, 1971, to February 2, 1973. From February 2, 1973, to December 5, 1974, he was the [[United States]] Permanent Representative on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in [[Brussels]].[^1]
At his 2001 confirmation hearing, Senator [[Carl Levin]] asked Rumsfeld about a 1971 taped conversation with Nixon reported that month by the [[Chicago Tribune]], in which Nixon made racist remarks and Rumsfeld spoke of Republicans having ended "Democratic wars." Rumsfeld replied that he did not remember the meeting, that to the extent he agreed with anything on the tape it was only that "some people talk like that," and that the Tribune had opposed the civil rights legislation he supported in the 1960s.[^3] He was then a director of the [[Tribune Company]], a seat he had held since July 1992.[^4]
### Ford White House
[[Alexander M. Haig, Jr.|Alexander Haig]], Nixon's chief of staff, met Vice President Ford twice on August 1, 1974. Ford testified under oath on October 17, 1974, that the afternoon meeting included a list of options under discussion in the White House, among them "a pardon to the President, should he resign," and that on the afternoon of August 2 he telephoned Haig to say that nothing they had discussed should be given any consideration.[^5] In August 1974 Rumsfeld was recalled from Brussels to chair the transition to the Ford presidency, and from September 27, 1974, to November 18, 1975, he was Assistant to the President and White House chief of staff.[^1]
On October 28, 1974, Rumsfeld sent a memorandum to the directors of the Executive Office agencies, among them the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], the [[National Security Council]] and the Office of Economic Opportunity, stating that the President had directed all members of the executive branch to comply with the conflict-of-interest regulations, asking each to bring his Confidential Statement of Employment and Financial Interests up to date, and requesting a report on compliance to the staff secretary by November 30, 1974. A second memorandum of the same date circulated to the White House staff a manual on standards of conduct, with a memorandum from Counsel to the President [[Philip Buchen]].[^6]
In July 1975 [[William Colby]], the [[Director of Central Intelligence]], wrote to Rumsfeld ("Dear Don"), following their conversation of July 17, enclosing the Agency's quarterly report on CIA detailees to the White House. The letter stated that the Agency was prepared to provide information on the past association of any current White House employee or presidential appointee, would await the names from a Mr. Bennett to a Mr. Evans of Colby's staff, and would send its responses to Rumsfeld or to [[Dick Cheney]].[^7]
Cheney was Rumsfeld's deputy in the spring of 1975, while the [[Rockefeller Commission 1975|Rockefeller Commission]] was investigating CIA activities inside the United States. Documents published by the [[National Security Archive]] in 2016 show handwritten edits by Cheney to the commission's draft report and the removal, on White House orders, of the report's entire 86-page section on CIA plots to assassinate foreign leaders.[^8]
### Secretary of Defense, 1975 to 1977
Rumsfeld became the 13th Secretary of Defense on November 18, 1975, and held the office until January 20, 1977.[^1] On December 5, 1975, George A. Carver Jr., the CIA's Deputy for National Intelligence Officers, informed him in writing that, at General Haig's request, the CIA had arranged to give Haig, then the NATO commander, intelligence support tailored to his needs, concentrating on current political and economic developments and supplementing the support he received through military channels. The arrangements, the memorandum said, had been endorsed by Rumsfeld's predecessor and by the Chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] and set up with the full knowledge of the Director of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]]. One copy was distributed to a file labeled "HAIG SUPPORT."[^9]
On October 18, 1976, [[George H.W. Bush]], then Director of Central Intelligence, wrote to Rumsfeld that, after Rumsfeld's comments that leaks might have come from the [[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]], he had checked with the Board's secretariat and been told that the Board had not been briefed on the redacted subject. Bush wrote that he doubted the source of "these vicious leaks" would ever be found and that a recent meeting in the office of Deputy Secretary [[William Clements]] "laid to rest a lot of questions about the integrity of the process."[^10] In a letter dated January 24, 1977, Rumsfeld sent Bush the Annual Defense Department Report for fiscal year 1978, writing that "steadiness of purpose and continuing real growth in national defense efforts are required to counter the adverse trends of the past decade."[^11] His form lists him as a consultant to the Defense Department, without compensation, from 1977 to 1980.[^1]
### G.D. Searle and aspartame
Rumsfeld was a consultant to G.D. Searle from January to June 1977, became its president and chief executive officer in June 1977, and held the post until August 1985, when he became chairman, president and chief executive officer until September 30, 1985.[^1] [[Gregory Gordon]] of [[United Press International]] reported in October 1987 that Searle, facing debt, posted a $28 million net loss in Rumsfeld's first year and that he sold more than 30 subsidiaries worth more than $400 million. Rumsfeld hired three outgoing Ford administration officials: [[John Robson]], a former partner at the Chicago law firm [[Sidley & Austin]] and Ford's chairman of the [[Civil Aeronautics Board]], as executive vice president; [[Robert Shapiro]], Robson's special assistant at the [[Department of Transportation]], as general counsel; and [[William Greener]], a Ford White House spokesman who had been Rumsfeld's chief spokesman at the Pentagon. Searle also hired [[William Timmons]], a former Ford White House official, as a Washington lobbyist.[^12][^13]
The aspartame petition predated him. According to the [[General Accounting Office]], Searle began developing the sweetener in 1965, the [[Food and Drug Administration]] approved it for dry foods in 1974, and Searle was not permitted to market it until 1981. A 1975 FDA task force questioned the quality of the data in certain Searle studies; in 1977 the FDA and a group of university pathologists began detailed investigations of 15 studies; and in 1980 a public board of inquiry of three university scientists concluded that aspartame did not cause brain damage but that the studies did not conclusively show it did not cause brain tumors, and revoked the 1974 approval.[^14]
Gordon reported that at the task force's request the FDA's general counsel, [[Richard Merrill]], demanded in a letter that [[Samuel Skinner]], the United States Attorney in Chicago, open a grand jury investigation of Searle and three of its employees. In February 1977 Skinner and an aide agreed to meet Searle's lawyers, among them [[Newton Minow]] of Sidley & Austin. A month later Skinner, a Republican appointee seeking a job after [[Jimmy Carter]]'s election, informed aides by memorandum that he had begun preliminary employment discussions with the firm. He withdrew from the matter and suggested that his designated successor, [[Thomas Sullivan]], decide whether to open a grand jury inquiry, a step that delayed action by at least four months. Sullivan took office 12 weeks before the statute of limitations for false statements on aspartame expired, and the grand jury that was convened did not explore those allegations. Skinner denied any conflict of interest. Assistant United States Attorney [[William Conlon]] worked with the grand jury until October 12, 1977, two days after the limitations period on the aspartame allegations expired; no indictments were brought. Conlon declined to comment and joined Sidley & Austin 15 months later.[^13]
Gordon quoted the consumer lawyer [[James Turner]], who had objected to the 1974 approval, as alleging that Searle chose, with Rumsfeld's hiring, not to redo the questioned studies, in the belief that he could handle aspartame as "a legal problem rather than a scientific problem."[^13] In October 1978 Howard Roberts, the acting director of the FDA's Bureau of Foods who had appointed a review of the task force findings, left to become a vice president of the [[National Soft Drink Association]]; between 1979 and 1982 four more FDA officials who took part in the approval process, among them acting commissioner [[Sherwin Gardner]] and the agency lawyer [[Michael Taylor]], took jobs linked to the NutraSweet industry. All denied any conflict of interest.[^13]
Searle waited until January 21, 1981, the day after [[Ronald Reagan]]'s inauguration, to press for a reversal of the board of inquiry. Gordon reported that former commissioner [[Jere Goyan]] found the timing curious, and that Robert Dormer, a lawyer for [[The NutraSweet Company]], said there was nothing special about the date. In May 1981, a month after [[Arthur Hull Hayes Jr.]] took office as commissioner, three scientists on a five-member commissioner's team, Satya Dubey, Douglas Park and Robert Condon, wrote memoranda to the team's lawyer, Joseph Levitt, setting out concerns about the sweetener's safety. Park told Gordon that Levitt "was obviously getting the pressure to get a resolution and a decision made"; Levitt said he had circulated an approval recommendation as a "tactical" step to break an impasse.[^13] The panel members told the General Accounting Office that they felt pressure to expedite their review because of a Searle lawsuit but none to recommend approval or disapproval. On July 18, 1981, Hayes overturned the board of inquiry and reapproved aspartame for dry foods. The GAO, which did not evaluate the scientific issues or aspartame's safety, "did not find any evidence that pressure was put on the former FDA Commissioner to approve aspartame."[^14]
Gordon also reported that a former Searle saleswoman, Patty Wood-Allott, asserted in a letter written after the FDA cleared NutraSweet that Rumsfeld told his sales force shortly after Reagan took office that, if necessary, "he would call in all his markers and that no matter what he would see to it that aspartame would be approved that year." According to Gordon, Rumsfeld declined to return phone calls.[^13]
In October 1982 Senator [[Howell Heflin]] proposed an amendment to the [[Orphan Drug Act]] extending Searle's domestic patent monopoly on aspartame by five years, ten months and 17 days; the Senate passed it without mentioning aspartame, Senator [[Orrin Hatch]] calling it "an excellent amendment." Gordon reported, from [[Federal Election Commission]] records, that Heflin's 1984 reelection committee received at least $9,000 from Searle's top officers and its political action committee and Hatch's at least $3,000, and that Searle's officers and political action committee gave nearly $200,000 in federal campaign contributions between 1979 and 1986. Heflin's spokesman said Searle representatives never mentioned contributions when asking him to sponsor the amendment, and Senator [[Howard Metzenbaum]] called the floor procedure "totally inappropriate."[^12] Searle petitioned in late 1982 to use aspartame in soft drinks; Hayes's deputy, Mark Novitch, approved it on a day Hayes was away. Weeks later Hayes resigned amid an internal [[Department of Health and Human Services]] inquiry into gratuities from FDA-regulated companies, including flights on jets owned by [[General Foods]], and became a consultant to [[Burson-Marsteller]], which represented The NutraSweet Company. A Burson-Marsteller vice president said Hayes was not involved in NutraSweet matters; Metzenbaum called the arrangement "unbecoming."[^13]
Federal Election Commission records show contributions by Rumsfeld to Searle's political action committee of $1,000 on November 13, 1979, $1,000 on September 18, 1980, $500 on May 26, 1981, $500 on April 20, 1982, $500 on November 4, 1983, and $900 on October 2, 1984, and $1,000 to Reagan for President on April 1, 1980.[^15] Searle's stockholders sold the company, including the NutraSweet division and its patents, to [[Monsanto]] for $2.7 billion in the summer of 1985. Gordon reported that [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] records showed Rumsfeld receiving more than $1.5 million in bonuses between 1979 and 1984.[^12]
### Envoy to the Middle East, 1983 and 1984
From October 1982 to February 1983 Rumsfeld was Presidential Envoy for the Law of the Sea, and from November 3, 1983, to April 1984 Presidential Envoy for the [[Middle East]], in both cases part time and on leave from Searle; the Middle East post is marked "W.O.C.," without compensation.[^1] On October 28, 1983, "Rumsfeld, Donald H" of Skokie, employer G D Searle, gave $750 to Reagan-Bush '84.[^15] On March 25, 1983, Rumsfeld wrote to Director of Central Intelligence [[William J. Casey]] ("Dear Bill") enclosing a paper on NATO that Casey had asked him to prepare as a member of the President's Foreign Policy Advisory Group before the inauguration, pointing to his comments on overhead photography on pages 6 and 7, and writing that the national consensus for a strong defense was "badly fractured and weakened and needs shoring up." Casey sent the letter to his deputy's office on August 13, 1983, "just for your interest."[^16]
On December 7, 1983, a [[State Department]] cable signed "DAM" ([[Kenneth W. Dam]]) told the U.S. Interests Section in [[Baghdad]] that Rumsfeld did not think his visit worthwhile unless he met [[Saddam Hussein]] and asked: "how can we use this visit to get out of the GOI certain things we may desire."[^17] On December 20, 1983, Rumsfeld met Saddam for 90 minutes, with [[Tariq Aziz]], William Eagleton and R. H. Pelletreau present. The London embassy's cable of December 21 (London 27572) reported that Saddam showed "obvious pleasure" at a letter from Reagan, that Rumsfeld told him the two countries had shared interests in preventing Iranian and Syrian expansion, that the United States was urging other states to curtail arms sales to Iran, and that Rumsfeld raised Iraqi oil exports, including a possible new pipeline through [[Jordan]] to [[Aqaba]]. Its assessment was that the meeting "marked positive milestone in development of US-Iraqi relations."[^18] [[Joyce Battle]] of the National Security Archive wrote that, according to the detailed notes of the Saddam meeting, Rumsfeld made no reference to chemical weapons.[^19]
Rumsfeld's own NODIS report of his separate meeting with Aziz (London 27592, "FROM RUMSFELD") records him saying that "the U.S. had no interest in an Iranian victory" and, after a passage withheld on classification grounds, "I made clear that our efforts to assist were inhibited by certain things that made it difficult for us citing the use of chemical weapons, possible escalation in the Gulf, and human rights," followed by: "From US standpoint, obviously anything that is done that complicates life for Iran and Syria is helpful."[^20]
On December 22, 1983, the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs sent Under Secretary [[Lawrence Eagleburger]] an action memorandum recommending [[Export-Import Bank of the United States]] financing for Iraq, which would "go far to show our support for Iraq in a practical, neutral context." Eagleburger signed it on December 24 and wrote to the bank's president, William H. Draper III, that "the terrorism issue, therefore, should no longer be an impediment to EXIM financing for U.S. sales to Iraq."[^21] The bank's country review of February 21, 1984, rated Iraq a poor credit risk. Its appendix of potential U.S. suppliers, totaling $1,510.6 million, listed [[Westinghouse]] for $159 million of turbine generators, [[Bechtel]] for $150 million of engineering on a Baghdad metro and for the Jordan oil pipeline, [[General Electric]] for power projects and [[Halliburton]] for $10 million of oil field equipment.[^22]
On March 5, 1984, the State Department publicly condemned Iraq's use of chemical weapons. A cable signed by Secretary of State [[George P. Shultz]] on March 24, 1984, captioned "EXDIS, for Rumsfeld party," gave briefing notes for his second visit to Baghdad: bilateral relations had been "sharply set back by our March 5 condemnation of Iraq for CW use, despite our repeated warnings that this issue would emerge sooner or later," a decision "to consider, and to reject, a pending application from Westinghouse to participate in a $160 million portion of a $1 billion Hyundai thermal power plant project in Iraq" was expected to confirm Iraqi perceptions that bank financing for the Aqaba pipeline was out of the question, although Eagleburger had emphasized to an Iraqi official "the administration's firm support for the line."[^23] [[Howard Teicher]], a former National Security Council staff member who wrote that he co-authored a June 1982 national security decision directive under which the United States would do "whatever was necessary and legal to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran," stated in a declaration of January 31, 1995, in [[United States v. Cardoen]] (No. 93-241-CR-HIGHSMITH, [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida|Southern District of Florida]]), that in 1984 Israeli Foreign Minister [[Yitzhak Shamir]], at a Jerusalem meeting Teicher attended with Rumsfeld, asked Rumsfeld to deliver a secret offer of Israeli assistance to Iraq; that Teicher was present in Baghdad when Rumsfeld told Aziz of the offer; and that Aziz refused even to accept the Israeli letter, saying he "would be executed on the spot" by Saddam if he did.[^24]
### Corporate boards, 1985 to 2000
From October 1985 to October 1990 Rumsfeld was a part-time senior advisor to the Chicago investment firm [[William Blair & Company]], and from October 1990 to August 1993 chairman and chief executive officer of General Instrument Corporation.[^1] He joined the Gilead board in July 1988 and became chairman in January 1997. The 1997 proxy statement listed his other boards as "ABB AB," [[Gulfstream Aerospace]], [[Kellogg Company]], [[Metricom]], [[Sears, Roebuck & Co.]] and Tribune Company.[^25]
The Gilead directors in 1997 included [[Etienne Davignon]], chairman of [[Societe Generale de Belgique]] since 1985 and European Community commissioner for industry from 1977 to 1981, a director since September 1990; [[James Denny]], a former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Searle and chairman of the Searle-affiliated Pearle Health Services, a managing director of William Blair Capital Partners V, a director since January 1996; [[Gordon Moore]] of [[Intel]]; and Shultz, a director since January 1996, described as a [[Hoover Institution]] fellow, a director of the [[Bechtel Group]], AirTouch Communications and Gulfstream Aerospace, and a former president of Bechtel.[^25] The 1998 proxy statement reported 51,863 Gilead shares in a grantor annuity trust of which Rumsfeld was donor and trustee; the 2000 statement reported 30,854 shares in a grantor annuity trust of which Rumsfeld and Denny were co-donors and trustees.[^26][^27] The 2000 statement also disclosed that Gilead had paid $6,747,923 in 1999 to PharmaResearch Corporation, a contract research organization 45 percent owned by William Blair Capital Fund V, to whose manager Denny was a senior advisor.[^27]
In September 1996 Gilead and [[Hoffmann-La Roche]] signed a development and license agreement for influenza therapies. [[Tamiflu]] was co-developed by the two companies, and Roche sold it, paying royalties to Gilead. Gilead's annual report for 2005 records royalty revenues from Roche of $12.0 million in 2003, $44.6 million in 2004 and $161.6 million in 2005, the last including $80.7 million recognized on resolution of a dispute with Roche, and attributes the 2005 increase partly to "orders for pandemic readiness supplies in certain countries."[^28] Rumsfeld resigned from the Gilead board in January 2001 to become Secretary of Defense, and Denny was elected chairman in his place.[^29]
His 2001 Senate form lists him as a director of ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. of Zurich from June 1999; of Amylin Pharmaceuticals from November 1991 to September 1996 and again from September 1999; of Tribune Company from July 1992, chairing its technical advisory committee from 1995 to 2000; and of the private Overx, Inc. It lists him as adviser to [[Investor AB]] of Stockholm from January 1994, to Metricom from 1994 and to [[Nvidia]] from February 1998, and as chairman of the international advisory board of [[Salomon Smith Barney]] from November 1998. His investments included limited partnerships in [[Cerberus Institutional Partners]] (1999), [[Tiger Management]] (1993), Transpac Capital 1996 Investment Trust of Tortola, [[British Virgin Islands]] (1997), Chengwei Ventures Fund I of [[Shanghai]] (2000), and the Houston energy funds SCF Partners III and IV and R. Chaney & Partners III and IV, and a 1998 grantor retained annuity trust.[^4]
The same form lists him as a member of the advisory board of the [[Jamestown Foundation]] from October 1985, a director of [[Empower America]] from January 1993, a member of the foreign policy grant advisory committee of the [[Smith Richardson Foundation]] from June 1998, a trustee of the [[Gerald R. Ford Foundation]] from September 1981, an overseer of the Hoover Institution in several periods from 1983, and a trustee of the [[RAND Corporation]] from 1977, chairing its board from April 1981 to April 1986 and from April 1995 to December 1996. It lists his membership of the [[Bohemian Club]] from December 1986, of its H.B. Camp from August 1987, and of the [[Alfalfa Club]] from 1976.[^4]
### ABB and North Korea
[[Swissinfo]] reported on February 24, 2003, that ABB had signed a $200 million contract with [[North Korea]] in January 2000 to supply equipment and services for two nuclear power stations at Kumho, and that Rumsfeld was a member of ABB's board "between 1990 and February 2001," dates that differ from the June 1999 start on his Senate form. ABB's spokesman, Wolfram Eberhardt, said Rumsfeld "was at nearly all the board meetings" and that the contract might or might not have been discussed. A Pentagon spokeswoman, Victoria Clark, told [[Newsweek]] that Rumsfeld "does not recall it being brought before the board at any time." ABB said it had sold its nuclear business to [[BNFL]] in early 2000.[^30] At the January 11, 2001, hearing Levin asked whether the 1994 agreement under which the United States would lead a coalition to provide North Korea with proliferation-resistant light-water reactors served the national interest; Rumsfeld said the matter was "quite a distance off my turf" and described North Korea as a proliferator. The letters "ABB" appear in the hearing record only in his biographical sketch and his committee form.[^3]
### Commissions and intelligence advisory posts
Rumsfeld's form lists him as a member of Reagan's Interim Foreign Policy Advisory Board in 1981, senior advisor to the [[Scowcroft Commission]] on strategic forces in 1982 and 1983, a member of the General Advisory Committee of the [[Arms Control and Disarmament Agency]] from 1982 to 1986, a consultant to the State Department from 1983 to about 1989, and a member of the National Economic Commission in 1988 and 1989.[^1] He chaired the [[Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States]] from December 1997 to July 1998. Its members, nominated by the Speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader and the minority leaders and appointed by the Director of Central Intelligence, were Rumsfeld, [[Barry Blechman]], [[Lee Butler]], [[Richard Garwin]], [[William Graham]], [[William Schneider Jr.]], [[Larry Welch]], [[Paul Wolfowitz]] and [[R. James Woolsey]]; its executive summary was dated July 15, 1998.[^31] In July 1998 he became a consultant, without compensation, to the Director of Central Intelligence, a post he held until January 2001, and from June to December 2000 he chaired the [[Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization]].[^1]
### Political contributions
Federal Election Commission records list contributions from "Rumsfeld, Donald, Honorable" of Chicago to the [[Republican National Committee]]'s state elections committee of $20,000 on December 28, 1995, $24,000 on June 7, 1996, $15,000 on June 30, 1998, $7,500 on April 13, 1999, $7,500 on June 10, 1999, and $10,000 on July 25, 2000, a total of $84,000. While chief executive of General Instrument he gave $5,000 to the General Instrument political action committee on January 9, 1991, and on October 16, 1992, and $1,000 and $3,000 to the cable industry's political action committee in 1991 and 1992. On January 27, 1988, he gave $1,000 to Haig for President, and on January 28 and February 4, 1988, $1,000 each to the campaigns of [[Jack Kemp]], George Bush and [[Bob Dole]]. In August 1999 he gave $1,000 each to Bush for President and to Senator [[Bill Bradley]]'s presidential campaign.[^15] The Associated Press described a brief Rumsfeld run for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination.[^2]
### Confirmation and the Pentagon, 2001 to 2003
President-elect Bush announced the nomination on December 28, 2000.[^1] At the January 11, 2001, hearing, asked whether he had adhered to the conflict-of-interest laws, Rumsfeld answered "I do not know," saying the rules of the bodies reviewing his filings differed, that his papers were still at the [[Office of Government Ethics]], and that he had "a large number of investments and activities that would have to be characterized as conflicts were they to be maintained"; asked again whether he would adhere to them, he said "Yes, sir."[^3] In a written answer on the [[Iraq Liberation Act]] he wrote: "In the past I have favored it."[^32]
On September 10, 2001, at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld said: "According to some estimates, we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions."[^33] Notes taken by his aide [[Stephen Cambone]] on September 11, 2001, record Rumsfeld at 2:40 p.m. asking for the best information fast, to judge whether it was good enough to hit "S.H." at the same time, "Not only UBL"; Battle described the notes as directing the Defense Department lawyer Jim Haynes to obtain "support" from Wolfowitz for a link between Iraq and [[Osama bin Laden]].[^34] Rumsfeld's typed talking points for his meeting with General [[Tommy Franks]] at Central Command on November 27, 2001, begin "Focus on WMD," list among possible ways to start a war "US discovers Saddam connection to Sept. 11 attack or to anthrax attacks?" and "Dispute over WMD inspections?", call for "Decapitation of government," and state: "Unlike in Afghanistan, important to have ideas in advance about who would rule afterwards." A handwritten addition reads "Influence campaign ... when begin?"[^35]
### Detainee interrogation policy
On December 2, 2002, Rumsfeld signed a one-page recommendation from the Defense Department general counsel, [[William J. Haynes II]], to approve all but three of 18 interrogation techniques requested by [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp|Guantanamo]], adding by hand: "I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours?" Haynes's memorandum said he had discussed the matter with Wolfowitz, Under Secretary [[Douglas Feith]] and General [[Richard Myers]]. After Navy General Counsel [[Alberto Mora]] told Haynes he would sign a memorandum of legal concerns, Rumsfeld rescinded the authority on January 15, 2003; on August 13, 2003, he approved an interrogation plan for the detainee [[Mohamedou Ould Slahi]].[^36] The Senate Armed Services Committee concluded that Haynes's review "was grossly deficient" (conclusion 12), that Rumsfeld's authorization "was a direct cause of detainee abuse" at Guantanamo and "influenced and contributed to the use of abusive techniques" in [[Afghanistan]] and Iraq (conclusion 13), and that the techniques used at [[Abu Ghraib]] "appeared in Iraq only after they had been approved for use in Afghanistan and at GTMO" (conclusion 19).[^36] The Associated Press reported that Rumsfeld twice offered his resignation to Bush in 2004 after the Abu Ghraib disclosures; he left office in December 2006 and was replaced by [[Robert Gates]].[^2]
On June 29, 2006, in [[Hamdan v. Rumsfeld]], the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] held that the military commission convened to try the Guantanamo detainee Hamdan, a Yemeni national, "lacks the power to proceed because its structure and procedures violate both the UCMJ and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949."[^37]
### Rumsfeld Foundation
After 2008 Rumsfeld headed the Rumsfeld Foundation.[^2] The foundation, a Washington private foundation (EIN 26-0580915) with an [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] ruling date of August 2007, reported assets of $9,727,763 at the end of 2011, $11,418,376 at the end of 2012 and $1,515,771 at the end of 2023.[^38] His 2001 Senate form lists him as president of a DHR Foundation of Chicago from December 1985, annotated "Possibly without investment control."[^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Armed Services, "Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 107th Congress," S. Hrg. 107-749, hearing of January 11, 2001: Biographical Sketch of Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Committee on Armed Services Form, Part A, items 3, 5, 9 and 10 (employment record, appointment dates, former activities and selected U.S. government activities), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg75903/html/CHRG-107shrg75903.htm
[^2]: Robert Burns, "Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dies at 88," Associated Press, via PBS NewsHour, June 30, 2021, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/former-defense-secretary-donald-rumsfeld-dies-at-88
[^3]: S. Hrg. 107-749, transcript of the hearing of January 11, 2001: Chairman Levin's standard questions on conflicts of interest, his question on the Chicago Tribune report of the 1971 Nixon tape, and his question on the 1994 agreed framework with North Korea; full-text search of the record for "ABB" returns only the biographical sketch and the committee form, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg75903/html/CHRG-107shrg75903.htm
[^4]: S. Hrg. 107-749, Committee on Armed Services Form, Part A, item 11 ("current activities": boards of directors, advisory relationships, not-for-profit boards, other memberships, fiduciary and investment relationships), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg75903/html/CHRG-107shrg75903.htm
[^5]: Gerald R. Ford, statement before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, House Committee on the Judiciary, October 17, 1974, typescript pp. 6-14, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Philip Buchen Files, Box 34, "Nixon Pardon Hungate Subcommittee, Ford Testimony, 1974/10/17," https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0019/4520699.pdf
[^6]: Donald Rumsfeld, memoranda of October 28, 1974, to the directors of Executive Office agencies and to the White House Office, Vice President's Office and Domestic Council, "Standards of Conduct/Confidential Statement of Employment and Financial Interests," with Philip W. Buchen memorandum of the same date, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80M01009A003100020030-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m01009a003100020030-8
[^7]: W. E. Colby to Donald H. Rumsfeld, July 1975 (date stamp "JUL 1975"; refers to a conversation of July 17), CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP89-01114R000100050055-1, https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP89-01114R000100050055-1
[^8]: John Prados and Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi, eds., "Gerald Ford White House Altered Rockefeller Commission Report in 1975; Removed Section on CIA Assassination Plots," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 543, February 29, 2016, introduction and Documents 4 and 19 (Ford Library, Richard Cheney Files, Intelligence Series, Box 7), https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB543-Ford-White-House-Altered-Rockefeller-Commission-Report/
[^9]: George A. Carver Jr., Deputy for National Intelligence Officers, memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, "Intelligence Support for General Haig," December 5, 1975, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91M00696R000500010003-8, https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP91M00696R000500010003-8
[^10]: George Bush, Director of Central Intelligence, to Donald H. Rumsfeld, October 18, 1976, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP79-00498A000600090009-7 (portions redacted), https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp79-00498a000600090009-7
[^11]: Donald H. Rumsfeld to George Bush, January 24, 1977, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100012-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m00165a001800100012-2
[^12]: Gregory Gordon, "Part 3: Sweet corporate victories," United Press International, October 1987, reprinted in S. Hrg. 100-567, pp. 504-509, https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152617_0380
[^13]: Gregory Gordon, "Part 2: NutraSweet approval marred by controversy," United Press International, October 1987, reprinted in "NutraSweet: Health and Safety Concerns," hearing before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, November 3, 1987, S. Hrg. 100-567, pp. 495-500, https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152617_0380
[^14]: U.S. General Accounting Office, "Food and Drug Administration: Food Additive Approval Process Followed for Aspartame," GAO/HRD-87-46, June 18, 1987, B-223552, Executive Summary, pp. 2-4, and chapter 6, p. 58, https://www.gao.gov/assets/hrd-87-46.pdf
[^15]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A itemized receipts, API query for contributor name "Rumsfeld, Donald," two-year periods 1980 to 2000, run October 1, 2026 (committees include SEARLE PAC / G D SEARLE & CO POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, REAGAN FOR PRESIDENT, REAGAN-BUSH '84, HAIG FOR PRESIDENT, GEORGE BUSH FOR PRESIDENT, JACK KEMP FOR PRESIDENT, DOLE FOR PRESIDENT COMMITTEE, GENERAL INSTRUMENT CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (GIPAC), NATIONAL CABLE TELEVISION ASSOCIATION'S POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, RNC REPUBLICAN NATIONAL STATE ELECTIONS COMMITTEE, BUSH FOR PRESIDENT INC, BILL BRADLEY FOR PRESIDENT INC), https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/. The 1979 to 1984 entries give Skokie or Winnetka and employer G D Searle; the 1995 to 2000 RNC entries give "Honorable" and Chicago.
