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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Union Banking Corporation.md
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@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ start: 1924-08-04
end: 1942-10-20
location: "New York, New York"
created: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-26
relations:
- type: owned
with: "[[Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart]]"
@ -26,28 +26,89 @@ relations:
start: 1924-08-04
end: 1942-10-20
role: "sole owner according to the Treasury investigation of 1941"
fn: 1
fn: 2
- type: owned
with: "[[Office of the Alien Property Custodian]]"
reverse: true
start: 1942-10-20
role: "capital stock vested under Vesting Order Number 248"
fn: 2
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[E. Roland Harriman]]"
reverse: true
end: 1942-10-20
role: "registered holder of 3,991 of 4,000 shares at vesting"
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[Prescott Bush]]"
reverse: true
end: 1942-10-20
role: "registered holder of 1 of 4,000 shares at vesting"
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[Ray Morris]]"
reverse: true
end: 1942-10-20
role: "registered holder of 1 of 4,000 shares at vesting"
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[Harold D. Pennington]]"
reverse: true
end: 1942-10-20
role: "registered holder of 1 of 4,000 shares at vesting"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Prescott Bush]]"
reverse: true
start: 1924-08-04
end: 1942-10-20
role: "one of seven directors according to the incorporation documents as reported by the Guardian; registered holder of one share in Vesting Order Number 248"
fn: 11
- type: director_of
with: "[[E. Roland Harriman]]"
reverse: true
start: 1932
role: "director in 1932, according to Sutton (1976), Table 7-1"
fn: 6
---
The Union Banking Corporation (UBC) was a New York corporation incorporated on August 4, 1924 and wholly owned by the [[Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart]] of Rotterdam. The Alien Property Custodian vested all of its capital stock under the [[Trading with the Enemy Act]] on October 20, 1942, in an order that records the stock as held for the benefit of that bank and describes the bank as owned or controlled by members of the Thyssen family.[^2]
The Union Banking Corporation (UBC) was a New York corporation incorporated on August 4, 1924 and wholly owned by the [[Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart]] of Rotterdam. The Alien Property Custodian vested all of its capital stock under the [[Trading with the Enemy Act]] on October 20, 1942, in an order that records the stock as held for the benefit of that bank and describes the bank as owned or controlled by members of the Thyssen family.[^1]
### Treasury Investigation, 1941
A Treasury Department memorandum of August 18, 1941, from Mr. May to Mr. [[J. W. Pehle]] under the subject "Union Banking Corporation," reports that the corporation was wholly owned by the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, that the investigation "produced no evidence as to the ownership of this Dutch bank," that its president, Cornelis Lievense, claimed no knowledge of that ownership but believed it possible that Baron [[Heinrich Thyssen]], brother of [[Fritz Thyssen]], might own a substantial interest, and that Heinrich Thyssen was said to have acquired Hungarian citizenship.[^1]
A Treasury Department memorandum of August 18, 1941, from Mr. May to Mr. [[J. W. Pehle]] under the subject "Union Banking Corporation," reports that the corporation was wholly owned by the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, that the investigation "produced no evidence as to the ownership of this Dutch bank," that its president, Cornelis Lievense, claimed no knowledge of that ownership but believed it possible that Baron [[Heinrich Thyssen]], brother of [[Fritz Thyssen]], might own a substantial interest, and that Heinrich Thyssen was said to have acquired Hungarian citizenship.[^2]
The memorandum records gold purchases of over eight million dollars in 1931 to 1933, of which $3,085,000 was delivered to the [[Federal Reserve Bank]] on June 15, 1934. It states that the rumor that Fritz Thyssen had large gold deposits in the United States might have arisen from those purchases, while adding that all purchases were "satisfactorily accounted for" in the books. It states that in the fall of 1938 the corporation held two million dollars in currency in a New York safe deposit box, later deposited in its account with [[Brown Brothers Harriman]].[^1] The memorandum does not name [[Prescott Bush]].[^1]
The memorandum records gold purchases of over eight million dollars in 1931 to 1933, of which $3,085,000 was delivered to the [[Federal Reserve Bank]] on June 15, 1934. It states that the rumor that Fritz Thyssen had large gold deposits in the United States might have arisen from those purchases, while adding that all purchases were "satisfactorily accounted for" in the books. It states that in the fall of 1938 the corporation held two million dollars in currency in a New York safe deposit box, later deposited in its account with [[Brown Brothers Harriman]].[^2] The memorandum does not name [[Prescott Bush]].[^2] The [[The Guardian|Guardian]] dated the same memorandum August 16, 1941.[^3]
