Rockefeller's son disappeared in the jungle. History of the Rockefeller family
John Davison Rockefeller Sr.: biography
John Davison Rockefeller, photo
John Rockefeller is the richest and most successful man in the history of mankind.
His fortune was 318.3 billion dollars (at the dollar rate for 2007). He was 74 years old when he was at the peak of his wealth, his fortune was 1.53% of the income of the American economy, he was America's first billionaire.
« I never guessed who I would be in this life, but I always knew that I was born for something more.”- so, according to the memoirs of his beloved grandson David, said John Davison Rockefeller.
As a young man, John Davison Rockefeller ( John Davison Rockefeller, abbreviated DDR) said that he had 2 dreams in life: the first to earn $ 100,000, and the second - to live to be 100 years old. He was 2 years and 2 months short of 2 goals, but he made his first dream come true with tremendous success.
John with son
Rockefeller was born into a poor family
Full name - John Davidson Rockefeller Sr. he later had a son with the same name) was born July 8, 1839 in the State of New York, USA, and died in 1937 at the age of ninety-eight (98).
His father, William Avery "Big Bill" Rockefeller was a lazy man who spent most of his time thinking about how to avoid manual labor. John's mother, Louise (Eliza), was a self-employed, very devout Baptist, and was often in poverty as her husband was constantly away for extended periods of time and constantly had to save money on everything. However, thanks to the influence of his mother Louise and the devout Baptist John D., he grew up to be quite a hard-working guy.
- Mother was a terribly devout Baptist, so from childhood she inspired John with the idea that you need to work hard and constantly save.
- The Rockefellers moved to the New World in the 18th century and are slowly moving north to Michigan. Things are piled into a creaking wagon drawn by oxen, Rockefeller's grandfather holds the reins, his wife and children follow, swallowing road dust. They stopped in the city of Richford, New York: John Rockefeller would be born there in 1839.
- He became the "Devil" as a child. His dry, skin-covered face, devoid of luster of eyes and thin pale lips greatly frightened those around him. In fact, he was quite sensitive and emotional, he just seemed to hide all his feelings in the farthest pocket of his soul. Few knew what John really was.
In young age
Education
At 13, John went to school in Richford. In his autobiography, he wrote that it was difficult for him to study and he had to study hard to complete the lessons. Rockefeller successfully graduated from high school and entered Cleveland College, where they taught accounting and the basics of commerce, but soon came to the conclusion that a three-month accounting course and a thirst for activity would bring much more than college years, so he left him.
Starting a business and how to get rich
The business was part of John's family upbringing. As a child, he bought a pound of candy, divided it into small piles, and sold them to his sisters at a small markup. And at the age of seven he raised turkeys and sold them to his neighbors. Earned on this $ 50, he lent to a neighbor farmer at 7% per annum.
In 1853, the Rockefeller family moved to Cleveland. Since John Rockefeller was one of the eldest children in the family, at the age of 16 he went to look for work.
John began his career in 1855 at the age of 16 as an accountant in the Cleveland trading firm Gevit & Tettl with a salary of $5 and then $25 a week.
From my first wages Rockefeller acquires a solid ledger. In it, he writes down all his income and expenses, paying attention even to the little things.
He, like Morgan, was of military age when the American Civil War broke out. And both paid off their service in the army for 300 dollars (in the North of the country this was a common practice for those with funds).
Having gained enough experience, in his opinion, and having saved $ 800, in 1858 John left the company to open a partnership called Clark & Rockefeller (Clark & Rockefeller) - a small grocery firm, typical of the era of small business.
In the early 1860s, Rockefeller went out of business and organized new company- Rockefeller & Andrews, focusing on oil refining and kerosene trading, and continued to develop.
Then several more firms joined it, and in 1870 they founded the Standard Oil Company, with a capital of $ 1 million, which, with the help of successful business decisions and some predatory and illegal actions, became a giant monopoly.
In its heyday, Standard Oil had about 90% of the refined oil (kerosene) market in the United States (in the beginning, Standard Oil's products were not of particular interest to the oil industry, the gasoline produced by those refineries was flooded in rivers because it was counted useless).
In 1910, 55 years after Rockefeller made his first $5, he became the world's first dollar billionaire. “Through perseverance, anything - whether right or wrong, good or bad - will be achieved,” Rockefeller said.
In 1911 Supreme Court declared Standard Oil a monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act, and the Standard Oil Company was split up.
The corporation broke up into 30 small companies with different boards and directors, in which John Rockefeller retained controlling stakes. By this time, John Rockefeller had long since stepped down from the board of the company, but still had a huge percentage of the shares. Every year he received at least $ 3 million from this business.
Oil prices are the secret of success
Since crude oil is virtually useless without distillation, hundreds of refineries sprang up on the other end of the pipeline (and this is true. Under Henry Ford, there were 240 automobile companies, of which only three remained - Ford, Chrysler and General Motors).
In Cleveland, Rockefeller's Standard Oil was just one of 26 refineries battling to survive in a very shaky single-supplier market.
In the 60s of the 19th century, the price of crude oil ranged from $13 per barrel to 10 cents. In fact, Rockefeller was not the first to appreciate the economic potential of the new industry, since the resulting kerosene could heat homes and light the streets of America's rapidly growing cities.
The cheaper it was for a ferryman to deliver oil from the field to the refinery and from the refinery to the market and consumer, the greater the margin he could play with.
Rockefeller successfully did both.
In early 1872, entering into an alliance called the South Improvement Company, Rockefeller entered into a pact with three railroad companies (Pennsylvania, New York Central and Erie): they received the lion's share of all oil transportation.
In exchange, Standard Oil was given preferential rail fares while its competitors in the refinery business were crushed with punitive prices. In addition to huge price advantages, Rockefeller received detailed information about competitors' shipments from the union of shippers and carriers (South Improvement Company), which greatly helped in undermining their prices.
Time to work is the secret to success
Rockefeller knows that the Lord blesses the righteous, and turns his life into a constant feat - he comes to work at 6.30 in the morning, and leaves so late that he has to promise himself to finish his accounting no later than ten in the evening.
John's favorite game
Daily practice of my favorite game - golf - provided the necessary exposure to fresh air and sun. He did not forget about indoor games, reading and other beneficial activities.