[^16]: Donald Rumsfeld to William Casey, March 25, 1983, with Casey's memorandum for ODDCI of August 13, 1983, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP88B00443R001404080022-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88b00443r001404080022-4
[^17]: Department of State cable State 346516, Dam to USINT Baghdad, "Rumsfeld Visit to Iraq," December 7, 1983, secret, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82, Document 27, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq27.pdf
[^18]: U.S. Embassy London to Department of State, London 27572, "Rumsfeld Mission: December 20 Meeting with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein," December 21, 1983, secret, paragraphs 2 and 3 (capitalization normalized in quotation), National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 31, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq31.pdf
[^19]: Joyce Battle, ed., "Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82, February 25, 2003, introduction, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/index.htm
[^20]: U.S. Embassy London to Department of State, London 27592, NODIS, "From Rumsfeld," "Rumsfeld One-on-One Meeting with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister," December 21, 1983, secret, sections 1 to 3, paragraphs 7 and 15 (capitalization normalized; passage before paragraph 15's quoted sentence withheld B1), National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 32, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq32.pdf
[^21]: Richard W. Murphy to Lawrence S. Eagleburger, action memorandum, "EXIM Bank Financing for Iraq," December 22, 1983, approved December 24, 1983, with Eagleburger to William H. Draper III, December 24, 1983, National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 33, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq33.pdf
[^22]: Export-Import Bank of the United States, memorandum to the Board of Directors, Africa and Middle East Division, "Country review and recommendations for Eximbank's programs," February 21, 1984, with "Appendix I: Iraq," National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 40, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq40.pdf
[^23]: Department of State cable State 086663, Shultz to Embassy Khartoum, "EXDIS, for Rumsfeld party," "Briefing Notes for Rumsfeld Visit to Baghdad," March 24, 1984, secret, paragraphs 2 and 5 (capitalization normalized), National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 48, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq48.pdf
[^24]: Declaration of Howard Teicher, United States v. Carlos Cardoen et al., U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Case No. 93-241-CR-HIGHSMITH, executed January 31, 1995, paragraphs 6 and 10, National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 61, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq61.pdf
[^25]: Gilead Sciences, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed April 2, 1997, accession 0000912057-97-011761, nominee biographies, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/882095/0000912057-97-011761.txt
[^26]: Gilead Sciences, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed April 16, 1998, accession 0001047469-98-015263, beneficial ownership table, note 6, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/882095/0001047469-98-015263.txt
[^27]: Gilead Sciences, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed April 18, 2000, accession 0000912057-00-018482, beneficial ownership table, note 5, and "Certain Transactions" (PharmaResearch Corporation), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/882095/0000912057-00-018482.txt
[^28]: Gilead Sciences, Inc., Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2005, filed March 3, 2006, Item 1 (Roche, September 1996), Item 6 note 1 ($80.7 million) and Item 7 (royalty revenue), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/882095/000119312506045128/d10k.htm
[^29]: Gilead Sciences, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed April 11, 2001, accession 0000912057-01-508145, election of directors and biography of James M. Denny, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/882095/000091205701508145/a2042936zdef14a.txt
[^30]: Jacob Greber, "Rumsfeld was on ABB board during deal with North Korea," swissinfo, February 24, 2003, https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-politics/rumsfeld-was-on-abb-board-during-deal-with-north-korea/3176922
[^31]: "Report of the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States: Executive Summary," July 15, 1998, pursuant to Public Law 201, 104th Congress, list of members and nominating authorities, https://irp.fas.org/threat/missile/rumsfeld/index.html
[^32]: S. Hrg. 107-749, Rumsfeld's answers to advance policy questions, "Iraqi opposition," https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg75903/html/CHRG-107shrg75903.htm
[^33]: Donald H. Rumsfeld, "DOD Acquisition and Logistics Excellence Week Kickoff, Bureaucracy to Battlefield," remarks as delivered, the Pentagon, September 10, 2001, Department of Defense transcript as reproduced at https://agovernmentofthepeople.com/2001/09/10/donald-rumsfeld-speech-about-bureaucratic-waste/ (the defense.gov original was not reachable).
[^34]: Stephen Cambone, handwritten notes of Rumsfeld's comments, September 11, 2001, 2:40 p.m., obtained under FOIA by Thad Anderson, with Joyce Battle's description, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 326, "The Iraq War, Part I: The U.S. Prepares for Conflict, 2001," September 22, 2010, Document 7, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB326/doc07.pdf
[^35]: Department of Defense, notes from Donald Rumsfeld, [Iraq war planning], November 27, 2001, annotated, pp. 1-3, National Security Archive EBB No. 326, Document 8, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB326/doc08.pdf
[^36]: U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, "Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody," Executive Summary and Conclusions, released December 11, 2008, pp. xix-xxi (Haynes memorandum, December 2, 2002 note, Mora, January 15, 2003 rescission, Slahi plan) and pp. xxviii-xxix (conclusions 12, 13 and 19), https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/torturingdemocracy/documents/20081211.pdf
[^37]: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006), No. 05-184, decided June 29, 2006, syllabus, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/05-184.ZS.html
[^38]: ProPublica, Nonprofit Explorer, Rumsfeld Foundation, EIN 26-0580915, organization API record and Form 990-PF data for tax years 2011, 2012 and 2023, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/260580915.json

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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- CIA
- U2Incident
- ColdWar
- Lockheed
- PrisonerExchange
- Dimona
alias:
- Francis Gary Powers
- Gary Francis Powers
- Gary Powers
- Francis G. Powers
summary: "American Central Intelligence Agency U-2 pilot shot down near Sverdlovsk on May 1, 1960, tried in Moscow, exchanged for Rudolf Abel in 1962, and killed in a 1977 television helicopter crash."
born: 1929-08-17
died: 1977-08-01
location: "Letcher County, Kentucky (born); Pound, Virginia (raised)"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
role: "U-2 pilot"
start: 1956-05
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Lockheed]]"
role: "U-2 test pilot"
end: 1969-09
fn: 20
- type: employed_by
with: "[[KNBC]]"
role: "helicopter pilot and reporter"
end: 1977-08-01
fn: 27
- type: participant_in
with: "[[U-2 Incident]]"
role: "pilot"
start: 1960-05-01
fn: 5
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Roman Rudenko]]"
reverse: true
role: "State Prosecutor"
start: 1960-08-17
end: 1960-08-19
fn: 8
- type: represented
with: "[[M. I. Grinev]]"
reverse: true
role: "defence counsel"
start: 1960-08-17
end: 1960-08-19
fn: 8
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Powers-Abel exchange]]"
role: "exchanged prisoner"
start: 1962-02-10
fn: 11
- type: investigated
with: "[[E. Barrett Prettyman]]"
reverse: true
role: "chairman, CIA Board of Inquiry"
fn: 14
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Francis Gary Powers Jr.]]"
role: "father"
fn: 17
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot whose [[U-2 Spy Plane]] was shot down over the [[Soviet Union]] on May 1, 1960, leading to a major international incident. [[Seymour Hersh]] wrote that Powers and his colleagues continued intermittently to overfly the [[Middle East]], and were steadily back at work in the area in 1958, when the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s photo interpreters began seeing significant activity at an Israeli Air Force practice bombing range south of [[Beersheba]], which turned out to be the early signs of the [[Dimona]] nuclear reactor.[^1]
### Recruitment and the U-2 program
Powers was born on August 17, 1929, in Letcher County, [[Kentucky]], the son of a coal-industry mortarman, and attended [[Milligan College]] in Tennessee from 1947 to 1950.[^2] He told the [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services|Senate Committee on Armed Services]] in 1962 that he spent most of his life near Pound and Grundy, [[Virginia]], worked one summer as a lifeguard, joined the [[United States Air Force]] in October of the year he left college, and was first employed by the CIA in May 1956 with "well over a thousand hours" of flying time, a little better than 500 of them in the U-2.[^3] The pilots of the program were hired on civilian contracts. According to the statement the CIA placed in the Senate record, the contracts required them to perform such services as might be required and to follow the instructions and briefings given by their superiors, and the written guidance for capture was to "surrender without resistance and adopt a cooperative attitude toward their captors," to admit previous Air Force affiliation and current CIA employment, and to make no attempt to deny the nature of the mission.[^4]
### The flight of May 1, 1960
The flight that became the [[U-2 Incident]] began when Powers took off from [[Peshawar]], [[Pakistan]], at 0159 Zulu on May 1, 1960, in a U-2C, on a route planned to run over [[Tyuratam]], [[Chelyabinsk]], [[Sverdlovsk]], [[Kirov]], [[Plesetsk]], [[Severodvinsk]] and [[Murmansk]] and to end on the northwest coast of Norway.[^4][^5] Soviet radar began tracking the aircraft 15 miles south of the Soviet-Afghan border and that an SA-2 surface-to-air missile detonated close to and just behind it at 70,500 feet over the Sverdlovsk area, four and a half hours into the mission.[^5] In his Senate testimony Powers described an explosion he took to be behind him and external to the aircraft, an orange glare, a nose-down spin in which he believed both wings came off, a canopy released by hand, and an oxygen hose that tore free as he was pulled out over the cowling; he said he had no written instructions with him and tore his map into small pieces during the parachute descent.[^6]
The CIA's standard cover story for U-2 flights, approved by the President in 1956, was that they were weather flights of the [[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration]]. On May 3 NASA issued a statement about a missing high-altitude weather plane whose pilot had reported oxygen difficulties. [[Nikita Khrushchev]] announced the downing of a "spyplane" near Sverdlovsk to the [[Supreme Soviet]] on May 5 without mentioning the pilot, and on May 7 announced that the pilot was alive and had admitted the mission. [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] assumed responsibility for the flight at a press statement on May 11. The [[1960 Paris Summit]] opened on May 16 with a protest and a demand for an apology from Khrushchev. NASA withdrew its support of the cover story during the summer, and the U-2 effort was given the new project name IDEALIST.[^5]
### Interrogation and trial in Moscow
Powers was held at the [[Lubyanka Prison]] in [[Moscow]]. In a debriefing transcript of February 20, 1962, marked TOP SECRET, he told CIA interviewers that the first interrogation there, on May 1, had been presided over by [[Roman Rudenko]] in a room of 15 or 20 people and lasted about an hour or an hour and a quarter; that his main interrogators were Kuzmin and Vasilyev, with Rodochev as interpreter; that a second interrogation on May 2 was left out of the English volumes of evidence at the trial; and that when the CIA debriefer asked whether a senior official present on May 2 was [[Aleksandr Shelepin]] he answered, "I'm almost positive."[^7] The CIA's statement of 1962 described about 100 days of solitary confinement before trial and interrogation of 10 to 12 hours a day at times.[^4]
The trial took place from August 17 to August 19, 1960, before the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR under Presiding Judge V. V. Borisoglebsky, with the assessors D. Z. Vorobyov and A. I. Zakharov. The State Prosecutor was R. A. Rudenko, the Procurator-General. Powers' counsel was [[M. I. Grinev]] of the Moscow City Bar Association. Four witnesses were called by the court. The sentence was ten years' confinement, the first three in prison.[^8] On the advice of his Soviet defense counsel he said he was sorry for his actions, and the CIA's statement of 1962 described the conduct at trial as consistent with the guidance he had received.[^4][^5]
### Contract pay during imprisonment
On December 16, 1960, [[Richard Bissell]], then Deputy Director for Plans, sent the [[Allen Dulles|Director of Central Intelligence]] a memorandum titled "Pay to Mr. Francis G. Powers." It recalled that the Director had taken the position, with Bissell's concurrence, that the public answer to questions should be that Powers, "while in prison in Russia," was receiving "no more and no less than he is entitled to by the terms of his contract," and that this should be the policy and not only the public position. Bissell attached a paper from [[James A. Cunningham]] on the status of the matter.[^9]
### The exchange for Abel
[[Rudolf Abel]] had been convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage and sentenced to thirty years. On March 28, 1960, five weeks before the shootdown, the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] affirmed the conviction 5 to 4 in Abel v. [[United States]] (362 U.S. 217), with [[James B. Donovan]] arguing for the petitioner.[^10] Confidential negotiations during the 18 months after the trial were conducted by Abel's court-appointed counsel Donovan, who corresponded with Abel's "wife" in [[East Germany]]; Acting Director [[Pearre Cabell]] wrote to Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] in November 1961 supporting a trade; and the [[Powers-Abel exchange|exchange]] took place on February 10, 1962, on the [[Glienicke Bridge]], with the American graduate student [[Frederic Pryor]] released at another location.[^11] The CIA's 2020 account of the exchange, published on its website, states that Powers' father had proposed the swap to Abel in prison a month after the capture and that the CIA lawyer [[Milan Miskovsky]] worked with Donovan to negotiate it.[^12]
A memorandum for the record by the CIA's Legislative Counsel [[John S. Warner]] dated February 12, 1962, records that on February 5 he told the chief counsel of the [[House Armed Services Committee]], [[Robert Smart]], and the Senate Armed Services Committee staff member [[William Darden]] that negotiations were under way, that "the release of Abel had been approved at the highest level if the Soviets would release Powers," and that "anything else was simply bonus." Warner told them on February 9 that the exchange would probably occur over the weekend. Smart was asked to inform Representative [[Carl Vinson]] and Darden told Senator [[Richard Russell]].[^13]
### Debriefing and the Prettyman Board
After the return the CIA reconvened the Damage Assessment Team that had met for two months in the summer of 1960. In 1960 the team had concluded that Powers' knowledge was extensive and that he had probably revealed most of it. After two weeks of debriefing in February 1962 it found the damage much less than estimated.[^11] Dulles, who had left the directorship in November 1961, told Powers "We are proud of what you have done." The new Director, [[John McCone]], appointed a Board of Inquiry.[^11]
The General Counsel, [[Lawrence Houston]], proposed the terms in a February 1962 memorandum to the Director. He wrote that the [[Department of Justice]] favored a retired federal judge as chairman, that the first choice was [[E. Barrett Prettyman]] and the second [[Harold R. Medina]], that he recommended Lieutenant General [[Harold R. Bull]] (retired) and [[John A. Bross]] as members, that no Air Force officer should sit in view of the efforts to disassociate the Air Force from the U-2 project, and that he himself would be counsel to the Board. The question put to the Board was whether Powers acted in accordance with the terms of his employment, his instructions and briefings, and his obligations as an American citizen from the start of the mission until his release.[^14] In the Board's hearing of February 22, Houston examined witnesses and entered as Exhibit 17 a cable of February 21 from [[Kelly Johnson]] of [[Lockheed]], who had spoken with Powers about the flight.[^15]
The Board reported on February 27, 1962, that Powers had acted in accordance with his instructions and obligations and recommended that he receive his back pay. The findings rested on the testimony of debriefing experts, a review of his background by doctors, psychiatrists, former Air Force colleagues and his commander at Adana, his own testimony, a polygraph examination he had volunteered to undergo, and analysis by Kelly Johnson of photographs of the wreckage. McCone remained skeptical and had the Air Force convene its own panel, which supported Johnson. He then relied on a report of the [[National Security Agency]] suggesting that Powers had descended to a lower altitude and turned back toward Sverdlovsk before being hit, and ordered the Board to reconvene on March 1. It adhered to its findings.[^11] On March 7, 1962, the [[NSA]] Deputy Director, [[Louis W. Tordella]], told Houston that he wished to place on the record that, contrary to Bross's statement in the transcript, it had not taken questioning and cross-examination to bring out the evidence contradicting the account, and that Bross's description of the NSA briefing as "very vehemently and very positively" presented was not accepted; Houston recorded the points to be filed with the transcript.[^16] [[David A. Foy]], reviewing a 2019 book by Powers' son in Studies in Intelligence, wrote that the Board authorized $52,500 in back pay.[^17]
### The Senate hearing of March 6, 1962
On March 6, 1962, at 2 p.m. in room 318 of the Old Senate Office Building, Powers testified in open session before the Senate Committee on Armed Services, accompanied by Houston. Present were Senators Russell (chairman), [[Harry F. Byrd]] of Virginia, [[John Stennis]], [[Stuart Symington]], [[Henry M. Jackson]], [[Sam Ervin]], [[Strom Thurmond]], [[Robert C. Byrd]], [[Leverett Saltonstall]], [[Margaret Chase Smith]], [[Francis Case]], [[Prescott Bush]], [[J. Glenn Beall]] and [[Barry Goldwater]]. Russell said the committee had extended the invitation through the CIA and that the hearing was in "the interest of fair play for Mr. Powers." Saltonstall told Powers: "I commend you as a courageous, fine young American citizen who lived up to your instructions."[^6] The printed record closes with the CIA's statement, which says the poison needle was intended primarily for torture or similar circumstances, that there were "no instructions that he should commit suicide," that the Board of Inquiry's conclusion was accepted by the Director, and that "the amount due Mr. Powers under the terms of his contract will be paid to him."[^4]
The [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] also held brief hearings the same day with McCone representing the agency, and Senator [[John J. Williams]] asked McCone whether Powers was "being left with just a little bit of a cloud hanging over him."[^11]
### Book, employment and settlement
On June 25, 1962, a meeting in the Director's office concluded that a book by Powers on his experiences "would be undesirable, would be harmful to Powers and not in the best interests of the Agency." The CIA memorandum of June 27, 1962, signed by [[Lyman Kirkpatrick]], directed that if Powers raised the issue again he be told he would "most likely come out second best," and noted that "one of the arguments that has been constantly advanced for the high pay of the U-2 pilots has been that they would not have an opportunity for personal gain through writings."[^18] A later memorandum of the Acting Assistant Director for Special Activities, James A. Cunningham, recorded that Powers, "a special contract employee," had sought approval to publish after a certain stage in his debriefing, that he was told the Agency would interpose no objection if the work was submitted for clearance before publication and was given a list of Agency-cleared attorneys, that the Director later decided a book would be unwise, and that Powers, dissuaded, had incurred $1,022.28 in legal fees. The memorandum recommended reimbursement; Houston concurred on October 2, 1962, and the approval by [[Marshall S. Carter]] carries a stamp of November 13.[^19]
The Air Force agreed on April 4, 1962, to reinstate Powers effective July 1, and postponed the reinstatement after divorce proceedings began. Powers meanwhile began working for Lockheed as a U-2 pilot and in March 1963 told Colonel [[Leo P. Geary]] that he would stay.[^20] On April 19, 1963, Kelly Johnson cabled the CIA to confirm approval of Powers for flying U-2 aircraft under Lockheed's contracts except those in support of Project [[OXCART]], and on April 25 the Agency replied that approval was "hereby given" under the various U-2 contracts except those involving OXCART.[^21] In the same month McCone awarded the Intelligence Star to all the U-2 pilots except Powers. Powers received it from Deputy Director Carter on April 25, 1965, two days before McCone's resignation took effect; the award was dated 1963 on the back.[^20]
On August 9, 1967, a CIA Office of Special Activities memorandum recorded that Powers would visit headquarters to discuss two subjects: the possibility of employment with the Agency, and whether he could be given approval to write a book about his May 1 experiences.[^22] Powers remained at Lockheed until U-2 testing ceased in September 1969. [[Michael Beschloss]] claimed that Lockheed fired Powers for criticizing the Agency in his memoirs, which he had shown to the Agency in draft; the CIA history quotes Kelly Johnson's "U-2R Log" for September 25, 1969: "We have no flight test activity at all must let Gary Powers go. Have protected him for about seven years, but he doesn't have an ATR (Air Transport Rating), so we have no other job for him, not even flying the Beechcraft."[^20] Powers published Operation Overflight, written with [[Curt Gentry]] and published by [[Holt, Rinehart and Winston]], in 1970; a [[Los Angeles Times]] review of May 12, 1970, found in the CIA's files said the Air Force had reneged on a promise to reinstate him with credit for his time as a U-2 pilot.[^23]
A CIA Office of General Counsel memorandum of October 19, 1971, by Houston, titled "Settlement for Francis Gary Powers," states that Powers had retained an attorney who wrote to the President on August 31, 1971, seeking Air Force credit for his time with the Agency and reinstatement, which in another eight years would have entitled him to a 20-year retirement. It states that the Air Force could not restore him to active duty and that a proposal approved by Secretary of the Air Force [[Robert Seamans]] and Secretary of Defense [[Melvin Laird]] would offer him up to $250,000 in lieu of all claims, placed in a trust with a corporate trustee. It continues: "The mechanics of the movement of money and arrangements for the trust will be accomplished by the Agency so that there will be no traceable record back to the Government." The Air Force offered the Agency the chance to supply up to half of the funds; [[Carl Duckett]] had argued for participation; the Director had approved up to $125,000; and the memorandum requested an advance of $250,000 to John S. Warner so that a settlement could be completed in [[Los Angeles]] on October 26 and 27. The recommendation carries the approval of the Acting Executive Director-Comptroller; the date is not legible in the copy.[^24]
On October 31, 1972, [[John Parangosky]], Chief of the Special Projects Staff, answered a memorandum of October 27 reporting that Powers, speaking at an open forum at California State University, Northridge, had said he was laid off at Lockheed two weeks after submitting his book to the CIA for review and, asked whether he meant the CIA had pressured Lockheed, had answered "Yes, I do, but you can draw your own conclusions from those facts." Parangosky wrote: "For your information this is a lot of bologna. The record is replete with Agency help proffered Powers and Lockheed's desire to help him. In fact, after Lockheed felt it could no longer support Powers, the Agency funded an extension to enable Powers to alleviate his own situation."[^25] Foy wrote that Powers and his son, [[Francis Gary Powers Jr.]], believed the Lockheed dismissal was done at the CIA's behest.[^17]
### Death and burial
Powers became a traffic reporter for a Los Angeles radio station and then flew a helicopter for a television station.[^20] On August 1, 1977, the [[KNBC]] "Telecopter," a Bell 206B JetRanger registered N4TV, crashed in the Sepulveda Basin in [[Van Nuys, California|Van Nuys]], California, killing Powers and the cameraman George R. Spears. A reconstruction of the accident published by the aviation history site This Day in Aviation states that Powers had reported low fuel to the Van Nuys tower, that the engine stopped from fuel starvation, and that the National Transportation Safety Board record, docket LAX77FA060, lists as probable cause improper in-flight decisions and fuel mismanagement; the same page reports that a [[Freedom of Information Act]] request for the NTSB report was answered with a statement that 1977 accident records had been destroyed.[^26] A CIA web feature attributes the crash to a faulty fuel gauge.[^27]
On August 6, 1977, John F. Blake, Acting Deputy [[Director of Central Intelligence]], wrote to the Director that Representative [[Robert Dornan]] of California had telephoned on August 3 with "a rather impassionate plea for assistance for the interment of Gary Powers in Arlington," that Blake had asked [[Frank Moore]]'s office at the [[White House]] and the Under Secretary of the Army to associate the Agency with the request, and that he had told the Under Secretary that Powers held the CIA Intelligence Star, "the counterpart to the military 'Silver Star.'"[^28] Powers is buried at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].[^17]
The Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded posthumously on November 24, 1986. On February 15, 2000, after review at the request of his son, the Air Force retroactively promoted Powers to captain, credited the period of his CIA service and authorized the Prisoner of War Medal. [[George Tenet]] awarded him the CIA Director's Medal in 2000, and the Silver Star was awarded on June 15, 2012.[^26][^27]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 4.
[^2]: "1 August 1977," This Day in Aviation (Bryan R. Swopes), tag page "NTSB LAX 77FA060," biography section. https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/ntsb-lax-77fa060/
[^3]: *Francis Gary Powers: Hearing Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, Eighty-Seventh Congress, Second Session, March 6, 1962*. Government Printing Office, 1962, p. 2 (copy in CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP83-00764R000500100023-2). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00764r000500100023-2
[^4]: "Statement Concerning Francis Gary Powers," printed in *Francis Gary Powers: Hearing Before the Committee on Armed Services*, March 6, 1962, pp. 23 to 26 (CIA-RDP83-00764R000500100023-2). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00764r000500100023-2 A separate copy is CIA-RDP67-00318R000100190001-7.
[^5]: Pedlow, Gregory W., and Donald E. Welzenbach. *The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954 to 1974*. CIA History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1998, chapter 4, pp. 176 to 182 and 185 to 187. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-and-U2-Program.pdf (scanned pages read with optical character recognition).
[^6]: *Francis Gary Powers: Hearing Before the Committee on Armed Services*, March 6, 1962, pp. 1 to 5 and the exchange with Senator Saltonstall (CIA-RDP83-00764R000500100023-2). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00764r000500100023-2
[^7]: "Debriefing of Francis Gary Powers #16," February 20, 1962, 1133 hours, TOP SECRET, CIA-RDP80B01676R002200060004-0, pp. 1 to 6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r002200060004-0
[^8]: *The Powers' Case: Material of the Court Hearings in the Criminal Case of the American Spy-Pilot Francis Gary Powers, Moscow, August 17 to 19, 1960*. Soviet Booklet No. 76, London, September 1960, pp. 7, 25 to 40, 86. https://archive.org/details/powerscasemateri76powe
[^9]: Richard M. Bissell Jr., Deputy Director (Plans), Memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Pay to Mr. Francis G. Powers," December 16, 1960, CIA-RDP62B00844R000200150001-6 (second copy CIA-RDP62B00844R000200160001-5). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp62b00844r000200150001-6
[^10]: *Abel v. United States*, 362 U.S. 217 (1960), decided March 28, 1960, opinion by Justice Frankfurter. https://openjurist.org/362/us/217
[^11]: Pedlow and Welzenbach, *The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954 to 1974*, chapter 4, pp. 183 to 185 ("The Fate of Francis Gary Powers"), citing the Board of Inquiry records and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee executive session of March 6, 1962 (declassified 1982). https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-and-U2-Program.pdf
[^12]: "May Day Over Moscow: The Francis Gary Powers Story." Central Intelligence Agency, April 29, 2020. https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/may-day-over-moscow-the-francis-gary-powers-story/
[^13]: John S. Warner, Legislative Counsel, Memorandum for the Record, "Passage of Information with Respect to the Powers/Abel Exchange," OGC 62-0271, February 12, 1962, CIA-RDP64B00346R000100170064-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp64b00346r000100170064-7 (second copy CIA-RDP64B00346R000100140013-6).
[^14]: Lawrence R. Houston, General Counsel, Memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Board of Inquiry for Francis Gary Powers and Terms of Reference," OGC 62-0274, February 1962, CIA-RDP80B01676R002200020012-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r002200020012-5
[^15]: Board of Inquiry, Francis Gary Powers, transcript excerpts of February 22, 1962, TOP SECRET, CIA-RDP80B01676R002200080007-5. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP80B01676R002200080007-5
[^16]: Lawrence R. Houston, Memorandum for the Record, "Board of Inquiry, Francis Gary Powers," March 7, 1962 (conversation with Louis W. Tordella, Deputy Director, National Security Agency), TOP SECRET, CIA-RDP80B01676R002200070001-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r002200070001-2
[^17]: Foy, David A. Review of Francis Gary Powers Jr. and Keith Dunnavant, *Spy Pilot: Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy* (Prometheus Books, 2019). *Studies in Intelligence* 63, no. 2 (extracts, June 2019), pp. 41 to 43. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Spy-Pilot.pdf
[^18]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, memorandum "Writings by Francis Gary Powers," June 27, 1962, CIA-RDP75-00001R000400130015-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00001r000400130015-4
[^19]: James A. Cunningham Jr., Acting Assistant Director (Special Activities), Memorandum for the Acting Director of Central Intelligence, "Reimbursement for Legal Services Incurred by Francis Gary Powers," SA-0860-62, with concurrence of Lawrence R. Houston dated October 2, 1962 and approval by Marshall S. Carter, CIA-RDP80B01676R003100040001-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003100040001-5
[^20]: Pedlow and Welzenbach, *The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954 to 1974*, chapter 4, pp. 185 to 187 and footnote on p. 187. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-and-U2-Program.pdf
[^21]: Cable from Kelly Johnson of Lockheed received April 19, 1963, and reply of April 25, 1963, concerning approval of Francis Gary Powers to fly U-2 aircraft, SECRET, CIA-RDP89B00739R000300110131-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp89b00739r000300110131-3
[^22]: John Parangosky, Deputy Director of Special Activities, Memorandum for the Record, "Visit of Gary Francis Powers to Headquarters," OSA-2981-67, August 9, 1967, CIA-RDP70B00501R000100040021-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp70b00501r000100040021-8
[^23]: Kirsch, Robert. "The Book Report" (review of Francis Gary Powers with Curt Gentry, *Operation Overflight*, Holt, Rinehart and Winston), *Los Angeles Times*, May 12, 1970, copy in CIA-RDP88-01350R000200190013-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01350r000200190013-0
[^24]: Lawrence R. Houston, General Counsel, Memorandum for the Acting Executive Director-Comptroller, "Settlement for Francis Gary Powers," OGC 71-1526, October 19, 1971, SECRET, CIA document C03072202. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-03072202
[^25]: John Parangosky, Chief, Special Projects Staff, Memorandum for DC/SMS/DDS&T, "POWERS, Gary Francis," SPS-0918/72, October 31, 1972, with DDS&T 3066/72 of October 27, 1972, CIA document C03069466. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-03069466
[^26]: "1 August 1977," This Day in Aviation, tag page "NTSB LAX 77FA060," including the update on the Freedom of Information Act response. https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/ntsb-lax-77fa060/
[^27]: "May Day Over Moscow: The Francis Gary Powers Story." Central Intelligence Agency, April 29, 2020. https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/may-day-over-moscow-the-francis-gary-powers-story/
[^28]: John F. Blake, Acting Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, Note for the Director of Central Intelligence, August 6, 1977, CIA-RDP80M00165A002600120017-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m00165a002600120017-6

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---
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
tags:
- Person
- Nuclear
- Israel
summary: "Gary Francis Powers was an American pilot whose U-2 Spy Plane was shot down over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960, leading to a major international incident."
born: 1929-08-17
died: 1977-08-01
location: "Jenkins, Kentucky, USA"
---
Gary Francis Powers was an American pilot whose [[U-2 Spy Plane]] was shot down over the [[Soviet Union]] on May 1, 1960, leading to a major international incident. Powers and his colleagues continued intermittently to overfly the [[Middle East]], and were steadily back at work in the area in 1958, when the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s photo interpreters began seeing significant activity at an Israeli Air Force practice bombing range south of [[Beersheba]], which turned out to be the early signs of the [[Dimona]] nuclear reactor.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 4.

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---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- Rockefeller
- StandardOil
- Philanthropy
- ColoradoFuelAndIron
- Ludlow
- IvyLee
- RockefellerFoundation
- BureauOfSocialHygiene
- ChaseNationalBank
- JacksonHole
alias:
- John D. Rockefeller Jr.
- John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
- John D. Rockefeller Junior
- John Davison Rockefeller Jr.
- John Davison Rockefeller, Jr.
