disinfozone/The_Info_Web
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull requests Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity Actions

vault backup: 2026-10-01 22:18:57

Browse source
This commit is contained in:
disinfo.zone 2026-10-01 22:18:58 -04:00
parent 97174bf29c
commit 2d66edd3ea
No known key found for this signature in database
86 changed files with 15926 additions and 174 deletions
Download patch file Download diff file Expand all files Collapse all files

231
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Alexander M. Haig, Jr..md
View file

@ -1,17 +1,238 @@
---
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
category: "Key Figures"
tags:
- Person
- SecretaryOfState
- NixonAdministration
- Watergate
- HalperinWiretap
- Chile
- NATO
- Falklands
- Osirak
- Nuclear
- Israel
summary: "Secretary of State under President Reagan who was present at high-command meetings following Israel's 1981 bombing of the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor."
- MGMMirage
- RevolvingDoor
alias:
- Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
- Alexander Haig
- Alexander M. Haig Jr.
- Alexander M. Haig
- Alexander Meigs Haig Jr.
- Al Haig
- General Haig
- Haig
summary: "Kissinger's deputy and a Halperin wiretap defendant, Nixon's chief of staff, NATO commander, Reagan's first Secretary of State, and later a director and paid consultant of MGM Mirage, SDC International and DOR BioPharma."
born: 1924-12-02
died: 2010-02-20
location: "Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania"
location: "Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania (born); Baltimore, Maryland (died)"
relations:
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Henry A. Kissinger]]"
role: "assistant and deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs"
fn: 5
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Halperin v. Kissinger]]"
start: 1973-06
role: "defendant; summary judgment entered for him in december 1976"
fn: 3
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Richard Nixon]]"
start: 1973
end: 1974
role: "white house chief of staff"
fn: 13
- type: investigated
with: "[[Church Committee]]"
reverse: true
start: 1975-08-15
end: 1975-08-15
role: "testified on chile track ii"
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe]]"
start: 1974
end: 1979
role: "supreme allied commander in europe"
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[United Technologies Corporation]]"
start: 1978
end: 1981
role: "president and chief operating officer"
fn: 2
- type: appointed
with: "[[Ronald Reagan]]"
reverse: true
end: 1982-06-25
role: "secretary of state"
fn: 22
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Haig v. Agee]]"
end: 1981-06-29
role: "petitioner as secretary of state"
fn: 17
- type: head_of
with: "[[Worldwide Associates]]"
start: 1984
role: "chairman and president"
fn: 2
- type: funded
with: "[[Donald Rumsfeld]]"
reverse: true
start: 1988-01-27
end: 1988-01-27
role: "$1,000 to haig for president"
fn: 14
- type: director_of
with: "[[MGM Mirage]]"
start: 1990
role: "director"
fn: 27
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[MGM Mirage]]"
start: 1990-05
role: "consultant; fees of $50,000 in 2000"
fn: 27
- type: funded
with: "[[MGM Mirage PAC]]"
start: 2000-12-19
end: 2004-05-04
role: "three contributions totaling $2,500"
fn: 14
- type: director_of
with: "[[Interneuron Pharmaceuticals]]"
role: "director"
fn: 27
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[SDC International]]"
start: 1999-05
role: "strategic advisor; 1 to 2 percent of contracts obtained through his efforts"
fn: 13
- type: director_of
with: "[[SDC International]]"
start: 2002-01
role: "director and proxy holder"
fn: 13
- type: head_of
with: "[[DOR BioPharma]]"
start: 2002-12-23
role: "non-employee chairman of the board and consultant"
fn: 2
- type: funded
with: "[[Republican National Committee]]"
start: 1994-01-11
end: 2008-05-07
role: "contributions of $750 to $5,000 listing worldwide associates as employer"
fn: 14
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Alexander M. Haig, Jr. served as the Secretary of State under President [[Ronald Reagan]]. He was present at a meeting of Reagan's high command following the Israeli bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing]] in June 1981. While the [[State Department]] formally condemned the bombing, Haig was privately forbearing.[^1]
Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. was born on December 2, 1924, in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, and died at about 1:30 a.m. on February 20, 2010, at [[Johns Hopkins Hospital]] in [[Baltimore]], at the age of 85; a hospital spokesman attributed his death to complications of an infection.[^1] He was military adviser and then deputy to [[Henry A. Kissinger]] at the [[National Security Council]], [[White House]] chief of staff to [[Richard Nixon]], Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, president of [[United Technologies Corporation]], and Secretary of State under President [[Ronald Reagan]].[^1][^2] Nixon promoted him in 1972 from two-star to four-star rank, passing over 240 officers with greater seniority.[^1]
### Kissinger's deputy and the 1969 wiretaps
On May 9, 1969, the [[New York Times]] reported on [[United States]] bombing raids in [[Cambodia]]. The following day, according to the findings recited by the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]], officials of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and Colonel Alexander Haig, Kissinger's assistant, worked out procedures to conduct the surveillance "with no record maintained" in the Bureau's normal files, and the Bureau then formally requested wiretap authorization from the Attorney General. Three other private telephones were tapped in the attempt to find the source of the article. The tap on the home telephone of [[Morton H. Halperin]], a National Security Council staff member, ran from May 1969 to February 1971. At first the logs were kept at the Bureau in special files, where Kissinger and Haig reviewed them; later, summary letters went to Kissinger, to Nixon through [[John Ehrlichman]], and occasionally to [[John Mitchell]], and after May 1970 only to [[H. R. Haldeman]]. The investigation eventually included electronic surveillance of 13 government employees and four newspaper reporters.[^3]
A memorandum from Haig to Kissinger dated June 4, 1969, supplied "talking points" for a meeting with FBI Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] and recommended continuing the Halperin tap "so that a pattern of innocence can be firmly established," as the court quoted it. The report of the [[House Committee on the Judiciary]] on the impeachment of Nixon, H. Rept. 93-1305, concluded that the May 1969 wiretaps, including Halperin's, were established for "political purposes," as the court cited it.[^3] The Associated Press obituary states that Haig helped arrange the wiretaps of government officials and reporters on Nixon's behalf.[^1]
### Halperin v. Kissinger
Halperin and his family sued in the [[United States District Court for the District of Columbia]] in June 1973 (Civil Action No. 1187-73), within a month of the government's admission at the trial of [[Daniel Ellsberg]] that Ellsberg had been overheard on the tap. The defendants were Nixon, Mitchell, Kissinger, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Haig, [[Jeb Magruder]], FBI Director [[Clarence Kelley]], the FBI official [[William C. Sullivan]] and Assistant Attorney General [[Robert Mardian]]; the [[Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company]] was also named. On cross-motions for summary judgment in December 1976 the district court ruled for all defendants except Nixon, Mitchell and Haldeman (424 F.Supp. 838), and in August 1977 it awarded $1 in nominal damages.[^3]
On July 12, 1979, the court of appeals (606 F.2d 1192) reversed on the application of Title III of the [[Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968]], on damages and on the summary judgment for Kissinger.[^3] The [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] affirmed in 1981 by an equally divided Court and dismissed certiorari as to Haldeman (452 U.S. 713). On remand the district court granted summary judgment to all defendants on qualified immunity (578 F.Supp. 231 (1984)). On December 5, 1986, in an opinion by Circuit Justice [[Antonin Scalia]] (807 F.2d 180), the court of appeals held that summary judgment was proper as to the initiation of the wiretap but not as to its continuation after May 1970, and remanded.[^4]
### Laos and Chile, 1970 and 1971
The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, the [[Church Committee]], described Haig as "Kissinger's deputy" and recorded his contacts with [[Thomas Karamessines]], the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s Deputy Director for Plans, in October 1970, during the CIA's effort to prevent the inauguration of [[Salvador Allende]] in [[Chile]], the operation the Committee called Track II and the CIA's memoranda carried as [[Project FUBELT]]. Karamessines's calendar showed a lunch with Haig on October 8 and meetings on October 15, 19 and 22; on October 10 Karamessines told Haig by telephone, according to a CIA memorandum, that the Station had "made direct contact with a number of the senior military officers" and "received pessimistic reactions from all." At the October 15 meeting of Kissinger, Haig and Karamessines, the CIA memorandum recorded that General [[Roberto Viaux]] did not have more than one chance in twenty of a successful coup, that a message would be sent warning him against precipitate action, and that Kissinger instructed Karamessines to preserve Agency assets in Chile and keep up the pressure on Allende. The CIA cable sent to the Station on October 16 stated that it was "firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup."[^5]
Kissinger and Haig testified that the October 15 meeting turned off the Agency's coup efforts and that afterwards they were neither informed of nor authorized Track II activities; CIA officials testified that their activities after October 15 were known to and authorized by the White House, and the Committee reported that it could not resolve the conflict. Haig testified on August 15, 1975, that he left the October 15 meeting "with the impression that there was nothing authorized," that he was not familiar with the Valenzuela plan or "$50,000" and had no recollection of a meeting with Karamessines on October 19, the afternoon of the day the Station's cable outlining the plan arrived, that word of the shooting of General [[Rene Schneider]] on October 22 came as "a great shock," and, asked whether he was informed before the attempted abduction, "I don't believe I was at all."[^5]
On February 3, 1971, Karamessines sent Brigadier General Haig, then Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, two "Top Secret Sensitive/Exclusively Eyes Only" messages for Haig from Ambassador [[William H. Godley]] in [[Laos]], captioned "Operation Gold," received through CIA channels. One reported that a Lao official, Sisouk, had let Godley glance at the Royal Lao Government's draft declaration to be issued after the operation against Tchepone began, and that the Prime Minister had agreed on the need for discretion but wondered whether anything could be kept secret.[^6]
On January 12, 1972, the CIA's Office of Legislative Counsel recorded that the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] had telephoned Haig about the nomination of a new Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. Haig said the nomination might be presented in the very near future, that he was unaware of plans to alert key senators in advance but thought Senator [[John Stennis]] might be advised, and that he would tell the Director the White House "game plan" once it was decided.[^7]
### Chief of staff and the August 1974 meetings with Ford
Haig succeeded Haldeman as White House chief of staff in 1973.[^1] In sworn testimony to the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice of the House Judiciary Committee on October 17, 1974, President [[Gerald R. Ford]] described two meetings with Haig on August 1, 1974, when Ford was Vice President. In the early morning Haig told him of additional tape evidence due to be delivered to Judge [[John Sirica]] on Monday, August 5. Haig came again at about 3:30 in the afternoon for roughly three-quarters of an hour and told him of the damaging nature of a June 23, 1972, conversation on one of the tapes, of which White House lawyers had told him. Ford testified that Haig outlined the courses under discussion in the White House, among them the President stepping aside under the 25th Amendment, a censure vote, "the question of whether the President could pardon himself," "pardoning various Watergate defendants, then himself, followed by resignation," and "a pardon to the President, should he resign"; that Haig "indicated he was not advocating any of the options"; and that, asked about the pardon power, Haig said it was his understanding from a White House lawyer that a President could grant a pardon before any criminal action was taken. Ford testified that on the morning of August 2 the Nixon lawyer [[James St. Clair]] told him he had not been the source of any opinion about the pardon power, and that late on August 2 he telephoned Haig to say that nothing they had discussed should be given any consideration in Nixon's decision, to which Haig replied that he was in full agreement. Asked whether Haig had discussed a pardon with Nixon or his representatives during the week of August 4 or afterward, Ford answered: "not to my knowledge."[^8]
The Associated Press obituary states that Haig "suggested to President Gerald Ford that he pardon his predecessor," that he played a key role in persuading Nixon to resign, and that he repeatedly denied speculation that he was "Deep Throat."[^1] It states that he stayed about six weeks with the Ford administration.[^1] [[Donald Rumsfeld]] became Ford's chief of staff on September 27, 1974.[^9]
### Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Haig was Supreme Allied Commander in Europe from 1974 to 1979.[^2] On December 5, 1975, George A. Carver Jr., the CIA's Deputy for National Intelligence Officers, informed Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld in writing that, at General Haig's request, the CIA had arranged to provide him intelligence support tailored to his needs, concentrating on current political and economic developments and supplementary to the support he received through military channels, and that the arrangements had been endorsed by Rumsfeld's predecessor and the Chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] and set up with the knowledge of the Director of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]]. A copy went to a CIA file labeled "HAIG SUPPORT."[^10] A CIA reminder of March 6, 1978, directed that General Haig be sent a personal copy of National Intelligence Estimate 4-1 when it came off the press.[^11]
[[Rowland Evans]] and [[Robert Novak]] wrote in a column printed in the [[Boston Globe]] on January 25, 1981, that in his last days as President, [[Jimmy Carter]] summoned General [[Robert Huyser]], Haig's deputy at [[NATO]] whom Carter had sent to [[Tehran]] in January 1979 over Haig's objections, for a conversation the columnists described as an unsuccessful ploy against Haig's confirmation as Secretary of State; they cited "an intimate of both Huyser and Haig" as saying Huyser was "unshakable" in praising Haig.[^12]
### United Technologies
Haig's later corporate biographies give different dates for his presidency of United Technologies: the 2004 proxy statement of DOR BioPharma gives 1978 to 1981, and the 2002 proxy statement of SDC International gives 1979 to 1981 and states that he "remains as a consultant."[^2][^13] The Associated Press obituary places the move after he briefly explored a presidential run in 1979.[^1] On August 15, 1980, "Haig, Alexander M Jr" of Farmington, Connecticut, employer United Technologies, gave $500 to the United Technologies Corporation political action committee.[^14]
### Secretary of State
A memorandum by [[Robert Gates]] records the subjects raised at a breakfast between Director of Central Intelligence [[William J. Casey]] and Haig on March 20, 1981, among them NATO security, with State to work with NATO Secretary General [[Joseph Luns]].[^15] On March 30, 1981, after the attempted assassination of Reagan, Haig told reporters in the White House briefing room: "Constitutionally gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president and the secretary of state, in that order, and should the president decide he wants to transfer the helm to the vice president, he will do so. As for now, I'm in control here, in the White House, pending the return of the vice president and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course."[^1]
[[Seymour Hersh]] wrote that Haig was present at a meeting of Reagan's high command following the Israeli bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak in June 1981 (the [[Osirak bombing]]), and that while the [[State Department]] formally condemned the bombing, Haig was privately forbearing.[^16]
On June 29, 1981, the Supreme Court decided [[Haig v. Agee]], in which Haig, as Secretary of State, was the petitioner. The Court upheld the revocation of the passport of [[Philip Agee]], a CIA employee from 1957 to 1968 who had announced a campaign to expose CIA officers and agents; the revocation had been ordered in December 1979, before Haig took office.[^17]
CIA scheduling memoranda record that Casey planned a meeting with Haig on October 1, 1981, at 3:30 p.m., and that Casey and his deputy, Admiral [[Bobby Ray Inman]], were scheduled for breakfast with Haig on October 6, 1981, and again on January 26, 1982.[^18] The National Intelligence Officer for [[Latin America]] prepared Casey for the October 1 meeting with a memorandum listing four policy alternatives on Cuba and [[Central America]], the third being increased support for [[El Salvador]], Guatemala and Honduras "plus replacement of Sandinista Directorate by Third Force moderates to include the use of US forces to deter or interdict Cuban reinforcement of Nicaragua," and the fourth "direct pressure on Cuba," including an oil blockade. The memorandum stated that there was "virtual consensus among Defense, most of CIA and State" for the third alternative.[^19]
On April 2, 1982, Casey sent Haig ("Dear Al") a quick intelligence assessment of the military aspects of the "Falkland affair" in the [[Falkland Islands]], which referred to "the Argentine invasion Friday," with a copy to Vice President [[George H.W. Bush]].[^20] On April 14, 1982, Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] told the House of Commons that Haig had made two visits to the [[United Kingdom]] and one to [[Buenos Aires]], praised his "tireless efforts," and said that on his second visit he had put forward ideas concerning the withdrawal of troops and an interim period for negotiations. On April 29 she said that Haig had put formal American proposals to the [[Argentina|Argentine]] government, and on May 4 that he was pursuing initiatives through the Peruvian government.[^21]
Reagan accepted Haig's resignation by letter on June 25, 1982. Haig's letter of the same date states that he and Reagan had agreed that "consistency, clarity and steadiness of purpose were essential to success" and that "in recent months, it has become clear to me that the foreign policy on which we embarked together was shifting from that careful course which we had laid out."[^22] [[George P. Shultz]] succeeded him.[^1]
### Worldwide Associates and the CIA, 1984 and 1985
[[Worldwide Associates]], a Washington international advisory firm, had Haig as chairman and president from 1984.[^2] Deputy Director of Central Intelligence [[John N. McMahon]] wrote to Haig ("Al") on January 5, 1984, at 1155 15th Street, N.W., Suite 800, that a doctoral candidate and former military officer whose resume Haig had passed to the Agency, whose name is redacted, would join the CIA as a career trainee on April 16, adding: "We're always on the lookout for good people and appreciate your keeping us in mind."[^23] The same address is given for Haig in the 2002 proxy statement of SDC International.[^13]
The appointment log of Director of Central Intelligence Casey for 1985, as released, lists under Haig a reception and screening of "That's Dancing" hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Haig at the [[Motion Picture Association]], 1600 I Street, N.W., on January 22; a breakfast with Haig at the Madison Hotel on April 10; a reception and screening of "A View to a Kill" at the same address hosted by General and Mrs. Haig on May 31; a breakfast with General Haig at CIA headquarters on November 13; and a cocktail buffet hosted by General and Mrs. Haig on December 20.[^24]
No registrant named Worldwide Associates, and none named Haig, appears in the [[Foreign Agents Registration Act]] registrant lists, active or terminated, retrieved from the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s FARA e-file interface on October 1, 2026; the only near matches are the law firm Haight, Gardner, Poor & Havens and related Haight registrants.[^25] The Senate and House lobbying disclosure database, which begins in 1999, returns no registrant named Worldwide Associates and no lobbyist named Haig.[^26]
### Corporate boards
The proxy statement of [[MGM Mirage]] filed March 27, 2001, lists Haig as a director since 1990 and a consultant to the company since May 1990, holder of options on 10,000 shares, and recipient in 2000 of $50,000 in consulting fees; it describes him as chairman of Worldwide Associates, host of the weekly television program "World Business Review," and a director of [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] Inc., CompuServe Interactive Services and [[Interneuron Pharmaceuticals]]. [[Tracinda]], of which [[Kirk Kerkorian]] was sole director and stockholder, owned 91,221,432 MGM Mirage shares.[^27]
[[SDC International]] named Haig a director in January 2002; he had been its strategic advisor since May 1999. Its proxy statement filed December 6, 2002, discloses that SDC paid him $85,000 in September 2001 for past services, issued him fully vested options on 300,000 shares at $0.40 when the agreement was renewed on September 9, 2001, and agreed to pay him "between one and two percent of the total gross contract amount of any contract entered into by SDC or any of its subsidiaries which was obtained through the efforts of General Haig." SDC's principal operating entity was its Czech subsidiary [[Tatra]]; [[Terex Corporation]], which had received shares as a strategic advisor, held 12 percent. Haig held 505,000 shares, 2.47 percent, and was one of the two persons named to vote stockholders' proxies.[^13]
[[DOR BioPharma]] entered into a letter agreement with Haig on December 23, 2002, making him chairman of its board for a retainer of $50,000 a year and options on 2,000,000 shares; its 2004 proxy statement adds that he received a further $50,000 a year for consulting services. The company had executed licence agreements for ricin and botulinum toxin vaccines in January 2003, and its 2003 private placement was handled by [[Paramount Capital]], an investment bank affiliated with its largest stockholder, [[Lindsay Rosenwald]]. The statement lists Haig, then 79, as a director of MGM Mirage, [[Indevus Pharmaceuticals]], SDC International and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and gives Worldwide Associates' address as 4301 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia.[^2]
### Political contributions and the 1988 campaign
Haig for President (FEC committee C00214189), with treasurer Dominic J. Saraceno of Virginia, reported receipts of $2,633,083 for the 1988 cycle, including $140,442 in federal matching funds, and remained registered through 2000.[^28] Rumsfeld gave it $1,000 on January 27, 1988.[^14] The Associated Press obituary records that Haig ran unsuccessfully for president in 1988.[^1]
[[Federal Election Commission]] records list contributions by entries in the name of Haig giving Worldwide Associates as employer, among them $750 to the [[Republican National Committee]] on January 11, 1994, $1,000 to Pete Wilson for President on May 1, 1995, $5,000 to the RNC on July 19, 1996, November 10, 1998, and February 1, 2000, and $2,300 to John McCain 2008 on April 10, 2007. A $1,000 contribution to McCain 2000 dated June 15, 1999, comes from "Haig, Alexander M. Mr. Jr." of [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] with no employer listed. The records list contributions to the MGM Mirage political action committee of $500 on December 19, 2000, $1,000 on January 31, 2002, and $1,000 on May 4, 2004.[^14]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991.
