Title: The millionaire was a Soviet mole : the twisted life of David Karr /
Authors: Klehr, Harvey
Year: 2019
Subjects: Karr, David,; Pearson, Drew, Friends and associates.; Hammer, Armand, Friends and associates.; Hammer, Armand,; Pearson, Drew,; Spies United States Biography; Businesspeople United States Biography; Espionage, Soviet United States History; Public relations consultants United States Biography.; Journalists United States Biography; Communists United States Biography; Espionage United States History; Businesspeople; Communists; Espionage; Espionage, Soviet; Friendship; Journalists; Politics and government; Public relations consultants; Spies; United States Politics and government; United States
Abstract: "Karr started in life as a leg man for scandal-monging columnist Drew Pearson. He was long accused of being a card-carrying communist. He avoided a career crash-and-burn when anti-communism peaked, by claiming to have been working for the FBI. This was certainly untrue. Karr did PR for political campaigns, then the private sector. His political background was obviously a source of his unscrupulousness, and it certainly gave him an edge in business. Many hated him and thought him unethical; others admired his drive and aggression. Karr succeeded in charming an elderly French hotel owner to sell her prize Paris hotel properties to Forte, after many others had failed. Karr is also rumored by his competitor for business in Russia, Armand Hammer to have sold arms to the PLO. Karr's counter-rumor is that Hammer was caught in a scheme calculated to endear himself to Brezhnev, by stealing some letters of Lenin, then arranging to buy them back in an auction, then grandly to return them to Mother Russia. However, he was caught at this by the KGB. Karr soon found himself as a top executive of an industrial firm, but running a company turned out not to be his talent. A ladies' man, Karr had a succession of well-connected wives. He also wound up richer than anyone exactly expected. The sudden discovery by his heirs of big bucks spawned a nasty and colorful legal battle among his ex-wives and children. There was a lot of reporting in New York and Paris speculating that the Soviets had done him in. Aristotle Onassis; Bobby Kennedy; President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Bobby's hated rival; Kennedy pal and Ambassador to France Sargent Shriver; Palestinian terrorists; and various KGB agents fill this book chockablock with intriguing stories one after another."--Provided by publisher.
Contents: Young radical on the make -- Investigative journalist -- Public relations flack -- CEO -- Hollywood and Broadway interlude -- Deal-maker -- Soviet agent -- By persons unknown? -- The will -- Conclusion.