William Rhodes Davis was an oil speculator in the mid-20th Century who, by the early 1930s, had made and lost several fortunes in the oil business. He was not a particularly good businessman and he often blamed his multiple failures on others. As with all speculators he was filled with a constant willingness to find that next big discovery that would ultimately make his dreams of riches come true.
Davis’ plan to make money found a new vehicle to cling his hopes to in early 1933. No, it was not a discovery of untapped oil reserves. Davis was actually dead broke when Adolph Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany in early 1933, but Davis knew that Hitler’s ambitions to build Germany into a new global superpower could be very good for his oil business. Davis immediately set out to drill in Latin America, ship what he found to Germany where he took over a failing oil refinery, and then sell it to Hitler’s expanding military. One of the many interesting caveats to this story is that Davis hired a Kansas oil refinery firm called Winkler-Koch. The Koch part of the partnership was the father to billionaire brothers and supporters of conservative causes, Charles and David Koch. Their wealth comes in part from the business their father did with Hitler.
Dr. Bradley Hart, in his excellent book, Hitler’s American Friends, details that by 1938 Davis was responsible for supplying the German Reich with 30% of their total oil supply. Davis had become a very rich man.
But becoming rich is only the first step towards staying rich and Davis could see that the one obstacle to maintaining his affluence would be the involvement of the United States in any kind of European conflict. Davis did not care about stopping Hitler’s ambitions of European conquest. Indeed, by March of 1938 Germany had annexed Austria and had its eyes on Czechoslovakia. Empire building had started and Davis was benefitting as a result.
What Davis cared about was continuing to get rich from Hitler’s plans. Davis’ travels to and from Germany once brought him before President Roosevelt where he urged FDR to make peace with Germany even as Germany was aggressively pursuing the takeover of Europe. Davis strongly supported isolationism, even in 1940 when Germany, after taking over both Czechoslovakia and Poland, had started war with all of Europe. Davis was part of a large group of isolationists who readily used Nazi talking points, blaming Poland and the Czechs for the beginning of the war.
Davis began to donate money to Roosevelt’s 1940 opponent, Wendell Wilkie, though Wilkie actually never fully came out against US involvement in the war. It was discovered in 1957 that William Rhodes Davis was funneling money from the Nazis to Wilkie’s campaign for the hopes of defeating Roosevelt and keeping the US out of the war.
I am fascinated by this story because it shows how foreign countries can use the most unscrupulous instincts and values of people for their own ends, especially when those instincts and values – when those allegiances are geared for one’s own benefit. The Nazis were only happy to use William Rhodes Davis to funnel money to Wendal Wilkie’s campaign to try and keep the US out of World War II. Thus, when we lack any dedication to the common good, when we refuse to regard the welfare of others with any basic respect, then we become useful for the nefarious goals of others.
I am fascinated by this story because just as a failed, but deeply ambitious businessman in the 1930s ended up becoming an asset to the rise of a fascist dictator in Hitler, I believe we are right now witnessing the recruitment by a fascist dictator bent on empire-building through violent takeover through the use of another failed businessman who is deeply ambitious, but who lacks any abiding concern for the welfare of others.
I believe donald trump is a Russian asset.
Even though he is regularly asked by reporters, trump often refuses to discuss not only what he talks about with Putin, he even refuses to say when or how often he talks with Putin. And trump repeatedly parrots Russian talking points.
In Helsinki, at their first official meeting in trump’s first term, after 17 US intelligence agencies all verified that there was active Russian interference in the 2016 election, trump stood there alongside Putin and praised Putin for his “strong and powerful” denial of election interference. trump also welcomed Putin’s suggestion to insert his police forces into an ongoing US investigation. At the same press conference, trump continued to make his baseless accusations about Hillary’s emails!
And before we skip over the rest of his first term, let us not forget that the Mueller report – dismissed out of hand by Attorney General Barr who claimed it absolved trump – did anything but absolve him! trump continues to tout that it was a hoax, but it wasn’t. Mueller’s team found numerous examples of obstruction to justice – which are crimes – and numerous examples of Russian collusion with the trump campaign. The thing Mueller refused to do – but which he most certainly should have – was to prosecute, because there is a long held practice of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Jumping to this term, on February 24, 2025, the U.S. delegation to the United Nations voted against a resolution condemning Russia for its aggression in Ukraine and calling for it to end its occupation. Condemning hostile aggression against another country is one of the foundational cornerstones of international law. Instead, the U.S. voted alongside Russia, Israel, North Korea, Belarus, and fourteen other countries friendly to Russia against a measure which stated historical facts.
trump has continued to show his allegiance to Russia by ridiculously spouting Russian talking points, including that Ukrainian President Zelensky is unpopular – he is not – that he was not democratically elected – he was – and that Ukraine started the war – they didn’t.
And Putin must have been delighted to have seen trump and Vance’s disgraceful ambush of President Zelensky in the Oval Office a few weeks ago. Never before has a US president so clearly turned against the values that the United States claims to uphold and instead advocate for the cause of a dictator thug, human rights abuser, and war criminal like Putin.
People are asking why trump favors Putin so strongly, but I am not sure the why matters anymore. trump clearly is in the pocket of Russia and has no intention of breaking the hold they have on him. I personally doubt trump even knows he is a Russian asset. I mean, let’s face it, trump is not a particularly smart person. But he obviously is in a position of enormous power and Russia is a thugocracy where Putin kills his political enemies, represses anyone who speaks out against him, and remains intent on reestablishing the Russian empire into Eastern Europe. While we have never had foreign influence so high up in the government, it is good to know that the United States has faced something like this in the past. We have seen the efforts of soulless, heartless businessmen like William Rhodes Davis, committed to ensuring that they gain riches while others suffer. And, like in the past, it is incumbent on us as people of faith to speak the truth, even when that truth confronts the highest echelons of power. We need to remember our history.