[^1]: "Alexander Haig, Presidential Adviser, Dies," CBS News and Associated Press, February 20, 2010, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alexander-haig-presidential-adviser-dies/
[^2]: DOR BioPharma, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed April 28, 2004, accession 0000812796-04-000012, nominee table and biography of General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., "Board of Directors Agreements," "Director Compensation," "Related Party Transactions" and beneficial ownership table, note 8, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/812796/000081279604000012/defproxy.htm
[^3]: Halperin v. Kissinger, 606 F.2d 1192 (D.C. Cir. 1979), Nos. 77-2014 and 77-2015, argued February 9, 1979, decided July 12, 1979, appeal from Civil Action No. 1187-73 (D.D.C.), Part I (statement of facts) and notes 1, 4, 17 to 20, 39 to 41, 82 and 84 (June 4, 1969 memorandum, Joint Appendix 57; H. Rept. 93-1305 at 35 and 146), https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/606/606.F2d.1192.77-2015.77-2014.html
[^4]: Halperin v. Kissinger, 807 F.2d 180 (D.C. Cir. 1986), No. 84-5095, argued May 1, 1985, decided December 5, 1986, opinion of Circuit Justice Scalia (procedural history citing 424 F.Supp. 838, 434 F.Supp. 1193, 452 U.S. 713 and 578 F.Supp. 231), https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/807/807.F2d.180.84-5095.html
[^5]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report," S. Rept. 94-465, November 20, 1975, chapter on Chile, findings and section "CIA/White House Communication During Track II" (chronology for October 8, 10, 15, 16, 19 and 22, 1970), citing Haig testimony of August 15, 1975, pp. 12, 13, 26-27, 36 and 38-39, https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
[^6]: Thomas H. Karamessines, Deputy Director for Plans, memorandum for Brigadier General Alexander M. Haig, February 3, 1971, with two attached messages from Ambassador Godley, "Operation Gold," CIA Reading Room, LOC-HAK-477-18-13-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-loc-hak-477-18-13-9
[^7]: Legislative Counsel, memorandum for the record, "Director's Conversation with General Al Haig, White House Staff, Re DDCI Nomination," OLC 72-0040, January 12, 1972, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP75B00380R000100020156-1, https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP75B00380R000100020156-1
[^8]: Gerald R. Ford, statement before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, House Committee on the Judiciary, October 17, 1974, typescript pp. 6-14, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Philip Buchen Files, Box 34, "Nixon Pardon Hungate Subcommittee, Ford Testimony, 1974/10/17," https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0019/4520699.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Armed Services, S. Hrg. 107-749, hearing of January 11, 2001, Committee on Armed Services Form for Donald H. Rumsfeld, Part A, items 9 and 10 (Assistant to the President under Ford, September 27, 1974, to November 18, 1975), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg75903/html/CHRG-107shrg75903.htm
[^10]: George A. Carver Jr., Deputy for National Intelligence Officers, memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, "Intelligence Support for General Haig," December 5, 1975, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91M00696R000500010003-8, https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP91M00696R000500010003-8
[^11]: CIA reminder memo, March 6, 1978 ("Send General Haig a personal copy of NIE 4-1"), CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80B01554R003200280018-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01554r003200280018-2
[^12]: Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, "Carter failed in effort to block Haig," Boston Globe, January 25, 1981, CIA Reading Room clipping, CIA-RDP90-00965R000301900078-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000301900078-7
[^13]: SDC International, Inc., preliminary proxy statement (PRE 14A), filed December 6, 2002, accession 0000943440-02-000519, questions and answers, beneficial ownership table, director biographies and "Certain Transactions with Management," https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1005841/000094344002000519/proxy-1202.txt
[^14]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A itemized receipts, API queries for contributor names "Haig, Alexander" (two-year periods 1980 to 2010; New Jersey donors of the same name excluded) and "Rumsfeld, Donald" (HAIG FOR PRESIDENT, January 27, 1988), run October 1, 2026, https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
[^15]: Robert M. Gates, Director, DCI/DDCI Executive Staff, memorandum, "Haig Breakfast, 20 March 1981," CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP89G00720R000100040085-3, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp89g00720r000100040085-3
[^16]: Seymour M. Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy (New York: Random House, 1991).
[^17]: Haig v. Agee, 453 U.S. 280 (1981), No. 80-83, argued January 24, 1981, decided June 29, 1981, opinion of Chief Justice Burger, Part I, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/453/280
[^18]: CIA Executive Secretary, memoranda "DCI Meeting with Secretary of State Haig, Thursday, 1 October 1981" (September 28, 1981), CIA-RDP84B00890R000300080052-2; "DCI and DDCI Meeting with Secretary of State Haig, Tuesday, 6 October 1981" (September 29, 1981), CIA-RDP84B00890R000300080051-3; and "DCI and DDCI Meeting with Secretary of State Haig, Tuesday, 26 January 1982" (January 19, 1982), CIA-RDP84M00395R000600260026-0, CIA Reading Room, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84b00890r000300080052-2
[^19]: National Intelligence Officer for Latin America, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Cuba/Central America Strategy Issues for Your Meeting with Secretary Haig, 1 October 1981," September 30, 1981, secret, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP84B00049R001203100015-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84b00049r001203100015-4
[^20]: William J. Casey to Alexander M. Haig, Jr., April 2, 1982, with "Quick Intelligence Assessment on Falkland Affairs (April 2, 1982)," CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP84B00049R000701780017-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84b00049r000701780017-6
[^21]: House of Commons, "Falkland Islands," HC Deb 14 April 1982 vol 21 cc1146-208, HC Deb 29 April 1982 vol 22 cc980-1059, and HC Deb 4 May 1982 vol 23 cc16-8 (statements of the Prime Minister), https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1982/apr/14/falkland-islands, https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1982/apr/29/falkland-islands and https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1982/may/04/falkland-islands
[^22]: Ronald Reagan, "Letter Accepting the Resignation of Alexander M. Haig, Jr., as Secretary of State," June 25, 1982, with Haig's letter of resignation of the same date, Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-accepting-the-resignation-alexander-m-haig-jr-secretary-state
[^23]: John N. McMahon, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, to General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., USA (Ret.), January 5, 1984, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP86B00885R000100060077-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00885r000100060077-6
[^24]: Director of Central Intelligence, appointment and contact log for 1985, entries under "HAIG, Alexander," CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP93-00415R000200210008-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp93-00415r000200210008-9
[^25]: U.S. Department of Justice, FARA e-file API, Registrants (Active, 537 rows) and Registrants (Terminated, 6,552 rows), retrieved October 1, 2026, https://efile.fara.gov/api/v1/Registrants/json/Active and https://efile.fara.gov/api/v1/Registrants/json/Terminated (name search; short-form registrants and foreign principals not searched).
[^26]: Lobbying Disclosure Act filings database, API queries for registrant name "Worldwide Associates" and lobbyist name "Haig," run October 1, 2026, https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/
[^27]: MGM Mirage, Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed March 27, 2001, accession 0000912057-01-008537, nominee table, notes on options, and "Certain Transactions," https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/789570/000091205701008537/a2041387zdef14a.htm
[^28]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00214189, Haig for President, committee record and financial totals by cycle, https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00214189/totals/

113
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Arthur Jensen.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
---
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
tags:
- Person
- ArthurJensen
- PioneerFund
- RaceScience
- HumanBiodiversity
- UCBerkeley
- HarvardEducationalReview
- MankindQuarterly
- Psychometrics
alias:
- Arthur Jensen
- Arthur R. Jensen
- Arthur Robert Jensen
summary: "Berkeley educational psychologist whose 1969 Harvard Educational Review article on IQ and race was inserted in the Congressional Record and who is named on the Pioneer Fund's own list of grantees."
born: 1923-08-24
died: 2012-10-22
location: "San Diego, California (born); Kelseyville, California (died)"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[University of California, Berkeley]]"
start: 1958
role: "professor of educational psychology"
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Pioneer Fund]]"
reverse: true
role: "named as a grantee on the fund's own grantees page; the fund paid the Institute for the Study of Educational Differences 1,071,500 dollars from 1973 to 1990, and a 1983 report by Jensen and a coauthor acknowledges that institute's support"
fn: 3
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity]]"
role: "submitted a written statement for a hearing scheduled for February 24, 1972, which was not held"
fn: 9
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Arthur Robert Jensen (August 24, 1923, to October 22, 2012) was an educational psychologist who joined the faculty of the [[University of California, Berkeley]] in 1958. His 123-page article "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?" appeared in the Winter 1969 issue of the [[Harvard Educational Review]] and was entered in full in the [[Congressional Record]] by Representative [[John Rarick]] on May 28, 1969. The [[Pioneer Fund]]'s own web page lists him among its grantees.[^1][^2][^3]
### Education and Berkeley Appointment
Jensen was born in [[San Diego]], took a bachelor's degree in psychology at [[Berkeley]] and a master's at [[San Diego State College]], and received his doctorate from [[Columbia University]] in 1956. He then spent two postdoctoral years in [[Hans Eysenck]]'s laboratory in [[London]]. His first academic appointment at Berkeley, in the Department of Educational Psychology, dated from 1958. In 1966 and 1967 he spent a year at the [[Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences]] in [[Palo Alto]]. He died at his home in [[Kelseyville, California|Kelseyville]], California, and was then professor emeritus.[^1]
In October 1967 he was professor of educational psychology and research psychologist in the Institute of Human Learning of the [[University of California]], Berkeley, and gave a speech to the California Advisory Council of Educational Research in San Diego.[^4]
### The Berkeley Desegregation Evaluation
Jensen described the following sequence in a paper printed in the Senate committee compilation of 1972. In 1967 the [[Berkeley Board of Education]] voted to desegregate its elementary schools by two-way busing, approved in January 1968 and put into effect the following September, with about 3,500 of 9,000 elementary pupils bused each day. Chancellor [[Roger Heyns]] formed an advisory committee at the school officials' request; Jensen was first called to confer in November 1967, and in late December Heyns asked him to direct the evaluation. Jensen wrote the proposal in January 1968, trained 15 testers, half white and half Negro, and had them test the district's 9,000 elementary pupils in April and May 1968 to obtain baseline data. He wrote that he insisted on outside testers and that his continuing as director was contingent on it.[^5]
He wrote that a group called the [[Community for New Politics]] protested the study at the board meeting of May 7, 1968, alleging racist bias, and that he rebutted at the meeting of May 21. He also wrote that local newspapers publicized his views on race differences "quite luridly," including once with a red two-inch banner headline, and that it was agreed that the dean of the School of Education would become principal investigator, with Jensen "far into the background" as research psychologist.[^5] In his account the Harvard Educational Review published his article in the first week of March 1969. A spokesman for one group proposed at a board meeting that the evaluation be halted and the baseline data destroyed; at the next meeting the board announced that the district would dissociate itself from the university's project, about two weeks after the spring 1969 testing had begun. Jensen wrote that the testers completed the testing, that the school administration kept the results, and that a school official explained that "the schools were not a research institute, but a political unit."[^5]
Jensen's report on the spring 1968 questionnaires, published in May 1970 as Research Resume No. 43 of the California Advisory Council on Educational Research of the [[California Teachers Association]], covers 337 Berkeley elementary teachers and the parents of over 8,000 pupils. Its abstract states that the vast majority of teachers favored integration and busing, that a majority of parents favored integration but approved busing less as a means of achieving it, and that a majority of every racial group favored ability grouping.[^6]
### Federal Contract Research
The final report of July 1970, "An Experimental Analysis of Learning Abilities in Culturally Disadvantaged Children," records that it resulted from a contract between the [[Office of Economic Opportunity]] and the University of California, Contract Number OEO 2404, with Jensen and [[William D. Rohwer Jr.]] as principal investigators; the acknowledgments name [[Douglas Penfield]] as project director and describe studies in three school districts.[^7] A paper of 1970, "Can We and Should We Study Race Differences?", is registered in ERIC with an abstract that begins: "We need to find out the extent to which individual differences, social class differences and race differences in rates of cognitive development, and differential patterns of relative strength and weakness are attributable to genetically conditioned biological growth factors."[^8]
### The 1967 Speech and the 1969 Article
The October 1967 speech carries the title the article later used.[^4] The article opens: "Compensatory education has been tried and it apparently has failed." In the text Jensen wrote that "such an hypothesis is anathema to many social scientists," meaning an hypothesis that genetic factors play a part in the lower average intelligence and scholastic performance of Negroes, and then: "The fact that a reasonable hypothesis has not been rigorously proved does not mean that it should be summarily dismissed." He concluded that the evidence made it "a not unreasonable hypothesis that genetic factors are strongly implicated in the average Negro-white intelligence difference," adding that "the preponderance of the evidence is, in my opinion, less consistent with a strictly environmental hypothesis than with a genetic hypothesis, which, of course, does not exclude the influence of environment or its interaction with genetic factors."[^2]
The editors' note printed with the article announced that the Spring 1969 issue would carry a discussion by five psychologists: [[Carl Bereiter]], [[Lee Cronbach]], [[James F. Crow|James Crow]], [[David Elkind]] and [[J. McVicker Hunt]].[^2] The article's text cites "Shuey (1966), whose 578 page review is the most comprehensive, covering 382 studies," and its reference list includes [[Robert E. Kuttner|Kuttner]]'s "Biochemical anthropology" in *Race and Modern Science* ([[Social Science Press]], 1967) and a Kuttner letter in *[[Perspectives in Biology and Medicine]]* of 1968.[^2] Radical groups disrupted his lectures, students chanted "Dr. Jensen is inside. He is teaching genocide," his car tires were slashed, he received death threats, the university gave him a pair of bodyguards, and police X-rayed his mail.[^1]
### Congressional Record Insertion
On May 28, 1969, Representative John Rarick of [[Louisiana]], recognized by the House for 30 minutes, stated: "because of the significant findings of Dr. Arthur L. [sic] Jensen of the Institute for Human Learning at the University of California, Berkeley, Calif., in the field of environment, heredity, and behavior, I include his work." The article and its references occupy pages 14190 to 14217 of the Congressional Record for that day.[^2]
### Senate Select Committee, 1972
The Senate [[Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity]], chaired by [[Walter Mondale]], scheduled a hearing on "Environment, Intelligence and Scholastic Achievement" for February 24, 1972. The hearing could not be held as planned, and in June 1972 the committee printed the statements of the scheduled witnesses with research papers on the same topic. Jensen's statement runs pages 55 to 68, followed by reprints of the 1969 article and six other papers by him, among them "Can We and Should We Study Race Differences?" and "Do Schools Cheat Minority Children?"[^9]
The print also contains [[Richard Herrnstein]]'s "IQ" from [[The Atlantic Monthly]] of September 1971, an article by Eysenck, and two papers by [[William B. Shockley]], "Dysgenics: A Social Problem Reality Evaded by the Illusion of Infinite Plasticity of [[Human Intelligence]]" and "Dysgenics, Geneticity, Raceology: A Challenge to the Intellectual Responsibility of Educators." It reproduces the Harvard Educational Review's reprint series on the controversy, including a [[Black Student Union]] statement and "The SPSSI statement."[^9]
In his statement Jensen wrote that he had been on the Berkeley faculty for 14 years, that no one taking the contrary position had had to endure "personal threats, prolonged harassment, invasion of his college classes by disruptive demonstrations," or two plainclothes police bodyguards, and that a newsletter of the [[American Anthropological Association]] had proposed that members burn copies of the Review. He stated: "My position is that there is now sufficient evidence to seriously question the 100-percent environmental theories of the mean white-black intelligence difference."[^9]
The statement gave empirically determined heritabilities of IQ as "usually of the order of .70 to .80," said that in European and North American Caucasian populations genetic factors were "roughly twice as important as environmental variation" as a cause of individual differences, and put the average white-black difference in the [[United States]] at approximately one standard deviation, or 15 IQ points. It offered as an hypothesis that the heritability of IQ is the same within the white and black populations as between them and that the genetic variance involved in IQ is about one-fifth less in the black than in the white population. It proposed three educational approaches, the pursuit of aptitude-by-training interactions, greater attention to learning readiness, and greater diversity of curricula and goals, and stated that none of them was "based on the expectation of the schools' significantly changing children's basic intelligence."[^9]
