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Chicago, these views were reinforced when another free trade ideas of others, usually Establishment academics and technocrats, proponent, the economist Jacob Viner (1892-1970), tutored incorporating them into his own global vision when it suits his David. Lauded by David as an advocate of "unobstructed trade as purposes. But, David admits, he has "never been particularly dog- a means of generating economic growth", Viner was one of the matic" in his political or economic beliefs, preferring to support leading free trade theorists of his time. He was also an advocate "effective people and...practical policies".'’ Thus, for David, of using international institutions to manage the world economy. ideas or protégés can be discarded once they are no longer useful Fittingly, David includes Haberler and Viner among those to him or his ultimate goal of "a more integrated global political academics to whom he owes an "intellectual debt", hailing them and economic structure". as "truth seekers" whose example he has attempted to follow.” David joined the Council on Foreign Relations in 1949, his sur- | A Modern-Day Medici name ensuring election to its board of directors. David naturally David Rockefeller's globalist inclinations would be of little understates the CFR's influence on his thinking, merely observing interest if not for his uniquely powerful position in the US politi- that he found it to be the "best place" for pursuing his "interest in cal sphere. In attempting to describe David's power, academics global affairs". Tellingly, David admits his motivation for joining and journalists have used many superlatives, and it is instructive the CFR was his determination to "play a role" in the process of that these descriptions are similar. David Rockefeller is "[t]he ensuring the US provided leadership in building "a new interna- single most powerful private citizen in America today", observed tional architecture" following World War II. Florida State University academic Thomas While David correctly identifies the wide R. Dye in his 1976 book, Who's Running range of views among the CFR's members, America? The journalist Bill Moyers, in his for him the Council's enduring value has 1980 TV special, The World of David been its role in devising schemes for world Rockefeller, described the plutocrat respec- order that conform with his Wilsonian tively as "the unelected if indisputable chair- vision. For example, marking the CFR's David Rockefeller is man of the American Establishment" and 75th anniversary in 1997, David hailed the "the single most one of the most powerful, influential and Council's role as America's "premier school richest men in America", who "sits at the hub tor statesmen observing that i was fom powerful private ofa vast network of financiers, industrialists e s War and Peace Studies projec’ a0 . . and politicians whose reach encircles the that America's post-war plans for a "just and citizen in America globe". And in 1998, NewsMax.com durable international system" had emerged, today", observed described David as "one of the world's most and from more recent CFR studies that . influential private figures" .'* "awareness of global economic interde- Florida State David has always rejected such endence gained particular prominence in national policy discussions" ."’ In 1954, David was selected by President Eisenhower to be one of the founding US members of the Bilderberg Group. The Bilderbergers ave long been controversial, with many researchers attributing to the annual secret gathering a role in establishing the European Union and facilitating the planning of a world government.’ David insists, naturally, that the "truth" is that Bilderberg is no more than an "intensely interesting assessments, insisting that his power is limited and that he has no real leverage with world leaders or government offi- cials, merely good access to them. In an interview with Forbes magazine in 1972, for example, David downplayed the idea that he had any such power: I have no power in the sense that I can call anybody in the govern- ment and tell them what to do. Because of my position I'm more apt to get through on the tele- phone than somebody else, but what happens to what I suggest University academic Thomas R. Dye in his 1976 book, Who's Running America? discussion group" which does not reach a consensus. What depends on whether they feel this makes sense in terms of Bilderberg discusses, David does not say, preferring to what they are already doing.” characterise the cabal as a unique networking opportunity. Dye disputes this, claiming that the real reason for David's elab- Bilderberg, David said in 1990, gave him "an opportunity...to orate denial is simple: with it already well known that he "exer- become acquainted with some of the leaders of Europe and the cises great power", the plutocrat has "no reason to try to impress United States on a very informal basis...one got to know them on anyone" by openly admitting it. In fact, David's position and a first-name basis".'* Other Bilderbergers, however, such as behaviour are similar to that of the Medici banking family that former British politician Denis Healey, admit there is a Bilderberg unofficially ruled 15th-century Florence by subverting the elabo- consensus, with most Bilderbergers believing that "a single _rate electoral system through a combination of deception, corrup- community throughout the world would be a good thing".'° Such tion and violence. The Medicis were effectively the shadow gov- a consensus would have obviously reinforced David's globalist | ernment of Florence—a fact acknowledged in the Florentine inclinations, making the Bilderbergs more than merely an expression, "the secret things of our town". That was because, as unusually well-connected social rendezvous. Tim Parks notes in the New York Review of Books, the Medici This is but a small sample of the influences on David's globalist family leadership understood that "to hold power for any length of outlook, but it also illustrates his reliance on the ideas of others. time, one must appear not to hold it".” Although not known for Despite his PhD, David is not quite the theoretical mastermind emulating their more controversial practices, David Rockefeller is behind the New World Order that he appears to be. Instead, like like the Medicis, his shadowy yet powerful political role one of most plutocrats intent on changing the world, he appropriates the the "secret things" of Washington, DC. ideas of others, usually Establishment academics and technocrats, incorporating them into his own global vision when it suits his purposes. But, David admits, he has "never been particularly dog- matic" in his political or economic beliefs, preferring to support "effective people and...practical policies".'" Thus, for David, ideas or protégés can be discarded once they are no longer useful to him or his ultimate goal of "a more integrated global political and economic structure". "the single most powerful private citizen in America today", observed Florida State University academic Thomas R. Dye in his 1976 book, Who's Running America? NEXUS ¢ 29 David Rockefeller is AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2003 www.nexusmagazine.com