It is a heavy book. Not just in terms of the physical weight of the paper, but the sheer, uncomfortable weight of what Charles Higham put on the page back in 1983. When you pick up Trading with the Enemy, you aren't just reading a history of World War II. You're reading a ledger. It is a record of how some of the biggest American corporations—names you still see on storefronts and gas stations today—kept the gears of the Nazi war machine turning while American soldiers were dying in the mud.
Money has no country. That is the cynical, cold reality at the heart of Higham’s investigation. While the world was on fire, a "Business as Usual" clique of financiers and industrialists seemingly decided that a global apocalypse shouldn't get in the way of a good quarterly dividend. It sounds like a conspiracy theory. It honestly does. But then you look at the declassified documents Higham unearthed. You look at the paper trail.
The Chase Bank and Nazi Gold Connection
One of the most jarring parts of Trading with the Enemy involves the Chase National Bank. Today, we know it as JPMorgan Chase. Back then, it was the Rockefeller family’s powerhouse. Higham details how the Paris branch of Chase remained open during the Nazi occupation. Think about that for a second. The Nazis walk into Paris, the Swastika flies over the Eiffel Tower, and the American bank stays open for business.
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It wasn't just staying open to help expats get their mail. Higham provides evidence that Chase worked closely with the German authorities to freeze Jewish accounts. Even more chilling is the allegation that they facilitated the exchange of currency that helped the German military continue its operations. They weren't alone. The book paints a picture of a financial elite that viewed the war as a temporary geopolitical hiccup rather than a moral crusade against fascism.
Standard Oil and the Fuel of the Luftwaffe
If you’ve ever wondered how the German Air Force managed to stay in the sky despite being cut off from major oil supplies, Trading with the Enemy has some very uncomfortable answers. The relationship between Standard Oil (now ExxonMobil) and I.G. Farben is the stuff of nightmares.
Standard Oil had a series of patent agreements and partnerships with I.G. Farben, the massive German chemical conglomerate that manufactured Zyklon B. Higham argues that Standard Oil actually helped the Nazis develop synthetic rubber and high-octane aviation fuel. Even after Pearl Harbor, the flow of technical information didn't just stop overnight.
It's a mess of legal loopholes. Lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic worked tirelessly to ensure that even if the countries were at war, the corporations remained "partners." They used neutral territory—places like Switzerland, Sweden, and Argentina—as staging grounds for these deals. It was a shell game played with tankers and blueprints.
Why the Trading with the Enemy Act Failed
You might ask: wasn't there a law against this? Yes. The Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 was very much on the books. It gave the President the power to oversee and restrict trade with nations hostile to the U.S.
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But enforcement is a tricky thing when the people you’re trying to prosecute are the same people funding political campaigns or sitting on government advisory boards. Higham suggests that the U.S. government, particularly under figures like Leo T. Crowley (the Alien Property Custodian), was often hesitant to pull the trigger on these massive firms. There was a fear that disrupting these corporate giants would hurt the American war effort more than it would hurt the Nazis. It’s a classic "too big to fail" scenario, but with much higher stakes.
The Man Behind the Book: Charles Higham
Charles Higham wasn't a dry, academic historian. He was a biographer and a journalist who liked to dig where people told him not to. This gives the book a specific flavor. It’s punchy. It’s aggressive. Some critics over the years have accused him of being a bit too sensationalist or failing to provide enough context for why certain decisions were made.
Honestly, some of those criticisms might have merit. History is rarely black and white. However, the core of his work—the actual documents he retrieved from the National Archives—has stood the test of time. You can disagree with his tone, but it's much harder to disagree with the shipping manifests and the internal memos. He forced a conversation that many in the post-war era wanted to stay buried under a mountain of patriotic propaganda.
The Role of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
If there is a "villain" headquarters in this story, it’s the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland. Higham describes it as a sort of neutral clubhouse where bankers from the Allied and Axis powers could sit down, have a drink, and manage the world’s gold.
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Thomas McKittrick, an American, was the president of the BIS during the war. Under his watch, the bank accepted gold that the Nazis had looted from the central banks of occupied Europe. This wasn't a secret. People knew. But the BIS argued it was a "technical" institution that had to remain above the fray. Trading with the Enemy dismantles that excuse, showing how this neutrality was essentially a shield for money laundering on a global scale.
ITT and the Focke-Wulf Bombers
Perhaps one of the most surreal anecdotes in the book involves International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT). Sosthenes Behn, the man running ITT, was a master of playing both sides. Higham details how ITT had a significant stake in the company that manufactured the Focke-Wulf bombers—the very planes that were dropping bombs on Allied ships.
Imagine the cognitive dissonance. An American company is essentially profiting from the destruction of American equipment. After the war, ITT actually had the audacity to sue the U.S. government for damages caused to its German factories by Allied bombing runs. And they won. They actually received compensation for the fact that the U.S. Air Force blew up their Nazi-supporting infrastructure. You can't make this stuff up.
Misconceptions About the Book
People often think this book is a "secret history" that was banned. It wasn't. It was a bestseller. But it did face a lot of pushback. The companies mentioned didn't just sit back; they used their PR machines to discredit Higham.
Another misconception is that it claims these companies wanted Hitler to win. That’s not quite right. What Higham shows is that they didn't really care who won, as long as their patents were protected and their markets remained open. It wasn't necessarily pro-Nazi; it was pro-profit to a degree that bordered on sociopathy. It’s an important distinction. It’s about the amorality of capital, not necessarily the morality of the individuals involved.
Why This Still Matters in 2026
We live in a world of global supply chains. If a conflict breaks out today, do you really think the massive multinationals have shifted their priorities? Looking back at the era of Trading with the Enemy provides a blueprint for how corporate interests bypass national borders during times of crisis.
It’s a cautionary tale about transparency. When we talk about "sanctions" today, we should remember how easily they were circumvented eighty years ago. The book serves as a reminder that the interests of a nation's people and the interests of its largest corporations are not always the same thing.
Moving Beyond the Book
If you want to actually apply the lessons from Higham’s work, don't just stop at reading the book. Start looking at contemporary filings.
- Check the Archives: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has digitized many of the records Higham used. You can search for the "Records of the Office of Alien Property Custodian" to see the primary sources for yourself.
- Follow the Money: Look into the modern-day Bank for International Settlements. They still publish annual reports. Understanding how central banks interact gives you a much clearer picture of how global power actually functions.
- Investigate Corporate History: Most big companies have an "Our History" section on their website. It’s usually sanitized. Cross-reference those timelines with independent historical accounts to see what’s being left out.
- Support Investigative Journalism: Books like this only happen because someone spent years in a basement looking at boring paperwork. Support the people who do that work today.
The reality is that Trading with the Enemy is an uncomfortable mirror. It asks us what we are willing to tolerate in the name of economic stability. It’s not an easy read, and it’s certainly not a feel-good story, but it’s a necessary piece of the puzzle if you want to understand how the world actually works behind the curtain.