The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve

“It is difficult to imagine any event in history—including preparation for war—that was shielded from public view with greater mystery and secrecy.”

Characterizing the Jekyll Island meeting as mysterious and secretive supports his conspiracy theory approach to argument. He also connects the Fed’s origin with political intrigue and war, two of his main themes.

“The new business model for America is clearly recognizable. Its dominant feature is the merger of government, real estate, and commerce into a single structure, tightly controlled at the top.”

Griffin’s commentary on the 2008 economic crisis foreshadows his later discussions of the New World Order. He argues that the Fed served to protect the banking elite in 1913, and the subprime crisis mirrors the concentration of power and control by adding real estate and corporations to the equation.

“Tinkering with the laws of supply and demand, plus the hidden tax called inflation to pay for the tinkering, has driven prices beyond the reach of many and has wiped out the down payments of others.”

Although this remark specifically refers to real estate inflation, it also summarizes Griffin’s general argument about the Fed and legislation designed to control markets. The primary problem he describes with fiat money and central banking is the spike in inflation he describes here.

“After pouring billions of dollars into underdeveloped countries around the globe, no development has taken place. In fact, we have seen just the opposite. Most countries are worse off than before the Saviors of the World got to them.”

Griffin hints at his later argument about The Effect of Finance on Politics. One of Griffin’s steps in regaining control of the American economy is eliminating foreign aid, largely because it’s funneled through the IMF and, he argues, decreases free markets worldwide.

“[W]e have been conditioned to laugh at conspiracy theories, and few people will risk public ridicule by advocating them. On the other hand, to endorse the accidental view is absurd […] Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception.”

Griffin offers a choice on how to view history: conspiratorial or accidental. His characterization of the accidental view as “absurd” pushes the reader to view his conspiracy theory as credible later in the book. He also casts himself as brave to “risk public ridicule,” which encourages readers to respond positively to his New World Order theory. His argument echoes scholar Michael Barkun’s first principle of conspiracy theories: nothing happens by accident.

“These things must be built today with today's labor, and the man who performs that labor must also be paid today. It is true that interest payments fall partly to future generations, but the initial cost is paid by those in the present.”

The emphasis in this passage focuses the reader on the current consequences of the Fed’s policies. Following a discussion of colonial inflation problems, this serves to connect the historical analysis with current issues.

“The end product of the [Mandrake] Mechanism is artificial expansion of the money supply, which is the root cause of the hidden tax called inflation.”

This is the core of Griffin’s argument against the Fed: He asserts that central banking inherently causes inflation, which he characterizes as a secret tax on citizens. His characterization of inflation as tax throughout the book reinforces the concept that average people are literally paying for the Fed’s actions.

“Wilson tolerated the agony of mixed emotions as he plotted for war as a necessary evil to bring about what he perceived as the ultimate good of world government.”

This meditation on Wilson’s state of mind serves a dual purpose: to reinforce the New World Order theory and to show The Relationship Between War and Finance. Wilson’s emotional struggle paired with the argument that America’s intervention in WWI was in service of financier interests highlights the tragedy of war for finance, but also relies on discredited antisemitic conspiracy theories.

“CFR policy makers are not stupid. They are implementing the Rothschild Formula. To justify world government, there must be wars.”

Griffin’s “Rothschild Formula” cites debunked antisemitic conspiracy theories dating back to the 19th century to establish The Relationship Between War and Finance. Griffin takes this relationship further by connecting the formula with the CFR which he claims is campaigning for a world government.

“Nowhere in history can one find so many men in one legislative body who understood the fraud inherent in fiat money and the hidden-taxation nature of inflation.”

Griffin’s reference to fraud in connection with fiat money supports his overall argument in favor of the gold standard and highlights what he sees as The Moral Implications of Fractional Reserve and Central Banking. He also attributes the moral responsibility directly to the founders of The Fed by arguing they understood the moral downfall of the system.

“These disruptions in the free market are the result of government prevention of competition by the granting of monopolistic power to a central bank.”

Griffin has a subordinate argument that free market economics is superior to Keynesian economics throughout. Here, that subtle argument also underscores The Effect of Finance on Politics by linking government action to the interests of central banking.

“The college is supposed to select a President strictly on the basis of his integrity and executive ability, not his party label, political connections, good looks, charisma, or stirring orations.”

One of Griffin’s primary objections to the Fed is that it skirts around the Constitution by allowing government to indirectly print fiat money. His argument for the benefit of the Electoral College both supports that objection and ties to The Effect of Finance on Politics. However, most legal and economic experts disagree with the argument that fiat money is unconstitutional.

“How to get people to pay for the war was handled in a similar fashion. If the Constitution could be pushed aside on the issue of personal rights and of war itself, it certainly would not stand in the way of mere funding.”

Part of Griffin’s argument about The Relationship Between War and Finance is the government’s desperation in times of war, which leads to a willingness to grant power to finance. Here, that relationship is connected to The Effect of Finance on Politics because the desperation justifies immoral acts both politically and financially.

“Is it possible that the Peabody firm was given the nod from the Rothschild consortium to represent them in America? And is it possible that the plan included allowing Belmont to operate as a known Rothschild agent while using Peabody & Company as an unknown agent, thus, providing their own competition?”