A successful marriage is the secret to success
This fully applies to Rockefeller's wife. Before marrying a young promising businessman, Laura Celestina Spelman, who can hardly be called a beauty, was a school teacher and was distinguished by exceptional piety. They met during the short student days of Rockefeller, but got married only after 9 years. The girl attracted John's attention with her piety, practicality of mind and the fact that he reminded him of his mother. According to Rockefeller himself, without the advice of Laura, he would have "remained a poor man."
The state of the Rockefeller clan at the end of the 19th century
In addition to the oil business, which brought in $ 3 million annually, the businessman owned 16 railway and 6 steel companies, 9 real estate firms, 6 shipping companies, 9 banks and 3 orange groves.
« I believe that the destiny of any person on earth is to honestly take everything that you can, and just as honestly give everything that you can.”- this is how John formulated his life credo.
At 16, Rockefeller began working as an accountant and philanthropist.
Rockefeller has always been a philanthropist, he gave 10% of his income from his very first salary to charity. As his wealth grew, so did his contributions to charity.
« Grandfather was not interested in acquiring Scottish or French castles, he was disgusted by the thought of buying art or yachts', says David Rockefeller.
In 1908, John wrote and published a book called "Memoirs" where Rockefeller's 12 Golden Rules were formed.
When John Davison started, his fortune was in the thousands of dollars, and all the money went into business. Now that he had hundreds of millions, it was time for godly charity.
Fifty thousand letters came to Rockefeller a month asking for help - as far as possible, he answered them and sent people checks.
- He helped found the University of Chicago with a $35 million donation, established scholarships, paid pensions - all paid for by the consumer, who was forced by Rockefeller to shell out as much for Standard Oil for kerosene and gasoline.
- In 1901, he founded the New York Institute for Medical Research (since 1965 - Rockefeller University), in 1903 - the Council for General Education, in 1913 - the Rockefeller Foundation, in 1918 - the Laura Spelman Foundation (in honor of his wife - helping children and social sciences).
- His total philanthropic donations totaled over $700 million.
- Half of America dreamed of extorting more money from John Davison Rockefeller. The other half was ready to lynch him. Rockefeller is getting old. Passions, seething around, acted on his nerve.
In all the places where the aged Rockefeller appeared, he distributed handfuls of five- and ten-cent coins from his pockets to everyone around him. And I always took a supply of them with me.
John gave birth to four daughters and one son - John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. (born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1874, died May 11, 1960 during winter holiday in Arizona), who continued the work of his father ( the youngest had six children, and his five sons, representing the third generation of the Rockefeller dynasty, also became famous in business, finance and philanthropy).
John Sr. died in 1937 at the age of 98, he was worth $1.4 billion (1937 nominal) or 1.54% of the US GDP, but gave away half of his accumulated wealth before his death, founding a philanthropic organization that continues to give money for charity, to this day.
John Davison Rockefeller senior (John Rockefeller), 1839-1937
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John Rockefeller is the richest and successful person in the history of mankind. His fortune was 318.3 billion dollars (at the dollar rate for 2007). He was 74 years old when he was at the peak of his wealth, his fortune was 1.53% of the income of the American economy, he was America's first billionaire. “I never knew who I would be in this life, but ...
David Rockefeller died in his sleep at his home in Pocantico Hills, New York at the age of 101. His name has become a household name - "Rich as Rockefeller", and he himself influenced many important world events of the last century. "KP" in Ukraine" has collected the most Interesting Facts from the biography of this man.
Donated a billion dollars to charity
David Rockefeller is a representative of the third generation of an American family of entrepreneurs, politicians and public figures. The founder of the dynasty - John Rockefeller Sr. (1839-1937), at the end of the 19th century, he created the oil company "Standard Oil" and became the first dollar billionaire in the history of the country.
After the death of John Rockefeller Sr., his only son John Davison Rockefeller Jr. continued his business, and then five grandchildren, the youngest of whom was David Rockefeller.
By the end of the 20th century, the amount of assets controlled by the Rockefellers exceeded $120 billion. Over time, the Rockefellers moved away from direct management of controlled companies and sold off a significant part of them. But at the same time, David Rockefeller himself was not even among the 500 richest people on the planet. His fortune was estimated at 3.1 billion dollars, of which 1 billion he spent on charity.
From scouts to bankers
David Rockefeller was born June 12, 1915 in New York and was the youngest of the famous five Rockefeller brothers. David's brother - Nelson in 1974-77 was even the Vice President of the United States.
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David graduated from Harvard University, then spent a year at the London School of Economics and political science. In 1940 he became a doctor of economic sciences. In 1942 he entered military service ordinary private. For three years he managed to rise to the rank of captain, to visit a military attaché and intelligence officer.
After the war, he began working at the Rockefeller family bank, Chase National. Despite family ties, the heir to the Rockefeller empire had to go through all the steps of the career ladder. In 2004, after the death of his older brother Lawrence, he headed the Rockefeller family. Now the total number of members of the Rockefeller clan is about 200 people.
The nephew was eaten by cannibals, and the son died in a car accident
He raised six children, all his life he was married to one woman - Margaret (Peggy) McGrath. He has more than 10 grandchildren. Outlived some of his children and nephews. In 2014, David's son Richard Rockefeller died in a plane crash. And his nephew, ethnographer and anthropologist Michael Rockefeller, disappeared during an expedition to Oceania in 1961. According to some reports, he was eaten by cannibals of the Asmat tribe, whom he investigated.
After the death of David Rockefeller, the famous house will be headed by his son, 76-year-old David Rockefeller Jr., who now holds the post of head of the non-governmental funds Rockefeller Foundation and Rockefeller financial services.
Met with Khrushchev and handed $75 million to Gorbachev
David Rockefeller had great influence all over the world, was close to the ministers and heads of state of various countries. He met with the leader of the USSR Nikita Khrushchev, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union Alexei Kosygin. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat even asked Rockefeller to become his closest adviser. The banker agreed, and just a year later, Sadat signed a truce beneficial to the US with Israel.
In 1989, David Rockefeller visited the USSR, after which he provided Mikhail Gorbachev with financial assistance in the amount of $ 75 million to organize a global fund.
Freemason and member of the world behind the scenes
David Rockefeller at various times was ranked among the Freemasons or other organizations that have influence on world politics. And there is every reason for this. In 1954, David Rockefeller became a member of the so-called Bilderberg Club, which includes influential politicians, bankers and businessmen, whom world conspiracy theorists accuse of being involved in "world government".
By the way, David Rockefeller himself did not deny this. He directly advocated the creation of a world government that would stand above the rest of the countries. He himself repeatedly hinted that national sovereignties are a relic of the past, and states should be formed according to the principle of intellectual elites.
