One immediate result of the CIA and ITT-promoted September 11, 1973 military coup in Chile was that, “a right-wing military junta took over in Santiago and soon after opened negotiations with ITT regarding compensation for Chiltelco;” and “on December 22 [1973] it was announced that the new Chilean government would pay $125.2 million for ITT’s equity and debt investments in Chiltelco, over a 10-year period,” according to Robert Sobel’s 1982 book "ITT: The Management of Opportunity".
The Chilean people, however, failed to profit as much from the CIA-ITT conspiracy to overthrow the democratically-elected Allende regime as did the corporation on whose board of directors sat the founder of the Lannan Foundation. According to "Nixon, Kissinger and Allende: U.S. Involvement in the 1973 Coup in Chile":
“By the end of 1973, 1,500 Chileans had perished…Judge [Juan] Guzman estimated that 3,500 Chileans were either killed or `disappeared’ during the 17 years of military rule…Indeed, the death toll could have been as high as 4,000…”
But other books have estimated the number of Chileans killed by the U.S. government-supported Pinochet regime during and after the September 11, 1973 military coup as being much higher. For example, according to Samuel Chavkin’s 1989 book "Storm Over Chile: The Junta Under Siege":
“…Immediately after the overthrow of the Allende regime, Washington rejected charges that it had had a hand in the coup, and it disclaimed having had advance knowledge of its imminence…It was only after the fact,…after some 30,000 Chileans had been tortured to death or shot by firing squads, after upwards of 100,000 others were languishing in prisons and concentration camps, that official documentation of this conspiracy came to light before the Senate Select Committee in 1975…”
If the editorial judgments and reporting about the role of the ITT Board of Directors and ITT in promoting the September 11, 1973 military coup in Chile of alternative media/left gatekeeper groups like "Democracy Now!", "The Nation", and "Mother Jones" magazine have been negatively affected as a result of their acceptance of “charitable grant”/blood money from the Lannan Foundation that ITT Director J. Patrick Lannan, Sr. set up, it would not be the first time that a Lannan family-linked organization attempted to influence news reporting and editorial judgments of a media organizations. When ITT Director Lannan’s firm attempted unsuccessfully to win U.S. Justice Department and U.S. court approval for a merger with ABC in the late 1960s, for example, the U.S. Justice Department noted the following in an August 3, 1970 memo:
“…In the course of the ABC-ITT proceeding, ITT exhibited its readiness to interfere with the judgment of reporters of independent news media; specific testimony covered attempts of ITT executives to influence the reporting of the ABC-ITT proceeding by newspaper reporters of the leading dailies. Some of this testimony included statements by ITT officials that reporters should be concerned about potential economic consequences in reporting news and making editorial judgments…The Department argues that the proposed merger was likely to result in significant and substantial detriment to the public interest, including loss of competition…”
Perhaps the “merger” of "Democracy Now!", "The Nation" and "Mother Jones" with ITT Director J. Patrick Lannan, Sr.’s Lannan Foundation in the 21st--century also results “in significant and substantial detriment to the public interest”—40 years after the CIA and ITT’s 1973 coup in Chile?
(end of article)
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Monday, January 13, 2014
40 Years After CIA and ITT's 1973 Coup In Chile: A Look At `Democracy Now!''s ITT-Lannan Foundation Connection--Part 8
Lubea Qureshi’s 2009 book "Nixon, Kissinger and Allende: U.S. Involvement in the 1973 Coup in Chile" observed that when the CIA funded and organized strikes by right-wing Chilean truck industry owners in the fall of 1972 and the summer of 1973 in order to attempt to create economic chaos in Chile prior to the September 1973 military coup, “ITT extended $400,000” to the right-wing anti-Allende regime strikers. The same book also noted that “Henry Hecksher, “ the CIA’s “chief of station in Santiago” in 1970, “directed ITT operatives to a Chilean who could serve as a secret channel for” ITT “funds” in the early 1970s; and $1 million traveled from ITT coffers to Chilean recipients,” with right-wing presidential candidate “Jorge Alessandri and his National party” receiving “at least $400,000 of this enormous corporate investment” by ITT.
"The Pinochet File" also recalled that “by the fall of 1971, the CIA Station” in Chile “was conducting a `deception operation’…in order to `arouse the” Chilean `military’ to `move against’ Allende `if necessary’;” and “by early 1972” the CIA’s “Santiago Station began compiling arrest lists, installation targets, and other operational data necessary for coup contingency planning.” Then, according to the same book:
“…On September 27, 1972…a CIA informant, inside Pinochet’s camp reported that…Pinochet now believes `that Allende must be forced to step down or be eliminated;’ these were, in his words, the `only alternatives.’ When Pinochet traveled to Panama that month to negotiate the transfer of U.S. tanks to the Chilean army,…a member of his entourage reported back to a CIA handler. And U.S. army officers at the Southern Command, according to this source, passed an important message along to Pinochet’s delegation: the `U.S. will support coup against Allende’ with whatever means necessary `when the time comes.’”
So, not surprisingly, “in October 1972, a team of `appropriate CIA elements’—officials and analysts” then “gathered at Langley headquarters and `brainstormed the current Chilean situation from every conceivable angle,’ weighing `various courses of action…to accelerate current Chilean events leading toward a coup’ as [then-CIA Western Hemisphere Division Chief Theodore] Shackley reported to the Senior Review Group (SRG) on October 17 [1972],” according to "The Pinochet File."
(end of part 8)
"The Pinochet File" also recalled that “by the fall of 1971, the CIA Station” in Chile “was conducting a `deception operation’…in order to `arouse the” Chilean `military’ to `move against’ Allende `if necessary’;” and “by early 1972” the CIA’s “Santiago Station began compiling arrest lists, installation targets, and other operational data necessary for coup contingency planning.” Then, according to the same book:
“…On September 27, 1972…a CIA informant, inside Pinochet’s camp reported that…Pinochet now believes `that Allende must be forced to step down or be eliminated;’ these were, in his words, the `only alternatives.’ When Pinochet traveled to Panama that month to negotiate the transfer of U.S. tanks to the Chilean army,…a member of his entourage reported back to a CIA handler. And U.S. army officers at the Southern Command, according to this source, passed an important message along to Pinochet’s delegation: the `U.S. will support coup against Allende’ with whatever means necessary `when the time comes.’”
So, not surprisingly, “in October 1972, a team of `appropriate CIA elements’—officials and analysts” then “gathered at Langley headquarters and `brainstormed the current Chilean situation from every conceivable angle,’ weighing `various courses of action…to accelerate current Chilean events leading toward a coup’ as [then-CIA Western Hemisphere Division Chief Theodore] Shackley reported to the Senior Review Group (SRG) on October 17 [1972],” according to "The Pinochet File."
(end of part 8)
Sunday, January 12, 2014
40 Years After CIA and ITT's 1973 Coup In Chile: A Look At `Democracy Now!''s ITT-Lannan Foundation Connection--Part 7
"The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier On Atrocity and Accountability" recalled that there were “some 40 contacts between highest-level CIA and ITT officials on Chile in 1970 and 1971.”
