Armand "Armie" Hammer has a very sordid family history (as does his name).
In the late 19th century, an immigrant from Odessa named Julius Hammer moved to New York City and became a doctor and druggist. He became a leader in and the very first card-holder of the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP for short), which had a symbol of an arm and hammer. He had a son in 1898, who he punningly named Armand Hammer after said symbol. After the Russian Revolution, Julius Hammer led a segment of the SLP to leave the original group and become the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). This was the party later responsible for the attempted takeover of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s that led to the founding of the Hollywood blacklist, as well as the attempted takeover of the U.S. government that the FBI and Senator Joe McCarthy (separately, and using different methods) tried to ferret out.
Armand Hammer followed his physician father's footsteps in the medical field by joining medical school. (He would brag about his status as a doctor for the rest of his life, although there's is no evidence that he ever graduated from medical school.) In 1919, the wife of a former Russian diplomat obtained an illegal abortion at Julius Hammer's medical practice (located in a wing of his house), and died of complications. Although Julius took the blame and went to prison, Armand's future mistress Bettye Murphy told biographer Edward Jay Epstein that Armand confessed to her that he was the actual guilty party, and that his father Julius took the blame to protect him.
Armand and his brothers took over Julius' drugstore business, and got rich by selling herb extracts containing high alcohol levels during Prohibition. Armand also went on many trips to the Soviet Union throughout the 1920s, sometimes meeting with Vladimir Lenin in person. He would tell the U.S. government that he would only visit Western Europe, but the FBI knew this was a lie and kept him under surveillance. At one point, the Soviets even gave him $75,000 of money to take back home with him to fund Soviet espionage in America.
Through various shrewd financial wheelings and dealings, he eventually became the millionaire chairman of Occidental Petroleum. He became a fixture in the American business world, and most people thought of him as a thoroughly respectable and accomplished capitalist. But the whole time, he was secretly working to aid the Soviet Union, funneling millions of dollars worth of money and supplies into the Soviet regime over the decades (laundering it mostly through Germany).
Hammer was also a major benefactor of Albert Gore Sr., even helping start Gore's political career with well-placed donations. He would often joke that he liked to keep Gore in his back pocket, and would tap his wallet when saying it. Some people suspect that Albert Gore, Jr. was given the middle initial A. (but curiously no actual full middle name, although he has claimed at times that it is "Arnold") in the hopes that Hammer would think the A stood for "Armand" and be flattered. The Hammer/Gore family connection continues at least as far as Hammer's death in 1990 (a mere two years before Al Gore, Jr. became Bill Clinton's running mate), with Al Gore Sr. and Jr. both continuously helping Hammer and vice-versa.
Many articles claim that Hammer was a Republican donor, and try to paint him as a Republican. He did donate to Richard Nixon and the Republican Party, but it was always as bribery. He donated $54,000 to Nixon's campaign in exchange for special favors. This donation was illegal, and came up in the Watergate hearings, but Hammer faced no serious consequences other than a slight fine. Later, he wanted to bribe his way to a presidential pardon for three misdemeanors he had pled guilty to (related to the illegal Nixon contribution). He donated $1.3 million to the Ronald Reagan Library in the hopes of convincing Reagan to pardon him, but Reagan refused. He then donated $110,000 to the Republican Party's National State Election Committee, but Reagan still refused to grant the pardon. He kept shoveling money at politicians over the years, and finally got the pardon he wanted from George H.W. Bush.
The reason that he was so desperate to get the pardon was that he wanted to receive a Nobel Prize. When Jimmy Carter was president, he tried to convince him to nominate him, but Carter refused. He gave $5 million to one of Prince Charles' charities and gave him free watercolor lessons in order to bribe him to get Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to nominate him for the Nobel Prize, to no avail. He furthermore donated to the Swedish Academy, offered Occidental Petroleum deals to Swedish business leaders, and bribed his way with $5 million into receiving various awards in the hopes of making himself seem more eligible for the Nobel Prize. It was at that point that he discovered that his criminal history was a barrier to his acceptance and sought to get a pardon. He never received the Nobel Prize even after his pardon, although it has been claimed that he only narrowly lost out to the Dalai Lama in 1989.
Hammer painted an arm and hammer symbol on his yacht. Some people suspected that this meant he was a communist, while others asked if this meant he owned Church & Dwight, the makers of Arm & Hammer baking soda. Upon hearing this, he decided to buy Church and Dwight, but they refused to sell to him. But in 1986, after the company became publicly traded on the stock market, Hammer bought a large amount of stock in it, making him one of the largest owners of the company. He would sometimes refer to himself as the "Baking Soda King".
More information about Armand Hammer's communist ties and his close relationship with the Gores can be found at these links:
Armand Hammer had a son named Julian Armand Hammer, who had a son named Michael Armand Hammer, who in turn had a son named Armand Douglas Hammer, who received the nickname "Armie" in his teenage years and used it when he became an actor.
Now, people don't always politically take after their ancestors. But keep in mind that Armie Hammer was born and raised in the Hammer dynasty, which has faithfully continued to pass on the name "Armand" - which started as a reference to a socialist symbol - from son to son as either a middle or first name in honor of the original Armand Hammer. (Armie Hammer himself has even passed on the name to his own son, Ford Douglas Armand Hammer). This makes me wonder whether they have passed on anything else from the original Armand Hammer, such as his ideology, through the generations.
Armand "Armie" Hammer has a very sordid family history (as does his name).
