In 1967, David Rockefeller was a director and vice-president of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), one of the most prestigious and influential foreign policy lobbies in the world. The CFR was founded in 1921, but had little influence until the late 1920's when various Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations began channeling considerable finan- cial support for its operations. The organization's membership, restricted to 700 resident members (greater New York area) and 700 non-resident members, includes the elite of the nation's business, finance, mass media and academic community. Membership is by invitation only, and no women or foreigners are admitted. The Council is funded prima- rily by the three major U.S. foundations, Rockefeller, Ford and Carnegie. According to a study by Dan Smoot, published in 1962, CFR members were trustees of major foundations as follows: 12 of the Fockefeller Foundation's 20, 10 of the Ford Foundation's 15, 18 of the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace's 26, and 15 of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of- Teaching's 26. 1 CFR policy recommendations are worked out in special study groups and task forces com- posed of elite members of the corporate and academic world. Major policy statements and proposals are published in its highly influential journal, Foreign Affairs. CFR members have consistently been among the top advisors and policymakers in the last five administrations. In President Kennedy's administration, 'both his Secretary of State (Rusk, Democrat) and Treasury (Dillon, Republican) were chosen from Council members; so were seven assistant and undersecretaries of State, four senior members of Defense...as well as two members of the White House staff (Schlesinger, Democrat; Bundy, Republican)." 2 Recently, CFR members who had a special interest in Latin American policy, led by David Rockefeller, created a new sister organization called the Center for Inter-American Re- lations (see below). 1 Dan Smoot, The Invisible Government, Dan Smoot Report Inc., Dallas, 1962, as quoted in Who Rules America? by William Domhoff, Prentice Hall, 1967, p. 73. Both books, par- ticularly Smoot's, contain in-depth studies of the CFR. 2 From The Making of the President, 1964 by Theodore H. White, as quoted in "The Foun- dations," Ramparts, April 1969. CENTER FOR INTER-AMERICAN RELATIONS AND THE COUNCIL FOR LATIN AMERICA David Rockefeller is chairman of two highly prestigious and influential non-profit organ- izations whose primary focus is U.S. operations in Latin America. They are the Center for Inter-American Relations (CIAR) and the Council for Latin America (CLA). Both are located in a six-story town house, donated by David's cousin, the Chilean Marquesa de Cuevas, across the street from the Council on Foreign Relations headquarters in New York. The CIAR was formed in 1967 as a tax-exempt membership corporation to meet "two criti- cal needs: more effective communication among those concerned with the process of polit- ical, economic and social development in the Hemisphere; and greater awareness in the United States of the artistic traditions and cultural accomplishments of Latin America, the Caribbean area and Canada." The core of its original 110 members is composed of Council on Foreign Relations members. CIAR membership is by invitation only, with $200 dues for businessmen in the New York area and $50 for academicians. The CIAR sponsors cultural activities, art shows, music recitals, films, lectures and the Latin American Graduate Organization (LAGO), all of which are open to the public;- 26 - its policy discussions, however, are restricted to members and their guests. One of the key discussions currently being conducted by the Center, under the guidance of two former high State Department officials (now CIAR officers), William Rogers and David Bronheim, is how to work out a rapprochement with the Cuban Revolution. Under the Center's aus- pices, top liberal advisors have held several secret meetings to discuss policy reports on U.S.-Cuban relations as well as to map out a strategy for achieving an accomodation with the Cubans. The CLA is a non-profit membership organization formed in 1965 by a merger of the Busi- ness Group for Latin America (established in 1963 at President Kennedy's request), the U.S. Inter-American Council (founded in 1941 and to which 170 U.S. companies belonged) and the Latin American Information Committee (founded in 1961 and supported by 38 U.S. corporations). Its members (over 200 U.S. corporations) account for over 80 percent of all U.S. invest- ments in Latin America. According to the CLA brochure, it is the "chief spokesman for U.S. businesses operating in Latin America." (For more details on the CIAR and the CLA, see NACLA Newsletter, September 1967.) THE INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE SERVICE CORPS The International Executive Service