ITT’s involvement in the CIA’s secret funding of the anti-Allende right-wing Chilean newspaper, "El Mercurio", between 1970 and 1973 apparently helped to bring about the September 11, 1973 military coup in Chile which installed Chilean General Pinochet as the Chilean dictator for many years. As "The Pinochet File" noted:
“The covert operation that, according to the CIA’s own internal records, played `a significant role’ in bringing about a coup was clandestine funding for the `El Mercurio' project…After the paper’s owner, Agustin Edwards, came to Washington in September 1970 to lobby Nixon for action against Allende, the CIA used `El Mercurio' as a key outlet for a massive propaganda campaign…Additional secret monies flowed to `El Mercurio' through the CIA’s main corporate collaborator in Chile—the ITT Corporation. A declassified May 15, 1972 memorandum of a conversation between CIA officer Jonathan Hanke and ITT official Hal Hendrix recorded a discussion about $100,000 bank deposits ITT was secretly making to Agustin Edwards. `He had told me money for the Edwards group went through a Swiss account,’ Hanke reported to his superiors…The CIA asserted that the propaganda effort, in which `El Mercurio' was the dominant actor, `played a significant role in setting the stage for the military coup of 11 September 1973.’”…
(end of part 7)
ITT’s involvement in the CIA’s secret funding of the anti-Allende right-wing Chilean newspaper, "El Mercurio", between 1970 and 1973 apparently helped to bring about the September 11, 1973 military coup in Chile which installed Chilean General Pinochet as the Chilean dictator for many years. As "The Pinochet File" noted:
“The covert operation that, according to the CIA’s own internal records, played `a significant role’ in bringing about a coup was clandestine funding for the `El Mercurio' project…After the paper’s owner, Agustin Edwards, came to Washington in September 1970 to lobby Nixon for action against Allende, the CIA used `El Mercurio' as a key outlet for a massive propaganda campaign…Additional secret monies flowed to `El Mercurio' through the CIA’s main corporate collaborator in Chile—the ITT Corporation. A declassified May 15, 1972 memorandum of a conversation between CIA officer Jonathan Hanke and ITT official Hal Hendrix recorded a discussion about $100,000 bank deposits ITT was secretly making to Agustin Edwards. `He had told me money for the Edwards group went through a Swiss account,’ Hanke reported to his superiors…The CIA asserted that the propaganda effort, in which `El Mercurio' was the dominant actor, `played a significant role in setting the stage for the military coup of 11 September 1973.’”…
(end of part 7)
Saturday, January 11, 2014
40 Years After CIA and ITT's 1973 Coup In Chile: A Look At `Democracy Now!''s ITT-Lannan Foundation Connection--Part 6
Not all the facts about what the CIA and ITT were covertly up to in Chile between 1970 and 1973 were apparently fully disclosed by CIA officials and ITT executives who testified before U.S. Senator Frank Church’s Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations during the early 1970s. As Peter Kornbluh noted in his 2003 book, "The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier On Atrocity and Accountability":
“Senator Church’s Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations suffered…deceptions…Under the supervision of the [then-] Western Hemisphere chief, Theodore Shackley, the CIA conspired with ITT officers to deceive the Church Committee. In early May 1972, ITT senior vice president Raymond Brittenham traveled to Washington to discuss `with the Agency what ITT might say in the Senate hearings, what the Agency might say, etc.,’ according to one memorandum of conversation. Shackley, according to David Corn’s biography, `Blond Ghost', ordered his deputy Jonathan Hanke to meet with ITT operative Hal Hendrix for further discussions on withholding information…According to Hanke’s summary of the meeting, Hendrix advised him on efforts by ITT executives to keep incriminating documents on the covert transfer of funds in Chile from falling into the hands of the Senate…
“ITT officials, among them CEO Harold Geneen, senior vice president Edward Gerrity, and Southern Cone manager Robert Berrellez, all deceived the subcommittee. Geneen claimed that ITT `did not take any steps to block the election of Salvador Allende.’ Gerrity claimed the $1 million that ITT had offered to the CIA to help block Allende was for `low-cost housing…a farming program.’ And Berrellez repeatedly misled the Church subcommittee by denying any ITT contact with CIA officials in Chile…”
According to the same book, in the early 1970s ITT was “the third largest American conglomerate” in Chile and “certainly ITT was the most interventionist.” As an April 3, 1972 Intercontinental Press article noted:
“What prompted ITT to launch its scheme was fear that it would lose its highly profitable control over the Chile Telephone Company. `The telephone company, the largest in Chile with 360,000 telephones,’ wrote Juan de Onis in the March 24 [1972] `New York Times', `was one of the biggest earners in the ITT world system, regularly earning over $10-million a year.’
“The concession contract ITT signed in 1930 to operate the telephone company guaranteed it a 10 percent annual profit on its investment. ITT, however, in effect sold itself the equipment necessary for maintenance and expansion. According to a `Washington Post' dispatch from Santiago, a spokesman for the company…estimated that `these sales, largely by European plants of ITT, raised the company’s recent annual profits to about 25 percent of its investment.’”
(end of part 6)
“Senator Church’s Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations suffered…deceptions…Under the supervision of the [then-] Western Hemisphere chief, Theodore Shackley, the CIA conspired with ITT officers to deceive the Church Committee. In early May 1972, ITT senior vice president Raymond Brittenham traveled to Washington to discuss `with the Agency what ITT might say in the Senate hearings, what the Agency might say, etc.,’ according to one memorandum of conversation. Shackley, according to David Corn’s biography, `Blond Ghost', ordered his deputy Jonathan Hanke to meet with ITT operative Hal Hendrix for further discussions on withholding information…According to Hanke’s summary of the meeting, Hendrix advised him on efforts by ITT executives to keep incriminating documents on the covert transfer of funds in Chile from falling into the hands of the Senate…
“ITT officials, among them CEO Harold Geneen, senior vice president Edward Gerrity, and Southern Cone manager Robert Berrellez, all deceived the subcommittee. Geneen claimed that ITT `did not take any steps to block the election of Salvador Allende.’ Gerrity claimed the $1 million that ITT had offered to the CIA to help block Allende was for `low-cost housing…a farming program.’ And Berrellez repeatedly misled the Church subcommittee by denying any ITT contact with CIA officials in Chile…”
According to the same book, in the early 1970s ITT was “the third largest American conglomerate” in Chile and “certainly ITT was the most interventionist.” As an April 3, 1972 Intercontinental Press article noted:
“What prompted ITT to launch its scheme was fear that it would lose its highly profitable control over the Chile Telephone Company. `The telephone company, the largest in Chile with 360,000 telephones,’ wrote Juan de Onis in the March 24 [1972] `New York Times', `was one of the biggest earners in the ITT world system, regularly earning over $10-million a year.’
“The concession contract ITT signed in 1930 to operate the telephone company guaranteed it a 10 percent annual profit on its investment. ITT, however, in effect sold itself the equipment necessary for maintenance and expansion. According to a `Washington Post' dispatch from Santiago, a spokesman for the company…estimated that `these sales, largely by European plants of ITT, raised the company’s recent annual profits to about 25 percent of its investment.’”
(end of part 6)
Friday, January 10, 2014
Black Youth Unemployment Rate Still 35.5 Percent In December 2013
The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age in the United States was still 35.5 percent in December 2013, according to recently released Bureau of Labor Statistics data; while the number of unemployed Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age increased by 6,000 (from 240,000 to 246,000) between November and December 2013.
The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 22.3 percent in December 2013; while the number of Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 17,000 (from 817,000 to 800,000) between November and December 2013. In addition, the number of Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 45,000 (from 1,075,000 to 1,030,000) during the same period.
The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 18 percent in December 2013; while the number of white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 49,000 (from 3,727,000 to 3,678,000) between November and December 2013. In addition, the number of white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 97,000 (from 4,582,000 to 4,485,000) between November and December 2013.
