May 1, 1997

O So Connected

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O So Connected

This diamond merchant has an eye for political deals.

By Jeanne Brokaw

#101 Maurice Tempelsman, 67, New York, N.Y. Party: D. $169,000 total contributions.

View Tempelsman’s itemized contributions.

Diamond broker Maurice Tempelsman is better recognized by the paparazzi than the populace. But less known than his role as the longtime companion of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is his reputation for high-level business diplomacy.

Since the 1950s, he has cultivated close relationships with leading statesmen from diamond-rich countries. He also counts many influential friends in Washington, and his staff has included a former CIA Africa division head.

Taking up his father’s New York diamond brokerage at an early age, the Belgian-born Tempelsman used Adlai Stevenson as a lawyer between Stevenson’s presidential bids. Through Stevenson, who as a supporter of African independence was immensely popular, Tempelsman gained valuable entrée to African nationalist circles just as independence movements were gaining momentum and unlocking old colonial grips on markets.

Still a Democratic donor by dint of cultural inertia, Tempelsman today has added things Russian to his interests. Last summer the Journal of Commerce reported that he had persuaded the U.S. Export-Import Bank to back a $54.5 million loan to a business partner who is Russia’s chief diamond miner.

As usual, his connections are flawless.

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From the desk of Mother Jones CEO, Monika Bauerlein...

Newsrooms can be funded in many ways. One of the most controversial (and volatile) ways is by a for-profit corporation or a billionaire owner. We see it across the headlines on a weekly basis: the claw backs in public media, the gutting of The Washington Post, the bending over backwards to appeal to Trump and his allies.

But not here.

When Mother Jones first started publishing 50 years ago, our founders made a critical decision: to be a reader-supported nonprofit. They knew that no corporate owner would be interested in a muckraking newsroom; they also knew that no muckraking newsroom would be interested in following the agenda of a corporate owner.

And so, we’ve been reader-funded for half a century. We rely on contributions from our readers—readers like you—whether it’s $50, or $15 a month, or whatever fits your budget. People give what they can, and every donation makes a difference for our newsroom, which has grown tremendously—in size and reach and renown—since its inception in 1976.

You may be wondering: What does it take to publish an investigation? And what does my donation actually fund? The answers are one and the same: It takes people, resources, and time. And that’s what your donation funds directly.

Every donation Mother Jones receives from readers fortifies our newsroom, whether we’re covering underreported scandals out of Washington, DC, or the most important news of the day. And right now, each donation will be doubled because of our $50,000 match. So when you make a donation—$5, $50, any amount—it’ll go twice as far.

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