### Pioneer Fund Money
The [[Institute for the Study of Educational Differences]] appears in the ledger of Pioneer Fund grants that [[Barry Mehler]] compiled from the fund's returns, which lists grantees by institution. Its nominal payments were 10,000 dollars in each of 1973, 1974 and 1975; 20,000 dollars in 1976; 30,000 in 1977 and 1978; 47,000 in 1979; 63,000 in 1980; 70,000 in 1981; 50,000 in 1982; 6,000 in 1983; 90,000 in 1984; 96,000 in 1985; 134,500 in 1986; 107,000 in 1987; 98,000 in 1988; and 100,000 in 1989 and 1990. The total is 1,071,500 dollars, about 10 percent of the 10,670,040.55 dollars the ledger records for all grantees from 1971 to 1996, and no payment to the institute appears after 1990.[^10]
The [[Internal Revenue Service]] listed "Institute for the Study of Educational Differences, Orinda, Ca." among organizations eligible to receive deductible gifts in the editions of its Publication 78 revised to October 31, 1982, and October 31, 1985.[^11] A report by Philip A. Vernon and Jensen, dated 1983 in the ERIC catalog, states: "This study was supported by the Institute for the Study of Educational Differences."[^12] The ledger's entries for the University of California total 221,600 dollars from 1971 to 1996, of which 218,000 dollars were paid from 1991 to 1996; the ledger does not state whom these grants supported.[^10]
The [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] wrote that Jensen "got more than $1 million in Pioneer grants over three decades."[^13] The fund's grantees page of February 2003 describes Jensen as "Professor Emeritus Arthur R. Jensen of the University of California at Berkeley" and "todays leading exponent of the position that all mental tasks, even simple reaction time tests, reflect a unitary general factor termed g," and names him again among grantees who "significantly extended the scope of the debate about racial differences" with *The g Factor* (1998).[^3] The fund's page headed "Controversies" poses the question "But the Pioneer Fund has supported researchers such as Audrey Shuey, Henry Garrett, Arthur Jensen, [[Richard Lynn]], and [[J. Philippe Rushton]]? Didnt they all set out to prove that Blacks are inferior?" and answers: "Pioneer grantees are not interested in proving that any one group has a particular average IQ or anything else."[^14]
### Mankind Quarterly and Social Science Press
The issue of *[[Mankind Quarterly]]* for January to March 1973, edited in [[Edinburgh]] by [[Robert Gayre]] with [[Henry Garrett]] as honorary associate editor, Robert Kuttner as an assistant editor and [[Audrey Shuey]] on the honorary advisory board, printed [[Dale C. Adams]]'s "Farewell to Behaviourism," which begins by comparing Copernicus with Jensen: "some credit for the world henceforth admitting that human life revolves around heredity may be given to Arthur Jensen."[^15] The issue of January to March 1972 advertised, under the imprint Social Science Press, Kuttner's *Race and Modern Science* and Shuey's *The Testing of Negro Intelligence,* described as "578 pages" summarizing "382 studies."[^16] An article by [[Nathaniel Weyl]] in the same issue names Jensen, William B. Shockley and [[R. Travis Osborne]] as having presented evidence that the Negro-white intelligence gap was widening.[^17]
The issue of Summer 1990, published in Washington by [[The Cliveden Press]], carried [[J. W. Jamieson]]'s "Arthur Jensen and the Heritability of I.Q.: A Case Study in the Violation of Academic Freedom." Jamieson's affiliation is given as the [[Institute for the Study of Man]], which the Pioneer ledger lists at 944,000 dollars for 1971 to 1996.[^10][^18]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Loehlin, John C. "Arthur R. Jensen, 1923-2012," *Twin Research and Human Genetics* 16, Supplement 1 (February 2013), pp. 499-500, doi:10.1017/thg.2012.143. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/twin-research-and-human-genetics/article/arthur-r-jensen-19232012/F033208B342BBA3F1C97E3055FFE17D4
[^2]: Remarks of Representative John R. Rarick of Louisiana, "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement," inserting Arthur R. Jensen, "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?" *Harvard Educational Review* 39, no. 1 (Winter 1969), pp. 1-123, *Congressional Record* (House), May 28, 1969, pp. 14190-14217 (editors' note on the Spring issue at p. 14190; "Compensatory education has been tried and it apparently has failed" at p. 14190; the passage on a "not unreasonable hypothesis" at p. 14207; reference list). https://archive.org/details/1969-jensen-in-congressional-record
[^3]: The Pioneer Fund, Inc., "Grantees: Highlights of Pioneer Fund Research and Grantees," web page, capture of February 26, 2003. https://web.archive.org/web/20030226195940id_/http://www.pioneerfund.org:80/Grantees.html
[^4]: Jensen, Arthur R. "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?" speech to the annual meeting of the California Advisory Council of Educational Research, San Diego, October 1967, 17 pp., ERIC document ED023722 (author note and abstract). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153036_0091
[^5]: Jensen, Arthur R. "Assessment of Racial Desegregation in the Berkeley Schools," in U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity, *Environment, Intelligence, and Scholastic Achievement: A Compilation of Testimony* (Committee Print, June 1972), pp. 523-541. https://archive.org/details/1972-senate-testimony
[^6]: Jensen, Arthur R. "Parent and Teacher Attitudes Toward Integration and Busing," Research Resume No. 43, California Advisory Council on Educational Research, California Teachers Association, Burlingame, May 1970, 51 pp., ERIC document ED041092 (abstract and title page). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153160_0387
[^7]: Jensen, Arthur R., and William D. Rohwer Jr. "An Experimental Analysis of Learning Abilities in Culturally Disadvantaged Children," Final Report, Office of Economic Opportunity Contract OEO 2404, University of California, Berkeley, July 1970, 205 pp., ERIC document ED043690 (title page and acknowledgments). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153158_0296
[^8]: Jensen, Arthur R. "Can We and Should We Study Race Differences?" 1970, 60 pp., ERIC document ED041059 (abstract). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153160_0356
[^9]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity, *Environment, Intelligence, and Scholastic Achievement: A Compilation of Testimony* (Committee Print, 92d Cong., 2d sess., June 1972), Foreword, table of contents, and "Statement of Arthur R. Jensen," pp. 55-68. https://archive.org/details/1972-senate-testimony
[^10]: Mehler, Barry, comp. "Pioneer Fund Grants, 1971-1996," Institute for the Study of Academic Racism, compiled from the fund's Internal Revenue Service returns; nominal-dollar tables in Part I (1971-1975, capture of February 2, 2002), Part II (1976-1980, capture of February 14, 2002), Part III (1981-1985, capture of February 2, 2002), Part IV (1986-1990, capture of January 29, 2002), Part V (1991-1996, capture of January 29, 2002) and Part VI (totals, capture of March 9, 2002), read at https://web.archive.org/web/20020202075204id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/pfp1.htm, https://web.archive.org/web/20020214214926id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/PFp2.htm, https://web.archive.org/web/20020202045118id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/pfp3.htm, https://web.archive.org/web/20020129112308id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/pfp4.htm, https://web.archive.org/web/20020129113141id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/pfp5.htm and https://web.archive.org/web/20020309164506id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/pfp6.htm
[^11]: Internal Revenue Service, *Cumulative List of Organizations Described in Section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954* (Publication 78), revised to October 31, 1982 (https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152660_0032) and revised to October 31, 1985 (https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152806_0979), entry "Institute for the Study of Educational Differences, Orinda, Ca. (3)."
[^12]: Vernon, Philip A., and Arthur R. Jensen. "Individual and Group Differences in Intelligence and Speed of Information Processing," [1983], ERIC document ED237624, p. 32 (note: "This study was supported by the Institute for the Study of Educational Differences."). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153452_0481
[^13]: Southern Poverty Law Center, "Pioneer Fund," Extremist Files, passage on Arthur Jensen's grants. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/pioneer-fund/
[^14]: The Pioneer Fund, Inc., "Controversies: Setting the Record Straight," web page, capture of February 19, 2003. https://web.archive.org/web/20030219052001id_/http://www.pioneerfund.org:80/Controversies.html
[^15]: *Mankind Quarterly* 13, no. 3 (January-March 1973), Edinburgh, masthead (editor R. Gayre of Gayre; honorary associate editors Henry E. Garrett, Mario Cappieri and Frank C. J. McGurk; assistant editor Robert Kuttner; honorary advisory board including Audrey M. Shuey), and Dale C. Adams, "Farewell to Behaviourism." https://archive.org/details/mankind-quarterly-the-1960-2004
[^16]: *Mankind Quarterly* 12, no. 3 (January-March 1972), advertisements for the International Association for the Advancement of Ethnology and Eugenics, Inc. (New York), and for Social Science Press: Robert E. Kuttner, ed., *Race and Modern Science* (484 pages, 7.95 dollars) and Audrey M. Shuey, *The Testing of Negro Intelligence* (578 pages, 6.50 dollars). https://archive.org/details/mankind-quarterly-the-1960-2004
[^17]: Weyl, Nathaniel. "Racial Discrimination and the Conservative Outlook," *Mankind Quarterly* 12, no. 3 (January-March 1972), pp. 129ff. (passage citing Arthur Jensen, William Shockley and R. Travis Osborne, following the page marked 133). https://archive.org/details/mankind-quarterly-the-1960-2004
[^18]: Jamieson, J. W. (Institute for the Study of Man). "Arthur Jensen and the Heritability of I.Q.: A Case Study in the Violation of Academic Freedom," *Mankind Quarterly* 30, no. 4 (Summer 1990), pp. 351ff., published by The Cliveden Press, Washington, D.C. https://archive.org/details/mankind-quarterly-the-1960-2004

232
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ben Horowitz.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,232 @@
---
category: "Technologists"
tags:
- Person
- BenHorowitz
- AndreessenHorowitz
- VentureCapital
- SiliconValley
- Opsware
- PoliticalMoney
- SuperPAC
- Policing
- LasVegas
- Fairshake
- Trump
alias:
- Ben Horowitz
- Benjamin Horowitz
- Benjamin A. Horowitz
- Horowitz, Ben
summary: "Cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and former chief executive of Loudcloud and Opsware, whose family foundation gave 7,255,132 dollars to the Las Vegas police foundation and who funded crypto, AI and Trump super PACs."
location: "Las Vegas, Nevada"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Andreessen Horowitz]]"
start: 2009
role: "cofounder and general partner"
fn: 1
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Marc Andreessen]]"
start: 1999-09
role: "cofounder of Loudcloud in 1999 and of Andreessen Horowitz in 2009"
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Netscape]]"
start: 1995-07
end: 1999-04
role: "vice president"
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[America Online]]"
start: 1999-04
end: 1999-09
role: "vice president and general manager, E-Commerce Platform division"
fn: 3
- type: founded
with: "[[Opsware]]"
start: 1999-09
role: "cofounder of Loudcloud, later renamed Opsware"
fn: 3
- type: head_of
with: "[[Opsware]]"
start: 1999-09
end: 2007
role: "president and chief executive of Loudcloud and Opsware"
fn: 3
- type: director_of
with: "[[Opsware]]"
start: 1999-09
role: "director"
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Hewlett-Packard]]"
start: 2007
role: "vice president and general manager, Business Technology Optimization for Software"
fn: 2
- type: director_of
with: "[[Databricks]]"
role: "board member per a16z biography, 2026"
fn: 2
- type: director_of
with: "[[Anyscale]]"
role: "board member per a16z biography, 2026"
fn: 2
- type: director_of
with: "[[Navan]]"
role: "board member per a16z biography, 2026"
fn: 2
- type: director_of
with: "[[NationBuilder]]"
role: "board member per a16z biography, 2026"
fn: 2
- type: director_of
with: "[[AliphCom]]"
start: 2012-05
role: "director, signatory of board consent"
fn: 5
- type: funded
with: "[[Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Foundation]]"
role: "through the Horowitz Family Foundation, 500,000 dollars (year to June 2021), 2,015,000 dollars (June 2023), 4,740,132 dollars (June 2024)"
fn: 13
- type: funded
with: "[[Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]]"
start: 2025
role: "Tesla Cybertrucks donated directly with Felicia Horowitz, outside the foundation"
fn: 12
- type: funded
with: "[[Fairshake]]"
start: 2023-10-23
end: 2025-12-10
role: "45,400,000 dollars attributed on the committee's filings"
fn: 17
- type: funded
with: "[[Right for America]]"
start: 2024-07-22
end: 2024-07-22
role: "2,500,000 dollars"
fn: 20
- type: funded
with: "[[BlackPAC]]"
start: 2024-10-07
end: 2024-10-07
role: "2,500,000 dollars"
fn: 20
- type: funded
with: "[[MAGA Inc.]]"
start: 2025-02-04
end: 2026-03-10
role: "6,000,000 dollars in three contributions"
fn: 22
- type: funded
with: "[[Leading the Future]]"
start: 2025-08-22
end: 2026-02-11
role: "25,000,000 dollars in two contributions attributed on the filings"
fn: 22
- type: funded
with: "[[Senate Leadership Fund]]"
start: 2024-03-07
end: 2026-03-19
role: "1,250,000 dollars attributed in four contributions"
fn: 18
- type: relative_of
with: "[[David Horowitz]]"
role: "son"
fn: 25
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Felicia Horowitz]]"
role: "husband"
fn: 11
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Ben Horowitz (Benjamin A. Horowitz) is a cofounder and general partner of the venture capital firm [[Andreessen Horowitz]] (a16z), which he and [[Marc Andreessen]] started in 2009.[^1] He worked in product marketing at [[Lotus Development Corporation]] before joining [[Netscape]] in July 1995, where he ran product divisions including the Directory and Security line; was vice president and general manager of the E-Commerce Platform division of [[America Online]] in 1999; and from September 1999 was cofounder, president and chief executive of Loudcloud, which became [[Opsware]] and was acquired by [[Hewlett-Packard]] in 2007. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from [[Columbia University]] and a master's from the [[University of California, Los Angeles]].[^2][^3] His a16z biography lists board seats at [[Anyscale]], [[Databricks]], [[Mayvenn]], [[NationBuilder]], [[Navan]] and [[UnitedMasters]], and credits him with creating the a16z Cultural Leadership Fund.[^2]
### Loudcloud
The proxy statement of Loudcloud, Inc. for its annual meeting of June 26, 2001, filed with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] on May 25, 2001, states that Horowitz "is a co-founder of Loudcloud and has served as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director since September 1999," and that he had been at America Online from April to September 1999 and a vice president at Netscape Communications from July 1995 to April 1999. The board consisted of Horowitz, Andreessen, [[Andrew Rachleff]] of [[Benchmark Capital]], [[William V. Campbell]] and [[Michael Ovitz]].[^3]
The proxy reports Horowitz's salary as 210,000 dollars for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2001 and 35,000 dollars for the period from the company's inception in September 1999 to January 2000, with an option grant of 500,000 shares; he was the only named executive granted options that year. As of May 11, 2001 he beneficially owned 4,158,453 shares, 5.5 percent of the class, of which 3,873,453 were held individually and 285,000 by the Horowitz Family Limited Partnership, and 2,288,334 were subject to the company's right of repurchase. Andreessen's trust held 9,110,899 shares (12.0 percent) and entities affiliated with Benchmark Capital 10,010,712 shares (13.2 percent). Entities affiliated with [[Amerindo Investment Advisors]] reported 4,323,502 shares (5.6 percent) on a Schedule 13G dated April 6, 2001.[^3]
### Sale of Opsware to Hewlett-Packard
Opsware's Schedule 14D-9 of August 3, 2007, which names Horowitz as chief executive and the person authorized to receive notices, responds to a tender offer by Hewlett-Packard at 14.25 dollars per share in cash. It narrates that Andreessen, Horowitz and [[John O'Farrell]] met senior executives of HP and other companies between January 30 and February 14, 2007; that on January 30 [[Thomas Hogan]] and [[Sandeep Johri]] of HP Software met Horowitz and O'Farrell; that on May 21 the chief executive of an unnamed "Company No. 1" sent Horowitz a written offer of 11 dollars per share on a day when Opsware closed at 7.97 dollars; that the board told bidders it would not consider offers below 14 dollars; that Company No. 1 raised its offer to 13.25 dollars on June 21 and to 14 dollars on July 5; that Opsware retained [[Goldman Sachs]] effective July 6; and that HP's chief technology officer, [[Shane Robison]], telephoned Horowitz on July 14 to express HP's interest; on the afternoon of July 18 Robison indicated that, subject to approval by HP's board, HP would be willing to pay 14.25 dollars per share in cash.[^4]
The board named in the filing is Campbell, [[Simon Lorne]], Ovitz and [[Michelangelo Volpi]] as non-employee directors and Andreessen as chairman; the executive officers include Horowitz, [[Timothy Howes]] and O'Farrell. The directors and executive officers agreed in tender agreements to tender their shares. As of July 16, 2007 they beneficially owned 16,756,791 shares and vested options on 7,623,156 shares, and the filing calculates that they would receive about 319,001,551 dollars in the offer and merger. Horowitz's stock option agreement of February 24, 2004 provided that half of the unvested shares would vest on a change in control, with the rest vesting monthly over the following year, and that all of them would vest on a termination without cause. The filing's table gives Horowitz 1,065,627 shares under unvested options, with accelerated value of 150,750 dollars on the change in control itself and 7,489,921 dollars on an involuntary termination not for cause.[^4] The a16z biography states that HP paid 1.6 billion dollars for Opsware and appointed Horowitz vice president and general manager of Business Technology Optimization for Software.[^2]
### AliphCom (Jawbone)
An action by unanimous written consent of the board of directors of [[AliphCom]], the maker of Jawbone wearable devices, dated May 2012 and approving a common stock financing, carries signature lines for five directors: [[Alexander Asseily]], [[Roelof Botha]], Horowitz, [[Hosain Rahman]] and [[David Weiden]].[^5] Botha was then a partner of [[Sequoia Capital]].