In December 2013, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 20.2 percent; while the total number of youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 21,000 (from 4,523,000 to 4,502,000) between November and December 2013. In addition, the total number of youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 71,000 (from 5,713,000 to 5,642,000) during the same period.
The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all Black workers (youth, male and female) in the United States was still 11.9 percent in December 2013; while the official jobless rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 11.5 percent during that same month. In addition, the number of Black male workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 25,000 (from 7,327,000 to 7,302,000) between November and December 2013; while the number of Black male workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 89,000 (from 8,334,000 to 8,255,000) during the same period.
The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 10.4 percent in December 2013; while the number of Black female workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 24,000 (from 9,475,000 to 9,451,000) between November and December 2013..
The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 8.1 percent in December 2013; while the number of Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 18,000 (from 9,192,000 to 9,174,000) between November and December 2013. In addition, the number of Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 40,000 (from 10,018,000 to 9,978,000) during the same period.
According to the “seasonally adjusted” data, the official jobless rate for all Latino workers (male, female and youth) in the United States was still 8.3 percent in December 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 7.5 percent during that same month. In addition, the total number of Latino workers who still had jobs decreased by 144,000 (from 22,949,000 to 22,805,000) between November and December 2014, according to the “seasonally adjusted” data; while the total number of Latino workers still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 261,000 (from 25,124,000 to 24,863,000) during the same period.
The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 5.6 percent in December 2013; while the number of white male workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 66,000 (from 64,287,000 to 64,221,000) between November and December 2013. In addition, during the same period, the number of white female workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 8,000 (from 54,181,000 to 54,173,000); white the jobless rate for white female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 5.3 percent in December 2013.
The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 6 percent in December 2013; while the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 6.3 percent during that same month.
In December 2013, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all U.S. workers was still 6.7 percent; while the official total number of workers in the United States who were still jobless during that same month was 10,351,000. In addition, between November and December 2013 the total number of U.S. workers still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 347,000 (from 155,284,000 to 154,937,000); and the number of U.S. workers not in the U.S. labor force increased by 523,000 (from 91,283,000 to 91,808,000) during that same period.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ January 10, 2014 press release:
“…Employment…was down in information…The rates for adult women (6.0 percent), teenagers (20.2 percent), blacks (11.9 percent), and Hispanics (8.3 percent) showed little change…The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more), at 3.9 million, showed little change; these individuals accounted for 37.7 percent of the unemployed…The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged at 7.8 million in December. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time work…
“In December, 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little changed from a year earlier…These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted, and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey….
“Among the marginally attached, there were 917,000 discouraged workers in December…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…
“…Employment in accounting and bookkeeping services declined by 25,000…Manufacturing...in…electronic instruments (-4,000) lost jobs…Health care employment changed little in December (-6,000)…Employment in information fell by 12,000 in December, driven by a decline in the motion picture and sound recording industry (-14,000)…
“Construction employment edged down in December (-16,000)…Employment in nonresidential specialty trade contractors declined by 13,000 in December…”
The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 22.3 percent in December 2013; while the number of Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 17,000 (from 817,000 to 800,000) between November and December 2013. In addition, the number of Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 45,000 (from 1,075,000 to 1,030,000) during the same period.
The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 18 percent in December 2013; while the number of white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 49,000 (from 3,727,000 to 3,678,000) between November and December 2013. In addition, the number of white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 97,000 (from 4,582,000 to 4,485,000) between November and December 2013.
In December 2013, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 20.2 percent; while the total number of youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 21,000 (from 4,523,000 to 4,502,000) between November and December 2013. In addition, the total number of youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 71,000 (from 5,713,000 to 5,642,000) during the same period.
The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all Black workers (youth, male and female) in the United States was still 11.9 percent in December 2013; while the official jobless rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 11.5 percent during that same month. In addition, the number of Black male workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 25,000 (from 7,327,000 to 7,302,000) between November and December 2013; while the number of Black male workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 89,000 (from 8,334,000 to 8,255,000) during the same period.
The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 10.4 percent in December 2013; while the number of Black female workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 24,000 (from 9,475,000 to 9,451,000) between November and December 2013..
The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 8.1 percent in December 2013; while the number of Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 18,000 (from 9,192,000 to 9,174,000) between November and December 2013. In addition, the number of Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 40,000 (from 10,018,000 to 9,978,000) during the same period.
According to the “seasonally adjusted” data, the official jobless rate for all Latino workers (male, female and youth) in the United States was still 8.3 percent in December 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 7.5 percent during that same month. In addition, the total number of Latino workers who still had jobs decreased by 144,000 (from 22,949,000 to 22,805,000) between November and December 2014, according to the “seasonally adjusted” data; while the total number of Latino workers still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 261,000 (from 25,124,000 to 24,863,000) during the same period.
The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 5.6 percent in December 2013; while the number of white male workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 66,000 (from 64,287,000 to 64,221,000) between November and December 2013. In addition, during the same period, the number of white female workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 8,000 (from 54,181,000 to 54,173,000); white the jobless rate for white female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 5.3 percent in December 2013.
The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 6 percent in December 2013; while the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 6.3 percent during that same month.
In December 2013, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all U.S. workers was still 6.7 percent; while the official total number of workers in the United States who were still jobless during that same month was 10,351,000. In addition, between November and December 2013 the total number of U.S. workers still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 347,000 (from 155,284,000 to 154,937,000); and the number of U.S. workers not in the U.S. labor force increased by 523,000 (from 91,283,000 to 91,808,000) during that same period.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ January 10, 2014 press release:
“…Employment…was down in information…The rates for adult women (6.0 percent), teenagers (20.2 percent), blacks (11.9 percent), and Hispanics (8.3 percent) showed little change…The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more), at 3.9 million, showed little change; these individuals accounted for 37.7 percent of the unemployed…The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged at 7.8 million in December. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time work…
“In December, 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little changed from a year earlier…These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted, and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey….
“Among the marginally attached, there were 917,000 discouraged workers in December…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…
“…Employment in accounting and bookkeeping services declined by 25,000…Manufacturing...in…electronic instruments (-4,000) lost jobs…Health care employment changed little in December (-6,000)…Employment in information fell by 12,000 in December, driven by a decline in the motion picture and sound recording industry (-14,000)…
“Construction employment edged down in December (-16,000)…Employment in nonresidential specialty trade contractors declined by 13,000 in December…”
40 Years After CIA's and ITT's 1973 Coup In Chile: A Look At `Democracy Now!''s ITT-Lannan Foundation Connection--Part 5
Former ITT Director Felix Rohatyn—who sat next to Lannan Foundation founder J.Patrick Lannan, Sr. on the ITT board of directors before, during and after the CIA and ITT-promoted 1973 military coup in Chile (which was dramatized in Costa Gavras’s 1980s movie "Missing")—apparently uses some of the blood money he accumulated from his many years as an ITT Director to attempt to manipulate the outcome of U.S. elections by funding the campaigns of Democratic Party candidates in a big way. Between 1990 and 2013, for example, over $990,000 in individual campaign contributions to the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Party campaign committees or individual Democratic Party politicians running for federal office were made by former ITT Director Rohatyn, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ Open Secrets website.
