Samuel Cummings
Encyclopedia
Samuel Cummings, was an American
small arms
dealer. He founded the International Armament Corporation (also known as Interarms or Interarmco) in 1953, a company which came to dominate the free world market in private arms sales.
from a disused American Legion
hall at the age of five. Cummings became a US Army weapons specialist at Fort Lee, Virginia
after World War II
. Following his military discharge he attended George Washington University
on the GI Bill, where he was recruited in 1950 by the Central Intelligence Agency
as a weapons expert.
Cummings then toured Europe, where he bought large quantities of surplus World War II weapons for both Hollywood productions
and the Taiwan government
During this time he was also called upon to identify captured weapons in the Korean War
.
In 1953 Cummings set up Interarmco in Alexandria, Virginia
, with a warehouse in Manchester
, England
and other international locations to capitalize on the vast stores of postwar arms and ammunition. He used his contacts and expertise to acquire surplus weapons in large quantities to sell to various private and government buyers throughout the world.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Interarmco flooded the American market with military firearms, catering both to souvenir-hungry GIs and sportsmen, and drastically undercutting domestic sporting-arms manufacturers. At the same time, Cummings became an export sales agent for various small arms manufacturers. Interarmco was an original exclusive agent for ArmaLite
, and Cummings personally demonstrated its revolutionary AR-10
selective-fire rifle to various nations, including Nicaragua
and the Dominican Republic
. The Nicaraguan demonstration succeeded in what would have been the first-ever AR-10 export sale to the nation of Nicaragua in 1957 (later cancelled). In 1958, Cummings sold 100 ArmaLite AR-10 rifles to Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista
, but in 1959 the entire shipment of AR-10 rifles was captured intact on the Havana docks by the victorious rebel forces of Fidel Castro
. Cummings wrote Castro and asked him if he would pay for the rifles or return them, and was invited to visit Cuba in return. Reportedly impressed with the firepower of the AR-10, Castro paid for the rifles and asked for more, but the American arms embargo to Cuba prohibited further sales. Castro later gave the rifles to rebels seeking to overthrow the leader of the Dominican Republic
, General Rafael Trujillo. In June 1959, the rebels invaded the Dominican Republic in a combined air/sea operation. Betrayed by local residents, the seaborne rebel forces (led by Cuban officers), were surprised at the water's edge; those dropping via parachute were hunted down in the following days by the Dominican army. Captured AR-10 rifles from Cummings' Batista shipment were found on the bodies of guerrillas killed in firefights with government forces. When Cummings arrived in the Dominican Republic that same month to discuss the subject of arms sales with the nation's arms procurement officer, an enraged General Trujillo stormed into the room carrying an AR-10 rifle taken off the body of a dead insurgent, demanding to know why Cummings had supplied guns to his enemies.
Cummings' arms import business was significantly impacted after surplus military firearm imports were greatly restricted by the US Gun Control Act of 1968
. Importation of foreign commercial arms sustained the business after 1968. Interarms brought to the American market many quality foreign firearm brands including Star pistols.
His daughter Susan Cummings was convicted of voluntary manslaughter
in 1998, after shooting her boyfriend Roberto Villegas.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
small arms
Small arms
Small arms is a term of art used by armed forces to denote infantry weapons an individual soldier may carry. The description is usually limited to revolvers, pistols, submachine guns, carbines, assault rifles, battle rifles, multiple barrel firearms, sniper rifles, squad automatic weapons, light...
dealer. He founded the International Armament Corporation (also known as Interarms or Interarmco) in 1953, a company which came to dominate the free world market in private arms sales.
Biography
Cummings was born in Philadelphia and became interested in weapons after acquiring a Maxim GunMaxim gun
The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun, invented by the American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884. It has been called "the weapon most associated with [British] imperial conquest".-Functionality:...
from a disused American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
hall at the age of five. Cummings became a US Army weapons specialist at Fort Lee, Virginia
Fort Lee, Virginia
Fort Lee is a census-designated place in Prince George County, Virginia, United States. The population was 7,269 at the 2000 census.Fort Lee is a United States Army post and headquarters of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command / Sustainment Center of Excellence , the U.S. Army Quartermaster...
after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Following his military discharge he attended George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
on the GI Bill, where he was recruited in 1950 by the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
as a weapons expert.