- JDR Jr.
summary: "Son of the Standard Oil founder, Colorado Fuel and Iron director during the 1913 to 1914 strike, Rockefeller Foundation chairman, and largest Chase National Bank stockholder who financed Jackson Hole and the United Nations site."
born: 1874-01-29
died: 1960-05-11
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: relative_of
with: "[[John D. Rockefeller Sr.]]"
role: "son"
fn: 1
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Abby Aldrich Rockefeller]]"
start: 1901-10-09
end: 1948
role: "husband"
fn: 1
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Martha Baird Rockefeller]]"
start: 1951-08-15
role: "husband"
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Laurance Rockefeller]]"
role: "father"
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Nelson Rockefeller]]"
role: "father"
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[David Rockefeller]]"
role: "father"
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Winthrop W. Aldrich]]"
role: "brother-in-law"
fn: 20
- type: director_of
with: "[[Colorado Fuel and Iron Company]]"
role: "director, one of three representatives of his father's holdings"
fn: 3
- type: participant_in
with: "[[House Committee on Mines and Mining]]"
start: 1914-04-06
role: "witness"
fn: 3
- type: represented
with: "[[Ivy Lee]]"
reverse: true
role: "publicity adviser to the Rockefeller office"
fn: 9
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Commission on Industrial Relations]]"
start: 1915-01-25
role: "witness"
fn: 7
- type: head_of
with: "[[Rockefeller Foundation]]"
role: "president in 1914, chairman of the board of trustees in 1928 and 1936"
fn: 12
- type: founded
with: "[[Bureau of Social Hygiene]]"
role: "established the Bureau after the 1910 grand jury"
fn: 1
- type: appointed
with: "[[Raymond B. Fosdick]]"
role: "head of the reorganized Bureau of Social Hygiene"
fn: 16
- type: founded
with: "[[International Education Board]]"
start: 1923
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]]"
role: "gave a total of 58.9 million dollars"
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[Chase Manhattan Bank|Chase National Bank]]"
start: 1930
role: "largest stockholder after the Equitable Trust exchange"
fn: 21
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Standard Oil of Indiana proxy contest of 1929]]"
start: 1929
role: "minority stockholder seeking the removal of Robert W. Stewart"
fn: 17
- type: founded
with: "[[Snake River Land Company]]"
role: "created it as purchasing agent for Jackson Hole land"
fn: 23
- type: funded
with: "[[Colonial Williamsburg]]"
start: 1926
role: "restoration, 56 million dollars"
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[United Nations]]"
start: 1946-12
role: "8.5 million dollars for the East River site"
fn: 1
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874, in [[Cleveland]], to May 11, 1960, in [[Tucson]]) was the son of [[John D. Rockefeller Sr.]], founder of [[Standard Oil]], and [[Laura Spelman Rockefeller]]. He graduated from [[Brown University]] in 1897, married [[Abby Aldrich Rockefeller]] (daughter of Senator [[Nelson W. Aldrich]] of [[Rhode Island]]) on October 9, 1901, and, three years after her death in 1948, married [[Martha Baird Rockefeller|Martha Baird Allen]] on August 15, 1951.[^1] Estimates of his net worth were 995 million dollars in 1928, 379.6 million in 1938 and 336.5 million in 1950. His children were Abby, [[John D. Rockefeller III]], [[Nelson Rockefeller]], [[Laurance Rockefeller]], [[Winthrop Rockefeller]] and [[David Rockefeller]]; five sons established the [[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]] in 1940, and he gave it 58.9 million dollars.[^1] His first employment was in his father's office at 26 Broadway, where he worked with the Reverend [[Frederick T. Gates]].[^1]
### Colorado Fuel and Iron Company
The Rockefeller interest in the [[Colorado Fuel and Iron Company]] dated from 1902. In his written statement to the [[Commission on Industrial Relations]] in January 1915 he put the cash investment at about 6 million dollars, the dividends received on the stock since 1902 at 371,000 dollars (about two thirds of one percent a year), and the wages the company had paid in the same period at more than 92 million dollars.[^2] He added that the decision of the company's officers on recognizing the union "was reached without any consultation or communication with me," and that he had no knowledge of it until after the strike had been declared.[^2]
On April 6, 1914, he testified before a subcommittee of the [[House Committee on Mines and Mining]] (House Resolution 387, 63d Congress), where Representative [[Martin D. Foster]] of [[Illinois]] (the chairman), [[James F. Byrnes]], [[John M. Evans]] and [[Richard W. Austin]] questioned him, with [[Starr J. Murphy]] present beside him.[^3] He gave his father's holdings in the company as 139,807 of 342,355 common shares (about 40 percent), 7,943 of 20,000 preferred shares (about 40 percent), 14,450,000 dollars of the 33,437,000 dollars of Colorado Industrial Company first mortgage 5 percent bonds (about 43 percent) and 366,000 dollars of 5,638,000 dollars of the company's general mortgage 5 percent bonds. He said that he held only the shares that qualified him as a director, and that he was "one of my father's representatives in the care of this and other of his personal investments."[^3] The common stock had never paid a dividend "since our relationship to the company"; the preferred stock had paid 35 percent of its accumulated arrears and 4 percent of the current dividend in 1913.[^3]
He named three directors as his father's immediate representatives: himself, Murphy and "J. D. Green," who were on the staff of his father's personal office. [[Lamont M. Bowers]], chairman of the company's board, he described as one "who might be said indirectly to represent our interests," and [[J. H. McClement]] as an independent New York businessman who represented the other stockholders as much as [[Rockefeller family|the Rockefellers]].[^3] The index of the Commission's published record lists Bowers as "member advisory staff of John D. Rockefeller, sr."[^4] Asked by the chairman whether the three were "dummy" directors, he answered, "We have not usually felt ourselves that."[^3] The only annual meeting of stockholders he had attended was held in [[Denver]], he estimated, at least ten years earlier; he signed the minutes of directors' meetings when they were sent east, and he received his information on the strike from correspondence with Bowers and [[J. F. Welborn]], the company's president: "we invariably stand by those officers until we have reason to believe that we have been mistaken in our judgment regarding them."[^3] Later in the examination he told the chairman that he was a director of the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] "and, in fact, to be the chairman of that board," and, asked what steps he had taken to look after the conditions among the company's 10,000 employees in Colorado, answered that he had done "the very best thing that I could possibly have done in the interest of the employees, quite as much as in the interest of the large investment which I represent."[^3]
The chairman asked why the "killing of these people, the shooting of children" had not led him to communicate with the other directors. Rockefeller answered that the issue was a national one and that "we stand ready to lose every cent we put in that company rather than see the men we have employed thrown out of work." He continued: "There is just one thing, Mr. Chairman, so far as I understand it, which can be done, as things are at present, to settle this strike, and that is to unionize the camps; and our interest in labor is so profound and we believe so sincerely that that interest demands that the camps shall be open camps, that we expect to stand by the officers at any cost. It is not an accident that this is our position." The chairman asked, "And you will do that if it costs all your property and kills all your employees?" Rockefeller answered, "It is a great principle."[^3]
In the Commission's New York hearing in January 1915 he identified [[Jerome D. Greene]] as the other member (besides Murphy and himself) of his father's personal staff in 1914 and as a director of the company that year, one who "gave his time more to the foundation work" and so had less personal touch with the company than directors of longer standing. Greene was secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation.[^5]
### Ludlow and the Letters to Bowers
The tent colony of striking miners at [[Ludlow massacre|Ludlow]] was destroyed on April 20, 1914. In the Commission's hearings the counsel of the [[United Mine Workers of America]], [[Edward P. Costigan]], read from the report of three Colorado militia officers. The report stated that "practically all National Guards were enlisted about the middle of April among the superintendents and foremen, the clerical force, physicians, storekeepers, mine guards, and other residents of the coal camps," that Lieutenant [[K. E. Linderfelt]] broke the stock of his Springfield rifle over the head of the prisoner [[Louis Tikas]], and that two women and eleven children were found smothered.[^6]
In May 1915 Chairman [[Frank P. Walsh]] read to him letters from the autumn of 1913. Bowers had written on September 29 that several mines were "working from one-half to two-thirds capacity" and that, undisturbed, the company could keep its steel works running and "supply our railroad friends with coal." Asked who the railroad friends were and whether his father held [[Southern Pacific Railroad|Southern Pacific]] securities, Rockefeller answered "I don't know" to each question, and added that he thought the phrase referred only to the railroads with which the company did business.[^7] Walsh then read a letter of October 6 from Rockefeller to Bowers: "We feel that what you have done is right and fair, and that the position which you have taken in regard to the unionizing of the mines is in the interest of the employees of the company. Whatever the outcome may be, we will stand by you to the end." A letter of October 10 to Bowers said the company's "strong and just position will not lack backing at this end."[^7]
Walsh had read back to him in January 1915 the passage of his April 1914 testimony containing "we expect to stand by the officers at any cost" and "it is a great principle." Rockefeller answered that it concerned "the right of every man to determine for himself whether he should join the union or not."[^8] Asked whether his attention had ever been called to claims that the company's officers violated Colorado law, he said it had not; asked whether he would vote to discharge an officer persistently violating the law, he said, "If all the facts justified that belief, I should."[^8]
The strike was called off on December 10, 1914. On December 16 [[David Griffiths]], formerly the state coal mine inspector, was named an intermediary between the company and its employees, and on January 5, 1915 a notice invited the miners to elect one representative for every 250 employees to meet company officers in Denver.[^2]
### Ivy Lee
[[Ivy Lee]] testified before the Commission on May 22, 1915. Walsh read to him a letter from Rockefeller of June 10, 1914: "Several points in my memorandum, however, could well even more properly be used in the letter from Gov. Ammons to President Wilson, which you are proposing to prepare as soon as the major's memorandum reaches you." The governor was [[Elias M. Ammons]]; the major was [[Edward J. Boughton]] of the Colorado militia, whom Walsh described as the advocate general who presided over the military court at [[Trinidad, Colorado|Trinidad]] (Lee said he did not know that) and whom Lee first met in New York in mid-June. Lee said Greene, "of Mr. Rockefeller's office," had seen Boughton first and that the suggestion that the governor write to the President went to Boughton through Greene. Lee agreed with Walsh that Greene was then also a director of the company, and answered "Yes, sir" when Walsh said, "You took his place, I believe?"[^9] Lee wrote to Rockefeller on June 11 that the best course was to give the governor's letter "our attention," and on July 2 that he was preparing "a very brief statement of the case which will command public attention."[^9]
A [[New York Times]] clipping submitted to the Commission by [[Edward L. Doyle]], a witness for the miners, quoted a statement from the Rockefeller offices at 26 Broadway, issued December 7, 1914, that Greene "had withdrawn temporarily from his activities as a member of John D. Rockefeller's personal staff and that Ivy L. Lee, executive assistant to the president of the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]], would shortly take up his duties."[^10] Rockefeller told the Commission in January 1915 that Lee's membership of the staff and his salary began on January 1, 1915; that before then Lee had cooperated with the committee of three Colorado operators and with the company in presenting the facts, with the consent of the president of Lee's company, whom Rockefeller had seen; and that the staff consisted of Murphy, Lee and himself, of whom he alone drew no salary.[^8]
Walsh asked Lee whether John D. Rockefeller Sr. had paid him 6,000 dollars from private funds for work to January 1915. Lee answered that the whole expense of the publicity campaign "was repaid to me from Colorado" and that, on his information, the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company had paid the greater part of his salary up to January 1 on behalf of the other operators.[^9]
In 1934 Lee appeared before the [[McCormack-Dickstein Committee|Special Committee on Un-American Activities (the McCormack-Dickstein committee)]] on his retainer from the German dye trust, [[I. G. Farben|I. G. Farbenindustrie]]. In the House on February 27, 1935, Representative [[Samuel Dickstein]] said that Lee had told the committee he felt certain the information he supplied to the dye trust was reaching government officials, that Lee received 25,000 dollars a year for each year of the contract, and that Lee had left a son in Germany as his contact man at 33,000 dollars a year.[^11]
### The Rockefeller Foundation's Industrial Relations Division
The Rockefeller Foundation was incorporated by Chapter 488 of the New York Laws of 1913, which became law on May 14, 1913; the Act named as members John D. Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Gates, [[Harry Pratt Judson]], [[Simon Flexner]], Murphy, Greene, [[Wickliffe Rose]] and [[Charles O. Heydt]].[^12] The Foundation's own account to the Commission said that the Colorado disturbances "impressed the President of the Foundation with the great need and public importance of finding an effective means of preventing such conflicts and caused him to urge a far-reaching study of industrial relations." Its executive committee resolved on August 13, 1914 to appoint [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] to study industrial relations from October 1, 1914, at a salary the Foundation omitted from the published answer "as being information of a confidential nature." The arrangement had been made in conferences "principally" between King and the president and secretary, John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Greene.[^12] In his January 1915 statement Rockefeller said he had begun to secure King's services at the beginning of the previous June.[^2]
The same document stated that the Foundation "is, moreover, a large owner of corporate securities," and its Schedule D listed the securities contributed by John D. Rockefeller and held on December 1, 1914. The schedule included 2,000 Colorado Industrial Company convertible bonds (book value 1,600,000 dollars), 7,000 shares of [[Colorado and Southern Railway]] first preferred (378,000 dollars), 20,000 shares of the [[Consolidated Gas Company]] (2,600,000 dollars), 24,845 shares of the [[Southern Pipe Line Company]] (5,703,308.88 dollars), 7,000 shares of [[Continental Oil Company|Continental Oil]] (1,330,000 dollars) and 100 bonds of a Southern Pacific branch railway first issue. The total funds of the Foundation on that date were 103,930,817.19 dollars.[^12]
The Foundation's report for 1928 lists Rockefeller as chairman of the board of trustees and of the finance committee; Jerome D. Greene was elected a trustee that November.[^13] The members and trustees in 1936, with Rockefeller as chairman, were [[Winthrop W. Aldrich]], [[John W. Davis]], [[Lewis W. Douglas]], [[John Foster Dulles]], [[Raymond B. Fosdick]], [[Walter S. Gifford]], Greene, [[Ernest M. Hopkins]], [[Max Mason]], [[Thomas I. Parkinson]], John D. Rockefeller III, [[Walter W. Stewart]], [[Harold H. Swift]], [[George H. Whipple]], [[Ray Lyman Wilbur]] and [[Owen D. Young]].[^14]
The Foundation's reports for those years list a grant of 75,000 dollars in 1928 "towards erection of building" for the [[Institute for Psychiatric Research, Munich|Institute for Psychiatric Research]] in [[Munich]], whose building opened that year; grants numbered RF 31045 and RF 33082 for research in neurohistology, serology and biochemistry there, on which 2,258.80 dollars was paid in 1936; small grants in 1936 to Professors O. Bumke and H. Spatz of Munich; the continuing payments in 1931 to [[Cornell University Medical School]] for Dr. [[C. R. Stockard]]'s "studies in eugenics and heredity"; and general expenses and a research program for the [[Institute of Pacific Relations]] in [[Honolulu]] and for its American Council in 1936.[^13][^15]
### Bureau of Social Hygiene
In 1910 he served on a New York grand jury that investigated "white slavery," and he told the House subcommittee in 1914 that he had been its foreman.[^3][^16] The grand jury's work led him to establish the [[Bureau of Social Hygiene]] in 1913, and his statement of January 27, 1913 said that investigating bodies are "generally composed of busy people, who cannot turn away from their own affairs for any great length of time to carry on reforms."[^1][^16] He contributed 5.4 million dollars to the Bureau before its dissolution in 1940.[^1] The Bureau gave 309,000 dollars more for a Laboratory of Social Hygiene at the [[Bedford Hills Reformatory]] (1912 to 1918), which tested inmates for venereal disease and made physiological and psychological assessments intended to define a physical profile of the "criminal type." The Bureau's files show no evidence of sterilization as part of the Laboratory's program; New York's sterilization law for "eugenic purposes" was in force from 1912 to 1920, during which the state sterilized one man and 42 women.[^16]
[[Katharine Bement Davis]], who had led the reformatory at Bedford Hills, became the Bureau's general secretary in 1917. After the Bureau's trustees objected to her proposal that it undertake sex research on its own account (a comment of December 6, 1927 by [[Leonard V. Harrison]] is quoted in the research essay), she retired on January 1, 1928; Rockefeller then reorganized the Bureau and appointed Fosdick to lead it.[^16] Since 1922 the Bureau had paid for research chosen by a committee of the [[National Research Council]] on problems of sex; in 1931, "at the suggestion of the Bureau of Social Hygiene," the Rockefeller Foundation took over those grants for the period beginning July 1, 1931. The Bureau also financed the Council's committee on drug addiction, which in 1928 recommended study of the codeine alkaloids as non-habit-forming substitutes, with the chemical work assigned to Dr. [[L. F. Small]] at the [[University of Virginia]].[^15] The Bureau's grants had all concluded by 1933, and it was formally dissolved in 1940.[^16]
### Standard Oil of Indiana
Before the 1929 annual meeting of [[Standard Oil of Indiana]], Rockefeller, a minority stockholder, examined the testimony of its chairman [[Robert W. Stewart]] before the [[United States Senate Committee on Public Lands and Surveys|Senate Committee on Public Lands]] about the [[Continental Trading Company]] bonds, talked with him and asked him to resign. [[Time]] reported on January 28, 1929 that Stewart had testified "I never had anything to do with the distribution of any bonds" and later "I know about the disposition of $759,500 of these bonds," that the Senate had charged him with perjury and contempt and that juries acquitted him of both, and that Rockefeller, who according to his own account had received Stewart's promise to comply nine months earlier, "sailed for Egypt last fortnight, but left behind him a letter to stockholders, expressing loss of confidence."[^17] The company had 9,160,000 shares held by about 58,000 holders, and the vote was set for March 7 at [[Whiting, Indiana]]. Time listed the acting Alien Property Custodian, [[Howard Sutherland]] (proxies for 12,000 shares seized from Germans and Austrians in the World War), and [[A. P. Giannini]] (32,000 shares) among Rockefeller's supporters, reported that the house of [[J. P. Morgan and Company]] was "authoritatively said to be advising clients to support" him, and noted that the [[University of Chicago]], "object of many Rockefeller benefactions," was expected to vote its 30,000 shares with him; the company's president [[Edward G. Seubert]] and its board voted unanimously for Stewart, and Time reported that Standard Oil of Indiana profits for 1928 were estimated at 80 million dollars.[^17]
The Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society states that Rockefeller retained [[Charles Evans Hughes]] to lead his lawyers and that Stewart retained [[Frank J. Hogan]], who had defended [[Edward L. Doheny]] in the [[Teapot Dome scandal|Teapot Dome]] case, and that Hughes's staff published a 69-page statement of Rockefeller's case. According to the society, Rockefeller did not attend the meeting and sent his brother-in-law Winthrop W. Aldrich with about 200 eastern stockholders; the Rockefeller side claimed 57 percent of the proxies; Stewart conceded, "I'm afraid, my friends, that the 'noes' have it, if the vote is taken by shares"; and the society quotes the [[Gary Times]] that Stewart "was plucked out of the chairmanship."[^18] The society's account names [[Harry F. Sinclair]] as one of the four oil company heads who created the Continental Trading Company in 1921.[^18]
On November 15, 1933 the [[United States Senate Committee on Banking and Currency|Senate Committee on Banking and Currency]], in hearings conducted by its counsel [[Ferdinand Pecora]] on the Chase Securities Corporation, heard [[Bertram Cutler]], who described himself as having been associated with the Rockefellers for thirty-two years "as financial adviser." Cutler testified that in November 1928 the entire holding of 3 or 4 of the so-called "Rockefeller charitable funds" in the [[Prairie Oil and Gas Company]], roughly 38 million dollars at the prices testified to, was sold to [[Blair and Company]], that he carried on the negotiations, that he had referred the Prairie Oil president, [[William S. Fitzpatrick]], to the bankers when Fitzpatrick said he would have liked to buy some of the stock, and that he had spoken to [[Hunter Marston]] of Blair and Company about it. He testified that he knew nothing of a syndicate in [[Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corporation]] stock in which Fitzpatrick later shared. Asked whether the Rockefeller interests held Sinclair Consolidated stock after the March 1932 consolidation of the Prairie companies with it, he answered that they held "a very substantial amount," "the amount Mr. Rockefeller, Jr., might have received for stock of the Prairie Co. that he owned," and guessed the whole at about 1,000,000 shares.[^19]
### Chase National Bank
Time of January 2, 1933 reported that after the 1930 exchange of stock among the [[Chase Manhattan Bank|Chase National Bank]], the [[Equitable Trust Company]] and the [[Interstate Trust Company]], "John Davison Rockefeller Jr. then became the biggest stockholder," a position [[Albert Wiggin]] had held until then, and that his wife's brother, Winthrop W. Aldrich, president of Equitable, became president of Chase. The same article said that Aldrich "led the fight to oust Robert Wright Stewart from Standard Oil of Indiana" and "makes no bones about representing the interests of his in-laws," and that whether the Rockefellers were behind Wiggin's resignation was "still a moot question."[^20]
On October 17, 1933 Wiggin testified before the same committee. Asked by Senator [[James Couzens]] who the largest stockholder was, he consulted an associate and answered "John D. Rockefeller, Jr."; asked whether that was how the bank came to be known as the Rockefeller Bank, he answered, "I think so." He said the Chase had about 89,000 stockholders. His letter of December 21, 1932 to the executive committee, read into the record, stated that in 1930 "through the merger with the Equitable Trust Co., John D. Rockefeller, Jr., as the largest holder of Equitable stock, became, through the ensuing exchange of stock, the largest stockholder in the Chase," and that Aldrich had become president of the bank and later vice chairman of its governing board.[^21]
### Purchases through Intermediaries
[[Colonial Williamsburg]] began in 1926 after the Reverend [[W. A. R. Goodwin]], rector of [[Bruton Parish Church]], approached Rockefeller in 1924. He bought properties with Goodwin as his agent and communicated by coded telegram; one, authorizing the purchase of "another antique referred to in your long letter," was signed "David's father." The town was told in June 1928, and the restoration eventually covered 85 percent of the original eighteenth-century area, with more than seven hundred buildings that postdated 1790 demolished.[^22] He gave about 56 million dollars to the restoration and related projects.[^1]
In Wyoming the [[Snake River Land Company]] was the purchasing agent he created "to mask his association and keep land prices affordable." It bought more than 35,000 acres of [[Jackson Hole]] for about 1.4 million dollars.[^23] A Senate subcommittee held hearings in 1933 on allegations that the company had used illegal tactics, and the Park Service history states that the company and the Park Service were exonerated.[^23] After holding the land for fifteen years Rockefeller wrote to President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] that, absent acceptance of the gift on terms long discussed, "it will be my thought to make some other disposition of it or to sell it in the market to any satisfactory buyers." On March 15, 1943 Roosevelt proclaimed the 221,000-acre [[Jackson Hole National Monument]].[^23] Representative [[Frank Barrett]]'s bill to abolish it passed both houses, and Roosevelt withheld his approval in a message of December 29, 1944 that referred to lands "acquired by private interests, for ultimate incorporation in the monument."[^23][^24] The Rockefeller land remained private until December 16, 1949, and the act of September 14, 1950 merging the monument into [[Grand Teton National Park]] included the compromise that "in the future presidential proclamation could not be used to create a national monument in Wyoming."[^23] He gave 17.5 million dollars to the [[Jackson Hole Preserve]]; Laurance Rockefeller, as its president, made the 1949 gift of the valley land to the federal government on his father's behalf.[^1][^25]
### Gifts and Building
He joined the plan for [[Rockefeller Center]] in 1928, leasing the major part of the land from [[Columbia University]]; its first fourteen buildings were erected between 1931 and 1940, and on November 1, 1939 he drove the last rivet in the U.S. Rubber Company Building.[^1] The [[International Education Board]], founded in 1923, gave more than 21 million dollars, including 1.4 million toward the 200-inch telescope on [[Palomar Observatory|Mount Palomar]], 357,000 dollars for the mathematics faculty at [[University of Göttingen|Göttingen]], 283,000 dollars for [[Niels Bohr]]'s work on atomic structure and 3.2 million dollars for the [[Oriental Institute]].[^1] His park gifts included 3.6 million dollars to [[Acadia National Park]], 5.9 million dollars for [[Fort Tryon Park]] and 15.7 million dollars in all for [[The Cloisters]], 10.2 million dollars to the [[Palisades Interstate Park]], 2 million dollars to the [[Save the Redwoods League]], 1.6 million dollars at [[Yosemite National Park|Yosemite]] and 164,000 dollars at [[Shenandoah National Park|Shenandoah]].[^1] He helped establish the [[United Service Organizations]] in 1941 and the [[National War Fund]] in 1943, which raised more than 321 million dollars; in 1944 he became chairman of the advisory committee of the [[United Negro College Fund]] and gave it 5.2 million dollars; in 1955 he gave securities valued at 20 million dollars for Protestant theological education.[^1] In December 1946 he gave 8.5 million dollars for the purchase of the land for the permanent headquarters of the [[United Nations]] on the [[East River]].[^1] His total charitable giving is estimated at 537 million dollars.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Rockefeller Archive Center, "John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1874-1960," biography, https://rockarch.org/resources/about-the-rockefellers/john-d-rockefeller-jr/ (birth, death, education, marriages, children, net worth estimates, first employment, Rockefeller Brothers Fund 1940 and 58.9 million dollars, Bureau of Social Hygiene 1913 and 5.4 million dollars, International Education Board 1923, Colonial Williamsburg 1926 and 56 million dollars, park gifts, Jackson Hole Preserve 17.5 million dollars, Rockefeller Center, USO and National War Fund, United Negro College Fund, theological education, United Nations 8.5 million dollars in December 1946, total giving 537 million dollars).
[^2]: John D. Rockefeller Jr., *Statement of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., before United States Commission on Industrial Relations, January 25, 1915* (New York, 1915), https://archive.org/details/statementofjohnd00rock.
[^3]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Mines and Mining, subcommittee, *Conditions in the Coal Mines of Colorado*, hearings pursuant to H. Res. 387, 63d Cong., 2d sess., testimony of John D. Rockefeller Jr., April 6, 1914, pp. 2841-2878 (the exchange on "a great principle" at pp. 2873-2874), https://archive.org/details/conditionsincoa00housgoog.
[^4]: U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations, *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, S. Doc. 415, 64th Cong., 1st sess. (1916), vol. 9, contents of volume IX (index entry for L. M. Bowers), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati09unitrich.
[^5]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 8, pp. 7771-7773 (testimony of John D. Rockefeller Jr., New York, January 1915, on the personal staff of John D. Rockefeller and the directors of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati08unitrich.
[^6]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 9, pp. 8129-8130 (statement of Edward P. Costigan reading the report of the Colorado militia officers), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati09unitrich.
[^7]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 9, pp. 8659-8660 (testimony of John D. Rockefeller Jr., Washington, May 21, 1915, examination by Chairman Walsh), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati09unitrich.
[^8]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 8, pp. 7761-7773 and 7837-7838 (testimony of John D. Rockefeller Jr., New York, January 25 and 26, 1915, including the announcement of December 7, 1914 read by Chairman Walsh and the answers on Ivy Lee's salary and staff), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati08unitrich.
[^9]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 9, pp. 8715-8717 and 8728-8729 (testimony of Ivy L. Lee, Washington, May 22, 1915), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati09unitrich.
[^10]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 8, pp. 7075-7076 (testimony of Edward L. Doyle, submission of a New York Times clipping), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati08unitrich.
[^11]: *Congressional Record*, House, February 27, 1935, pp. 2668-2669 (remarks of Representative Samuel Dickstein on the report of the Special Committee on Un-American Activities), https://www.fara.us/assets/htmldocuments/uploads/26622_79_cong._rec._2668-73_1935.pdf.
[^12]: Rockefeller Foundation, *Information Furnished by the Rockefeller Foundation in Response to Questionnaires Submitted by United States Commission on Industrial Relations* (1915), answers on organization and the arrangement with Mr. King, Schedule A (Chapter 488, Laws of New York, 1913) and Schedule D, https://archive.org/details/cu31924000617567.
[^13]: Rockefeller Foundation, *Annual Report 1928*, secretary's report (members and trustees), list of officers and finance committee, exhibit of capital requirements in medical education (Institute for Psychiatric Research, Munich, 75,000 dollars, "Towards erection of building") and Medical Education division, pp. 326-327, https://archive.org/details/the-rockefeller-foundation-annual-report-1928.
[^14]: Rockefeller Foundation, *Annual Report 1936*, secretary's report (members and trustees), https://archive.org/details/the-rockefeller-foundation-annual-report-1936.
[^15]: Rockefeller Foundation, *Annual Report 1931*, pp. 166 and 170-172 (Munich institute; Bureau of Social Hygiene and the National Research Council; Cornell University Medical School and Dr. C. R. Stockard), https://archive.org/details/the-rockefeller-foundation-annual-report-1931; *Annual Report 1936*, pp. 166, 354 and 370 (Munich institute, RF 31045 and RF 33082; Bumke and Spatz; Institute of Pacific Relations), https://archive.org/details/the-rockefeller-foundation-annual-report-1936.
[^16]: Teresa Iacobelli, "Sex Problems as Social Problems: The Bureau of Social Hygiene, 1911-1934" (the essay dates the Bureau 1911 to 1934; the Rockefeller Archive Center biography dates its establishment 1913), Rockefeller Archive Center REsource, January 10, 2022, https://resource.rockarch.org/story/bureau-of-social-hygiene-prostitution-history/ (quoting John D. Rockefeller Jr., "The Origin, Work and Plans of the Bureau of Social Hygiene," January 27, 1913, and Leonard V. Harrison, comment of December 6, 1927).
[^17]: "Rockefeller v. Stewart," *Time*, January 28, 1929, https://time.com/archive/6656828/rockefeller-v-stewart/.
[^18]: Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society, "Battle of the Century in Whiting," https://www.wrhistoricalsociety.com/standard-oils-battle-of-the-century.
[^19]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Banking and Currency, *Stock Exchange Practices*, part 7, Chase Securities Corporation (continued), November 15, 1933, testimony of Bertram Cutler, pp. 3349-3354, https://archive.org/details/stockexchangepra0733unit.
[^20]: "Business: Wiggin Out," *Time*, January 2, 1933, https://time.com/archive/6891023/business-wiggin-out/.
[^21]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Banking and Currency, *Stock Exchange Practices*, hearings pursuant to S. Res. 84 (72d Cong.) and S. Res. 56 and 97 (73d Cong.), part 5, Chase Securities Corporation, October 17, 1933, testimony of Albert H. Wiggin, pp. 2281-2282 and 2303-2304, https://archive.org/details/stockexchangepra0533unit.
[^22]: Anders Greenspan, "Colonial Williamsburg," *Encyclopedia Virginia*, Virginia Humanities, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/colonial-williamsburg/.
[^23]: National Park Service, "Creation of Grand Teton National Park (A Thumbnail History)," https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/creation.pdf.
[^24]: Franklin D. Roosevelt, message on H.R. 2241, "To abolish the Jackson Hole National Monument," December 29, 1944, American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/veto-bill-abolishing-the-jackson-hole-national-monument.
[^25]: Rockefeller Archive Center, "Laurance S. Rockefeller," biography, https://rockarch.org/resources/about-the-rockefellers/laurance-s-rockefeller/.

