The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co by William D. Cohan Page B

representative of Lazard Paris, how much I am satisfied to see that harmonious relations exist among the partners, on the second floor. I do not doubt that in their mind, as in mine, all the questions are entirely clarified. I add, that I want them to know they have my entire confidence and that I wish to collaborate with them as fully as possible. By reason of the interests which I represent and the material and moral responsibilities which I bear, my intention is to be present, as often as possible, at the daily meetings which take place on the second floor at which the different problems concerning the House are discussed. I propose to continue to express my opinion freely there, whenever I consider that there is occasion to do so, and also to make any suggestion which seems to me useful in the interest of the House. I am sure that every one will agree to make, in the present circumstances, a very serious effort in order to reduce the overhead expenses, and that in this respect the study prepared by Singer, at the request of Altschul and Russell, will be specially taken into consideration. It is entirely understood that the final decisions concerning the management of the firm, as well as the responsibility for these decisions, remain in the hands of the New York partners as, indeed, has never failed to be the case in the course of recent years.

    Although he was somewhat cryptic, Andre had made it abundantly clear that as the sole representative in New York of the Lazard ownership interests in the New York and Paris firms, and given his power under the new partnership agreement, he intended to freely exercise his authority regarding how the New York firm should be managed and operated. Exacerbating this decision were, no doubt, the obvious facts that the British firm was controlled by Pearson, the Paris firm was basically defunct, Andre was now living in New York, and he had no choice--given his drive to succeed and to be relevant--but to seek to resurrect the firm as a whole from its New York base.
    If Andre's December 9 memo was essentially a signal of intent, a month later he unloaded both barrels on Altschul. In a three-page, single-spaced letter, written this time in French, he told Altschul in no uncertain terms that the time had come to liquidate General American, Altschul's baby. He reminded Altschul that "for more than a year" he tried to convince him that General American had to go. "On a practical level, unfortunately, the facts have proven that I wasn't wrong," he wrote. He referred to a September 1941 General American board meeting where he had hoped Altschul would push for a winding up of the fund. "Purely out of a spirit of conciliation and friendship, that day, I made the mistake of not insisting any further," he continued. "Since then, at the end of last October, we have resumed that conversation without any specific decision being taken." The outbreak of war, Andre wrote, provided him with any number of additional, new reasons to push now for the "immediate liquidation" of the fund. "My wish would be that, with your quick mind, you would take yourself the initiative of the liquidation, you who are the Corporation's dominant personality," he wrote. "In all sincerity, I would like to convince you, as I have tried to do so in the past, of the necessity of such action. To face events straight on, to not nurture vain and often thwarted hopes, has never diminished anyone, on the contrary. To refuse, in 1942, to take unjustified risks with others' money in a firm which has outlived its economic necessity doesn't seem to me to incur the slightest loss of prestige for anyone. On the contrary, it's evidence of common sense and also evidence of strength." Andre explained he had been thinking about this decision "for a long time" and was sharing his views out of his loyalty as Altschul's "friend" and because of his "duty" as a "Paris associate."
    On the small chance that somehow Altschul had missed the message, in