Catherwood Fund
Catherwood, Cummins. 1910-. Financier,
philanthropist. Formerly co-owner, Evening Public Ledger; director, Bryn Mawr
Trust Co. President, Mineral Production Corp. President, Catherwood Foundation.
Trustee, Academy of Music; Board of Governors, Philadelphia Museum of Art;
Board of Directors, Philadelphia Orchestra Association. Residence: Gladwyne, Pa.
CATHERWOOD FOUNDATION
From the clipping files of the now defunct
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin [now located at the Urban Archives, Paley
Library, Temple University in Philadelphia], it was reported on November 28,
1947 edition that, "A petition for a non-profit corporation to be known as
the Catherwood Foundation was filed in common pleas court today…to establish a
fund, or funds, the income from which will be used exclusively for religious,
scientific, literary and educational purposes."
With an address in Bryn Marr, Pennsylvania, [14
Elliott Ave., Suite 10, Bryn Marr, 19010 / (215) 525-3720] on the Philadelphia
Main Line suburban train route, the Catherwood Foundation was originally
directed by Cummins Catherwood, his wife Mrs. Ellen Cowen Catherwood, his
sister, Mrs. Charles G. Chaplin, Othelia Aarnolt, William Hamilton and I.F.
Dixon-Wainright.
Independently wealthy from a family inheritance that
was accumulated in the munitions industry during the industrial revolution,
Cummins Catherwood married the former Ellen Cowen Coats and lived in an estate
they called "Baja Sumantaga," an East Indian word that means,
"welcome weary traveler." Along with his family, Catherwood was
quoted as saying that golf, sailing, bridge, skiing and travel were his
unchanging interests."
During World War II Catherwood went on a special air
mission to Germany, about which he later said, "I had a feeling that much
could be done by individuals towards international understanding that couldn’t
be done by governments."
The main feature of the Catherwood Foundation is the
Catherwood Fund, ostensibly a philanthropic fund; it also served as a conduit
for the funding of covert CIA operations during the Cold War.
Catherwood’s sister, Mrs. Charles G. Chaplin, one of
the Fund’s directors, knew Peter Fleming, the British MI6 agent and brother of
Ian Fleming, author of the 007 James Bond novels. Peter was an amateur
ornithologist and is said to have been one of the models for Fleming’s
fictional hero, whose name was appropriated from James Bond, the renowned
Philadelphia ornithologist and author of the classic ornithological work,
"Birds of the West Indies."
Ian Fleming must have also known or knew about
Catherwood, as he based one of his villains – Milton Krest of the
"Hildebrand Rarity" [From: "For Your Eyes Only"] on
Catherwood’s unique profile. Fleming quotes "Krest" explaining the
Foundation system to James Bond while they are aboard Krest’s yacht fishing for
rare species. "Ya see, fellers, it’s like this. In the states we have this
foundation system for lucky guys that got plenty of dough and don’t happen to
want to pay it into Uncle Sam’s Treasury. You make a Foundation – like this
one, the Krest Foundation – for charitable purposes – charitable to anyone, to
kids, sick folk, the cause of science – you just give the money away to anyone
or anything except yourself and your dependents and you escape tax on it."
"So I put a matter of ten million dollars into
the Krest Foundation, and since I happened to like yachting and seeing the
world, I built this yacht with two million of the money and told the
Smithsonian that I would go to any part of the world and collect specimens for
them. So that makes me a scientific expedition, see?"
In 1948 Catherwood had a yacht built in New England
to his personal specifications, "The Vigilant," and sailed frequently
to the Caribbean with friends, associates and on occasion, with some scientists
who collected specimens for the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and
the Smithsonian. On one particular Vigilant expedition in 1948, Catherwood was
accompanied by ornithologist James Bond, who collected rare bird species on the
various out islands they visited.
