September, 2001
Updated as
of August 29, 2003
Updated as of May 25 May,
2006.
Pierre André Rinfret
A
PERSONAL SORT OF BIO.
This bio is very long-winded because I have found
that many people want substantiation of authority, in spades.
I have, therefore, divided this personal bio as follows.
As you very well know, you can access any part of the bio by
touching the cartoon or photo attached to each part. Of course
if you have the time or the inclination you can just continue
along and ignore all the categories and just start down the road
to fun!
To access any
of the following categories please touch the photo or cartoon
attached:
Overall View:
I am 82+ years of age and have had the
most wonderful life that anyone could wish or dare to dream.
That has to be qualified so that it
is pinpoint accurate. I have had the most wonderful life that
anyone could wish or dare to dream ever since I got out of the
U.S. Army in 1945. Prior to that it was hell, absolute and
total hell! In the vernacular
I have had a ball, an absolute ball.
I have, as the saying goes, been there, done that.
I have just finished reading the book
entitled "Crazy Rhythm" by Leonard Garment,
former counsel to Richard Nixon for the Watergate hearings. On
the final page of his most interesting and honest book (I knew
him well since he was my "Control Officer" for Richard
Nixon for the years 1966 to 1973) he says the following:
"In the middle of the journey,
as Larkin knew more than most, we find ourselves in dark woods
where the right path seems lost.". Leonard
Garment, Crazy Rhythm, Random house, First Edition, 1997,
Page 391.
I totally and completely disagree with
Leonard Garment. I wrote and told him that. The reason for this
site is that the Larkin (poet) quotation by Leonard Garment has
spurred me on to create since it has long been in my mind that we of 3 score and 13 have
a moral responsibility to "illustrate" for those of
fewer years in the hope it may help them in their decision making.
I have done it all and then some. My professional bio is on the site: http:bio.html
and some of the technical details can
be found there. But there are things I have done that were not
amplified and I have had so much experience I want to share it.
Return to TOC
Education
& Honors.
- Was a delegate to the Columbia University National High School
conference on China in 1937.
- Tested for one year in 1938 at the New York State Educational
Institute for the purpose of developing College Entrance tests
(later became the SAT).
- Received a research grant for the study of chromosome manipulation
with colchicin from the Gifted Child Program of the IBM Corporation
at the NY Academy of Science for the two years 1937 & 1938.
- Admitted as a provisional scholarship student to CCNY.
- ASTP program of the United States Army at the University
of Maine in 1943.
- Got the highest mark ever recorded in the Columbia University
entrance exams (at least that is what they told me!).
- NYU Junior Fellowship in Economics in 1947.
- NYU Senior Fellowship in Finance in 1948.
- NYU Senior Fellowship in Economics in 1948.
- Elected to NYU Finance Honors Society, Phi Alpha Kappa, in
1948.
- Fulbright scholar to France in 1949-1950. Renewed in 1950
(for 1950-1951) which renewal I turned down (you have to go home
some time!).
- Accepted to Harvard for Ph. D. with an accompanying scholarship
in 1951.
- Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lionel D. Edie &
Company, Inc in 1965 at 39 years of age.
- NYU Madden Memorial Award in 1968.
- Elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, National Business Honors society,
in 1970.
- Lecture grants from U.S. Department of State to lecture in
Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, Korea and Hong Kong in 1973.
- Lecture grants from the U.S. Department of State to lecture
in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Brisbane, Australia in 1975.
- Lecture Grants from U.S. Department of State to lecture in
Conakry, Guinea and Kinshasa, Zaire in 1980.
- Elected to be Republican candidate for Governor of New York
in 1990.
- Certificate of Basic Engineering (Electrical Engineering
specialty) from the University of Maine in 1944.
- B.S from NYU School of Commerce in 1948.
- M.B.A. from NYU Graduate School of Business in 1949.
- DES with honors from the University of Dijon in 1951 on the
Fulbright Scholarship.
- L.L.D. from Pepperdine University in 1973.
Return to TOC
Summary of a life
full of fun!
Briefly:
- Advisor to 3 Presidents.
- Offered but rejected Cabinet positions
- Consultant to more than 200 leading
American and foreign corporations.