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---
category: "Technologists"
tags:
- Person
- KeithRabois
- VentureCapital
- PayPalMafia
- KhoslaVentures
- FoundersFund
- Opendoor
- Square
- StanfordReview
- JacobHelberg
- PoliticalDonor
- EthicsAgreement
- SiliconValley
alias:
- Keith Rabois
- Keith Rabois (venture capitalist)
- Rabois
summary: "American lawyer and venture capitalist, former PayPal and Square executive, Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund partner, Opendoor co-founder and chairman, Republican donor, and husband of Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg."
location: "Miami Beach, Florida"
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[The Stanford Review]]"
role: "columnist and former editor"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[College Republicans]]"
role: "president of the Stanford chapter"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Sullivan & Cromwell]]"
role: "attorney; employer given in 1998 contribution records in Washington"
fn: 11
- type: employed_by
with: "[[PayPal]]"
role: "senior executive"
fn: 4
- type: employed_by
with: "[[LinkedIn]]"
role: "vice president of business and corporate development"
fn: 4
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Slide]]"
role: "executive vice president of strategy and business development"
fn: 4
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Square]]"
start: 2010
end: 2013-01-24
role: "chief operating officer"
fn: 16
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Khosla Ventures]]"
start: 2013
end: 2019
role: "managing director"
fn: 4
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Founders Fund]]"
start: 2019-03
end: 2024-01
role: "general partner"
fn: 5
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Khosla Ventures]]"
start: 2024-01
role: "managing partner"
fn: 5
- type: director_of
with: "[[Yelp]]"
end: 2014-01-17
role: "independent director; chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee"
fn: 19
- type: director_of
with: "[[Reddit]]"
start: 2012
end: 2019
role: "director"
fn: 20
- type: director_of
with: "[[Xoom Corporation]]"
end: 2015-05-28
role: "independent director"
fn: 18
- type: director_of
with: "[[Affirm]]"
start: 2013
end: 2025-06
role: "director designated by Khosla Ventures entities"
fn: 5
- type: founded
with: "[[Opendoor]]"
role: "co-founder"
fn: 24
- type: director_of
with: "[[Opendoor]]"
start: 2025-09-10
role: "chairman"
fn: 20
- type: head_of
with: "[[Miami Labs]]"
role: "chief executive officer, director and promoter in the August 2022 Form D"
fn: 22
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Jacob Helberg]]"
role: "husband"
fn: 27
- type: funded
with: "[[Never Means Never PAC]]"
start: 2016-03-28
role: "$50,000 contributor"
fn: 23
- type: funded
with: "[[Senate Georgia Battleground Fund]]"
start: 2020-11-12
role: "$154,100 contributor"
fn: 11
- type: funded
with: "[[Take Back the House 2022]]"
start: 2021-03-26
end: 2022-02-21
role: "$1,369,700 contributor"
fn: 11
- type: funded
with: "[[SFA Fund]]"
start: 2023-09-13
end: 2024-01-12
role: "$1,000,000 contributor"
fn: 11
- type: funded
with: "[[Grow the Majority]]"
start: 2024-02-16
end: 2026-03-06
role: "$2,000,000 contributor"
fn: 11
- type: funded
with: "[[Congressional Leadership Fund]]"
start: 2024-02-20
end: 2026-03-06
role: "$1,500,000 contributor"
fn: 11
- type: funded
with: "[[Trump 47 Committee]]"
start: 2024-09-24
role: "$250,000 contributor"
fn: 11
- type: funded
with: "[[Republican National Committee]]"
start: 2026-02-17
role: "$443,000 contributor"
fn: 11
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
### Stanford
Keith Rabois was an undergraduate at [[Stanford University]], where he edited and wrote for [[The Stanford Review]] and was president of the [[College Republicans]]. He graduated in 1991 and entered the [[Stanford Law School]] that autumn.[^1] By his own count he had written 31 columns by early 1992.[^2] The Review had printed several of his articles criticizing [[Dennis Matthies]], the resident fellow of Otero, a freshman dormitory.[^3] His age is given as 51 in a registration statement filed on November 18, 2020 and as 57 in a proxy statement filed on April 28, 2026.[^4][^5]
### The Otero incident, January 1992
On the night of Sunday, January 19, 1992, Rabois and two other students passed through Otero on their way to a party, according to Rabois. The head advising associate of the dormitory told [[The Stanford Daily]] that he heard one voice screaming "Faggot! Hope you die of AIDS!" and "Can't wait 'til you die, faggot!" toward the resident fellow's cottage. Rabois confirmed the remarks "in substantive content," said they were "mostly about faggots being bad in general," and said that one of his own remarks that night was "See if you can kick me out of housing." He told the paper that Matthies "gets away with intimidating an entire dorm of 80 freshmen every year." Matthies said he assumed the comments were about him but that they were not spoken to him.[^3]
Dean of Students [[Michael Jackson]] announced that the students would not be charged under the [[Fundamental Standard]]. Jackson's ground was that the 1990 interpretation of the standard reached only face-to-face insults; Law Professor [[Thomas Grey]], who wrote the interpretation, said that yelling at a door could qualify but that the interpretation protected only students, and Matthies was a staff member.[^1][^3] Judicial Affairs Officer [[Sally Cole]] said officials had instead chosen to make the case public, so that "the pressure of public disapproval" would fall on the participants.[^1] Jackson had sent the Daily a letter, delivered on January 31, that condemned the remarks without naming the students; he said he had not told any of them he would release it.[^6][^7] On February 5 the Daily corrected its earlier reports: one of the other two students had made no remarks, another participant said he "never opened his mouth," and Matthies had not been home at the time. Jackson said the university's investigation had failed to determine exactly who said what.[^6] Residence Dean [[Angela Rickford]] said Rabois had told her the week before that he knew "exactly what's permitted at this school" and declined to meet with her or anyone in the administration.[^7]
In an unpublished letter to the Daily, Rabois wrote: "I don't necessarily hate homosexuals, but do believe in [[Jack Kemp]]'s suggestion that they may not be the best teachers of young children in public schools and recognize that the spread of AIDS has a direct causal link back to their activity."[^7] In a column published on February 7 he wrote that the remarks "were about Dennis Matthies, they were NOT directed at him. There was absolutely no reason to believe he was home," that the intention had been "for the speech to be outrageous enough to provoke a thought of 'Wow, if he can say that, I guess I can say a little more than I thought,'" and that when a residence dean called a week later he saw "an interesting opportunity to demonstrate the ridiculousness of the Grey Standard." He wrote: "I figured it would look really bad if they tried to do it to a student who had constantly been a thorn in their side," and "I hate Democrats, not homosexuals; they're the ones that have hurt the country."[^2]
Law students posted fliers bearing his crossed-out photograph and the words "Homophobia is Ugly." More than 400 students, deans, staff and faculty of the law school signed a petition dissociating the school from the remarks, which ran as a half-page advertisement in the Daily; Dean [[Paul Brest]] called it "just the appropriate way for the institution to respond." Several students sent the Daily's reports to a Newport Beach law firm at which Rabois was a finalist for a position and said they planned to write to every law firm in California. More than 100 people and reporters from at least three newspapers attended an advertised address by Rabois on "Free Speech, Hate Speech" at which he did not appear.[^6][^8] On February 19 he and Matthies took calls on the premiere of "Talk Back" on [[KZSU]]. Rabois cited a letter in the Daily urging readers to write to the California bar to keep him out and said that the letters to potential employers "were not just speech." Asked whether he stood by the remarks, he said: "No, I didn't mean it that way. I don't hate anyone. It was an example."[^9] The Daily still described him as a first-year law student in April 1992, and its year-end review recorded that he had defended the remarks as a test of the Fundamental Standard.[^10] His later corporate biographies give a law degree from [[Harvard University]], with honors.[^4][^5]
### Sullivan & Cromwell and PayPal
Contribution records place Rabois in Washington from 1996 to early 1999. Three gifts in August and September 1998 to the [[National Republican Senatorial Committee]] and one to Talent for U.S. Congress, the committee of Representative [[Jim Talent]] of Missouri, give his employer as [[Sullivan & Cromwell]]; a gift of $1,000 in January 1999 went to Quayle 2000, the presidential committee of [[Dan Quayle]].[^11] The registration statement of [[Affirm]] states that he "began his career in the industry as a senior executive at PayPal and has also practiced as an attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell."[^4]
From September 2001 his contributions were filed from Palo Alto with [[PayPal]] as employer, several of them describing him as a vice president.[^11] PayPal's prospectus of February 2002 lists its executive officers and key employees as of December 31, 2001, including [[Peter Thiel]], [[Max Levchin]], [[David Sacks]], [[Reid Hoffman]] and the chief financial officer [[Roelof Botha]], and does not include Rabois. [[Michael Moritz]] of [[Sequoia Capital]] sat on the audit committee with [[Elon Musk]] and [[Shailesh Mehta]].[^12] [[Connie Loizos]] of [[TechCrunch]] wrote in 2019 that Rabois had been executive vice president of business development, public affairs and policy at PayPal from late 2000 to late 2002, and that he, Thiel, [[Ken Howery]], Sacks and [[Joe Lonsdale]] had worked together at the Review.[^13]
### LinkedIn, Slide and Square
The Affirm filing lists his later positions as vice president of business and corporate development at [[LinkedIn]], executive vice president of strategy and business development at [[Slide]], the company founded by Levchin, and chief operating officer of [[Square]].[^4] A 2004 contribution gives his employer as Epoch Innovations and his occupation as chief operating officer; a 2008 gift to the [[John McCain]] joint committee names Slide; and a $2,400 gift in March 2010 went to Quayle for Congress, the committee of [[Ben Quayle]] of Arizona.[^11] Rabois filed a Form 3 as a director of Yelp with an event date of March 1, 2012.[^14]
Square's Form D of September 2011, for a $100,000,052 Series C sale, lists [[Jack Dorsey]] and [[Jim McKelvey]] as executive officers and directors, Rabois as an executive officer, and Botha, [[Vinod Khosla]], [[Larry Summers]] and [[Mary Meeker]] as directors.[^15] The Stanford Daily reported in 2013 that Rabois had joined the company in 2010 and overseen its growth from 17 employees to more than 400.[^16]
### Departure from Square
Rabois resigned as Square's chief operating officer in January 2013. The Stanford Daily reported on January 25, 2013 that a Square employee alleged that Rabois had sexually harassed him and that the company had known of it and failed to act; the company did not identify the employee. Rabois denied the allegation. In a blog post he described a "physical relationship" with the man and wrote that he resigned "so my colleagues could continue to do great work without the distraction that a lawsuit would most certainly bring." Square's statement accepting the resignation said he had "exercised poor judgment." No lawsuit had been filed. Rabois told [[The Wall Street Journal]] he was "completely confident that all the facts will come out and I will be vindicated."[^16] Loizos wrote in 2019 that Square had said at the time it found no evidence to support the claims.[^13]
The board he left included Botha of Sequoia and Khosla. In Square's registration statement of November 2015, Khosla Ventures III, LP held 16.9 percent of the shares and entities affiliated with Sequoia held 5.3 percent; Khosla, a director since June 2011, had tendered his resignation effective before the offering, and Botha and Meeker formed the compensation committee.[^17]
### Khosla Ventures and public boards
Rabois joined [[Khosla Ventures]] as a managing director in 2013 and left in 2019.[^4] He filed a Form 3 as a director of [[Xoom Corporation]] with an event date of February 14, 2013.[^18] On January 17, 2014 he resigned from the board of [[Yelp]], where he was an independent director and chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee, without disagreement with the company.[^19] On March 25, 2015 he gave notice of his resignation from Xoom's board, effective after its annual meeting of May 28, 2015; he sat on its nominating and corporate governance committee and its compliance committee.[^18] Square's 2015 filing lists Botha as a Xoom director as well.[^17] Opendoor's 2025 filing states that he sat on the board of [[Reddit]] from 2012 to 2019 and lists early personal investments by him in [[YouTube]], [[Airbnb]] and [[Palantir Technologies]].[^20]
He joined the board of Affirm in 2013, as the designee of entities affiliated with Khosla Ventures.[^4] OpenDoor Labs Inc. of [[San Francisco]] filed a Form D in May 2014 naming [[Eric Wu]] as executive officer and director and Rabois as director.[^21] Contribution records for 2013 and 2015 show $10,600 to Ro for Congress, the committee of [[Ro Khanna]], with Khosla Ventures as employer.[^11]
### Founders Fund and Miami
Loizos reported on February 20, 2019 that Rabois was joining [[Founders Fund]] as a general partner after six years at Khosla.[^13] Opendoor's 2026 proxy statement dates his Founders Fund partnership from March 2019 to January 2024.[^5] Affirm's registration statement of November 2020 records that Rabois, Thiel and [[Brian Singerman]] shared voting and investment power over Affirm shares held by The Founders Fund VI and Founders Fund Growth partnerships; Singerman had resigned from the Affirm board on November 15, 2020, and Rabois remained on it, as a member of the audit committee.[^4]
Contribution records give his city as Miami Beach from February 2021.[^11] In August 2022 Miami Labs, Inc., of North Miami Avenue, Miami, filed a Form D listing Rabois and [[Jack Abraham]] as executive officers, directors and promoters, with $31,999,996 sold to three investors; Rabois signed as chief executive officer.[^22] He returned to Khosla Ventures as a managing partner in January 2024 and served on Affirm's board until June 2025.[^5]
### Political contributions
Contributions attributed to Rabois in [[Federal Election Commission]] itemized records, excluding memo entries that record joint-committee allocations, total $141,500 in 2016, $333,100 in 2020, $895,700 in 2021, $957,100 in 2022, $1,508,500 in 2023, about $2.47 million in 2024, $1,022,000 in 2025 and $1,943,000 in 2026 through early April.[^11]
On March 28, 2016 he gave $50,000 to [[Never Means Never PAC]], a super PAC registered on March 4, 2016, whose independent expenditures from March to June 2016, chiefly online advertising bought from [[Tusk Digital]], were reported as opposing [[Donald Trump]].[^23] On October 16, 2020 he gave $25,000 to the [[Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]].[^11] On November 12, 2020 he gave $154,100 to the Senate Georgia Battleground Fund; [[Doug Leone]] of Sequoia gave $100,900 to the same committee on November 23.[^11]
From 2021 the larger entries run to House Republican joint fundraising committees: $1,369,700 to Take Back the House 2022 in three gifts between March 2021 and February 2022, $693,700 to Protect the House 2024 in March 2023, and $2,000,000 to Grow the Majority between February 2024 and March 2026. Memo entries attached to these gifts record allocations to Kevin McCarthy for Congress and to Majority Committee PAC, the committee of [[Kevin McCarthy]], in March 2021, February 2022 and March 2023, and to Mike Johnson for Louisiana, the committee of [[Mike Johnson]], in February 2024 and March 2025; across all joint committees, the memo entries assign $1,601,700 of his money to the [[National Republican Congressional Committee]].[^11] He gave $1,000,000 to SFA Fund, Inc., a hybrid committee affiliated with Team Stand for America, in September 2023 and January 2024, after a $16,600 gift to the joint committee Team Stand for America whose memo entries of August 2023 record transfers to Nikki Haley for President, Inc., the committee of [[Nikki Haley]]; $100,000 to The Sentinel Action Fund; $500,000 and later $250,000 and $750,000 to the [[Congressional Leadership Fund]]; $200,000 to the Scalise Leadership Fund 2024; and $400,000 to NRSC Victory.[^11] On September 24, 2024 he gave $250,000 to the [[Trump 47 Committee]], with memo allocations to Never Surrender, Inc., the leadership committee of Trump, and on October 24, 2024 $100,000 to the super PAC Right for America. Leone gave $250,000 to the Trump 47 Committee on October 30, 2024 and $2,000,000 to Right for America on June 4, 2024. On February 17, 2026 Rabois gave $443,000 to the [[Republican National Committee]], recorded in four entries that include its headquarters, convention and legal proceedings accounts.[^11]
### Opendoor
On September 10, 2025 [[Opendoor]] announced that "Co-Founders Keith Rabois and Eric Wu" were returning to its board, with Rabois as chairman, and that "Khosla Ventures and Wu" were investing $40 million in a private placement.[^24] Its Form 8-K of the next day recorded stock purchase agreements under which Khosla Ventures Opportunity III, LP bought 5,263,158 shares for $35 million and Wu bought 751,879 shares for $5 million. The board grew from six to eight members; Rabois became a Class I director, chairman, and a member of the audit and risk committee and the compensation committee, and the board found him independent. Khosla Ventures Opportunity III accepted standstill and non-disparagement terms running until 90 days after Rabois leaves the board.[^20] The proxy statement of April 2026 lists him as an independent chairman and audit committee financial expert, and states that he sits on the private boards of [[Faire]] and [[Ramp]].[^5]
Rabois's Form 3 reported 615,409 Opendoor shares held directly on September 10, 2025. Forms 4 report grants of restricted stock units in lieu of a $92,500 retainer on February 17, 2026 and of 41,667 units on June 11, 2026, after which he held 630,088 and then 671,755 shares directly. The 2026 proxy lists him as beneficial owner of 680,617 shares, including the 615,409 shares and warrants over 61,539 more.[^5][^25]
### Marriage to Jacob Helberg
[[Jacob Helberg]], a senior adviser to the chief executive of Palantir Technologies, was appointed to the [[U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission]] on January 27, 2023 by [[Hakeem Jeffries]], who wrote that "because of the change in Congress" he was appointing Helberg, "of Miami Beach, Florida," on behalf of the Speaker.[^26] At his nomination hearing before the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] on June 10, 2025, Helberg said: "I would like to thank my husband, Keith."[^27]
Helberg's public financial disclosure report, signed on January 24, 2025, lists consulting fees of $840,000 from Palantir, for services as senior adviser to its chief executive, and, as sources of more than $5,000 in compensation described as clients of his firm Outbuild, LLC of Miami, [[General Catalyst]], Hadrian, Regent Aerospace, [[UBS]], Gusto, Founders Fund, 137 Ventures and Caffeinated Capital. The same report lists, among other assets, interests in Sequoia Capital U.S. Venture Fund, Sequoia Capital U.S. Venture Partners XIV and Sequoia Technology Partners XII, valued at $15,001 to $50,000, $100,001 to $250,000 and $50,001 to $100,000, Affirm stock valued at $1,000,001 to $5,000,000, and Opendoor Technologies stock valued at $500,001 to $1,000,000.[^28]
In an ethics agreement dated May 5, 2025, addressed to [[Richard C. Visek]], the [[State Department]]'s acting legal adviser and designated agency ethics official, Helberg wrote that his spouse was managing director of Khosla Ventures, had earlier been a general partner of Founders Fund, and held equity and carried interests through both firms in funds listed in an attachment, and that he would not participate in matters affecting Khosla Ventures' financial interests. He listed as sectors of heightened conflict risk "artificial intelligence software; space technology; cybersecurity; digital currencies, including platforms for trading; financial technology; renewable energy development; consumer and enterprise technology; digital health, medical technology, diagnostics, and therapeutics; and edge networking," and wrote: "I am prohibited from sharing nonpublic information with my spouse." The retained funds in Attachment B are management and employee entities of Founders Fund V through VIII and Founders Fund Growth and Growth II, and Khosla Ventures associates entities; their underlying holdings listed there include [[OpenAI]], [[SpaceX]], [[Anduril Industries]], Opendoor Labs, Affirm, Ramp and [[Stripe]].[^29]
The same agreement states that "I and my spouse will divest our interests in the entities listed in Attachment A" within 90 days of confirmation. Attachment A includes the three Sequoia funds, [[Slow Ventures]] and [[SV Angel]] funds, Palantir, Block and Opendoor Technologies among public companies, and private holdings including [[Hadrian Automation]] and [[Regent Craft]].[^29] The Senate confirmed Helberg on October 7, 2025, by a vote of 51 to 47, in an en bloc confirmation of nominations under S. Res. 412.[^30] The State Department lists him as Under Secretary for Economic Affairs from October 16, 2025.[^31] In a Sequoia filing of February 2024, Sequoia Capital U.S. Venture Partners Fund XIV, L.P. appears as a [[Cayman Islands]] partnership whose general partner, SC U.S. Venture XIV Management, L.P., is in turn managed by SC US (TTGP), Ltd.; the filing names Leone and Botha as the directors and stockholders of SC US (TTGP) who exercise voting and investment discretion.[^32]
### Khosla Ventures, January 2026
After a Border Patrol agent shot and killed a protester, an American citizen, in Minneapolis in January 2026, Rabois wrote on [[X]] that "no law enforcement has shot an innocent person. illegals are committing violent crimes every day" and that "interfering w a law enforcement operation is not protected by any of those amendments." Khosla Ventures partner [[Ethan Choi]] replied: "I want to make it clear that Keith doesn't represent everyone's views here at @khoslaventures, at least not mine." Vinod Khosla wrote: "I agree with @EthanChoi7. Macho ICE vigilantes running amuck empowered by a conscious-less administration." [[Julie Bort]] of TechCrunch, who reported the exchange on January 26, 2026, wrote that Khosla did not directly rebuke Rabois and that the firm did not respond to a request for comment.[^33]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Steve McCarroll, "Officials to fight hate speech with public pressure," The Stanford Daily, February 4, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/04/MODSMD_ARTICLE1.article.txt
[^2]: Keith Rabois, "Rabois: My intention was to make a provocative statement," The Stanford Daily, February 7, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/07/MODSMD_ARTICLE21.article.txt
[^3]: Juthymas Harntha, "Two students can't be charged for hurling homophobic slurs," The Stanford Daily, February 3, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/03/MODSMD_ARTICLE3.article.txt (issue viewer https://archives.stanforddaily.com/1992/02/03)
[^4]: Affirm Holdings, Inc., Form S-1 registration statement, filed November 18, 2020, "Management" (director biographies, board composition, committees) and "Principal Stockholders" (footnote 7). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1820953/000110465920126927/tm2026663-4_s1.htm
[^5]: Opendoor Technologies Inc., definitive proxy statement (Schedule 14A), filed April 28, 2026, director biographies, board leadership, director compensation and security ownership (footnote 14). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1801169/000114036126017460/ny20064714x1_def14a.htm
[^6]: "New light shed on Otero epithet case; Officials, students clarify circumstances," The Stanford Daily, February 5, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/05/MODSMD_ARTICLE4.article.txt
[^7]: June Cohen, "Rabois' comments on 'faggots' derided across University," The Stanford Daily, February 6, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/06/MODSMD_ARTICLE5.article.txt
[^8]: June Cohen, "Law School searches for the 'appropriate' response to Rabois," The Stanford Daily, February 11, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/11/MODSMD_ARTICLE5.article.txt
[^9]: Anush Yegyazarian, "Matthies, Rabois called on views of hate speech," The Stanford Daily, February 20, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/20/MODSMD_ARTICLE1.article.txt
[^10]: Liesl Olson, "KZSU strives to make programs accessible," The Stanford Daily, April 23, 1992, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/04/23/MODSMD_ARTICLE34.article.txt ; John Ford, "Staff Notebook," The Stanford Daily, April 30, 1992, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/04/30/MODSMD_ARTICLE19.article.txt ; Juthymas Harntha, "Anti-gay comments" (year in review), The Stanford Daily, June 3, 1992, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/06/03/MODSMD_ARTICLE28.article.txt
[^11]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A itemized receipts, contributor name "Rabois, Keith" and variants, queried October 1, 2026 through https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/ ; memo-coded (X) rows excluded from totals and read separately for joint-committee allocations; employer, occupation and city as filed. Examples: Sullivan and Cromwell rows sub_id 3061920110006215854 and 3061920110006164037 (1998); Quayle 2000 sub_id 3061920110007245353; Senate Georgia Battleground Fund (C00736967) sub_id 4122920201986594565; Take Back the House 2022 (C00766782) sub_ids 4042120211278490263, 4102020211374106323, 4042920221473350526; SFA Fund, Inc. (C00828061) sub_ids 4081320242011883727, 4022720241857652170; Grow the Majority (C00858373); Congressional Leadership Fund (C00504530); Trump 47 Committee (C00867937) sub_id 4051220251193610502; Right for America (C00867036); Republican National Committee (C00003418) sub_ids 4032320261425058817 to 4032320261425058819; DSCC sub_id 4063020211312065539. Leone rows under "Leone, Doug" and "Leone, Douglas," sub_ids 4122920201986594268, 4021320251172522832, 4071920241978175326. Committee types and affiliations from https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/{id}/. Candidate links checked through https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/{id}/ and /v1/candidate/{id}/: Talent for U S Congress C00253534 (H2MO02037), Quayle 2000 Inc C00342667 (P80002587), Quayle for Congress C00475863 (H0AZ03362, Quayle, Ben), Ro for Congress C00503185 (H4CA12055), Majority Committee PAC C00428052 and Kevin McCarthy for Congress C00420935 (H6CA22125), Mike Johnson for Louisiana C00608695 (H6LA04138), Nikki Haley for President Inc., now SFA Action, C00833392 (P40010977), Never Surrender, Inc. C00828541 (P80001571).
[^12]: PayPal, Inc., prospectus (Form 424B4), February 2002, "Management." https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1103415/000091205702006471/a2071068z424b4.htm
[^13]: Connie Loizos, "Keith Rabois joins Founders Fund amid transition at the firm," TechCrunch, February 20, 2019. https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/20/keith-rabois-is-leaving-khosla-ventures-for-founders-fund/
[^14]: Keith Rabois, Form 3 (Yelp Inc.), event date March 1, 2012 (accession 0001209191-12-014763). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1539865/000120919112014763/doc3.xml
[^15]: Square, Inc., Form D, filed September 30, 2011 (accession 0001512673-11-000003). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512673/000151267311000003/primary_doc.xml
[^16]: Edward Ngai, "Square COO, Stanford alum, resigns over sexual harassment allegations," The Stanford Daily, January 25, 2013. https://stanforddaily.com/2013/01/25/square-coo-resigns-over-sexual-harassment-allegations/
[^17]: Square, Inc., Form S-1/A, filed November 16, 2015, "Management" and "Principal Stockholders." https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512673/000119312515378578/d937622ds1a.htm
[^18]: Keith Rabois, Form 3 (Xoom Corp), event date February 14, 2013 (accession 0001209191-13-009126), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1539865/000120919113009126/doc3.xml ; Xoom Corporation, Form 8-K, filed March 27, 2015, Item 5.02, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1315657/000155837015000406/xoom-20150325x8k.htm
[^19]: Yelp Inc., Form 8-K, filed January 23, 2014, Item 5.02. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1345016/000119312514018681/d664869d8k.htm
[^20]: Opendoor Technologies Inc., Form 8-K, filed September 11, 2025 (accession 0001140361-25-034609), Items 3.02, 5.02 and 8.01. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1801169/000114036125034609/ef20055426_8k.htm
[^21]: OpenDoor Labs Inc., Form D, filed May 29, 2014 (accession 0001609437-14-000002). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609437/000160943714000002/primary_doc.xml
[^22]: Miami Labs, Inc., Form D, filed August 29, 2022 (accession 0001567619-22-016760). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1873379/000156761922016760/primary_doc.xml
[^23]: Federal Election Commission, committee record for Never Means Never PAC (C00610907), https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00610907/ ; Schedule E independent expenditures, https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_e/?committee_id=C00610907 ; Schedule A receipt of March 28, 2016 (sub_id 4042920161284569336).
[^24]: Opendoor Technologies Inc., press release, "Opendoor Names Kaz Nejatian as CEO; Founders Rabois and Wu Rejoin Board," September 10, 2025, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1801169/000114036125034609/ef20055426_ex99-1.htm
[^25]: Keith Rabois, Form 3 (Opendoor Technologies Inc.), event date September 10, 2025, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1539865/000153986525000002/wk-form3_1758318753.xml ; Form 4, transaction date February 17, 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1539865/000153986526000003/wk-form4_1771541896.xml ; Form 4, transaction date June 11, 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1539865/000153986526000005/wk-form4_1781555848.xml
[^26]: "Communication from the Democratic Leader," Congressional Record, vol. 169, no. 18, January 27, 2023, p. H471. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2023-01-27/html/CREC-2023-01-27-pt1-PgH471-4.htm
[^27]: Statement of Jacob S. Helberg, nominee for Under Secretary of State, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, June 10, 2025. https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2b6dc080-c286-1b13-84e5-3c2b80b7457a/061025_Helberg_Testimony.pdf
[^28]: Jacob Helberg, OGE Form 278e, nominee report, electronically signed January 24, 2025, certified May 6, 2025, Parts 2, 4 and 6 (items 1.1, 60 to 62, 472 and 473). https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rvp2G0RgF478/v0
[^29]: Jacob Helberg to Richard C. Visek, Acting Legal Adviser and Designated Agency Ethics Official, U.S. Department of State, "Ethics Undertakings," May 5, 2025, Sections 3, 5 and 6, Attachment A (pp. 6 to 22) and Attachment B (pp. 22 to 26). https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rOVlaP5GUdLQ/v0
[^30]: United States Senate, Roll Call Vote 547, 119th Congress, 1st Session, October 7, 2025, "Confirmation: En Bloc Nominations Provided for Under the Provisions of S. Res. 412" (PN12-21, Jacob Helberg, of Florida). https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00547.xml
[^31]: U.S. Department of State, "Jacob Helberg," biography. https://www.state.gov/biographies/jacob-helberg
[^32]: Sequoia Capital USV XIV Holdco, Ltd. and others, Schedule 13D re Maplebear Inc., filed February 27, 2024, Item 2 and cover pages. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1579091/000119312524048200/d799472dsc13d.htm
[^33]: Julie Bort, "Vinod Khosla publicly disavows Keith Rabois' comments on ICE shooting," TechCrunch, January 26, 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/26/vinod-khosla-publicly-disavows-keith-rabois-comments-on-ice-shooting/

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---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- Rockefeller
- VentureCapital
- EasternAirLines
- Itek
- Venrock
- SpecialStudiesProject
- Conservation
- UFO
- ConsciousnessResearch
- ClintonWhiteHouse
alias:
- Laurance Rockefeller
- Laurance S. Rockefeller
- Laurance Spelman Rockefeller
- Laurence Rockefeller
- Laurence S. Rockefeller
- Laurence Spelman Rockefeller
- LSR
summary: "Son of John D. Rockefeller Jr., chief stockholder of Eastern Air Lines, venture investor, conservation commissioner, and from 1993 to 1996 petitioner to the Clinton White House on UFO declassification."
