Missionary Capitalist, Nelson Rockefeller in Venezuela

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Sociology Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 437 - 439
• Main Author: Hewa, Soma
• Format: Book Review Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Edmonton University of Alberta 01.07.2003; University of Alberta Library
• Subjects: Book Reviews/Comptes rendus; Business; Capitalism; History; Nelson Rockefeller; Politics; Rockefeller, Nelson A; U.S.A; Venezuela; Venezuela
• ISSN: 0318-6431; 1710-1123
• DOI: 10.2307/3341937

This book is largely based on [Nelson Rockefeller]'s personal papers, recently made available at the Rockefeller Archive Center of the Rockefeller University in Tarrytown, New York, as well as materials from various libraries and archives in the United States and Venezuela. It is supplemented by interviews with Venezuelans, and friends and members of the Rockefeller family. The book chronicles in detail Rockefeller's business and political involvements in Venezuela from the late 1930s through the 1950s. Nelson Rockefeller, the third generation of the Rockefeller "Dynasty," became interested in Venezuela when he invested in the Creole Petroleum Corporation -- the Venezuelan subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey. He soon fell in love with the people and landscape, and recognized the immense economic potential of the oil-rich Latin American country. In his capacity as a leading industrialist and as a powerful Republican U.S. politician -- former governor of New York, key adviser to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard Nixon on Latin America, and vice-president under Gerald Ford -- Rockefeller had an unfettered access to Venezuelan political and business elite, and thus was able to build extensive business interests in that region. In contrast to the usual image of Rockefeller as a "rapacious, exploitative figure," this book portrays him as a "benevolent" capitalist who led a protracted campaign, through American technical assistance and private involvement, to transform Venezuela into a thriving prosperous market economy with broad social interest. Thus, this book takes a decidedly opposite view of the existing interpretations of Nelson Rockefeller.