Fred Trump | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Trump,c. 1986 | |
| Born | Frederick Christ Trump (1905-10-11)October 11, 1905 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | June 25, 1999(1999-06-25) (aged 93) New Hyde Park, New York, U.S. |
| Burial place | LutheranAll Faiths Cemetery, New York City |
| Education | Pratt Institute |
| Occupation | Head ofThe Trump Organization |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Parent(s) | Frederick Trump Elizabeth Christ Trump |
| Relatives | SeeTrump family |
| Awards | Horatio Alger Award |
Frederick Christ Trump Sr. (October 11, 1905 – June 25, 1999) was an Americanreal-estate developer and businessman. He was the father of the 45th and 47th U.S. president,Donald Trump.
Born inthe Bronx inNew York City toGerman immigrant parents, Trump began working inhome construction and sales in the 1920s before heading the real-estate business started by his parents (later known asthe Trump Organization).[a] His company rose to success, building and managing single-family houses inQueens, apartments for war workers on theEast Coast duringWorld War II, and more than 27,000 apartments in New York overall. Trump was investigated forprofiteering by aU.S. Senate committee in 1954 and again byNew York State in 1966. Donald Trump became the president of his father's real-estate business in 1971. Two years later, they were sued by theU.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division forracial discrimination against black people.
Contradicting Donald Trump's claim that he built a multibillion-dollar company using "a small loan of a million dollars" from his father, in 2018The New York Times reported that Fred and his wife,Mary Trump, provided over $1 billion (in 2018 currency) to their children overall,avoiding over $500 million ingift taxes. In 1992, Fred and Donald set up a subsidiary which was used to funnel Fred's finances to his surviving children; shortly before his death, Fred transferred the ownership of most of his apartment buildings to his children, who several years later sold them for over 16 times their previously declared worth.
In 1927, Trump was arrested at aKu Klux Klan demonstration; there is noconclusive evidence that he supported the organization.[b][c] From World War II onwards, to avoid associations withNazism, Trump denied his German ancestry and also supportedJewish causes.[d][e][f]
Trump's father, the German-bornFrederick Trump, amassed considerable wealth during theKlondike Gold Rush by running a restaurant and brothel for miners. Friedrich returned toKallstadt in 1901, and, by the next year, met and marriedElizabeth Christ.[17] They moved toNew York City, where their first child, Elizabeth, was born in 1904.[18] Later that year, the family returned to Kallstadt.[19] Fred was conceived inBavaria, where his parents wished tore-establish residency, but Friedrich was banished fordodging the draft.[20][19] The family returned to New York on July 1, 1905, and moved tothe Bronx, where Frederick Christ Trump was born on October 11.[21] Fred's younger brother,John G. Trump, was born in 1907. All three children were raised speakingGerman.[22] In September 1908, the family moved toWoodhaven, Queens.[23]
Many details of Trump's childhood come from autobiographical accounts and emphasize independence, learning and especiallyhard work – to the point of being somewhat fictionalized.[24][g] At the age of 10, Trump worked as a delivery boy for a butcher.[27] About two years later, onMemorial Day, his father died in the1918 flu pandemic,[28] according to Fred quite suddenly.[29][30] From 1918 to 1923, Fred attendedRichmond Hill High School in Queens,[31] while working as acaddy, curbwhitewasher, delivery boy, andnewspaper hawker.[32][33] Meanwhile, his mother continued thereal-estate business Friedrich had begun. Interested in becoming a builder, Fred put up a garage for a neighbor and took night classes incarpentry and reading blueprints; he reputedly studiedplumbing,masonry, andelectrical wiring viacorrespondence courses,[32] although other biographical sources limit his construction education to the period after high school when he was also working in the field.[34][35][36][37]
After graduating in January 1923, Trump obtained full-time work pulling lumber to construction sites.[38] He studied carpentry and became a carpenter's assistant.[h] Trump's mother held the business in her name until he reached 21, theage of majority.[35] The company name "E. Trump & Son" appeared in advertising by 1924,[42] by which year Trump ostensibly used an $800 loan from his mother to complete and sell his first house.[43][35][44] Public records, however, do not support him building until 1927,[45] the year the company wasincorporated[46] (and following Trump's 21st birthday). Trump purportedly built 19 more homes by 1926 inHollis, Queens, selling some before they were finished to finance others.[44] Investigative journalistWayne Barrett posits that Trump exaggerated the length of his career in 1934 while arguing infederal court why he should deserve a dissolved company'smortgage servicer.[45]In 1927, Trumpwas arrested at aKu Klux Klan demonstration, although there is noconclusive evidence that he supported the organization.[b]