"For more than a century, ideological extremists have accused the Rockefeller family of the all-encompassing menacing influence they claim we have on American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret political group to build a more integrated global political and political economic structure - a single world, if you like. If the charge is this, then I plead guilty, and I'm proud of it, "David Rockefeller himself said.
In addition, he participated in the creation of many other international non-governmental organizations that had a serious impact on politics. These are the Dartmouth Conferences and the Trilateral Commission. Over time, he also became chairman of the Council for international relations, which advises the US State Department.
Gathered a collection of 90 thousand insects
Beetles were David Rockefeller's favorite hobby. It is known that on the day of his sixteenth birthday, instead of celebrating this event with friends and family, he went to the field, where he discovered eight new species of leaf beetles and two species of scarabs.
David Rockefeller always carried a box in his pocket and said: "You never know what copy I will come across." He was very proud of having discovered five new species of these insects. Was named in his honor rare view scarab beetle that lives in the mountains of Mexico - beetle Diplotaxis rockefelleri.
Rockefeller's collection of more than 90,000 insects is kept at his residence in Pocantico Hills.
BY THE WAY
Man with seven hearts
David Rockefeller is also known for being the only person on the planet who has had a heart transplant seven times. The first operation was carried out in 1976, after a car accident. According to eyewitnesses, within a week the 61-year-old banker was jogging. Then Rockefeller himself joked that he would be able to live up to 200 years with a new "motor",
"Every time I get a new heart, it's like a breath of life rolls through my body. I feel active and alive. I am often asked the question: how to live long? Always the same answer: live a simple life, play with your children, enjoy everything you do," David Rockefeller said after another operation.
These frequent heart transplants even led to sandals. Rockefeller's critics accused him of not receiving new hearts on a first-come, first-served basis, but buying them, thereby depriving some of the other patients of the opportunity to survive.
The last time Rockefeller's heart was transplanted was a month before his death. The operation, which surgeons performed right at the residence of the billionaire, lasted six hours.
In addition to hearts, Rockefeller has had two kidney transplants, in 1998 and 2004.
VERBATIM
Quotes by David Rockefeller
“I know ways to make money that you have no idea about. The way of "doing the hard work well and around the clock" never leads to real success.
- A clean mind and fresh ideas are the most fertile ground for income growth, and inspiration is the best motivation for a successful business.
- The ability to deal with people is a commodity that can be bought.
- You need to joke and borrow money suddenly.
- Traveling has shaped me in the same way as education.
- I never get angry, although sometimes I am disturbed.
The figure of this man during his lifetime was shrouded in a halo of secrets and legends. In some circles, he was called none other than the "Director of the World." David Rockefeller is considered one of the main ideologists of globalization, an adherent of neoconservatism, a participant and, according to many insiders, the founder of several elite, including secret, communities, among which the Bilderberg Club is the main one. The right calls the club a "world government" while the left says it's "just" a gathering the richest people a planet that does not obey anyone.
The figure of David Rockefeller is extremely controversial: some call him a misanthrope because of his call for birth control and birth control on a global scale - Rockefeller believed that growing humanity has become the main cause of atmospheric pollution. Others admire him as one of the world's most generous philanthropists and benefactors - The New York Times estimated David Rockefeller's donations to nearly a billion dollars.
David Rockefeller Sr. was born in June 1915. It seems that fate not only kissed, but kissed this baby, because he was born in a family where grandfather John D. Rockefeller was the first dollar billionaire and oil magnate in the history of mankind.
The biography of the famous banker David Rockefeller is closely connected with New York, which became his childhood city. IN early years the heir to the Rockefeller empire grew up in the city's only "skyscraper" - a 9-story mansion, and attended a school that his legendary grandfather opened and financed.
The upbringing of young David can serve as an excellent example for those parents who dream that their child will grow up and become a banker. In the Rockefeller family was established whole system financial incentives, built in strict accordance with the laws of the market. Everything here was valued in monetary units - from killing flies (2 cents apiece) to playing music (5 cents an hour). The first day children refused sweets was estimated at 2 cents, but the amount of reward for each subsequent day increased by 5 times. Late for breakfast expected "penalties" in the amount of 1 cent. Each of the young heirs richest clan kept a ledger, in which he carefully reduced the debit to the credit.
Later, in his memoirs, David Rockefeller told how his father fought for sobriety and healthy lifestyle lives of children: he offered each of the offspring 2.5 thousand dollars for the fact that they would refrain from alcohol and smoking until the age of 21. The same number - if children do not drink and smoke until they are 25 years old. Only David's older sister didn't give a damn about the money: Babs defiantly smoked a cigarette right in front of her parents' eyes.
After graduation, David Rockefeller decided to continue his education at Harvard, where he chose the Faculty of Humanities. But after graduating from the famous university, the future banker realized that he could not do without an economic education. So David entered the illustrious London School of Economics. But even after the excellent basic education received here, the young Rockefeller did not stop: he improved his knowledge of economics at the University of Chicago. Here in 1940 he brilliantly defended his doctoral dissertation and began his career.
Business
Oddly enough, David Rockefeller did not immediately seek to take the highest step in the hierarchical ladder and, after defending his doctorate, he entered the rather modest position of secretary of the New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who became famous for fighting mafia clans, as well as corruption and poverty. But the young financier did not stay long in the public service: the war was to blame.
In the spring of 1942, David Rockefeller went to military service. He joined the army ranks as a private, and in 1945 he already had a captain's rank. During the war years, the future financial genius served in North Africa and France: he worked for military intelligence.
After the defeat of Nazi Germany, David Rockefeller returned home in 1946 and actively "merged" into the family business. And he started again from the bottom step - assistant manager of one of the departments of Chase National Bank. It is noteworthy that most of the shares of this bank belonged to the Rockefellers, and David could take any of the top positions, but he understood that in order to achieve success, he must thoroughly study each “link” of a complex mechanism.
In 1949, David Rockefeller was already vice director, and a year later he sat in the chair of vice president of the board of Chase National Bank, which was in charge of international affairs. All this time, the financial tycoon behaved surprisingly modestly: he rode the subway, clutching a briefcase with papers between his legs and reading a newspaper.
In January 1961, the banker became president of Chase Manhattan Bank and remained in this responsible position until April 1981. 66-year-old David Rockefeller resigned only because he had reached the maximum age allowed by the charter of a financial institution.