born: 1910-05-26
died: 2004-07-11
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: relative_of
with: "[[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]]"
role: "son"
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Nelson Rockefeller]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 2
- type: relative_of
with: "[[David Rockefeller]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 2
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Mary French Rockefeller]]"
start: 1934-08-15
role: "husband"
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[United States Navy]]"
start: 1942
end: 1945
role: "lieutenant commander, Bureau of Aeronautics"
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[Eastern Air Lines]]"
start: 1938
role: "chief stockholder, according to W. David Lewis"
fn: 3
- type: funded
with: "[[Itek]]"
role: "60,000 dollars according to Peter O. Crisp"
fn: 4
- type: funded
with: "[[Venrock]]"
start: 1969
role: "family venture capital group through which his investments were made from August 1969"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]]"
start: 1958
end: 1980
role: "president, then chairman"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Special Studies Project]]"
start: 1958-05-26
role: "chairman of the planning committee"
fn: 8
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Special Studies Project]]"
role: "member of Panel II, International Security: The Military Aspect"
fn: 8
- type: appointed
with: "[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]"
reverse: true
start: 1958
role: "chairman of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission"
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Henry L. Diamond]]"
reverse: true
start: 1993-03-29
role: "Washington attorney and long-time associate"
fn: 19
- type: head_of
with: "[[Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission]]"
start: 1958
role: "chairman"
fn: 11
- type: head_of
with: "[[Jackson Hole Preserve]]"
role: "president"
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[American Conservation Association]]"
start: 1958
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center]]"
start: 1960
end: 1982
role: "chairman"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Alfred P. Sloan Foundation]]"
start: 1960
end: 1982
role: "trustee"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[New York Zoological Society]]"
start: 1935
end: 1986
role: "trustee"
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Virgin Islands National Park]]"
start: 1956
role: "donated more than 5,000 acres"
fn: 12
- type: funded
with: "[[Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab]]"
role: "donor"
fn: 14
- type: funded
with: "[[Program for Extraordinary Experience Research]]"
start: 1993
role: "funder, according to the John E. Mack Institute"
fn: 15
- type: funded
with: "[[Human Potential Foundation]]"
role: "partial funder, in the belief of John H. Gibbons"
fn: 16
- type: funded
with: "[[Society for Scientific Exploration]]"
start: 1997
role: "funds for the Pocantico UFO workshop, through the LSR Fund"
fn: 44
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Laurance S. Rockefeller (May 26, 1910, in [[New York City]], to July 11, 2004, at his home on [[Fifth Avenue]]) was the fourth of the six children of [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] and [[Abby Aldrich Rockefeller]]. He attended the Lincoln School of [[Teachers College, Columbia University|Teachers College]], [[Columbia University]], entered [[Princeton University]] in 1928, took a degree in philosophy in 1932 and studied for two years at [[Harvard Law School]]. He married [[Mary French Rockefeller|Mary French]] on August 15, 1934, at [[Woodstock, Vermont]], began work in the family office at [[Rockefeller Center]] in 1935, and served from 1942 to 1945 in the [[United States Navy]]'s [[Bureau of Aeronautics]], rising to lieutenant commander.[^1] His brothers were [[John D. Rockefeller III]], [[Nelson Rockefeller]], [[Winthrop Rockefeller]] and [[David Rockefeller]].[^2]
### Eastern Air Lines
The historian W. David Lewis wrote that in 1938 [[Eddie Rickenbacker]], seeking financing to take over [[Eastern Air Lines]], "secured enough backing ... from a syndicate including Laurance S. Rockefeller, who became the chief stockholder in a new corporate entity known as Eastern Air Lines," and that Rickenbacker became chief executive in April 1938.[^3] In Lewis's account Eastern's directors moved Rickenbacker up to chairman in 1953 and named [[Malcolm A. MacIntyre]] president and chief executive, and Rickenbacker interfered with MacIntyre's management. Lewis wrote that Rockefeller "decided that the only way out of its problems was a merger with one of the country's two largest carriers, American Airlines." The industry, led by [[Delta Air Lines]], opposed the merger, and it became clear that [[Robert F. Kennedy]], as attorney general, would veto it on antitrust grounds even if the [[Civil Aeronautics Board]] did not; the plan was scuttled.[^3] Rockefeller had hoped the merger would let him replace Rickenbacker and MacIntyre with the chief executive of American, [[C. R. Smith]]. When it failed he appointed a search committee, which chose [[Floyd D. Hall]] of [[Trans World Airlines]]; MacIntyre was fired, and Rickenbacker was summoned to a meeting and asked to retire. Rickenbacker took the news badly and agreed only after a second meeting, which Rockefeller attended, and he left his office at Rockefeller Center and did not return.[^3]
The Civil Aeronautics Board regulated routes and mail pay throughout this period. In a transcontinental route case decided in 1961 the Board gave Delta and [[National Airlines]] access to [[San Diego]], [[Los Angeles]] and [[San Francisco]] and denied Eastern's application; Rickenbacker had attacked President [[John F. Kennedy]] in a speech while the case was pending.[^3]
### Venture Investments
[[Peter O. Crisp]] joined Rockefeller's staff in 1960 and sat on the board of [[Apple Computer]] for sixteen years; in an oral history recorded on October 21, 2008 he described the origin of the family's venture investing. After the war, Crisp said, Rockefeller hired "these three guys" to look for small technology companies: [[Randy Marston]], "who had worked for the Chase Bank for many years"; [[Harper Woodward]], "General Arnold's assistant in [[World War II]] in the Pentagon for procurement matters"; and [[Teddy Walkowicz]], "a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force" and "an MIT guy"; he named a fourth man, [[Jay Richardson Dilworth]], as "kind of the senior advisor to the [[Rockefeller family]]." Crisp said he screened proposals "for Marston, Woodward and Walkowicz," the "big shots" who then joined the boards.[^4] Among the investments Crisp listed since 1946 were [[New York Airways]], Eastern Air Lines, the [[Glenn L. Martin Company]], [[Reaction Motors]] (later bought by [[Thiokol]]), the [[Marquardt Aircraft Company]] (ramjet engines for missiles), Island Packers ("a tuna factory in the Pacific"), [[Flight Refueling]], the [[Piasecki Helicopter Company]] (merged with [[Vertol]] and later acquired by [[Boeing]]) and [[Aircraft Radio Corporation|Aircraft Radio]] (bought by [[Cessna]]); he also named [[Itek]] and [[Scantlin Electronics]], maker of the Quotron.[^4] Crisp said the staff passed on [[Haloid Company|Haloid]], which became [[Xerox]], after a former staff member's memorandum found no future in its copier technology, on which Marston wrote "I concur."[^4] From August 1969 Rockefeller's investments were channeled through [[Venrock]], which Crisp said was formed in 1969 and given its name because "we didn't want to be confused with philanthropy."[^1][^4]
The record on Itek carries three dates. The [[Boston Globe]] obituary of [[Richard Leghorn|Dick Leghorn]] states that he cofounded Itek in 1957, and quotes him that the company was known as "the mystery company. It was very hush-hush."[^5] The [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s history of the [[CORONA]] satellite program, by [[Kenneth E. Greer]], published in a classified supplement to [[Studies in Intelligence]] in spring 1973, states that in late March and April 1958 "interest shifted to a competitive design submitted by Itek Corporation, a spin-off of Boston University," that the project proposal completed on April 9, 1958 was rewritten twice, "retaining the Itek configuration," and that the final proposal was forwarded on April 16, 1958 to the President's staff secretary and approved, "although not in writing"; Itek "was made responsible for the design and development of the camera subsystem, Fairchild producing the camera under subcontract to Itek."[^6] Crisp, who joined the staff in 1960, dated Leghorn's approach to Rockefeller to "around 1960": Leghorn said Eastman Kodak's cameras were heavy and inefficient, and Rockefeller told him to show he could leave [[Eastman Kodak]] without being sued, and put up 60,000 dollars in 1960 together with [[William A. Burden and Company]] and "the Walker Brothers, Elisha and Bayard Walker, who had an investment company called the Long Island Company." Crisp said Itek was later bought by [[Litton Industries]] and that the product "which made them famous" was "the camera which was in the U-2 plane that was flown by Francis Gary Powers."[^4]
On Apple, Crisp said that [[Mike Markkula]], who had advised the founders, called Venrock when Markkula's 110,000-dollar loan guarantee ran out, and [[Steve Jobs]] and [[Steve Wozniak]] came to New York. Venrock bought 10 percent of the company for 300,000 dollars, valuing it at 3 million dollars, and put in 200,000 dollars more about eight months later; at the initial public offering the 500,000 dollars was worth 110 million dollars. When Apple prepared to go public the company wanted the managing partner on the board, and Crisp took the seat of his partner [[Hank Smith]], who "made a lot of money in Intel and in Apple."[^4]
### Special Studies Project
The [[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]]'s [[Special Studies Project]] began in 1956 under its president, Nelson Rockefeller, who chaired it for two years; when Nelson became governor of New York in 1958 Laurance became chairman.[^7] The published planning committee lists "Laurance S. Rockefeller, (Chairman since May 26, 1958)" and "Nelson A. Rockefeller, (Chairman, resigned May 26, 1958)," with [[Dana S. Creel]], [[Nancy Hanks]], [[Emmet John Hughes]], [[Francis A. Jamieson]], [[Henry A. Kissinger]], [[John E. Lockwood]] and [[Oscar M. Ruebhausen]].[^8]
Panel II, "International Security: The Military Aspect," first published on January 6, 1958, had been meeting since November 1956 and was the first panel to report.[^8] Its members, as listed in the 1961 volume, were [[Frank Altschul]], General [[Frederick L. Anderson]], [[Karl R. Bendetsen]], [[Detlev W. Bronk]], [[Gordon E. Dean]], [[James B. Fisk]], [[Bradley Gaylord]], [[Roswell L. Gilpatric]], [[Townsend W. Hoopes]] of J. H. Whitney and Company, [[Ellis A. Johnson]] of the Operations Research Office, Colonel [[George A. Lincoln]], [[Henry R. Luce]], General [[James McCormack Jr.]] (chairman until October 1957), [[Frank C. Nash]], "Laurance S. Rockefeller, president, Rockefeller Brothers, Inc.," [[Arthur Smithies]], [[Edward Teller]], "T. F. Walkowicz, aeronautical engineer," [[Carroll L. Wilson]], and [[John F. Floberg]] until his appointment to the [[Atomic Energy Commission]] in June 1957.[^8] The panel reports were published as *Prospect for America* by [[Doubleday]] in 1961 and sold over 400,000 copies, and participants later served in the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford administrations.[^7]
The Central Intelligence Agency's files hold correspondence on two of the releases. [[Allen Dulles]], [[Director of Central Intelligence]], wrote to Rockefeller on September 16, 1960: "I have found this study, like the other reports in your special studies project, most interesting." The study was *The Power of the Democratic Idea*, and a copy of it in the agency's files carries a notice that it was sent "in advance of the RELEASE DATE, Wednesday, September 7, 1960" and was to be treated as confidential until then.[^9] On February 20, 1961 Rockefeller wrote to Dulles on Rockefeller Brothers Fund stationery that lists him as president, enclosing an advance copy of *Prospect for America*, which was to be published on March 17; his letter states that the Trustees of the Fund organized the project "in the belief that there was real merit in a group of citizens making an effort to look at America as it is." Dulles replied on March 1, 1961 that the book would be "a welcome and valuable addition to my private library."[^10]
### Conservation Commissions, Jackson Hole and the Virgin Islands
In 1958 President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] appointed Rockefeller chairman of the [[Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission]].[^1] He later served as a special emissary for President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] on the creation of [[Redwood National Park]] and chaired President [[Richard Nixon]]'s Citizens' Advisory Committee on Environmental Quality. He was president, then chairman, of the Fund from 1958 to 1980, chairman of [[Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center|Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center]] from 1960 to 1982, a trustee of the [[Alfred P. Sloan Foundation]] from 1960 to 1982, and a trustee of the [[New York Zoological Society]] from 1935 to 1986. In 1958 he established the [[American Conservation Association]], Inc., a philanthropy to function as a conservation service agency, assisting other agencies and initiating projects of its own.[^1] The commission's members were Senators [[Clinton P. Anderson]], [[Henry C. Dworshak]], [[Henry M. Jackson]] and [[Jack Miller]]; Representatives [[John P. Saylor]], [[Gracie Pfost]], [[Ralph J. Rivers]] and [[John H. Kyl]]; and presidential commissioners [[Samuel T. Dana]], [[Marian S. Dryfoos]], [[Bernard L. Orell]], [[Joseph W. Penfold]], [[M. Frederick Smith]] and [[Chester S. Wilson]]. The report was presented to President Kennedy and Congress on the Wednesday before the Interior Department's release of February 1, 1962, and Secretary of the Interior [[Stewart Udall]] gave priority to the creation of a Bureau of Outdoor Recreation.[^11]
As president of [[Jackson Hole Preserve]], Inc., Rockefeller made the 1949 gift of [[Jackson Hole]] land to the federal government on his father's behalf.[^1] [[Virgin Islands National Park]] "was created through a donation of more than 5,000 acres of land in 1956 ... from Laurance Rockefeller"; in the mid-1950s he established the [[Caneel Bay]] Resort on [[Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands|St. John]], which operated until [[Hurricane Irma]] and [[Hurricane Maria]] closed it in 2017; and in 1983 Jackson Hole Preserve, Inc., "an organization established by Laurance Rockefeller," donated the roughly 150 acres of the resort to the Park Service, subject to a retained use estate allowing its operator to use the property as a resort until September 30, 2023.[^12] The corporation, with an [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruling date of 1942, still files returns from Woodstock, Vermont, and reported assets of 5,327,031 dollars for 2023.[^13]
### Consciousness Research
The [[Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab|Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research]] laboratory, established in 1979 by [[Robert Jahn]], announced its closure on February 10, 2007, stating that its research "was funded by gifts from Princeton alumni [[James S. McDonnell]], patriarch of the McDonnell Douglas Aerospace empire, Laurance Rockefeller, [[Donald C. Webster]], and by numerous other philanthropic benefactors."[^14] According to the [[John E. Mack Institute]], in 1993 the [[Center for Psychology and Social Change]] formed the [[Program for Extraordinary Experience Research]] "with funding from Laurence Rockefeller" to study reported "alien encounters"; the program's own page states that as of 2002 it was no longer an active research project.[^15]
[[C. B. Scott Jones]] wrote to the presidential science adviser, [[John H. Gibbons]], on the letterhead of the [[Human Potential Foundation]] of [[Falls Church, Virginia]].[^16] A handwritten note of February 24, 1994 on one of those letters, initialed by Gibbons, concerns Jones's association with Senator [[Claiborne Pell]] and reads: "Scott Jones used to be associated with Senator Pell. He was formerly a Navy pilot. The Human Potential Foundation is funded in part, I believe, by L.R."[^16] In the same office's memorandum for the President of August 4, 1995, Gibbons wrote that Rockefeller's interests "are related to those of Senator Pell."[^17] The writer [[Grant Cameron]], in a paper on the documents below, wrote that Pell founded the foundation and Jones was its president, that [[Common Cause Magazine]] had reported Rockefeller put more than 700,000 dollars through it from 1991 to 1994, and that [[Richard Farley]], who worked for the foundation for about three years, gave the same figure and "claimed" that Rockefeller's interest was in "alternative religious and psychiatric/psychological paradigms, including so-called 'UFOs' and 'abductions,' having 'Global Mind Change' potentials."[^18]
### Approach to the Science Adviser, 1993
The [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]], where Gibbons was Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, released 991 pages of correspondence on UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence to Cameron in January 2001, according to Cameron.[^18] The earliest is a memorandum of March 29, 1993 from [[Henry L. Diamond]] to Gibbons (attention [[Mike Kowalok]]), concerning an approach by Rockefeller to President [[Bill Clinton]] and asking for a meeting with Rockefeller on April 12 or 13. It describes Rockefeller as "a leading U.S. conservationist, businessman, and philanthropist" who, "with other leading citizens, is planning to make an approach to President Clinton" on "the potential availability of government information about unidentified flying objects and extraterrestrial life," and gives the basic message as "a belief in many quarters that the government has long held classified information regarding UFOs which has not been released and that the failure to do so has brought about unnecessary suspicion and distrust." It states that Rockefeller would be accompanied by Jones, "President of the Human Potential Foundation," and by Diamond, "a Washington attorney and long-time associate of Mr. Rockefeller, known to Dr. Gibbons." A handwritten note adds "+ Scott Jones."[^19]
On April 21, 1993, on stationery of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Room 5600, Rockefeller thanked Gibbons for seeing him "so early Wednesday morning." He wrote that Gibbons had said that in three months as science adviser he had "not learned that the United States Government has a body of knowledge on UFOs or ETI that is being withheld from the public," and had made it clear that "initially our most fruitful avenue of approach, most likely, will be within the [[Department of Defense]]." Rockefeller would report on the meeting to [[Melvin Laird]] and hoped to follow up with Secretary of Defense [[Les Aspin]]; he planned a letter to President Clinton urging "a reassessment of government policy regarding UFO and ETI information" and a small group, convened with Jones's help, to discuss UFOs "in an informal, non-public way."[^20] On May 26, 1993 Gibbons, signing as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, thanked Jones for "the materials," noted that the books "came from the Foundation's library," and sent "best wishes and regards to Lawrence."[^21]
On May 7, 1993 he wrote to the evangelist [[Billy Graham]], proposing that Graham co-sign a letter to Clinton asking for a review of the classification of UFO information, and stated that "we are working closely with Mel Laird, former Secretary of Defense, and a great good friend of the present Secretary, Les Aspin," and had met Gibbons. The other co-signers under consideration were [[Maurice Strong]], the former [[United Nations]] secretary general [[Javier Pérez de Cuéllar]], possibly former President [[Jimmy Carter]], and Senators Pell and [[Ted Stevens]]. Graham replied on May 20, 1993 that he thought Rockefeller was "exactly right, that since they are reviewing the whole classification process, many documents will probably become available that have not previously," and declined, writing that he had "made it a policy not to co-sign such letters" and kept his contacts with presidents "on a purely personal, one-on-one, private basis."[^22]
On August 4, 1993 Rockefeller invited Gibbons or a representative to an informal roundtable he was hosting from September 13 to 15 at the [[JY Ranch]], in the Grand Teton National Park near Jackson, Wyoming. The letter gives the purpose as assessing "the extent of information which may or may not be in the hands of the federal government" and developing "productive ways to encourage the Administration to include information of UFO and ETI phenomena in its current review of previously classified information." The six presenters were [[Steven Greer]], [[Linda Moulton Howe]], [[Bruce Maccabee]], [[R. Leo Sprinkle]], [[Jill Tarter]] of the [[NASA]] Ames Research Center and [[Keith Thompson]]; [[John Mack]], [[Peter Sturrock]], "a representative of the Science Advisor to the President" and "several of my associates" were also invited. The four themes included "strategies for influencing government policy in the direction of openness," "assessment of alleged psychological, economic and other barriers to a government policy of openness on the subject," and "spiritual and other dimensional aspects of UFO and ETI phenomena." The roundtable "will not be publicized but, of course will not be secret" and would be off the record.[^23] The [[Paradigm Research Group]] reproduces a photograph that it captions as the September 14 to 15, 1993 meeting at the JY Ranch and labels, left to right, Diamond, Greer, Maccabee, [[George Lamb]], [[Robert Bigelow]], Howe, Sprinkle, Thompson, Mack, Rockefeller, Jones, Johnie Jones and [[Robert Teets]], with [[Marie Galbraith|Marie "Bootsie" Galbraith]] and Farley behind the camera.[^24] On November 12, 1993 Diamond, on the letterhead of [[Beveridge and Diamond]], wrote to a Gibbons staff member that he had seen Gibbons at the [[Environmental Law Institute]] dinner on October 20 and that Rockefeller wished to see him again between December 10 and 23.[^25]
### Roswell, 1994
After a meeting on February 4, 1994, Rockefeller wrote to Gibbons on February 14 that "your approach of starting by addressing a specific incident is an important and reasonable way to begin the process of declassification," that the July 1947 [[Roswell Incident]] "would be a logical and challenging place to start," and that if the effort succeeded it "will become an important prototype for the release of all UFO related information." He proposed amnesty "on an individual basis" for those with knowledge, and, "in the light of your proposed initiative," said "we shall defer writing to the President."[^26] On May 24, 1994 Secretary of the Air Force [[Sheila Widnall]] sent Gibbons a cover memorandum, "As you and I discussed earlier, we are researching Air Force material on UFOs in general, and Roswell in particular," with an interim report to her of May 20 from the office designated SAF/AAZ. The report stated that "in early Feb 94, upon learning of the projected GAO audit," the Air Force had stood up elements of its Declassification Review Team to begin preliminary research, and that the offices tasked had "reported no records were located to indicate anything unusual happened at Roswell in July 1947." Widnall wrote: "My policy is that we are declassifying everything even remotely related, and anything our people think still needs to be classified will have to be justified to me." A handwritten note on the cover, initialed "JG," reads: "Skip - for your scanning. After you and I have a chance to discuss, I'll be ready to communicate w/ L.R. + his niece."[^27]
Jones wrote to Gibbons on February 17 enclosing a chronology compiled by the [[Fund for UFO Research]] and press clippings on the inquiry by Representative [[Steven Schiff]], and reporting that a [[Pentagon]] spokesman had told a [[Government Accountability Office|General Accounting Office]] investigator "Go shit in your hat." He had spent time after the February 4 meeting with [[Edward J. Reese]] of the Modern Military Branch of the [[National Archives and Records Administration]] on where Roswell documentation might be located. The letter's second page reads: "Whatever Roswell turns out to be, it is only the opening round. ... My mention of mind-control technology at the February 4 meeting was quite deliberate. Please be careful about this. There are reasons to believe that some government group has interwoven research about this technology with alleged UFO phenomena. If that [is] correct, you can expect to run into early resistance when inquiring about UFOs, not because of the UFO subject, but because that has been used to cloak research and applications of mind-control activity."[^16]
On June 1, 1994 Rockefeller wrote that "it was Mel Laird who suggested that you should be the logical point of contact and coordination with the federal government," asked whether there were developments in the survey of information among federal agencies on Roswell that Gibbons had suggested, attached a letter from Laird, and mentioned "preliminary talks with those who might be interested in bringing about a United Nations Conference on extraterrestrial intelligence."[^28] Laird's letter, dated May 9, 1994 and replying to one from Rockefeller of April 25, stated that "you are proceeding properly by going through the President's Science Advisor," and that "any review will certainly disappoint some individuals who have built up some rather extreme antidotal and uncollaborated accounts."[^28] On July 27, 1994 [[Anne Bartley]] wrote to Gibbons about "follow-up on our meeting with Laurance S. Rockefeller and his associates," recalling that Gibbons had suggested "an informal inquiry into the availability of information within federal agencies about the 1947 Roswell, [[New Mexico]], event," asking about "prospects for a relaxation of the classification system," and stating that Rockefeller "has begun to wonder whether a U.N. Conference would be useful."[^29]
On August 11, 1994 Jones wrote to Gibbons that [[Edgar Mitchell]], founder of the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]], on whose board Pell sat, would be glad to meet Gibbons "in the area that Laurance, you and I have been discussing," and that Gibbons "may want to talk to [[R. James Woolsey|James Woolsey]] about what you are doing." The next lines, partly cut off in the scan, say that Woolsey "has a document search project under way" and "has not discovered anything of significance," and Jones adds: "If I had the responsibility to run a super safe black program on this subject, I would take it completely out of the government's" bureaucracy "and run it from the private sector, probably somewhere within" the aerospace community "or perhaps General Motors."[^30] On September 5, 1994 Rockefeller thanked Gibbons for a note that he had received a report from the Air Force; after the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] released the results of its Roswell investigation (in July 1994 in the General Accounting Office's account, and publicly available in September in Gibbons's)[^17][^31] he wrote on December 9 thanking Gibbons for "your initiative in stimulating the recent Air Force Review of the Roswell incident," adding that "we are continuing our citizens' reconnaissance of the extraterrestrial intelligence phenomenon."[^32] On February 9, 1995 Jones wrote that "there is some shadowy evidence that the administration is in the process of modifying the government's policy concerning secrecy and denial about UFO phenomena," that "Laurance mentioned that he was also considering a public relations approach" and that "he can afford a rather aggressive and expensive effort implementing that strategy, e.g., full page ads in major newspapers," and that after Rockefeller's last meeting with Gibbons "we are not going to get feedback from our attempts to get the [[White House]] to open the books on this subject."[^33] On April 11, 1995 Rockefeller wrote that he had reviewed the draft executive order revising national classification policy and that "my concern with government information involving extraterrestrial intelligence was stimulated by the widespread public belief that the government was withholding information about UFO incidents."[^34]
The General Accounting Office wrote to Gibbons on April 12, 1995, at Schiff's request, that it was determining what records existed on Roswell. Gibbons replied on April 26 to the GAO's director of federal management issues that the Office of Science and Technology Policy had "no direct knowledge of what occurred at Roswell and no records, except for the information I received from the Air Force."[^31] An internal OSTP message of June 9, 1995 reports a call from the GAO about its eight-page report, which would state that the agency had asked OSTP and other agencies whether they held records and that "DOE and OSTP had no records"; a handwritten reply of June 12, signed "Sue B.," reads "Tanya, OK w/ JHG."[^35]
### The Draft Letter to the President, 1995 and 1996
On August 4, 1995 Gibbons sent President Clinton a memorandum headed "Inquiry from Laurance Rockefeller." It begins: "You will probably see Mr. Rockefeller on your vacation in the Tetons. He will want to talk with you about his interest in extrasensory perception, paranormal phenomena, and UFO's. His interests are related to those of Senator Pell." Gibbons wrote that "Les Aspin and Mel Laird referred Laurance to me," that Rockefeller had sought "the Administration's help in 'declassifying the information'," that "I persuaded Rockefeller to not bother you with this issue but instead to let me talk with defense officials," that Secretary of the Air Force Widnall had "arranged for a full revisiting by the Air Force of pertinent records, guaranteed 'amnesty' to anyone who felt constrained to talk," and that "the bottom line is that all evidence points to a failed U.S. Air Force balloon experiment, and no evidence of a 'flying saucer' or cover-up conspiracy. (However, the UFO 'community' persists in believing that the Air Force report is flawed.)" A "second rubric" was "human potential" research: "Senator Pell and others have supported the funding of research in social science to focus more on these phenomena." Gibbons closed: "I've made no secret about my conviction that we must not be too diverted from more earthly imperatives."[^17]
The Clintons began a vacation in Jackson Hole on August 15, 1995, with Senator [[Jay Rockefeller]] and his wife, Sharon, as hosts at a Rockefeller family estate.[^36] The [[William J. Clinton Presidential Library]] holds photographs, in a set processed for a [[Freedom of Information Act]] request, of a visit by President Clinton and [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Rodham Clinton]] to Laurance Rockefeller's JY Ranch on August 21, 1995.[^36] On August 17 Jones, writing on Human Potential Foundation letterhead to Representative Schiff, described a conference, "When Cosmic Cultures Meet," held in Washington over the Memorial Day weekend: "The conference was part of a process to make it politically safe for Congress to get involved in a subject that from all available evidence has been the secret purview of the executive department for nearly fifty years."[^37]
On August 23, 1995 Rockefeller's office faxed Gibbons five pages plus a cover sheet: a draft letter to President Clinton, headed "Lifting Secrecy on Information About Extraterrestrial Intelligence as Part of the Current Classification Review," and the 1993 exchange with Graham. The draft states that Rockefeller has "been interested in the enhancement of spirituality and holistic healing as well as the development of a new paradigm of consciousness," and asks the President to direct that information on extraterrestrial intelligence and UFOs "be given priority in the current classification review," to appoint a coordinator for government information about those subjects, to bring together information "from all federal agencies involved, such as the Department of Defense, the Air Force, NASA and the CIA" ("Your Science Advisor, Jack Gibbons, might be the right person for this role"), and to make known that anyone with information "will be granted amnesty from relevant oaths or other government constraints."[^22] On November 1, 1995 Diamond, writing from 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Room 5600, sent Gibbons "a draft letter to the President which Laurance has been discussing with Mrs. Clinton and her staff" and a draft report on the "best evidence" about UFOs; a letter of November 8 identified [[Don Berliner]] as its principal author.[^38]
On February 5, 1996 Rockefeller told Gibbons that the "Best Evidence Report (the report written by Don Berliner and coordinated by Marie Galbraith which we have referred to as the 'Bootsie report')" was an "unusual combined effort of the three major UFO organizations." He wrote that Gibbons's "willingness to approach the Air Force, the Central Intelligence Agency and NASA on this project is extremely important," and that the group would put forward names for a pilot project on an expanded amnesty program. The draft letter to the President, he wrote, "might receive attention in a second term. You indicated that you will keep the First Lady's Office informed, and we shall as well."[^39] On February 27, 1996 Widnall wrote to Gibbons, after "our recent dinner conversation," enclosing "the full Roswell Report to pass on to Lawrence Rockefeller" and noting that a second volume was in preparation; on February 29 Rockefeller sent Gibbons the "Best Available Evidence" report, writing "I sponsored this report" and, "while I do not necessarily agree with every finding and conclusion," that "the evidence presented indicates that this subject merits serious scientific study," with a new draft of the letter to the President.[^40] On October 17, 1996 he proposed an international conference. "At the suggestion of Maurice Strong," he had contacted [[Julia Marton-Lefevre|Julia Marton Lefevre]], executive director of what the letter calls the International Scientific Union, and he forwarded a letter from [[Carl Sagan]], writing that he was "puzzled by Carl's enthusiastic support of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence by radio telescope while he maintains a high degree of skepticism about other means of inquiry."[^41] In a letter of January 2, 1997 to Gibbons, Maccabee wrote that in April 1993, "at the request of Dr. [[Ronald Pandolfi]] of the CIA," he had faxed Gibbons an information paper on UFOs.[^42] On June 20, 1997 the Secretary of the Air Force sent Gibbons the second volume of *The Roswell Report: Case Closed*, to be released on the following Tuesday.[^43]
### Pocantico Workshop, 1997
In December 1996, in Sturrock's words in the introduction to the published proceedings, "Mr. Laurance S. Rockefeller, Chairman of the [[LSR Fund]], invited me to review with him the status of our understanding of the problem posed by UFO reports." Rockefeller, Diamond and Sturrock conceived a workshop; Sturrock submitted a proposal to the LSR Fund in February 1997 with administrative support from the [[Society for Scientific Exploration]], and "the necessary funds were transferred from the Fund to the Society." The workshop met at the [[Pocantico Conference Center]] at Tarrytown, New York, from September 29 to October 4, 1997, and Sturrock thanked Rockefeller "for his interest in and support of this project" and Diamond and [[Charles Tolbert]] for administrative support.[^44]
### Rockefeller Funds
The Laurance S. Rockefeller Fund of New York, which received its Internal Revenue Service ruling in June 2006, reported assets of 35,533,812 dollars for 2023. The Fund for UFO Research of Fairfax, Virginia, to which the letters of 1994 and 1996 refer, has been tax-exempt since April 1982.[^13]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Rockefeller Archive Center, "Laurance S. Rockefeller," biography, https://rockarch.org/resources/about-the-rockefellers/laurance-s-rockefeller/ (birth, death, education, marriage, Navy service, family office, Venrock from August 1969, Jackson Hole Preserve, American Conservation Association, Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, Fund presidency and chairmanship 1958 to 1980, Sloan-Kettering, Sloan Foundation, Zoological Society).
[^2]: Rockefeller Archive Center, "John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1874-1960," biography (children of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller), https://rockarch.org/resources/about-the-rockefellers/john-d-rockefeller-jr/.
[^3]: W. David Lewis, "A Man Born Out of Season: Eddie Rickenbacker, Eastern Airlines, and the Civil Aeronautics Board," *Business and Economic History* 25, no. 1 (Fall 1996), pp. 157-163, https://thebhc.org/sites/default/files/beh/BEHprint/v025n1/p0154-p0164.pdf.
[^4]: Peter O. Crisp, "Venture Capital Greats: A Conversation with Peter O. Crisp," interviewed by Carole Kolker, October 21, 2008, National Venture Capital Association Venture Capital Oral History Project, pp. 8, 24-28, 38 and 45-47, https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/vcg-crisp.pdf.
[^5]: "Richard Leghorn, 98, pioneer of Cold War aerial espionage photography," *Boston Globe*, February 5, 2018, https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2018/02/05/richard-leghorn-pioneer-cold-war-aerial-espionage-photography/C6PlYAATiFZNKx2P1La8JJ/story.html.
[^6]: Kenneth E. Greer, "Corona," *Studies in Intelligence*, Supplement, 17 (Spring 1973), pp. 1-37, reproduced in Kevin C. Ruffner, ed., *CORONA: America's First Satellite Program* (Washington: Central Intelligence Agency, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1995), https://www.cia.gov/static/Corona-Between-the-Sun-and-the-Earth.pdf.
[^7]: Rockefeller Brothers Fund, "In Depth: The Special Studies Project," Wayback Machine capture of October 5, 2021, https://web.archive.org/web/20211005203914/https://www.rbf.org/about/our-history/timeline/special-studies-project/in-depth.
[^8]: Rockefeller Brothers Fund, *Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports* (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961), list of the Special Studies Project planning committee and introduction by Panel II, https://archive.org/details/prospect-for-america-the-rockefeller-panel-reports-rockefeller-brothers-fund-1961.
[^9]: Allen W. Dulles to Laurance S. Rockefeller, September 16, 1960, CIA-RDP80B01676R003700050029-8, and the advance copy of Special Studies Project report VI, *The Power of the Democratic Idea*, with release notice, CIA-RDP80B01676R003700050028-9, CIA Reading Room, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003700050029-8 and https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003700050028-9.
[^10]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to Allen W. Dulles, February 20, 1961, and Dulles to Rockefeller, March 1, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R003500230010-0, CIA Reading Room, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003500230010-0.
[^11]: U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary, news release, "Secretary Udall Pledges Support of ORRRC Proposals," February 1, 1962, https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/historic-news-releases/1962/19620201B.PDF.
[^12]: National Park Service, *Caneel Bay Area Redevelopment and Management Environmental Assessment*, Virgin Islands National Park (January 2023), chapter 1, https://npshistory.com/publications/viis/caneel-bay-redev-mgt-ea-2023.pdf.
[^13]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, organization records for Jackson Hole Preserve Inc (EIN 13-1813818), Laurance S Rockefeller Fund (EIN 20-4192256) and Fund For UFO Research (EIN 52-1164176), https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/131813818.json, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/204192256.json and https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/521164176.json.
[^14]: Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research, press release, "Princeton's PEAR Laboratory to Close," February 10, 2007, http://pearlab.icrl.org/press-statement.html.
[^15]: John E. Mack Institute, "History," https://johnemackinstitute.org/history/, and "Program for Extraordinary Experience Research (PEER)," http://johnemackinstitute.org/2003/01/program-for-extraordinary-experience-research-peer/.
[^16]: C. B. Scott Jones, Human Potential Foundation, to John H. Gibbons, February 17, 1994, with Gibbons's handwritten note dated 2/24/94, Office of Science and Technology Policy file, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-17-94.htm.
[^17]: John H. Gibbons, memorandum for the President, "Inquiry from Laurance Rockefeller," August 4, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-4-95.htm.
[^18]: Grant Cameron, "Extraterrestrial Politics in the Clinton White House (1993-2001) and the Laurance Rockefeller Initiative," introduction and notes iii and xiii, http://www.x-ppac.org/OSTP.html. The index of the scanned documents is at http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller_Initiative_Documents.htm.
[^19]: Henry L. Diamond, memorandum to John H. Gibbons, attention Mike Kowalok, "Request for Meeting with Dr. Gibbons for Laurance S. Rockefeller, April 12 or 13, 1993," March 29, 1993, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-3-29-93.htm.
[^20]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, April 21, 1993, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-4-21-93.htm.
[^21]: John H. Gibbons, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, to C. B. Scott Jones, May 26, 1993, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-5-26-93.htm.
[^22]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to Billy Graham, May 7, 1993, and Graham to Rockefeller, May 20, 1993, attached to Rockefeller's fax to Gibbons of August 23, 1995, with the undated draft letter to President Clinton, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-23-95.htm.
[^23]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, August 4, 1993, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-4-93.htm.
[^24]: Paradigm Research Group, "September 14-15, 1993 Meeting at Rockefeller's JY Ranch in Wyoming," photograph and caption, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/9-14-93_Meeting.htm.
[^25]: Henry L. Diamond, Beveridge and Diamond, P.C., memorandum to Sue Bachtel, November 12, 1993, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-11-12-93.htm.
[^26]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, February 14, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-14-94.htm.
[^27]: Sheila E. Widnall, Secretary of the Air Force, memorandum for John H. Gibbons, "UFO Research," May 24, 1994, with Gibbons's handwritten note, and the enclosed memorandum for the Secretary of the Air Force from SAF/AAZ, "Status Report on Search Efforts Regarding 'the Roswell Incident,'" May 20, 1994, p. 1, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-5-24-94.htm (the memorandum of May 24 is listed among the enclosures to Gibbons's letter to the General Accounting Office of April 26, 1995).
[^28]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, June 1, 1994, with the attached letter from Melvin R. Laird to Rockefeller, May 9, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-6-1-94.htm.