- Spoken before foreign Prime Ministers
and Presidents at White House dinners on behalf of the President
of the United States.
- Ran as the republican candidate for
governor of NY .
- Made money galore and each and every
penny was honestly made.
- Owned my first sailboat when I was
14 and after the war owned one sailboat after another, each one
bigger than the other.
- Sailed the Atlantic ocean in sailboats.
- Had my own TV show on WTOP (Washington
Post station) in Washington, DC.
- Academic and cultural grants galore
from private institutions.
- Gifted child recipient for IBM awards.
- Had my own business for more than 27
years.
- Chairman of the Board of the second
largest investment counsel company in the U.S. at that time.
- Hobnobbed with the richest of the richest,
the famous and the infamous.
- Taught for more than ten years at Graduate
Schools and International symposiums.
- Known Presidents and Kings as well
as Prime ministers and not so prime ministers.
- Been to more than 40 countries.
- Advisor to Allen Dulles when he was
head of the CIA.
- Did infantry combat as a forward scout
and BAR man.
- Fulbright scholar twice (1949-1951).
- 5 University degrees
- Spoken before audiences of every major
trade organization in the U.S.
- Spoken before and lectured at foreign
universities.
- More printed, radio and TV publicity
than wanted or desired.
- Rinfret name is copyrighted because
the courts declared the name has a secondary (reputation of integrity)
meaning!
- Visited London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam
and Geneva 4 times a year for more than 20 years.
- Visited Japan twice a year for more
than 10 years.
- Visited Canada 4 times a year minimum
for more than 20 years.
- etc.,etc.,etc.
Return to TOC
COMBAT EXPERIENCE:
There is no description of combat, what
it is like, what it does to you as a human being, what it does
to your personality, what it does to your beliefs and the scars
it leaves on your body, on your mind and on your soul. One very
famous military writer made the point that neither he nor his
generation in Europe have experienced combat and while he may
write about it he is totally incapable of describing or understanding
it.
It changed me totally and completely.
What I was as a human being before combat had little resemblance
to what I was afterward but certain very strong beliefs not only
carried on with me but were reinforced.
I was a forward scout carrying a Browning
Automatic Rifle known as a Barman. The function of a forward scout
is to find the enemy which is done most frequently by the enemy
trying to kill the forward scout! By trying to kill the forward
scout the enemy reveals his position. I was the second and senior
scout. The first scout is not in charge, the second scout is
in charge. I must have lost (killed or wounded) a half dozen
first scouts in all the time I did in combat. I was wounded twice,
got the Purple Heart twice, was honored with 2 Bronze Stars and
awarded the Combat Infantry Badge (plus many other accruements
to combat and military service)..
What did combat teach me? You can't
have the patience to listen or read but a few highlights might
tell you where I now come from:
- Neither race, religion, ethnic background
nor physical being have anything to do with a mans behavior in
combat. Combat is totally democratic.
- Braggarts are most frequently the first
to cave.
- You cannot lie, cheat, fake nor pretend
your behavior in combat. It is there for all around you to see. You
are what you are and you are not any more than that. Combat is
the greatest of levelers!
- Racial, religious, ethnic and sexual
prejudices have no value of any kind and, if anything are totally
and completely disproved by combat. Cowardice, fear, courage,
leadership, loyalty, honor, devotion, dedication and responsibility
have no racial, religious, ethnic or sexual origins. They are
the characteristics of individuals.
- Rank has little value in killing, being
killed or in survival.
- Everything is basic and fundamental.
Sophistication's are meaningless.
- Luck is a major factor in life. Artillery
shells and other enemy fire kill at random. Surviving is as much
luck as it is anything else. My entire professional career was
launched as a result of a quote citing me by President Lyndon
Baines Johnson who didn't even know who I was, much less what
I did!
- Rules have good and valid reasons,
particularly old rules.
- Men's lives are dice in combat and
when god throws them he frequently throws snake eyes.
I wouldn't wish combat on anyone but
the experience will carry you for the rest of your life. As I
have said a million times: "I survived!". After combat
there is nothing!