Rockefeller's innovations were revolutionary at the time: for example, in Panama, he managed to persuade the bank's management to accept cattle as collateral.
State
Rockefeller's fortune is estimated at $3.3 billion. Perhaps it is not the largest (only 581 places in the Forbes ranking), but the level of influence of the head of the clan, which is equated with the level of mystery to the Masonic order, is difficult to overestimate.
views
The influence of his father and grandfather had a huge impact on Rockefeller's views: he becomes the ideologist of globalization and neoconservatism. David Rockefeller advocated birth control and birth control. He first voiced this idea at a UN conference in 2008, calling on the United Nations to "find satisfactory ways to stabilize the population of the Earth." David Rockefeller is confident that "excessive" births can deepen the already acute problems of ecology and resource exhaustibility the globe.
Many consider Rockefeller the founder of the influential and mysterious Bilderberg Club, which is credited with almost ruling the world. David started his activities in the club in 1954: it was then that the first - Dutch - meeting was held. For decades, David Rockefeller was a regular participant in the meetings and a member of the so-called "committee of governors." It was the committee that drew up the list of invitees to future meetings, which included only a select few, the world's elite.
Perhaps the significance of this elite gathering is exaggerated and even demonized, but some experts and politicians are convinced that it is the Bilderberg Club that determines the national leaders who subsequently win elections in the respective country. In any case, just such an example was demonstrated by the Governor of Arkansas, who was invited to the BC meeting in 1991: Clinton soon became President of the United States.
The Trilateral Commission, founded by David Rockefeller in the summer of 1973, is credited with the same enormous influence.
In 2008, the billionaire donated Harvard University, where he studied in his youth, $ 100 million. The value of this donation was the largest in the history of the famous educational institution.
Quotes
David Rockefeller is credited with a phrase that he allegedly uttered at a meeting of the Bilderberg Club in Baden-Baden, Germany, in 1991:
"We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time magazine, and other eminent publications whose leaders have been attending our meetings for almost forty years and respecting their confidentiality. We would not be able to develop our plan for the world order if all these years the spotlights were turned on us. But in our time, the world is more sophisticated and ready to step towards world government. The supranational sovereignty of the intellectual elite and world bankers is undoubtedly preferable to the national self-determination practiced in past centuries.
Famous Rockefeller quotes In 2002, David Rockefeller presented the world with his autobiographical book The Banker in the 20th Century. Memoirs”, in which he lifted the veil of some of the secrets of his success. On page 405 of the "Memoirs" there is another "loud" quote from Rockefeller:
“For more than a hundred years, ideological extremists at all ends of the political spectrum have enthusiastically referred to certain well-known events, such as my bad experience with Castro, to blame the Rockefeller family for the all-encompassing menacing influence they claim we exert. on American political and economic institutions. Some even believe that we are part of a secret political group working against the interests of the United States and characterize my family and me as "internationalists" colluding with other groups around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world. , if you like. If that's the charge, then I plead guilty and I'm proud of it."
Personal life
The advocate of birth control and birth control on a global scale did not extend this restriction to himself at all: David Rockefeller and his wife Margaret "Peggy" McGrath had six heirs.
Margaret's father was an influential financier, a partner in a well-known Wall Street law firm. The couple signed in September 1940 and created a strong family. Their first child, David Rockefeller Jr. was born in July 1941. The second son, Richard Rockefeller, was born in 1949.
The tycoon's four daughters are named Abby, Neva, Peggy and Eileen.
The personal life of the billionaire has developed happily: he has been married to his soulmate for 56 years. David Rockefeller became a widower in 1996. He never married again.
As of 2002, Rockefeller had 10 grandchildren.
A huge blow for the businessman, banker and philanthropist was the death of his son Richard: he died in the summer of 2014. 65-year-old Dr. Richard Rockefeller flew to New York for his father's 99th birthday. On June 13 he hurried home. Richard was a longtime and experienced pilot: he sat at the helm of a single-engine aircraft, but the ship, barely off the ground, collapsed, catching on trees.
Then many started talking about the non-randomness of the tragedy, seeing behind it the powerful rival clan of Jacob Rothschild, whom conspiracy theorists call the "secret puppeteer of the planet." They argue that it is difficult to call the death of the main heir of the Rockefeller clan, into whose hands the empire was supposed to pass, an accident. They say that the death of Richard Rockefeller put an end to the truce between the two main world clans.
Conspiracy theorists believe that these two clans secretly rule the world, they are behind the organization of wars and all conflicts. The Rockefellers and Rothschilds are also "credited" with the global financial crisis and even the departure of the Pope.
The famous financial tycoon had an unusual hobby - collecting beetles. The billionaire was proud that a rare scarab found in the mountains of Mexico was named after him - Diplotaxis rockefelleri.
Death
The world's oldest billionaire. He died at the age of 101 in his sleep at dawn on his Pocantico Hills estate in New York State.
David Rockefeller holds the record for the number of heart transplants. He received his first transplant in 1976 after a car accident that provoked a heart attack. Then the billionaire turned 61 years old. They say that a week after the operation, the banker went for a run.
Over the next 40 years, David underwent six more surgeries, bringing the total number of heart transplants to seven, but it is difficult to judge the accuracy of the data. Last operation Rockefeller was allegedly made in 2016.
David Rockefeller did not talk about his operations either to the press or in his memoirs: a negative reaction from society could follow, because you can get a new heart only in the queue for transplantation. But leading transplantologists deny the connection between the viability of the patient and the organs received.
According to other sources, not a living, but a mechanical "heart" was beating in the chest of David Rockefeller. In addition, the banker had two kidney transplants.
The cause of death of David Rockefeller was the arrest of his seventh (or sixth) heart.
Details of the billionaire's funeral were not disclosed.
Even in the 20th century, New Guinea still remained a kind of cannibal reserve. Real information about the life and customs of the tribes of this huge island in the 50-60s was obtained at the risk of life by the famous Danish writer and traveler Arne Falk-Renne. His excellent book "Journey to stone Age. Among the tribes of New Guinea” is still a kind of encyclopedia illustrating the life of the Papuans.
In his book, Falk-Rönne summarized all the facts regarding the death of Michael Rockefeller. Before moving on to this tragic history, let's remember a little about the adventures of the Danish traveler himself. This will help us to more realistically imagine all the danger that a young American exposed his life to, the heir to a huge fortune, the details of whose death are still unknown.