But Catherwood’s fund was not just a tax loophole,
as Fleming implied, but rather, it also served as a secret conduit for funding
covert CIA operations. David Wise and Thomas Ross, in their groundbreaking book
"The Invisible Government," (Vintage, 1977, p. 247n), exposed the
CIA’s network of Blue Blood benefactors when they reported that,
"…conduits for the CIA money included the Cathewood Foundation."
Created by the National Security Act of 1947, an
outline of the charter of the CIA was written by Ian Fleming when he visited
Washington with his boss, Admiral Godfey, the Chief of British Naval
Intelligence.
The British MI6 liaison with the CIA and FBI in
Washington after the war was Harold Adrian "Kim" Philby, the
notorious KGB double-agent who wrote his memoirs from Russia, "My Silent
War" (Grove Press), in which he describes the meetings he attended with
Frank Wisner, the head of the CIA’s Office of Policy Coordination, responsible
for Covert Operations and Dirty Tricks.
According to Philby, "Wisner expiated on one of
his favorite themes – the need to camouflage the source of secret funds
supplied to apparently respectable bodies in which we were interested…"
Philby quoted Wisner as saying, "…It is
essential to secure the overt cooperation of people with conspicuous access to
wealth in their own right."
Cummins Catherwood was one of those people, and his
Catherwood Foundation was one of those respectable bodies.
In July, 1956 Catherwood, like the fictional Milton
Krest, went "looking for new fish" off the Bahamian reefs. In May
1958 Catherwood announced that he had given financial aid to projects in the
mental health field at the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital. He also gave
money to the Granary Fund of Boston, which was directed by George H. Kidder,
who is listed in "Who’s Who" as "with General Counsel, CIA,
1952-1954," as well as being on the board of directors of Collins Radio,
Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
In his book, "Portrait of a Cold Warrior,"
Joe Smith wrote: "…former ambassador to the Philippines Myron Cowen joined
Cummins Catherwood in persuading a few staunch friends of the Philippines, such
as Gen. Leland S. Hobes, ex-Joint Military Advisory Group chief; Charles V.
Griffiths, the publishers, and Gen. Hugh Casey of the board of Schenley
Distillers, to set up the Committee for Philippine Action in Development,
Reconstruction and Education. Somehow, this just happened to form the acronym
COMPADRE – the one word that held more meaning than any other for a Filipino.
Gabe Kaplin was resident director of COMPADRE, on the spot to carry out all
sorts of good works, backed by a bankroll the size of which Filipinos could
only guess."
The Catherwoods enjoyed traveling as well. In March
1957, Mrs. Catherwood toured North Africa with the former first lady, Mrs.
Franklin D. Roosevelt as guests of the Sultan of Morocco. In June 1960,
Catherwood and his wife traveled to Helsini, Finland, taking the Oswald Route
on the first leg of their journey to the USSR and behind the Iron Curtain. On their
return, Mrs. Catherwood was quoted as saying, "Moscow is as drab as Akron,
Ohio, but Leningrad is glorious."
As Main Line Blue Blood personages, the Catherwoods
frequently made the society pages. On March 27, 1970 the Catherwoods attended
the wedding of the season, between Princess Jane Obolensky of Grosse Point,
Michigan and Dean Rucker, with the reception being held at Great Harbor Cay,
owned by Canadian Midas Lou Chesler.'
One of Catherwood’s corporations, Visions, had
offices in New York, England and Central America, providing Latin American
publishers with a Spanish language news and feature wire service. On December
26, 1977 the New York Times reported that, "Another major foreign news
organization that CIA officials said they once subsidized was Vision, the
weekly news magazine that is distributed throughout Europe and Latin America.
However, none of those associated with the founding of Vision or its management
over the years said they ever had any indications that the CIA had put money
into the magazine." Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza bought into
Visions after the CIA connections became known.
Catherwood also sponsored the International Division
of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In December 1960,
Nicolas Chatelain, the U.S. correspondent for the Paris daily Fiagaro, became
the first recipient of the Columbia/Catherwood Award for journalists. The
second recipient, John Bertram Oaks of the New York Times, used the occasion to
urge support for French President Charles deGaul against the revolt of the
French generals in Algeria.