In 1933, Trump built one of New York City's first modernsupermarkets, called Trump Market, in Woodhaven, Queens. It was modeled onLong Island'sKing Kullen, a self-service supermarket chain. Trump's store advertised "Serve Yourself and Save!" and quickly became popular. After six months, Trump sold it to King Kullen.[43][47]
In federal court in 1934, Trump and a partner acquired the mortgage-servicing subsidiary ofBrooklyn'sJ. Lehrenkrauss Corporation,[48] which had gone bankrupt and had subsequently been broken up. This gave Trump access to the titles of many properties nearingforeclosure, which he bought at low cost and sold at a profit. This and similar real-estate ventures quickly brought him fame as one of New York City's most successful businessmen.[49][34]
Trump made use of loansubsidies created by theFederal Housing Administration (FHA) not long after the program was initiated via theNational Housing Act of 1934,[27] which also enabled thediscriminatory practice ofredlining.[50] By 1936, Trump had 400 workers[i] digging foundations for houses that would be sold at prices ranging from $3,000 to $6,250.[51] Trump used his father'spsychological tactic of listing properties at prices ending in "... 9.99".[27] In the late 1930s, he used aboat to advertise offConey Island's shore; it playedpatriotic music and floated outswordfish-shaped balloons which could be redeemed for $25 or $250 towards one of his properties.[27] In 1938, theBrooklyn Daily Eagle referred to Trump as "theHenry Ford of the home building industry".[27][52] During this period, Trump predicted that he would profit fromWorld War II.[49] By 1942, he had built 2,000 homes in Brooklyn using FHA funds.[53]
During the war, the federalOffice of Production Management (established in 1941) allowed the use of FHA funding for defense housing inBensonhurst, Brooklyn, owing to the proximity of theBrooklyn Navy Yard. Trump planned to build 700 houses there, which would have been both his and the state FHA office's biggest project to date, but following theattack on Pearl Harbor and theUnited States's declaration of war on Japan, the project was dissolved in favor of defense housing at theEast Coast's naval nexus,Hampton Roads'sNorfolk, Virginia, where Trump was already working on an apartment complex.[54]Congress added a provision to the National Housing Act generatingmortgage insurance for defense apartments, through which Trump was allowed to own the properties he built for war workers. By 1944, he had constructed 1,360 wartime apartments, almost 10% of the total created in Norfolk.[54] He also builtbarracks and garden apartments forU.S. Navy personnel near majorshipyards in Norfolk andNewport News, Virginia, as well asChester, Pennsylvania.[28]
Following the war, Trump expanded into middle-income housing for the families of returning veterans. From 1947 to 1949, he built Shore Haven in Bensonhurst, which included 32 six-story buildings and a shopping center, covering some 30 acres (12 hectares) and procuring him $9 million in FHA funding.[55] In 1950, he built the 23-building Beach Haven Apartments over 40 acres (16 ha) near Coney Island, procuring him $16 million in FHA funds.[56] The total number of apartments included in these projects exceeded 2,700.[28][j]
Decades after hiring PR man Howard Rubenstein to generate press about his life story mirroring therags-to-riches novels of 19th-century authorHoratio Alger,[59] in 1985, Fred was awarded theHoratio Alger Award (for "distinguished Americans").[60] Radio and television personalityArt Linkletter introduced Trump at the ceremony, with Peale's wife (and previous award recipient),Ruth Peale, presenting him the award.[61] During his speech, Trump stated that the key to his success was enthusiasm for his work and that he "used to watch other successful people ... that did good and that did bad and ... followed the good qualities that they had". He then (apparently erroneously)[62] attributed toWilliam Shakespeare the saying "Never follow an empty wagon because", pointing to his cranium, "nothing ever falls off". He went on to introduce his survivingnuclear family.[61]
