Introduction
David Rockefeller, known worldwide as the longtime head of Chase Manhattan Bank and grandson of John D. Rockefeller, had a much less well-known but personally and professionally influential involvement with US Army intelligence during World War II and beyond. After enlisting in 1942 and later becoming an officer, he served in North Africa, southern France, and Paris.
Mining archives sheds new light on Rockefeller's wartime career, his post-war intersections with the nascent Central Intelligence Agency, and the impact of his subsequent career as a banker and philanthropist. We are also left wondering, what if Rockefeller had stuck with intelligence, an opportunity he was offered, rather than returning to the family business?