An authorization to disburse funds for AliphCom's Series 8 preferred stock financing names Mort, Inc. as the purchaser, in the amount of 1,249,996.88 dollars, with the date left blank.[^6] On February 4, 2016 [[Richard Kahn]] forwarded to [[Jeffrey Epstein]] a "Mort Series 8 Timeline" sent to him that day by Andrew Lindsay of Jawbone, which stated that Jawbone negotiated the Series 8 terms with [[JPMorgan Chase]] and Sequoia Capital in July 2015, that [[BlackRock]] invested 50 million dollars on July 21, 2015, that the initial Series 8 closing of 40 million dollars from JPMorgan and Sequoia was completed on July 24, 2015, and that Jawbone e-mailed Mort on August 13 about investing on the same terms. Kahn asked Epstein whether to send an email requesting the money back or pass.[^7] A notice dated July 7, 2017 states that AliphCom, doing business as Jawbone, made an assignment for the benefit of creditors on June 19, 2017.[^8]
### Las Vegas Police Donations
On October 11, 2024 Horowitz published a post titled "Safety First" on the a16z website, opening with a statement that [[TechCrunch]] was "working on yet another piece on me." He wrote that he and his wife, [[Felicia Horowitz]], had donated 800,000 dollars for computer terminals, about 120,000 dollars for an ice machine, a cappuccino machine and a gymnasium, 400,000 dollars for technology from the a16z portfolio company [[Prepared911]], and "approximately $6.3 million dollars" toward the products of the a16z portfolio companies [[Skydio]] and [[Flock Safety]], for the [[Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]] (LVMPD). He wrote that "By donating the technology, I am able to give LVMPD a running start," described a sequence in which a Flock license plate alert dispatches a Skydio drone automatically, and reported that the share of 911 calls answered in under 15 seconds had risen to 95 percent for the year through September 2024 from 66 percent, and that homicides had fallen from 101 to 80.[^9]
Margaux MacColl and Sean O'Kane of TechCrunch reported on November 8, 2024, from more than 100 emails between Horowitz and the department and internal police emails, mostly from January 2023 to July 2024, obtained by public records request, that LVMPD chief of staff [[Mike Gennaro]] had forwarded a Skydio proposal to Horowitz, who replied "Which deployment are you looking to do?" and was told "Whatever you want, Ben." Horowitz then sent money to the police foundation to buy Skydio drones. He questioned the scope of Skydio's proposal, which included drone docks on schools, writing "I thought that we just wanted this for the 11 neighborhoods" and "They bid the schools too. Is that what we asked for?"; Gennaro replied that "We can adjust however you see fit," and LVMPD said that no drone docks had been installed in its jurisdiction. Three months later, raising another a16z company, [[Kodex]], Horowitz wrote: "If it's a good idea, I am happy to help, but let's not let the company know that. We don't need another Skyd.io proposal lol." The reporters wrote that Horowitz had facilitated communication between LVMPD and at least six a16z portfolio companies, that police leadership had concerns about a proposed donation of technology from the a16z-backed company [[Toka]], and that an LVMPD sergeant who had evaluated Skydio drones later became a program manager at Skydio. An a16z spokesperson said there was "nothing more for Ben to share beyond his blog post."[^10]
The same report states that a16z held its 2023 limited partner summit in Las Vegas, where Sheriff [[Kevin McMahill]], in uniform, sat between the Flock Safety founder [[Garrett Langley]] and the a16z partner [[David Ulevitch]] and said of Flock's products that "Every piece of that technology is the equivalent of three police officers."[^10] Estelle Atkinson of the [[Las Vegas Review-Journal]] reported on February 6, 2025 that Metro had accepted at least 7 million dollars from Horowitz through the foundation that supports it, that the donations had funded license plate readers, drones, communications center upgrades and a 911 upgrade, and that McMahill appeared in an interview with Andreessen and Horowitz posted on the firm's YouTube channel on November 18, 2024, in which he said that most of Metro's 1.5 billion dollar budget goes to salaries and benefits and spoke of enveloping high-crime areas in "technology bubbles." The University of Chicago sociologist [[Robert Vargas]] asked: "Are they accountable to the public, or are they accountable to their donors?" LVMPD said in a statement that "If we can envelop neighborhoods in a technology bubble, we can reduce crime and save people's lives."[^11] Akiya Leggio of the Review-Journal reported on February 26, 2025 that LVMPD stated "Ben and Felicia Horowitz donated the Cybertrucks to LVMPD" and that "This donation did not go through the LVMPD Foundation," after McMahill announced in his State of the Department address that Metro had ordered 10 [[Tesla]] Cybertrucks as patrol and SWAT vehicles that would not affect its general budget.[^12]
### Horowitz Family Foundation
The Horowitz Family Foundation (employer identification number 35-7050910) is a private foundation that files Form 990-PF for fiscal years ending June 30, prepared by Frank Rimerman and Co. Its trustees are Felicia Annette Horowitz and a second family member, and its contributor schedules list "Benjamin and Felicia Horowitz," at an address in [[Atherton, California]] on the returns through June 2021 and in [[Las Vegas]], Nevada, from the return for June 2022.[^13]
The contributions were made in shares. The return for the year ended June 2019 lists 63,758 shares of [[Microsoft]] worth 7,128,028 dollars. The year ended June 2021 lists shares of [[Slack Technologies]] (200,000 shares, 5,145,000 dollars), [[Pinterest]] (254,450 shares, 14,975,655 dollars), [[Lyft]] (200,000 shares, 10,007,000 dollars), [[Facebook]], [[Dropbox]], [[Upwork]], [[Zuora]] and [[1Life Healthcare]]. The year ended June 2022 lists [[Salesforce]] (110,880 shares, 27,114,595 dollars), [[Airbnb]] (114,511 shares in two gifts, 20,448,175 dollars), Pinterest (8,630,050 dollars), [[Affirm]] (7,883,080 dollars in two gifts), [[DigitalOcean]], [[Roblox]] and smaller holdings in [[Opendoor]], [[Amplitude]], [[Poshmark]] and [[Warby Parker]]. The year ended June 2024 lists 35,400 shares of [[Coinbase]] worth 8,154,390 dollars, given on May 6, 2024, as well as Airbnb, Lyft and [[Nu Holdings]]. The year ended June 2025 lists 150,000 shares of [[Reddit]] (8,501,250 dollars) and 92,000 shares of [[Maplebear]] (3,266,920 dollars), both given on September 10, 2024, and shares of [[Yubico]].[^13]
The returns record these grants to the LVMPD Foundation: 500,000 dollars for "police support" in the year ended June 30, 2021; none among the twelve grants of the year ended June 2022; 2,015,000 dollars for "support of police" in the year ended June 2023; and 4,740,132 dollars for "support of police" in the year ended June 2024, to "LVMPD Foundation Friends of Las Vegas" at 110 N. City Parkway, Suite 420, recorded as a public charity with no relationship to the foundation's managers. The three grants total 7,255,132 dollars.[^13] TechCrunch reported the 2 million dollar donation of 2023 and the purpose "support of police."[^10] The recipient, incorporated in 1999 as Friends for Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (employer identification number 88-0429730) and now filing as the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Foundation at the same Suite 420 address, describes itself as raising funds "to support youth and community programs, equipment and technology, and officer training." It reported contributions of 1,084,255 dollars for 2019, 6,826,048 dollars for 2020, 11,865,125 dollars for 2021, 10,497,885 dollars for 2022 (with expenses of 27,507,555 dollars), 6,474,809 dollars for 2023 and 5,864,773 dollars for 2024.[^14]
The Horowitz foundation's earlier grants included 250,000 dollars to the [[Barack Obama Foundation]], 250,000 dollars to the [[Anti-Recidivism Coalition]] and 300,000 dollars to [[American Jewish World Service]] in the year ended June 2019; 570,000 dollars to American Jewish World Service and 260,300 dollars to [[The Potter's House]] of [[T. D. Jakes]] in the year ended June 2021; 250,000 dollars each to the T. D. Jakes Foundation and the [[Apollo Theater]] Foundation in the year ended June 2022; 1,000,000 dollars to [[Stanford University]] for [[Stanford Health Care]] and 86,250 dollars to Harvard for a [[Nas|Nasir Jones]] Hiphop Archive fellow in the year ended June 2023; and 1,000,000 dollars to [[Friends of United Hatzalah]] and 750,000 dollars to the Chabad of the North Peninsula Israel Solidarity Fund in the year ended June 2024, along with annual grants to the UMC Foundation of Las Vegas. Total assets at book value were 15,604,829 dollars at June 2019, 61,744,089 dollars at June 2021, 134,152,684 dollars at June 2022, 134,271,519 dollars at June 2023 and 144,805,727 dollars at June 2024.[^13]
For the year ended June 30, 2025 the foundation reported grants of 147,508,395 dollars, of which 144,112,395 dollars went to the [[National Philanthropic Trust]] of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, "for support for art, education, and health." Other grants were 1,000,000 dollars each to the [[MD Anderson Cancer Center]] and the [[Cleveland Clinic]], 696,000 dollars to the [[Tides Foundation]], 100,000 dollars to [[Hope for Prisoners]], and 400,000 dollars to Behind the Blue of Las Vegas for "support of police." There was no grant to the LVMPD Foundation, and total assets fell to 39,376,336 dollars.[^13] Behind the Blue (employer identification number 83-4125717), recognized in 2019, states that it provides financial relief to Southern Nevada law enforcement employees facing catastrophic incidents; it reported contributions of 359,865 dollars for 2023, 1,499,990 dollars for 2024 and 6,280,470 dollars for 2025.[^15]
### Federal Political Contributions
[[Federal Election Commission]] records list Horowitz giving 33,400 dollars to the Democratic Hope Fund on October 9, 2015, with Atherton as his city, and 1,000,000 dollars on May 27, 2022 to GMI PAC.[^16] Contributions from AH Capital Management, the a16z management company, are attributed in equal shares to Horowitz and Andreessen on the recipients' filings: AH Capital Management entries of May 30 and November 6, 2024 carry the memo "SEE ATTRIBUTION BELOW," and the entries under Horowitz's and Andreessen's names on the same dates carry memo code X.[^17] The crypto industry super PAC [[Fairshake]] (committee C00835959, first filed March 23, 2023, treasurer Brandon Philipczyk) lists AH Capital Management for 5,000,000 dollars on October 23, 2023, 14,000,000 dollars on December 14, 2023, 25,000,000 dollars on May 30, 2024, 23,000,000 dollars on November 6, 2024 and 23,800,000 dollars on December 10, 2025, and attributes half of each to Horowitz: 2,500,000, 7,000,000, 12,500,000, 11,500,000 and 11,900,000 dollars, a total of 45,400,000 dollars. Fairshake reported receipts of 260,070,709 dollars for the 2024 cycle and 137,923,216 dollars for the 2026 cycle through the latest report.[^17] Its affiliated super PACs [[Defend American Jobs]] and [[Protect Progress]] list Horowitz for 750,000 dollars each in October and December 2023, 125,000 dollars each in November 2024 and 50,000 dollars each on December 10, 2025.[^18]
In July 2024 Andreessen and Horowitz announced on their podcast that they would support [[Donald Trump]]; Horowitz said that "For Little Tech, we think Donald Trump is actually the right choice," adding "And sorry, Mom," and said they had dined with Trump, as Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert of Business Insider reported.[^19] On July 22, 2024 Horowitz, listing his employer as A16Z, gave 2,500,000 dollars to [[Right for America]], a super PAC whose website stated its goal "to ensure President Donald J. Trump is victorious in the 2024 presidential election"; Andreessen gave 2,500,000 dollars on July 24. Right for America reported 72,503,980 dollars in receipts and 69,583,233 dollars in independent expenditures for the 2024 cycle.[^19][^20]
On Friday, October 4, 2024, Horowitz told a16z employees by email that he and Felicia had known [[Kamala Harris]] for more than ten years, that she had been "a friend to the firm in our early days, helping with several events at my house when we built the original Cultural Leadership Fund network," and that "Felicia and I will be making a significant donation to entities who support the Harris Walz campaign," while the firm would not change its position, as Dan Primack of Axios reported.[^21] On October 7, 2024 Horowitz gave 2,500,000 dollars to [[BlackPAC]], a super PAC that reported 34,730,789 dollars in receipts for the cycle.[^20] The 11,500,000 dollars attributed to him at Fairshake followed on November 6, 2024, the day after the election.[^17]
In 2025 and 2026 Horowitz is listed as giving 500,000 dollars on February 4, 2025, 2,500,000 dollars on March 31, 2025 and 3,000,000 dollars on March 10, 2026 to [[MAGA Inc.]], a total of 6,000,000 dollars, and 12,500,000 dollars on each of August 22, 2025 and February 11, 2026 to [[Leading the Future]], attributed as partnership contributions, a total of 25,000,000 dollars.[^22] Partnership attributions to him at the [[Senate Leadership Fund]] were 125,000 dollars on March 7, 2024, 250,000 dollars on June 20, 2024, 125,000 dollars on March 31, 2025 and 750,000 dollars on March 19, 2026, and at the Democratic super PAC SMP 250,000 dollars on each of June 20 and September 20, 2024.[^18][^22] Contributions under his own name to party committees include the [[National Republican Senatorial Committee]] (13,766 dollars on February 29, 2024, 120,467 dollars to its legal proceedings account on May 19, 2025 and 44,300 dollars on February 24, 2026), the [[National Republican Congressional Committee]], the [[Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]] (44,300 dollars on September 22, 2025 and 22,150 dollars on February 23, 2026) and the [[Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee]], and committees supporting [[JD Vance]] (Vance Victory, April 11, 2024), [[John Thune]], [[John Cornyn]], [[Cory Booker]], [[Ritchie Torres]], [[Patrick McHenry]] and [[Susan Collins]].[^18]
### Lobbying
The Lobbying Disclosure Act database lists A16Z Capital Management LLC, formerly AH Capital Management and doing business as Andreessen Horowitz, as an in-house registrant from January 25, 2023, with reported expenses of 950,000 dollars for 2023 (330,000, 340,000, 120,000 and 160,000 dollars by quarter), 1,760,000 dollars for 2024 (280,000, 660,000, 450,000 and 370,000 dollars), 3,530,000 dollars for 2025 (650,000 dollars; 840,000 dollars for the second quarter as amended from 790,000 dollars; 1,330,000 dollars; 710,000 dollars) and 1,540,000 dollars for the first half of 2026 (660,000 and 880,000 dollars). The reports list digital asset market structure and stablecoin legislation, anti-money laundering proposals, oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the [[Commodity Futures Trading Commission]], artificial intelligence and, from 2025, open-source artificial intelligence, the National Defense Authorization Acts, health legislation and tax. Its in-house lobbyists have included [[Collin McCune]], who lists service as deputy director and director of the [[House Financial Services Committee]] from 2019 to 2022; [[Colin Rom]], formerly a senior adviser at the [[Food and Drug Administration]] and a confidential assistant at the [[Office of Management and Budget]]; [[Michael Reed]], formerly director of whip operations for the House Minority Whip and senior adviser in the office of the Speaker; and [[Josh Arnold]], formerly deputy chief of staff to Senator [[Cynthia Lummis]].[^23]
Outside firms registered for the firm are [[Mehlman Consulting]] (registered May 9, 2023; 180,000 dollars for 2023, 300,000 dollars for 2024, 320,000 dollars for 2025 and 160,000 dollars for the first half of 2026), [[McDermott+]] (July 5, 2023 to the second quarter of 2026), [[Cornerstone Government Affairs]] (November 26, 2024; 100,000 dollars for 2024, 320,000 dollars for 2025 and 160,000 dollars for the first half of 2026), [[Miller Strategies]] (March 14, 2025; 410,000 dollars for 2025 and 240,000 dollars for the first half of 2026), [[BGR Government Affairs]] (March 20, 2025; 270,000 dollars for 2025 and 160,000 dollars for the first half of 2026), Zero Mile Strategies (February 10, 2026, on defense technology and acquisition reform in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act; 62,500 dollars), the [[Sternhell Group]] (2026, financial services; 150,000 dollars), Capitol Tax Partners (April 30, 2026) and Raab Government Strategies (July 16, 2026, on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act). Mehlman's filings list [[Bruce Mehlman]], formerly Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy; Miller Strategies lists [[Jonathan Hiler]], formerly director of legislative affairs to Vice President [[Mike Pence]]; BGR lists [[Joseph Lai]], formerly special assistant to the President for legislative affairs, and [[Patrick Ames]], formerly a senior policy adviser at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Zero Mile lists [[Christopher Vieson]], a former staff director of the [[House Armed Services Committee]], and [[Phil MacNaughton]], a former professional staff member of the committee; and Raab lists a former policy director to Senate Republican leader [[Mitch McConnell]]. Vieson and MacNaughton registered through The VM Group for [[Scale AI]] in 2026, and Mehlman and Cornerstone also represent Scale AI.[^23][^24]
### Family
Horowitz is the son of the writer and activist [[David Horowitz]], founder of the [[David Horowitz Freedom Center]], who died on April 29, 2025 at the age of 86. Misty Severi of Just the News and Heather Hunter of the [[Washington Examiner]] reported that David Horowitz was survived by his sons Ben and Jonathan and a daughter, that Ben Horowitz posted "Rest in Peace to my father," and that the family's obituary recounted that when Ben told Trump about his father the previous year, "President Trump's face immediately lit up and he insisted that Benjamin get David on the phone immediately."[^25][^26] Horowitz lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Felicia Horowitz, a trustee of the family foundation.[^11][^13]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Andreessen Horowitz. "Who We Are." a16z.com/about, accessed October 1, 2026. https://a16z.com/about/
[^2]: Andreessen Horowitz. "Ben Horowitz," biography and author page, a16z.com, accessed October 1, 2026. https://a16z.com/author/ben-horowitz/
[^3]: Loudcloud, Inc. Definitive proxy statement (Schedule 14A) for the annual meeting of June 26, 2001, filed May 25, 2001, accession 0001012870-01-501008, sections on directors, security ownership and executive compensation. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1100813/000101287001501008/ddef14a.txt
[^4]: Opsware Inc. Solicitation/Recommendation Statement (Schedule 14D-9), filed August 3, 2007, accession 0001047469-07-006048, "Background of the Offer," "Interests of Certain Persons" and acceleration tables. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1100813/000104746907006048/a2179079zsc14d9.htm
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01087665 (DataSet 9), AliphCom, Action by Unanimous Written Consent of the Board of Directors, May 2012, signature page EFTA01087668. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01087665.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00589426 (DataSet 9), "Authorization to Disburse Funds," AliphCom Series 8 Preferred Stock Financing. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00589426.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00835155 (DataSet 9), email of Richard Kahn to Jeffrey Epstein, "Fwd: Mort Series 8 Timeline," February 4, 2016, forwarding message of Andrew Lindsay of Jawbone. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00835155.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00793054 (DataSet 9), Notice of Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, AliphCom dba Jawbone, dated July 7, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00793054.pdf
[^9]: Horowitz, Ben. "Safety First." Andreessen Horowitz, October 11, 2024. https://a16z.com/safety-first/
[^10]: MacColl, Margaux, and Sean O'Kane. "Ben Horowitz's cozy relationship with the Las Vegas Police Department aided a16z portfolio company Skydio." TechCrunch, November 8, 2024. https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/08/ben-horowitzs-cozy-relationship-with-the-las-vegas-police-department-aided-a16z-portfolio-company-skydio/