In early 1954, PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower and other federal leaders began denouncing real-estateprofiteers. That June,The New York Times included Trump on a list of 35 city builders accused of profiteering from government contracts.[63] He and others were investigated by aU.S. Senate banking committee forwindfall gains. Trump and his partner William Tomasello[k] were cited as examples of how profits were made by builders using the FHA.[69] The two paid $34,200 for a piece of land which they rented to their corporation for $76,960 annually in a 99-year lease, so that if the apartment they built on it ever defaulted, the FHA would owe them $1.924 million. Trump and Tomasello evidently obtained loans for $3.5 million more than Beach Haven Apartments had cost.[70][71] Trump argued that because he had not withdrawn the money, he had not literally pocketed the profits.[63][72] He further argued that due to rising costs, he would have had to invest more than the 10% of themortgage loan not provided by the FHA, and therefore suffer a loss if he built under those conditions.[73]
In 1961, Trump donated $2,500 to the re-election campaign of New York mayorRobert F. Wagner Jr., helping him gain favor for the construction ofTrump Village, a large apartment complex in Coney Island.[74] The project was constructed in 1963–64 for $70 million. It was one of Trump's biggest and last major projects,[43][75] and the only one to bear his name.[74] He built more than 27,000low-income apartments androw houses in the New York area altogether, including Brooklyn (in Coney Island, Bensonhurst,Sheepshead Bay,Flatbush, andBrighton Beach) and Queens (inFlushing andJamaica Estates).[28][76]
In 1966, Trump was again investigated for windfall profiteering, this time by New York Stateinvestigators. After Trump overestimated building costs sponsored by a state program, he profited $598,000 on equipment rentals in the construction of Trump Village, which was then spent on other projects. Under testimony on January 27, 1966, Trump said that he had personally done nothing wrong and praised the success of his building project.[77] The commission called Trump "a pretty shrewd character" with a "talent for getting every ounce of profit out of his housing project", but noindictments were made. It was suggested instead that the state's housing program was in need of tighter administration protocols and accountability.[78] A deputy attorney general corresponded with theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding any reports it had about Trump before he was set to be deposed on March 31, 1966.[4]
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On July 1, 1965, Trump purchased Coney Island's recently closedSteeplechase Park for $2.3 million, intending to build luxury apartments.[79][80][81] The next year, he announced plans for a 160-foot-high (49-meter) enclosed dome with recreational facilities and a convention center.[82] At a highly publicized ceremony in September 1966, Trump demolished the park's Pavilion of Fun, a large glass-enclosed amusement center.[83][84] He reportedly sold bricks to ceremony guests to smash the remaining glass panels, which included an iconic representation of the park's mascot, the "Funny Face".[85][86][87] The next month, New York City announced plans to acquire the former park grounds for recreational use.[88] Trump filed a series of court cases related to the proposed rezoning, ultimately winning $1.3 million.[81] After the site sat vacant for several years, Trump started subleasing it to a manager of fairground amusement park rides.[83][81] Over another decade, the city eventually succeeded in reclaiming the property.[89][90][91]
In July 2016, theConey Island History Project held a special exhibit for the "50th Anniversary of Fred Trump's Demolition of Steeplechase Pavilion".[92]
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Fred's son,Donald, joined his father's real-estate business around 1968, initially working in Brooklyn.[93] That year, Fred reputedly secured Donald adeferment from the Vietnam War by prioritizing maintenance for a tenant who, ostensibly in exchange, diagnosed Donald withbone spurs.[94][95] In 1971, Donald became president of the company,[96] with Fred becomingchairman.[97] Donald began calling the company 'the Trump Organization' around 1973.[98][a] The younger Trump entered the real-estate business inManhattan, while his father operated primarily in Brooklyn, Queens, andStaten Island.[35] Some sources state that Fred planned the expansion of the business to Manhattan.[35][99][100] His granddaughterMary L. Trump states that he was "intimately involved in all aspects of Donald's early forays into the Manhattan market"[101] whileLouise Sunshine (organization vice president from 1973 to 1985) claims Fred was "behind [Donald] in every way, shape and form [including] financing of these developments".[102] Fred reputedly stated: "I gave Donald free rein. He has great vision and everything he touches seems to turn to gold. ... [He] is the smartest person I know."[103] Donald said, "It was good for me. You know, being the son of somebody, it could have been competition to me. This way, I got Manhattan all to myself."[28]
