FINAL WARNING: Financial Background
and Co), the oldest banking operation in America (founded in 1799 by
Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr), which had 67 branches in New
York, and $1.6 billion in assets. Although it was only the sixth largest
bank (over $98,000,000 in assets), it was the most powerful.In 1961, the Chase Manhattan Bank Plaza was built in downtown
Manhattan, at a cost of $125,000,000. It is 64 stories high, with five
basement floors, the lowest of which contains the largest bank vault in
the world.They had 28 foreign branches, and over 50,000 banking offices in more
than 50 countries, and had a controlling interest in many of the largest
corporations in America. Some of those that were listed in the Patman
Report: American National Bank and Trust, Safeway Stores, Reynolds
Metals, White Cross Stores, J. C. Penney, Northwest Airlines, Eastern
Airlines, TWA, Pan American World Airways, Western Airlines,
Consolidated Freightways, Roadway Express, Ryder, Wyandotte
Chemicals, Armstrong Rubber, A. H. Robins, G. D. Searle, Sunbeam,
Beckman Instruments, Texas Instruments, Sperry Rand, Boeing,
Diebold, Cummins Engine, Bausch and Lomb, CBS-TV, International
Basic Economy Corp., Addressograph-Multigraph, Aetna Life,
American General Insurance Co., Allegheny-Ludlum Steel, National
Steel.Men from the Chase Manhattan’s Board of Directors have also sat on
the Boards of many of the largest corporations, which have created a
system of interlocking directorates. Some of these have been:
Allegheny-Ludlum Steel, U.S. Steel, Metropolitan Life, Travelers
Insurance, Continental Insurance, Equitable Life Assurance, General
Foods, Chrysler Corp., Standard Oil of Indiana, New York Times,
Cummins Engine, Burlington Industries, ABC-TV, Standard Oil of New
Jersey, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, Scott Paper, International Paper,
International Basic Economy Corp., International Telephone &
Telegraph, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Anaconda Copper, Allied Stores,
Federated Department Stores, R. H. Macy, Colgate-Palmolive, Bell
Telephone of Pennsylvania, Consolidated Edison of New York, DuPont,
Monsanto, Borden, Shell Oil, Gulf Oil, Union Oil, Dow Chemical,
Continental Oil, Union Carbide, and S. S. Kresge.Chase also owned or controlled the Banco del Commerce (with over