Testimonial letter from Darwin Rush James

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This letter is one of a remarkable series of over 2650 letters amassed in 1983 to support Osho's attempt to get permanent resident status in the US at the time of the Oregon ranch. The image is reproduced here with the kind permission of The Oregon Historical Society. Information about their collection of these letters and other supporting material -- the "Jeffrey Noles Rajneesh Collection", named for Osho's immigration lawyer Jeffrey Noles, who compiled them in 1983 and donated them to the OHS -- can be found at this page. The wiki is grateful to the OHS for making access available for these documents. For more information and links to all the letters, see Testimonial letters.

This letter is from Darwin Rush James, IV. It is "Exhibit A-588" in the Noles collection.

The text version below has been created by optical character recognition (OCR), from the images supplied by OHS. It has not been checked for errors but this process usually results in over 99% correct transcription. Most apparent "errors" are correct transcriptions of typos already in the original. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file of the original letter, it has 2 pages.

July 1, 1983

To Whom It May Concern,

I am a director of the Young Men's Christian Association of Greater New York since 1972 and am a director of the Brooklyn Heights YMCA since 1970. I am a director of the Brooklyn Community Services since 1971 which attends to the elderly and the handicapped since the turn of the century.

My grandfather, D.R. James II, graduated from Princeton University in 1896 and when he died was Chief Executor Officer of the East River Savings Bank of New York City. He was a religious leader in the Brooklyn Lafayette Presbyterian Church, as well as a known religious leader in the community government of New York City. Reference to Robert Caros' "The Power Broker" can verify in the index that D.R. James II was the man who hired Robert Moses to work for New York City. I personally was a great friend of Robert Moses up unitl his death and can produce personal letters from Robert Moses to verify my close personal relationship with this great American. Robert Moses spent $25 billion of public monies in building roadways in New York state as head of the Port Authority.

I am a personal and close friend of John Elliot, present head of the Mass Transit Authority of New York City, whose father was a Presbyterian minister in Pennsylvania and who holds strong religious convictions in his own character.

I have cousins who are now represented by the members of third generations of missionairies in Korea. Horace Underwood, brother to my grandfather John Thomas Underwood, founder of the Underwood Typewriter, was the first generation of Presbyterian missionaires in Korea who I knew well as a young child. He spent most of his time with my family when visiting the United States until he was killed by machine gun along with his wife in their home in Korea when the North Korean Communists invaded South Korea.

I knew his son Horace Underwood Jr., the second generation of Presbyterian missionaries still active in Korea, along with three of his children.

My father D.R. James III graduated from Princeton University in 1924. He was strong community leader in Brooklyn and also was a member of the YMCA and other community services. He died in 1955.

My father-in-law, Gabriel Ferras, assasinated December 1970 outside of Lyon, France, was Director General of the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, and was the man responsible for all exchange rates of the industrialized countries.

I was a founder of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. I was a director of Louis Caster Gerald Brokerage Firm, 40 Wall Street, New York since 1970, until the firm merged into Moore Schley Cameron at 25 Broadway. It is one of the largest United States Brokerage Firms.

I was a director with 1% ownership of the firm.

I spent four years in active duty in the United States Navy, from September 1960 to July 1964.

I paid $100,000 taxes in 1982 in Real Estate and personal taxes to the United States government locally and federally.

I state that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh has been my religious leader for many years and that I have read his books, observed his video recordings where he personally spoke to me as my religious leader about Jesus Christ and the Bible. He has given meaning to my life and I do not want my religious leader harrassed any more. I want my spiritual master to live the rest of his days in the country with which my family has had a strong involvement, both financially and religiously and with which I am continuing my own involvement as, for example, as a director of the Underwood foundation which distributes in excess of $25,000 to charitable institutions in the United States.

I am know at the United States Trust Company, 45 Wall Street, New York City, and Leumi Trust Company, Montague Street, Brooklyn. I own, in my own name, 2 and 3 Pierrepont Place, Brooklyn Heights. I have been offered 5 1/2 million dollars for these buildings. I am a citizen of the United States and was born in New York City on March 31, 1942. And, as a citizen, I demand that the U.S. Government allow Bhagwan to stay in Oregon, USA in peace.

Yours truly,
[signed]
Darwin Rush James, IV
2 Pierrepont Place
Brooklyn, NY 11201


(Please note: We assume that the above letter is still copyrighted, but we regard its historical interest to constitute a Fair Use exception for publication in this wiki.)