In the mid-1970s, Donald received loans from his father exceeding $14 million.[104] In 2015–16, duringhis campaign for U.S. president, Donald claimed that his father had given him "a small loan of a million dollars" which he used to build "a company that's worth more than $10 billion".[105][106] An October 2018New York Times exposé on Fred and Donald Trump's finances revealed that Fred created 295 income streams for Donald and concludes that the latter "was a millionaire by age 8", receiving $413 million (adjusted for inflation; $483.6 million in 2023 currency)[107] from Fred's business empire over his lifetime, including over $60.7 million (unadjusted for inflation; $163.9 million in 2023 currency)[108] in loans, which were largely unreimbursed.[109][l]
According to Trump construction vice presidentBarbara Res, Fred seated business guests in an off-balance chair and advised Donald to arrange his office so that adversaries could be forced to face the sun.[111]
Minority applicants turned away from renting apartments complained to the New York CityCommission on Human Rights and theUrban League, leading these groups to send test applicants to Trump-owned complexes in July 1972. They found thatwhite people were offered apartments, whileblack people were generally turned away (by being told there were no vacancies);[m] according to the superintendent of Beach Haven Apartments, this was at the direction of his boss.[113] Both of the aforementioned advocacy organizations then raised the issue with theJustice Department.[97] In October 1973, theCivil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Trump Organization (Fred Trump, chair, and Donald Trump, president) for infringing theFair Housing Act of 1968.[97] In response, Trump attorneyRoy Cohn countersued for $100 million in damages, accusing the DoJ of false accusations.[97][114]
The FBI interviewed about three dozen former Trump employees.[114] Some testified that they had no knowledge of anyracial profiling practices and that a small percentage of their apartments were rented to blacks orPuerto Ricans.[n] A former doorman testified that his supervisor had instructed him to tell prospective black tenants that the rent was double its actual amount.[115] Four landlords or rental agents confirmed that applications sent to the Trump organization's head office for approval were coded by the race of the applicant.[116] One former employee testified that a code – which he believed was used throughout the Brooklyn branch of the company – referred to "low lifes" such as "blacks, Puerto Ricans, apparent drug users, or any other type of undesirable applicant", and nine times out of ten it meant the applicant was black; blacks were also falsely told there were no vacancies.[114] A rental agent who had worked with the company for two weeks said that when he asked Fred Trump if he should rent to blacks, he was told that it was "absolutely against the law to discriminate",[117] but after asking again, he was instructed "not to rent to blacks", and was further advised to:[118]
get rid of the blacks that were in the building by telling them cheap housing was available for them at only $500 down payment, which Trump would offer to pay himself. Trump didn't tell me where this housing was located. He advised me not to rent to persons onwelfare.
Meanwhile, Trump acquired up to 20% of Brooklyn'sStarrett City, a large, federally subsidized housing complex which opened in 1974 with the stateddesegregation goal of renting 70% of its units to white people and the rest to minorities.[119][120]
Aconsent decree between the DoJ and the Trump Organization was signed on June 10, 1975, with both sides claiming victory – the Trump Organization because thesettlement did not require them "to accept persons on welfare as tenants", and the head of DoJ's housing division for the decree being "one of the most far-reaching ever negotiated".[97][116] It personally and corporately prohibited the Trumps from "discriminating against any person in the ... sale or rental of a dwelling", and "required Trump to advertise vacancies in minority papers [for two years], promote minorities to professional jobs, and list vacancies on a preferential basis".[116] Finally, it ordered the Trumps to "thoroughly acquaint themselves personally on a detailed basis with ... the Fair Housing Act of 1968".[97][121]
In 1975, tenants of two of Trump's Norfolk tower complexes held a monthlongrent strike due to rodent and insectinfestations, as well as problems withwater heating,air conditioning, andelevator service.[122] In early 1976, Trump was ordered by a county judge to correctcode violations in a 504-unit property inSeat Pleasant, Maryland. According tothe county's housing department investigator, violations included broken windows, dilapidated gutters, and missing fire extinguishers.[o] After a court date and a series of phone calls with Trump, he was invited to the property to meet with county officials in September 1976 and arrested on site.[124] Trump was released on $1,000 bail.[123]
