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Chairman of the Trilateral Commission, and it was all due to David Rockefeller, the "gentleman-pioneer of the trilateral world".’ Similarly, at a book signing for David's new autobiography, Memoirs, held in late 2002 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed the plutocrat's contribution to world order: I think without internationalists like you, the international system we have been trying to build, the international system we have today, wouldn't be here. So, thank you very much, David® Chairman of the Trilateral Commission, and it was all due to Senior's trusted valet of some 30 years, John Yordi, David admits David Rockefeller, the "gentleman-pioneer of the trilateral to having been ecstatic: "I thought it would have been Nelson, world".’ Similarly, at a book signing for David's new but J couldn't pretend I wasn't pleased." It is noteworthy that autobiography, Memoirs, held in late 2002 at the United Nations David starts Memoirs with this incident, as it is one of the few headquarters in New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan _ admissions to his true status. hailed the plutocrat's contribution to world order: Lacking Nelson's hunger for publicity and overt power, David's I think without internationalists like you, the international career path took a somewhat different course. Educated at system we have been trying to build, the international system Harvard, the London School of Economics (LSE) and the we have today, wouldn't be here. So, thank you very much, University of Chicago, David became the only one of Junior's David® children to have earned a PhD. The subject of his dissertation, essentially an attack on government regulation of business activi- But we need not take their word for it. After years of denying ty, was "Unused Resources and Economic Waste" (1940). Upon and ridiculing such charges, David Rockefeller has finally put an completion of his studies, and contemplating a career in politics, end to the speculation, making the following admission in _ David returned to New York in 1940 to work as secretary to New Memoirs: York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. In mid-1941, tiring of local For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end politics and seeking "administrative experience", David started of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized work with a new government body, the Office of Defense, Health, incidents...to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate and Welfare Services. This proved to be short-lived, though, and influence they claim we wield over American political and with the outbreak of the war David enlisted in the US Army, economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a going on to serve as an intelligence officer in North Africa and secret cabal working against the best interests of the United France. States, characterizing my family Returning to the US in 1946, David and me as “internationalists" went to work for the "family bank", and of conspiring with others ...0f all John D. Rockefeller, Jr's Chase Manhattan. He started as a around the world to build a fe Gr, 8 Q low-ranking officer, but, thanks to the more integrated global political offpsring, it Is David, Rockefeller family's controlling and economic structure—one despite being the youngest, interest, he rapidly rose through the world, if you will. If that's the ranks and in 1969 became Chairman charge, I stand guilty, and I am who has emerged as the and Chief Executive Officer. Davi proud of it.’ true heir to the vast reservoir of § ran the bank until his retirement in eae . 1981, but continued to play a role as David Rockefeller's bold confes- political and economic power Chairman of the bank's Internationa sion, finally given late in his life, is originally amassed by Advisory Committee. clearly momentous but it also war- h D.R k f Il S Although David later liked to boast rants further scrutiny, for his account Jo nV. hocketeller, or. that he was "the first member of the in Memoirs omits much important family since Grandfather who has detail. Only by examining David's had a regular job in a company an statements, articles and speeches over the past 40 years can the has devoted a major part of his life to being in business", it was true extent of his vision of "a more integrated global political and —_ apparently "not an easy decision" as he still desired to work with economic structure" be understood. And such examination also government or in philanthropy, particularly on internationa reveals that David has not been an idle dreamer, but has used his affairs.’° But, in truth, neither avenue has ever been closed to him. position as arguably the most powerful and influential Rockefeller of the latter half of the 20th century to advocate a revamped ver- — The Education of an Internationalist sion of the Wilson—Fosdick world order model. David attributes much of his internationalist fervour to the ...0f all John D. Rockefeller, Jr's offpsring, it is David, despite being the youngest, who has emerged as the true heir to the vast reservoir of political and economic power originally amassed by John D. Rockefeller, Sr. The Education of an Internationalist David attributes much of his internationalist fervour to the influence of his parents, his overseas travelling experiences and his changed world outlook following World War II. He writes that it was his parents who first impressed on him "the importance of the world beyond the United States". His father, Junior, "was a staunch supporter of the League of Nations" and, through the Rockefeller Foundation, "one of the principal funders of health, education, and cultural endeavors around the world".'' But there were other influences, including David's education at Harvar University and the University of Chicago during the 1930s, an his early membership of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1949 and the Bilderberg Group from 1954. It was at Harvard, under the guidance of Professor Gottfrie von Haberler (1901-1995), that David received more vigorous indoctrination into the benefits of free trade. Described by Davi as a "staunch supporter of free trade", Haberler would have given compelling guidance—for the Austrian professor was, according to one biographer, "one of the first economists to make a rigorous case for the superior productivity and universal benefits of 'free' or politically unrestricted international trade..." At the University of The Heir Apparent One of the more common observations made by biographers of the Rockefeller family is that of all John D. Rockefeller, Jr's off- spring, it is David, despite being the youngest, who has emerged as the true heir to the vast reservoir of political and economic power originally amassed by John D. Rockefeller, Sr. As Peter Collier and David Horowitz observe in their book, The Rockefellers, in contrast to his siblings it was David who "was the most serious, the one who was conscious of his birthright from the beginning".’ Even Senior seemed to sense that his genes had finally re-emerged under David, and he doted on his youngest grandson with a degree of affection he had not given to his own son. Coincidentally, David recalls in Memoirs that it was in 1937, at the funeral service for Senior (who died at the age of 97), that he learned not only that was he the deceased monopolist's "favorite" but that Senior had "always thought" David was "most like him[self]". Having received this confirmation of his status from 28 ¢ NEXUS WWW.NeXU smagazi ne.com AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2003