Once Arne Falk-Rönne went on a campaign with the warriors of one of the local tribes and witnessed a terrible scene that stuck in his memory for life. During the ascent along the slippery path to the crest of the mountain, one elderly man became ill, he fell and was breathing heavily, unable to get up. Arne was about to help him, but the warrior Siu-Kun, known for his courage, was ahead of him. He ran up to the old man, swung his stone ax and pierced his skull...
The European was even more shocked when he learned that Siu-Kun had killed his father ... The translator explained this nightmarish act to him this way: “The son must help his father die. A real man is destined to die a violent death, best of all in battle. If the spirits are so unhappy, the son must come to his aid and kill him. It's an act of love."
The manifestation of filial love did not end with the murder of the old man, it turned out that Siu-Kun still had to eat the brain of his father... should not see how the son helps his father go to the realm of the dead and eats the brain of the deceased.
Ten minutes later, Siu-Kun returned, and the detachment continued on its way.
In response to a Danish traveler's bewildered question about the need to bury the deceased, the translator spoke about the local custom: “If someone dies on a hike, his body is left in the grass or the jungle, provided that there is no housing nearby. Here they fear only one thing: that the corpse does not fall into the wrong hands, while the meat is still edible. If the places are uninhabited, this can not be afraid.
Photo by Michael Clarke Rockefeller
Failed wedding or kisses with a mummy
Arne Falk-Rönne's stay in the tribe ended in a rather tragicomic way: his leader decided to marry the Danish traveler to his daughter ... The traveler's shock and horror from this proposal are clearly felt in the questions addressed to the reader of his book: , following the laws of the tribe, does not wash himself in order to smell like a woman as much as possible? In a girl who daily smears herself with rancid lard, and on especially solemn occasions with the fat of dead relatives; a girl who rubs her thighs and buttocks with urine, which is stored in a special room, the so-called month hut, where women go during menstruation?
The whole horror of this proposal lay in the fact that it was almost impossible to refuse it: Arne could simply be killed ... Gritting his teeth and trembling with disgust, the Dane took part in a kind of “engagement”: he had to crawl into the “month-old” hut and kiss him on the navel the mummy of a woman who distinguished herself in the tribe by the greatest fertility ...
How did this whole story end? When the wedding was already inevitable, Arne made the leader and four of his close associates drink cocoa with sleeping pills. Under cover of night, the Dane and his companions fled the village. By the end of the day that followed, the chase nevertheless overtook the fugitives, under a hail of arrows they managed to cross the suspension bridge across the river; having cut the vines, they brought down the bridge into the river and thus escaped the terrible revenge of the angry Papuans.
One of the exhibits collected by Rockefeller
Don't give your name!
I think that after these creepy stories it is quite clear to you how unsafe the expedition was undertaken in the fall of 1961 by Michael Clarke Rockefeller, son of Nelson Rockefeller, governor of the state NY. What did the young American lose in the wilds of New Guinea?
Michael Rockefeller was the brightest representative, one might even say, one of the symbols of the twentieth century. The son of a famous billionaire, Michael pursued his ambitions on long and dangerous journeys. However, he did not just observe and explore. He invaded the wild, primeval places of the planet, like a conqueror, like a "white beast".
In 1961, Michael devoted himself to expeditions to New Guinea, carrying out a seemingly noble mission to study the tribes living a primitive culture. These expeditions were commissioned by the Harvard Peabody Museum and the New York Museum of Prehistoric Art.
The main task was to collect unique Asmatian wood products, namely bis, that is, carved totems that served to attract the souls of the dead. However, Michael was more interested in kushi - human skulls, decorated with magical symbols.
The fact is that among the local aborigines there was a terrible thousand-year tradition of headhunting. Even in order to get the right to marry, each young man was obliged to provide his fellow tribesmen with the head of a killed enemy. The presence of kushi was considered an indispensable honor for every male house.
In the late 50s of the twentieth century, this tradition was so rapidly implemented by the Asmats that the birth rate increased significantly among them. The baby boom was explained simply - young men successfully confirmed their right to marry. The Dutch police, who kept order in New Guinea, were forced to send special raids to the most militant villages, using machine guns to increase the suggestion.
Michael Rockefeller, the pampered child of Western civilization, was delighted with the described tradition. So at the very beginning of 1961, he went to the primitive tribes of the Baliem valley, where he organized a blatant bargain. Declared a reward of 10 steel axes for a fresh human head.
Asmats were inspired. The offered price was for them the ultimate dream. To say at least that the payment to the bride's family was equal to one ax, and in Everyday life stone axes were used, and it was required to be a prosperous hunter in order to acquire at least a blank stone.
Little of! Michael began to provoke the Asmats to hunt for heads not only with market incentives. He began openly inciting hunters to clash with neighboring tribes. He handed over an ax in exchange for any valuable piece of wood and hinted that the new weapon should pass the test, partake of fresh blood. Why did he need it? He filmed deadly skirmishes. Michael can be considered one of the first true priests of the modern deity - television.
A parliamentary commission arrived at the place of "research" from The Hague. It was she who reasoned with Rockefeller Jr., forbidding him to stay in New Guinea. During the investigation, the parliamentarians found out that thanks to the efforts of Michael, seven people were killed in the Kurulu district, and more than ten were seriously injured.
The proud twenty-three-year-old American did not calm down. Soon, in November of the same 1961, he organized his own expedition, which aroused the concern of the Dutch authorities and the impatience of the natives, who were waiting for him not only to acquire axes.
Slender, fair-haired, wearing inexpensive glasses, Michael did not at all look like the son of a millionaire. He was considered a fairly experienced traveler, in the spring of 1961 he had already participated in the ethnographic expedition of the Harvard Peabody Museum to New Guinea, and the local flavor was quite familiar to him.
Michael made another mistake - he told the Asmat his name, and among the wild tribes of New Guinea at that time it was almost tantamount to a suicide attempt ... The head is worth twice as much if the name of the murdered is known. The Papuans might have formed the opinion that the village that manages to get into its men's home, a kind of repository of tribal relics, the head of such a powerful white man, whose name they know, will gain unprecedented strength and overcome all its enemies.
The catamaran takes you to the sea
On November 18, 1961, a small expedition of Michael Rockefeller, in which, in addition to him, his Dutch colleague Rene Wassing and two guides, Leo and Simon, took part, set off on a catamaran along the coast to the village of Ats. The catamaran was very antediluvian. It consisted of two pies fastened together at a distance of two meters. On the floor between the pirogues there was a bamboo hut, in which people took shelter from rain and wind, there were also film equipment, supplies, as well as goods for exchange with the Papuans. The catamaran was powered by an 18 horsepower outboard motor.
