Friends in High Places: The Bechtel Story : The Most Secret Corporation and How It Engineered the Wo by Laton Mccartney (readict .txt) 📗

however, said no such thing. After reading it over, the judge had no choice but to dismiss the case. “In its original complaint,” said his judgment, “the plaintiff averred that the defendant under its contracts was to be reimbursed on the basis of a percentage of the amount expended by the government. The contracts in evidence conclusively show that defendant’s compensation was on a fixed fee basis. “22

If McCone’s memory was, in fact, accurate, the contract wording, it seemed, had been changed. However it was accomplished-if, indeed, it was accomplished-Steve Bechtel and John McCone had been legally saved. They had also made a great deal of money: a total, when the final figures for W illow Run were added up, of$3,375,000.

All in all, World War II was a most lucrative enterprise for Bechtel-

The extent of the abuses at Willow Run was reflected in Alexander’s lengthy court papers. The affidavits taken from a number of Willow Run workers related one fiscal horror story after another. Employees were paid for doing no work; others were trained

-at great government expense-for doing auto mechanics rather than airplane modification; chauffeurs racked up overtime pay driving BechtelMcCone officials (along with McCone’s wife) on personal errands. Some of the allegations-like the charge that a training class of 50 people passed their time making aluminum ashtrays and fishing-tackle boxes-were petty, while others-such as the claim that BechtelMcCone diverted government funds for its own corporate use and discharged employees who threatened to complain-were serious indeed. Taken together, the tales of featherbedding, cost overruns and outright theft made for a disturbing document, one reflecting many of the practices of what would later be called “the military-industrial complex.”

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FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

McCone. According to the General Accounting Office of Congress, Calship alone had brought in revenues of $44,423,014, while Marinship had added $ l l . 8 million more. Another $2 3. 55 million in estimated revenues flowed in from an equity interest BechtelMcCone owned in Henry Kaiser’s shipbuilding operations, and there were additional millions from Canol, W illow Run, the Bechtelowned copper mines that Warren had run and the refineries the company had built for the war effort, both at home and abroad. W hen everything was totaled, Steve Bechtel and John McCone had grossed well over $100

million. Their net investment: considerably less than $400,000.

There were those in Congress who thought it all obscene, and with the conclusion of hostilities, hearings were held on war profiteering. 23

The result was embarrassment, a few bad headlines, but nothing that substantively damaged the reputations of Steve Bechtel and John McCone. They were heroes in the eyes of the War Department, and in October 1945, shortly after the shutdown of the shipyards, Admiral Vickery, who had done so much to make their careers possible, hosted a small congratulatory ceremony. Recently released from a Japanese prison camp, a gaunt George Cooley stood by his friend Steve Bechtel and listened as Vickery lauded their accomplishments. They had, said Vickery, built the ships that carried the guns that had won the war.

America had triumphed, and as much as to anyone, the victory belonged to Steve Bechtel and John McCone.

Cooley was fortunate to have survived the war. Other Bechtel executives, including one who attempted to escape with Cooley, were not so lucky, and perished during their internment. After recovering his strength, Cooley himself went on to become one of Bechtel’s most valued and colorful