In 1987, when Donald's loan debt to his father exceeded $11 million, Fred invested $15.5 million inTrump Palace Condominiums; in 1991, he sold these shares to his son for $10,000, thus appearing toevade millions of dollars ingift taxes by masking a hidden donation, and also benefiting from a legally questionablewrite-off.[109] In late 1990, when an $18.4 million bond payment forAtlantic City'sTrump's Castle was due, Fred sent abookkeeper to buy $3.5 million incasino chips, which were not used. Trump's Castle quickly made its bond payment. The state'sCasino Control Commission found the transaction to constitute an illegal loan and fined the casino $65,000.[109][125][126]
In 1992, Fred and Donald set up a subsidiary company which each of Fred's living children owned a 20% stake in. As detailed in 2018 byThe New York Times, the business entity had no apparent legitimate purpose and was evidently used to conduct tax fraud by funneling millions of dollars of Fred's wealth to his progeny without paying gift taxes. This was accomplished by billing Fred much more than the actual cost of maintenance work and goods such asboilers.[109][127]
In 1976, Trump set uptrust funds of $1 million ($5.3 million in 2023)[128] for each of his five children and three grandchildren, which paid out yearlydividends.[106] Trump appeared on the initialForbes 400 list of richest Americans in 1982 with an estimated $200 million fortune split with his son Donald.[129] That same year, Fred sold two Norfolk towers and some Hampton Roads military housing, the latter for $8–9 million, with perhaps $6.6 million pledged inpromissory notes (which were apparently outstanding as of 2019). In 1998, a year before Fred's death, while he was suffering fromAlzheimer's disease and his sonRobert hadpower of attorney, the notes were transferred tolimited liability companies connected to Trump Organization subsidiaries.[122]
In December 1990, Donald Trump sought toamend his father'swill, which according to Fred's daughterMaryanne Trump Barry, "was basically taking the whole estate and giving it to Donald", allowing him to "sell, do anything he wants ... with the properties".[130]The Washington Post wrote that this "was designed to protect Donald Trump's inheritance from efforts to seize it by creditors andIvana", whom he divorced that month.[130] Fred rejected the proposal, and in 1991, composed his own final will, which made Donald, Maryanne, and Robert Trumpco-executors of his estate.[131][132] Trump's lawyer noted thatFred Jr.'s children,Fred III and Mary L. Trump, would be treated unequally because they would not receive their deceased father's share, and wrote to Trump that "Given the size of your estate, this is tantamount to disinheriting them. You may wish to increase their participation in your estate to avoid ill will in the future."[131][p] In October 1991, Trump was diagnosed with "mild seniledementia", with his physician citing symptoms of "obvious memory decline in recent years" and "significant memory impairment". A few months later, another physician reported that Trump "did not know his birth date [or] age", amongst other difficulties.[130][135] Mary L. Trump recounted that as her grandfather's dementia progressed, he failed to recognize people he had known for decades, including her and Donald.[136][135] According to Fred III, his grandfather needed to be reminded why he was at Donald's 1993 wedding (to Marla Maples) despite being designated thebest man.[137] Donald claimed that he first noticed his father exhibit symptoms of Alzheimer's in the mid-1990s.[138][135]
In 1993, the anticipated shares of Trump's estate amounted to $35 million for each surviving child.[106][139][q] Most of his buildings were transferred to twograntor-retained annuity trusts under his and his wife's names, which were used to give about two-thirds of the assets to their four surviving children, who bought the remaining third viaannuity payments between 1995 and November 1997.[140][109] The collective assets were valued at $41.4 million and in 2004 were sold for over 16 times this value, avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars in gift taxes.[109]
Trump finally fell ill withpneumonia and was admitted toLong Island Jewish Medical Center (LIJMC) for a few weeks, where he died at age 93 on June 25, 1999.[144] Awake was held atFrank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel ahead of his funeral at theMarble Collegiate Church,[28][144] which was attended by over 600 people.[145][s] His body was buried in a family plot at theLutheran-ChristianAll Faiths Cemetery inMiddle Village, Queens.[148][r] Upon his death, Trump's estate was estimated by his family at $250 million to $300 million,[28] though he had only $1.9 million in cash.[149] His will divided over $20 million after taxes among his surviving children and grandchildren.[106][132] His widow, Mary, died on August 7, 2000, at age 88, also at LIJMC.[150] Her and Fred's combined estate was then valued at $51.8 million.[149]
