Ron, one source is the book "A Man Called Intrepid" by William Stephenson. It deals extensively with the socio-politico- economico-hypheno-espianagio climate from the early 20s to the end of WWII.
There are pictures in the book of several hundred American industrialists being wined and dined by Nazi representatives and dupes in NYC. The Nazi's were drumming up alliances and sodifying new ones.
I know that this is a single example,. but it's late, and I don't feel like writing a tome about it here.
Wanna borrow the book? It's a great read.
"But we'd need more evidence before concluding that "lots of folks" in the upper strata did not view Hitler as an evil player". I'm not saying that they were right...or smart,... or moral.