[^29]: Anne Bartley, memorandum for Jack Gibbons, "Laurance S. Rockefeller Interest in Extraterrestrial Intelligence," July 27, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-7-27-94.htm.
[^30]: C. B. Scott Jones, Human Potential Foundation, to John H. Gibbons, August 11, 1994, pp. 1-2, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-11-94.htm.
[^31]: U.S. General Accounting Office, General Government Division, to John H. Gibbons, April 12, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-4-12-95.htm; John H. Gibbons to William Hunt, Director, Federal Management Issues, U.S. General Accounting Office, April 26, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-4-26-95.htm.
[^32]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, September 5, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-9-5-94.htm, and December 9, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-12-9-94.htm.
[^33]: C. B. Scott Jones to John H. Gibbons, February 9, 1995, pp. 1-2, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-9-95.htm.
[^34]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, April 11, 1995 (the scan is filed under 4-11-94 and the letter is dated April 11, 1995), http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-4-11-94.htm.
[^35]: Tanya M. Felder, OSTP electronic message to Susanne Bachtel, Barbara A. Ferguson and Holly L. Gwin, "GAO Report on UFOs," June 9, 1995, with handwritten reply of June 12, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-6-9-95.htm.
[^36]: "Clintons to Vacation in Wyoming Mountains," *Spokesman-Review*, August 15, 1995, https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/aug/15/clintons-to-vacation-in-wyoming-mountains/; William J. Clinton Presidential Library, "White House Photos - Laurance Rockefeller - Philanthropist," finding aid 2006-0546-F (contact sheet book 312, frame P31195, August 21, 1995), https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/research/archives/finding-aids/white-house-photos-laurance-rockefeller-philanthropist.
[^37]: C. B. Scott Jones, Human Potential Foundation, to Representative Steven Schiff, August 17, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-17-95.htm.
[^38]: Henry L. Diamond to John H. Gibbons, November 1, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-11-1-95.htm, and November 8, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-11-8-95.htm.
[^39]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, February 5, 1996, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-5-96.htm.
[^40]: Sheila E. Widnall, Secretary of the Air Force, to John H. Gibbons, February 27, 1996, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-27-96.htm; Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, February 29, 1996, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-29-96.htm.
[^41]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, October 17, 1996, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-10-17-96.htm.
[^42]: Bruce Maccabee to John H. Gibbons, January 2, 1997, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-1-2-97.htm.
[^43]: Secretary of the Air Force to John H. Gibbons, June 20, 1997, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-6-20-97.htm.
[^44]: Peter A. Sturrock et al., "Physical Evidence Related to UFO Reports: The Proceedings of a Workshop Held at the Pocantico Conference Center, Tarrytown, New York, September 29 - October 4, 1997," *Journal of Scientific Exploration* 12, no. 2 (1998), pp. 179-229, introduction as reproduced at http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc535.htm.

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---
category: "Technologists"
tags:
- Person
- LukeNosek
- PayPalMafia
- FoundersFund
- Gigafund
- SpaceX
- VentureCapital
- PeterThiel
- SecuritiesFilings
- CampaignFinance
alias:
- Luke Nosek
- Luke P. Nosek
summary: "PayPal co-founder, Founders Fund co-founder and Gigafund managing partner, a SpaceX director since July 2008 whose 2026 prospectus lists 32,987,360 shares, 2,381,000 pledged against personal debt."
location: "Austin, Texas"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[PayPal]]"
start: 1998-11
end: 2002-02
role: "co-founder; vice president of business development, marketing and strategy"
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Founders Fund]]"
start: 2006-04
end: 2017-07
role: "co-founder; general partner"
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Gigafund]]"
start: 2017-07
role: "co-founder and managing partner"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[SpaceX]]"
start: 2008-07
role: "director; initial Class B director and compensation and nominating committee member on the 2026 offering"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[DeepMind]]"
role: "director before its acquisition by Google"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Last Energy]]"
role: "director"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Emerald Cloud Lab]]"
role: "director"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[ResearchGate]]"
role: "director"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Halcyon Molecular]]"
start: 2009
role: "president on joining; chairman by 2011"
fn: 2
- type: director_of
with: "[[Pathway Genomics]]"
role: "director, per a 2011 university biography"
fn: 2
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Peter Thiel]]"
start: 2009-05-15
role: "co-director or co-promoter of Founders Fund vehicles; shared voting power over Founders Fund II and III funds"
fn: 5
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Ken Howery]]"
start: 2009-05-15
role: "co-director or co-promoter of Founders Fund vehicles in Form D filings"
fn: 5
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Stephen Oskoui]]"
start: 2017-07-27
role: "co-executive officer of the Gigafund funds"
fn: 14
- type: owned
with: "[[Angel Studios]]"
start: 2025-09-10
role: "19,459,882 Class A shares (19.48 percent) through Gigafund 1, LP, shared control with Oskoui"
fn: 16
- type: funded
with: "[[Endorse Liberty]]"
start: 2012-01-03
end: 2012-01-23
role: "10,001 dollars"
fn: 4
- type: funded
with: "[[Blake Masters]]"
start: 2022-03-28
end: 2022-03-28
role: "5,800 dollars to Blake Masters for Senate"
fn: 4
- type: funded
with: "[[Turnout for America]]"
start: 2024-11-04
end: 2024-11-04
role: "500,000 dollars"
fn: 4
- type: funded
with: "[[Republican National Committee]]"
start: 2026-03-23
end: 2026-03-23
role: "100,000 dollars"
fn: 4
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Luke Nosek is a venture capitalist who co-founded [[PayPal]] and, with [[Peter Thiel]] and [[Ken Howery]], [[Founders Fund]]. He has sat on the board of [[SpaceX]] (Space Exploration Technologies Corp.) since July 2008 and has been managing partner of [[Gigafund]], a venture firm he co-founded in July 2017, since its inception. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer engineering (1996) from the [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign]] and was 50 years old in June 2026.[^1] The university's Grainger College of Engineering gave him its Young Alumni Achievement Award in 2011.[^2]
### PayPal
Nosek co-founded PayPal and served as its vice president of business development, vice president of marketing and vice president of strategy from November 1998 to February 2002.[^1] He oversaw PayPal's marketing at launch and created its "Instant Transfer" product.[^2] A [[Federal Election Commission]] record dated September 30, 1999 lists a 250 dollar contribution from "Nosek, Luke" of Palo Alto to Bush for President Inc., with his employer given as [[Confinity]].[^3]
### Founders Fund
SpaceX's 2026 prospectus dates his co-founding of Founders Fund to April 2006 and his service as a general partner through July 2017.[^1] The University of Illinois award citation of 2011 gives 2005 as the year he helped found the firm, calls him a managing partner, and credits him as "the initial architect of the 'founder friendly' strategy" and the builder of the firm's biotechnology practice.[^2] Federal Election Commission records give his employer as Founders Fund, with his title variously as managing partner, managing member, partner and general partner, from June 2009 to October 2015.[^4]
The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]]'s Form D filings for Founders Fund vehicles name him with Thiel and Howery. On May 15, 2009, Founders Fund SpaceX Fund, LP reported 3,481,500 dollars sold to 11 investors since a first sale on April 30, 2009, at One Letterman Drive, Building C, Suite 420, [[San Francisco]], and listed Nosek, Thiel, Howery and [[Sean Parker]] as its directors. An amendment filed August 17, 2009 reported 6,737,500 dollars sold to 29 investors.[^5] The same suite is the address given for Thiel on the 2008 and 2009 returns of the [[Thiel Foundation]].
Founders Fund III, LP (filed May 5, 2010) reported 107,272,727 dollars sold to 21 investors and named The Founders Fund III Management, LLC, Thiel, Howery, Nosek and Parker as promoters. Founders Fund IV, LP (filed December 1, 2011) reported 500,000,000 dollars sold to 58 investors and named Thiel, Howery, Nosek, [[Bruce Gibney]] and [[Brian Singerman]] as promoters. Founders Fund V, LP (filed March 6, 2014, 1,015,200,000 dollars from 109 investors) and Founders Fund VI, LP (filed March 25, 2016, 1,274,127,000 dollars from 197 investors) listed Thiel, Howery, Nosek and Singerman as directors, at One Letterman Drive, Building D, Suite 500.[^6][^7][^8]
### Airbnb and the Founders Fund II and III Vehicles
A Form 3 filed for [[Airbnb]] with a date of event of December 9, 2020 names Founders Fund II Management, LLC, Founders Fund IV Management, LLC, Thiel, Nosek and Singerman as reporting persons, each checked as a ten percent owner. Its footnotes state that Thiel and Nosek "have shared voting and investment power over the shares held by" six partnerships: The Founders Fund II, LP, its Entrepreneurs Fund and Principals Fund, and The Founders Fund III, LP, its Entrepreneurs Fund and Principals Fund. Thiel and Singerman are given the same power over the Founders Fund IV partnerships. A Form 4 filed December 14, 2020 reports the automatic conversion of the Series B and Series C preferred stock into Class B common stock on the closing of Airbnb's initial public offering, with the same statements of shared voting power.[^9][^10] SpaceX's 2026 prospectus places the end of his general partner role at Founders Fund in July 2017.[^1]
### SpaceX
Nosek has served on the SpaceX board since July 2008. For the company's initial public offering of June 2026 he was listed with [[Elon Musk]], [[Gwynne Shotwell]], [[Antonio Gracias|Antonio J. Gracias]] and Donald Harrison as the five directors expected to serve as the initial Class B Directors, the seats elected by holders of Class B stock. [[Ira Ehrenpreis]], Randy Glein and [[Steve Jurvetson]] were named as the initial Common Stock Directors. The board found Nosek independent under the listing standards of Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas, and he was named with Ehrenpreis (chair) and Gracias as an expected member of the compensation and nominating committee, under the controlled-company exemption.[^1]
The prospectus's beneficial ownership table lists 32,987,360 shares of Class A common stock for Nosek: 24,987,340 shares held of record by him and 8,000,020 shares held of record by Nosek Capital, LLC, of which he is the managing member. Footnote 7 to the table states that "the reported amounts include 2,381,000 shares of Class A common stock pledged as security for personal indebtedness." The initial public offering price was 135.00 dollars per share, at which the holding corresponds to about 4.45 billion dollars.[^1] His Form 3 filed June 11, 2026 reports the same two holdings and lists him as a director, with his address in care of the company at Starbase, Texas.[^11] SpaceX's launch customers include the [[National Reconnaissance Office]], and its Starshield is "a secure satellite network designed specifically for government customers and national security applications."[^1]
The Form 13F holdings report of Gigafund Management Company, LLC for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 lists 171,826,745 shares of SpaceX Class A common stock valued at 29,358,317,651 dollars, and 19,459,882 shares of [[Angel Studios]] Class A common stock valued at 71,417,767 dollars.[^12] A Federal Election Commission record of March 29, 2012 gives Nosek's employer as "Space X" and his occupation as board director.[^4]
SpaceX's own Form D filings list Nosek as a director in all 21 Form D and Form D/A filings on the company's EDGAR record, from March 31, 2009 to August 5, 2022. The other related persons named include Musk, Shotwell and Jurvetson in every filing, [[Kimbal Musk]] through December 2021, Gracias from November 2010, and Harrison from August 2017. The filing of March 31, 2009 reports 15,025,000 dollars sold to seven investors of a 60,000,000 dollar offering (first sale March 18, 2009), six weeks before the first sale by Founders Fund SpaceX Fund. Later filings report 50,199,998 dollars to 16 investors (November 2010), 999,999,925 dollars to 13 investors (January 2015), 449,999,820 dollars to 25 investors (as amended November 27, 2017), 1,901,446,920 dollars to 75 investors (August 2020), 1,164,061,924 dollars to 99 investors (as amended April 14, 2021) and 1,724,965,480 dollars to 74 investors (as amended June 30, 2022).[^5][^13]
### Gigafund
Nosek co-founded Gigafund in July 2017 and has been managing partner since inception.[^1] The first two Gigafund Form D filings, for Gigafund 0, LP and Gigafund 0-A, LP, were filed July 27, 2017 from Redwood City, California, each with a 100,000,000 dollar offering and no sales reported. Nosek and [[Stephen Oskoui]] are the executive officers on both, and on every one of the 29 Form D and Form D/A filings made by 23 Gigafund partnerships through June 2024. From 2019 the filings give an address in [[Austin, Texas]].[^14]
The filings report Gigafund 0.1, LP (73,811,900 dollars, amendment of May 11, 2018), Gigafund 0.2, LP (50,999,975 dollars from four investors, first sale April 25, 2018), Gigafund 0.6, LP (71,814,396 dollars, July 2020), Gigafund 0.8, LP (230,939,181 dollars from 31 investors, November 2020), Gigafund 0.12, LP (80,000,000 dollars from 19 investors, February 2021), Gigafund 0.14, LP (478,358,022 dollars of a 513,000,000 dollar offering from 43 investors, first sale June 23, 2021), Gigafund 0.15, LP (49,999,600 dollars), Gigafund 0.16, LP (74,999,680 dollars), Gigafund 0.19, LP (53,936,666 dollars) and Gigafund 0.25, LP (71,500,000 dollars of a 100,000,000 dollar offering from 14 investors, first sale April 17, 2024). Smaller vehicles (0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, 0.13 and 0.24) raised between 2,000,000 and 16,999,998 dollars each, and Gigafund 0.22 (2023) and 0.26, 0.27 and 0.28 (June 28, 2024) reported no sales. The forms do not name portfolio companies.[^14]
A Form 3 filed September 19, 2025 for Angel Studios, Inc. of Provo, [[Utah]] (date of event September 10, 2025) names Gigafund 1, LP, Gigafund 1 GP, LP, Nosek and Oskoui as reporting persons, each a ten percent owner. It reports 19,459,882 shares of Class A common stock held directly by Gigafund 1, LP, and states that "Stephen D. Oskoui and Luke Nosek control all voting and investments decisions" over the partnership's securities. The reporting persons' address is 555 East 5th Street, Suite 3127, Austin.[^15] The Schedule 13G filed September 17, 2025 gives the stake as 19.48 percent of the Class A shares outstanding.[^16]
### Halcyon Molecular and Other Boards
Nosek joined [[Halcyon Molecular]], "a Founders Fund portfolio company pursuing a novel approach to ultra-fast complete genome sequencing", as president in 2009, and was its chairman in 2011, when he also sat on the boards of [[Pathway Genomics]] and SpaceX.[^2] Federal Election Commission records of March 29, 2012 give his employer as "Halcyon Molecular/Chairman" on two contributions to Friends of [[Mark Warner]].[^4] He sits on the boards of [[Last Energy]] (small modular nuclear reactors), [[Emerald Cloud Lab]] (remotely accessible, largely autonomous life science laboratories) and [[ResearchGate]], and served on the board of [[DeepMind]] before its acquisition by [[Google]].[^1]
### Political Contributions
Federal Election Commission records list the following itemized contributions by Nosek, with the employer and occupation as reported on each filing.[^4]
- 1999: 250 dollars to Bush for President Inc. (employer Confinity).
- 2009: 1,000 dollars to Friends of [[Jane Harman]] on June 19, with an offsetting entry of minus 1,000 dollars on July 1 (Founders Fund, managing partner).
- 2011: 1,000 dollars on September 10 to the Committee to Re-elect Congressman [[Dana Rohrabacher]] (Founders Fund, managing member).
- 2012: 9,000 dollars on January 3 and 1,001 dollars on January 23 to Endorse Liberty, Inc. (Founders Fund, partner); 5,000 dollars to the National Republican Congressional Committee on March 28; two entries of 2,500 dollars each to Janice Hahn for Congress (Space X, board director) and to Friends of Mark Warner (Halcyon Molecular, chairman) on March 29; 2,000 dollars each to the Committee to Re-elect [[Loretta Sanchez]] (August 27), Fattah for Congress (August 28) and Palazzo for Congress (September 11).
- 2013: 5,000 dollars to Team Graham, Inc. on March 8, partly redesignated, and two entries of 2,600 dollars to Udall for Colorado on March 26.
- 2015: 5,400 dollars to Friends of [[John McCain]], split between primary and general, and 5,000 dollars to Country First Political Action Committee on October 14 (Founders Fund, general partner, Mill Valley, California).
- 2021: 250 dollars to Georgians for Latham through WinRed on May 17 and 750 dollars on May 19 (employer given as "Gigi Fund", managing partner, Austin); 2,900 dollars to Lisa Murkowski for US Senate through WinRed on October 7 (Gigafund, co-founder, West Lake Hills, Texas).
- 2022: two entries of 2,900 dollars to [[Blake Masters]] for Senate on March 28 (Gigafund, managing partner).
- 2024: 500,000 dollars to Turnout for America on November 4 (self-employed, entrepreneur).
- 2025: 10,000 dollars to Protect Freedom Political Action Committee on November 6.
- 2026: 5,000 dollars to the Sheehy Victory Committee on February 15 (Gigafund Management Company, venture capital); 44,300 dollars and 55,700 dollars to the [[Republican National Committee]] on March 23, the second to its legal proceedings account (Gigafund Management, partner).
Endorse Liberty, Inc. (committee C00508002) is registered as an independent-expenditure-only committee of Alexandria, Virginia, first filed December 20, 2011, with Abraham David Niederhauser as treasurer; it reported 3,937,582.81 dollars in receipts and 3,542,481.59 dollars in independent expenditures for the 2012 cycle.[^17]
Turnout for America (committee C00883520) is registered as an independent-expenditure-only committee of Alexandria, Virginia, with Janna Rutland as treasurer, and first filed on July 17, 2024. For the 2023 to 2024 cycle it reported 45,670,092.93 dollars in receipts and 34,537,933.83 dollars in disbursements.[^18] Its largest itemized individual contributions were 5,000,000 dollars from [[Diane Hendricks]] on each of August 23 and October 4, 2024, 5,000,000 dollars (September 5) and 2,500,000 dollars (October 22) from [[Kelcy Warren]] of Energy Transfer Partners, 2,000,000 dollars from [[Andy Beal|D. Andrew Beal]] of Beal Bank, and 1,979,048.38 dollars from [[Howard Lutnick]] of Cantor Fitzgerald on October 22, 2024; [[Roger Penske]] and Jeffrey Sprecher of Intercontinental Exchange each gave 1,000,000 dollars. Its largest payee was Patriot Grassroots of Cheyenne, [[Wyoming]], which received 26,064,474.55 dollars in twelve payments, the largest of them 4,719,600 dollars on October 22, 2024, each described as "canvassing". It also paid 1,950,000 dollars to American Majority Action and 200,000 dollars to the CatholicVote.org Candidate Fund.[^19]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Space Exploration Technologies Corp., prospectus filed under Rule 424(b)(4) on June 12, 2026, SEC accession 0001628280-26-042639 (Management: executive officers and directors, board composition, director independence, compensation and nominating committee; Principal Stockholders, footnote 7; Business: customers and Starshield; cover and offering price). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026042639/spaceexplorationtechnologi.htm
[^2]: Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, "Nosek, Luke," 2011 Young Alumni Achievement Award citation. https://ece.illinois.edu/alumni/awards/yaaa/11-nosek
[^3]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipt of September 30, 1999, Bush for President Inc. (C00343509), image 99034852014. https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?99034852014
[^4]: Federal Election Commission, itemized Schedule A receipts for contributor name "Nosek, Luke," 1999 to 2026, including images 29992454185 and 29934914346 (Friends of Jane Harman), 12950691291 (Rohrabacher), 13961599391 and 13961599392 (Endorse Liberty), 12972456130 (NRCC), 12020251533 and 12020251534 (Friends of Mark Warner), 12951438570 and 12951438571 (Janice Hahn for Congress), 13941782379 (Sanchez), 12972695409 (Fattah), 12972571200 (Palazzo), 13020210239 and 13020210240 (Team Graham), 13020214538 and 13020214539 (Udall), 201602020200033560 (McCain), 201601199004517424 (Country First PAC), 202201249475112325 (Latham), 202201319485294481 (Murkowski), 202204159496855548 and 202204159496855549 (Blake Masters for Senate), 202412059720711906 (Turnout for America), 202512199793619635 (Protect Freedom PAC), 202604159857798766 (Sheehy Victory Committee), 202604209866590200 and 202604209866594413 (RNC). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?contributor_name=Nosek%2C+Luke and https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202412059720711906
[^5]: Founders Fund SpaceX Fund, LP, Form D filed May 15, 2009 (accession 0001464202-09-000001) and Form D/A filed August 17, 2009 (accession 0001464202-09-000003). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1464202/000146420209000001/primary_doc.xml and https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1464202/000146420209000003/primary_doc.xml
[^6]: Founders Fund III, LP, Form D filed May 5, 2010, accession 0001288320-10-000004. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1491094/000128832010000004/primary_doc.xml
[^7]: Founders Fund IV, LP, Form D filed December 1, 2011, accession 0001535267-11-000002. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1535267/000153526711000002/primary_doc.xml
[^8]: Founders Fund V, LP, Form D filed March 6, 2014, accession 0001601419-14-000001; Founders Fund VI, LP, Form D filed March 25, 2016, accession 0001669874-16-000001. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1601419/000160141914000001/primary_doc.xml and https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1669874/000166987416000001/primary_doc.xml
[^9]: Founders Fund II Management, LLC, Founders Fund IV Management, LLC, Peter Thiel, Luke Nosek and Brian Singerman, Form 3 for Airbnb, Inc. (date of event December 9, 2020), accession 0001209191-20-062631, footnotes F3 to F11. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1559720/000120919120062631/doc3.xml
[^10]: Same reporting persons, Form 4 for Airbnb, Inc. (date of event December 14, 2020), accession 0001209191-20-063866. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1559720/000120919120063866/doc4.xml
[^11]: Luke Nosek, Form 3 for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., filed June 11, 2026, SEC accession 0001628280-26-042636. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026042636/wk-form3_1781226111.xml
[^12]: Gigafund Management Company, LLC (CIK 1713833), Form 13F-HR for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, filed August 12, 2026, accession 0001140361-26-032507, information table; and earlier 13F-HR filings for December 31, 2025 (0001140361-26-004873) and March 31, 2026 (0001140361-26-020009). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1713833/000114036126032507/informationtable.xml
[^13]: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (CIK 1181412), Forms D and D/A: 0001181412-09-000003 (March 31, 2009), 0001181412-10-000001 (November 9, 2010), 0001181412-15-000001 (January 26, 2015), 0001181412-17-000001 (August 8, 2017), 0001181412-17-000002 (November 27, 2017), 0001181412-18-000001 (April 18, 2018), 0001181412-19-000001 (January 3, 2019), 0001181412-19-000002 (April 17, 2019), 0001181412-19-000003 and 0001181412-19-000004 (May 24, 2019), 0001181412-19-000005 (July 9, 2019), 0001181412-20-000001 (March 13, 2020), 0001181412-20-000002 (May 26, 2020), 0001181412-20-000003 (August 18, 2020), 0001181412-21-000001 (February 23, 2021), 0001181412-21-000002 (April 14, 2021), 0001181412-21-000003 (November 15, 2021), 0001181412-21-000004 (December 29, 2021), 0001181412-22-000001 (June 13, 2022), 0001181412-22-000002 (June 30, 2022) and 0001181412-22-000003 (August 5, 2022), item 3 related persons and item 13 sales. https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0001181412.json and https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000118141209000003/primary_doc.xml
[^14]: Gigafund partnerships, Forms D and D/A, 2017 to 2024: Gigafund 0, LP (0001712898-17-000001), Gigafund 0-A, LP (0001712899-17-000001), 0.1 (0001721812-17-000001, 0001721812-18-000001), 0.2 (0001738772-18-000001), 0.3 (0001783523-19-000001), 0.4 (0001806124-20-000003, 0001806124-20-000004), 0.5 (0001806120-20-000003, 0001806120-20-000004), 0.6 (0001806125-20-000003, 0001806125-20-000004), 0.7 (0001817561-20-000001), 0.8 (0001826623-20-000001, 0001826623-20-000002, 0001826623-20-000004), 0.9 (0001847253-21-000001), 0.12 (0001847240-21-000001), 0.13 (0001952171-22-000001), 0.14 (0001871132-21-000003), 0.15 (0001896270-21-000001), 0.16 (0001901047-21-000001), 0.19 (0001934914-22-000001), 0.22 (0001975769-23-000001), 0.24 (0002005250-23-000002), 0.25 (0001877173-24-000001), 0.26 to 0.28 (0002028590-24-000001, 0002028590-24-000002, 0002028590-24-000003); entity list from EDGAR company search "Gigafund". https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=gigafund&owner=include&count=100&action=getcompany
[^15]: Gigafund 1, LP, Gigafund 1 GP, LP, Luke Nosek and Stephen D. Oskoui, Form 3 for Angel Studios, Inc. (date of event September 10, 2025), filed September 19, 2025, accession 0001140361-25-035604, footnote F1. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1865200/000114036125035604/form3.xml
[^16]: Gigafund 1, LP and others, Schedule 13G for Angel Studios, Inc., filed September 17, 2025, accession 0001140361-25-035282. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2085918/000114036125035282/primary_doc.xml
[^17]: Federal Election Commission, committee record and totals, Endorse Liberty, Inc. (C00508002). https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00508002/
[^18]: Federal Election Commission, committee record and 2024 cycle totals, Turnout for America (C00883520). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00883520/ and https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00883520/
[^19]: Federal Election Commission, Turnout for America (C00883520), 2024 cycle Schedule A receipts sorted by amount (images 202503189754229322, 202412139739921325, 202412139739921328, 202412059720711909, 202412139739921324, 202412059720711905) and Schedule B disbursements by recipient, including the payment of October 22, 2024 to Patriot Grassroots (image 202412059720711926). https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00883520&two_year_transaction_period=2024 and https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?committee_id=C00883520&two_year_transaction_period=2024

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---
category: "Key Figures"
tags:
- Person
- NgoDinhDiem
- Vietnam
- CIA
- EdwardLansdale
- MichiganStateUniversity
- AmericanFriendsOfVietnam
- DiemCoup
- ChurchCommittee
- CovertAction
alias:
- Ngo Dinh Diem
- Ngô Đình Diệm
- Diem
- President Diem
- Premier Diem
summary: "Premier of Vietnam from July 1954 and president of South Vietnam until his killing on November 2, 1963, in a generals' coup that Washington encouraged, after a decade of CIA subsidy and American lobbying."
died: 1963-11-02
location: "Saigon, South Vietnam (died)"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[State of Vietnam]]"
start: 1954-07-07
role: "premier"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[South Vietnam]]"
end: 1963-11-02
role: "president"
fn: 2
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Ngo Dinh Nhu]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 2
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Ngo Dinh Can]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 2
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Ngo Dinh Thuc]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
reverse: true
start: 1954
role: "piasters sent to the Palace by the Saigon station in the first weeks of his government; dollars for Trinh Minh The passed through him in September 1954"
fn: 4
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Michigan State University Vietnam Advisory Group]]"
reverse: true
start: 1955
end: 1962
role: "police, public administration and economic advisers under contract to his government"
fn: 5
- type: represented
with: "[[Harold Oram, Inc.]]"