On October 18, 1996, for example, former ITT Director Rohatyn gave a $125,000 campaign contribution to the Democratic National Committee; and as recently as March 31, 2012 a campaign contribution of $30,800 was accepted by the DNC Services Corporation from the former ITT Director. In addition, between July 7, 2008 and March 6, 2012 the campaign committee of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama accepted four campaign contributions, totaling $9,600, from Felix Rohatyn—despite Rohatyn’s past involvement on the ITT board of directors’ executive committee at the time of the bloody 1973 military coup in Chile by Pinochet, which was promoted by ITT and the CIA.
(end of part 5)
On October 18, 1996, for example, former ITT Director Rohatyn gave a $125,000 campaign contribution to the Democratic National Committee; and as recently as March 31, 2012 a campaign contribution of $30,800 was accepted by the DNC Services Corporation from the former ITT Director. In addition, between July 7, 2008 and March 6, 2012 the campaign committee of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama accepted four campaign contributions, totaling $9,600, from Felix Rohatyn—despite Rohatyn’s past involvement on the ITT board of directors’ executive committee at the time of the bloody 1973 military coup in Chile by Pinochet, which was promoted by ITT and the CIA.
(end of part 5)
Thursday, January 9, 2014
40 Years After CIA and ITT's 1973 Coup In Chile: A Look At `Democracy Now!''s ITT-Lannan Foundation Connection--Part 4
According to the 1973 book, "The Anderson Papers" by Jack Anderson:
“There had been a pattern of influence-peddling in ITT’s dealings with the government…Students of tax loopholes pointed out that by manipulating its tax payments, ITT in 1970 paid only 21 percent on its earnings as opposed to the statutory corporate income tax rate of 48 percent…ITT plotted…drastic action against any government that dared to oppose the company’s financial interests. There had been talk in Argentina, for example, of nationalizing the ITT telephone system; the conglomerate immediately began plotting a revolution. In 1968 the governor of Puerto Rico considered taking over ITT’s profitable but poorly serviced telephone company; ITT threw its resources against the governor, who was defeated at the polls….On October 23, 1970, ITT’s Washington vice president, William Merriam, sent a message to Henry Kissinger in the White House. It was stilted, rather ungraceful demand for tough American action to stop Allende.
“Kissinger’s reply, dated November 9 [1970], was a short acknowledgment: `I have read it carefully and I have passed it to those members of my staff who deal with Latin American matters…’”
And as the June 23, 1973 report of U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Member Frank Church’s Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations, that was titled “The International Telephone and Telegraph Company and Chile 1970-73,” recalled:
“The Chilean political situation was discussed at an ITT Board meeting in the spring of 1970 and at the June 1970 board meeting…Mr. John McCone, a former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, at the time a consultant to the Agency and a Director of ITT, held a number of conversations about Chile with Richard Helms, the CIA Director. At least two conversations took place in Langley, Virginia, and one at Mr. McCone’s home in San Marino, California. During these conversations, Mr. McCone told Helms that ITT expected Dr. Allende to win the election. He pointed out that Allende was campaigning on a platform calling for expropriation of American business, including ITT’s properties, and expressed the opinion that the American national interest, as well as business interests were involved…Mr. McCone asked Mr. Helms whether the United States intended to intervene…
“During one of the conversations, Mr. McCone suggested to Mr. Helms that someone on Helms’ staff contact Mr. Geneen [the ITT CEO], and this suggestion led directly to a meeting between Mr. Geneen and Mr. Broe, the [then-] Chief of the CIA’s Clandestine Services (also known as the Directorate of Plans), Western Hemisphere Division, on July 16, 1970, in the Sheraton-Carlton Hotel, Washington, D.C. In response to Mr. McCone’s request, Mr. Helms told Mr. Broe that Mr. Geneen, ITT’s Chief Executive Officer, would be in Washington on July 16, 1970, and that he should get in touch with Geneen to arrange a meeting. Thus it was Mr. McCone, through his suggestion to Helms, who set in motion a series of contacts between the ITT and CIA in connection with Chile.
“Mr. Broe was contacted by William Merriam, head of ITT’s Washington office, who told him that Mr. Geneen wanted to meet late in the evening. Mr. Broe waited for Mr. Geneen in the lobby of the hotel. Mr. Merriam arrived, introduced himself, and then took Mr. Broe up to Mr. Geneen’s suite to wait for him. Mr. Merriam left the suite before the conversation began…Mr. Geneen offered to assemble an election fund…Mr. Geneen said the fund would be `substantial’ and that he wanted the fund controlled and channeled through the CIA…Mr. Geneen…testified that he made a similar offer to the CIA in 1964…Following the meeting, Mr. Geneen told Mr. Broe to contact ITT Vice President Ned Gerrilty if Geneen was out of town.
“Mr. Broe called Mr. Geneen on July 27 [1970]…
“On September 9, 1970, the ITT Board of Directors met for its monthly meeting in New York City. Mr. Geneen expressed his concern to John McCone over the political situation in Chile. In Mr. McCone’s words: `What he told me at that time was that he was prepared to put up as much as a million dollars, in support of any plan that was adopted by the government for the purpose of bringing about a coalition of the opposition to Allende…’ Mr. Geneen asked Mr. McCone to support his proposal. Mr. McCone agreed and came to Washington several days later and met with Henry Kissinger, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and Richard Helms. He communicated to both Kissinger and Helms Mr. Geneen’s offer of a $1,000,000 fund…to stop Allende. Dr. Kissinger, according to Mr. McCone, thanked him…
“On September 11, 1970, at roughly the same time Mr. McCone was meeting with Dr. Kissinger and Mr. Helms, Jack Neal, the International Relations Director in the ITT Washington office, telephoned Viron P. Vaky, Dr. Kissinger’s assistant for Latin American Affairs. He informed him that Mr. Geneen was willing to come to Washington to discuss his interest and that the company was willing to contribute a sum of money in seven figures…Vaky testified that he understood the officer of funds by Neal to be in the context of blocking Allende from becoming president…
“…Two ex-newspapermen, Hal Hendrix and Robert Berrellez, were responsible for reporting for ITT’s Corporate Relations Department on Chilean political developments…Following the Washington activities of Mr. McCone and Mr. Neal, Mr. Hendrix joined Mr. Berrellez in Santiago. On September 17 [1970] they cabled a joint report to ITT in the United States…The report…contained specific recommendations for supporting Chileans working to block Dr. Allende’s election…These recommendations were the following:
“`1. We and other U.S. firms in Chile pump some advertising into [the anti-Allende right-wing Chilean newspaper] Mercurio (this has been started)
“`2. We help with getting some propagandists working again on radio and television…’
“On September 29 [1970]…Mr. Broe, at the instruction of CIA Director Richard Helms, called Mr. Gerrity in New York and arranged to meet him there on September 29….Mr. Broe proposed a plan to accelerate economic chaos in Chile…As Gerrity summed it up, Broe made suggestions based on recommendations from `our representatives on the scene’…The specific suggestions were the following:…
“`…2. Companies should drag their feet in sending money, in making deliveries, in shipping spare parts, etc…’
“The contacts between ITT and the CIA continued after Mr. Broe’s meeting with Mr. Gerrity. On October 6 [1970], Mr. Broe talked to the deputy head of ITT’s Washington office, John Ryan, about the prospects of stopping Dr. Allende. Mr. Ryan testified…that Mr. Broe had urged ITT to keep the pressure on, and had suggested a run on the banks.
