Averell Harriman - anyone know anything?

[Marc Ellis]

Interesting Harriman was accused of being a Soviet spy by Anatoliy Golitsyn. That might help explain the Diem assassination.

Something else in Wiki piques my interest:

"... In 1960, President-elect Kennedy appointed him ambassador-at-large, to operate "with the full confidence of the president and an intimate knowledge of all aspects of United States policy." By 1963, according to Corson, Harriman was running "Vietnam without consulting the president or the attorney general.".[15]The president had begun to suspect that not everyone on his national security team was loyal. As Corson put it, "Kenny O'Donnell (JFK's appointments secretary) was convinced that McGeorge Bundy, the national security advisor, was taking orders from Ambassador Averell Harriman and not the president. He was especially worried about Michael Forrestal, a young man on the White House staff who handled liaison on Vietnam with Harriman.".[15]
--
If Harriman was running Vietnam policy by himself, why would his corporate-industrial rival, Brown/Haliburton reap so many rich defense contracts there while Harriman's Dressier industries would be left out?

A few mysteries there. He may have been a beneficiary of JFK's assassination. I doubt he loomed large in the planning though.

[Nick Rose]

--
If Harriman was running Vietnam policy by himself, why would his corporate-industrial rival, Brown/Haliburton reap so many rich defense contracts there while Harriman's Dressier industries would be left out?

good question Marc.

Not sure this video gets to any of that (just found it, just watching it myself) but check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DiZrYdHzQ4

The only "answer" i could offer to throw your way would be that Harriman had his hands in so many corporate pockets that he may not have even needed to tarnish his reputation by involving his most immediate going concern in the war. Thus he could maintain the facade of "disinterestedness" while in reality he probably had his hands pretty deep in several interests that were profiting off the war.

With regards to his possible Russian sympathies ... I think it is safe to say that establishment members as high up as Harriman don't lay their interests solely on one side of the fence. Harriman was a banker, and just like Rockefeller and Morgan (whose bank Harriman actually controlled until the early-mid 20th century -- Guarantee Trust Co.), I'm sure he had ways to both make money and further his interests on both sides of a conflict.

[Anthony DeFiore]

Angleton accused Harriman of being a communist spy. Angleton was the biggest threat to US Intelligence during the Cold War.