The sea was rough, but the motor coped, and the travelers managed to keep the catamaran in the right direction. However, soon the ebb from the mouth of the Eilanden River began to catch up with the wave, the weak motor stopped coping, and the catamaran began to be carried farther and farther into the open sea. The pitching became stronger, the pontoon pirogues began to fill with water. Suddenly, a large wave completely overwhelmed the catamaran, the engine stalled, and the ship began to sink.
Dangerous attempt
It was about 2.5 km to the coast, but neither Michael nor Rene wanted to leave the catamaran, where equipment and supplies were stored. They sent Leo and Simon for help. The guides each took an empty canister as life belts and jumped into the water. There was no certainty that the daredevils would reach the shore, everyone was perfectly aware of this. There were many sharks in the coastal waters, and very large crocodiles were found at the mouth of the river. In addition, everyone knew that along the coast there was a wide strip of swamp silt, too thick to swim through, and too thin to support the weight of a person. It should be taken into account that even having overcome all the obstacles, Leo and Simon could stumble upon Asmats, and this threatened them with death.
There were long hours of waiting. In the evening, a huge wave rolled onto the catamaran. He could not stand it: the catamaran capsized, the deck fell apart, all provisions and equipment were washed overboard. There was one pirogue left, and Michael and Rene held on to it. IN cold water they spent the whole night, in the morning Michael decided to swim to the shore, considering this the only chance for salvation. In his opinion, Simon and Leo either did not sail, or were captured by some tribe.
Rene strongly objected to Michael's plan, he called it recklessness: the current near the coast is so powerful that even a strong swimmer will be carried back to the sea until he is exhausted. Michael was an excellent crawl swimmer, he believed in himself, so, grabbing an empty red barrel from an outboard motor, he headed for the distant shore. Michael's last words that Rene heard were: "I think I can do it."
The disappearance of Michael Rockefeller
After 8 hours, when René had already given up hope, he was discovered by a Dutch Navy seaplane sent in search of the missing. He dropped a rescue rubber boat to him, Rene barely overcame the 25 meters that separated him from her, but it turned out that she was turned upside down. Rene spent another terrible night at sea, in the morning the plane appeared again, but it was not found. When the Dutchman was already saying goodbye to life, the plane appeared again, this time he shook his wings, which gave new hope for salvation. Three hours later, the exhausted Wassing was picked up by the Dutch schooner Tasman.
Have you found Michael? - immediately asked Rene.
However, Michael Rockefeller disappeared, although the most thorough searches were organized. Not even a day had passed since his disappearance, when Nelson Rockefeller and his daughter Mary set off for New Guinea in a jet plane. On a small plane, he flew as close as possible to the area of his son's disappearance, where, together with the Dutch governor Platteel, he led a search expedition to the country of the Asmats.
In search of the missing, a mass of people was raised. Michael's father flew in from New York, New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and with him thirty, two American correspondents, and the same number from other countries. About two hundred Asmats voluntarily and on their own initiative ransacked the coast.
Patrol boats, missionary motor boats, crocodile hunters pies and even Australian helicopters took part in the search for the young Rockefeller. A reward was announced for information about the fate of Michael. But all these efforts were in vain and did not give any results. A week later, the search was stopped, without finding traces of the missing person. Eight days later, Rockefeller lost hope of saving his son and returned to New York with his daughter.
What happened to Michael? Did he become prey to sharks or crocodiles, or drowned, unable to cope with the current? Or did he still make it to the shore, was killed and eaten by the Asmats? Rene Wassing was convinced that Michael had not made it to shore. But Rene's conviction was contradicted by the fact that Leo and Simon were still able to reach the shore and escape, and they also informed the missionaries about what had happened.
Most likely, Michael still managed to get to the shore, it is believed that he got ashore much south of the mouth of the Eilander River. In 1965, the Dutch newspaper De Telegraf published information gleaned from a letter from the Dutch missionary Jan Smith. His mission was closest to the Asmat village of Oschanep. Smith wrote to his brother that he had seen Rockefeller's clothes in a Papuan village, and that they even showed him the bones of an American. Unfortunately, by that time Smith was no longer alive, so it was impossible to verify this information.
Another missionary, Willem Heckman, claimed that Rockefeller was killed by soldiers from Oschanep as soon as he got ashore. The missionary said that the villagers told him what had happened, as well as the fact that Michael's skull was in the men's house of the village. In 1964, refugees from Asmat territory reached the administrative center of Daru, in Papua, Australia. About 35 of them claimed that Michael Rockefeller was killed by Oschanep's warriors, "boiled and eaten with sago."
It should also be taken into account that three years before the tragedy with Rockefeller, a punitive detachment was sent to Oschanep in order to stop intertribal clashes: bullets killed many soldiers, including three close relatives of the leader Ayam. The leader swore revenge on the whites, perhaps he took the opportunity to keep his oath.
Alas, three tribal leaders who could solve the mystery of Michael's disappearance died during an inter-tribal war in 1967. Surprisingly, during the search expedition of 1961, a number of unforgivable mistakes were made, which were pointed out by A. Falk-Renne. For example, the search expedition did not reach Oschanep then, and the report of the police inspector E. Heemskerks, in which the words of the Papuans were quoted that Michael was killed and eaten by warriors from Oschanep, for some reason was put aside. Maybe Michael's father, having made sure that his son was probably dead, decided not to get to the bottom of the nightmarish details of his death and consoled himself with the thought that his heir died among the waves?
Perhaps Michael's skull, turned into kushi, is still kept in some secluded place. Will he ever find peace in the homeland of his ancestors? Unknown...
And here is some more information:
With the passage of time, the name of the deceased ethnographer disappeared from the pages of newspapers and magazines. His diaries formed the basis of the book, the collections he collected adorned the New York Museum of Primitive Art. These things were of purely scientific interest, and the general public began to forget the mysterious story that happened in the swampy region of the Asmats.
But in a world where a sensation, no matter how ridiculous, means a sure opportunity to make big money, the story with the son of a billionaire was not destined to end there ...
In late 1969, the Australian newspaper Reveil published an article by a certain Garth Alexander with a definitive and intriguing headline: "I tracked down the cannibals who killed Rockefeller."
“... It is widely believed that Michael Rockefeller drowned or became a victim of a crocodile off the southern coast of New Guinea when he tried to swim to the coast.