“Mr. Merriam met Mr. Broe for lunch on several occasions after that and when cables arrived from Santiago he called Broe and arranged to have a CIA messenger pick up copies…The company’s thinking is reflected in Mr. Merriam’s October 23 [1970] letter to Dr. Kissinger…The letter and memorandum proposed that the U.S. Government take a number of measures against the Allende government…The only apparent dissent in the company came from Richard Dillenbeck of the ITT Legal Department…The letter was acknowledged by Dr. Kissinger…
“In early 1971, ITT began to follow a two-track strategy with respect to the Allende government…Mr. Merriam invited the Washington representatives of major U..S. corporations having investments in Chile to form an Ad Hoc Committee on Chile. There were several meetings, the first of which took place in early January, 1971, in ITT’s Washington offices…The purpose was described in a memorandum by Mr. Ronald Raddatz, the Bank of America representative: …`ITT,’ said the memo, `believes the place to apply pressure is through the office of Henry Kissinger.’ `That is what we have been doing for the last year or so,’ said Mr. Merriam…
“…ITT’s primary investment in Chile was a 70 percent interest in the Chilean telephone company (Chiltelco). The estimated book value of this ITT investment was placed at approximately $153 million…$92.5 million of ITT’s $153 million interest in Chiltelco was covered by investment guaranty agreements administered by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) which provided insurance, among other things against expropriation…In addition to the Chiltelco property, ITT had other lesser holdings in Chile, including two hotels, a telephone directory book service, and an international cable company. The estimated book value of ITT’s investment in Chile, including Chiltelco, amounted to approximately $160 million…
“…Mr. Guilfoyle summed up the strategy in a July 9, 1971 note to the ITT Board…On September 29 [1971], the Chilean Government took over the management of Chiltelco…The government alleged that Chiltelco was deliberately allowing service to deteriorate…Shortly after the intervention in Chiltelco by the Chilean Government, Mr. Merriam…requested a meeting for Mr. Geneen with Henry Kissinger and Peter Peterson, Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs. A luncheon meeting was scheduled.
“Because of the demands on Dr. Kissinger’s time, General Haig, his deputy, joined Mr. Peterson at lunch with Mr. Geneen…Following the meeting, Mr. Geneen instructed Mr. Merriam to put ITT’s suggestions in writing and forward them to Mr. Peterson. In response to the requrest, Merriam sent a letter to Peterson dated October 1, 1971, which had attached an 18-point action plan. Among other things the plan proposed the following specific measures to see to it that Allende would not `make it through the next six months’:
“`…Discuss with CIA how it can assist the six-month squeeze.
“`Get to reliable sources within the Chilean Military. Delay fuel delivery to Navy and gasoline to Air Force. (This would have to be carefully handled, otherwise would be dangerous. However, a false delay could build up their planned discontent against Allende, thus, bring about necessity of his removal.)…’
“In accordance with the company’s usual distribution procedures, the Merriam letter and 18-point plan were distributed within the company…Felix Rohatyn testified that the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors…was informed in April 1972, of McCone’s and Geneen’s 1970 offer of funds to the CIA…The highest officials of the ITT sought to engage the CIA in a plan covertly to manipulate the outcome of the Chilean presidential election…”
(end of part 4)
“There had been a pattern of influence-peddling in ITT’s dealings with the government…Students of tax loopholes pointed out that by manipulating its tax payments, ITT in 1970 paid only 21 percent on its earnings as opposed to the statutory corporate income tax rate of 48 percent…ITT plotted…drastic action against any government that dared to oppose the company’s financial interests. There had been talk in Argentina, for example, of nationalizing the ITT telephone system; the conglomerate immediately began plotting a revolution. In 1968 the governor of Puerto Rico considered taking over ITT’s profitable but poorly serviced telephone company; ITT threw its resources against the governor, who was defeated at the polls….On October 23, 1970, ITT’s Washington vice president, William Merriam, sent a message to Henry Kissinger in the White House. It was stilted, rather ungraceful demand for tough American action to stop Allende.
“Kissinger’s reply, dated November 9 [1970], was a short acknowledgment: `I have read it carefully and I have passed it to those members of my staff who deal with Latin American matters…’”
And as the June 23, 1973 report of U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Member Frank Church’s Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations, that was titled “The International Telephone and Telegraph Company and Chile 1970-73,” recalled:
“The Chilean political situation was discussed at an ITT Board meeting in the spring of 1970 and at the June 1970 board meeting…Mr. John McCone, a former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, at the time a consultant to the Agency and a Director of ITT, held a number of conversations about Chile with Richard Helms, the CIA Director. At least two conversations took place in Langley, Virginia, and one at Mr. McCone’s home in San Marino, California. During these conversations, Mr. McCone told Helms that ITT expected Dr. Allende to win the election. He pointed out that Allende was campaigning on a platform calling for expropriation of American business, including ITT’s properties, and expressed the opinion that the American national interest, as well as business interests were involved…Mr. McCone asked Mr. Helms whether the United States intended to intervene…
“During one of the conversations, Mr. McCone suggested to Mr. Helms that someone on Helms’ staff contact Mr. Geneen [the ITT CEO], and this suggestion led directly to a meeting between Mr. Geneen and Mr. Broe, the [then-] Chief of the CIA’s Clandestine Services (also known as the Directorate of Plans), Western Hemisphere Division, on July 16, 1970, in the Sheraton-Carlton Hotel, Washington, D.C. In response to Mr. McCone’s request, Mr. Helms told Mr. Broe that Mr. Geneen, ITT’s Chief Executive Officer, would be in Washington on July 16, 1970, and that he should get in touch with Geneen to arrange a meeting. Thus it was Mr. McCone, through his suggestion to Helms, who set in motion a series of contacts between the ITT and CIA in connection with Chile.
“Mr. Broe was contacted by William Merriam, head of ITT’s Washington office, who told him that Mr. Geneen wanted to meet late in the evening. Mr. Broe waited for Mr. Geneen in the lobby of the hotel. Mr. Merriam arrived, introduced himself, and then took Mr. Broe up to Mr. Geneen’s suite to wait for him. Mr. Merriam left the suite before the conversation began…Mr. Geneen offered to assemble an election fund…Mr. Geneen said the fund would be `substantial’ and that he wanted the fund controlled and channeled through the CIA…Mr. Geneen…testified that he made a similar offer to the CIA in 1964…Following the meeting, Mr. Geneen told Mr. Broe to contact ITT Vice President Ned Gerrilty if Geneen was out of town.
