The Three Barons

by J. W Lateer

  The Warburgs

  The Warburgs were not a bank, but they were the preeminent family in international banking between the wars. The New York branch of the Warburgs was led by Felix Warburg who was a partner of Kuhn, Loeb. The European (German) branch was led by Max Warburg, the brother of Felix. Despite being Jewish, the Warburgs considered themselves German and were very patriotic when it came to supporting Germany. Because of their transatlantic family connections, the Warburgs were able to play both sides against the middle when it came political issues such as German reparations from World War I.

  The German Warburgs owned M.M. Warburg which was the largest bank in Hamburg and one of the two largest banks in Germany. During the rise of Hitler, their bank was “aryanized,” which meant that a non-Jew was put in charge and the Warburgs were cheated out of their financial interest in the bank by the Nazis.

  In 1940, Jimmie Warburg (a son of Felix) joined an informal group called the Century Group which included John McCloy, Allen Dulles, Dean Acheson and Frank Polk (a mentor of Dulles).

  Eddie Warburg was a son of Max Warburg. Max had come to the U.S. at an early date. Eddie became an American and was appointed to U.S. Air Force Intelligence. However, he declined to participate in the Nuremberg Trials. He thought the Germans should judge themselves. He also declined an offer from John J. McCloy to participate in the Control Commission, preferring to remain a neutral observer.

  The Warburgs fled Germany. Max went to the U.S. and Siegmund Warburg, the son of Max set up a bank in London. Siegmund became the most successful Warburg outside Germany and had financial dealings in England, France and the U.S. Like Kuhn, Loeb there is no evidence connecting the Warburgs to the JFK assassination

  Ferdinand Eberstadt

  Perhaps the most unbelievable role of an international banker in the background of the JFK assassination was that of Ferdinand Eberstadt. Eberstadt began his career with an important connection. During World War I he had a close working relationship with financial wizard Bernard Baruch, who made a major contribution because of his expertise in helping to finance the war.

  Eberstadt attended Princeton where he made a lifelong friend in James Forrestal.

  Eberstadt was not Jewish, but his aunt had married a partner in Kuhn, Loeb so he was considered to be well-connected to Jewish banks. His grandmother was related to the Paris Rothschilds. Although raised Catholic, his mother converted to the Lutheran church. Eberstadt was considered the leading U.S. expert on finance involving Germany in the 1920’s.

  As mentioned above, Ferdinand Eberstadt began his banking career affiliated with Clarence Dillon. This duo separated because of a dispute over profits.

  During World War II, Eberstadt worked on economic issues for the U.S. Government. He invented the controlled materials plan (CMP). This became a key to unsnarling bottlenecks in allocating steel, copper and aluminum. In 1946, he was asked by James Forrestal, then the Secretary of the Navy, to create a plan for possible unification of the military under a Department of Defense. Forrestal went on to become the first Secretary of Defense but resigned under pressure and died in 1949. His death was ruled a suicide but it could have been an assassination. He supposedly jumped from the 9th floor of Bethesda Naval Hospital where he was an inpatient being treated for depression (though the depression ward was on the first floor).

  In 1947, Ferdinand Eberstadt was named Chairman of the Hoover Commission. This Commission created the National Security State, inventing the National Security Council, the CIA, the NSA, the Defense Department and other brand new organs of government. The impetus for this massive reorganization was the desire of the Republican and Southern Democratic Coalition to avoid a repeat of the New Deal under a powerful President such as FDR. Also, at this time, the political career of

  General Dwight Eisenhower was looming. This was another reason for conservatives and people in the Congress to fear a powerful presidency.

  Although Eberstadt had an incredibly powerful and inexplicable role in the invention of the National Security State, there is no particular evidence linking him to the JFK assassination. Eberstadt’s position at that time was much like that of Lewis Strauss or Herbert Hoover. These men were, in general, behind-the-scenes leaders of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. But unlike the extreme anti-Communist Republicans like Nixon or McCarthy, they did not lead a lifestyle of conspiracy and they did not actively advocate covert operations against the Soviet Union or in Eastern Europe. Eberstadt and Herbert Hoover were more interested in pro-business policies rather than the militant anti-Communism or fascist sympathy which would be the cause of the murder of John F. Kennedy.

