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A review by oleksandr
The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen
3.0
This is a biography of Samuel Zemurray, the banana king. Born in Bessarabia (now Moldova, in 1877 when he was born – the Russian Empire, taken from Ottomans in the 1850s), he emigrated to the US in 1891, started trading ripe bananas, thrown of by then the monopoly United Fruit is 1905, set a new government in Honduras in 1912 and this is only a start! I read it as a part of monthly reading for August 2021 at Non Fiction Book Club group.
This is a story of self-made man, who affected the global history, especially in the USA and Latin America, and his influence was both good and bad. It is well-known that most LatAm authors, like [a:Gabriel García Márquez|13450|Gabriel García Márquez|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1588856705p2/13450.jpg] in his famous [b:One Hundred Years of Solitude|320|One Hundred Years of Solitude|Gabriel García Márquez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327881361l/320._SX50_.jpg|3295655], don’t like the US banana exporting companies, which came in the early 20th century, boosting hopes that the yoke of aristocratic families that ruled the Isthmus since conquistadors, will be replaced by Gringo banana men. While the latter added a bit of social mobility, they used their wealth to overthrow the aristocrats, becoming aristocrats themselves. Unlike the old families, the banana royalty had no roots in the region. Zemurray was one of these gringos, even if, after acquiring banana plantations, he, unlike most other banana business management, actually lived there.
He started as a kid, a set of eyes peering from the steerage deck of an Atlantic steamer. He grew into a young man, a go-getter hauling ripes. He became a hustler, hurrying through the streets of the French Quarter with a pocketful of bills. When he went to the isthmus, he became the Gringo humping over the mountains on a mule, buying and clearing swaths of jungle. Then he was El Amigo, the father of the revolution, a man with nothing to lose. Then he was the little guy at war with the Octopus. Then he was a millionaire, a sellout, a retiree, a battler in a political war, a symbol of everything good and bad about America, the opportunity to rise and the inevitable corruption, the best and worst. He had finally become the boss, the king, one of the most powerful men in America.
Maybe the two most prominent points are his overthrow of Honduras government and his acquisition of the United Fruit.
During the first, Honduras owed millions to bankers in London, far more than it could ever repay because of corrupt practices, like building unnecessary railroad. In 1900, the bankers demanded settle $100mn debt, ominously suggesting the issue might be resolved by the British navy. The US was concerned, for it challenged the Monroe Doctrine, so they J. Pierpont Morgan to buy all of the outstanding Honduran railroad bonds, satisfying the British banks. Morgan would then refinance the debt. Morgan agreed under the following condition: in return for money and services, officials from the Morgan bank would be seated in the customshouse in Puerto Cortés, where they would collect a duty on all imports. This endangered Zemurray ‘no duties or taxes’ deal with Honduras, so he bought a decommissioned warship, gathered daredevils and attacked the government, replacing it with his man, Manuel Bonilla, who re-instated all duty-free deals with Zemurray.
During the second, after his company was engulfed by the United Fruit, he got a formal post in the board of directors. However, he gathered votes of other share owners, so when he spoke on a meeting, explaining his ideas in the thick accent, the chairman Wing smiled and said, “Unfortunately, Mr. Zemurray, I can’t understand a word of what you say.” Zemurray’s stormed out. Perhaps the board members believed Zemurray had been chased away, was fleeing back to New Orleans. In truth, he had only gone to retrieve his bag of proxies. Returning to the boardroom, he slapped them on the table and said, “You’re fired! Can you understand that, Mr. Chairman?” Then he made a great re-haul of the corporation, allowing it to survive another 30 years.
It is an interesting story of life of quite a unordinary man. There is also info about his cooperation with world Zionist organizations, support of Israel, work the CIA, including during the failed Cuba intervention.
This is a story of self-made man, who affected the global history, especially in the USA and Latin America, and his influence was both good and bad. It is well-known that most LatAm authors, like [a:Gabriel García Márquez|13450|Gabriel García Márquez|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1588856705p2/13450.jpg] in his famous [b:One Hundred Years of Solitude|320|One Hundred Years of Solitude|Gabriel García Márquez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327881361l/320._SX50_.jpg|3295655], don’t like the US banana exporting companies, which came in the early 20th century, boosting hopes that the yoke of aristocratic families that ruled the Isthmus since conquistadors, will be replaced by Gringo banana men. While the latter added a bit of social mobility, they used their wealth to overthrow the aristocrats, becoming aristocrats themselves. Unlike the old families, the banana royalty had no roots in the region. Zemurray was one of these gringos, even if, after acquiring banana plantations, he, unlike most other banana business management, actually lived there.
He started as a kid, a set of eyes peering from the steerage deck of an Atlantic steamer. He grew into a young man, a go-getter hauling ripes. He became a hustler, hurrying through the streets of the French Quarter with a pocketful of bills. When he went to the isthmus, he became the Gringo humping over the mountains on a mule, buying and clearing swaths of jungle. Then he was El Amigo, the father of the revolution, a man with nothing to lose. Then he was the little guy at war with the Octopus. Then he was a millionaire, a sellout, a retiree, a battler in a political war, a symbol of everything good and bad about America, the opportunity to rise and the inevitable corruption, the best and worst. He had finally become the boss, the king, one of the most powerful men in America.
Maybe the two most prominent points are his overthrow of Honduras government and his acquisition of the United Fruit.
During the first, Honduras owed millions to bankers in London, far more than it could ever repay because of corrupt practices, like building unnecessary railroad. In 1900, the bankers demanded settle $100mn debt, ominously suggesting the issue might be resolved by the British navy. The US was concerned, for it challenged the Monroe Doctrine, so they J. Pierpont Morgan to buy all of the outstanding Honduran railroad bonds, satisfying the British banks. Morgan would then refinance the debt. Morgan agreed under the following condition: in return for money and services, officials from the Morgan bank would be seated in the customshouse in Puerto Cortés, where they would collect a duty on all imports. This endangered Zemurray ‘no duties or taxes’ deal with Honduras, so he bought a decommissioned warship, gathered daredevils and attacked the government, replacing it with his man, Manuel Bonilla, who re-instated all duty-free deals with Zemurray.
During the second, after his company was engulfed by the United Fruit, he got a formal post in the board of directors. However, he gathered votes of other share owners, so when he spoke on a meeting, explaining his ideas in the thick accent, the chairman Wing smiled and said, “Unfortunately, Mr. Zemurray, I can’t understand a word of what you say.” Zemurray’s stormed out. Perhaps the board members believed Zemurray had been chased away, was fleeing back to New Orleans. In truth, he had only gone to retrieve his bag of proxies. Returning to the boardroom, he slapped them on the table and said, “You’re fired! Can you understand that, Mr. Chairman?” Then he made a great re-haul of the corporation, allowing it to survive another 30 years.
It is an interesting story of life of quite a unordinary man. There is also info about his cooperation with world Zionist organizations, support of Israel, work the CIA, including during the failed Cuba intervention.