Following Trump's death, Fred Jr.'s children contested their grandfather's will, citing his dementia and claiming that the will was "procured by fraud and undue influence" by Donald, Maryanne, and Robert Trump.[132][131] These three had claimed in theirlegal depositions that Fred Trump was "sharp as a tack" until just before his death,[151] but otherwise stated that they were aware of his cognitive decline.[130][135][138]
In December 2003, it was reported that Trump's four surviving children would sell the apartments they acquired in 1997 to an investment group led byRubin Schron, priced at $600 million;[152] the sale occurred in May 2004. The 2016 leak ofDonald Trump's tax information from 2005, which showed an income of $153 million, promptedThe New York Times to investigate, leading to the 2018 exposé.[127][t] TheTimes reported that the properties sold in 2004 were valued over 16 times their previously declared worth.[109] Fred and Mary reportedly provided their children with over $1 billion altogether, which should have been taxed at the rate of 55% for gifts and inheritances (over $550 million), but records show that a total of only $52.2 million (about 5%) was paid.[109] According to New York State law, individuals can be prosecuted on the basis of intentional tax evasion if a fraudulent return form can be produced as evidence; thestatute of limitations does not apply in such cases.[154] By February 1, 2019, Maryanne Trump Barry was being investigated for possiblejudicial misconduct regarding the schemes, but this was mooted later in the month due to her retirement.[155]
In May 1927, over 1,000 robed members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)[c] and 400 non-robed KKK supporters infiltrated a Memorial Day parade in Queens, prompting stern police intervention.[156][157] Eight men were arrested,[157] including the 21-year old Trump, whose charge of "refusing to disperse from a parade when ordered to do so" was dismissed.[5][158][159][160] Another man, arrested on the same charge, was released on the basis of having been a bystander (whose foot was injured by a police car).[161][158][157] Some newspaper articles on the incident list Trump's address (in Jamaica, Queens),[158][160] which he is recorded as living at on various documents from 1928 to 1940.[159][158][162][163][b] Despite this arrest, there is noincontrovertible evidence that Trump was a supporter of the KKK.[164]
Trump met his future wife,Mary Anne MacLeod, an immigrant fromTong, Lewis,Scotland, at adance party in the early to mid-1930s.[165][49] Trump told his mother the same evening that he had met his future wife.[166] Trump, a Lutheran, married Mary, aPresbyterian, on January 11, 1936,[166] at theMadison Avenue Presbyterian Church withGeorge Arthur Buttrick officiating.[167] A wedding reception was held at theCarlyle Hotel in Manhattan, and they had a single-night honeymoon in Atlantic City.[165] The couple settled in Jamaica, Queens,[168] and had five children: Maryanne Trump Barry (1937–2023),[169] Fred Trump Jr. (1938–1981; an airline pilot withTrans World Airlines),[170]Elizabeth Trump Grau (born 1942; a retired executive ofChase Manhattan Bank),[171] Donald Trump (born 1946), and Robert Trump (1948–2020;[172] a top executive of his father's property management company until his retirement).[173][174]
During World War II, Trump began concealing his German ancestry.[57][d] Notwithstanding hisGerman accent (later replaced by aNew York one),[61] he denied that he spoke the language.[175][176] Partly due to the prominence ofJews in New York, he supported Jewish causes, with contributions (apparently starting in 1941 two weeks after the U.S. entered the war) convincing some he practicedJudaism.[176][e][u] He also omitted the "h" from his middle name (sidestepping the potential implication he could beanti-Semitic as a Christian).[179] Trump later falsely claimed that he was ofSwedish (Northern European) descent,[176][28] and in 1973 wrongly stated that he was born in New Jersey;[35] these deceptions were sustained in the 1980s by Donald Trump and the author of Donald's first biography.[180][181][182][f] During the 1980s, Fred became friends with theIsraeli ambassador to the United Nations,Benjamin Netanyahu, later theprime minister of Israel.[183]
After Elizabeth's birth, and with the U.S. becoming more involved in the war, Trump moved his family to Hampton Roads'sVirginia Beach.[27][184] In 1944, as Trump's FHA funding lulled, they returned toJamaica Estates, Queens, where Mary suffered a miscarriage.[185] By 1946, they were living ina five-bedroomTudor-style house Trump built in Jamaica Estates,[186] and Trump purchased a neighboring 0.5-acre (0.2 ha) lot,[185] where he built a 23-room, 9-bathroom mansion. The family moved in during 1950–1951, and Fred and Mary remained there until their deaths.[187][188][189][190] The couple was also given an apartment on the 55th (labelled the 63rd)[191] floor of Donald'sTrump Tower (c. 1983), which they rarely if ever used.[192][193][59]