Corps was founded in 1964 by David Rockefeller, Sol Linowitz and other leaders of the American international business community. Often referred to as the "Executive Peace Corps," it utilizes the skills and experience of retired executives to teach managerial and entrepreneurial techniques in the "develop- ing" countries. The IESC emphasizes assistance to'the private sector rather than to government industries. A client firm must pay a fee for IESC aid "in order to estab- lish a proper business-to-business relationship." The U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) and large multi-national corporations work closely with the IESC, helping with contacts and funding. The organization's sponsors now number over 175 multinational corporations. The following is a description of a typical IESC project in Brazil: "Business administration: Screens the requests made by private business for U.S. professional advice on modern management and industrial techniques, methods to improve and extend a product line, and the introduction of working capital loans by development banks. Personnel: 3 U.S. Cooperating organizations: AID; U.S. private business." 1 The IESC has had a rather impressive lineup of chairmen. David Rockefeller headed the organization from 1964 to 1968. He was succeeded by his close business associate, George D. Woods. From 1951-62, Woods was chairman of the board of the First Boston Corporation (controlled by the Rockefellers and Mellons), one of the nation's largest securities underwriting concerns; Woods then went on to be president of World Bank for five years. Frank Pace, Jr., current head of the IESC, was former Secretary of the Army (1950-53) and then chairman of the General Dynamics Corporation (1953-), one of the nation's largest military contractors. He is also presently a director of Time, Inc. and chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the enterprise which directs educational television in the United States. The following chart summarizing IESC operations in Latin America is reproduced from the organization's February 1969 issue of their monthly newsletter.- 27 - Project Summary IESC volunteer executives carried out 417 projects in 1968, bringing to 827 the number of completions since IESC began operations in January, 1965. The 1968 total was larger than the total number of com- pletions in the first three years of the program. Thirty projects were completed in 1965, 115 in 1966, and 265 in 1967 for a three-year total of 410. The goal for 1969 is 500 completions. Below is a summary of project activity for the period ending Dec. 31,1968: Other Executive Projects Completed Active Assipgned Accepted TOTAL 3 1 23 2 1 3 10 1 1 2 1 1 3 9 1 3 5 2 2 4 1 6 1 1 8 23 9 41 138 10 33 25 86 7 25 5 4 17 99 4 15 6 36 5 22 4 39 8 51 1 5 33 1 7 1 5 LATIN AMERICA Argentina 12 Bolivia 9 Brazil 73 Chile 20 Colombia 48 Costa Rica 16 Dominican Republic 2 Ecuador 3 El Salvador 70 Guatemala 10 Honduras 22 Mexico 13 Nicaragua 31 Panama 42 Paraguay 1 Peru 22 Trinidad 5 Venezuela 3 THE CREOLE FOUNDATION In 1956 the Creole Petroleum Corporation, a Jersey Standard Oil affiliate, established Venezuela's first company-supported foundation: the Creole Foundation. During its first six years of operation, the foundation disbursed over $5 million in the follow- ing fields: education, teacher training, vocational training, scientific research, and cultural activities. One of its main objectives is to help develop private education. It has, for example, supported the building of Roman Catholic schools (whose programs were taken over in 1964 by the Venezuelan Catholic Education Association); it granted $300,000 in 1958 to "Fe y Alegria" (Faith and Happiness), an organization founded by Jesuits; and it granted $275,000 to the Universidad Cat6lica Andres Bello for con- struction of a new engineering school. The foundation has also assisted ACCION (Americans for Community Cooperation in Other Nations) in Venezuela, previously headed by Joseph M. Blatchford,' who has recently been chosen to direct the Peace Corps. ACCION is a private organization operating in Venezuela and Brazil under the auspices of the U.S. Institute for International Edu- cation. It has also been financed by the Ottinger Foundation and the American Insti- tute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), both long suspected as CIA conduits. Another source of ACCION funds, the William H. Donner Foundation, is associated with the right- wing Independence Foundation of Philadelphia. Between 1956 and 1966, Creole Foundation scholarships enabled 361 Venezuelans to study in the United States and 700 Venezuelans to study in Venezuelan universities. Sources: "Developing Human Resources," by Eric Hawke, in The Lamp, Fall, 1967, publi- cation of Standard Oil of New Jersey. Resource Survey for Latin American Countries, November 1965, Bureau of Edu- cational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State.