“Mr. Broe called Mr. Geneen on July 27 [1970]…
“On September 9, 1970, the ITT Board of Directors met for its monthly meeting in New York City. Mr. Geneen expressed his concern to John McCone over the political situation in Chile. In Mr. McCone’s words: `What he told me at that time was that he was prepared to put up as much as a million dollars, in support of any plan that was adopted by the government for the purpose of bringing about a coalition of the opposition to Allende…’ Mr. Geneen asked Mr. McCone to support his proposal. Mr. McCone agreed and came to Washington several days later and met with Henry Kissinger, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and Richard Helms. He communicated to both Kissinger and Helms Mr. Geneen’s offer of a $1,000,000 fund…to stop Allende. Dr. Kissinger, according to Mr. McCone, thanked him…
“On September 11, 1970, at roughly the same time Mr. McCone was meeting with Dr. Kissinger and Mr. Helms, Jack Neal, the International Relations Director in the ITT Washington office, telephoned Viron P. Vaky, Dr. Kissinger’s assistant for Latin American Affairs. He informed him that Mr. Geneen was willing to come to Washington to discuss his interest and that the company was willing to contribute a sum of money in seven figures…Vaky testified that he understood the officer of funds by Neal to be in the context of blocking Allende from becoming president…
“…Two ex-newspapermen, Hal Hendrix and Robert Berrellez, were responsible for reporting for ITT’s Corporate Relations Department on Chilean political developments…Following the Washington activities of Mr. McCone and Mr. Neal, Mr. Hendrix joined Mr. Berrellez in Santiago. On September 17 [1970] they cabled a joint report to ITT in the United States…The report…contained specific recommendations for supporting Chileans working to block Dr. Allende’s election…These recommendations were the following:
“`1. We and other U.S. firms in Chile pump some advertising into [the anti-Allende right-wing Chilean newspaper] Mercurio (this has been started)
“`2. We help with getting some propagandists working again on radio and television…’
“On September 29 [1970]…Mr. Broe, at the instruction of CIA Director Richard Helms, called Mr. Gerrity in New York and arranged to meet him there on September 29….Mr. Broe proposed a plan to accelerate economic chaos in Chile…As Gerrity summed it up, Broe made suggestions based on recommendations from `our representatives on the scene’…The specific suggestions were the following:…
“`…2. Companies should drag their feet in sending money, in making deliveries, in shipping spare parts, etc…’
“The contacts between ITT and the CIA continued after Mr. Broe’s meeting with Mr. Gerrity. On October 6 [1970], Mr. Broe talked to the deputy head of ITT’s Washington office, John Ryan, about the prospects of stopping Dr. Allende. Mr. Ryan testified…that Mr. Broe had urged ITT to keep the pressure on, and had suggested a run on the banks.
“Mr. Merriam met Mr. Broe for lunch on several occasions after that and when cables arrived from Santiago he called Broe and arranged to have a CIA messenger pick up copies…The company’s thinking is reflected in Mr. Merriam’s October 23 [1970] letter to Dr. Kissinger…The letter and memorandum proposed that the U.S. Government take a number of measures against the Allende government…The only apparent dissent in the company came from Richard Dillenbeck of the ITT Legal Department…The letter was acknowledged by Dr. Kissinger…
“In early 1971, ITT began to follow a two-track strategy with respect to the Allende government…Mr. Merriam invited the Washington representatives of major U..S. corporations having investments in Chile to form an Ad Hoc Committee on Chile. There were several meetings, the first of which took place in early January, 1971, in ITT’s Washington offices…The purpose was described in a memorandum by Mr. Ronald Raddatz, the Bank of America representative: …`ITT,’ said the memo, `believes the place to apply pressure is through the office of Henry Kissinger.’ `That is what we have been doing for the last year or so,’ said Mr. Merriam…
“…ITT’s primary investment in Chile was a 70 percent interest in the Chilean telephone company (Chiltelco). The estimated book value of this ITT investment was placed at approximately $153 million…$92.5 million of ITT’s $153 million interest in Chiltelco was covered by investment guaranty agreements administered by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) which provided insurance, among other things against expropriation…In addition to the Chiltelco property, ITT had other lesser holdings in Chile, including two hotels, a telephone directory book service, and an international cable company. The estimated book value of ITT’s investment in Chile, including Chiltelco, amounted to approximately $160 million…
“…Mr. Guilfoyle summed up the strategy in a July 9, 1971 note to the ITT Board…On September 29 [1971], the Chilean Government took over the management of Chiltelco…The government alleged that Chiltelco was deliberately allowing service to deteriorate…Shortly after the intervention in Chiltelco by the Chilean Government, Mr. Merriam…requested a meeting for Mr. Geneen with Henry Kissinger and Peter Peterson, Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs. A luncheon meeting was scheduled.
“Because of the demands on Dr. Kissinger’s time, General Haig, his deputy, joined Mr. Peterson at lunch with Mr. Geneen…Following the meeting, Mr. Geneen instructed Mr. Merriam to put ITT’s suggestions in writing and forward them to Mr. Peterson. In response to the requrest, Merriam sent a letter to Peterson dated October 1, 1971, which had attached an 18-point action plan. Among other things the plan proposed the following specific measures to see to it that Allende would not `make it through the next six months’:
“`…Discuss with CIA how it can assist the six-month squeeze.
“`Get to reliable sources within the Chilean Military. Delay fuel delivery to Navy and gasoline to Air Force. (This would have to be carefully handled, otherwise would be dangerous. However, a false delay could build up their planned discontent against Allende, thus, bring about necessity of his removal.)…’
“In accordance with the company’s usual distribution procedures, the Merriam letter and 18-point plan were distributed within the company…Felix Rohatyn testified that the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors…was informed in April 1972, of McCone’s and Geneen’s 1970 offer of funds to the CIA…The highest officials of the ITT sought to engage the CIA in a plan covertly to manipulate the outcome of the Chilean presidential election…”
(end of part 4)
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
40 Years After CIA and ITT's 1973 Coup In Chile: A Look At `Democracy Now!''s ITT-Lannan Foundation Connection--Part 3
According to the "Palm Beach Daily News" (9/26/83), “Lannan was a senior member of the board of ITT;” and, according to the "New York Daily News" (10/18/95), "Lannan, who was running about $2 billion in assets in the 1960s, had assets ranging from the Oakland A's to a majority stake in International Telephone & Telegraph [ITT]" and "upon Lannan's death, his heirs squabbled over control of $100 million in assets that he left to a foundation." In its December 1959 issue, "Fortune" magazine characterized J.Patrick Lannan, Sr. as “an influential investor in enterprises such as International Telephone & Telegraph [ITT];” and according to Robert Schoenberg’s 1985 book "Geneen", during the 1970s “of the outside directors” of ITT “only Pat Lannan had more than two or three thousand shares” of ITT stock. A July 1, 2009 article on the Santafe.com website also observed that “the Lannan Foundation has always been and continues to be a family-run organization” and former ITT Director Lannan’s son, J. Patrick Lannan, Jr., “took over the reins of the Lannan Foundation in 1985.”
In "A People’s History of the United States", Howard Zinn indicated how ITT was apparently able to exercise a special influence in U.S. and foreign political life during the 36 years that Lannan Foundation founder J. Patrick Lannan, Sr. sat on the ITT board of directors:
“International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] was an old hand at giving money on both sides. In 1960 it had made illegal contributions to Bobby Baker, who worked with Democratic Senators, including Lyndon Johnson. A senior vice-president of ITT was quoted by one of his assistants as saying the board of directors `have it set up to `butter’ both sides so we’ll be in good position whoever wins.’ And in 1970, an ITT director, John McCone, who also had been head of the CIA, told Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State, and Richard Helms, CIA director, that ITT was willing to give $1 million to help the U.S. government in its plans to overthrow the Allende government in Chile…The CIA—with the collusion of a secret Committee of Forty headed by Henry Kissinger—had worked to `destabilize’ the Chilean government headed by Salvador Allende, a Marxist who had been elected president…ITT…played a part in this operation.”
(end of part 3)
In "A People’s History of the United States", Howard Zinn indicated how ITT was apparently able to exercise a special influence in U.S. and foreign political life during the 36 years that Lannan Foundation founder J. Patrick Lannan, Sr. sat on the ITT board of directors:
“International Telephone and Telegraph [ITT] was an old hand at giving money on both sides. In 1960 it had made illegal contributions to Bobby Baker, who worked with Democratic Senators, including Lyndon Johnson. A senior vice-president of ITT was quoted by one of his assistants as saying the board of directors `have it set up to `butter’ both sides so we’ll be in good position whoever wins.’ And in 1970, an ITT director, John McCone, who also had been head of the CIA, told Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State, and Richard Helms, CIA director, that ITT was willing to give $1 million to help the U.S. government in its plans to overthrow the Allende government in Chile…The CIA—with the collusion of a secret Committee of Forty headed by Henry Kissinger—had worked to `destabilize’ the Chilean government headed by Salvador Allende, a Marxist who had been elected president…ITT…played a part in this operation.”