  Chase Manhattan and the Rockefeller Brothers

  The power and influence of the Rockefeller family need not be rehashed in this space. Such Rockefeller followers as Dean Rusk, C. Douglas Dillon and John J. McCloy were selected by JFK for high positions in his administration. Before his scandalous divorce, Nelson Rockefeller was seen as the likely nominee of the Republicans to oppose JFK in 1964.

  Despite all of this, the Chase Manhattan Bank, which was owned by the Rockefellers, was not identified with specific foreign countries and the liberal Rockefeller family was disliked, if not despised, by the Southern Democratic segregationists and the Taft-Hoover old-line Republicans. The fact that JFK appointed so many Rockefeller associates to his administration was a plus, not a minus for the Rockefellers regarding JFK. They would have less influence among the LBJ Texas crowd. Further, it’s unlikely that the Rockefellers would have needed to murder Kennedy, since they had all the influence on the U.S. and its policies that they could possible want. They would have had little to gain by being associated with a murder of any kind and for any reason.

  Although Nelson Rockefeller operated a spy ring in Latin America during World War II, he was on the side of Brazil, which he persuaded to declare war on Hitler. He and Brazil were opposed by Argentina, which was pro-German.

  The

  Rothschilds

  No list of international bankers would be complete without mention of the Rothschilds. The Rothschilds were the preeminent international bankers in the period between the wars. There is no evidence at all that ties the Rothschilds to the JFK assassination save for their position at the very top of international banking. International bankers tended to work in a coordinated way to manage the vagaries of international finance. If one or two international bankers decided to support the JFK assassination, then they all would likely have known about it in advance, though not necessarily be participants or even supportive.

  In the world of “Jewish” banking, the Rothschilds dominated Britain, France and Austria. However, the Warburgs dominated Germany through M.M. Warburg of Hamburg and through their prominent role in Kuhn, Loeb in America. The links to the JFK assassination have much more connection to America and Germany than to France, England and Austria.

  However, there is one important link between the French Rothschilds and an assassination suspect, Clarence Dillon. Clarence Dillon withdrew from active management of his fantastically successful investment bank of Dillon, Read in 1930. He then went to Europe where he operated a branch office of Dillon, Read in Paris. At this time, Clarence Dillon became obsessed with trying to climb the Old World social ladder in Europe, from where his family had originated in the 1800’s.

  Acting on the advice of the French Rothschilds, Dillon purchased the Chateau Haut-Brion. The Chateau Haut-Brion was one of the five most prestigious French wineries. When the Germans invaded France in 1940, Dillon closed his French office, but he retained the Chateau Haut-Brion. During the War, the Nazis used the Chateau as a base to launch their very successful Condor bomber program. This involved converting Condor commercial airliners into bombers. These planes then attacked Allied shipping. Supposedly, the Nazis never discovered the wine cellar at the Chateau. More likely, the Nazis left the wine intact as a courtesy to Dillon. The role of Dillon during the Vichy period in France remains a murky subject.

  Since
the Rothschilds were based in England and France, they escaped the “aryanization” program that was sweeping Germany, Poland and the rest of occupied Eastern Europe. However, the Rothschilds fared worse in Austria, where their estates were seized. After the war, they recovered their estates.

  Clarence Dillon clearly had fascist-leaning friends in France before the war and presumably during the war as well. These could have included Pierre Laval, the President of Vichy France who was hanged for treason by the French after the war. However, there is no ostensible connection between the Rothschilds, the Nazis or Vichy France, so it is likely that the Jewish Rothschilds would not have been happy to see ex-Nazis launch an assassination plot against the U.S. President.

  Notes:

  Clarence Dillon: A Wall Street Enigma by Robert C. Perez and Edward F. Willett. At page xiii, a Dillon, Read banker and famous tennis star named Dean Mathey labeled Clarence Dillon “a mean bastard.”

  In the Perez and Willett biography at p. 123, the authors reported that in 1930, Clarence Dillon turned his attention from Wall Street to the task of solving global problems.

