‘The Omaha Club (1959)’
Alice Schroeder writes, “Like a steel bank vault door, the arched portals of the Omaha Club swung closed behind the bankers and insurance men and railroad executives of the city as George, the black doorman, welcomed them inside. Come from playing squash in the basement or from their offices downtown, the men loitered by the tiled fireplace in the front hall, chatting until the women entered through a separate side door in the building’s Italian Renaissance facade to join them. The assembled parties ascended the curving mahogany staircase to the second floor, passing on the way the life-size painting of a Scotsman catching a trout in a stream. The Omaha Club was where the town came to dance, to raise money, to get married, and to celebrate anniversaries. But above all, it was where the town came to do business, for at its tables you were left to talk in peace.” The bank-like form portrays the club as a superlative staging to facilitate business consultations for it is fortified with furnishings that provoke an ambiance for business dialogues. Buffett’s advent at the club renders it an elite habitation. The ‘Renaissance Façade’ emphasizes the elegance of the building which would fascinate well-heeled people such as Warren Buffett. All the events that emerge at the club are pointers of its worth among the users counting the business people.
‘The Locomotive New York City ( 1958–1962)’
Alice Schroeder explains, “Warren and Susie seemed like ordinary people. They kept a low profile. Their house was large but not ostentatious. It had a log cabin in the backyard for the kids. The back door was never locked; neighborhood children wandered in and out. Inside the house, the Buffetts clickety-clacked on their different tracks at gathering speed. As Susie added stop after stop to her local schedule, Warren headed out on a nonstop trip to Dollar Mountain. Until 1958, his straightforward route was to buy a stock and wait for the cigar butt to light. Then he usually sold the stock, sometimes with regret, to buy another he wanted more, his ambitions limited by his partnerships’ capital. Now, however, he was managing more than $1 million in seven partnerships plus Buffett & Buffettt and his personal money, which let him operate on a different scale. His network of business pals like Stanback, Knapp, Brandt, Cowin, Schloss, and Ruane had grown by the addition of Munger; the two of them ran up outrageous—by their standards—phone bills every month.” Based on Schoeder’s imagery, the Buffetts’ lifestyle is primarily artless. Their ‘low profile’ represents them as commonplace folks rather than billionaires. The house is not illustrative of flamboyance since it seems like the house of any other regular individual; the home is undeniably accommodating based on the presence of the neighborhoods’ kids and the welcoming backdoor. Clearly, their concentration is on making fruitful investments rather than showing off their fortune. Still, Buffett is intent on escalating his investments because his utility is not copiously gratified.
‘Summer 1967’
Alice Schroeder alludes to Buffett’s input in the civil rights struggle, “The greatest wave of riots, lootings, and burnings since the Civil War swept the country during the summer of 1967. Afterward, Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Many more riots of the kind we had last summer and we shall be in danger of a right-wing takeover of the fascist type!” Privately angry at the movement’s lack of progress, King still refused to endorse violent resistance;…Omaha’s nonviolent activists counted the Buffetts—both of whom were now influential in town—among their informal network. Rackie Newman, the wife of Warren’s best friend in Omaha, Nick Newman, was working with Susie to pressure the YMCA and the boards of other organizations to give a fairer share of money to their branches in impoverished areas. Through the United Methodist Community Center, run by an African-American friend, Rodney Wead, Susie and Rackie sent black kids to summer camp and set up an interracial dialogue group for local high school students. Wead had become a frequent presence in the Buffett house. John Harding, who ran Buffett’s back office, collected thousands of signatures for an open-housing petition. Nick Newman helped bring Warren directly into the struggle by sponsoring his participation in various local civil-rights groups. Warren’s role was not to labor, but to speak. He, Newman, and Harding testified before the legislature in Lincoln on open housing. For her part, Susie went out and at least a few times actually bought houses, fronting for blacks who wanted to move into white neighborhoods.”
The imagery of the Buffetts’ involvement to the Civil Rights Movement is remarkable because they bestow their resources to subsidize the progression of Civil Rights. Through the imagery it can be construed that Buffett is an accountable and responsive business man who would not turn disregard the prevalent prejudice merely because he is not openly impacted the inequality for he is not categorically black. Furthermore, the involvement of the Buffetts portrays the unqualified intersection between business and politics. Obviously, the riots upset business happenings; hence, Buffett’s intervention is validated. Buffett plainly reveals his fundamental consciousness towards racial subjects of the 1960’s.