(end of part 3)
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
40 Years After CIA and ITT's 1973 Coup In Chile: A Look At `Democracy Now!''s ITT-Lannan Foundation Connection--Part 2
On Sept. 28, 1973 the now-defunct Weather Underground anti-imperialist political group sent a letter and communique to various underground newspapers and aboveground U.S. media outlets. The letter from the Weather Underground stated the following:
“Dear Friends,
“We are sending this communique to newspapers and radio stations around the country. Our purpose is to help explain the role of ITT and the U.S. in the overthrow of President Salvador Allende and the popular government of Chile…This communique accompanies the bombing of the Headquarters for Latin America of ITT in New York City, which was carried out today…”
And the Weather Underground’s September 28, 1973 communique included the following text:
“Tonight we attacked the ITT headquarters for America in New York City, in support of the people in Chile, and to add our voice to the international expression of outrage and anger at the involvement of ITT and the U.S. government in the overthrow of socialist Chile…
“Without the machinations of ITT and the U.S. government these events would not have happened. In spite of their insolent denials they stand indicted by their own words and deeds. The blood of thousands of people is on their hands.
“Indictment:
“1. ITT attempted to subvert Chile’s elections and government. The secret ITT memos exposed in March 1972 explicitly state that in 1970 ITT financed Allende’s opponent and cooperated with the CIA to try to create economic chaos in Chile and instigate a military coup. ITT offered the White House a million dollars to finance anti-Allende activities. In 1971 ITT sent to General Alexander Haig, Kissinger’s deputy, an 18-point program which urged that `everything should be done quietly but effectively to see that Allende does not get through the crucial next six months.’
“2. ITT and the two other major investors in Chile, Anacondaa nd Kennecott copper companies, robbed the people of their subsistence. Chile is a country with a great wealth of natural resources but her people are very poor. Her wealth has been extracted by these giant multinational corporations in the form of exorbitant profits. ITT has assets there amounting to more than $200 million…
“ITT is a symbol to the whole world of U.S. greed and ruthlessness the way Dow Chemical Corporation, the manufacturers of napalm, came to symbolize the Vietnam war makers. ITT can be understood by millions of people as an international enemy. They have offices in every major U.S. city and in seventy countries. They recruit on college campuses. They own the telephone company in Puerto Rico. They created the electronic battlefield in Vietnam. They made the avionics system that guided Nixon’s bombs to the hospitals of Hanoi. They should be attacked throughout this country. This is one way to show support for Chile…”
Yet, ironically, some of the blood money that the now-deceased J. Patrick Lannan, Sr. collected from owning stock in ITT and sitting on the ITT board of directors--before and after the CIA and ITT-promoted military coup in Chile overthrew the democratically-elected Allende regime in Chile in September 1973--was used to set up the Lannan family’s Lannan Foundation that provides hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in operating funds for alternative media/left gatekeeper groups like "Democracy Now!", "The Nation", and "Mother Jones" magazine. Between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011, for example, the producers of "Democracy Now!" accepted $1.4 million in “charitable grant”/blood money from the foundation that former ITT Director and ITT stockholder Lannan established: $375,000 in 2008; $350,000 in 2009; $375,000 in 2010; and $300,000 in 2011.
As the Lannan Foundation’s website notes, “in 1960 J. Patrick Lannan, Sr., entrepreneur and financier, established Lannan Foundation” and “died in 1983 at the age of 78; and “in 1986 Lannan Foundation received a substantial endowment from his estate.” And as the "New York Times" observed in an obituary of J. Patrick Lannan, Sr. which it published in its September 27, 1983 issue, “Mr. Lannan was a director of the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation [ITT] for 36 years” and “retired as director emeritus” of ITT in May of 1983.
(end of part 2)
“Dear Friends,
“We are sending this communique to newspapers and radio stations around the country. Our purpose is to help explain the role of ITT and the U.S. in the overthrow of President Salvador Allende and the popular government of Chile…This communique accompanies the bombing of the Headquarters for Latin America of ITT in New York City, which was carried out today…”
And the Weather Underground’s September 28, 1973 communique included the following text:
“Tonight we attacked the ITT headquarters for America in New York City, in support of the people in Chile, and to add our voice to the international expression of outrage and anger at the involvement of ITT and the U.S. government in the overthrow of socialist Chile…
“Without the machinations of ITT and the U.S. government these events would not have happened. In spite of their insolent denials they stand indicted by their own words and deeds. The blood of thousands of people is on their hands.
“Indictment:
“1. ITT attempted to subvert Chile’s elections and government. The secret ITT memos exposed in March 1972 explicitly state that in 1970 ITT financed Allende’s opponent and cooperated with the CIA to try to create economic chaos in Chile and instigate a military coup. ITT offered the White House a million dollars to finance anti-Allende activities. In 1971 ITT sent to General Alexander Haig, Kissinger’s deputy, an 18-point program which urged that `everything should be done quietly but effectively to see that Allende does not get through the crucial next six months.’
“2. ITT and the two other major investors in Chile, Anacondaa nd Kennecott copper companies, robbed the people of their subsistence. Chile is a country with a great wealth of natural resources but her people are very poor. Her wealth has been extracted by these giant multinational corporations in the form of exorbitant profits. ITT has assets there amounting to more than $200 million…
“ITT is a symbol to the whole world of U.S. greed and ruthlessness the way Dow Chemical Corporation, the manufacturers of napalm, came to symbolize the Vietnam war makers. ITT can be understood by millions of people as an international enemy. They have offices in every major U.S. city and in seventy countries. They recruit on college campuses. They own the telephone company in Puerto Rico. They created the electronic battlefield in Vietnam. They made the avionics system that guided Nixon’s bombs to the hospitals of Hanoi. They should be attacked throughout this country. This is one way to show support for Chile…”
Yet, ironically, some of the blood money that the now-deceased J. Patrick Lannan, Sr. collected from owning stock in ITT and sitting on the ITT board of directors--before and after the CIA and ITT-promoted military coup in Chile overthrew the democratically-elected Allende regime in Chile in September 1973--was used to set up the Lannan family’s Lannan Foundation that provides hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in operating funds for alternative media/left gatekeeper groups like "Democracy Now!", "The Nation", and "Mother Jones" magazine. Between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011, for example, the producers of "Democracy Now!" accepted $1.4 million in “charitable grant”/blood money from the foundation that former ITT Director and ITT stockholder Lannan established: $375,000 in 2008; $350,000 in 2009; $375,000 in 2010; and $300,000 in 2011.
As the Lannan Foundation’s website notes, “in 1960 J. Patrick Lannan, Sr., entrepreneur and financier, established Lannan Foundation” and “died in 1983 at the age of 78; and “in 1986 Lannan Foundation received a substantial endowment from his estate.” And as the "New York Times" observed in an obituary of J. Patrick Lannan, Sr. which it published in its September 27, 1983 issue, “Mr. Lannan was a director of the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation [ITT] for 36 years” and “retired as director emeritus” of ITT in May of 1983.