  The oral history of William Draper, cited in the text can be found at the website of the Truman Library: https://www.trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/draperw.htm

  Available information on Clarence Dillon is limited when his vast influence over the government of the U.S. through his Dillon, Read employees is considered. One objective and unbiased reference is the book Unfinished Business: Ayukawa Yoshisuke and U.S.-Japan Relations, 1937-1953 by Haruo Iguchi. This book provides information about an issue that many probably suspected: the connection between Dillon’s vast political influence and profiteering from his web of political connections.

  For information on both the Warburgs and the firm of Kuhn, Loeb, virtually the only resource is The Warburgs: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family (2016) by Ron Chernow. This book by Chernow is an astounding book. Chernow has an enclyclopedic knowledge of virtually every Warburg and every relative of the Warburgs. Further, since the firm of Kuhn, Loeb apparently went to great lengths to restrict the availability of information about itself, Chernow’s book The Warburgs is also the definitive source for information about Kuhn, Loeb. Add to this his insightful description of the personality of diplomat and banker John J. McCloy and his rendition of the on-the-scene front-line events during the Holocaust. Every true history buff should read this book carefully.

  The Will to Win: A Biography of Ferdinand Eberstadt: (Contributions in Economics and Economic History) by Robert C. Perez and Edward F. Willett (1989) provides complete background information on Ferdinand Eberstadt who was (for some bizarre reason) the creator of the U.S. national-security state which is, unfortunately, still with us in the form invented by Eberstadt as of this writing.

  Another excellent work about Eberstadt is Eberstadt and Forrestal: A National Security Partnership, 1909-1949 (Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series) (1991) by Jeffery M. Dorwart.

  Chapter 19

  The Solidarists and White Russians Of Dallas

  There are certain characters that were involved in the assassination as residents of Dallas who came from a Russian or Eastern European background. This small community was preyed upon by the intelligence community to become intelligence assets because of their vulnerable situation. They had old-world values, old-world pretensions and vanities. Many had experienced fascism as very ordinary. Some had experienced the horrors of war, flight from their homeland, hideous choices surrounding such issues as torture, genocide, displacement from kith and kin. We will try to share the basic story of these individuals. They were involved in the assassination before-the-fact by “babysitting” Lee Harvey Oswald. They were involved after-the-fact by arranging for careful translators for Marina Oswald while she was being interrogated about the assassination and in some cases they testified before the Warren Commission and elsewhere as witnesses and spoke to the media.

  Colonel Lawrence

  Orlov

  Colonel Lawrence Orlov was a resident of Dallas who became acquainted with Lee and Marina Oswald following their return from the Soviet Union in June, 1962.

  Orlov was born in Massachusetts in 1899. He was the son of Samuel Lippa Orlovsky, who was born in Russia on February 15, 1851. Samuel Orlovsky was Jewish and was naturalized on April 12, 1893 as an American citizen in Boston. Lawrence Orlov attended the prestigious Boston Latin School. While there, he was a star on the track team and set a record for the 45-yard hurdles which stood for several years. After that, he was educated at Harvard University. All of his siblings were salesmen or dress manufacturers or worked in similar vocations. None were military or intelligence-related and none were still maintaining their overseas loyalty to Russia as were the White Russians who came to the U.S. around the same time.

  Lawrence Orlov served in World War I as a field clerk at the Northeastern Department Army Headquarters. His discharge was delayed because his services as a support person of some kind were needed. For this reason, he was transferred in 1919 to work with the debarkation force at Newport News, Virginia. This duty involved helping to bring back the remaining U.S. soldiers from Europe.

  Later, following his graduation from the University, he moved to the Texas-Louisiana area. In 1927, he set up a company with a partner by the name of Sam Weiner called Westerly Supply Company. This was in Winkler County near the New Mexico state border with Texas. This fact is reported by authors Hollace Ava Weiner and Kenneth Roseman in The Lone Stars of David: The Jews of Texas. In 1934 he was living in Tyler, Texas. In Tyler, he listed his occupation as an oil operator. In the 1940 census, he was living in Alexandria, Louisiana in the home of his mother-in-law. Her name was Flora Nachman. At that date, he was married to Amelia “Ame” Nachman. Ame was Jewish. They he had a four-year-old son, William Samuel. His occupation was listed as an oil promoter. During the period of World War II, the Orlovs lived in the Alexandria-Pineville community in Louisiana. In 1947, Lawrence Orlov moved from Alexandria, Louisiana to San Antonio according to the Alexandria city directory.