reverse: true
start: 1955
end: 1961
role: "public relations contract with the Vietnamese government, as reported by Ramparts"
fn: 7
- type: subject_of
with: "[[1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état]]"
start: 1963-08-24
end: 1963-11-02
role: "target of the generals' coup"
fn: 35
- type: investigated
with: "[[Church Committee]]"
reverse: true
end: 1975-11-20
role: "subject of the interim report on alleged assassination plots"
fn: 2
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Ngo Dinh Diem (died November 2, 1963, [[Saigon]]) was premier of the [[State of Vietnam]] from July 7, 1954, and president of [[South Vietnam]] until he and his brother [[Ngo Dinh Nhu]] were killed during the [[1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état|generals' coup of November 1 and 2, 1963]].[^1][^2] Two [[Central Intelligence Agency]] stations in Saigon worked with his government from its first weeks, and the CIA paid money through him to armed sects in 1954.[^3][^4] A [[Michigan State University Vietnam Advisory Group|Michigan State University group]] under contract to his government advised his police from 1955 to 1962.[^5] The Senate's [[Church Committee]] found in 1975 that the [[United States]] encouraged the coup against him but neither desired nor was involved in his death.[^2]
### Early career
Diem was an Annamese Catholic who had been governor of [[Phan Thiết|Phan Thiet]] province and then minister of the interior at the imperial court of [[Bao Dai]] in [[Huế|Hue]]. In 1933, after a year in the latter office, he found that reforms he had been promised were blocked by French and Annamese officials, resigned and went into political retirement.[^1] He had earlier served as district and province chief in Annam.[^6] Bao Dai sought him as premier in 1945, [[Ho Chi Minh]] sought him for the government of the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] in 1946, and the French for their solutions in 1947 and 1949, all without success.[^1] His brother [[Ngo Dinh Thuc]] was a leading Catholic clergyman with connections throughout the country and later the ranking Catholic bishop; Nhu built the semi-covert [[Can Lao]] party, and another brother, [[Ngo Dinh Can]], built a personal political organization of his own.[^1]
### American patrons, 1950 to 1954
[[Wesley Fishel]], a political scientist about to join [[Michigan State University]], met Diem in a tea room in [[Tokyo]] in July 1950, according to *[[Ramparts]]*.[^5][^7] The magazine reported that Fishel had Diem appointed a consultant to the university's Governmental Research Bureau and helped arrange his long stay in the United States, and that Diem in 1952 asked the French to let Michigan State furnish technical aid to Vietnam at American expense.[^5] Diem lived with the [[Maryknoll]] missionaries in [[New Jersey]] and New York between 1951 and 1953, which gave him the competence in English that made him accessible to American officials; a [[State Department]] officer who met him in late 1950 reported that he believed "only [the] US can solve [the] problem, thru him to be sure," and an American military officer who met him in 1953 left with the impression of a "mystic 'nut.'"[^6] His supporters in this period included Cardinal [[Francis Spellman]], Senators [[Mike Mansfield]], [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Hubert Humphrey]], and Congressman [[Walter Judd]].[^6] [[Robert Scheer]] and [[Warren Hinckle]] wrote in *Ramparts* in July 1965 that Justice [[William O. Douglas]] arranged a breakfast at which Diem met Mansfield and Kennedy.[^7]
Scheer and Hinckle wrote that [[Leo Cherne]], president of the [[International Rescue Committee]], spent two and a half weeks in Vietnam in 1954 and sent his assistant [[Joseph Buttinger]], a former leader of the Austrian Socialists, to set up a committee operation there. Buttinger met Diem four days after arriving, at the request of Colonel [[Edward Lansdale]], whom they describe as "the CIA's man in Saigon," and Lansdale introduced him to the security officials of Diem's government and to the army. They wrote that Lansdale "went through channels," convincing CIA Director [[Allen Dulles]] of Diem's worth; that Dulles talked to his brother, Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]], who brought the word to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]]; that on Buttinger's return in December 1954 Spellman telephoned [[Joseph P. Kennedy]], who arranged meetings for Buttinger with Mansfield and State Department officials; that Buttinger talked with Senator Kennedy's assistant [[Ted Sorensen]]; and that Spellman set up meetings with the editors of *[[The New York Times]]*, the *[[New York Herald Tribune|Herald Tribune]]*, *[[Time (magazine)|Time]]* and *[[Life (magazine)|Life]]*. They called the effort the work of "a small and enthusiastic group of people, including a Cardinal, an ex-Austrian Socialist leader, and a CIA agent."[^7] The authors of the [[Pentagon Papers]] recorded that "there are those who believe that Diem was foisted upon the Vietnamese and the French by a cabal of prominent American Catholics and a CIA agent."[^1]
### The two CIA stations, 1954 to 1955
By the time Diem took office the CIA had two independent stations in Saigon: the regular station under [[Emmett McCarthy]], whose covert action chief [[Paul Harwood]] had arrived in April 1954 to assess nationalist politicians, and the [[Saigon Military Mission]] under Lansdale.[^3][^4] Harwood had known Nhu for several months, and Nhu became the regular station's principal contact in the government. Lansdale recalled in his memoirs that he walked in on Diem unannounced the day after Diem took office, and the two communicated through an interpreter for two and a half years. The Embassy, oriented toward the French, kept the brothers at a distance, and Lansdale and Harwood became the principal channels of political information and influence between the two governments.[^3][^4]
Nhu, after asking for CIA support without "controls," obtained the station's agreement to plan projects that included the Can Lao party, to be developed from his semi-covert Workers' Party as a cadre organization controlling a mass front.[^4] Nhu told Harwood that the outgoing premier, Prince [[Buu Loc]], had absconded with the premier's confidential fund. In the first weeks of the government Harwood sent piasters to the Palace for Diem's discretionary use; Harwood later could not recall the amount, which was written off on a hand receipt from a Palace functionary. From about August 1954 the station let Nhu use part of its subsidy to support a hamlet militia that Nhu said numbered some 15,000 men by the end of the year.[^4] In September 1954 Diem asked Lansdale for funds to buy the support of the [[Cao Dai]] commander [[Trinh Minh The]], whom the French believed had assassinated their commanding general in the south in 1950. Lansdale delivered the money in dollars to Diem, who passed it through Nhu to The, and on September 15 Lansdale was received at The's headquarters on the Cao Dai mountain in [[Tây Ninh Province|Tay Ninh]]. Lansdale's official report states only that "at Ambassador Heath's request, the US secretly furnished Diem with funds for The."[^4] The intelligence section of the Can Lao, the [[Political and Social Studies Service]] known as SEPES and headed by Dr. [[Tran Kim Tuyen]], became with CIA help the government's service for collection against North Vietnam.[^4]
### Premier, 1954 to 1955
Diem took office on July 7, 1954, and until the following May stood virtually alone, unaided by Bao Dai, opposed by the French and offered by Americans mainly advice, criticism and promises. In ten months he survived the partition at [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva]], two threatened coups by his army chiefs of staff, clashes with the [[Binh Xuyen]] and the armed sects, and the arrival of some 900,000 refugees from the north.[^1] On December 7, 1954, Senator Mansfield judged that prospects for helping Diem looked "very dim," and in January 1955 General [[J. Lawton Collins]], the President's special representative, agreed in a report to the [[National Security Council]]. Collins cabled on April 7, 1955, that "the man lacks the personal qualities of leadership and the executive ability successfully to head a government," and on April 19, "I see no alternative to the early replacement of Diem."[^1]
The Binh Xuyen was the organization of [[Bay Vien]], who, in Lansdale's words, had paid Bao Dai "a staggering sum" for control of gambling and prostitution in [[Cholon]] and of the Saigon-Cholon police.[^1] After Diem survived a test of arms with the army and the sects in late April 1955, Senators Mansfield and [[William Knowland]] issued statements of support and, on May 2, Senator Humphrey told the Senate that Diem was "the best hope that we have in South Vietnam." In May 1955 the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff|Joint Chiefs]] judged that his government "shows the greatest promise of achieving the internal stability essential for the future security of Vietnam."[^1] Diem returned in late August 1955 money the CIA had advanced for a scheme that came to nothing, and used Lansdale as an intermediary in unproductive negotiations with the [[Hoa Hao]] commander [[Ba Cut]] until shortly before Ba Cut's capture in April 1956.[^4]
The [[Popular Revolutionary Committee]] that Nhu had formed at the height of the sect crisis, whose members included two former Viet Minh leaders, urged the dissolution of the Bao Dai government and elections for a national assembly. Acting under its mandate, Nhu set up a referendum in which, on October 23, 1955, an overwhelming vote for Diem over Bao Dai was recorded. The committee dissolved itself on October 31, apparently under pressure from Diem and his brother.[^1] In 1955 and 1956, in the words of the Defense Department study, Lansdale "was a key figure in installing and establishing Diem as President of South Vietnam."[^8]
### The Michigan State University group, 1955 to 1962
*Ramparts* reported in April 1966, in "MSU: The University on the Make," that the Michigan State University Group in Vietnam, an official university project under contract to Saigon and Washington, had responsibility for Diem's civil service and police network, the shaping of a 50,000-man militia and the supply of guns and ammunition to the city police, the Civil Guard, the palace police and the [[Sûreté (Vietnam)|Sûreté]]. The magazine put the cost at $25 million, the largest project ever undertaken abroad by an American university. It reported that after a telephone call from Washington to the university's president, [[John A. Hannah]], requesting that red tape be cut, the first professors joined Fishel in Saigon in late May 1955; Fishel once indicated that the call came from Vice President [[Richard Nixon]], later denied it, and Hannah told the *[[Detroit News]]* that it came from an authority "even higher than Nixon." Fishel became chief of the group in 1956.[^5]
In an introduction to the article, the economist [[Stanley Sheinbaum|Stanley K. Sheinbaum]], campus coordinator of the project for three years, wrote that "our Project had become a CIA front." Sheinbaum and [[Robert Scigliano]], assistant chief of the project from 1957 to 1959, told the magazine that five CIA men were listed on the project staff, formally appointed by the university's board of trustees, in several cases given academic rank and paid by the project, as a self-contained "VBI Internal Security Section" within the police administration division, assigned to counterespionage and counterintelligence. The magazine quoted a book by Scigliano and [[Guy H. Fox]], *[[Technical Assistance in Vietnam]]: The Michigan State University Experience* (Praeger, 1965): "USOM also absorbed at this time [1959] the CIA unit that had been operating within MSUG."[^5] The project, according to *Ramparts*, requisitioned revolvers, riot guns, ammunition, tear gas, jeeps, handcuffs and radios from stocks left over from American aid to the French, ordered some $15 million in further equipment from the United States Mission, and trained the Palace Guard in revolver shooting; the dean of the university's police administration school, [[Arthur Brandstatter]], personally inspected the Palace Guard when rumors of a coup were circulating.[^5]
Hannah answered at a news conference on April 22, 1966, that Michigan State "did not have a spy operation within its Vietnam project" and did not have CIA people operating under cover provided by the university. He said the university had hired several men with a background in intelligence work, none known at the time of employment to have CIA affiliations; that some staff later became suspicious that some were CIA men; that the university asked the American and Vietnamese governments to let it out of the counter-subversive program and reduced its police administration division to eight persons, including five from its own faculty; that it did not buy "a single gun"; and that the article contained "no fewer than 53 errors of fact." Hinckle dared him to test the charges in court, and Fishel asked the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] for help.[^9] A CIA briefing paper of 1967 on the magazine, which lists Scheer as an author of the April 1966 article, records the magazine's financing by its owner, identified only as Mr. Keating, and his wife and describes it as designed to appeal to "campus radicals."[^10] The public administration division of the Michigan State group conceived the Civil Guard as a rural constabulary, while Diem wanted a more military force; with the support of the American military advisory group, Diem's view prevailed.[^11]
The project ended in 1962. *Ramparts* reported that Diem, angered by critical writing published by two of its veterans, would not renew the contract, and that the university announced its termination in the name of academic freedom.[^5]
### The American Friends of Vietnam and the 1957 visit
Scheer and Hinckle wrote that the "Vietnam Lobby" took formal shape in the fall of 1955 as the [[American Friends of Vietnam]], with Generals [[William J. Donovan|"Wild Bill" Donovan]] and [[John W. O'Daniel|"Iron Mike" O'Daniel]] as co-chairmen and a letterhead that included Senators Kennedy and [[Richard Neuberger]], [[Max Lerner]], [[Arthur Schlesinger Jr.]], Representatives [[Emanuel Celler]] and [[Edna Kelly]], and [[Angier Biddle Duke]]. They wrote that nine of the fourteen directors of the Friends were members of the board of the International Rescue Committee or its employees, including Cherne and Buttinger, and that two months before the Friends were announced the public relations firm of [[Harold Oram]], public relations man for the Rescue Committee, signed a contract to represent the Vietnamese government for $3,000 a month plus expenses, which lasted until 1961. According to the article, Oram and his account executive [[Gilbert Jonas]], both officers of the Friends, were registered as foreign agents of the Republic of Vietnam during the period in which they held executive positions with the organization.[^7]
On Diem's official visit to the United States in May 1957 he landed in President Eisenhower's plane, addressed a joint session of Congress, and received the [[Admiral Richard E. Byrd Award]] from Duke at a dinner sponsored by the International Rescue Committee and the American Friends of Vietnam. Scheer and Hinckle wrote that many of his speeches were written by Buttinger and by [[Sol Sanders]], a director of the Friends and a writer for *[[The New Leader]]*, and that Sanders resigned from the Friends in 1963 when its executive committee sent a congratulatory telegram to the generals who had deposed and killed Diem.[^7] A State Department set of position papers prepared for the visit was forwarded to the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] through the CIA's deputy director for plans on May 9, 1957.[^12]
### 1960 and 1961
On November 11, 1960, paratroop units attacked the palace. The CIA had no advance warning, but its officer [[George Carver]], who had recently recontacted the [[Dai Viet]] politician [[Hoang Co Thuy]], was invited that morning to meet Thuy's group of civilians who hoped the military would install them, and with the permission of the chief of station, [[William Colby]], served as the channel of American pressure on the rebels to negotiate rather than storm the palace. Ambassador [[Elbridge Durbrow]] took over Colby's desk to listen to the station officers' reports. Diem used the negotiations to gain time until loyal units arrived on November 12.[^4] Lansdale reported after a visit in January 1961 that the Diem government believed Durbrow had "sympathized strongly with the coup leaders of 11 November," and wrote: "We must support Ngo Dinh Diem until another strong executive can replace him legally."[^8]
In October 1961 President Kennedy sent General [[Maxwell Taylor]] and [[Walt Rostow]] to Vietnam. The mission arrived in Saigon on October 18 as Diem proclaimed a state of emergency, and Taylor cabled Kennedy that the United States had to "convince Diem that we are willing to join him in a showdown with the Viet Cong."[^8]
### The crisis of 1963
On May 8, 1963, South Vietnamese troops in Hue fired on [[Buddhists in Vietnam|Buddhists]] celebrating Buddha's birthday, killing nine and wounding fourteen. By July 4 Generals [[Duong Van Minh]], [[Tran Van Don]], [[Le Van Kim]] and [[Tran Thien Khiem]] had agreed on the necessity of a coup. Shortly after midnight on August 21 Nhu ordered forces loyal to him to attack pagodas across the country; over thirty monks were injured and 1,400 arrested.[^2]
On August 24 the State Department sent telegram 243 to Ambassador [[Henry Cabot Lodge]]. It stated that the "US Government cannot tolerate situation in which power lies in Nhu's hands," authorized Lodge to tell key military leaders that the United States would find it impossible to continue support unless the Nhus were removed, added that "if, in spite of all of your efforts, Diem remains obdurate and refuses, then we must face the possibility that Diem himself cannot be preserved," and instructed the country team to "make detailed plans as to how we might bring about Diem's replacement if this should become necessary." It was drafted by [[Roger Hilsman]], cleared by Hilsman, [[Michael V. Forrestal|Michael Forrestal]] and [[George Ball]], and approved for transmission by [[Averell Harriman]].[^13] Taylor later said it was sent without the concurrence of the Defense Department, the Joint Chiefs or the CIA; Hilsman maintained that the President and representatives of the agencies concerned had cleared it.[^13]
Lieutenant Colonel [[Lucien Conein]] and another CIA officer were told on August 26 to convey the substance of the telegram to Generals Khiem and [[Nguyen Khanh]], reminding them that "we cannot be of any help during initial action of assuming power of state." On August 29 a message from the [[White House]] authorized General [[Paul Harkins]] to confirm that the United States would support a coup with a good chance of success, and Kennedy cabled Lodge the same day: "Until the very moment of the go signal for the operation by the Generals, I must reserve a contingent right to change course and reverse previous instructions."[^2] On August 30 Taylor sent the President a CIA-sourced table of the probable loyalties of the units around Saigon in a coup, rating the Presidential Guard most likely to remain loyal and the airborne brigade likely to act against Diem.[^14]
On October 2 Secretary of Defense [[Robert McNamara]] and Taylor reported that there was "no solid evidence of the possibility of a successful coup, although assassination of Diem or Nhu is always a possibility." They recommended withholding commodity import funds, which together with [[Public Law 480]] made up 60 to 70 percent of Vietnam's imports, suspending two [[Agency for International Development|AID]] loans, and cutting off MAP and CIA support to the units of Colonel [[Le Quang Tung]] unless they were placed under the [[Joint General Staff (Vietnam)|Joint General Staff]]. They held that "no initiative should be taken to encourage actively a change in government" and called for "an intensive clandestine effort, under the Ambassador's direction, to establish necessary contacts" to appraise coup prospects.[^15] Taylor had written to Diem the day before as "an old friend of South Vietnam," and had met Minh privately on September 29 and October 1.[^16][^17]
### The generals and Conein, October 1963
On the night of October 2 Conein, who had known many of the generals since the Second World War, met Don at [[Nha Trang]] with the approval of the deputy chief of mission, [[William Trueheart]], whose guidance was to neither encourage nor discourage coup thinking.[^18] On October 5 Minh told Conein that he needed to know the American position and outlined three plans, the first being the assassination of Nhu and Ngo Dinh Can with Diem kept in office, which he called the easiest; Conein said he could not answer.[^19] The station recommended to Lodge that "we do not set ourselves irrevocably against the assassination plot." [[John McCone]], the Director of Central Intelligence, cabled on October 5 that "we cannot be in the position of stimulating, approving, or supporting assassination," and on October 6 that the recommendation be withdrawn; William Colby, then chief of the Far East Division, drafted the first cable. Conein testified that Lodge told him of McCone's position around October 20 and that he then told Don the United States opposed assassination.[^2] A CIA cable to Lodge of October 9 stated that Washington did not wish to stimulate a coup but would not thwart a change of government or deny aid to a new regime, and that knowledge was confined to an extremely limited group in the White House, State, Defense and the CIA.[^20]
Conein's after-action report of November 1 states that the majority of officers wished Diem to have honorable retirement and exile, but that "as to Ngo Dinh Nhu and Ngo Dinh Can, there was never dissention. The attitude was that their deaths, along with Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu would be welcomed."[^2] Conein received 3 million piasters on October 24 and kept them in a safe at his house; on October 29 Lodge cabled that a request for funds should be anticipated.[^2] The station's cable 2023 of October 29 on Conein's meeting with Don the day before, held at a dentist's office, which listed coup units and described two escape tunnels from [[Gia Long Palace]], was sent eyes only to McNamara, [[Roswell Gilpatric|Gilpatric]], Taylor, [[Victor Krulak|Krulak]] and [[William Bundy]] at Defense, among others.[^4][^21]
At the White House on October 29 Colby estimated pro-Diem and anti-Diem forces at about 9,800 each, with 18,000 neutral. Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] said that the United States needed 48 hours' notice, not four, of any coup. Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy]] called his opposition to a coup "the minority view," and Taylor and McCone agreed with him; McNamara proposed that the deputy chief of mission, the acting CIA chief and Harkins jointly decide "what our agent Conein would say and do."[^22] Around October 30 Colby wrote to McCone proposing that Nhu be installed in his brother's place as a "strong, reasonably well oriented and efficient potential successor," whose "highly unfavorable public image" the United States should help improve; the proposal drew no support.[^4] Conein later recalled that Lodge had remarked that if nothing happened and Lodge made his scheduled trip to Washington, Conein would never work another day for the government.[^4]
### November 1 and 2, 1963
On the morning of November 1 Diem received Lodge and Admiral [[Harry D. Felt|Harry Felt]] and complained that that junior CIA officers were "poisoning atmosphere by spreading rumors of coups against him," naming one officer, Hodges.[^23] Speaking alone with Lodge afterwards, Diem asked him to consult "Mr. Colby of CIA and former Ambassador Nolting" about Nhu, saying that Colby had told him it was "too bad that brother Nhu was living in an ivory tower," and asked Lodge to tell Kennedy that he was "a good and a frank ally."[^24]
The coup began early in the afternoon; Harkins cabled Taylor that instead of four hours' or two days' notice "we got approximately four minutes."[^25] An aide to Don asked Conein to bring all available money to the Joint General Staff headquarters, and Conein brought 3 million piasters, about $42,000, which was given to Don to buy food for the troops and pay death benefits. Don wrote in his memoir, *Our Endless War*, that Conein "offered us money and weapons, but I turned him down."[^2][^21] Conein stayed at the Joint General Staff headquarters through the coup, relaying what Minh and Don told him; CIA officers in the streets supplied, with him, nearly all the authoritative information Washington received over the next twenty-four hours.[^4] At 4:30 p.m. Diem telephoned Lodge and asked, "What is the attitude of the US?" Lodge replied that he lacked information and instructions, said he was concerned for Diem's safety, and asked whether Diem had heard of the offer of safe conduct if he resigned; Diem answered, "I am trying to reestablish order."[^4]
In Washington, before the outcome was known, Rusk cabled Lodge that "since coup is wholly Vietnamese," premature American recognition would falsely brand it as American-inspired. A second telegram, drafted by Hilsman and [[McGeorge Bundy]], instructed Lodge that acceptance of the coup in the United States would be "greatly increased" if the generals continued to develop "strongly and publicly" their charge that Nhu had been "dickering with Communists"; Lodge replied the next day that he knew "of no hard evidence of such a desire."[^26][^27] Rusk told Senator [[J. William Fulbright]] by telephone at noon that "our own involvement is minimal."[^28]
At 6:20 on the morning of November 2 Diem called Don and offered to surrender if he and Nhu were given safe conduct to an airport. Lodge had cabled on October 30 that key leaders might request evacuation, and Conein was charged with obtaining an aircraft; when Minh and Don asked for one, a station officer told Conein it would take twenty-four hours, because it would have to come from [[Guam]] and could fly Diem only to a country that granted asylum.[^2] The station officer, [[David Smith (CIA)|David Smith]], also named France as the country most likely to grant asylum and put at twenty-four hours the time needed to bring in an aircraft able to reach Paris without intermediate stops.[^4] An escort appeared at the palace at 8:00 a.m., but Diem and Nhu were not there.[^2]
When Conein returned to the Joint General Staff about 10:30 a.m., Minh told him the brothers were dead and had killed themselves in a Catholic church, to which Conein responded that someone had better construct a more plausible story. Minh offered to show him the bodies, and Conein declined.[^2][^4] Conein reported that he believed Minh had ordered the executions.[^4] The embassy reported that day several versions: that the brothers had spent the night at a Cholon clubhouse owned by a Chinese businessman, gone to church in the morning and been picked up by the army and locked in a vehicle; that Minh had told the former finance minister that they had shot themselves with a gun left in the vehicle "due to an inadvertence"; and that an aide to General Khanh, who saw the bodies, said they had been assassinated at least at the direction of General [[Mai Huu Xuan]].[^29] Most station reporting attributed the decision to kill them to Minh, and the various reports agreed that the killing was carried out by an officer named Nhung, described variously as Minh's bodyguard and as a supporter of Mai Huu Xuan.[^4] On November 16 an officer of unknown reliability gave the CIA two photographs of the bodies in which their hands appeared tied behind their backs, and said they had been shot and stabbed in the vehicle taking them to the Joint General Staff.[^2]
The news reached Kennedy during a meeting at 9:35 a.m. on November 2, when Forrestal brought in a telegram reporting the deaths.[^30] Rusk instructed Lodge that the generals should establish publicly that the deaths were suicides "if this true," through an impartial group.[^31] McGeorge Bundy cabled Lodge that evening that the generals "should not be left under illusion that political assassination is easily accepted here."[^32] The State Department instructed all diplomatic posts, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, to distinguish the Saigon coup from its opposition to military coups against democratic governments elsewhere.[^33] Lodge recommended resuming commercial import payments "on a periodic and selective basis without public announcement so as to avoid appearance of blank check or of pay-off."[^34]
The Church Committee concluded that the details of the deaths were not known and that there was no available evidence of direct or indirect American involvement in them.[^2] Taylor, asked in 1981 whether the killing had been a covert operation, answered, "Not if you mean a covert operation conducted by the CIA."[^35]
### Footnotes
[^1]: *United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense*, Book 2, Part IV.A.5, "Evolution of the War: Origins of the Insurgency, 1954-1960," sections "Ngo Dinh Diem: Basis of Power," "Early U.S.-Diem Relations" and "The Triumph Reappraised," DTIC ADA542557, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA542557
[^2]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, S. Rept. 94-465, 94th Cong., 1st sess., November 20, 1975, section III.E, "Diem," pp. 217-224, https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^3]: Thomas L. Ahern Jr., "The CIA and the Government of Ngo Dinh Diem," *Studies in Intelligence*, vol. 37 (Winter 1993), approved for release July 29, 2014, C00622834, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0000622834
[^4]: Thomas L. Ahern Jr., *CIA and the House of Ngo: Covert Action in South Vietnam, 1954-63* (CIA History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, June 2000), approved for release December 20, 2016, C01268718, pp. 14-15, 27-28, 32, 38, 41-42, 60, 72, 140-141, 201-214, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-01268718
[^5]: Stanley K. Sheinbaum, introduction, and "MSU: The University on the Make," *Ramparts*, vol. 4, no. 12 (April 1966), pp. 11-23, https://archive.org/details/ramparts-1962-1975 (file "Ramparts v04n12 (1966-04)")
[^6]: Ahern, *CIA and the House of Ngo*, chapter 2, "Patrons and Clients," pp. 9-11, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-01268718
[^7]: Robert Scheer and Warren Hinckle, "The 'Vietnam Lobby,'" *Ramparts*, July 1965, pp. 16-21 (read from the page images; the text layer is poor), https://archive.org/details/the-vietnam-lobby-by-ramparts
[^8]: *United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967*, Book 2, Part IV.B.1, "Evolution of the War: The Kennedy Program and Commitments, 1961," sections on the Lansdale report of January 1961 and the Taylor mission, DTIC ADA542557, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA542557
[^9]: "Michigan State U. Denies It Knowingly Aided CIA," *The Baltimore Sun*, April 23, 1966, as preserved in the CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP82R00025R000700050013-0, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp82r00025r000700050013-0
[^10]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Briefing Notes on Ramparts," 1967, CIA-RDP70B00338R000200230132-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp70b00338r000200230132-5
[^11]: *United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967*, Book 2, Part IV.A.4, "U.S. Training of the Vietnamese National Army, 1954-1959," DTIC ADA542557, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA542557
[^12]: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence via the Deputy Director (Plans), "Position Papers for President Ngo Dinh Diem Visit," May 9, 1957, CIA-RDP80R01731R000700500014-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r000700500014-9
[^13]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. III, *Vietnam, January-August 1963*, document 281, telegram 243 from the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam, August 24, 1963, and source note, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v03/d281
[^14]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, *Vietnam, August-December 1963*, document 24, Taylor to the President, CM-856-63, August 30, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d24
[^15]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 167, McNamara and Taylor to the President, "Report of McNamara-Taylor Mission to South Vietnam," October 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d167
[^16]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 163, Taylor to President Diem, October 1, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d163
[^17]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 162, memorandum for the record by Taylor, October 1, 1963, and source note, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d162
[^18]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 171, CIA Saigon station telegram 1385, October 3, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d171
[^19]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 177, CIA Saigon station telegram, October 5, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d177
[^20]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 192, CIA telegram to the Ambassador in Vietnam, October 9, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d192
[^21]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 225, CIA Saigon station telegram 2023, October 29, 1963, and source note quoting Tran Van Don, *Our Endless War*, pp. 98-99, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d225
[^22]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 234, memorandum of conference with President Kennedy, October 29, 1963, 4:20 p.m., https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d234
[^23]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 261, Saigon telegram 854, November 1, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d261
[^24]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 262, Saigon telegram 841, November 1, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d262
[^25]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 267, Harkins to Taylor, MAC J00 8512, November 1, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d267
[^26]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 264, telegram 673 to Saigon, November 1, 1963, and document 266, telegram 674 to Saigon, November 1, 1963, with source notes, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d264 and https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d266
[^27]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 270, Saigon telegram 875, November 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d270
[^28]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 265, memorandum of telephone conversation between Rusk and Senator Fulbright, November 1, 1963, 12:01 p.m., https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d265
[^29]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 273, Saigon telegram 888, November 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d273
[^30]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 274, editorial note, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d274
[^31]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 271, telegram 688 to Saigon, November 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d271
[^32]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 278, Bundy to Lodge, CAP 63602, November 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d278
[^33]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 277, circular telegram 833, November 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d277
[^34]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 270, Saigon telegram 875, November 2, 1963, paragraph 1, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d270
[^35]: Robert S. Gallagher, "Gen. Maxwell Taylor: Memories of Peace and War" (interview), *American Heritage*, vol. 32, no. 3 (April/May 1981), https://www.americanheritage.com/gen-maxwell-taylor-memories-peace-and-war

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---
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
tags:
- Person
- RobReich
- Stanford
- EffectiveAltruism
- GiveWell
- Philanthropy
- AIGovernance
- AISafetyInstitute
- HumanCenteredAI
- GivingTuesday
alias:
- Rob Reich
summary: "Stanford political scientist who sat on the GiveWell board from 2013, wrote in 2015 that effective altruists are technocrats, and was senior advisor to the U.S. AI Safety Institute in 2024 and 2025."