However, in March of this year, a Protestant missionary informed me that the Papuans living near his mission killed and ate seven years ago white man. They still have his glasses and watches. Their village is called Oschanep.
... Without much thought, I went to the indicated place to find out the circumstances there. I managed to find a guide, Papuan Gabriel, and up the river flowing through the swamps, we sailed for three days before reaching the village. Two hundred painted warriors met us in Oschanep. Drums rumbled all night. In the morning, Gabriel told me that he could bring a man who, for a couple of packs of tobacco, was ready to tell me how it all happened.
... The story turned out to be extremely primitive and, I would even say, ordinary.
A white man, naked and alone, staggered out of the sea. He was probably ill, because he lay down on the shore and still could not get up. People from Oschanep saw him. There were three of them, and they thought it was a sea monster. And they killed him.
I asked about the names of the killers. Papuan was silent. I insisted. Then he muttered reluctantly:
One of the people was Chief Ove.
Where is he now?
What about others?
But the Papuan was stubbornly silent.
Did the dead man have mugs on his eyes? - I meant glasses.
Papuan nodded.
And the watch on your hand?
Yes. He was young and slim. He had fiery hair.
So, eight years later, I managed to find the man who saw (or maybe killed) Michael Rockefeller. Without letting the Papuan come to his senses, I quickly asked:
So who were those two people?
There was a noise from behind. Silent, painted people crowded behind me. Many clutched spears in their hands. They listened carefully to our conversation. They may not have understood everything, but the Rockefeller name was certainly familiar to them. It was useless to ask further - my interlocutor looked frightened.
I'm sure he was telling the truth.
Why did they kill Rockefeller? They probably mistook him for a sea spirit. After all, the Papuans are sure that evil spirits have white skin. And it is possible that a lonely and weak person seemed to them a tasty prey.
In any case, it is clear that the two killers are still alive; That's why my informant got scared. He had already told me too much and now he was ready to confirm only what I already knew - the people from Oschanep killed Rockefeller when they saw him getting out of the sea.
When, exhausted, he lay down on the sand, three, led by Uwe, raised the spears that ended the life of Michael Rockefeller ... "
Garth Alexander's story might seem true if...
... if almost simultaneously with the newspaper "Reveil" a similar story was not published by the magazine "Osheania" also published in Australia. Only this time, Michael Rockefeller's glasses were "discovered" in the village of Atch, twenty-five miles from Oschanep.
In addition, both stories contained picturesque details that made connoisseurs of the life and customs of New Guinea alert.
First of all, it seemed not very convincing explanation of the motives for the murder. If the people from Oschanep (according to another version, from Atch) really mistook the ethnographer coming out of the sea for an evil spirit, then they would not have raised a hand against him. Most likely, they would simply run away, for among the innumerable ways to fight evil spirits, there is no battle with them face to face.
The version "about the spirit" most likely fell away. Besides, people from the Asmat villages knew Rockefeller well enough to mistake him for someone else. And since they knew him, they would hardly have attacked him. The Papuans, according to people who know them well, are unusually loyal in friendship.
When, after some time, traces of the missing ethnographer began to be “found” in almost all coastal villages, it became clear that the matter was pure fiction. Indeed, the check showed that in two cases the story of Rockefeller's disappearance was told to the Papuans by missionaries, and in the rest, the Asmats, gifted with a couple or two packs of tobacco, in the form of a reciprocal courtesy, told the correspondents what they wanted to hear.
Real traces of Rockefeller could not be found this time either, and the mystery of his disappearance remained the same mystery.
Perhaps it would not be worth remembering more about this story, if not for one circumstance - that glory of cannibals, which, with the light hand of gullible (and sometimes unscrupulous) travelers, firmly entrenched in the Papuans. It was she who ultimately made plausible any guesses and assumptions.
Among the geographical information of ancient times, people-eaters - anthropophagi occupied a strong place next to people with dog heads, one-eyed cyclops and dwarfs living underground. It should be recognized that, unlike the psoglavtsy and the cyclops, cannibals actually existed. Moreover, during the time of the ona, cannibalism was found everywhere on Earth, not excluding Europe. (By the way, what else but a relic of ancient times can explain communion in christian church when believers "eat the body of Christ"?) But even in those days it was an exceptional phenomenon rather than an everyday one. Man tends to distinguish himself and his kind from the rest of nature.
In Melanesia - and New Guinea is a part of it (though very different from the rest of Melanesia) - cannibalism was associated with tribal feuds and frequent wars. Moreover, it must be said that it assumed wide dimensions only in the 19th century, not without the influence of Europeans and the firearms. It sounds paradoxical. Weren't the European missionaries laboring to wean the "wild" and "ignorant" natives from their bad habits, sparing neither their own efforts nor the natives? Did not every colonial power swore (and does not swear to this day) that all its activities are aimed only at bringing the light of civilization to godforsaken places?
But in reality, it was the Europeans who began to supply the leaders of the Melanesian tribes with guns and kindle their internecine wars. But it was precisely New Guinea that did not know such wars, just as it did not know hereditary chiefs, who stood out in a special caste (and on many islands, cannibalism was the exclusive privilege of leaders). Of course, the Papuan tribes were at enmity (and still are at enmity in many parts of the island) among themselves, but the war between the tribes happens no more than once a year and lasts until one warrior is killed. (If the Papuans were civilized people, would they be satisfied with one warrior? Isn't this convincing proof of their savagery?!)
But among the negative qualities that the Papuans attribute to their enemies, cannibalism always comes first. It turns out that they, the enemy neighbors, are dirty, wild, ignorant, deceitful, treacherous and cannibals. This is the heaviest accusation. There can be no doubt that the neighbors, in turn, are no less generous in unflattering epithets. And of course, they confirm, our enemies are undeniable cannibals. In general, cannibalism is no less disgusting for most tribes than for you and me. (True, some mountain tribes in the interior of the island are known to ethnographers who do not share this disgust. But - and all credible researchers agree on this - they never hunt people.) Since much information about unexplored areas was obtained precisely through questioning of the local population, then “tribes of white-skinned Papuans”, “New Guinea Amazons” and numerous notes appeared on the maps: “the area is inhabited by cannibals”.
