FoundSF

Primary Source

2012 Introduction

In 1982, the Abalone Alliance organized a tour of the city's corporations that had nuclear power and weapons links. Over a thousand activists toured the corporations in downtown. As part of the action, an 8 page action manual was put together. It included maps and information about corporations from Bechtel, PG&E, Wells Fargo and many more. Below is a scanned in copy of the original action handbook, including images. FoundSF did an excellent article on the Hall of Shame tour that includes photos from the event. The Hall of Shame concept would be copied again by activists in July 1984 when the national Democratic Convention came to San Francisco, that took place during an entire week, resulting in hundreds of arrests. Here's a link on SF/Cal Corporate history for more on mega corporations in San Francisco.

Collective Statement

To say that a handful of gigantic corporations and government agencies have conspired to bring us all to the brink of apocalypse for the sake of their personal careers and pocketbooks is an amazing accusation. But just take a close look at the front page of the Wall Street Journal for the latest faces in the President's cabinet. The evidence is overwhelming. It is so obvious, in fact that the real question is: why isn't it common knowledge? Clearly, most of us would rather not think about it too much. That's understandable. We usually feel that way ourselves. There are more enjoyable, things to do than contemplate the power-drunk anti-nature sub-culture that controls our society. But things are so out of hand that we feel compelled to think about these things and to act on what we learn.

Here is what we've learned. There is a pattern. These same corporations are dishonest they are racist they are sexist they co-opt the unions they can't break, they are war profiteers, they invest more and profit more each year from the third world, they are major polluters and many of their workers are dying from unsafe conditions and procedures. And these corporations—with their twin brother the government—dominate our economic and political lives.

One note of encouragement though: their very greed and arrogance may be their downfall. Even the gigantic corporations are made up of individuals who are finding fewer and fewer other individuals willing to cooperate in grandiose schemes for profitable destruction. The more we expose the monumental waste and stupidity of the nuclear cycle of death, the more we rely on our own consciences and ability to create alternatives, the more we reject arbitrary exercise of authority by those whose only power lies in fast-disappearing public apathy, the sooner we will close the Hall of Shame and take on the challenge of building a nuclear-free World.

Rockefeller Empire, Rockefeller Center West

Actually, it was decided at the last minute to call it Embarcadero Center instead of Rockefeller Center West. Californians are so proud. But David Rockefeller was given 25% of the center in return for 1% of the investment "and his good name". The Rockefeller Interests is one of the most powerful institutions in the country. They have major investments in many of the nuclear corporations on the tour. Ironically though, none of the main Rockefeller corporations are represented on our tour because they've chosen L.A. for their western headquarters, (This includes Atlantic Richfield and Chase Manhattan Bank.) But it is only relative. There are many Rockefeller signs in San Francisco and not just Rockefeller/Embarcadero plaza or the Rockefeller Center Construction Co. up at 244 Pine.

For example, the influential Rockefeller Foundation that has given over $1.5 billion in its existence has recently chosen a trustee from San Francisco. His name is Herman Gallegos. Mr. Gallegos is also a trustee of Pacific Telegraph and Telephone. This is nice since PT&T is practically a sister corporation to PG&E; noted by the three directors the two companies share. Nor is this the only Rockefeller tie to PG&E, The Foundation's director for International Affairs recently became vice-president of PG&E for corporate planning.

Rockefellers deserve a whole book, not just these few paragraphs. There isn't space to talk about their numerous institutions (Trilateral Commission, Council of Foreign Affairs),' projects (The Urban League, Rockefeller University), or companies (Exxon, United Nuclear). Let's just be thankful that there is only one Rockefeller Center, . .at least in name.

General Electric, 2 Embarcadero

"GE brings good things to life!"

"Progress is our most important product!"

SIZE: Profits of $1.5 billion on sales of $24.9 billion in 1980.