Griffin’s use of questions with the repeated phrase at the beginning encourages the reader to consider his assertions about a conspiracy of bankers, here specifically the Morgan Firm and the Rothschilds, secretly influencing the market to their advantage. All the reader has to do is accept that Griffin’s assertions are possible to begin to accept his larger conspiracy theories. Formatting these statements as questions distracts the reader from the fact that there is no evidence for such suppositions, which are reiterations of antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Jewish Rothschild family.

“Damage abroad? What about damage at home? It is clear that Strong saw little difference between the two. He was the forerunner of the internationalists who have operated the Federal Reserve ever since.”

Griffin’s response to Benjamin Strong’s remarks about the Fed’s policies which he claims benefited England at the expense of America highlights The Effect of Finance on Politics. Additionally, Griffin ties Strong’s loyalties to Griffin’s theory of a New World Order centered around a world government and centralized world bank.

“[M]any of America's most prominent political and financial figures […] have been willing to sacrifice the best interests of the United States in order to further their goal of creating a one-world government.”

The Effect of Finance on Politics here is portrayed as the finance world’s interests in globalization actively harming US interests. Griffin builds his theory of a “one-world government” through innuendoes about financial influences on political decisions.

“As we have seen, however, these destructive cycles were the direct result of the creation and then extinguishing of fiat money through a system of federally chartered national banks—dominated by a handful of firms on Wall Street—which constituted a half-way house to central banking.”

Griffin’s primary claims about the Fed and its influence on American economics and politics are contained in this passage. The metaphor of the halfway house both demonstrates the direction of the Fed’s existence and insinuates the criminality of its functions.

“Inner convictions on these issues notwithstanding, both Wilson and Roosevelt played their roles to the hilt. Privately financed by Wall Street's most powerful bankers, they publicly carried a flaming crusade against the ‘Money Trust’ from one end of the country to the other.”

To support his argument about The Effect of Finance on Politics and his New World Order conspiracy, Griffin alleges that the “money trust” of the Wall Street elite funded election campaigns to lay the foundation for their desired legislation. Claiming that historical figures had secret motives for their actions at odds with their public actions is one of Griffin’s key forms of conspiratorial argumentation.

“The man who masterminded the Federal Reserve System is telling us that Federal Reserve notes constitute privately issued money with the taxpayers standing by to cover the potential losses of those banks which issue it. One of the more controversial assertions of this book is that the objectives set forth at the Jekyll Island meeting included the shifting of the cartel’s losses from the owners of the banks to the taxpayers. Warburg himself has confirmed it.”

Griffin paraphrases and misrepresents Warburg’s explanation of the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve Act did not emerge directly from the Jekyll Island meeting; like most legislation, it was the result of a lengthy process of deliberation and compromise among many political and financial leaders, many of whom expressed dissatisfaction with the final result. By substituting his own claims for Warburg’s, Griffin makes it appear as if “Warburg himself has confirmed” the existence of a self-interested “cartel” pulling the levers of global banking.

“International money managers may be citizens of a particular country but, to many of them, that is a meaningless accident of birth […] They speak of affection for all mankind, but their highest loyalty is to themselves and their profession.”

Griffin’s characterization of financiers in “The Rothschild Formula” is that of a self-interested morally neutral individual willing to perpetuate war for profit. This passage subtly recalls that characterization and assigns it to all “international money managers.” This is typical of antisemitic conspiracy theorists, who often use words like “globalists” as a dog whistle referring to Jewish people.

“It is not important whether that part of the story is fact or fiction, except that it perpetuates the ‘accidental’ view of history, the myth that no one is responsible for political or economic chaos: Things just happen. There was no master plan. No one is to blame. Everything is under control. Relax, pay your taxes, and go back to sleep!”

The reference to the recurring contrast between accidental and conspiratorial views of history reinforces Griffin’s view of the “absurdity” of the accidental view. The following italicized command demonstrates the effect of accepting that view, rather than Griffin’s view. Again, this is a hallmark of conspiratorial thinking, which insists that nothing is an accident, and everything is connected, and relies more on innuendo and leaps in logic than evidence.

“It was stated at the beginning of the [Iron Mountain] report that morality was not an issue. The study did not address questions of right or wrong; nor did it deal with such concepts as freedom or human rights […] Its sole concern was how to perpetuate the existing government.”

Griffin characterizing the purpose of the Iron Mountain Study as amoral reinforces The Moral Implications of Fractional Reserve and Central Banking. Griffin refers to the Report because while it doesn’t strictly deal with centralizing money control or fiat money, the perpetuation of government is linked by diction and theme to the perpetuation of war and the immorality of finance’s control over politics. However, the Iron Mountain Study was a satire written by leftist journalist Leonard C. Lewin for the satire magazine Monocle in 1967 and has no basis in fact. It was popularized as a true account by far-right conspiracists in the 1990s (Boynton, Robert S. “A Lefty Reunion.” The New Yorker, 5 May 1996).

“Those who question the government or the media are branded as extremists at the lunatic fringe. Authorities say that they are the cause of our present woes. They are remnants of the old system based on profit-seeking and race-hating. They are guilty of politically-incorrect attitudes and hate crimes.”

This reference to dissidents in Griffin’s dystopian future vision serves to support his conspiratorial attitude toward history and government. Griffin, in his vision, would unquestionably be one of “those who question the government or the media.” He attempts to pre-emptively discredit any critique of the book that employs accusations of crack-pot theories.