... In 1945, many soldiers of the defeated Japanese army in New Guinea fled to the mountains. For a long time no one remembered them - it was not before that, sometimes expeditions that fell into the interior of the island stumbled upon these Japanese. If it was possible to convince them that the war was over and they had nothing to fear, they returned home, where their stories got into the newspapers. In 1960, a special expedition set off from Tokyo to New Guinea. It was possible to find about thirty former soldiers. All of them lived among the Papuans, many were even married, and the corporal of the medical service Kenzo Nobusuke even served as a shaman of the Kuku-Kuku tribe. According to the unanimous opinion of these people, who went through "fire, water and copper pipes", the traveler in New Guinea (provided that he does not attack first) is not threatened by any danger from the Papuans. (The value of the testimony of the Japanese lies also in the fact that they visited the most different parts giant island, including in Asmat.)
... In 1968, the boat of the Australian geological expedition capsized on the Sepik River. Only collector Kilpatrick managed to escape, young guy first arrived in New Guinea. After two days of wandering through the jungle, Kilpatrick came to the village of the Tangawata tribe, recorded by experts who had never been in those places as the most desperate cannibals. Fortunately, the collector did not know this, because, according to him, "if I knew this, I would have died of fear when they put me in a net attached to two poles and carried me to the village." The Papuans decided to carry him, because they saw that he was barely moving from fatigue. It took only three months for Kilpatrick to reach the Seventh-day Adventist mission. And all this time they were leading him, passing literally "from hand to hand", people of different tribes, about whom it was only known that they were cannibals!
"These people know nothing about Australia and its government," writes Kilpatrick. But do we know more about them? They are considered savages and cannibals, and yet I have not seen the slightest suspicion or hostility on their part. I have never seen them beat children. They are incapable of stealing. Sometimes it seemed to me that these people are much better than us.
In general, the majority of benevolent and honest researchers and travelers who made their way through coastal swamps and impregnable mountains, visited the deep valleys of the Ranger Range, saw a variety of tribes, come to the conclusion that the Papuans are extremely friendly and sharp-witted people.
“Once,” writes the English ethnographer Clifton, “in a club in Port Moresby, we started talking about the fate of Michael Rockefeller. My interlocutor snorted:
Why bother? Gobbled up, they have it for a short time.
We argued for a long time, I could not convince him, and he me. And even if we argued for at least a year, I would remain convinced that the Papuans - and I knew them well - are incapable of harming a person who came to them with a good heart.
... More and more I am surprised by the deep contempt that officials of the Australian administration have for these people. Even for the most educated patrol officer, the locals are "rock monkeys". The word that the Papuans are called here is "long". (The word is untranslatable, but it means an extreme degree of contempt for the person it denotes.) For the local Europeans, "oli" is something that, unfortunately, exists. No one teaches their languages, no one will really tell you about their customs and habits. Savages, cannibals, monkeys - that's all ... "
Any expedition erases from the map " White spot”, and often in places indicated by the brown color of the mountains, the green of the lowlands appears, and the bloodthirsty savages, immediately devouring any foreigner, on closer examination do not turn out to be such. The purpose of any search is to destroy ignorance, including the ignorance that makes people savages.
But, besides ignorance, there is also an unwillingness to know the truth, an unwillingness to see changes, and this unwillingness gives rise to and tries to preserve the wildest, most cannibalistic ideas ...
The name Rockefeller has long been synonymous with wealth. It was the representative of this dynasty who became the first dollar billionaire in history. Where did the Rockefellers come from?
lumberjack's son
John Davison Rockefeller was born in 1838 in Richford near New York, the second of six children of William Avery Rockefeller and Eliza Davison. The head of the family first worked as a lumberjack, then started selling herbal medicines.
John had to earn a living from the age of seven. He dug potatoes from neighbors and fed turkeys for sale. Having barely learned to read and write, the boy started notebook in which he recorded all his income and expenses.
At age 16, Johnny went to college in Cleveland, majoring in Fundamentals of Commerce. But soon he dropped out and went to a three-month accounting course. After graduation, he was hired as an assistant accountant by Hewitt & Tuttle, a real estate and shipping company. John quickly rose to be the manager of a firm with a salary of $600. But one fine day, the young man found out that the company paid his predecessor $ 2,000. He immediately left the company and vowed to never work for hire again.
How to become a billionaire
In 1857, John became junior partner in the firm of John Morris Clark and Rochester. To do this, he had to borrow money from his own father at 10% per annum. The company traded in grain, meat and other food products. Since the beginning civil war she took up the supply of the army and prospered.
When the first kerosene lamps appeared, John realized that the oil from which kerosene is made would quickly increase in price. He invested in the extraction and processing of black gold and did not lose. Together with the chemist Samuel Andrews, who agreed to take over the technical side of the matter, they created the firm of Andrews and Clark, which was engaged in the construction of the Flats oil refinery in Cleveland. In 1870, it became the famous Standard Oil Company.
Rockefeller paid his employees not in cash, but in shares of the enterprise, thus motivating them to work successfully, which very soon had a positive effect on income. He also began to buy small firms one at a time, in order to eventually concentrate the entire oil business in his hands.
By 1880, the Rockefeller Company owned 95% of all US oil production. However, in 1911, due to the Sherman Antitrust Act, Standard Oil had to be divided into 34 small companies. But for the owners, this made little difference. A controlling stake in all firms still belonged to John, and capital even began to grow faster.
The Rockefellers were not only involved in oil - they owned 16 railroad and 6 steel companies, 9 real estate agencies, 6 shipping companies, 9 banks and 3 orange groves. Although the family tried not to flaunt their wealth, the public constantly discussed the size of their land and luxurious villas.
John Davison Rockefeller dreamed of living to be 100 years old. But he did not succeed - he died of a heart attack in May 1937. At that time, his fortune was 1.4 billion dollars.
Rockefeller heirs
Unfortunately, John had only one son, a full namesake of his father, who continued his work. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. received $460 million from his father's will. He spent most of the inheritance on charity. In particular, he built a complex of buildings in New York for the future headquarters of the UN - it cost him $ 9 million. John's six children inherited $240 million from him.
Rockefeller Jr.'s daughter Abby and son John became major philanthropists who founded many foundations and organizations, including the Institute of Pacific Relations. Nelson Rockefeller served as vice president of the United States from 1974-1977, and his brother Winthrop was at one time governor of Arkansas.
Until recently, the oldest member of the Rockefeller clan was David Rockefeller, last son John Davison Rockefeller, Jr., born in New York in 1915 and died on March 20, 2017. In the past, he chaired the Council on Foreign Relations and was president of The Chase Manhattan Bank until 1981.
Today, the Rockefeller fortune is estimated, according to unverified data, at 300 billion dollars.
This family is considered one of the most influential in the world.
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