Jean Monnet

"He did this, in part, through a network of carefully cultivated connections in business and government. His was an international circle that included President Lyndon Johnson of the United States; Jean Monnet, the father of the European Common Market; Gianni Agnelli, chairman of Fiat; Eugene Black, president of the World Bank; David Rockefeller, chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank; General Lucius Clay, the mastermind of the Berlin airlift; David Sarnoff, the head of RCA; and Bill Paley, president of CBS."

"Jean Monnet, the Frenchman who had worked to shape a new postwar Europe. By creating the European Coal and Steel Authority, Monnet had pragmatically combined the coal and steel production of France, Germany, Italy, and the Benelux countries in order to facilitate the continent’s recovery from the ravages of the war and also to ensure that these industries would not be forced to turn to armaments to survive. Driven by a philosophy that was grounded in an appealing mix of pragmatism and idealism, Monnet also proposed the Common Market, a political and economic union that he hoped would guide Europe to a new century of cooperation."