Trump was ateetotaler[v] and anauthoritarian parent, imposing stricttable manners and curfews, as well as forbidding cursing, lipstick, and snacking between meals.[112][194][195] At the end of his day, Trump would receive a report from Mary on the children's actions and, if necessary, decide upon disciplinary actions.[194] Additionally, the mansion featured a surveillance system and anintercom, which Trump used to censure his children.[196] He took his children to building sites to collect empty bottles to return for the deposits.[197] The boys hadpaper routes, and when weather conditions were poor, their father would let them make their deliveries in a limousine.[197] According to Fred Jr.'s daughter, Mary L. Trump, Fred Sr. wanted his oldest son to be "invulnerable" in personality so he could take over the family business, but Fred Jr. was the opposite.[198] Trump instead elevated Donald to become his business heir, teaching him to "be a killer", and telling him, "You are a king."[199][200] Mary L. Trump states that Fred Sr. "dismantled [Fred Jr.] by devaluing and degrading every aspect of his personality" and mocked him for his decision to become an airline pilot.[201] In 1981, Fred Jr. died at age 42 from complications due to hisalcoholism.[202][203]
According to Donald Trump, while his mother was watching the 1953coronation of Elizabeth II on television, Fred said while pacing around, "For Christ's sake, Mary. Enough is enough, turn it off. They're all a bunch ofcon artists."[204] Also in the 1950s, Fred became an admirer ofProtestant ministerNorman Vincent Peale, the author ofThe Power of Positive Thinking (1952), due to his businesslike approach to life and Christianity.[205][206][w] Trump and his family attended sermons by Peale at Manhattan'sMarble Collegiate Church.[205] Trump was also a supporter ofSouthern Baptist evangelistBilly Graham, whom he took his family to see speak atYankee Stadium (c. 1957).[207][208]
Fred and Mary Trump supported medical charities by donating buildings. After Mary received medical care at theJamaica Hospital Medical Center, they donated the Trump Pavilionrehabilitation building;[28][150] Fred was also atrustee of the hospital.[209] The couple donated a two-building complex in Brooklyn as a home for "functionallyretarded adults", a New Jersey building valued at $4.75 million toUnited Cerebral Palsy (which Donald took credit for),[210] and other buildings to theNational Kidney Foundation (NKF).[28][150] Trump donated one of his least profitable properties to the NKF, which according toThe New York Times was "one of the largest charitable donations he ever made", with adeduction proportional to its stated value, claimed in his 1992 tax return as $34 million.[109]
Particularly after U.S. entry into World War II in late 1941, Trump backed both Jewish and Israeli causes.[176][e][u] This includedIsrael Bonds,[211][212] donating the land for the Beach Haven Jewish Center, asynagogue in Flatbush, Brooklyn,[213] and in 1952 serving as the treasurer of an Israel benefit concert featuring Americaneasy-listening performers.[209]
Fred supported the privateKew-Forest School,[28] where his children attended and he served on the board of directors.[214] The Trumps were active inThe Salvation Army, theBoy Scouts of America, and the Lighthouse for the Blind.[150] Fred reportedly also supported theLong Island Jewish Hospital and Manhattan's Hospital for Special Surgery;[28] at the latter, he was a patient of orthopedistPhilip D. Wilson Jr., the hospital's lead surgeon from 1972 to 1989.[215]
Although he was registered as aRepublican Party voter, Trump developed ties with theDemocratic Party in New York,[59][216]contributing to city politicians (including $2,500 to Mayor Wagner's 1961 campaign, enabling the construction of Trump Village).[74] Together with Donald in the 1980s, Fred provided over $350,000 to city politicians including MayorEd Koch, Council presidentAndrew Stein, ControllerHarrison J. Goldin, and four of the five borough presidents.[4]
In October 2018,The New York Times reported in an exposé on Trump's financial records that they had found no evidence that he had made any significant financial contributions to charities.[109]
Folk singerWoody Guthrie was a tenant of Beach Haven Apartments from 1950 to 1951.[70][217] In his unrecorded song "Old Man Trump", he complains about the rent and accused Trump of stirring upracial hate "in the bloodpot of human hearts".[218][217] Similarly, in an unreleased version of "Ain't Got No Home", Guthrie states:[217][219]
Beach Haven is Trump's Tower
Where no Black folks come to roam
No, no, Old Man Trump!
Old Beach Haven ain't my home!