Return to TOC
CORPORATE EXPERIENCE:
I served on some 15 Boards of Directors
of major and public corporations during my business career. As
a director of major corporations both domestic and foreign I
saw and witnessed every form of behavior known to man and some
new ones. I knew thieving Chief Executive Officers, lying and
crooked lawyers, dishonest executives, incompetent directors,
self serving directors, lying advisors and dishonest accountants.
I saw people refuse to stand up and
fight and who had no principals of any kind. I witnessed first
class financial rape of innocent and undefended stockholders
from officers and directors of major corporations. I heard and
saw the worst kind of stupidity and lack of morality, where managers
and directors had no principals of any kind except the principal
of taking care of themselves.
I have seen egos of such enormous sizes
that they cannot be described. I have known corporate executives
to throw tantrums of a physical kind when they could not have
their way. I have seen them sell their stockholders and fellow
executives down the river for personal and material gain. I have
witnessed out and out fraud.
I testified before a Federal jury on
the indictment of John King of King Resources on the fraud of
$87 million perpetrated against IOS. The Federal government queried
me on the witness stand and when I told the truth they tried
to discredit me. The defendants lawyer stood up for me and when
I answered him truthfully he tried to discredit me! The Judge
excused me with the expression "Dr. Rinfret, it appears
that neither side wants to hear what you have to say. You're
excused."
I was at the directors meeting of the
Fund of Funds in Bermuda when Robert Vesco threatened the entire
Board of Directors with criminal charges if they did not give
him control of the Fund of Funds. At that I walked out and resigned
as advisor to the Board and returned to New York. The Board gave
Vesco control and he promptly stole over $500,000,000,000 (500
hundred million dollars) and made off with that $500,000,000,000.
He is now a fugitive from justice said to be in Cuba involved
in the drug trade and some $300,000,000,000 remains under the
direction of Swiss trustees for the Fund of Funds because no
one can trace to whom the money belongs, as if they will ever
show up!
Return to TOC
PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR
AND POLITICAL EXPERIENCE:
I was an unofficial economic and financial
consultant to three Presidents, namely to Kennedy, Johnson and
Nixon. I refused cabinet offers from President Nixon who, in
supporting me during the 1990 gubernatorial race said (in Print)
that " As President I had hoped
he would join my Administration as a member of the Council of
Economic advisors or later as a member of the cabinet".
I was the Principal Economic Spokesman
for Presidential candidate Richard Nixon in the 1972 campaign
and traveled the United states on his behalf and at my expense.
In 1969 I was offered the position of
a member of the Council of Economic Advisors by the Nixon administration.
I was offered the position of Secretary of Commerce by President
Nixon right after the November, 1972 elections. Leonard Garment,
on behalf of President Nixon, asked me to accept the position
of U.S. representative to the Soviet Trade Fair in 1973. Ronald
Reagan wanted me to join his campaign staff in 1980.
I turned down Ronald Reagan and had
political offers from numerous other Presidential candidates
including Senator Muskie of Maine and Alan Shriver of the Kennedy
family.
In 1990
I ran for Governor of New York against democrat Mario Cuomo
and the biggest headache I had was the Republican party. Mario
Cuomo told my son a few weeks ago that "Your
father was a great deal more perceptive than I was".
Return to TOC
COUPS:
In 1981 I predicted that the prime rate
would rise to 21 percent in 1982 from the then current level
of 9 percent. Everybody laughed and I was wrong. It rose to 21.5
percent
My wife and I have traveled to and visited
on many an occasion more than 40 countries in this world including
some certified hell holes. We were
in Saigon on the last day American forces were there and left
on the last French flight out.
I predicted the fall of the Shah of
Iran in 1979 many months before it happened and suffered enormous
denigration for the prediction.
I predicted the fall of the Soviet Union
from internal revolution in 1982 and put it in print in one form
or another from then until it happened .
I foresaw the Yom Kippur war and predicted
the date when it would happen as well as the outcome.
To prove I haven't lost my touch even
though retired: I predicted the
decision and the amount of time (3 hours) for the Jury decision
of the OJ Simpson criminal trial and then predicted the amount
of time and the awards the Jury would assess against OJ in the
civil law case.
I called the recession of 2001 on the
nose and called the upturn of 2003 on the nose. It's all on my
sites.
