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making ready to retire to his home in Hot Springs, Arkansas, when the opening came to enter the matter which is now in suit. He thereupon elected to continue with Westbrook Associates and devoted virtually full time to the instant matter during the next 6 months (July-December 1951).

(j) As of the beginning of 1952 Colonel Westbrook believed the negotiations for the contract in suit to be completed. While the contract had not been signed, its terms, he thought, had been agreed upon, and the final execution was only a formality. He further believed that, after the execution of a contract between the Government and plaintiff, a period of 6 months or more would be required for plaintiff to develop its operations to the point where further service would be required of him under his contract with plaintiff. Upon the basis of this estimate of his relationship with and obligation to plaintiff, he accepted the position of Assistant Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, tendered to him at that time,16 and entered on his new duties on January 7, 1952.17

(k) Colonel Westbrook's employment by the Democratic National Committee was terminated on October 29, 1952, by the then chairman of the committee,18 on the ground that it was improper for a member of the committee staff to negotiate with the Government.

(1) Colonel Westbrook has not since engaged, or sought to engage, in remunerative employment.10

10 The Chairman of the Democratic National Committee at this time was Mr. Frank McKinney.

17 Just a few days before the tender of this position was made, Colonel Westbrook had been asked and had agreed to manage the preconvention campaign for the Democratic nomination for President of one of the leading contenders for the 1952 nomination. Before he could accept the later invitation to join the staff of the national committee, he had to arrange a release from the other commitment. Also, before signifying his acceptance of the position to the chairman of the committee, Colonel Westbrook consulted his counsel, Mr. Thurman Hill (further identified in finding 10), as to the propriety of the action in view of his (Westbrook's) relation to plaintiff and the contract negotiations. Mr. Hill concurred in Colonel Westbrook's opinion that, in view of the circumstances (as then existing), no impropriety would be involved in acceptance of the position. Colonel Westbrook also advised Chairman McKinney of his connection with plaintiff.

18 Mr. Stephen A. Mitchell.

19 He has been living in semiretirement, with much of his time occupied in efforts to clarify the confusion resulting from the unhappy conclusion of this venture in contract brokerage.

Findings of Fact

148 C. Cls.

7. (a) Heinz Pulvermann was born in Germany in 1895. He fled Nazi Germany in 1936; came to the United States in 1947; and was naturalized in 1950. His residence, at the time of the trial of this action, was at Rye, New York.

(b) Mr. Pulvermann had 1 year (1913–1914) at the University of Freiburg before serving 4 years (1914-1918) in the Armed Forces of Germany. After the end of World War I, he spent 1 year (1918-1919) at the University of Hamburg, another year or more (1919-1920) at the Universities of Munich and Berlin, and returned to the University of Hamburg (1922-1923) to receive the degree of bachelor of laws. His studies included economics as well as law.

(c) In 1923 Mr. Pulvermann found employment with two German lignite ("brown coal") companies. Between 1923 and 1930 he worked his way successively through the cost control, finance, investment control, and development departments of the mining corporations. In 1931 he became head (general manager-president-chairman of the board) of both corporations. At that time the two companies employed approximately 6,000 persons, produced 9 million tons of lignite per year, and had a combined net worth of about 40 million marks. He continued in this position until 1936. Meanwhile, he was a member of the executive committee and the board of directors of the Central Germany and Eastern Germany lignite syndicates, industrywide marketing and sales organizations with a yearly sales volume (combined) of 30 to 50 million tons of lignite and 16 million tons of lignite brickettes.

(d) In 1936 Mr. Pulvermann left Germany to escape the Nazis. He had previously transferred to London stocks enough to control the two German lignite companies, and managed to retain the control into 1937. In 1939 he became associated with the French engineering and banking corporation heretofore mentioned,20 to direct through it and for its owner a program of facilitating the movement of Jews from Germany to South America. After the outbreak of World War II (September 1939), he remained in France for a time at the invitation of the French Government. He then went to North Africa, where he was interned by the Vichy

20 Finding 6 (h). Société Européene d'Etudes et d'Entreprises.

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French. After his liberation in 1943, he remained in Algeria through 1946.2

21

(e) In 1947 Mr. Pulvermann moved from North Africa to London, where he arranged an assignment as Western Hemisphere representative of an English construction-consulting firm specializing in prefabrication. He came to the United States a short time later, and has since been engaged in one form or another of salesmanship, promotion, and international brokerage.

8. (a) In 1948 Mr. Pulvermann rented office space in New York from the Trans-American Development Corporation, of which Colonel Westbrook was president. The meeting of the two men was arranged by a mutual associate of TransAmerican's parent company, Société Européene d'Etudes et d'Entreprises.

(b) The business association of Westbrook and Pulvermann began in January 1950. Mr. Pulvermann had been requested by German organizations to recruit the services of a British or American housing expert to serve as a consultant to the Germans on the reconstruction of workers' housing. He asked Colonel Westbrook to undertake the project. Colonel Westbrook agreed and invited Mr. Pulvermann to join him as a partner in the project, with all compensation to be divided equally. Mr. Pulvermann agreed, and the project was undertaken and executed accordingly.