### Vesting Order Number 248
On October 20, 1942 the Alien Property Custodian, Leo T. Crowley, signed Vesting Order Number 248, published in the Federal Register on November 7, 1942. It vested "all of the capital stock of Union Banking Corporation, a New York corporation," consisting of 4,000 shares of $100 par value common stock, and listed the registered owners and their shares: E. Roland Harriman, 3,991; Cornelius Lievense, 4; Harold D. Pennington, 1; Ray Morris, 1; Prescott S. Bush, 1; H. J. Kouwenhoven, 1; and Johann G. Groeninger, 1. The order states "all of which shares are held for the benefit of Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, N. V., Rotterdam, The Netherlands, which bank is owned or controlled by members of the Thyssen family, nationals of Germany and/or Hungary." A second paragraph vested all claims of that bank and of the August Thyssen-Bank, Berlin, against the corporation for indebtedness.[^2]
On October 20, 1942 the Alien Property Custodian, Leo T. Crowley, signed Vesting Order Number 248, published in the Federal Register on November 7, 1942. It vested "all of the capital stock of Union Banking Corporation, a New York corporation," consisting of 4,000 shares of $100 par value common stock, and listed the registered owners and their shares: [[E. Roland Harriman]], 3,991; [[Cornelius Lievense]], 4; [[Harold D. Pennington]], 1; [[Ray Morris]], 1; Prescott S. Bush, 1; [[H. J. Kouwenhoven]], 1; and [[Johann G. Groeninger]], 1. The order states "all of which shares are held for the benefit of Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, N. V., Rotterdam, The Netherlands, which bank is owned or controlled by members of the Thyssen family, nationals of Germany and/or Hungary." A second paragraph vested all claims of that bank and of the August Thyssen-Bank, Berlin, against the corporation for indebtedness.[^1]
### Holders and Directors
Of the seven registered holders in the vesting order, four were connected with Brown Brothers Harriman. E. Roland Harriman became a partner of the Harriman bank on October 30, 1926 and of the merged firm on January 1, 1931. Prescott Bush was a partner of Harriman Brothers & Co. on January 1, 1930 and of the merged firm on January 1, 1931. Ray Morris was a partner from January 1, 1921 to 1956. Harold D. Pennington was a partner of Harriman Brothers during 1930, manager in charge of operations of the merged firm from its start, and a partner from January 1, 1945 to December 31, 1956.[^4] The Yale class history of 1917 states of Edward Roland Noel Harriman, "He is a member of Psi Upsilon and Skull and Bones," and of Prescott Sheldon Bush, "He belongs to the Whiffenpoofs, Psi Upsilon, and Skull and Bones."[^5]
[[Antony C. Sutton]] described the corporation in 1976 as "a joint Thyssen-Harriman operation," wrote that the Harrimans had a financial interest in it, described the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart as a Thyssen front bank in Holland that controlled it, and named E. Roland Harriman, a vice president of W. A. Harriman & Co., and H. J. Kouwenhoven as directors in a table of its directors in 1932.[^6] In his 1983 book on Skull and Bones he listed eight directors: E. Roland Harriman as a vice president of W. A. Harriman & Co.; [[Ellery Sedgwick James]] as a partner of Brown Brothers & Co.; Prescott Sheldon Bush as a partner of Brown Brothers Harriman; [[Knight Woolley]] as a director of [[Guaranty Trust Company]] and of the [[Federal Reserve Bank of New York]]; Cornelius Lievense as president; and H. J. Kouwenhoven, Johann G. Groeninger and [[J. L. Guinter]]. He wrote that four of the directors were members of the Yale class of 1917 and of the same society, and that Kouwenhoven and Groeninger were directors of the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, which he described as the former von Heydt bank.[^7] The firm's partner table gives November 25, 1932 as the date of James's death.[^4]
### Holland-American Trading and Seamless Steel Equipment, 1942
Vesting Order Number 259 vested all of the capital stock of the [[Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation]], a New York corporation of 500 shares of $100 par value stock, registered in the name of Cornelius Lievense and held for the benefit of Press- und Walzwerk A.G. of [[Düsseldorf]] and of Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart. Vesting Order Number 261 vested all of the capital stock of the [[Holland-American Trading Corporation]], also a New York corporation with 500 shares, held by E. Roland Harriman (491 shares), Lievense (4), and Harold D. Pennington, Ray Morris, Knight Woolley, H. J. Kouwenhoven and J. G. Groeninger (1 share each), for the benefit of Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart. Both orders were executed October 28, 1942 and published in the Federal Register on December 19, 1942.[^8][^9] The Guardian described both companies as affiliates against which "further seizures were made" after the seizure of the Union Banking Corporation.[^10]
### The Guardian Account, 2004
[[Ben Aris]] and [[Duncan Campbell]] reported in the Guardian in 2004 that the incorporation documents of the corporation "list him as one of seven directors" and show that Prescott Bush owned one share worth $125.[^11] They also reported that [[Homer Jones]], chief of the Alien Property Custodian's investigation and research division, sent a memorandum to the custodian's executive committee within weeks of the investigation. Jones named the directors of the bank in that memorandum, including Bush, and wrote that the stock was "held by the above named individuals, however, solely as nominees for the Bank voor Handel, Rotterdam, Holland, which is owned by one or more of the Thyssen family."[^12]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Treasury Department memorandum, Mr. May to Mr. Pehle, August 18, 1941, "Re: Union Banking Corporation," ref. 9-151, with handwritten notation by J. W. Pehle, declassified by NARA (authority NND 960103).