Return to TOC
OBSERVATIONS ABOUT
HUMAN NATURE:
I have seen the compromising of integrity
for personal gain and I have seen the good get raped every which
way by the thieves, liars and cheats. I have seen careers destroyed
because individuals stood up against the cheats and the phonies.
- I have witnessed too many people who
refused to believe the truth only to see the truth destroy them.
- I have seen people destroy themselves
completely because of their conceit and their arrogance.
- I have known individual after individual
who never even considered the consequences of some inappropriate
and foolish move on their part.
- I have known too many individuals,
male and female, who lacked any philosophy of life and who lived
day to day and not much beyond that and who always wondered what
they were going to do with their life and never did decide!
- I have witnessed one person after another
who never ever thought beyond today only to have tomorrow destroy
them completely and totally.
- I have witnessed one brilliant individual
after another waste their talents for nonsensical reasons. And
society never benefited from them. They cheated themselves and
society as well.
- I have known men who cheated on their
wives and then cheated on their multiple mistresses.
- I have known men who fathered children
and then walked away without a care in the world.
- I have known famous people who lie
for a living. One chairman of a major corporation was described
to me by the former corporate counsel as the "official liar,
particularly under oath."
- I have witnessed elected officials
sell positions in their administration.
- I have known academics to make up their
statistics to bolster their arguments and I have known the same
academics to knowingly fake their information, before other academics!
- I have known academics to fake quotations
to bolster their arguments.
- I have witnessed top American, Canadian
and English corporate directors go along with fraud committed
by their chief executive officers and to condone it with their
silence.
- I have known top American executives
refuse to listen to anyone who disagreed with their opinions.One
executive admitted to me that "I would never hire a consultant
that did not agree with my position on everything." He was
later taken over and dismissed summarily by the takeoveree!
- I have known Federal officials to knowingly
fake their reports and to refuse to listen to any disagreement.
- I have heard out and out lies on every
conceivable subject including integrity.
- I have seen vital decisions made on
the basis of prejudice, bias, hate, sexism, dishonesty and self
interests.
- I have seen millions upon millions
upon millions of dollars wasted in the private and public sectors
on the basis of refusal to accept or consider opposition to the
spending of the money.
- I have seen and heard fraud of every
imaginable kind committed with impunity.
- I have seen vital decisions made at
the government and private level on the basis of zero information
or knowledge.
- I have seen people destroy themselves
and all about them because of their naiveté and their
stupidity.
- I have known men and women who lack
any morality of any kind in the highest of high places. I have
known countless men and women who sell themselves and their souls
to the highest bidder with no qualms at all.
- I have witnessed the intentional and
malicious withholding of vital information from the decision
makers.
I have had to make vital and far-reaching
decisions about the path my life would take and knowing that
those decisions involved my wife and children they were relatively
easy to make. I long ago decided to never compromise my principals.
- I resigned from major corporate Boards
of Directors rather than accept dishonesty and fraud even though
other directors went along. If I needed the financial honorarium
and could ill afford the financial loss I resigned anyway.
- I rejected honors that had strings
attached (money, most frequently).
- I have resigned from Boards of Directors
where the corporate behavior was legal but unethical.
- I have returned important sums of money
to corporations and banks even though they did not have any way
of knowing the money had been sent to me or deposited to my accounts.
I have never cheated on my wife,
my children, my tax returns, my partners or my country in my
entire life.
"Getting old ain't for sissies" is all I will
say about being 82!
Return to TOC
I have a perspective on life that
is very simple to understand but almost impossible to execute:
integrity, honor, responsibility and decency are the most vital
attributes in life. I said "almost impossible" but
not impossible even though there is a price. But then again,
there is a price on everything, isn't there?
"Dear Leonard:
The path is easy to see and well
lit: it is called honor and integrity."
I feel that someone of my age and
experience has a moral obligation to pass on their experience
and their perspectives because of that experience to others who
are younger or who have been less exposed to the world as it
really is. Maybe, maybe, it might even be helpful.
That, in a nutshell, is the purpose
of "From My Perspective" site!
Pierre A. Rinfret
Email me and we both might enjoy it! 