[^11]: Atkinson, Estelle. "Donor's millions aid Las Vegas police, observers raise questions" (headline "'Blurring the lines'"). Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 6, 2025. https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/blurring-the-lines-as-donors-millions-aid-las-vegas-police-observers-raise-questions-3276842/
[^12]: Leggio, Akiya. "Las Vegas police Cybertrucks donated by venture capitalist Ben Horowitz." Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 26, 2025. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/las-vegas/venture-capital-firm-co-founder-funds-metro-cybertrucks-3311590/
[^13]: Horowitz Family Foundation (EIN 35-7050910), Form 990-PF e-file returns for fiscal years ended June 30: 2019 (IRS object 201903169349101270, download990xml_2019_2.zip), 2021 (202113159349103201, 2021_TEOS_XML_01A.zip), 2022 (202243189349107164, 2022_TEOS_XML_02A.zip), 2023 (202303189349101720, 2023_TEOS_XML_11A.zip), 2024 (202443099349101029, 2024_TEOS_XML_11A.zip) and 2025 (202601289349101920, 2026_TEOS_XML_05A.zip); Part VIII officers, Part XIV grants, balance sheets and Schedule B contributors and noncash property. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/
[^14]: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Foundation, formerly Friends for Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (EIN 88-0429730), Form 990 for 2023 (IRS object 202443209349324474, 2024_TEOS_XML_11A.zip) and 2024 (202531719349301233, 2025_TEOS_XML_06A.zip), https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/ ; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, filings 2011 to 2023, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/880429730.json ; IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Nevada, https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/eo_nv.csv
[^15]: Behind the Blue (EIN 83-4125717), Form 990 for 2024 (IRS object 202501629349301600, 2025_TEOS_XML_06A.zip) and 2025 (202601319349305765, 2026_TEOS_XML_05A.zip), https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/ ; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/834125717.json
[^16]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipts, contributor "Horowitz, Ben": Democratic Hope Fund, sub_id 4101220161340831485; GMI PAC, Inc., sub_id 4062420221531211249. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
[^17]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00835959 (Fairshake): committee record; Schedule A sub_ids 4021420241824800105, 4021420241824800108, 4062620241962823146, 4011320251129780939 and 4090820261595851229 (Horowitz) and the AH Capital Management and Andreessen entries of the same dates; committee totals for the 2024 and 2026 cycles. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00835959/ ; https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00835959/totals/
[^18]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipts, contributor names "Horowitz, Ben" and "Horowitz, Benjamin," two-year periods 2016 to 2026, minimum 10,000 dollars, queried October 1, 2026, including Protect Progress (sub_ids 4021620241825215174, 4020820251166868003, 4030420261386079637), Defend American Jobs (4020620241822088010, 4011620251132356569, 4030420261386107195), Senate Leadership Fund (4072320241978428485, 4071620241975074180, 4120420251296889061, 4070820261533602629), SMP (4071720241975953894, 4103020241011597927), NRSC (4032620241887526755, 4062320251206895252, 4032320261424905590), DSCC (4011520261302322980, 4032420261425235551) and Vance Victory (4080120241999430283). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
[^19]: Tangalakis-Lippert, Katherine. "Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz each donated $2.5 million to a pro-Donald Trump super PAC." Business Insider, via Yahoo News, October 16, 2024. https://www.yahoo.com/news/marc-andreessen-ben-horowitz-donated-024002094.html
[^20]: Federal Election Commission, committees C00867036 (Right for America) and C00609388 (BlackPAC): Schedule A sub_ids 4112020241071302621 (Horowitz to Right for America, July 22, 2024) and 4120620241075062279 (Horowitz to BlackPAC, October 7, 2024); committee totals for the 2024 cycle. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00867036/totals/ ; https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00609388/totals/
[^21]: Primack, Dan. "Scoop: VC titan Ben Horowitz plans 'significant' donation to Kamala Harris." Axios, October 4, 2024, including the text of Horowitz's email to employees. https://www.axios.com/2024/10/04/ben-horowitz-endorse-kamala-harris
[^22]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipts: MAGA Inc. (C00892471), sub_ids 4081920251218730892, 4081920251218730893 and 4060220261512109023; Leading the Future (C00916114), sub_ids 4030420261386103983 and 4042820261483765368. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
[^23]: U.S. Senate and House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings for clients "Andreessen Horowitz," "AH Capital Management" and "A16Z," 2023 to 2026, including A16Z Capital Management LLC registration posted January 25, 2023 (https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/7b18b8c6-dcd5-4e94-a6ba-e859e398de2a/print/), Mehlman Consulting registration posted May 9, 2023 (https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/304977a5-3e0a-4d06-9f69-f2e5cb0cfc09/print/), McDermott+ registration posted July 5, 2023 and termination posted July 6, 2026, Cornerstone Government Affairs registration posted November 26, 2024, Miller Strategies registration posted March 14, 2025, BGR Government Affairs registration posted March 20, 2025, Zero Mile Strategies registration posted February 10, 2026 (https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/8e23305c-2d46-4df0-a09b-afa9586f12be/print/), Sternhell Group, Capitol Tax Partners and Raab Government Strategies registrations. https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/?client_name=A16Z
[^24]: Lobbying Disclosure Act filings for client Scale AI: The VM Group registration posted August 28, 2026, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/4087f730-33fc-451b-952d-6e39e960ccd9/print/ ; Mehlman Consulting registration posted August 19, 2025, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/abdd7fa4-d0dd-46f6-a946-a16482f72509/print/ ; Cornerstone Government Affairs registration posted October 11, 2023, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/4bed6edb-c81c-41ff-aecb-e50754221888/print/
[^25]: Severi, Misty. "Conservative author and activist David Horowitz dies at 86." Just the News, April 29, 2025. https://justthenews.com/nation/culture/conservative-author-david-horowitz-dies-86
[^26]: Hunter, Heather. "Conservatives pay tribute following death of David Horowitz." Washington Examiner, April 30, 2025. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/3397321/conservatives-pay-tribute-death-david-horowitz/

181
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/G. Gordon Liddy.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- GordonLiddy
- Watergate
- Gemstone
- Plumbers
- FBI
- CommitteeToReElectThePresident
- Conviction
- Radio
- 1970s
alias:
- G. Gordon Liddy
- Gordon Liddy
- George Gordon Liddy
- George Gordon Battle Liddy
- George F. Leonard
summary: "Former FBI agent and Treasury aide who joined the Plumbers, planned Gemstone for Nixon's reelection committee, was convicted in Watergate and the Fielding break-in, and had his sentence commuted by Carter in 1977."
born: 1930-11-30
died: 2021-03-30
location: "Hoboken, New Jersey (born)"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
role: "special agent"
start: 1957
end: 1962
fn: 5
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Department of the Treasury]]"
role: "special assistant"
start: 1969
fn: 5
- type: member_of
with: "[[White House Plumbers]]"
role: "member"
start: 1971-07
fn: 12
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Egil Krogh]]"
role: "Plumbers staff member"
fn: 2
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Fielding break-in]]"
role: "organizer and lookout"
start: 1971-09-03
end: 1971-09-03
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Committee to Re-elect the President]]"
role: "general counsel"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Finance Committee to Re-elect the President]]"
role: "counsel"
start: 1972-03
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Watergate]]"
role: "planner of Gemstone and convicted conspirator"
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Watergate Special Prosecution Force]]"
reverse: true
fn: 2
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
George Gordon Battle Liddy (November 30, 1930 to March 30, 2021) was a former agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], a prosecutor in [[Dutchess County, New York]], an official of the [[Department of the Treasury]] and a member of the [[White House]] "[[White House Plumbers|Plumbers]]" unit. As general counsel and then finance committee counsel of the [[Committee to Re-elect the President]] he presented the intelligence plan known as Gemstone, and on January 30, 1973 he was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping offenses arising from the [[Watergate]] break-in; in 1974 he was also convicted for the 1971 burglary of the office of the psychiatrist of [[Daniel Ellsberg]]. [[Jimmy Carter]] commuted his sentence on April 12, 1977.[^1][^2][^3] He died on March 30, 2021.[^4]
### Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dutchess County and the Treasury Department
Edward Jay Epstein wrote in 1977 that Liddy graduated from [[Fordham University School of Law|Fordham Law School]] in 1957 and served the next five years in the FBI, becoming its youngest supervisor and a member of [[J. Edgar Hoover]]'s personal staff in Washington, where he wrote articles and speeches for the director; that he resigned in 1962 and practiced with his father in [[New York City]]; and that in 1966 he moved to [[Poughkeepsie, New York|Poughkeepsie]], carrying sealed recommendations from the FBI, and was hired as an assistant district attorney of Dutchess County by District Attorney [[Raymond Baratta]].[^5] The Poughkeepsie public library's local history account records that Liddy was married in Poughkeepsie in November 1957, was an assistant district attorney there during the 1960s, and in 1966 "nabbed [[LSD]] guru Timothy Leary and others" at the [[Hitchcock Estate]] in [[Millbrook, New York|Millbrook]].[^6] Epstein described the Millbrook raid as a "no knock" entry in the middle of the night in March 1966 and wrote that the charges were dismissed because Liddy had not advised [[Timothy Leary]] of his rights in the manner required by the Supreme Court's [[Miranda v. Arizona|Miranda]] decision of that year.[^5]
Epstein wrote that Liddy sought the Republican nomination for district attorney of Dutchess County in June 1968 and lost a party caucus, 25 to 4, then challenged Representative [[Hamilton Fish Jr.]] for the Republican congressional nomination and lost the primary by a few thousand votes, took the [[Conservative Party of New York State|New York Conservative Party]] line, and withdrew after [[Gerald R. Ford]], then House Republican leader, came to Poughkeepsie and arranged for Liddy to endorse Fish in return for a promise of a position in the Nixon administration. Epstein gave this account without attribution to a named participant.[^5] In 1969, Epstein wrote, Liddy became a special assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury under [[Eugene Rossides|Eugene T. Rossides]], who supervised the department's law enforcement bureaus, and Liddy was assigned to Task Force Number One, a joint [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] and Treasury task force on narcotics smuggling. Epstein wrote that Rossides feared Attorney General [[John Mitchell]] would use the task force to enlarge the Justice Department's domain at the expense of the [[United States Customs Service|Customs Bureau]] and that Liddy was assigned to protect Treasury's interests.[^5]
A [[Central Intelligence Agency]] record, prepared in answer to the question whether the agency had any other dealings with Liddy while he was in Treasury or at the White House, states that in December 1969 security action was initiated to grant Liddy a number of agency clearances in connection with his Treasury employment, at which time he was listed as a member of the Presidential Task Force reporting on narcotics, marijuana and dangerous drugs; that in August 1971 he was briefed on several additional sensitive programs in connection with his assignment to the White House staff; that memoranda prepared in 1971 (the catalog text is partly illegible) indicated he was working with [[David R. Young]] on the investigation of leaks of classified information to the news media; and that he was debriefed from these special clearances on February 22, 1972. The record concludes that "Mr. Liddy held Agency clearances because of his White House duties, but he was not utilized by CIA."[^7]
On July 26, 1973 Henry S. Ruth, Deputy Special Prosecutor of the [[Watergate Special Prosecution Force]], wrote to John S. Warner, the CIA's Acting General Counsel, about questions arising in the investigation of [[ITT Corporation|ITT]] and "the persons who were employed by Gordon Liddy, E. Howard Hunt, and Bernard Barker." The letter asked whether the CIA had employed or been associated with Felipe de Diego, Pablo Fernandez, Angelo Ferrer, Hiram Gonzalez, Humberto Lopez and [[Hal Hendrix]]; whether it knew of intelligence or undercover activities by ITT against the Chilean government in the [[United States]]; whether it knew of arrangements between ITT and the [[Robert R. Mullen Company|Mullen Company]]; whether it had any working relationship with the ITT Public Relations Office at 495 Biltmore Way, [[Coral Gables, Florida|Coral Gables]], Florida; and whether it was aware "of any intelligence or undercover activities performed by Howard Hunt and/or Gordon Liddy for ITT." Warner forwarded the letter on August 3, 1973 to Bill Nelson with a note that it should be cross-checked with the [[CIA Office of Security|Office of Security]]. The reply of the CIA's Cover and Commercial Staff dated August 7, 1973, which describes the letter as dated July 29, responds to the third and fourth questions only, stating that the staff had never discussed with the Mullen Company any association with ITT, that the Mullen file contained two brochures listing no ITT among its clients, and that the staff had no relationship with or information about the Coral Gables office; the released document does not address the fifth question.[^8][^9]
Attorney General Mitchell testified in 1973 that when Liddy was brought to him in November 1971 he understood Liddy to have been an assistant prosecutor in New York State, a candidate for Congress, an FBI agent, a Treasury employee and then a White House staff member.[^10]
### The Plumbers and the Fielding Break-in
[[John W. Dean]], testifying in 1973, said that he learned through [[Jack Caulfield]] that Liddy had a falling out with Rossides at Treasury and that [[Egil Krogh]] "waded into the middle of the dispute by hiring Liddy and bringing him into the White House."[^11] The Senate committee's final report stated that the Plumbers unit, under Krogh and David Young, added Liddy and [[Howard Hunt]] in July 1971, both being known to the White House as persons with investigative experience; the court of appeals dated the formation of the unit to the summer of 1971, after publication of the [[Pentagon Papers]].[^12][^13] The court of appeals recorded that Liddy was hired by Krogh with the approval of [[John Ehrlichman]] to investigate leaks of classified information.[^2]
After Ellsberg's psychiatrist, Dr. [[Lewis Fielding]], declined to be interviewed by FBI agents, the unit proposed a covert entry into his [[Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills]] office. Hunt traveled to Miami in mid-August 1971 to recruit [[Bernard Barker]], who had worked under him in the [[Bay of Pigs]] operation, and Barker recruited [[Eugenio Martinez]] and [[Felipe de Diego]]. On August 25, 1971 Liddy gained entry to Fielding's office by misrepresenting his identity to a cleaning woman in order to take reconnaissance photographs; he purchased supplies for the operation. Hunt and Liddy met the three Miami men at a Beverly Hills hotel on September 2, 1971. On the night of September 3 Barker, Martinez and de Diego entered the office and forced a file cabinet, and Liddy kept a lookout nearby. The file on Ellsberg was not found.[^2][^13]
California indicted Liddy on September 4, 1973 for the break-in. At the request of Special Prosecutor [[Leon Jaworski]], and over Liddy's objection, the California prosecution was dismissed on March 11, 1974, four days after a federal grand jury indicted Liddy, Ehrlichman, Barker, Martinez and de Diego on March 7, 1974 for conspiring to violate Fielding's Fourth Amendment rights.[^2][^13] The jury convicted Liddy on July 12, 1974, and on July 31, 1974 Judge [[Gerhard Gesell]] sentenced him to one to three years, to run concurrently with his Watergate sentence. The court of appeals affirmed on May 17, 1976 in an opinion that rejected claims that the indictment was defective, that the California dismissal violated his speedy trial and due process rights, and that the trial court had erred in refusing to enforce two subpoenas duces tecum.[^2]
On the same day the court of appeals reversed the convictions of Barker and Martinez, who had been sentenced to probation, in a per curiam opinion accompanied by separate opinions of Judges Wilkey and Merhige and a partial dissent by Judge Leventhal.[^14] At a hearing on February 22, 1979, Chief Judge William B. Bryant ruled that the "Barker-Martinez defense," which the court described as reasonable reliance on the authority of superiors, was available to the former FBI officials [[W. Mark Felt]] and [[Edward S. Miller]], who had been indicted in April 1978 on charges of conspiring to deprive relatives and acquaintances of [[Weather Underground]] fugitives of their rights through surreptitious entries; the Justice Department at the time was headed by Attorney General [[Griffin Bell]].[^15]
### General Counsel to the Reelection Committee
According to the court of appeals, Liddy was hired by the reelection committee in late 1971 as general counsel; in January 1972 he agreed to organize an intelligence gathering operation; and in March 1972 he moved to the Finance Committee to Re-elect the President as its counsel while continuing the intelligence assignment.[^1] Dean testified that Krogh suggested Liddy for the general counsel post, that Krogh obtained Ehrlichman's approval, and that Dean arranged an interview with Mitchell on November 24, 1971, for which Liddy prepared an agenda. Dean described it as a general job interview with virtually no discussion of intelligence plans; on December 8 [[Jeb Stuart Magruder]] interviewed Liddy briefly and asked him to start work as soon as possible.[^16] Mitchell testified that Krogh brought Liddy to his office on December 8 on a drug abuse law enforcement program, and that he did not then know Liddy worked for Krogh as one of the Plumbers.[^10]
Magruder testified that during Liddy's first week Liddy told him he had discussed a broad intelligence plan with members of the White House staff, mentioning Dean in particular, and had been told he would have a budget of about $1 million. Dean testified that he had not encouraged Liddy's plans and had told Liddy that he would not discuss them.[^17][^18] Hunt testified that in late November 1971 Liddy told him that Attorney General Mitchell had proposed the establishment of a large-scale intelligence and counterintelligence program with Liddy as its chief, and that he and Liddy designed a budget for it under the code name Gemstone. Hunt added that in April 1972 Liddy told him the Watergate operation would be undertaken as part of Gemstone, on information, from what Hunt understood to be a government agency, that the Cuban government was supplying funds to the [[Democratic Party]] campaign, and that entries were made on May 27 and June 17, 1972.[^19]