  An article in The San Antonio Light, published in 1946 corroborates the fact that Orlov was a veteran of World War I. In the Second World War, in 1942, he entered the military at age 43 and served until 1945. In 1948, he was living in San Antonio. In the article in the San Antonio Light on October 13, 1946 the writer specifically mentioned Lawrence Orlov. It was written that he he was a veteran of both World Wars and had served during World War II at San Antonio’s Kelly Field. The article went on to state that Orlov was being hired by a new company that used tons of aluminum secured from the War Assets Administration to produce aluminum awnings for use in homes and stores in Southwest Texas.

  This was apparently the Aluminum Products Co., which Orlov listed as an address in the City Directory of San Antonio in 1948. In the article about Aluminum Products Co., it stated that the company was hiring only veterans but the only veteran mentioned in the article was Lawrence Orlov. At that time, he also listed a business address of Ackman Sales Co. at 408 Water St. in San Antonio.

  It is not clear where Orlov lived from 1948 to 1961. The entries in the city directories in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area in the 1950’s list only his wife Ame and his son William Samuel Orlov. That could simply be due to a different manner of gathering information for that particular city directory, perhaps going door-to-door during business hours. From the record, it is possible that he and his wife were divorced or separated some time between 1948 and 1961. However, both Lawrence and Ame had been associated in various records with the city of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. This began after 1978. So if they were not living together from 1948 to 1961, they were back together as of the late 1970’s. It is unlikely they were ever separated. Any confusion about this comes from the fact that Lawrence left no paper trail from 1948 to 1961.

  Ame drew a Social Security benefit in Carlisle and Lawrence was buried at the nearby Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, which was about 50 miles west of
Carlisle. Ame died on October 8, 1980 at Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana and was buried there in a Jewish cemetery. Lawrence lived until September 20, 1989 and his last residence was listed as Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

  The earliest record of him as a Dallas resident is 1961. He was still a resident as late as 1977. In the Dallas city directory, Orlov not only listed his residence in 1961 and 1962, but in 1964, he listed a new business address that belonged to BFC Oil & Gas Co., which was a subsidiary of Newpark Resources, Inc. Newpark was founded in 1964. This company was in business for several decades and may be still. Newpark Resources, Inc. showed up in published legal case reports since it was involved in several fairly ordinary legal disputes. Those disputes appear to be fairly typical for that sort of oil business, involving contracts, patents, real estate titles and similar issues. In 1967, his business address was 511 North Akard [Building] Suite 931 and in 1970, it was 1030 Fidelity Union Life Building, still in Dallas. Soon after that he was listed as retired in the city directories. At that time he would have reached 71 years of age.

  Orlov was a regular handball partner with the Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas CIA office, J. Walton Moore. Since Orlov had once held a State record for the 45-yard hurdles, he may have been playing handball merely because of an interest in athletic pursuits. It was erroneously believed by some that it was Orlov who first introduced the Oswalds to George de Mohrenschildt. Orlov was not a native of Russia and did not speak Russian. There is no indication that Orlov would have been a practicing member of an Eastern Orthodox church of any sort, as were Paul Ragiorodsky and his associate George Bouhe. Author Nancy Wertz Weiford in Faux Baron did not list Orlov as a member of the Russian Orthodox Church in Dallas. Since Orlov had been living in various smaller communities in Louisiana and Texas since the 1920’s, it would have been unlikely that he would have found Eastern Orthodox congregations there over the years. Orlov’s father was also Jewish and buried in a Jewish Cemetery in Massachusetts. It should be noted that in his obituary, his religion was “Unitarian.” Unitarian, in the opinion of this author, can sometimes be used as a cover on the issue of religious affiliation since it can be very generic and “low maintenance.”