In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for
capitalism."
"I helped make Mexico… safe for American oil
interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the
National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of
half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The
record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the
international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light
to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I
helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested."
“During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell
racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few
hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I
operated on three continents.”
Let’s fast forward for a moment
from the 1930s to the 1960s. One of my great heroes from that era is Martin
Luther King.