Among those aspiring foreign student journalists to
receive grants from the Catherwood Foundation was Leona Shluder, then 23 years
old, of Rio de Janerro, Brazil, who was quoted as saying she, "was impressed
especially with the news coverage given President Kennedy’s
assassination." Indeed.
The Catherwood Foundation also financially supported
the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, including the Dallas parish to
which Marina Oswald had her children baptized, possibly without the knowledge
of her husband, Lee Harvey, the accused assassin of President Kennedy.
Another organization of interest that was funded in
its entity by the Catherwood Fund is the Cuban Aid Relif, established to assist
Cuban refugees, specifically professionals who had previously supported the
Castro revolution against Batista.
CUBAN AID RELIEF
Cuban Aid Relief
Of all the activities financially supported by the
CIA conduit Catherwood Foundation, the Cuban Aid Relief (CAR) is one of the
most interesting.
In the waning days of the Batista administration in
Cuba, American diplomatic support shifted away from Batista to Fidel Castro.
Once in power however, some of those who fought with Castro were disenchanted
with his regime and left Cuba. Some of the Cuban refugees were professional businessmen
whose holdings were nationalized, others were gangsters and prostitutes. Some
had fought with Castro or supported him in various ways.
They created refugee problems in some cities,
particularly Miami, Florida, but they also settled in Tampa, New Orleans,
Dallas, Chicago, New York, North Jersey and Philadelphia.
In Philadelphia the Cathewood Foundation established
the CAR "to provide assistance to Cuban exiles with no connection with the
deposed Batista regime, …and to make as wide use as possible for the
professional men, artists and businessmen who fled the Castro forces."
In 1961 the directors of the CAR were Cummins
Catherwood, former U.S. Ambassador to Cuba Arthur Gardner, E. Wharton Shober of
ATEC corporation, Harrison Wood and Enrique Menocal, the only Cuban national
among the directors.
With a sense of history, they officially named the
organization "The General Leonard Wood Fund for Cuban Aid Relief," in
honor of the U.S. Army surgeon who was the first American governor of Cuba.
Lt. Leonard Wood had organized the 1st Volunteer
Cavalry with Teddy Roosevelt. After the battleship Maine mysteriously blew up
in Havana harbor – The Tonkin Gulf of the Spanish-American war, the 1st
Volunteers saw action. Wood received a promotion after the first engagement and
Roosevelt succeeded him as the leader of the regiment. Under Roosevelt’s
command the 1st Volunteers achieved notoriety for its famous charge up San Juan
Hill, which was led by both Roosevelt and Wood, effectively destroying the
moral of the Spanish and making Roosevelt and Wood American heroes.
After spending two years as Governor of New York,
Roosevelt’s political opponents had his name placed in nomination for Vice
President under William McKinley, a ploy to get Roosevelt out of the limelight
of power. The plan worked when McKinley won the election, but then backfired
when he was shot and killed by a "glassy-eyed" anarchist while
attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Although anarchist
publications printed a warning about the assassin, Leon F. Czolgosz five days
before he shot McKinley, Czolgosz claimed he acted alone. He was convicted and
executed in the electric chair within a month of the murder.
One of the first things Roosevelt did as President
was to name General Leonard Wood the first American Governor of Cuba. Besides
Wood’s grandson, Harrison Wood, the Cuban Aid Relief also enjoyed the support
of Theodore Roosevelt III and Samuel P. Wise, who was writing a book on the
career of General Wood.
Other members of the CAR included Roland Taylor Ely
of Princeton, N.J., Reeves Wetherall, an executive of Wanamakers Department
store, Richard P. Sellder, Ivan Oblinsky and CAR co-directors E. Wharton Shober
and Enrique Menocal.