location: "Stanford, California"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Stanford University]]"
start: 1998
role: "assistant professor from 1998; professor of political science from 2015; McGregor-Girand Professor of Social Ethics of Science and Technology from 2023"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[GiveWell]]"
start: 2013
end: 2018
role: "trustee, per his curriculum vitae"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Spencer Foundation]]"
start: 2019
role: "trustee"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[GivingTuesday]]"
start: 2012
role: "co-founder and board member; founding board chair 2019 to 2024"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Boston Review]]"
start: 2012
role: "trustee"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching]]"
start: 2008
end: 2015
role: "trustee; executive, audit and nominating committees"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society]]"
start: 2015
end: 2023
role: "faculty director"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society]]"
start: 2008
end: 2025
role: "faculty co-director"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence]]"
start: 2018
end: 2023
role: "founding associate director; associate director again from 2026"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[U.S. AI Safety Institute]]"
start: 2024
end: 2025
role: "senior advisor on public service leave from Stanford"
fn: 1
- type: appointed
with: "[[Gina Raimondo]]"
reverse: true
start: 2024-04-16
role: "named senior advisor by the Commerce Secretary"
fn: 9
- type: funded
with: "[[Stanford Impact Labs]]"
reverse: true
start: 2024
end: 2025
role: "Scholars in Service program funded his public service leave"
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]]"
start: 2023
role: "non-resident fellow"
fn: 1
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Rob Reich is a professor of political science at [[Stanford University]], holder since 2023 of the McGregor-Girand professorship of Social Ethics of Science and Technology, with courtesy appointments in philosophy, law and education and a senior fellowship at the [[Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence]]. His curriculum vitae lists service as a trustee of [[GiveWell]] from 2013 to 2018 and as senior advisor to the [[U.S. AI Safety Institute]] on public service leave in 2024 and 2025.[^1]
### Education and Early Career
Reich holds a B.A. in philosophy from [[Yale University]] and, from the Stanford Graduate School of Education, a Ph.D. in education and an M.A. in philosophy. He taught sixth grade at [[Rusk Elementary School]] in [[Houston]], Texas, from 1992 to 1994, was a senior research associate at the [[Aspen Institute]] from 1999 to 2005, and moderated Aspen Institute seminars from 2008 to 2018. At Stanford he was assistant professor of political science from 1998 to 2007, associate professor from 2008 to 2014, and professor from 2015. He was a visiting professor at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in 2009 and 2010 and held the Laurence S. Rockefeller visiting fellowship at the Center for Human Values at [[Princeton University]] in 2004 and 2005.[^1]
### Centers and Institutes at Stanford
Reich was faculty co-director of the [[Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society]] from 2008 to 2025; the center publishes the [[Stanford Social Innovation Review]]. He was faculty director of the [[McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society|Center for Ethics in Society]] from 2015 to 2023, now named the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, and founding associate director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence from 2018 to 2023. His curriculum vitae lists him as associate director of the institute again from 2026, as a faculty fellow of [[Knight-Hennessy Scholars]] from 2025 and as a member of the Stanford Advisory Board from 2025. He has been a non-resident fellow of the [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]] since 2023.[^1] The center's current biography page lists him as faculty advisor and former faculty codirector.[^2]
[[Alexander Berger]], a 2011 Stanford graduate who worked at GiveWell after graduating and then co-founded [[Open Philanthropy]], first met Reich as a freshman guest lecturer, took his courses over the next two years and completed the Honors Program in Ethics in Society with Reich, then the faculty director of the center, as his advisor, according to a 2021 article published by the center.[^3]
The institute held its launch symposium in March 2019. Its 2019 to 2020 annual report gave Reich's title as "Marc and Laura Andreessen Faculty Co-Director of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society" and faculty director of the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, and credited him with leading the creation of an embedded ethics initiative to insert ethics modules into core computer science courses and with leading the institute's April and June 2020 virtual conferences on COVID-19 and artificial intelligence.[^4]
The report states that income for the 2020 fiscal year was $17,751,049: gifts of $14,920,001 (84 percent), endowment payouts of $831,048 (5 percent) and $2,000,000 in Amazon Web Services cloud credits counted as in-kind income (11 percent), against expenditures of $9,830,018. The Hoffman-Yee Research Grants, which awarded $500,000 to six teams in their first year, were made possible by a gift from [[Reid Hoffman]] and [[Michelle Yee]]. The volunteer Advisory Council was chaired by Hoffman, with [[Steve Denning]] and [[Srinija Srinivasan]] as vice chairs, and listed [[Jim Breyer]], [[Kenneth Chenault]], [[Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar]], [[John Hennessy]], [[Mary Kay Henry]], [[Mellody Hobson]], [[Eric Horvitz]], Bob King, Susan Liautaud, [[James Manyika]], [[Marissa Mayer]], [[Samuel J. Palmisano]], [[Condoleezza Rice]], [[Heidi Roizen]], [[Eric Schmidt]], [[Mike Schroepfer]], [[Stephen Schwarzman]], [[Kevin Scott]], [[Neil Shen]], [[Ram Shriram]], [[Vishal Sikka]], [[Jerry Yang]] and Songyee Yoon. In June 2019 the institute's co-directors [[John Etchemendy]] and [[Fei-Fei Li]] met in Washington with the [[National Institutes of Health]], the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]], the [[House AI Caucus]], the [[Executive Office of the President]], the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, [[DARPA]] and Senator [[Rob Portman]], "whose participation would prove invaluable to garnering support for the National Research Cloud bill."[^4]
His courses have included Computer Science 182, The Ethics of Technological Disruption, taught with [[Mehran Sahami]] and [[Jeremy Weinstein]], and Computer Science 283, AI Governance, taught with [[Sanmi Koyejo]], [[Anka Reuel]] and [[Nathaniel Persily]].[^1]
### Philanthropy Boards
Reich lists the following board service: trustee of the [[Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching]] from 2008 to 2015, including its executive, audit and nominating committees; trustee of GiveWell from 2013 to 2018; co-founder and board member of [[GivingTuesday|#GivingTuesday]] from 2012, and its founding board chair from 2019 to 2024; trustee of [[Boston Review]] from 2012; and trustee of the [[Spencer Foundation]] from 2019.[^1] The biography page of the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society also lists him as a board member of Boston Review, Giving Tuesday and the Spencer Foundation.[^2]
ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer data for [[Clear Fund|The Clear Fund]], the legal entity of GiveWell, show total revenue of $6,587,734 for 2013, $11,088,700 for 2014, $17,635,918 for 2015, $18,366,934 for 2016, $29,450,003 for 2017 and $36,024,182 for 2018. The same data show total assets of the Spencer Foundation of $667,415,167 at the end of 2024; revenue of Giving Tuesday Inc., recognized as exempt in 2020, of $3,527,479 for 2021 and $11,010,928 for 2023; and revenue of Boston Critic Inc., the publisher of Boston Review, of $986,327 for 2023.[^5] The [[MacArthur Foundation]] lists six grants to the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society totaling $975,000: $100,000 in 2013 (two years), $100,000 in 2016 (two years), $100,000 in 2018 (two years and four months), and $225,000 in each of 2020, 2023 and 2025 (three years each), described as general operating or flexible support.[^6]
### GiveWell and Effective Altruism
GiveWell published notes of a conversation of January 9, 2014 between Reich, identified as "Associate Professor of Political Science, Stanford University; Board member, GiveWell," and [[Elie Hassenfeld]] on philanthropy and [[United States]] education. The notes record Reich describing large philanthropists' strategies for achieving scale and leveraging public spending, among them charter schools, "diminishing the influence of teachers unions" and [[Teach For America]], and stating that he could think of no significant current philanthropic effort to improve career counseling or career-focused curricula.[^7]
In July 2015 the *Boston Review* published a forum, "The Logic of [[Effective Altruism]]," and Reich contributed a response to [[Peter Singer]] titled "Does Effective Altruism Have a Politics?" He wrote that effective altruism must have a politics if it aspires to be a social movement and if it endorses causes that aim at political or institutional change, adding "(Disclosure: I am a member of the GiveWell board.)" and, as an example of the second, "See, for example, the Open Philanthropy Project." He continued: "In my experience, effective altruists are unabashed technocrats." He wrote that effective altruists "see the best state of affairs, I think, as that in which good-maximizing technocrats are in charge," that this politics "is suspicious of, or rejects, the form of politics to which most people attach enormous value: democracy," and, asked whether effective altruists would choose democratic rather than technocratic rule from scratch, "I suspect the answer is no."[^8]
### Books and Writing
According to his curriculum vitae, Reich's books are *Bridging Liberalism and Multiculturalism in Education* ([[University of Chicago Press]], 2002); *Democracy at Risk* ([[Brookings Institution]] Press, 2005), the final report of the Standing Committee on Civic Education and Engagement of the [[American Political Science Association]], on which he served from 2002 to 2005; *Just Giving: Why Philanthropy is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better* ([[Princeton University Press]], 2018); and *System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot* ([[HarperCollins]], 2021), written with Sahami and Weinstein. He co-edited *Education, Justice, and Democracy* (University of Chicago Press, 2013; PROSE Award for the best book in education), *Philanthropy in Democratic Societies* (University of Chicago Press, 2016, with [[Chiara Cordelli]] and [[Lucy Bernholz]]) and *Digital Technology and Democratic Theory* (University of Chicago Press, 2021, with [[Hélène Landemore]] and Bernholz). He is a co-author of the 2021 paper "On the Opportunities and Risks of Foundation Models" (arXiv:2108.07258), with [[Rishi Bommasani]], [[Percy Liang]] and others.[^1]
His curriculum vitae also lists four 2013 white papers on philanthropy, technology and policy written with Bernholz and Cordelli, the March and April 2013 *Boston Review* cover article "What are Foundations For?", the 2013 *[[New York Times]]* opinion piece "Not Very Giving," and a 2013 essay with [[Ray D. Madoff]], "Now or Forever: Rethinking Foundation Life Spans," in the *[[Chronicle of Philanthropy]]*.[^1]
### U.S. AI Safety Institute
On April 16, 2024, Commerce Secretary [[Gina Raimondo]] announced that Reich would be senior advisor to the U.S. AI Safety Institute, which is housed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in a group of additions to the leadership team that included [[Paul Christiano]] as head of AI safety, [[Adam Russell]] as chief vision officer, [[Mara Campbell]] as acting chief operating officer and chief of staff, and [[Mark Latonero]] as head of international engagement. They joined the director, [[Elizabeth Kelly]], and the chief technology officer, [[Elham Tabassi]]. Raimondo said: "we need the top talent our nation has to offer."[^9]
[[Stanford Impact Labs]] wrote that Reich's leave in service was made possible in part by the Scholars in Service program, run jointly by Stanford Impact Labs and the [[Haas Center for Public Service]], and his curriculum vitae describes the 2024 to 2025 service as a full-time public service leave from Stanford funded by that program. In an interview published by Stanford Impact Labs on April 30, 2024, he described his role as to "advise the AISI and lead engagement with civil society organizations," said that the institute "is not a regulatory body," and said that "This may be the first time in U.S. history that a frontier technology or scientific discovery has been funded, designed, and developed entirely outside the purview of government." He continued that "These AI models are funded by venture capital and created by industry actors." He said the institute already had a consortium of "more than 200 companies, universities, and civil society organizations," that his own task would be coordinating the input of civil society organizations, and, of the appointment, "I've always wanted the opportunity to play a role in the federal government and this will be my first chance to do so."[^1][^10]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Rob Reich, curriculum vitae, Department of Political Science, Stanford University (last revised May 2026), sections Academic Positions, Program and Center Leadership, Other Leadership, Education, Publications, Teaching, Board Service and Other. https://robreich.people.stanford.edu/files/reich-cv.pdf
[^2]: Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, "Rob Reich" (biography page, "Faculty Advisor & Former Faculty Codirector"). https://pacscenter.stanford.edu/people/rob-reich
[^3]: Diana Aguilera, "Accomplishing as Much Good as Possible: Honors Alum Alexander Berger Paves the Way for More Effective Giving," McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, Stanford University, Nov. 12, 2021. https://ethicsinsociety.stanford.edu/news/accomplishing-much-good-possible-honors-alum-alexander-berger-paves-way-more-effective-giving
[^4]: Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, 2019-2020 Annual Report (Stanford HAI, Cordura Hall), sections Faculty (Rob Reich), Policy (Visit to Washington, D.C.), Hoffman-Yee Research Program, Advisory Council, Philanthropic Support and Financials. https://hai-production.s3.amazonaws.com/files/2021-02/hai-2020-annual-report_1.pdf
[^5]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, organization records for The Clear Fund (EIN 20-8625442), Spencer Foundation (EIN 36-6078558), Giving Tuesday Inc (EIN 84-2929872) and Boston Critic Inc (EIN 04-2619695), fields totrevenue and totassetsend by tax year, retrieved Oct. 1, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/208625442.json
[^6]: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, grantee page for the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (6 grants, $975,000, 2013 to 2025). https://www.macfound.org/grantee/stanford-center-on-philanthropy-and-civil-society-45770/
[^7]: GiveWell, notes of a conversation with Rob Reich on January 9, 2014 (participants Rob Reich and Elie Hassenfeld), published by Open Philanthropy (now Coefficient Giving). https://coefficientgiving.org/wp-content/uploads/Reich-1-9-14-public-.pdf
[^8]: Rob Reich, "Response to Effective Altruism," forum "The Logic of Effective Altruism," Boston Review, July 2015 (published under the title "Does Effective Altruism Have a Politics?" in Reich's CV). https://www.bostonreview.net/forum_response/response-rob-reich/
[^9]: National Institute of Standards and Technology, "U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Announces Expansion of U.S. AI Safety Institute Leadership Team," Apr. 16, 2024. https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/04/us-commerce-secretary-gina-raimondo-announces-expansion-us-ai-safety
[^10]: Kate Green Tripp, "Stanford's Rob Reich to Serve as Senior Advisor to the U.S. AI Safety Institute (AISI)" (interview with Rob Reich), Stanford Impact Labs, Apr. 30, 2024. https://impact.stanford.edu/article/stanfords-rob-reich-serve-senior-advisor-us-ai-safety-institute-aisi

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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- RobertPeloquin
- Intertel
- ResortsInternational
- HowardHughes
- PrivateIntelligence
- OrganizedCrime
- JusticeDepartment
- OperationTradewinds
- Watergate
- Bahamas
alias:
- Robert Peloquin
- Robert D. Peloquin
- Robert Dolan Peloquin
- Bob Peloquin
summary: "Justice Department organized crime lawyer who founded the Resorts International subsidiary Intertel in 1970, took over security for Howard Hughes's Nevada casinos that December, and later chaired Resorts International."
born: 1929-01-09
died: 2011-03-24
location: "Washington, D.C."
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[United States Navy]]"
role: "officer on active duty, later Naval Reserve intelligence specialist"
start: 1951-08-18
end: 1955-06-04
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
role: "attorney, Internal Security Division"
start: 1957
end: 1961-08
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
role: "attorney, Organized Crime and Racketeering Section; head of Buffalo task force"
end: 1967-08
fn: 2
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Operation Tradewinds]]"
role: "Justice Department liaison"
fn: 5
- type: partner_of
with: "[[William Hundley]]"
role: "law partner"
start: 1967-08
fn: 2
- type: represented
with: "[[National Football League]]"
role: "chief of security for the football leagues"
start: 1967-08
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Resorts International]]"
role: "vice president, Paradise Enterprises Ltd."
fn: 3
- type: founded
with: "[[Intertel]]"
role: "founder and president"
start: 1970-01
fn: 13
- type: head_of
with: "[[Intertel]]"
role: "president"
start: 1970
end: 1985
fn: 1
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
role: "Criminal Intelligence Program information matter"
start: 1970-04-22
fn: 7
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Hughes Tool Company]]"
role: "through Intertel, security, management and investigation of Robert Maheu"
start: 1970-12
fn: 13
- type: head_of
with: "[[Resorts International]]"
role: "chairman and executive vice president"
start: 1985
end: 1990
fn: 1
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Robert Dolan Peloquin (January 9, 1929, [[Fall River, Massachusetts]], to March 24, 2011, [[Frederick, Maryland]]) was a lawyer in the [[Department of Justice]] who left it in 1967 to practice with [[William Hundley]], became in 1970 the first president of [[Intertel]], a private intelligence company owned by [[Resorts International]], ran it until 1985, and was chairman and executive vice president of Resorts International from 1985 to 1990. Intertel's clients included [[Howard Hughes]], [[ITT Corporation|ITT]] and the shah of Iran.[^1]
### Navy and Justice
An applicant investigation conducted by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] in 1958 recorded that Peloquin attended [[Georgetown University]] from 1947 to 1951, served on active duty in the [[United States Navy]] from August 18, 1951 to June 4, 1955, leaving as a lieutenant (junior grade), and studied at the Georgetown law school from February 1953 to October 1956. He was an attorney in the department's Internal Security Division from early 1957 to August 1961, when he resigned for private practice, writing to the Director on August 25, 1961 to thank him for the Bureau's courtesies. He returned to the department, on a date the Bureau did not know, as an attorney in the [[Organized Crime and Racketeering Section]].[^2] He held a commission in the Naval Reserve as an intelligence specialist and retired from it in 1981 as a commander.[^1][^3]
At Justice Peloquin led the first Organized Crime Strike Force, in [[Buffalo, New York]], against the [[Magaddino crime family|Magaddino]] and [[Profaci crime family|Profaci]] families, investigated the 1964 murders of [[Andrew Goodman]], [[Michael Schwerner]] and [[James Chaney]] in [[Mississippi]] and organized crime control of casinos in the [[Bahamas]], and received a department award for outstanding performance in 1966.[^1] He worked on the squad assembled to pursue [[Jimmy Hoffa]].[^4] The Bureau's summary records that from January to August 1967 he was in charge of the Buffalo task force, "during which period he attempted to set up his own investigative organization, ignoring the responsibilities of the various Federal agencies, particularly the FBI."[^2]
### Operation Tradewinds and Paradise Island
In 1965 the [[Internal Revenue Service]] began [[Operation Tradewinds]], a tax investigation of the means by which American racketeers, lawyers and businessmen laundered, concealed and skimmed cash in the Bahamas. [[Jim Hougan]] wrote that Peloquin was "deeply involved" in it and served as "middleman among the agencies," and that it was Peloquin who informed the [[State Department|Department of State]] in 1966 of a meeting between IRS intelligence officers and his superior, [[Henry Petersen]], chief of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, which dealt with evidence acquired "in ways that violated Bahamian laws and which therefore required 'special handling'": the IRS could continue to obtain information from bank employees in the Bahamas through American agents such as [[Norman Casper]], to be used "for lead purposes" and delivered on American soil. According to Hougan, a January memorandum by Peloquin on the casino planned for [[Paradise Island]] by [[James Crosby]]'s [[Mary Carter Paint Company]] stated that "the atmosphere looks right for a Lansky skim," a reference to [[Meyer Lansky]], and while the casino was under construction Peloquin shuttled between [[Washington, D.C.]] and [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]], conferring with the new American consul general, [[Turner Shelton]].[^5]
A royal commission of inquiry sat in the Bahamas in 1967 under Sir [[Ranulph Bacon]], formerly commissioner of [[Scotland Yard]] and later a director of Intertel. Hougan wrote that Peloquin was an "unofficial" but influential observer of its work; that the commission examined the casino interests of [[Wallace Groves]] and the fees of Sir [[Stafford Sands]] but not Crosby, whose casino had not yet opened; and that a few weeks before the casino opened on January 1, 1968, Crosby, who had grown close to [[Bebe Rebozo]] and Shelton, wrote thirty-four checks to campaign committees of [[Richard Nixon]], all but one for 3,000 dollars, and raised a further 100,000 dollars from friends at the urging of [[Maurice Stans]].[^6]
### Hundley and Peloquin
The Bureau's summary records that Peloquin resigned in August 1967 "to enter law practice with William G. Hundley, former Chief of the Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, and to assume the position of Chief of Security for the football leagues." Hougan likewise dates the firm to 1967; a 1977 profile in *[[The Washington Post]]* states that Peloquin left Justice in 1968.[^2][^4][^6] Hougan described Hundley as a veteran of [[Smith Act]] prosecutions who had "harried [[John Frank]] and quizzed [[Robert Maheu]] in the wake of the [[Jesús de Galíndez|Galindez]] kidnapping."[^6]
The firm advised the [[National Football League]] on security; one player recalled Peloquin lecturing training-camp locker rooms on how to turn away mobsters offering bribes to fix games.[^4] Hougan named the firm's other first client as Time-Life, "sued by Mike McClaney."[^6] The *Post* wrote that the firm took on *[[Life (magazine)|Life]]* as a client, "gathering evidence for law suits filed against Life's investigative team," a group of reporters who had examined gambling in the Bahamas, and that Resorts International then became a client. A former member of the *Life* team said: "It sort of bothered me when I found out about Peloquin's association with Resorts." Peloquin said: "We certainly had both of them as clients at the same time, but I checked with Life before we took Resorts on as a client."[^4] Hougan wrote that within weeks Peloquin and Hundley were named vice presidents of the Resorts subsidiary responsible for the new casino.[^6] In 1970 Peloquin was a vice president of Paradise Enterprises, Ltd., a Resorts subsidiary.[^3]
### Formation of Intertel
On April 22, 1970 the FBI's Miami office reported to the Director that a confidential source, whose name is withheld in the released file, had learned of a newly formed private organization, International Intelligence, Inc., formed by the former Justice Department attorneys Peloquin and Hundley, "whose identities are well known to the Bureau," both associated with the Paradise Island hotel and casino at Nassau. The source advised that "Peloquin has made no secret of the fact that he intends to use information obtained from the Justice Department files" to gather information on racket control of corporations and to furnish it to professional sports organizations, casinos and others. The memorandum was captioned under the Bureau's Criminal Intelligence Program.[^7] A Bureau letter of April 29, 1970, copied to the Deputy Attorney General, described the source as "most reliable."[^8] On July 24, 1970 headquarters asked the New York office to check its indices, and on August 5, 1970 the former FBI supervisor [[John D. O'Connell]], Intertel's executive vice president, gave the New York office a brochure listing the company's officers.[^3]
Intertel was incorporated in [[Delaware]] in January 1970 "to conduct and carry on a management advisory and consulting business relating to the protection of business firms of every type and description from the infiltration, incursion, attack and influence of crime and criminals." Crosby was chairman of the board, Peloquin president, and Hundley secretary and general counsel. The officers included the treasurer [[Raymond M. Gore]], also vice president for finance of Resorts International; [[Fenelon Richards]], former director of enforcement of the [[United States Customs Service|Bureau of Customs]] and director of security for Resorts; [[Thomas McKeon]], formerly a Justice Department organized crime attorney and chief of the Special Projects Section of the [[NSA|National Security Agency]]; [[David Belisle]], formerly deputy director of security at the State Department and director of investigations at the National Security Agency; [[William Kolar]], former director of the intelligence division of the IRS; and [[James Golden]], a former [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] agent and director of security at the 1968 Republican National Convention.[^3]
The records give different accounts of the financing. The *Post* wrote in 1977 that in 1970 Peloquin left the law firm to form Intertel "with $100,000 staked by Resorts International," which then owned 81 percent of its stock.[^4] A teletype of December 7, 1970 from the FBI's Las Vegas office recorded a report that Intertel was "originally financed to extent of about two million dollars" by Resorts International.[^9] A [[White House]] memorandum of 1971 described Crosby as "assertedly owning" what it typed as "%91" of Intertel's stock.[^10]
On December 31, 1970, Peloquin wrote to [[J. Edgar Hoover]] on Intertel stationery with birthday wishes and "the best wishes of the employees of INTERTEL, an organization of former government employees who have long admired your contribution to law enforcement," adding: "Please be assured of our best wishes and continuing cooperation." [[Helen Gandy]] replied that Hoover appreciated the "offer of cooperation." A Bureau note prepared for the reply records that the Bureau had enjoyed favorable relations with Peloquin while he was at Justice, that he had since been critical of the Director, and that at a conference in Buffalo on January 29, 1969 he had said that Hoover "did not recognize the existence of organized crime until 1960" and that businessmen would have to "harass" the FBI to get results on organized crime.[^2][^8] On January 5, 1971 the Bureau told its legal attaché in [[Ottawa]], in reply to an inquiry of December 17, 1970, that "no investigation has been conducted of this organization by the FBI," and that it might be engaged to run security at the Hughes casino-hotels.[^8]
### The Hughes Account
In late 1970 the Hughes Tool executives [[Raymond Holliday]] and [[Frank Gay|Frank W. Gay]] and the lawyer [[Chester Davis]] moved against Robert Maheu, who directed Hughes's Nevada operations. Hughes left the [[Desert Inn]] in [[Las Vegas]] on Thanksgiving Eve, November 25, 1970, and flew to the [[Britannia Beach Hotel]] on Paradise Island, owned by Resorts International. Hughes discharged Maheu on December 5, 1970.[^11][^12]
The Las Vegas teletype of December 7 reported that Davis and Gay had announced that Intertel would be engaged on contract and that Intertel officials were in Las Vegas awaiting authorization to assume complete security responsibility. It recorded the statement of "an official of Hughes operations (former SA Richard Danner)" that the Mary Carter Paint Company and Resorts International "may possibly be hoodlum infiltrated or financially indebted to Meyer Lansky," and asked headquarters and Miami for all available information on both companies.[^9] A memorandum from J. H. Gale to Mr. Sullivan, prepared at the request of [[Clyde Tolson|Mr. Tolson]] and filed in January 1971, states: "During the past week, Intertel has been engaged by officials of the Hughes Tool Company to take over the management and operation of several of the hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, which are owned and operated by Howard Hughes."[^13]
Hougan recorded Maheu's account that "Peloquin and Crosby, the Intertel people, came through Las Vegas months before Mr. Hughes disappeared," ostensibly to compare the Desert Inn's security with the Resorts operation in the Bahamas, and that Maheu regarded the visit as "casing the place." Hougan also recorded the statement of Intertel's general counsel, McKeon, that meetings with the Davis faction beginning in the summer of 1970 were devoted to planning the removal of Hughes from Las Vegas ("We developed a plan this thick"), and wrote that Peloquin denied that such a plan existed and attributed the summer meetings to a bomb threat against an [[Air West]] aircraft.[^14] In its written rebuttal of the *[[Las Vegas Sun]]* series of 1971, Intertel stated that the Resorts executives [[Jack Davis]] and Crosby had been in Las Vegas on the date in question solely "to aid Robert D. Peloquin, President of INTERTEL, in his consulting with the Board of Directors of the Hughes Tool Company," and that Intertel "was retained by the Board of Directors of Hughes Tool Company as consultants on security for its Nevada properties, not by Chester C. Davis, nor anyone acting alone."[^15]
A CIA memorandum for the record of May 20, 1971, written by an agency employee seeking a position with Intertel, records that he was introduced to Peloquin on May 10, 1971 by a former agency employee then on Intertel's staff. It states that "it would appear that since December of 1970 much of their active staff working out of the D. C. office have in fact become just exactly that," detectives; that Hughes Tool had engaged Intertel "to conduct a sweeping and exhaustive investigation into the affairs and past activities of Robert A. Maheu," on a contract "reported to run upward to a million dollars"; that the investigation had "already turned certain significant information over to the Internal Revenue Service," with Kolar on the scene in Las Vegas; that the lawyer [[Edward P. Morgan]], whom the Intertel source described as having been paid almost a million dollars by Hughes Tool, was "making noises to certain unnamed Hughes Tool Company officials to the effect that they had better take it easy on Maheu because of the past involvement with CIA in covert operations," and that Intertel had studied approaches to him through former FBI channels but had not made one; and that the Intertel source "will not allow Maheu to use the Agency as a shield." The memorandum adds that the Washington lawyer [[Bernard Fensterwald]] had told a friend: "It looks like may be the good guys (INTERTEL) are in fact the bad guys with the Mafia connections."[^16]
Asked in executive session in December 1973 whether Intertel had investigated the relationship between Maheu and [[Larry O'Brien]], Chester Davis answered: "the only thing I know about Intertel and its activities are activities under my direction with respect to gathering facts germane to issues involving litigation."[^17] Hougan wrote that in Maheu's libel suit, Maheu's lawyer, Morton Galane, called Peloquin, who acknowledged that Intertel agents had filed more than five hundred written reports on Maheu and found no evidence of theft.[^18] In February 1977 Intertel still controlled the security for much of the Hughes empire. On Christmas morning 1972 Peloquin telephoned Bacon in [[Brighton]] to arrange the immigration clearance at Gatwick of an arriving client, "Howard Hughes," and Peloquin counted as a principal success the identification of [[Edith Irving]] as the "Helga Hughes" who cashed the checks of [[McGraw-Hill]] in the [[Clifford Irving]] hoax.[^4] Peloquin told the writer [[Eamon Javers]] in 2008 that Hughes's money was the reason he could afford his farm in [[Fairfield, Pennsylvania]].[^19]
### The Bureau's Files
On May 24, 1971 a former FBI agent then with Intertel, [[Fred G. Robinette]], called on the Bureau official [[Alex Rosen|A. Rosen]] to offer help in answering a column by [[Jack Anderson]] on the royalties from Hoover's books; the memorandum notes that he and Kolar had earlier passed the Bureau information about a television program on the Director.[^20] On January 26, 1972 Robinette wrote to [[John P. Mohr]], assistant to the Director, about a matter "in which we are so deeply involved," enclosing an Intertel brochure to "dispel any image we may have as a 'National Private Detective Agency'," and noting that the former FBI agent Ralph Winte had just taken a position with Bill Gay, one of Hughes's top executives. Mohr reported to Tolson that he had told Robinette that the firm "was not entitled to any information in our files."[^20]
### Watergate
[[Jack Caulfield]], a White House aide, testified to the [[Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities|Senate Watergate committee]] that "Intertel was deeply involved in the Maheu-Hughes battle, with Intertel being on the side of the Hughes interests," and that his proposal for a private political intelligence organization, [[Operation Sandwedge]], was written around July 1971.[^10] The Sandwedge memorandum, printed as Tab 31, warned of the "new and rapidly growing Intertel organization" as a "gun for hire" that could be turned against the President in 1972. It described Hundley as former special assistant to Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy|Bobby Kennedy]] and Peloquin as a "Kennedy loyalist who functioned as Senior Attorney in Justice's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section"; named Belisle; stated that [[Stephen Smith]], the Kennedys' brother-in-law, had visited Intertel's New York office, headed by O'Connell, whom it called a "black bag" specialist; recorded that O'Connell had taken an electronics specialist to sweep the offices of [[Howard Stein]] and of [[Jerome S. Hardy]] of the [[Dreyfus Corporation]], an Intertel director; alleged that one Intertel principal, related to a Baltimore Cosa Nostra figure, was in charge of Hughes security in Las Vegas; and noted that Kolar and the Resorts president, Jack Davis, had testified before the [[New Jersey]] legislature in favor of legalized gambling. It recorded that Golden, "formerly with Intertel, has now switched over to the Hughes' Tool Company," stated a "consensus in the federal intelligence sector" that Intertel "in all likelihood" had delivered to Hughes the details of a reported Justice-IRS skimming investigation of Maheu, and recommended that Intertel be "neutralized by Justice" through a case on whether it had "unauthorized access to sensitive government files."[^10] Caulfield testified that information had come to his attention "indicating that Intertel was unlawfully receiving information from Government files," and that his intent was to find out whether that was so.[^10] He also testified that Intertel's financial success, and the IRS background of some of its leading principals, bore on his proposal that the IRS official [[Vernon Acree]] handle IRS matters for the new organization.[^21]
The committee's Hughes and Rebozo hearings touched Resorts International. [[William E. Griffin]], a lawyer consulted by Rebozo about the 100,000 dollar Hughes contribution, testified that around 1969 or 1970 he had one conversation in Washington with Crosby and Jack Davis, at which he thought Peloquin and [[Robert Abplanalp]] were also present, about options Resorts had obtained on [[Pan American World Airways]] stock, and that he advised them to see the senators sponsoring restrictive legislation.[^22] [[Herbert Kalmbach]] testified that Rebozo suggested he see Crosby, whose pledge to the 1970 senatorial campaign program fell from 25,000 dollars to 5,000 dollars.[^22] The May 1971 CIA memorandum recorded that Resorts had tried in January 1969 to take control of Pan Am by buying a 9.7 percent interest.[^16]
Peloquin said that after the Watergate break-in both [[Edward Bennett Williams]] and [[Murray Chotiner]] asked Intertel for help, for the Democrats and the Republicans respectively, and were turned down. The investigative reporter [[Les Whitten]] said that ITT hired Intertel to spy on Jack Anderson's office after the publication of the [[Dita Beard]] memorandum, to learn who had leaked it. Peloquin answered: "We never spied on Les."[^4]
### Resorts International and Atlantic City
Intertel represented Resorts International in its campaign for legalized gambling in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]]. In 1977 it employed about fifty professionals, most from the FBI, IRS and CIA, and former employees put its income from more than two hundred clients at about 2 million dollars. Peloquin said: "I get 'em cheap. I capitalize on government training." On informants he said: "When I was at Justice, I probably had the best system of informers that anybody ever had. They were my sources; not the department's." The *Post* listed among the staff J. Edgar Hoover's only nephew.[^4] A [[Central Intelligence Agency]] press digest, "News, Views and Issues" no. 19 of December 6, 1974, reproduced Hougan's article on private intelligence agencies from *[[Harper's Magazine]]*, which also named Hoover's nephew among the staff, gave [[Edward Mullin]], formerly of the FBI and the CIA, as Intertel's director of intelligence operations, recorded that Peloquin and McKeon denied that Golden had worked for Intertel although an Intertel brochure associated him with the firm, and stated that an attempt to "rescue" Hughes in the Bahamas was thwarted by Bahamian officials accompanied by Intertel agents.[^23]
Peloquin became chairman and executive vice president of Resorts International in 1985 and retired in 1990. He moved from [[Bethesda, Maryland]] to [[Plantation, Florida]] in 1990 and died after a heart attack at a nursing home in Frederick, Maryland, on March 24, 2011.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Lauren Wiseman, "Robert D. Peloquin, Lawyer," obituary, *The Washington Post*, March 28, 2011, as reproduced in Eamon Javers, "Sad News: The Death of Robert Peloquin, Who Ran Howard Hughes' Private Intelligence Ops," TheSpyPost, April 8, 2011. https://thespypost.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/sad-news-the-death-of-robert-peloquin-who-ran-howard-hughes-private-intelligence-ops/
[^2]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Peloquin file, FOI/PA No. 1602405, Part 01, summary "Robert D. Peloquin" of the Bureau's files, prepared December 1970 to January 1971, p. 38 (PDF page). https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
[^3]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, Director to SAC New York, July 24, 1970, p. 8; New York office transmittal of August 5, 1970 enclosing the International Intelligence, Inc. brochure (officers, purposes, incorporation), pp. 9 ff. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
[^4]: Tom Zito, "Peloquin of Intertel: Intelligence, Security, 'Targets of Opportunity,'" *The Washington Post*, February 20, 1977, pp. L1, L12 (page images in the Weisberg Subject Index Files, Hood College). http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/I%20Disk/Intertel%20on%20Assassination%20Samples%20of/Item%2001.pdf
[^5]: Jim Hougan, *Spooks: The Haunting of America: The Private Use of Secret Agents* (William Morrow, 1978), pp. 382-384. https://archive.org/details/hougan-jim-spooks
[^6]: Hougan, *Spooks*, pp. 392-394. https://archive.org/details/hougan-jim-spooks
[^7]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, memorandum, SAC Miami (92-0) to Director, April 22, 1970, "International Intelligence, Inc.; Robert Peloquin; William Hundley; Criminal Intelligence Program Information Matter," p. 6 (page image). https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
[^8]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, Director's letter of April 29, 1970, p. 2; letter of Robert D. Peloquin to J. Edgar Hoover, December 31, 1970, p. 41; reply of Helen W. Gandy with note, January 1971, p. 39; Director to Legat, Ottawa, January 5, 1971, p. 42. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
[^9]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, teletype, Las Vegas (92-3659) to Director and Miami, December 7, 1970, "International Intelligence Services, Inc.," pp. 21-25. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
[^10]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Book 21: Executive Session Hearings* (GPO, 1974), testimony of John J. Caulfield, pp. 9716, 9729-9730, 9735-9736; "Operation Sandwedge," Tab 31, pp. 9899-9902. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21.pdf
[^11]: "Business: Shootout at the Hughes Corral," *Time*, December 21, 1970. https://time.com/archive/6838449/business-shootout-at-the-hughes-corral/
[^12]: *Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co.*, 569 F.2d 459 (9th Cir. 1977), modified January 12, 1978. https://openjurist.org/569/f2d/459
[^13]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, memorandum, J. H. Gale to Mr. Sullivan, "William G. Hundley, Robert D. Peloquin, International Intelligence, Inc.," December 1970 (file stamp January 8, 1971), p. 33. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
[^14]: Hougan, *Spooks*, pp. 310-311, 367-368. https://archive.org/details/hougan-jim-spooks
[^15]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, Intertel, "Analysis of Each & Every Allegation Concerning Intertel in the Las Vegas Sun, March 21, 1971 to April 2, 1971," pp. 105-128, at pp. 113 and 125. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
[^16]: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum for the record, "Robert D. Peloquin, President, International Intelligence, Inc. (INTERTEL)," May 20, 1971, signed John G. Southard, 6 pp., NARA record number 104-10122-10288, released March 18, 2025 under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10288.pdf
[^17]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Senate Resolution 60, Executive Session Hearings, Book 24: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), testimony of Chester C. Davis, p. 11611. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24.pdf
[^18]: Hougan, *Spooks*, pp. 262-263. https://archive.org/details/hougan-jim-spooks
[^19]: Eamon Javers, "Sad News: The Death of Robert Peloquin, Who Ran Howard Hughes' Private Intelligence Ops," TheSpyPost, April 8, 2011. https://thespypost.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/sad-news-the-death-of-robert-peloquin-who-ran-howard-hughes-private-intelligence-ops/
[^20]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, memorandum of A. Rosen, May 24, 1971, "Fred G. Robinette, International Intelligence, Inc.," p. 47; J. P. Mohr to Mr. Tolson, January 28, 1972, p. 89; Fred G. Robinette to John P. Mohr, January 26, 1972, p. 91. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
[^21]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 22: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), testimony of John J. Caulfield, pp. 10342, 10393. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob22/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob22.pdf
[^22]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 23* (GPO, 1974), testimony of William E. Griffin, pp. 10792-10793; *Book 21*, testimony of Herbert W. Kalmbach, p. 10183. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob23/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob23.pdf
[^23]: Central Intelligence Agency, "News, Views and Issues," no. 19, December 6, 1974, CIA-RDP77-00432R000100340002-8, reproducing Jim Hougan, article on private intelligence agencies, *Harper's Magazine* (1974; title not legible in the scan). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp77-00432r000100340002-8