22

(c) The relationship between Colonel Westbrook and Mr. Pulvermann in securing the contract in suit was as informal as their first association had been. They were partners, to share equally, but there was no agreement in writing between them.

9. (a) There was an agreement in writing between Colonel Westbrook and Mr. Pulvermann, on the one hand, and the plaintiff corporation, on the other.23 This agreement represented, in essence, the working arrangement between the two Americans (Westbrook and Pulvermann) and the Portu

21 He was engaged in refugee rehabilitation work for a year (1943-44), and then (1944-1946) served as an economic consultant to the Algerian Bureau of Fisheries on matters relating to the procurement of equipment for, and the reorganization of, the Algerian fisheries.

Under the title of Westbrook Associates they were retained to undertake a 6 months' assignment for a fee of $25,000 and expenses.

The origin and content of this agreement are described in context in finding 50.

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148 C. Cls.

guese citizen who first formulated the mining plan, Dr. Celestino Soares.

(b) Dr. Soares began work on his mining plan in July 1950. Two months previously, in May 1950, he had been released from prison after 26 months' confinement for having participated in an effort to overthrow the Salazar regime. Full amnesty was granted to him upon his release.

(c) Celestino Soares was born in Portugal in 1898. Upon graduation from the University of Lisbon in 1921, he joined the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During 1922 he served for a time as an attaché of the Legation of Portugal in Washington and later as Chargé d'Affaires of the Portuguese consulate in Boston.

(d) In 1926 Dr. Soares was appointed Governor of Portalegre, a Province of Portugal. The position was shortlived. Upon the coming to power of the Salazar regime a few months later, he was dismissed from his post. He then published a newspaper, in which he had the temerity to oppose the regime. The newspaper was suppressed.

(e) During the 1930's Dr. Soares engaged in various private business activities 24 and in time overcame his Government's attitude that he was persona non grata. Following the publication by him, in Lisbon, in 1939, of a monograph entitled "California and the Portuguese," for use in connection with the Golden Gate International Exposition, he returned to the United States as head of his country's historical exhibition. In 1940 he represented the Portuguese railroads and harbors at the Portuguese pavilion at the World's Fair in New York.

(f) Dr. Soares first entered the tungsten mining industry in 1940 or 1941 at the request of the British Government. With British financial assistance, he organized and became the manager of Companhia Portuguesa de Minas, a company which bought and throughout the war operated various tungsten and tin mines.25 He sold his interest in the company early in 1945.26

24 At one time he was a responsible officer of the Portuguese affiliate of the Tidewater Oil Company.

The output of some of these mines had previously been at the disposal of the Germans.

At that time the mining of tungsten in Portugal had been stopped by the Portuguese Government.

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(g) During the period 1943-1946, Dr. Soares collaborated with United States intelligence officers stationed in Lisbon. For a few months during 1945, he was a general agent of the United States Purchasing Mission in Portugal."

27

(h) The political activity described in subsection (b) of this finding took place in 1947. When the revolt failed, Dr. Soares was tried and convicted by a court-martial. His codefendants included 1 admiral, 3 generals, and 4 colonels. The amnesty which accompanied his release, as described by Dr. Soares, was a sort of reciprocal accommodation between him and his Government: an agreement by the regime that he would not be molested in his business and private affairs as long as he refrained from further political activity.28

10. (a) The written agreement between the plaintiff corporation and its American representatives, Colonel Westbrook and Mr. Pulvermann, was submitted by Colonel Westbrook to his counsel for review and advice as to its validity as a binding contract for the purposes stated therein. The lawyer to whom the agreement was so submitted was Mr. Thurman Hill,29 who had been Colonel Westbrook's legal adviser for 2 years, while serving as counsel to TransAmerican Development Company. As Colonel Westbrook's representative, Mr. Hill participated in the negotiations which preceded the execution of the contract in suit.30

(b) Mr. Hill began the practice of law in Washington in 1945, after 10 years' employment in the Treasury Depart

"Under date of November 27, 1945, the operating officer of the United States Government Purchasing Mission in Lisbon wrote to Dr. Soares as follows: "Upon the occasion of the closing of this office, we should not like to fail to express to you again in this way our deep appreciation of the many services which you rendered to our office in connection with its purchase activities and our regret that the efforts expended by you could not have been more lucrative for you.

"The number of samples and the manner in which they were presented as well as the reasonable prices and the great amount of work not only in the collection of the samples but in the various ministries was of great importance to us and facilitated the work of this office to a great extent."

28 The efficacy of the arrangement is attested by the association of ranking officers of the Portuguese Government in Dr. Soares' corporate endeavor to promote the domestic mining industry.

"Heretofore mentioned in finding 3 (c), as having witnessed Colonel Westbrook's signature of the contract în suit.

Also participating in the negotiations, although on a scale much more limited, were two of Mr. Hill's partners, Mr. James M. Barnes, and Mr. Arthur J. Swanick.