A boyhood friend of Fidel Castro, Menocal had a unique
position in the Cuban revolution. Menocal’s family, like Castro’s, was well
off. They owned huge sugar plantations in the Cuban countryside. As successful
businessmen, their parents were wealthy aristocrats and part of Cuba’s elite
society. Fidel and Enrique attended the best schools, and were trained with
refine tastes, but came to despise the Batista regime and became
revolutionaries.
Both Castro and Menocal attended the University of
Havana, where Castro studied law and Menocal economics. Menocal eventually
became a professor of economics at the University, which became a center of
anti-Batista activity in Havana. When Batista left Cuba on January 1, 1959,
Castro was still eight days away, so the leaders of the Student Revolutionary
Directorate (DRE), including Dr. Rolando Cubella, took over Batista’s offices
and smoked his cigars until Castro arrived.
One of the first things Castro did when he assumed
power was to name Enrique Menocal the director of the Cuban Sugar Institute. On
October 17, 1960 however, Menocal, his wife and four children sought refuge at
the Brazilian embassy in Havana. Once safe in the United States, in January,
1961, Menocal held a press conference in Philadelphia where he said, "…the
bearded dictator will be ousted within three or four months." Exactly four
months later, the exiled Cuban brigade stormed ashore at the Bay of Pigs.
Menocal said the last time he saw Castro at a dinner
party in Havana, "The man looked strong and healthy, but was neurotic,
schizophrenic and had the glassy-eyed stair of a madman."
Newspaper articles indicate that the CAR also ran
outreach programs in Florida, providing medical care to exiled Cubans at a
Miami field office staffed by five doctors, which worked closely with the
Catholic Welfare Services charity.
Also in Florida, the CAR worked with the Pan-Am
Society of America, which also received money from the Catherwood Foundation.
Before the Guatemalan Coup of 1954, the director of the Pan-Am Society, Curtis
Wilgus, organized a conference at the University of Florida’s School for Latin
American Studies that was funded by the United Fruit Company.
The Pan Am Society’s liaison with the CAR, Miss
Carmelita Manning, met often with CAR other co-director E. Wharton Shober, and
the two organizations co-sponsored a seminar for exiled Cuban journalists at
the University of Miami (See: JMWAVE) in July, 1963.
At the time E. Wharton Shober was director of the
ATEK corporation, which sold printing machinery and provided financial services
to anti-communist publishers in Latin and Central America. For his work with
ATEK in 1963 Shober received the President’s "E" Award from Asst.
Sec. of Commerce Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., for excellence in Export, though
it more likely was for Espionage.
Shober, a nephew of former Pennsylvania Governor
George H. Earl, attended Princeton before service in the Office of Strategic
Services (OSS) during World War II.
Before Shober, the director of ATEK was Dr. Ralph
Deshan, who left Philadelphia and ATEK with his wife to raise beef cattle in
Nicaragua with Manuel Artime.
When Shober left ATEK he became president of
Hahneman Hospital in Philadelphia, replacing Dr. Charles Cameron, a cancer
specialists, who had received a $400,000 research grant from U.S. Army
Intelligence.
At Hahneman Shober worked with New York psychiatrist
Dr. Albert A. Laverne, establishing a controversial drug treatment program that
experimented with giving pure carbon dioxide to junkies, which led to the death
of Robert Brown, a black man married to a Main Line heiress.
Philadelphia Magazine described Shober as,
"…the polo playing, perennially controversial president of Hahneman
Hospital, another fixture at the Main Line balls and debuts, and good friends
with Nicaraguan dictator Gen. Anastasio Somoza, one of the godfathers of the
Bay of Pigs invasion." In June 1972 Shober arranged for Somoza to receive
an honorary degree from Hahneman medical college, over the objections of
faculty and students. Shober left Philadelphia in 1978 to work in Saudi Arabia
in the hospital administration field.
Besides Enrique Menocal, another Cuban exile who was
assisted by the Cuban Aid Relief was Dr. Julio Fernandez, who was relocated to
rural Martinsburg, Pa., where he taught Spanish at the local high school until
he was implicated in the assassination of President Kennedy and became the
subject of the subsequent investigation.
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