All the Presidents' Bankers (92 page)

10
. Bird,
The Chairman,
640.

11
. Rockefeller,
Memoirs,
360.

12
. Bird,
The Chairman,
640.

13
. Summary Conclusions of White House Situation Room Meeting regarding Iran, November 21, 1978, RAC System, NLC-15–20–4–11–7, Carter Library.

14
. Rockefeller memo regarding international sentiment over US currency, December 22, 1978, Carter Presidential Papers, WHCF, Carter Library.

15
. Memo from Stuart Eizenstat regarding loan to US corporations, January 20, 1979, Office of Chief of Staff Secretary, President Handwriting Files, Box 116, Folder: January 22, 1979 [1], Carter Library.

16
. Dialogue between Walter Wriston and Anne Wexler, May 23, 1979, May 31, 1979, Carter Presidential Papers, WHCF, Name File: Regan, Donald T., Carter Library.

17
. Lyn Boyd, “A King’s Exile: The Shah of Iran and Moral Consideration in U.S. Foreign Policy,” University of Southern California, Case 234, 2000.

18
. Rockefeller,
Memoirs,
366.

19
. Scope and Content Description Page, Series 28, Shah of Iran, 1979–1981, Series 28, Shah of Iran, McCloy Papers, Amherst Library.

20
. Office of Staff Secretary Files, Handwriting Files, Box 182, folder 4/25/80, NLC-128-14-5-18-0, March 27, 1979, Carter Library.

21
. Ibid.

22
. Heilbrunn, “The Real McCloy.”

23
. Jimmy Carter,
Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President
(Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1995), 461.

24
. Memo to Secretary of State, April 19, 1979, Office of Staff Secretary Files, Handwriting Files, Box 182, Folder: April 25, 80, NLC-7–29–3–4–6, Carter Library.

25
. Iran Chamber Society website, “Historic Personalities of Iran: Ayatollah Khomeini,” at
www.iranchamber.com/history/rkhomeini/ayatollah_khomeini.php
.

26
. Memo to Secretary of State, April 19, 1979.

27
. Plains File Box 25, Folder: Iran Update 11/79, NLC-128–14–7–2–5, May 2, 1979, Carter Library.

28
. Plains File Box 25, Folder: Iran Update 11/79, NLC-128–14–7–10–6, May 15, 1979, Carter Library.

29
. Ibid., NLC-128–14–8–18–7, June 27, 1979.

30
. Ibid., NLC-128–14–12–1–0, October 1, 1979.

31
. Ibid.

32
. Ibid.; Vance memo to President Carter, NLC-128–14–12–12–8, October 18, 1979.

33
. Carter,
Keeping Faith,
463.

34
. Ibid., 464.

35
. Plains File Box 25, Folder: Iran Update 11/79, NLC-128–14–12–13–7, October 22, 1979, Carter Library.

36
. Secret memo from Cyrus Vance, October 24, 1979, NLC-128–14–12–15–5, Carter Library.

37
. Ibid. See also RAC System, NLC-128–14–12–15–5, October 24, 1979, Carter Library.

38
. Plains File Box 25, Folder: Iran Update 11/79, NCL-128–14–12–17–3, October 26, 1979, Carter Library.

39
. Rockefeller letter to Secretary of State, October 30, 1979, Carter Presidential Papers, WHCF, Name File: Rockefeller, David, Carter Library.

40
. Contingency Plans for Iran Embassy Personnel, Plains File Box 25, Folder: Iran, Update 11/79, November 9, 1979, Carter Library.

41
. Treasury Department website, Executive Order 12170 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, at
www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/Executive%20Order%2012170.pdf
.

42
. Plains File Box 25, Folder: Iran, Update 11/79, Carter Library.

43
. Ibid.

44
. Ibid., NLC-17–17–24–2–7, November 22, 1979.

45
. Ibid.

46
. Jeff Gerth, “Chase’s Lawsuit Against Iran,”
New York Times,
November 11, 1980.

47
. THE CHASE MANHATTAN BANK, N.A., Plaintiff,
v.
THE STATE OF IRAN, also known as ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, BANK MARKAZI IRAN, et al., Defendants, February 15, 1980, at
http://ny.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19800215_0000080.SNY.htm/qx
. Case, 79 Civ. 6644.

