2 Congressmen Charge Standard Oil Places Its Own Interests Above That of the United States

Two Congressmen have accused Standard Oil of California with putting its own interests above those of the United States in a letter sent to its stockholders urging more positive support by the U.S. for “the aspirations of the Arab people.”

Sen. Alan Cranston (D.Calif.) in a letter sent to Otto N. Miller, chairman of the board of Standard Oil, said that the company is far more dependant on Arab oil than is the United States. “I do not share your apparent inference,” Cranston wrote, “that what is good for Standard Oil is necessarily good for the United States.”

In fact, he said, the best guarantee of continued oil production is peace in the Middle East, “and American support of Israel is the best guarantee of peace in the Middle East. It is a stabilizing force designed to maintain a balance of power by offset ting Soviet aid to the Arab nations.

Cranston pointed to the recent Senate decision to proceed immediately with the Trans-Alaska pipeline as an indication of “American determination not to become dependant on Mideast oil.”

Rep. Bertram Podell (D.N.Y.), in a speech on the House floor before Congress adjourned for its summer recess, said that Saudi Arabia “supplied more than three times the crude oil that Standard Oil produced in the U.S.”

“It becomes immediately apparent,” he said, “why Standard Oil is so concerned about U.S.-Arab relations.” He said Standard Oil has in effect told “the Arabs that their political blackmail has found a willing victim…A letter such as this can by no stretch of the imagination be in America’s best interests.”