Cummings then toured Europe, where he bought large quantities of surplus World War II weapons for both Hollywood productions
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
and the Taiwan government
Government of the Republic of China
The Republic of China was formally established by Dr. Sun Yat-sen in 1912 in Nanjing under the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China but this government was moved to Beijing in the same year and continued as the internationally recognized government of China until 1928. In the history...
During this time he was also called upon to identify captured weapons in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
.
In 1953 Cummings set up Interarmco in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
, with a warehouse in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and other international locations to capitalize on the vast stores of postwar arms and ammunition. He used his contacts and expertise to acquire surplus weapons in large quantities to sell to various private and government buyers throughout the world.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Interarmco flooded the American market with military firearms, catering both to souvenir-hungry GIs and sportsmen, and drastically undercutting domestic sporting-arms manufacturers. At the same time, Cummings became an export sales agent for various small arms manufacturers. Interarmco was an original exclusive agent for ArmaLite
ArmaLite
ArmaLite is the name of a small arms engineering facility founded in the early 1950s, and once associated with the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. ArmaLite was formally incorporated as a subdivision of Fairchild on October 1, 1954...
, and Cummings personally demonstrated its revolutionary AR-10
AR-10
The AR-10 is an American 7.62 mm battle rifle developed by Eugene Stoner in the late 1950s at ArmaLite, then a division of the Fairchild Aircraft Corporation...
selective-fire rifle to various nations, including Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
and the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
. The Nicaraguan demonstration succeeded in what would have been the first-ever AR-10 export sale to the nation of Nicaragua in 1957 (later cancelled). In 1958, Cummings sold 100 ArmaLite AR-10 rifles to Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
, but in 1959 the entire shipment of AR-10 rifles was captured intact on the Havana docks by the victorious rebel forces of Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
. Cummings wrote Castro and asked him if he would pay for the rifles or return them, and was invited to visit Cuba in return. Reportedly impressed with the firepower of the AR-10, Castro paid for the rifles and asked for more, but the American arms embargo to Cuba prohibited further sales. Castro later gave the rifles to rebels seeking to overthrow the leader of the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, General Rafael Trujillo. In June 1959, the rebels invaded the Dominican Republic in a combined air/sea operation. Betrayed by local residents, the seaborne rebel forces (led by Cuban officers), were surprised at the water's edge; those dropping via parachute were hunted down in the following days by the Dominican army. Captured AR-10 rifles from Cummings' Batista shipment were found on the bodies of guerrillas killed in firefights with government forces. When Cummings arrived in the Dominican Republic that same month to discuss the subject of arms sales with the nation's arms procurement officer, an enraged General Trujillo stormed into the room carrying an AR-10 rifle taken off the body of a dead insurgent, demanding to know why Cummings had supplied guns to his enemies.
Cummings' arms import business was significantly impacted after surplus military firearm imports were greatly restricted by the US Gun Control Act of 1968
Gun Control Act of 1968
The Gun Control Act of 1968 , by president Lyndon Johnson, is a federal law in the United States that broadly regulates the firearms industry and firearms owners...
. Importation of foreign commercial arms sustained the business after 1968. Interarms brought to the American market many quality foreign firearm brands including Star pistols.
His daughter Susan Cummings was convicted of voluntary manslaughter
Voluntary Manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender had no prior intent to kill and acted during "the heat of passion," under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed. In the Uniform Crime Reports prepared by the...
in 1998, after shooting her boyfriend Roberto Villegas.
Quotes
- "The arms business is based on human folly, and folly has yet to be measured nor its depths plumbed."
- "All weapons are defensive and all spare parts are non-lethal."
- "The plainest print cannot be read through a gold sovereign or a roubleRubleThe ruble or rouble is a unit of currency. Currently, the currency units of Belarus, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, and, in the past, the currency units of several other countries, notably countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union, are named rubles, though they all are...
or golden eagleAmerican Gold EagleThe American Gold Eagle is an official gold bullion coin of the United States. Authorized under the Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985, it was first released by the United States Mint in 1986.- Details :...
."
External links
- Samuel Cummings, 71, Trader In Weapons on a Grand Scale
- Arms Dealer Cummings in Public Spotlight
- Deadly Business: Sam Cummings, Interarms, and the Arms Trade
- The Colorful World of Arms Dealers
- Merchants of Death 1999 documentary that travels into the lives of the two biggest private arms dealers in the world—Sarkis SoghanalianSarkis SoghanalianSarkis Garabet Soghanalian , nicknamed Merchant of Death, was an international private arms dealer who gained fame for being the "Cold War's "...
and Sam Cummings