48
. Gerth, “Chase’s Lawsuit Against Iran.”

49
. Author conversation with Mark Hulbert, April 16, 2012.

50
. Office of Staff Secretary Files, Handwriting Files, Box 182, Folder: 4/25/80, RAC System, NLC-33–13–49–5, Special Coordination Committee, December 22, 1979, Carter Library.

51
. Office of Chief of Staff Secretary, President Handwriting Files, Box 122, Folder: 3/7/79 [1], NLC-16–123–1–22–3, January 17, 1980, Carter Library.

52
. Office of Staff Secretary Files, Handwriting Files, Box 182, Folder: 4/25/80, NLC 12–27–5–7–7, March 10, 1980, Carter Library.

53
. Ibid.

54
. Memo from Anne Wexler regarding luncheon, March 25, 1980, Carter Presidential Papers, WHCF, Name File: Regan, Donald T., Carter Library. See also Luncheon with Wall Street Executives via Anne Wexler, June 16, 1980.

55
. Memo from President Carter, April 29, 1980, WHCF, File: A. W. Clausen, Carter Library.

56
. Presidential Papers, Plains File, Subject File: Iran 10/80 through 1/21/81, Box 24, Folder: Iran, 10/80; Eyes Only/Private; To: President Carter; From: Hamilton Jordan, Carter Library.

57
. Ibid., Cyrus Vance letter to President Carter.

58
. Speech Text, April 25, 1980, Office of Staff Secretary Files, Handwriting Files, Box 182, Folder: 4/25/80, Carter Library.

59
. Boyd, “A King’s Exile.”

60
. Presidential Papers, Plains File, Subject File: Iran, Folder: 11/1–23/80, November 8, 1980, Carter Library. The documents included presidential declarations and orders unlocking all Iranian assets, directing payment by the Federal Reserve Bank, revoking attachments on Iranian assets held by the Federal Reserve Bank, authorizing placement of Federal Reserve funds in third-country financial institutions, unblocking Iranians’ deposits in US banks overseas, settling claims, and freezing the Shah’s assets.

61
. Presidential Papers, Plains File, Subject File: Iran, Folder: 10/80 through 1/21/81, Box 24, Reuters News Story, November 19, 1980, Carter Library.

62
. Ibid., December 3, 1980.

63
. Ibid., December 13, 1980.

64
. Ibid., Declarations of Algiers.

65
. Ibid.

66
. Ibid.

67
. Ibid.

68
. Ibid.

69
. Ibid.

70
. Ibid.

71
. Presidential Papers, Plains File, Subject File: Iran 10/80 through 1/21/81, Box 2, Folder 1/21/1981, Declarations of Algiers, Carter Library.

Chapter 15. The Early to Mid-1980s: Free-Market Rules, Bankers Compete

1
. Donald Regan,
For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington
(New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1988), 123.

2
. Author conversation with Paul Craig Roberts, via email, July 23, 2013. Roberts had been opposed to the national banking initiatives that came in after he left his post, which deregulated the banking industry and caused the larger, more powerful banks to become more so.

3
. “The 1982 Recession, Reagan, WGBH,”
American Experience
(PBS) website, at
www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/reagan-recession/
.

4
. The kitchen cabinet included Bloomingdale’s heir Alfred Bloomingdale; Earl Brian, combat surgeon for the CIA’s Vietnam War–period Phoenix Program (in 1995 he was convicted on ten counts of fraud and sentenced to four years in prison); Justin Whitlock Dart, son of prominent industrialist Justin Dart, “godfather” of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; William French Smith, US attorney general from 1981 to 1985; Charles Wick, head of the United States Information Agency from 1981 to 1989; Los Angeles businessman William A. Wilson; auto dealer Holmes Tuttle; steel magnate Earle Jorgensen; and beer mogul Joseph Coors, who funded several think tanks at the time, including the Heritage Foundation.

5
. Regan,
For the Record,
123.