Magruder, Dean and Mitchell each testified about the meetings in the Attorney General's office on January 27 and February 4, 1972, at which Liddy presented charts and a plan with a budget of about $1 million, later scaled down. Magruder testified that the projects included wiretapping, photography, the abduction of radical leaders to Mexico during the [[San Diego]] convention, and call girls; Dean testified that the plan also included mugging squads and that Liddy described interception of communications between ground facilities and aircraft; Mitchell testified that he told Liddy "to go burn the charts" and described the presentation as "a complete horror story."[^20][^21][^22] Magruder testified that Mitchell approved a revised $250,000 plan on March 30 at [[Key Biscayne, Florida|Key Biscayne]]; Mitchell denied it and testified that the plan was rejected for the third time. The court of appeals affirming the convictions of Mitchell, Haldeman and Ehrlichman summarized the evidence at that trial as showing that Mitchell gave approval on that date.[^23][^24][^25]
Money for the operation passed through the Finance Committee. [[Hugh Sloan]], its treasurer, testified that in April 1972 Liddy consulted him about four checks drawn on a Mexican bank, payable to and endorsed by [[Manuel Ogarrio]], and the two agreed to convert them into cash with the help of Liddy's friends around the country. These checks and a check of $114,000 payable to a member of the finance committee were deposited in a Miami bank account by Barker and Martinez on April 20, 1972, and most of the funds were withdrawn by Barker within two weeks. Liddy returned $111,500 in $100 bills to Sloan, and Sloan testified that he turned over to Liddy a total of $199,000 in cash, mostly in $100 bills, which Liddy gave to [[James McCord]], the committee's security chief. Bills of that denomination were later found in sequence on McCord and the four other men arrested in the [[Democratic National Committee]] offices on June 17.[^1] In his questioning of Mitchell, committee counsel stated that Sloan had testified that Liddy asked for an initial payment of $83,000 on a $250,000 budget.[^26]
### The Arrests and the Silence
The court of appeals summarized the evidence on the arrests. Liddy telephoned Barker before the Miami men traveled to Washington in May and June 1972; six of the defendants using aliases checked into a Washington hotel on May 22 and rented rooms at the [[Watergate complex|Watergate Hotel]] until May 29; and [[Alfred Baldwin]], a former FBI agent hired by McCord, monitored the Democratic National Committee telephones from rooms 419 and 723 of the [[Howard Johnson Motel]] across the street. Baldwin testified that Hunt and Liddy visited room 419 on May 26 and that the two later surveyed the DNC offices from the balcony of room 723.[^1] On June 17, 1972 Baldwin saw two men leave an alleyway near the building after police arrived, identified one as Hunt and said the other was wearing a suit he recognized as Liddy's. Attorney [[Douglas Caddy]] testified that Hunt telephoned Liddy at about 5 a.m. from Caddy's apartment, and that a few days later Liddy directed Caddy to pay $2,500 of the cash Hunt had given him to the criminal lawyer retained for the five men. Sloan testified that Liddy met him in a hallway that morning and said, "my boys got caught last night; I made a mistake; I used somebody from here which I said I'd never do. I'm afraid I am going to lose my job." Liddy later asked about the committee's largest shredding machine and was seen with a large stack of papers at the shredder.[^1]
[[Richard Kleindienst]], the new Attorney General, testified that on Saturday, June 17, Liddy and [[Powell Moore]] came to the [[Burning Tree Club]], where Kleindienst was playing in a tournament; that Liddy appeared agitated, said that he had been asked to report on the Watergate break-in and that some of those arrested might be employed by the White House or the reelection committee, and (in Kleindienst's less precise recollection) said that Mitchell had asked him to come; that Kleindienst telephoned Assistant Attorney General [[Henry Petersen]] to instruct that those arrested receive no special treatment; and that he told Liddy to leave.[^27] Mitchell testified that from February 4 until June 15, 1972, when Liddy came to his office about a letter to the *[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]*, he had no conversation with Liddy.[^28]
Dean testified that after the arrests he asked Liddy to meet him and that, shortly before noon, they walked down 17th Street toward the [[Corcoran Gallery of Art|Corcoran Gallery]]; Mitchell placed Dean's first debriefing of Liddy on June 19. Dean said Liddy told him the arrested men were his men, that Magruder had pressed him into the operation because the committee was not getting good information from an earlier bug, that Liddy had used McCord because Magruder had cut his budget, that the men were friends of Hunt, and that no one at the White House was involved.[^28][^29] [[Robert Bennett]], Hunt's employer, testified at trial that on July 2 Liddy told him he had lost his job at the committee for failing to cooperate fully with the FBI.[^1]
### Conviction, Sentence and Refusal to Testify
On January 8, 1973 jury selection began before Chief Judge [[John Sirica|John J. Sirica]]; five defendants changed their pleas to guilty, and on January 30, 1973 the jury found Liddy and McCord guilty. Liddy was convicted of conspiracy, two counts of burglary, and three counts of endeavoring to intercept and intercepting communications. He did not testify. On March 23, 1973 Sirica sentenced him to a total of not less than six years and eight months and not more than 20 years, with a $40,000 fine. The appellate caption lists the alias George F. Leonard. The en banc court of appeals affirmed on November 8, 1974.[^1]
The [[Senate Watergate Committee]]'s final report stated that its knowledge of Liddy's activities came from sources other than Liddy, who refused to testify at an executive session on June 4, 1973 even after being instructed to do so upon the conferral of use immunity under a court order. The report stated that Liddy's role in Gemstone was detailed through the testimony of McCord, Magruder, Dean, Mitchell and Hunt.[^30] Dean had testified that he "never understood how the Liddy plan had been approved" and that Magruder had indicated to him that there had been White House pressure to get the plan moving.[^31]
### Commutation and Release
On April 12, 1977 President Carter signed an order commuting Liddy's sentence from 20 years to eight years, making him eligible for parole on July 9, 1977 and fixing a mandatory release date, with good time, of September 30, 1980. The order recited that Liddy had begun serving his sentence on January 30, 1973, was confined at the [[Federal Prison Camp, Allenwood|Federal Prison Camp at Allenwood]], Pennsylvania, and had not paid the $40,000 fine, which remained in effect. The order was countersigned by Attorney General Griffin Bell, and the White House announcement stated that the President took the action "in the interest of equity and fairness based on a comparison of Mr. Liddy's sentence with those of all others convicted in Watergate related prosecutions."[^3] The Justice Department official biography of Bell records that he was sworn in as Attorney General on January 26, 1977.[^32] The *[[The New York Times|New York Times]]*, reporting on Liddy's memoir in April 1980, stated that he left prison in September 1977 after serving 52 months, longer than any other Watergate defendant.[^33]
### Writing, Speaking and Private Security Work
Liddy published a novel, *Out of Control* ([[St. Martin's Press|St. Martin's]], 1979), reviewed in *[[Newsweek]]* on October 15, 1979, and an autobiography, *Will* (St. Martin's, 1980).[^33][^34] In October 1981 he spoke to a standing-room audience at the [[University of Texas at Austin|University of Texas]] on a national campus tour; the *[[Austin American-Statesman]]* reported that he said the Central Intelligence Agency had been weakened by "illusions" and that the assassination of President [[Anwar Sadat]] earlier that day might have been anticipated by a strong covert intelligence service, and that he told the audience he had been in nine different prisons.[^35] In 1985 the [[United States Tax Court]], in a dispute with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] over more than $150,000 in claimed back taxes and penalties, heard Liddy describe how he spent more than $340,000 as director of covert activities for the 1972 campaign, including $30,000 for a room bugging device, $2,270 for prostitutes at the Miami convention, $500 for [[Donald Segretti]]'s work against Senator [[Edmund Muskie]], and $300 for cartoons of Senator [[Edward Kennedy]] drawn by a CIA artist, according to [[United Press International]]; Judge [[Samuel Sterrett]] accepted Liddy's testimony in part, finding tax due on $45,430 rather than the IRS's $174,800 and rescinding a $51,766 fraud penalty.[^36]
On March 18, 1987 the [[Associated Press]] reported from [[Santa Ana, California]] that Liddy had opened a school, the Academy of Corporate Security and Private Investigation, charging $1,500 a week and bringing classes to students, and that he also operated a security company offering drug investigations and detection of illegal surveillance.[^37] In an October 1986 interview with *[[USA Today]]*, according to United Press International, Liddy said he ran the G. Gordon Liddy Academy of Corporate Security in Florida and commanded the "Hurricane Force," a group of professional soldiers "organized to perform extraction missions (in Third World countries) for private parties."[^38]
Liddy hosted a syndicated radio program for two decades, with a career at [[Radio America (United States)|Radio America]] that ended with his retirement in 2012, and appeared in television roles including an episode of *[[Miami Vice]]*.[^4][^39]
### Statements About Plots to Kill Jack Anderson and Howard Hunt
The *New York Times* reported on April 14, 1980, summarizing excerpts from *Will* published in *[[Time (magazine)|Time]]*, that Liddy wrote that a plan to kill the columnist [[Jack Anderson]] arose over lunch in Washington with Hunt and a CIA operative, was suggested because an Anderson column had supposedly compromised an American agent abroad, and preceded the Watergate burglary. According to the excerpts, a plan to kill Anderson with LSD was dismissed as impractical, and Liddy then volunteered to kill him on a Washington street but was advised by Hunt to "forget" it. The same report stated that Liddy wrote that he had been prepared to participate in a project to poison Hunt in prison for cooperating with prosecutors and that he had arranged for Hunt's food to be poisoned if a coded message arrived, which, he wrote, never came.[^33]
The New York *Daily News* reported on April 18, 1980 that Liddy said on two network television programs that Anderson was "a pain in the butt" to the Nixon White House and that assassinating him would have been "justifiable homicide," that he had made the recommendation at a White House meeting at which Hunt first suggested drugging Anderson with LSD, and that Anderson's columns had compromised an intelligence agent who was unmasked, tortured and killed. Anderson, meeting Liddy on the program, said that neither Liddy nor anyone else could name a CIA agent tortured or killed as a result of his columns: "It never happened." Liddy answered that he had not said CIA agent. Hunt declined to appear on the second program; the report stated that Hunt said he never discussed with Liddy a need to kill Anderson, that they considered how to discredit Anderson with LSD, and that they dropped the matter when a retired CIA doctor said attempts of that kind overseas had been unsuccessful.[^40]
United Press International reported on October 31, 1986 that Liddy told *USA Today* that he would have killed Anderson and Hunt if ordered to do so, that the decision had to be taken "from a much higher level than I was," that he had been ordered to discuss the Anderson problem with "[[Edward Gunn|Dr. Edward Gunn]] of the CIA," whom he described as "the CIA's assassination expert," and that "it was not until an Anderson column caused the death of one of our intelligence people posted abroad that that thought was even entertained." The report added that published reports in 1975 had said that a senior official in the Nixon White House ordered Anderson killed and the death made to look accidental.[^38]
### Footnotes
[^1]: *United States v. Liddy*, 509 F.2d 428 (D.C. Cir. 1974) (en banc) (No. 73-1565), decided November 8, 1974, introductory paragraphs, Part I, and nn. 2 and 3. https://static.case.law/f2d/509/cases/0428-01.json
[^2]: *United States v. Liddy*, 542 F.2d 76 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (No. 74-1885), decided May 17, 1976. https://static.case.law/f2d/542/cases/0076-01.json
[^3]: Jimmy Carter, "Commutation of G. Gordon Liddy's Prison Sentence: Announcement of the Commutation, With the Text of the Order," April 12, 1977, The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/commutation-g-gordon-liddys-prison-sentence-announcement-the-commutation-with-the-text-the
[^4]: "Chief Operative Behind Watergate Scandal, G. Gordon Liddy, Dies At 90," NPR, *Morning Edition*, March 31, 2021 (transcript; born in Hoboken, N.J.; died Tuesday at his daughter's home in Virginia; 52 months in prison; talk show for 20 years until 2012). Other accounts give Brooklyn as the birthplace (Epstein, below) and 1929 as the birth year; contemporaneous reports in 1980 and 1987 give ages (49 and 56) consistent with a birth in November 1930. https://www.npr.org/2021/03/31/982953846/chief-operative-behind-watergate-scandal-g-gordon-liddy-dies-at-90
[^5]: Edward Jay Epstein, *Agency of Fear: Opiates and Political Power in America* (1977), ch. 3, "G. Gordon Liddy: The Will to Power." http://www.druglibrary.net/schaffer/History/aof/aof3.html
[^6]: Bill Kleppel, "G. Gordon Liddy and Family," Adriance Memorial Library (Poughkeepsie Public Library District). https://poklib.org/g-gordon-liddy-and-family/
[^7]: Central Intelligence Agency, question and response concerning other dealings with Liddy (catalog date 1972), CIA Reading Room document C01482344. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-01482344
[^8]: Letter, Henry S. Ruth Jr., Deputy Special Prosecutor, Watergate Special Prosecution Force, to John S. Warner, Acting General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, July 26, 1973, with routing slip of August 3, 1973, CIA Reading Room document C01482382. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-01482382
[^9]: Memorandum, Chief, Cover and Commercial Staff, to C/WH, "Inquiry regarding possible ITT association with CIA and Robert R. Mullen and Company," August 7, 1973, CIA Reading Room document C01367838. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-01367838
[^10]: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Senate Resolution 60: Watergate and Related Activities*, hearings, 93d Cong., 1st sess., Book 4 (1973), testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1608-1609. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^11]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3 (1973), testimony of John W. Dean III, p. 920. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
[^12]: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *The Final Report* (1974; Dell paperback edition, *The Senate Watergate Report*), p. 63. https://archive.org/details/senatewatergater01unit
[^13]: *United States v. Ehrlichman*, 546 F.2d 910 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (No. 74-1882), decided May 17, 1976, Part I. https://static.case.law/f2d/546/cases/0910-01.json
[^14]: *United States v. Barker*, 546 F.2d 940 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (Nos. 74-1883, 74-1884), decided May 17, 1976. https://static.case.law/f2d/546/cases/0940-01.json
[^15]: *United States v. Felt*, 491 F. Supp. 179 (D.D.C. 1979) (Crim. No. 78-00179) (Bryant, C.J.), decided December 21, 1979; *Gray v. Bell*, 712 F.2d 490, 493-494 (D.C. Cir. 1983) (indictment of Gray, Felt and Miller, April 1978). https://static.case.law/f-supp/491/cases/0179-01.json and https://static.case.law/f2d/712/cases/0490-01.json
[^16]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, pp. 927-928. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
[^17]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 2 (1973), testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, pp. 786-787. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp02unit
[^18]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, pp. 930-931. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
[^19]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 9 (1973), testimony of E. Howard Hunt, p. 3663. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp09unit
[^20]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 2, testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, pp. 787-788. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp02unit
[^21]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, pp. 929-931. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
[^22]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1610-1611. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^23]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 2, testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, pp. 794-795. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp02unit
[^24]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1615-1616. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^25]: *United States v. Haldeman*, 559 F.2d 31 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (en banc), Part I.A. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/559/559.F2d.31.6.8.12.23.75-1384.html
[^26]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, p. 1616 (question of committee counsel Samuel Dash). https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^27]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 9, testimony of Richard G. Kleindienst, August 7, 1973, pp. 3560-3562. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp09unit
[^28]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1619-1620. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^29]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, p. 932. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
[^30]: *The Final Report* (Dell paperback edition, *The Senate Watergate Report*), p. 74, citing Liddy executive session, June 4, 1973. https://archive.org/details/senatewatergater01unit
[^31]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, p. 956. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
[^32]: U.S. Department of Justice, "Griffin Boyette Bell," Attorneys General biographies. https://www.justice.gov/ag/bio/bell-griffin-boyette
[^33]: "Assassination Plots Described by Liddy," *New York Times*, April 14, 1980, as reproduced in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710021-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710021-5
[^34]: Peter S. Prescott, "From Liddy with Love," review of *Out of Control*, *Newsweek*, October 15, 1979, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP88-01350R000200160018-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01350r000200160018-8
[^35]: "Liddy Says 'Illusions' Weakened Spy Agency," *Austin American-Statesman*, October 7, 1981, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710012-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710012-5
[^36]: "Liddy Spills Watergate-Era Tricks to Tax Court," United Press International, August 17, 1985, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710004-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710004-4
[^37]: "Liddy Opens School for Private Security," Associated Press, in *New York Times*, March 19, 1987, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710006-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710006-2
[^38]: "Liddy Says He Would Have Killed If Ordered," United Press International, October 31, 1986, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710003-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710003-5
[^39]: Eddie Scarry, "G. Gordon Liddy Ends 20-year Radio Run," *Adweek*, September 20, 2012. https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/gordon-liddy-retirement-marsha-blackburn/
[^40]: Thomas Raftery and Donald Singleton, "Liddy: Murder Was Rx for Our Pain in Papers," *New York Daily News*, April 18, 1980, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710019-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710019-8

201
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Howard Hughes.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- HowardHughes
- HughesToolCompany
- SummaCorporation
- HughesAircraft
- HowardHughesMedicalInstitute
- RobertMaheu
- Intertel
- ProjectAzorian
- Watergate
- HughesRebozo
- CIA
- LasVegas
- Nevada
alias:
- Howard Hughes
- Howard R. Hughes
- Howard Robard Hughes
- Howard R. Hughes Jr.