PRODUCTS: GE makes steam turbines, locomotives (80% of South Africa's for example), nuclear reactors, jet engines, lightbulbs, machine guns, missile launch systems, a refrigerator with 63 separate electricity-burning components, and factory robots. Through its GE Credit Corp. (another major nuclear financier), it makes money on money ($80 million in 1980). GE owns radio and TV stations; they just about own Schenectady, NY; they bought Utah International (coal and uranium mining) for $2.2 billion; they are seeking to patent gentically-engineered life forms, find a way to use fingerprints as credit cards, and GE knows what else. GE provided police equipment and training to the Shah's (Iran) infamous SAVAK police.

WHO CONTROLS: GE is run by professional managers and bankers. Large institutions—bank trust departments, insurance companies, pension funds, investment firms—control 20% of the stock. The largest shareholder is Morgan Guaranty which boasts three GE directors. Other directors include the president of Citibank and the president of Utah International who also sits on the board of Wells Fargo.

FRIENDS & INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE: Before our showbiz president (Reagan) made it to the top of the acting world, he spent eight years as a mouthpiece for GE as host of its weekly General Electric Theater TV show. Several times a year Reagan toured GE plants offering insights on the evils of "the swiftly rising tide of collectivism." Reagan's chief science consultant is Arthur Bueche, ex-GE senior VP for technology. Recently GE's board of directors included an Air Force advisor, a Secretary of the Army, and two Secretaries of Defense. Three current board members are also members of the Trilateral Commission. When you're as big as GE you've got to have friends everywhere. That is why of 429 NRC officials studied by Common Cause, GE topped the list with 34 former employees. (105 came from other nuclear corporations.)

SCANDALS: GE's history is one of greed, growth, and war profiteering. When in 1961 it was indicted as ringleader of a massive conspiracy to fix prices, rig bids, and divide markets in the $1.75 billion electrical equipment industry, one jailbound GE exec explained, "Sure, collusion was illegal, but it wasn't unethical.

This insight into business ethics may explain another GE skeleton. While the Nazis bombed England, GE conspired with Germany's largest defense corporation (Krupp) to fix prices and control trade; after they were indicted by the U.S. government in 1948, the price of one hard metal crucial to the war effort fell from $453/lb. to $40/lb. These kinds of activities caused GE's sales to increase by nearly 400%, from $340 million to $1.3 billion between 1940 and 1942. A Fortune Magazine article from 1942 blithely states: "Last year...it made some $100 million worth of household appliances; by the end of 1942 practically all of them will be replaced by lethal appliances...It was only natural for these engineer-managers to regard the war almost as if it was primarily another phase in the company's history."

GE was also intimately involved in the Manhattan Project and was rewarded with a $945 milllion contract for plutonium production at Hanford, WA. GE now ranks third among corporations which profit from defense spending, and is seventh among arms exporters. With the rate of profit in the weapons industry currently above 19% (highest for any U.S. industry), we might paraphrase GE: "Death is our most important product." GE has been involved in almost every major missile system—Poseidon, Polaris, Trident, the Minuteman Ml MIRV. At the trial of the "Ploughshares Eight", a group of catholics who went into a GE factory and beat oh some missiles with hammers, the judge consistently found that expert testimony on nuclear war was inadmissable; finally a frustrated onlooker shouted, "How do you find GE for building genocidal weapons?" The judge had no comment on that but he did sentence the protesters to federal prison.

Security Pacific, 1 Embarcadero (consumed by BofA)

A major investor in PG&E and Union Carbide, Security Pacific isn't in the same league as B of A, Wells Fargo, or Morgan Trust, but they are representative of the important role the middle-weight banks play in the nuclear system. $22 billion in deposits.

Capital Research & Management Capital Group, Inc., Capital Guardian Trust Co., 2 Embarcadero

Sort of a shy group. It took hours of research to find out very little about this (apparently) Los Angeles based group of investors who have huge holdings in DuPont (6th biggest shareholder), GE (20th), Kerr-McGee (5th), and Union Carbide (8th). Apparently, Jon Lovelace (b. 1927, Princeton) heads the group and American Mutual, Investment Co. of America, and New Perspective Fund. There is still lots to find out. Hopefully by March 22 we'll have more details.