Trump was indirectly claimed as a relative of Republican politicianFred J. Trump, a candidate in the1956 Arizona gubernatorial election[220] and correspondent ofRichard Nixon during his1960 presidential campaign againstJohn F. Kennedy.[221]
Jerome Tuccille's 1985 biography of Donald Trump repeats Fred's fabrication that he was born in New Jersey and erroneously states that his middle name was Charles (not Christ).[181] Donald'sThe Art of the Deal (1987) also alleges that Fred was born in New Jersey and further that he was the son of an immigrant from Sweden (not Germany).[180] TheNew York Post repeated the latter claim in its eulogy for Fred.[146] As U.S. president, Donald falsely stated at least three times that his father was born in Germany.[14][222] According toa 2021 book about Donald's last year as president, he once spoke disparagingly of German ChancellorAngela Merkel, stating, "I know the fuckingkrauts," and pointing to his father's portrait, continued, "I was raised by the biggest kraut of them all."[15]Kraut is an ethnic slur for a German (particularly a soldier of either world war).[16][x]
In his 1993 biography of Donald Trump,Harry Hurt III asserts that Fred was aphilanderer, with his alleged Floridianaffairs leading him to be known as the "King ofMiami Beach". In 1989 (while Donald was married to Ivana buttabloids had begun reporting about his affair with future wife Marla Maples), Fred reputedly lectured Donald that he could "have a thousand mistresses" but not to get caught in a single specific extramarital affair.[224][225] According to Hurt, after Donald decided to accompany Ivana to her father's funeral inCzechoslovakia (amid their pending divorce), Fred told a longtime secretary and personal confidant, "I hope their plane crashes. Then all my problems will be solved."[200][226][227][x]
During Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, his father's 1927 arrest at a KKK march resurfaced.[b] In mid-February 2017, a liberal Israeli newspaper asserted that both Donald Trump (who had called Fred his only 'hero') and Benjamin Netanyahu had inherited racism from their fathers, Trump againstbrown people and Netanyahuagainst Arabs.[228] Three days later, the FBI declassified 389 pages from its early 1970s investigation of alleged racial discrimination by the Trump Organization.[117] In his 2018 psychological profile of Donald,Justin A. Frank asserts that Fred was anti-Semitic.[12] In 2020, Mary L. Trump supported this claim and said Fred could have been sympathetic to the KKK.[13]
In May 2016, in an article aboutDonald Trump's pseudonyms,Fortune reported that his father had used the false name "Mr. Green" to anonymously inquire about property values.[229] In October 2016, in response to numerousFreedom of Information Act requests, the FBI released a small file it had on Fred; it includes a 1986 news article concerning political donations by Trump Management, an amply redacted 1991 memo implying the bureau received intel regarding ties toorganized crime, and abackground report on Trump Construction Corp.[4]In 2018, writing forNew York magazine in response to theNew York Times exposé,Jonathan Chait opined that many of Fred's contributions to Donald were by definition criminal in nature.[230]
In mid-2020, liberal political action committee (PAC)MeidasTouch cited the "empty wagon" quote from Trump's Horatio Alger Association speech in arguing that Donald Trump both squandered the fortune he inherited from his father and the "booming economy" left to him by theObama administration.[231][232] Mary L. Trump, in her 2020 book,Too Much and Never Enough, claims that "Donald, Fred Trump's favorite son, dismissed and derided him when he began to succumb to Alzheimer's".[200] In the book, Mary, aclinical psychologist, asserts that Fred was a high-functioningsociopath.[233] A 2024 article in thepsychohistorical journalClio's Psyche claims that the "cruel" and "mendacious" Fred denied Donald of "basic, life-affirming emotional nourishment" (while repeating that he was a "killer" and a "king"), resulting in Donald's "absence of moral responsibility".[234]
FollowingDonald Trump's arrest in New York in 2023, some media outlets pointed out that his father had been arrested twice.[235]
In the 2011Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump, the American comedianSeth MacFarlane credited Donald's fortune to his father, mocking the former's "self-starter bullshit" and comparing their relationship to that ofJaden andWill Smith.[236]
In late 2016,Nell Scovell wrote about an unsuccessful attempt to visit Trump's grave inEsquire, noting that an online photograph implied it to be surprisingly modest.[r] After asking for directions, Scovell was elusively jawboned and raved at by the cemetery president.[143][237]
In 2018,Nylon.com invoked a photograph of the elderly Trump with a pronounced depression behind one cheek (from amandibulectomy)[238] to opine that theNew York Times exposé "led people to know, perhaps for the first time, what Fred Trump looks like—and it turns out he bears resemblance to no shortage of fictional villains".[239] Since 2018, Trump has been portrayed in various media.[y][z]
In 2019, the American journalist and conspiracy theoristWayne Madsen accused Fred of being aNazi sympathizer on the basis of theGerman American Bund's presence in New York.[248] In mid-2020, fact-checking companyLogically concluded that there was a lack of clear evidence that Trump was a Nazi supporter.[249] Duringhis 2024 U.S. presidential campaign, Donald Trump said that his father had told him to never say "Nazi" or mention Hitler.[250]
Bizarrely, by 1950 he was sporting a Hitler toothbrush moustache, which had understandably become a major no-no.
E. Trump & Son Company, Inc., of Jamaica, has been formed with $50,000 capital to deal in realty.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)I think [Donald] was something of an extension of the Trump Organization. I think Fred wanted to explore Manhattan.
Then came the unveiling of Fred Sr.'s will, which Donald had helped draft. It divided the bulk of the inheritance, at least $20 million, among his children and their descendants, 'other than my son Fred C. Trump Jr.'
Fred Trump of 175-24 Devonshire Road, Jamaica, was discharged.
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