- Howard Robard Hughes Jr.
summary: "Sole owner of Hughes Tool Company (later Summa Corporation) whose cash gift to Bebe Rebozo, Nevada casino purchases and company name on the CIA's Glomar Explorer run through Senate, court and CIA records."
born: 1905-12-24
died: 1976-04-05
location: "Houston, Texas / Las Vegas, Nevada"
relations:
- type: owned
with: "[[Hughes Tool Company]]"
role: "sole owner of Hughes Tool Company, later Summa Corporation"
fn: 3
- type: founded
with: "[[Howard Hughes Medical Institute]]"
role: "founder and sole trustee"
start: 1953-12-17
fn: 4
- type: represented
with: "[[Robert Maheu]]"
reverse: true
role: "personal representative and head of Nevada operations"
end: 1970-12-05
fn: 3
- type: represented
with: "[[Chester Davis]]"
reverse: true
role: "lawyer"
fn: 2
- type: represented
with: "[[Edward P. Morgan]]"
reverse: true
role: "Washington lawyer"
fn: 9
- type: represented
with: "[[Robert R. Mullen Company]]"
reverse: true
role: "Washington public relations under Robert Bennett"
fn: 21
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Intertel]]"
reverse: true
role: "security and management consultants, Nevada casinos"
start: 1970-12
fn: 17
- type: funded
with: "[[Bebe Rebozo]]"
role: "100,000 dollars in cash delivered by Richard Danner, returned in June 1973"
start: 1969-09
end: 1973-06
fn: 11
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities]]"
role: "requested to testify; subpoena approved but never served"
fn: 9
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Project Azorian]]"
role: "Hughes Tool Company named as owner of the Hughes Glomar Explorer"
start: 1971-04
fn: 25
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Annette Gano Lummis]]"
role: "nephew"
fn: 1
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was born on December 24, 1905, and died on April 5, 1976, aboard an aircraft on the way to [[Houston, Texas|Houston]].[^1] His father invented and patented the modern oil-drill bit, which was leased for 30,000 dollars a well; Hughes inherited a majority interest in the company at nineteen and bought out his relatives. In December 1970 his holdings in oil-drilling equipment, aerospace, electronics, airlines, communications and real estate were privately owned and not subject to public reporting requirements, and *[[Time (magazine)|Time]]* estimated their value at 1.4 billion to 2 billion dollars. Hughes companies then employed about 65,000 people, and the [[Hughes Tool Company]] held about 60 percent of the world market for drill bits.[^2] Hughes Tool, later renamed [[Summa Corporation]], was the holding company for most of the holdings, and Hughes was its sole owner.[^3]
### Hughes Aircraft and the Medical Institute
The [[Howard Hughes Medical Institute]] was incorporated in [[Delaware]] on December 17, 1953, with Hughes as its trustee, holding full power to manage and control its affairs. An executive committee was created the same day. The institute was funded by the transfer to it of the electronics division of the Hughes holdings, the [[Hughes Aircraft Company]], all of whose stock it afterward held. The [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruled on March 1, 1957 that the institute was a charitable corporation exempt from federal income tax. On July 3, 1968, by a "Resolution of Trustee" that, according to the complaint of the attorney general of Delaware, Hughes caused to be adopted, the executive committee was delegated all the powers that Delaware law conferred on the board of a business corporation.[^4][^5] In 1970 *Time* described Hughes Aircraft, an electronics and satellite company, as controlled by the medical foundation, "of which Howard Hughes is sole trustee."[^2]
### Robert Maheu and the Central Intelligence Agency
Hughes retained [[Robert Maheu]], a former [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] agent, in 1953 according to *Time*, and in 1954 or 1955 according to Maheu's own testimony. In that testimony, as summarized by the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|Ninth Circuit]], Hughes several times said that Maheu would be his "alter ego," representing him before government agencies; from 1961 through 1965 Maheu was his personal representative at all levels of government; and Maheu never had a face-to-face conversation with Hughes in the course of a fourteen-year relationship, all communication being by telephone or written memorandum.[^2][^3]
The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] had earlier paid Maheu a 500 dollar retainer, ended when his detective agency became more lucrative. In late August or early September 1960 the agency's Operational Support Chief, Maheu's case officer, asked him to approach [[Johnny Roselli]] about a plan to "dispose" of [[Fidel Castro]]. "At first Maheu was reluctant to become involved in the operation because it might interfere with his relationship with his new client, Howard Hughes." Maheu testified to the [[Church Committee]] that shortly before the November 1960 election, while he was in [[Miami]] on the assassination project, Hughes telephoned and asked him to return to the West Coast, and that, not wanting to lose Hughes as a client, he "definitely told him that the project was on behalf of the [[United States]] Government," including plans to dispose of Castro in connection with a pending invasion.[^6]
A CIA memorandum for the record dated May 20, 1971, written by an agency employee seeking employment who had been introduced to the president of [[Intertel]], records that in the early 1960s Maheu closed his [[Washington, D.C.]] office, took Hughes as his sole client and moved to [[Los Angeles]]. Its author wrote that during 1962 to 1964 he was himself "working out the details of a nonofficial cover arrangement with the Aircraft Division of the Hughes Tool Company in Culver City, California," that Rhea Hopper, the vice president in charge of the division, "was the principle cleared witting official," that it was "doubtful that details of this arrangement ever reached Mr. Hughes himself," and that Maheu "was cut in as a pickup for insurance." The same memorandum states that Maheu had first done subcontract investigative work for Hughes in the early 1950s, during the Senate hearings conducted by Senator [[Owen Brewster]].[^7]
### Trans World Airlines
In 1944 the [[Civil Aeronautics Board]] approved control of [[Trans World Airlines]] by Hughes Tool, and from 1944 to 1960 every acquisition and lease of aircraft by the airline from the company, and every financing, received the board's approval; in 1960 the company's TWA stock was placed in a voting trust. TWA sued Hughes Tool for treble damages in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] on June 30, 1961. On February 1, 1963 the district court ordered Howard Hughes to appear for a deposition and the company to produce documents it had refused to produce. On February 8 the company filed a "notice of position" resting on the merits of its positions, which constituted a default, and judgment was entered against it on May 3, 1963. The damages were confirmed at more than 145 million dollars with interest. On January 10, 1973 the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] reversed, holding in *[[Hughes Tool Co. v. Trans World Airlines]]*, 409 U.S. 363, that the challenged transactions had been under the board's control and surveillance and were immune from the antitrust laws.[^8] Hughes had sold his TWA shares in 1966 at 86 dollars each and collected 546 million dollars.[^2]
### Las Vegas
Hughes moved to [[Las Vegas]] in November 1966, and Maheu contracted through his own company to manage the hotels, casinos and other properties Hughes began to acquire, reporting to Hughes rather than to the executives of Hughes Tool.[^9] *Time* noted that [[Nevada]] had no inheritance taxes. Hughes lived for four years in the penthouse of the [[Desert Inn]]; by 1970 his Nevada holdings, valued by *Time* at 300 million dollars, included the Desert Inn, the [[Sands Hotel|Sands]], the [[Landmark Hotel|Landmark]], the [[Frontier Hotel|Frontier]] and the [[Castaways Hotel|Castaways]], the [[Silver Slipper Casino|Silver Slipper]], [[Harolds Club]] in [[Reno, Nevada|Reno]], the [[North Las Vegas Airport]] and the regional airline renamed [[Hughes Air West]]. Roselli held a gift-shop lease at the Frontier and said he had collected a finder's fee when the Desert Inn was sold to Hughes. State officials examining the books of the Sands in the summer of 1970 found 186,000 dollars in markers, some signed with fictitious names, which Hughes's managers wished to write off as bad debts and which the officials refused to allow. Hughes became suspicious of his Las Vegas employees in February 1970 after a tip from federal investigators examining kickbacks and skimming in the Nevada operation.[^2]
Hughes's purchases drew the [[Department of Justice]]. In 1968, after Hughes had promised the [[Nevada Gaming Commission]] that the [[Stardust Resort and Casino|Stardust]] would be his last major acquisition, the department's [[Antitrust Division]] prepared a civil complaint against the purchase, signed by Attorney General [[Ramsey Clark]] and scheduled for filing in late June 1968; Hughes's representatives postponed the merger shortly before it was to be filed. The Landmark, presented as a failing company, was approved in writing on January 17, 1969.[^10]
Maheu testified that he was consulted on which political leaders Hughes should support, that Hughes knew of and approved all political contributions, and that Hughes saw them as ensuring access and influence. By 1969 Hughes's cash contributions were drawn from the Silver Slipper, which Hughes owned as a sole proprietorship. A memorandum from Hughes to Maheu, undated, found in the files of the [[Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities|Senate Watergate committee]], reads in part: "Bob, as soon as this predicament is settled, I want you to go see Nixon as my special confidential emissary. I feel there is a really valid possibility of a Republican victory this year. If that could be realized under our sponsorship and supervision every inch of the way then we would be ready to follow with Gov. [[Paul Laxalt]] as our next candidate."[^9]
### The Contribution to Bebe Rebozo
[[Richard Danner]] had been the FBI special agent in charge in Miami from 1940 to 1946, when he left to manage the first congressional campaign of [[George Smathers]]; after the 1950 election he introduced Senator-elect [[Richard Nixon]] to [[Bebe Rebozo]] at [[Key Biscayne, Florida|Key Biscayne]]. Danner testified that in 1968 Nixon or Rebozo asked him to learn whether Hughes would contribute to the campaign, and that Rebozo suggested he raise it with [[Edward P. Morgan]], who represented Hughes. Maheu said Hughes approved 50,000 dollars in cash, seeing a contribution through Rebozo as a means of ensuring access to Nixon. On September 9, 1968 Maheu received 150,000 dollars in two checks from the Hughes executive [[Nadine Henley]], to be used in part for a contribution to Nixon. Danner, Rebozo and Morgan met for breakfast on September 11, 1968. Rebozo testified that he was uneasy about taking cash from Hughes through Morgan because of the 1956 loan from Hughes to [[F. Donald Nixon]], the candidate's brother, and because Morgan represented [[Drew Pearson]]; the [[White House]] denied that Nixon had discussed a Hughes contribution with Danner, and Danner's diary recorded a call from the candidate "re finances" on September 27, 1968. In December 1968 Maheu received 100,000 dollars in cash, 50,000 of which he tried to deliver to the President-elect or an aide at [[Palm Springs, California|Palm Springs]].[^9][^11]
Danner joined the Hughes organization in February 1969. The Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities found that the first delivery of 50,000 dollars to Rebozo took place on September 11 or 12, 1969 at Key Biscayne; Rebozo later moved the date to 1970, and Danner changed his testimony after consulting Rebozo. The committee listed four possible delivery dates (September 11-12, 1969; July 3, 1970; August 19-20, 1970; and October 28-30, 1970) and four possible packets of cash, from the Sands in early December 1968, from Henley on December 5, 1968 and July 11, 1969, and from the Hughes lawyer Thomas Bell out of the Silver Slipper on October 26, 1970.[^11] Asked about a trip to Key Biscayne, made with Maheu, that he had once taken to be the occasion of a delivery, Danner testified: "My recollection of the reason for that trip was to contact Mr. Rebozo and discuss the dumping of the nerve gas."[^12] Danner insisted that the money was requested for the 1970 congressional campaigns; Maheu testified that the first payment fulfilled the 1968 pledge and that the second was to ensure the Hughes people "an entree with the Nixon administration"; Rebozo testified that it was for the 1972 presidential campaign.[^13]
In the same period the books of Hughes Tool recorded other political money handled by Maheu. A check for 50,000 dollars dated May 13, 1969 was payable to Robert A. Maheu Associates, with a receipt marked "Nevada and L.V. local," which [[Chester Davis]] said the testimony of Henley identified as being for state and local contributions; Davis declined to produce an accountants' list of cash withdrawals from the Silver Slipper as the work product of litigation.[^14] In Maheu's later libel case, Summa pointed to 100,000 dollars Maheu received from Hughes's personal bank account in May 1970 "ostensibly for political contributions," of which about 13,000 dollars was so used and 87,000 dollars carried on Maheu's books as a debt to Hughes; to 59,000 dollars taken from the Silver Slipper in December 1969; and to "the disappearance of 50,000 dollars, an alleged cash contribution for former Vice-President [[Hubert Humphrey|Humphrey]]." Maheu testified that he delivered the Humphrey money in cash "by leaving it in an attache case in his limousine."[^3]
### The Dunes
In early 1970 Hughes instructed Maheu to negotiate the purchase of the [[Dunes Hotel]]. Maheu said Hughes told him to send Danner, then manager of the Frontier, directly to Attorney General [[John Mitchell]], whom Danner knew from the 1968 campaign. Danner met Mitchell on March 19, 1970; he testified that Mitchell said, "From our review of these figures, we see no problem. Why don't you go ahead with the negotiations," and that the purchase "met the guidelines." Danner and Maheu were both registered at the [[Madison Hotel]] in Washington that day, and Maheu recalled being told that the case "was taken care of in Washington and there would be no interference beyond that." Records of the Sonesta Beach Hotel in Key Biscayne show Danner and Maheu registered there from March 20 to 22, 1970; Mitchell left [[Union Station]] in Washington by train for Florida at 3:30 p.m. on March 20. On March 26, unaware of the oral approval, the head of the Antitrust Division, [[Richard McLaren]], wrote Mitchell a memorandum on the Dunes; McLaren said he never met Danner and knew of no approval. On November 24, 1970, [[J. Edgar Hoover]] sent Mitchell a memorandum, still unexplained when the committee reported, stating that Hughes had renewed his interest in the Dunes. The purchase fell through for financial reasons. The committee concluded that, except for that collapse, "this is a classic case of governmental decision-making for friends."[^10]
*Time* reported in October 1973 that the committee intended to examine Maheu's reported allegation that the gifts to Rebozo were meant to buy influence on two federal decisions: the Civil Aeronautics Board's approval in July 1969 of the purchase of Air West, and the cancellation by the Justice Department in the late summer of 1970 of an antitrust action against further casino purchases.[^15] Committee counsel put the question to Davis in executive session on December 4, 1973 in four forms: whether the two 50,000 dollar payments related to the pending acquisition of the Dunes and Justice Department approval of it; to the purchase of Air West and government approval of it; to Hughes's desire to have nerve gas dumped in the Atlantic Ocean; and to any position Hughes took on the anti-ballistic missile system. Davis answered "None whatever" to each.[^14]
### Departure and Intertel
A few minutes before ten o'clock on Thanksgiving Eve, November 25, 1970, Hughes left the Desert Inn by an interior fire escape, was driven to North Las Vegas Airport and flew in a Hughes Tool jet to the [[Bahamas]]. By the next day he occupied a ninth-floor suite of the [[Britannia Beach Hotel]] on [[Paradise Island]], held for him for more than a year; nearly all of Paradise Island was owned by [[Resorts International]], which *Time* reported Hughes had reputedly tried to buy the year before for 85 million dollars. Eighty-four hours passed before the guards at the Desert Inn discovered he was gone. The Hughes Tool executives [[Raymond Holliday]] and [[Frank Gay|Frank W. Gay]] and the lawyer Chester Davis gathered at the [[Century Plaza Hotel]] in Los Angeles, summoned a Maheu aide and demanded Maheu's resignation; Maheu obtained a court order and the undersheriff searched the empty penthouse. Hughes then telephoned Governor Paul Laxalt and the district attorney at 1:30 a.m. to say he wanted Maheu fired.[^2] Hughes discharged Maheu on December 5, 1970.[^3]
In a teletype of December 7, 1970, the FBI's Las Vegas office reported that Davis and Gay had announced that Intertel would be engaged to operate security and certain management phases of the Hughes casino-hotels and that Intertel had reportedly been "originally financed to extent of about two million dollars" by Resorts International. The teletype recorded the statement of "an official of Hughes operations (former SA Richard Danner)" that Resorts International and its predecessor, the [[Mary Carter Paint Company]], "may possibly be hoodlum infiltrated or financially indebted to [[Meyer Lansky]]."[^16] A memorandum from J. H. Gale to Mr. Sullivan, filed in January 1971, states that "Intertel has been engaged by officials of the Hughes Tool Company to take over the management and operation of several of the hotels and casinos in Las Vegas." On January 5, 1971 the Bureau told its legal attaché in [[Ottawa]] that it had conducted no investigation of the firm.[^17] Intertel's president was [[Robert Peloquin]]. The Sandwedge memorandum of 1971 recorded that the former [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] agent [[James Golden|Jim Golden]], "formerly with Intertel, has now switched over to the Hughes' Tool Company."[^16][^18] Danner testified that Golden visited Rebozo in December 1970 and discussed Danner's "precarious position" after the change of administration in the Hughes organization; Golden was later replaced by [[Ralph Winte]].[^12]
The May 1971 CIA memorandum recorded that Hughes Tool had engaged Intertel "to conduct a sweeping and exhaustive investigation into the affairs and past activities of Robert A. Maheu," on a contract "reported to run upward to a million dollars," and that Intertel had already turned information over to the Internal Revenue Service, with the former head of IRS intelligence [[William Kolar]] on its staff in Las Vegas. It recorded the account of a former agency employee then on Intertel's staff that Edward P. Morgan had been paid "almost a million dollars" for past services and was "making noises to certain unnamed Hughes Tool Company officials to the effect that they had better take it easy on Maheu because of the past involvement with CIA in covert operations," and that the Intertel man "will not allow Maheu to use the Agency as a shield."[^7]
[[Jim Hougan]] wrote that Maheu sent a task force of private detectives to the Bahamas to bug Hughes's suite and to enable him to leave, and that Intertel agents discovered the eavesdropping and had the intruders deported.[^19] In late 1971 a publisher announced an "autobiography" of Hughes based on interviews by [[Clifford Irving]]. On January 7, 1972 Hughes spoke by telephone from Paradise Island to reporters assembled in Los Angeles; asked why Maheu had been fired, he said: "Because he's a no-good, dishonest son-of-a-bitch, and he stole me blind." Maheu sued Hughes Tool for defamation in *[[Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co.]]*. Hughes "had totally withdrawn from direct contact with the outside world. He would not appear in any court; he would not give depositions." The jury awarded Maheu more than 2.8 million dollars in compensatory damages and Summa about 48,000 dollars on its counterclaims; on one of them, Maheu had held about 74,000 dollars sent to him to pay the rent on a hangar leased from the [[Tucson Airport Authority]] and was about nine months behind. The Ninth Circuit reversed in part and remanded for a new trial.[^3] Hougan wrote that Peloquin, called by Maheu's lawyer, acknowledged that Intertel agents had filed more than five hundred written reports on Maheu and found no evidence of theft. He also wrote that Hughes moved to [[Managua]] in February 1972, where the American ambassador, [[Turner Shelton]], formerly consul general in the Bahamas, acted as liaison between [[Anastasio Somoza]] and Hughes.[^19] In February 1977 Intertel still controlled the security for much of the Hughes empire.[^20]
### White House Memoranda, 1971
White House memoranda of January and February 1971 on Hughes were printed as exhibits to the testimony of [[Lawrence Higby]], an aide to [[H. R. Haldeman]]. On January 15, 1971 [[Charles Colson]] wrote that [[Robert Bennett]], son of Senator [[Wallace Bennett]], had left the Department of Transportation to take over the [[Robert R. Mullen Company]], that one of his new clients was Howard Hughes, and that "[[Larry O'Brien]] has been the principal Hughes man in Washington." He added: "The important thing from our standpoint is to enhance Bennett's position with Hughes because Bennett gives us real access to a source of power that can be valuable."[^21]
[[Jack Caulfield]] wrote to [[John Dean]] on January 22 and 25 that O'Brien and "Mayhew" were longtime associates from [[Boston]]; that "serious negotiations" had taken place in 1969 for O'Brien's firm to represent the Hughes interests in Washington, with "knowledgeable sources" putting the fee at 100,000 dollars; that Maheu's "tentacles touch many extremely sensitive areas of government"; that "Mayhew apparently forwarded Hughes' political contributions, personally, to both parties over the last ten years," dealing with a Nixon fund-raiser, Vic Johnson; that the former congressman [[Patrick Hillings|Pat Hillings]], close to [[Murray Chotiner]], had been retained by Maheu for years; that Danner was close to Smathers and professed friendship with Rebozo; that the law firm of [[Clark Clifford]] had for years represented the Hughes legal interests in Washington; and that Maheu had been a close associate of the former FBI agent [[John Frank]], "generally believed to have engineered the assassination of [[Jesús de Galíndez|Jesus de Galindez]]" in 1956 on behalf of [[Rafael Trujillo]]. He proposed "an in depth analysis of all (CIA, F.B.I., IRS) information available for White House perusal."[^21]
