Hammer, Armand

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HAMMER, ARMAND

It is the dream of some Americans to become rich and powerful, to live a jetset lifestyle and to brush shoulders with the great leaders of the world. Armand Hammer (1898–1990) lived the American Dream.

Armand Hammer was born on May 21, 1898, in New York. His father Julius Hammer was a Russian immigrant, a doctor, a socialist activist, and the first card carrying member of the U.S. Communist Labor Party.

Armand Hammer was working toward his medical degree at Columbia University when he made his first $1 million through his father's pharmaceutical company. He received his medical degree from Columbia
University in 1921. After he earned his degree, Hammer took his money and journeyed to the Soviet Union to give medical aid to famine victims.

While there, Russian leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924) took a personal interest in Hammer and persuaded him to apply his business talents to Russia. In 1925 Hammer, with a concession from the Bolsheviks, began to manufacture pencils for the Soviet Union. Soon thereafter, his firm became the largest supplier of inexpensive and durable pencils in the Soviet Union. By the late 1920s the Soviet's bought out Hammer's businesses, and he returned to the United States in 1930. He returned to the United States with many paintings, jewelry, and other art pieces said to be formerly owned by the Romanov imperial family. During the 1930s Hammer sold most of these items and turned the profits into business ventures that became profitable after the Prohibition era. Among these ventures included cattle raising, the building of whiskey barrels, and the production of whiskey.

In 1956 Hammer retired, having grown tired of his hectic business lifestyle. In the same year, however, he was approached by a friend who persuaded him to finance two wildcat oil wells being drilled in Bakersfield, California, by Occidental Petroleum Corporation, which was near bankruptcy. With Hammer's financial support, Occidental began drilling the wells. Unexpectedly, the wells struck oil. Hammer immediately increased his interests in Occidental. By 1957 he was the corporation's chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of the board. Hammer remained chairman of the board and CEO for the next 33 years, turning the once near bankrupt company into a billion-dollar conglomerate.

Hammer, using his long-standing relations with the Soviets, helped to champion U.S.-Soviet relations throughout the Cold War. He was able to promote cultural and commercial exchanges, as well as represent the United States in trade negotiations. He often became an unofficial ambassador during complicated moments between the two superpowers. In 1986 Hammer personally financed the dispatch of a relief team of physicians to the Soviet Union to assist in the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Incredibly rich, Hammer made many donations to Columbia University, the National Gallery, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also supported numerous philanthropies through the Armand Hammer Foundation. In Los Angeles he founded the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, which housed the bulk of his art collection.

Often praised for his humanitarianism while he was alive, Hammer has been criticized since his death. It is now believed that Hammer may have been a Soviet spy. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) suspected him of being a full-fledged Soviet agent. It is also believed that his ventures in the petroleum market may have found success, due in some part to of his ability to bribe officials and leaders in Libya. After bribing his way into a favorable position, Hammer would then offer a humanitarian act to sweeten the deal, such as drilling water wells for the King of Libya's parched ancestral village.

Armand Hammer died in Los Angeles, California, on December 10, 1990.