The Justice Department laid before the committee a letter, written to Standard president Farish by his vice president, shortly after the beginning of World War II (Sept. 1, 1939) in Europe. The letter concerned a renewal of their earlier agreements with the Nazis:
Report on European Trip
Oct. 12, 1939
Mr. W.S. Farish
30 Rockefeller Plaza
Dear Mr. Farish: ... I stayed in France until Sept. 17th.... In England I met by appointment the Royal Dutch [Shell Oil Co.] gentlemen from Holland, and ... a general agreement was reached on the necessary changes in our relations with the I.G. [Farben], in view of the state of war.... [T]he Royal Dutch Shell group is essentially British.... I also had several meetings with ... the [British] Air Ministry....
I required help to obtain the necessary permission to go to Holland.... After discussions with the [American] Ambassador [Joseph Kennedy] ... the situation was cleared completely.... The gentlemen in the Air Ministry ... very kindly offered to assist me [later] in reentering England....
Pursuant to these arrangements, I was able to keep my appointments in Holland [having flown there on a British Royal Air Force bomber], where I had three days of discussion with the representatives of I.G. They delivered to me assignments of some 2,000 foreign patents and we did our best to work out complete plans for a modus vivendi which could operate through the term of the war, whether or not the U.S. came in.... [emphasis added]
Very truly yours, F[rank] A. Howard@s5
Here are some cold realities behind the tragedy of World War II, which help explain the Bush-Farish family alliance--and their peculiar closeness to the Queen of England: