9/12/1995
Washington Times By Arnold Beichman Not only has Harry Wu, the human rights crusader, made the Chinese Communists unhappy but, Newsweek reported August 7, he has made American business unhappy, too. According to Newsweek's Carroll Bogert, Harry Wu may have made "many friends on Capitol Hill but precious few in the business community." An unnamed executive of a major sports manufacturing company is quoted as saying that "Harry Wu gives us real cause for concern." V.I. Lenin once said that when the last capitalists are being marched to the gallows, two capitalists will be standing at the foot of the gallows haggling over the price of the hemp. Well, despite Lenin's misprophecy about the future of capitalism, it turned out that the haggling "capitalists" are still with us, annoyed at the likes of Harry Wu and other human rights crusaders. Reading about business unhappiness with Harry Wu gave me a sense of deja vu. I was reminded of how American business behaved towards critics of the Soviet Union, especially during the Brezhnev era from 1964 to 1982. In his book, /set ital/A Hymnal--The Controversial Arts/end ital/, William Buckley describes how after Henry Ford in 1970 declined to built a truck plant for the Soviet Union, other major U.S. companies--Pullman, IBM, Westinghouse and others-- built a 38-square mile plant on the Kama River. Keep in mind, as Buckley points out, that there was "lots of Russian truck traffic from North Vietnam to South Vietnam for use against American soldiers." The pro-Communist rhetoric of American capitalists ought not to be forgotten. After his ten-day visit to Mao's China David Rockefeller wrote that "the social experiment in China under Chairman Mao's leadership is one of the most important and successful in human history..whatever the price of the Chinese Revolution, it has obviously succeeded [in] fostering high morale and community of purpose." Just as bad was former Senator Charles Percy who said that "Mao is the George Washington of his country." Or these words of praise for Leonid Brezhnev for his "candor and sincerity...and by his clear commitment to pursue not only peace, but also...the enrichment of life in his country." Take a bow, Donald Kendall, ex-president of Pepsi-Cola. Probably one of the most disgusting displays of truckling to Communist dictators appeared as a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal for April 12, 1970. It was signed by 35 executives of major U.S. companies and was headed by these words: "Welcome, President and Mrs. Ceausescu." Along with their photographs, the ad hailed "their official visit to the United States of America." At the time, Romania was one of the worst of repressive Communist regimes with the lowest living standards in Eastern Europe. To understand the full meaning of such an ad, imagine what public reaction would have been if this ad had been signed by the 30-odd members of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, headed by then George Meany? Long before the fall of the Soviet Union, the Bankers Trust Co. took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal touting its excellent contacts in the USSR and declaiming: "After twelve years of Bankers Trust-Soviet Union relations, we can assure you that mutual interest can overcome divergent ideology." President Jimmy Carter caused business some anxious moments as described by this Wall Street Journal headline, April 1, 1977: Human-Rights Stand By Carter Disturbs Companies in the U.S. Victor Gold, Barry Goldwater's press secretary in the 1964 presidential campaign once wrote: "...[I]n their thundering about moral principle, America's conservative leaders, when their big-business constituency's interest requires, can be as hypocritical as the pottage politicians they profess to despise." Perhaps Harry Wu isn't popular with American businessmen. But then neither was Alexander Solzhenitsyn, another trouble- maker, who on his visit to the U.S. following his expulsion from his native land, was formally barred in 1975 from any recognition by then President Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger. And we should always remember the words of former Secretary of State Vance, whose law firm represents major U.S. corportions: "Leonid Brezhnev is a man who shares our dreams and aspirations." --end-- Arnold Beichman, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, is a Washington Times columnist.