In the late 19th century, an immigrant from Odessa named Julius Hammer moved to New York City and became a doctor and druggist. He became a leader in and the very first card-holder of the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP for short), which had a symbol of an arm and hammer. He had a son in 1898, who he punningly named Armand Hammer after said symbol. After the Russian Revolution, Julius Hammer led a segment of the SLP to leave the original group and become the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). This was the party later responsible for the attempted takeover of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s that led to the founding of the Hollywood blacklist, as well as the attempted takeover of the U.S. government that the FBI and Senator Joe McCarthy (separately, and using different methods) tried to ferret out.
Armand Hammer followed his physician father's footsteps in the medical field by joining medical school. (He would brag about his status as a doctor for the rest of his life, although there's is no evidence that he ever graduated from medical school.) In 1919, the wife of a former Russian diplomat obtained an illegal abortion at Julius Hammer's medical practice (located in a wing of his house), and died of complications. Although Julius took the blame and went to prison, Armand's future mistress Bettye Murphy told biographer Edward Jay Epstein that Armand confessed to her that he was the actual guilty party, and that his father Julius took the blame to protect him.
Armand and his brothers took over Julius' drugstore business, and got rich by selling herb extracts containing high alcohol levels during Prohibition. Armand also went on many trips to the Soviet Union throughout the 1920s, sometimes meeting with Vladimir Lenin in person. He would tell the U.S. government that he would only visit Western Europe, but the FBI knew this was a lie and kept him under surveillance. At one point, the Soviets even gave him $75,000 of money to take back home with him to fund Soviet espionage in America.
Through various shrewd financial wheelings and dealings, he eventually became the millionaire chairman of Occidental Petroleum. He became a fixture in the American business world, and most people thought of him as a thoroughly respectable and accomplished capitalist. But the whole time, he was secretly working to aid the Soviet Union, funneling millions of dollars worth of money and supplies into the Soviet regime over the decades (laundering it mostly through Germany).
Hammer was also a major benefactor of Albert Gore Sr., even helping start Gore's political career with well-placed donations. He would often joke that he liked to keep Gore in his back pocket, and would tap his wallet when saying it. Some people suspect that Albert Gore, Jr. was given the middle initial A. (but curiously no actual full middle name, although he has claimed at times that it is "Arnold") in the hopes that Hammer would think the A stood for "Armand" and be flattered. The Hammer/Gore family connection continues at least as far as Hammer's death in 1990 (a mere two years before Al Gore, Jr. became Bill Clinton's running mate), with Al Gore Sr. and Jr. both continuously helping Hammer and vice-versa.
Many articles claim that Hammer was a Republican donor, and try to paint him as a Republican. He did donate to Richard Nixon and the Republican Party, but it was always as bribery. He donated $54,000 to Nixon's campaign in exchange for special favors. This donation was illegal, and came up in the Watergate hearings, but Hammer faced no serious consequences other than a slight fine. Later, he wanted to bribe his way to a presidential pardon for three misdemeanors he had pled guilty to (related to the illegal Nixon contribution). He donated $1.3 million to the Ronald Reagan Library in the hopes of convincing Reagan to pardon him, but Reagan refused. He then donated $110,000 to the Republican Party's National State Election Committee, but Reagan still refused to grant the pardon. He kept shoveling money at politicians over the years, and finally got the pardon he wanted from George H.W. Bush.
The reason that he was so desperate to get the pardon was that he wanted to receive a Nobel Prize. When Jimmy Carter was president, he tried to convince him to nominate him, but Carter refused. He gave $5 million to one of Prince Charles' charities and gave him free watercolor lessons in order to bribe him to get Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to nominate him for the Nobel Prize, to no avail. He furthermore donated to the Swedish Academy, offered Occidental Petroleum deals to Swedish business leaders, and bribed his way with $5 million into receiving various awards in the hopes of making himself seem more eligible for the Nobel Prize. It was at that point that he discovered that his criminal history was a barrier to his acceptance and sought to get a pardon. He never received the Nobel Prize even after his pardon, although it has been claimed that he only narrowly lost out to the Dalai Lama in 1989.
Hammer painted an arm and hammer symbol on his yacht. Some people suspected that this meant he was a communist, while others asked if this meant he owned Church & Dwight, the makers of Arm & Hammer baking soda. Upon hearing this, he decided to buy Church and Dwight, but they refused to sell to him. But in 1986, after the company became publicly traded on the stock market, Hammer bought a large amount of stock in it, making him one of the largest owners of the company. He would sometimes refer to himself as the "Baking Soda King".
More information about Armand Hammer's communist ties and his close relationship with the Gores can be found at these links:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191017124900/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-10-27-bk-58288-story.html
https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1996/11/11/218180/index.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20001121201800/http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38c4a8fd6308.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz5zf9aYcMw
Armand Hammer had a son named Julian Armand Hammer, who had a son named Michael Armand Hammer, who in turn had a son named Armand Douglas Hammer, who received the nickname "Armie" in his teenage years and used it when he became an actor.
Now, people don't always politically take after their ancestors. But keep in mind that Armie Hammer was born and raised in the Hammer dynasty, which has faithfully continued to pass on the name "Armand" - which started as a reference to a socialist symbol - from son to son as either a middle or first name in honor of the original Armand Hammer. (Armie Hammer himself has even passed on the name to his own son, Ford Douglas Armand Hammer). This makes me wonder whether they have passed on anything else from the original Armand Hammer, such as his ideology, through the generations.
Awesome, informative post!!