[^2]: Office of the Alien Property Custodian, Vesting Order Number 248, "All of the Capital Stock of Union Banking Corporation and Certain Indebtedness Owing by It," executed October 20, 1942, signed Leo T. Crowley, F.R. Doc. 42-11568, filed November 6, 1942, 7 *Federal Register* 9097 (November 7, 1942). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1942-11-07/pdf/FR-1942-11-07.pdf
[^1]: Office of the Alien Property Custodian, Vesting Order Number 248, "All of the Capital Stock of Union Banking Corporation and Certain Indebtedness Owing by It," executed October 20, 1942, signed Leo T. Crowley, F.R. Doc. 42-11568, filed November 6, 1942, 7 *Federal Register* 9097 (November 7, 1942). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1942-11-07/pdf/FR-1942-11-07.pdf
[^2]: Treasury Department memorandum, Mr. May to Mr. Pehle, August 18, 1941, "Re: Union Banking Corporation," ref. 9-151, with handwritten notation by J. W. Pehle, declassified by NARA (authority NND 960103).
[^3]: Aris and Campbell, *The Guardian*, September 25, 2004, which gives the date of the report as "August 16 1941." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar
[^4]: John A. Kouwenhoven, *Partners in Banking: An Historical Portrait of a Great Private Bank, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., 1818-1968* (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1968), partner table pp. 231 to 235 and caption of the Pennington photograph pp. 197 to 198. https://archive.org/details/partnersinbankinganhistoricalportraitofagreatprivateb
[^5]: *History of the Class of Nineteen Hundred and Seventeen, Yale College*, vol. 1 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1917), entries for Edward Roland Noel Harriman and Prescott Sheldon Bush (pp. 105 to 106). https://archive.org/details/historyofclassof00murr
[^6]: Antony C. Sutton, *Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler* (1976), p. 103 (Table 7-1 and text on the 1932 directors and the joint Thyssen-Harriman operation) and pp. 106 to 107 (E. Roland Harriman).
[^7]: Antony C. Sutton, *America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones* (1983; Trine Day, 2002), section "The Union Banking Connection," with the table of the eight directors in 1932.
[^8]: Office of the Alien Property Custodian, Vesting Order Number 259, "All of the Capital Stock of Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation," executed October 28, 1942, filed December 18, 1942 (F.R. Doc. 42-13530), *Federal Register* 7 (December 19, 1942), pp. 10626 to 10627. https://archive.org/details/sim_federal-register-find_1942-12-19_7_248
[^9]: Office of the Alien Property Custodian, Vesting Order Number 261, "All of the Capital Stock of Holland-American Trading Corporation," executed October 28, 1942 (F.R. Doc. 42-13532, filed December 18, 1942), *Federal Register* 7 (December 19, 1942), p. 10627, holder table of 500 shares. https://archive.org/details/sim_federal-register-find_1942-12-19_7_248
[^10]: Ben Aris and Duncan Campbell, "How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power," *The Guardian*, September 25, 2004: "Having gone through the books of the bank, further seizures were made against two affiliates, the Holland-American Trading Corporation and the Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar
[^11]: Aris and Campbell, *The Guardian*, September 25, 2004: "the incorporation documents, which list him as one of seven directors, show he owned one share in UBC worth $125." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar
[^12]: Aris and Campbell, *The Guardian*, September 25, 2004, quoting the Homer Jones memorandum from National Archives vesting files. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar