Bob Haldeman Interview (31)

Presenting a Plan for Chileanization to Frank Milliken, 
President of Kennecott 



Haldeman: So he arranged a meeting, and I went up to New York and sat down 
with Mr. Milliken-- just the two of us. "Frank, I want to tell 
you something, what I believe and what I think," and I started. 
It took an hour and a half or two hours and a couple of cups of 
coffee. 

He sat there with his lower chin out; he pouts all the 
time. When I finished, he looked at me and said, "Bob, you have 
a problem." What's that? "The trouble with you, Bob, is that 
you have been working in Chile too long. Do you realize that if 
I took this to the board of directors they would fire me?" 

"No, Mr. Milliken." 

"Well, thanks a lot. When are you going back? Why don't 
you come over for dinner tonight." 

Frank R Milliken, 1914-1991:  Milliken was chief executive officer at Kennecott Corp., which he headed for nearly two decades, when he became Copper Man of the Year. A mining engineering

graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Milliken began his career in 1935 as a

metallurgist for Peru Mining Co. in New Mexico.

---

---

Haldeman: So I came back to Santiago with my tail between my legs.
Swent: He didn't offer to sponsor it at all?

Haldeman: No. That was the end of the conversation. I came back, put it
in the file, and that was the end of it.

Meanwhile, we had better get back to the management side.
We left Mr. Grant in 1956, and now it was 1962, 1963.

Swent: Grant was still there?

Haldeman: Grant was still here as the second man. When we started this
thing out of a payroll of about 7,000 people, about 400 were
expatriates, mostly Americans. By this time we were down to
about 180 Americans, the other jobs being replaced with
Chileans.


Index to Haldeman Interview