(end of part 2)
Monday, January 6, 2014
40 Years After CIA and ITT's 1973 Coup In Chile: A Look At `Democracy Now!''s ITT-Lannan Foundation Connection--Part 1
“Not only do we suffer the financial blockade, we are also the victims of clear aggression. Two firms that are part of the central nucleus of the large transnational companies that sunk their claws into my country, the International Telegraph and Telephone Company and the Kennecott Copper Corporation, tried to run our political life.
“ITT, a huge corporation whose capital is greater than the budget of several Latin American nations put together and greater than that of some industrialized countries, began, from the very moment that the people's movement was victorious in the elections of September 1970, a sinister action to keep me from taking office as President.
“Between September and November of 1970, terrorist actions that were planned outside of my country took place there, with the aid of internal fascist groups. All this led to the murder of General Rene Schneider Chereau, Commander in Chief of the Army, a just man and a great soldier who symbolized the constitutionalism of the armed forces of Chile….ITT…has admitted that in 1970 it even made suggestions to the Government of the United States that it intervene in political events in Chile….
“Last July the world learned with amazement of different aspects of a new plan of action that ITT had presented to the US Government in order to overthrow my Government in a period of six months. I have with me the document, dated in October 1971, that contains the 18-point plan that was talked about. They wanted to strangle us economically, carry out diplomatic sabotage, create panic among the population and cause social disorder so that when the Government lost control, the armed forces would be driven to eliminate the democratic regime and impose a dictatorship.
“While the ITT was working out this plan, its representatives went through the motions of negotiating a formula for the Chilean state to take over ITT's share in the Chilean telephone company. From the first days of my administration, we had started talks to purchase the telephone company that ITT controlled, for reasons of national security.
“On two occasions I received high officials of the firm. My Government acted in good faith in the discussions. On the other hand, ITT refused to accept payment at prices that had been set in keeping with the verdict of international experts. It posed difficulties for a rapid and fair solution, while clandestinely it was trying to unleash chaos in my country.
“ITT's refusal to accept a direct agreement and knowledge of its sneaky maneuvers has forced us to send to Congress a bill calling for its nationalization….
“Distinguished representatives, before the conscience of the World I accuse ITT of trying to provoke a civil war in my country -the supreme state of disintegration for a country. This is what we call imperialist intervention….”
--from Chilean President Salvador Allende’s December 4, 1972 speech to the United Nations General Assembly
“In 1970, a democratic election in Chile had voted in a leftist government led by Dr. Salvador Allende…American companies, including International Telephone and Telegraph , had spent their money in the South American nation, and the CIA was determined to protect their investments. Years of meddling followed…ITT was the focus of outrage worldwide. Its offices were bombed in Italy and Switzerland.
“At 2 a.m., September 28 [1973], the night telephone supervisor at the New York Times received a call. `Take this down because I’m only going to say this once,’ a man told her. `I am the Weatherman Underground. At the ITT-American building, a bomb is going to go off in 15 minutes. This is in retaliation of the ITT crimes they committed against Chile.’
“Nineteen minutes later, a dynamite bomb detonated on the ninth floor of ITT’s 50th Street office. Window panes crashed down to the sidewalk below, which was deserted.”
--from "Sing a Battle Song: The Revolutionary Poetry, Statements and Communiques of the Weather Underground, 1970-1974"
“…In 1947, a group of rich stockholders decided to organize a revolt—led by Clendennin Ryan—who with his family and friends owned a sixth of the ITT shares…After a dramatic proxy fight, a compromise was agreed on with the help of another very tough customer, J. Patrick Lannan, a tall, cold Irishman from Minnesota. Seven new directors would join the board, including Ryan and Lannan (who is still a director today)…”
--from Anthony Sampson’s 1973 book, "The Sovereign State of ITT"
“Patrick Lannan Jr., 70, heads the foundation his financier father founded in 1960. With $222 million in assets, it is Santa Fe’s biggest by far…”
--the Santa Fe Reporter on September 8, 2009
(end of part 1)
“ITT, a huge corporation whose capital is greater than the budget of several Latin American nations put together and greater than that of some industrialized countries, began, from the very moment that the people's movement was victorious in the elections of September 1970, a sinister action to keep me from taking office as President.
“Between September and November of 1970, terrorist actions that were planned outside of my country took place there, with the aid of internal fascist groups. All this led to the murder of General Rene Schneider Chereau, Commander in Chief of the Army, a just man and a great soldier who symbolized the constitutionalism of the armed forces of Chile….ITT…has admitted that in 1970 it even made suggestions to the Government of the United States that it intervene in political events in Chile….
“Last July the world learned with amazement of different aspects of a new plan of action that ITT had presented to the US Government in order to overthrow my Government in a period of six months. I have with me the document, dated in October 1971, that contains the 18-point plan that was talked about. They wanted to strangle us economically, carry out diplomatic sabotage, create panic among the population and cause social disorder so that when the Government lost control, the armed forces would be driven to eliminate the democratic regime and impose a dictatorship.
“While the ITT was working out this plan, its representatives went through the motions of negotiating a formula for the Chilean state to take over ITT's share in the Chilean telephone company. From the first days of my administration, we had started talks to purchase the telephone company that ITT controlled, for reasons of national security.
“On two occasions I received high officials of the firm. My Government acted in good faith in the discussions. On the other hand, ITT refused to accept payment at prices that had been set in keeping with the verdict of international experts. It posed difficulties for a rapid and fair solution, while clandestinely it was trying to unleash chaos in my country.
“ITT's refusal to accept a direct agreement and knowledge of its sneaky maneuvers has forced us to send to Congress a bill calling for its nationalization….
“Distinguished representatives, before the conscience of the World I accuse ITT of trying to provoke a civil war in my country -the supreme state of disintegration for a country. This is what we call imperialist intervention….”
--from Chilean President Salvador Allende’s December 4, 1972 speech to the United Nations General Assembly
“In 1970, a democratic election in Chile had voted in a leftist government led by Dr. Salvador Allende…American companies, including International Telephone and Telegraph , had spent their money in the South American nation, and the CIA was determined to protect their investments. Years of meddling followed…ITT was the focus of outrage worldwide. Its offices were bombed in Italy and Switzerland.
“At 2 a.m., September 28 [1973], the night telephone supervisor at the New York Times received a call. `Take this down because I’m only going to say this once,’ a man told her. `I am the Weatherman Underground. At the ITT-American building, a bomb is going to go off in 15 minutes. This is in retaliation of the ITT crimes they committed against Chile.’
“Nineteen minutes later, a dynamite bomb detonated on the ninth floor of ITT’s 50th Street office. Window panes crashed down to the sidewalk below, which was deserted.”
--from "Sing a Battle Song: The Revolutionary Poetry, Statements and Communiques of the Weather Underground, 1970-1974"
“…In 1947, a group of rich stockholders decided to organize a revolt—led by Clendennin Ryan—who with his family and friends owned a sixth of the ITT shares…After a dramatic proxy fight, a compromise was agreed on with the help of another very tough customer, J. Patrick Lannan, a tall, cold Irishman from Minnesota. Seven new directors would join the board, including Ryan and Lannan (who is still a director today)…”
--from Anthony Sampson’s 1973 book, "The Sovereign State of ITT"
“Patrick Lannan Jr., 70, heads the foundation his financier father founded in 1960. With $222 million in assets, it is Santa Fe’s biggest by far…”
--the Santa Fe Reporter on September 8, 2009
(end of part 1)
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