John M. Shaheen (1915 in Lee County, Illinois – 1 November 1985 in New York) was an American financier and businessman. He had been involved in oil and life insurance.

Career

Prior to World War II, Shaheen worked in publicity in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Shaheen was at the Office of Strategic Services, and was awarded the Silver Star and Legion of Merit.John Shaheen, Oil Refiner, 70
''South Florida Sun-Sentinel'', 4 November 1984 At OSS he was "chief of OSS Special Projects" and head of the Reports Declassification Section,Roger Hall
''You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger''
Naval Institute Press, 2004. p216 and an advisor on the 1946 film '' O.S.S.''. His friendship with

William Casey William Joseph Casey (March 13, 1913 – May 6, 1987) was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1981 to 1987. In this capacity he oversaw the entire United States Intelligence Community and personally directed the Central Intelligence Agen ...

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

Director under Ronald Reagan, derived from this period. Under President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, Shaheen was also "a special ambassador to Colombia". Shaheen founded a life insurance business, selling life insurance from airport vending machines, before moving into the oil business. His oil industry activity included the

Come By Chance Refinery Come By Chance Refinery was a crude oil refinery operated by North Atlantic Refining in Come By Chance, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It has a refining capacity of . The plant is undergoing conversion to a biofuel operation. History The ref ...

in Newfoundland, Canada, which went bankrupt in 1976 owing around $500M, and was "one of the single largest bankruptcies in Canadian history to that date". In 1973 it was rumoured that Shaheen was going to found a newspaper, to be called the "New York Press".Oilman Betting New Paper Will Succeed in New York City
''Tuscaloosa News'', Tuesday, October 16, 1973 At the time his company, Shaheen Natural Resources, owned three radio stations and part of a television station, but had no experience in print media. It was reported in 1973 that he had made over $200M since World War II. One of Shaheen's most memorable moments took place in the fall of 1974, when he chartered '' Queen Elizabeth 2'' to bring dignitaries to a barren plot of land on the

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

mainland, opposite Bear Head, Cape Breton. The inhabitants of the land had been cleared to make way for a large oil refinery, modeled on the Come By Chance refinery in Newfoundland, that Shaheen was promoting. The refinery was never built. Shaheen was one of the principal contributors to

's campaign in 1968, and in the top 100 Republican donors in 1972, giving $100,000. In 1981, Shaheen founded the Hong Kong Deposit and Guaranty Bank. Robert Parry
October Surprise X-Files (Part 4): The Money Trail
''The Consortium''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaheen, John 1915 births 1985 deaths American businesspeople in the oil industry People of the Office of Strategic Services 20th-century American businesspeople