Armand Hammer, CEO of Occidental Petroleum,a staunch supporter of presidents Nixon, Reagan and Bush — and long-suspected Soviet spy — died on December 10, 1990, in Los Angeles. He was 92 years old.
Hammer grew up in New York and received a medical degree from Columbia University, but never practiced medicine. Instead, in the 1920s, he went into the pharmaceuticals business in the newly formed Soviet Union.
His lifelong association with the Soviet government raised suspicions about his allegiance to the United States. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Hammer’s name was reportedly found in KGB files that described him as an agent vliyana, an “agent of influence” in the United States for the Soviet government. However (and not surprisingly), definitive proof that he was a Soviet spy has never been produced, and so his political legacy in international relations remains a riddle.
His record as an agent for the Republican Party is crystal clear, however. In 1976, Hammer was convicted on federal misdemeanor charges for funnelling hush money to the Watergate burglars during the Nixon years.
These convictions became problematic a decade later when Hammer embarked on a quixotic mission to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his private diplomacy with the Soviets. After being nominated, however, he was thwarted by the fact that no previous recipient had ever had a criminal record.
Hammer requested a pardon from then-Pres. Reagan, sweetening the deal with an offer to donate $1.3 million to Reagan’s presidential library, which was to be built in Simi Valley, Calif. On his application, Hammer listed the reason for the requested pardon as “innocence.” When the Reagan team looked into his convictions, however, they found that he had pleaded guilty to the charges in order to get a better deal, and was therefore ineligible for the pardon on the basis of innocence.
Because Pres. Reagan failed to deliver the pardon, Hammer rescinded the donation to the library. The library sued to get the money but was unsuccessful.
Hammer soon got his pardon from Reagan’s successor, George H.W. Bush, however. At the end of Bush’s successful campaign for president, Hammer gave $110,000 to the Republican National Commmittee to allay campaign costs. He updated his pardon application, changing the reason for the request from “innocence” to “compassion.” On August 14, 1989, eight months after Bush was elected, he issued a full pardon for Hammer.
It was all for naught, however. Hammer lost the 1989 Nobel Peace to the Dalai Lama.
Hammer was born on May 21, 1898.
[Wiki, Counterpunch]