6
. Ronald Reagan, nomination speech for Donald T. Regan to be Secretary of the Treasury, January 20, 1981, Press Secretary, Press Releases and Briefings, Box 1, Series 1: Press Releases, Item 10, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. “In 1946, Mr. Regan joined Merrill Lynch. . . . [He was] named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith in January 1971. He relinquished those titles in January 1980 and continues as a Director and member of the Executive Committee of the Company . . . is a member of the Policy Committee of the Business Roundtable . . . a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, [and] a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.”

7
. Regan,
For the Record,
139.

8
. Ibid., 140.

9
. Executive Order No. 12288, January 29, 1981, Termination of the Wage and Price regulatory program, WHORM, BE: Business-Economics BE002 R0008655, Reagan Library.

10
. Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981, Public Papers of the President, Reagan Library, at
www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1981/12881b.htm
.

11
. Regulatory Reform Initiative, Fact Sheet, WHORM, Files: Cribb, Kenneth, Box 28, Folder: Deregulation, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, Reagan Library.

12
. Ibid.

13
. Memo from Elizabeth Dole to Richard Darman regarding Wall Street meeting, September 11, 1981, WHORM, Business Economics, BE 003 (026000-041399), 041197SS, Reagan Library.

14
. Ibid.

15
. Remarks of the Vice President at the Economy Recovery Program Media Briefing, April 15, 1981, Press Releases and Briefings, Box 7, 515, Series 1, Reagan Library.

16
. Zweig,
Wriston,
721.

17
. Call to Wriston, June 10, 1981, WHORM, PSF: Calls Box 001, Folder 003, 027931 PR007-02, Reagan Library. Reagan’s cabinet provided him with the contacts, background, and even language to insert in various personal calls.

18
. Phillip H. Wiggins, “Inflation’s Impact on Companies,”
New York Times,
April 16, 1980.

19
. Press Briefing by James Baker III, Edwin Meese III, Donald Regan, August 1, 1981, WHORM, Press Releases, Box 12, 1045, Reagan Library.

20
. Diary, October 23, 1980, Carter Library, at
www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/diary/1980/d102380t.pdf
.

21
. Martin Meyer, “The Humbling of BankAmerica,”
New York Times Magazine,
May 3, 1987, at
www.nytimes.com/1987/05/03/magazine/the-humbling-of-bankamerica.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
.

22
. Letter from Samuel Armacost, March 25, 1983, WHORM, Alpha File, Folder: Armacost, Samuel, Reagan Library.

23
. Author’s Note: I began my career in international banking in the late 1980s, joining Chase as a junior programmer-analyst, when Butcher was the CEO. On Black Monday, October 19, 1987, the department in which I worked was frantically trying to hedge the bank’s short position, a bet taken through a new product that linked CDs with the stock market index. Years later, I realized this product circumvented Glass-Steagall.

24
. Ronald Reagan, “Appointment of the Chairman, Executive Director, and Membership of the President’s Commission on Executive Exchange,” September 14, 1981, American Presidency Project, at
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=44250
.

25
. In a July 10, 1986, letter sent to Rockefeller, following a weekend spent at the Rockefeller estate, Reagan wrote, “The Reagans, the Davises and all our staff people want you to know how grateful we are for the warm hospitality and many kindnesses bestowed on us by the Rockefellers. . . . Nancy joins me in heartfelt thanks to all of you for a weekend we shall always remember.”

26
. Letter from David Rockefeller, December 18, 1981, Canzeri, Joseph Files, Series III, Subject File, Box 010, Caribbean Project, Reagan Library. Several months later, in remarks on the Caribbean Basin Initiative at a White House briefing for American CEOs, Reagan said, “I conceived the idea of doing something for Jamaica when Seaga won the election and took that country back from Communist rule. . . . And I turned to the private sector and asked—and asked David Rockefeller to be chairman of a group—[and] go and see how we could use private enterprise to help restore the economy.” As Rockefeller wrote in his
Memoirs,
“I rallied the American business community to support the newly elected conservative government of Edward Seaga in Jamaica.”

27
. Ronald Reagan, “Remarks at a White House Briefing for Members of the Council of the Americas,” May 12, 1987, American Presidency Project, at
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=34270
.