Dean reported to Haldeman on January 26 that Rebozo said his information on the O'Brien retainer had come from Maheu "at a time when Maheu was professing considerable friendliness towards the Administration," and that Rebozo "also requested that if any action be taken with regard to Hughes that he be notified because of his familiarity with the delicacy of the relationships as a result of his own dealings with the Hughes people." Bennett told Dean there was "no doubt" that O'Brien had been retained by Hughes and that the contract was still in existence, and that he was going to the West Coast to discuss his Hughes relationship with Gay. Haldeman replied on January 28 that Colson should "come up with a way to leak the appropriate information," that "Frankly, I can't see any way to handle this without involving Hughes," and that "we should keep Bob Bennett and Bebe out of it at all costs."[^21]
On February 1 Caulfield wrote that the retainer could be documented only indirectly, payment having been made "via the Mahew-Claude De Sautels route"; that "Don Nixon visited the [[Dominican Republic]] with a group of wheeler dealers in September 1969," who, he wrote, "assertedly were connected with" Maheu's forces in Nevada; and that "Mahew's covert activities from his Washington association with CIA in the early sixties to his Nevada involvment on behalf of Hughes are only generally known here, at this time." On February 3 he drew Dean's attention to a *[[60 Minutes]]* broadcast with an interview of Maheu and "an indication of Intertel's activity in Nevada." An unsigned memorandum in the same exhibits alleged that Maheu had established "close and ominous relationships" with Mafia figures, that huge profits were being skimmed from the casinos, and that Maheu's representatives might have paid hotel and bar bills for the presidential advance party for an October 31 visit to Las Vegas.[^21] Asked in December 1973 whether Intertel had investigated the O'Brien-Maheu relationship, Davis answered that he knew of Intertel's work only under his own direction for litigation, and added: "insofar as I am concerned, there doesn't remain any question in my mind about payments made to and received by Mr. O'Brien."[^14]
### The Senate Investigation
[[William E. Griffin]], a lawyer whom Rebozo consulted in April or May 1973, testified that Rebozo told him he held 100,000 dollars in cash in a safe-deposit box at Key Biscayne, in the identical bills he had received, and that a government agency, he thought the IRS, or the Maheu case had prompted inquiry; that Rebozo then had difficulty getting Danner to take the money back, once reaching him on a golf course; and that the money was returned to Danner against a receipt.[^22] *Time* reported in October 1973, citing committee sources, that Rebozo said the second installment was paid on July 3, 1970 at Nixon's house at [[San Clemente, California|San Clemente]], the date on which Rebozo and [[Robert Abplanalp]] were closing the purchase from Nixon of 2.9 acres of the San Clemente property for, according to the same sources, 100,000 dollars; Rebozo denied that any Hughes money was used. Maheu had mentioned the contribution in a deposition in his 17 million dollar suit against Hughes in the spring of 1973.[^15]
Rebozo returned 100,100 dollars in 1,001 Federal Reserve notes. The committee traced their serial numbers through the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]] and found that, for every combination of delivery dates but one, the notes included bills not released for circulation until after a delivery date; on the combination that Danner and Rebozo described, 35 of the bills identified as the second delivery were not available until after August 20, 1970, the latest released on October 1, 1970.[^11] [[Herbert Kalmbach]] testified that on April 30, 1973 Rebozo told him he had spent some of the Hughes money on F. Donald Nixon, [[Edward Nixon]], [[Rose Mary Woods]] and others. Hughes also contributed some 150,000 dollars directly to the 1972 Nixon campaign.[^10][^13]
The committee requested Hughes's appearance by letter, which was never answered; a subpoena was approved but could not be served because Hughes remained outside the country throughout the investigation. Rebozo refused to produce records of the Key Biscayne Bank and, when Chairman [[Sam Ervin]] sought his response in June 1974, left the country and became unavailable for service of a subpoena.[^9] By the spring of 1974 Danner had been examined twice by the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]], once by a federal grand jury and twice by the IRS, and Winte had been interviewed twice by the FBI.[^12]
The committee's questions extended to Resorts International. Kalmbach testified that Rebozo suggested he see [[James Crosby]], the head of Resorts, and that Crosby's pledge to the 1970 senatorial campaign program fell from 25,000 dollars to 5,000 dollars. Griffin testified that around 1969 or 1970 he had one conversation in Washington with Crosby and [[Jack Davis]] of Resorts, whom he had first met at the 1969 inauguration, about options Resorts held on [[Pan American World Airways]] stock, that he thought Peloquin and Abplanalp were also present, and that he advised them to see the senators sponsoring restrictive legislation. Asked whether the IRS had cases involving Resorts International, the commissioner, [[Johnnie Walters]], answered: "Not to my knowledge ... I do not even know whether there were cases."[^23] The May 1971 CIA memorandum recorded that in January 1969 Resorts had moved to take control of Pan Am by buying a 9.7 percent interest, and that the Civil Aeronautics Board had intervened.[^7]
In *[[The Village Voice]]* of January 31, 1974, [[Lucian K. Truscott IV]] wrote that a person close to the committee staff told him the staff had been instructed, "apparently by Ervin and Baker," to "stay away from" any possible quid pro quo for the donation, the Paradise Island casino, Rebozo's bank, "F. Donald Nixon's involvement" and "the whole area of the President's finances," and that Smathers and Danner were in Washington.[^24]
### Project Azorian
In April 1971 the chairman of [[Global Marine]], Robert F. Bauer, announced that the company would build a 600-foot mining ship for the Hughes Tool Company. The Hughes Glomar Explorer was launched on November 4, 1972, with speeches by Bauer and by Paul Reeve, general manager of the Ocean Mining Division of Hughes Tool. The government later acknowledged in court CIA sponsorship of the [[Project Azorian]] recovery of the Soviet submarine [[K-129]] "for intelligence collection purposes," and the participation of Hughes Tool, Summa and Global Marine.[^25]
The CIA's history of the project attributes the leak behind the press accounts of 1975 to "an improbable series of events following a break-in and robbery in June 1974 at Summa Corporation headquarters in Los Angeles," and records the belief that the stolen documents might include "a memorandum from a senior Hughes official to Howard Hughes describing a proposed CIA attempt to recover a sunken Soviet submarine and requesting Hughes' approval for Hughes Company participation." Several persons in the investigation were briefed, and the source of the leak was never identified.[^25] On February 7, 1975 CIA Director [[William Colby]] told President [[Gerald Ford]] that the *[[Los Angeles Times]]* had asked whether the agency had raised a piece of a Soviet submarine: "We have called Frank Murphy to try to kill it."[^26]
### Death and Estate
On April 14, 1976 Hughes's aunt and closest living relative, Annette Gano Lummis, and her son [[William R. Lummis]] were granted temporary letters of administration in Probate Court No. 2 of [[Harris County, Texas|Harris County]].[^1][^27] The Howard Hughes Medical Institute claimed on February 24, 1977 that Hughes had executed a will leaving it his entire estate; a jury found on a trial begun December 6, 1977 that Hughes was domiciled in Texas. The probate court granted summary judgment that the alleged will was not valid; on January 23, 1980 the Court of Civil Appeals at Houston reversed that judgment as an impermissible advisory opinion and refused to disqualify Lummis's lawyers, [[Andrews Kurth|Andrews, Kurth, Campbell and Jones]], who had served as the institute's counsel for more than twenty years and had helped obtain its tax exemption.[^27] In each state that sought death taxes, the estate's personal representative contended that Hughes died domiciled in Nevada, "the only State in the Union without death taxes." [[California]] and [[Texas]] each claimed him; the bulk of the estate consisted of shares in a single holding company, and California alleged that its judgment would be uncollectible to the extent of about 21 million dollars. On June 22, 1978 the Supreme Court denied California leave to file a bill of complaint against Texas in *[[California v. Texas]]*, 437 U.S. 601.[^28]
Hughes died without naming a successor trustee of the medical institute, and the Delaware complaint alleged that the institute had since been controlled by Gay and Davis as majority members of its executive committee, which on July 10, 1978 purported to amend the charter to abolish the office of trustee. The attorney general of Delaware and William Lummis, as Delaware ancillary administrator, sued in the [[Delaware Court of Chancery]] to have a trustee appointed.[^4][^5] A claim by the actress [[Terry Moore]] that she had married Hughes at sea in 1949 was dismissed on judicial estoppel; the opinion affirming the dismissal was written by Justice [[Paul Pressler]].[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: *Moore v. Neff*, 629 S.W.2d 827 (Tex. App., Houston [14th Dist.] 1982), No. B2947, decided February 4, 1982 (Pressler, J.), full text at the Harvard Caselaw Access Project. https://static.case.law/sw2d/629/cases/0827-01.json (birth date computed from *Time*'s statement of December 21, 1970 that Hughes "will be 65 on Christmas Eve").
[^2]: "Business: Shootout at the Hughes Corral," *Time*, December 21, 1970. https://time.com/archive/6838449/business-shootout-at-the-hughes-corral/
[^3]: *Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co.*, 569 F.2d 459 (9th Cir. 1977), modified January 12, 1978, Nos. 75-1306 and 75-2353 (Duniway, J.), parts I to V. https://openjurist.org/569/f2d/459
[^4]: *Wier v. Howard Hughes Medical Institute*, 404 A.2d 140 (Del. Ch. 1979), decided June 26, 1979 (Marvel, Ch.), full text at the Harvard Caselaw Access Project. https://static.case.law/a2d/404/cases/0140-01.json
[^5]: *Wier v. Howard Hughes Medical Institute*, 407 A.2d 1051 (Del. Ch. 1979), decided October 26, 1979 (Marvel, Ch.). https://static.case.law/a2d/407/cases/1051-01.json
[^6]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, S. Rept. 94-465 (1975), pp. 74-75 and n. 2 (Maheu testimony of July 29, 1975, pp. 22-23), and p. 307 n. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
[^7]: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum for the record, "Robert D. Peloquin, President, International Intelligence, Inc. (INTERTEL)," May 20, 1971, signed John G. Southard, 6 pp., NARA record number 104-10122-10288, released under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, March 18, 2025. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10288.pdf
[^8]: *Hughes Tool Co. v. Trans World Airlines, Inc.*, 409 U.S. 363 (1973), Nos. 71-827 and 71-830, decided January 10, 1973, opinion of the Court (Douglas, J.) and dissent (Burger, C.J.) reciting the procedural history. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/409/363
[^9]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981 (June 1974), ch. 8, "The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters," introduction and sections I-II, pp. 931-936 and n. 7 (Hughes memorandum to Maheu). https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities
[^10]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981, ch. 8, section VI, "Dunes Report," pp. 980-998. https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities
[^11]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981, ch. 8, section V, "Delivery and Retention of the Contributions," pp. 944-948. https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities
[^12]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Senate Resolution 60, Executive Session Hearings, Book 24: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), testimony of Richard G. Danner, pp. 11417, 11464-11465, 11553-11555, and letter of Chester C. Davis to the committee, p. 11480. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24.pdf
[^13]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981, ch. 8, section X, "The Issue of Use of the Money," p. 1030, and section on purpose of the money, pp. 1055-1056. https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities
[^14]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 24*, testimony of Chester C. Davis (executive session of December 4, 1973), pp. 11398-11401, 11609-11611. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24.pdf
[^15]: "The Nation: The Hughes Connection," *Time*, October 22, 1973. https://time.com/archive/6841879/the-nation-the-hughes-connection/
[^16]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Peloquin file, FOI/PA No. 1602405, Part 01, teletype, Las Vegas (92-3659) to Director and Miami, December 7, 1970, pp. 21-25 (PDF pages). https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
[^17]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, memorandum, J. H. Gale to Mr. Sullivan, "William G. Hundley, Robert D. Peloquin, International Intelligence, Inc.," December 1970 (file stamp January 8, 1971), p. 33; Director to Legat, Ottawa, January 5, 1971, p. 42. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
[^18]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 21* (GPO, 1974), "Operation Sandwedge," Tab 31, pp. 9899-9902. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21.pdf
[^19]: Jim Hougan, *Spooks: The Haunting of America: The Private Use of Secret Agents* (William Morrow, 1978), pp. 262-263, 384-385. https://archive.org/details/hougan-jim-spooks
[^20]: Tom Zito, "Peloquin of Intertel: Intelligence, Security, 'Targets of Opportunity,'" *The Washington Post*, February 20, 1977, pp. L1, L12 (page images in the Weisberg Subject Index Files, Hood College). http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/I%20Disk/Intertel%20on%20Assassination%20Samples%20of/Item%2001.pdf
[^21]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 23: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), Higby Exhibits 5-A to 5-I, pp. 11123-11135: Colson memorandum of January 15, 1971; Caulfield to Dean, January 22, January 25, February 1 and February 3, 1971; Dean to Haldeman, January 26, 1971; Haldeman to Dean, January 28, 1971; Dean to Caulfield, February 5, 1971; unsigned memorandum, Exhibit 5-I. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob23/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob23.pdf
[^22]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 22: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), testimony of William E. Griffin, pp. 10429-10431, 10446-10448. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob22/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob22.pdf
[^23]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 21* (GPO, 1974), testimony of Herbert W. Kalmbach, p. 10183; *Book 23*, testimony of William E. Griffin, pp. 10792-10793; *Book 24*, testimony of Johnnie M. Walters, p. 11623. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21.pdf
[^24]: Lucian K. Truscott IV, "Watergate, the Bahamas & Howard Hughes," *The Village Voice*, January 31, 1974. https://villagevoice.com/1974/01/31/watergate-the-bahamas-howard-hughes
[^25]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Project AZORIAN: The Story of the Hughes Glomar Explorer," released January 2010, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 305, document 1 (scanned images, OCR read). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb305/doc01.pdf
[^26]: Memorandum of conversation, President Ford, Henry Kissinger, James Schlesinger, William Colby, David Jones and Donald Rumsfeld, Oval Office, February 7, 1975, Gerald R. Ford Library, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 305, document 2. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb305/doc02.pdf
[^27]: *Howard Hughes Medical Institute v. Lummis*, 596 S.W.2d 171 (Tex. Civ. App., Houston [14th Dist.] 1980), No. A2176, decided January 23, 1980 (Brown, C.J.). https://static.case.law/sw2d/596/cases/0171-01.json
[^28]: *California v. Texas*, 437 U.S. 601 (1978) (per curiam, June 22, 1978), with concurring and dissenting opinions. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/437/601

332
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/John J. McCloy.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,332 @@
---
category: "Key Figures"
tags:
- Person
- JohnJMcCloy
- MilbankTweed
- HICOG
- ChaseManhattan
- FordFoundation
- CouncilOnForeignRelations
- WorldBank
- WarrenCommission
- OilIndustry
- SevenSisters
- JapaneseInternment
- ArmsControl
- ColdWar
alias:
- John J. McCloy
- John McCloy
- John Jay McCloy
- John Snader McCloy
- Jack McCloy
- J.J. McCloy
summary: "American lawyer, Assistant Secretary of War, World Bank president, High Commissioner for Germany, Chase and Ford Foundation chairman, counsel to the major oil companies and Warren Commission member."
born: 1895-03-31
died: 1989-03-11
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (born); Stamford, Connecticut (died)"
relations:
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Ellen Zinsser McCloy]]"
start: 1930-04-25
role: "husband"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Cravath, Swaine & Moore]]"
start: 1924-12
end: 1940-12
role: "associate, partner from 1929"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[United States Department of War]]"
start: 1940-12
end: 1945-11
role: "special assistant, then Assistant Secretary of War"
fn: 1
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Henry L. Stimson]]"
start: 1940-12
end: 1945-11
role: "assistant to the Secretary of War"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[World Bank]]"
start: 1947-03-17
end: 1949-06-30
role: "president"
fn: 11
- type: appointed
with: "[[Harry S. Truman]]"
reverse: true
start: 1949
role: "High Commissioner for Germany"
fn: 12
- type: head_of
with: "[[Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany]]"
start: 1949-09-21
end: 1952-08-01
role: "U.S. High Commissioner for Germany"
fn: 13
- type: appointed
with: "[[David W. Peck]]"
start: 1950-03
role: "chairman of the Advisory Board on Clemency for War Criminals"
fn: 16
- type: director_of
with: "[[Ford Foundation]]"
end: 1965
role: "chairman of the board of trustees"
fn: 22
- type: head_of
with: "[[Council on Foreign Relations]]"
start: 1953
end: 1971
role: "chairman"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Chase Manhattan Bank]]"
start: 1953-01
end: 1960-12
role: "chairman of the board of Chase National, later Chase Manhattan"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Milbank Tweed]]"
start: 1946
end: 1947
role: "partner"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Milbank Tweed]]"
start: 1961
end: 1989
role: "name partner"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament]]"
start: 1961
end: 1974
role: "chairman"
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[ExxonMobil]]"
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
fn: 29
- type: represented
with: "[[Mobil]]"
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
fn: 29
- type: represented
with: "[[Gulf Oil]]"
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
fn: 29
- type: represented
with: "[[Texaco]]"
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
fn: 29
- type: represented
with: "[[Standard Oil of California]]"
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
fn: 29
- type: represented
with: "[[BP]]"
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
fn: 29
- type: represented
with: "[[Royal Dutch Shell]]"
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
fn: 29
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Libyan Producers Agreement]]"
start: 1971-01
role: "counsel to whom the Business Review letters were addressed"
fn: 34
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Cuban Missile Crisis]]"
start: 1962-10
end: 1963
role: "chairman of the Coordinating Committee"
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Warren Commission]]"
start: 1963-11-29
role: "commissioner"
fn: 50
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
John Jay McCloy (born in [[Philadelphia]] on March 31, 1895; died in [[Stamford, Connecticut]], on March 11, 1989) was an American lawyer, banker and government official. He served as Assistant Secretary of War, president of the [[World Bank]], U.S. Military Governor and High Commissioner for [[Germany]], chairman of the [[Chase Manhattan Bank]], the [[Ford Foundation]] and the [[Council on Foreign Relations]], counsel to the major international oil companies, chairman of the [[General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament]] and a member of the [[Warren Commission]]. [[Amherst College]], which holds his papers, records his name at birth as John McCloy, with "Snader" used as a middle name in college records until about 1935 and "Jay" thereafter.[^1]
### Black Tom and the Stimson Connection
McCloy joined [[Cravath, Swaine & Moore|Cravath, de Gersdorff, Swaine and Wood]] in December 1924 and became a partner in 1929.[^1] The firm represented the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]] Company in the Black Tom case, a World War I sabotage case that began in 1916 when a munitions depot on [[Black Tom Island]] in New York was blown up; McCloy became involved in 1930 and saw the case through to its final settlement in 1941. The proceedings ran before the [[Mixed Claims Commission]] (August 1924 to July 1941), the [[U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia]] (October 1939 to October 1940) and the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] (August 1940 to January 1941). The archivists who processed his papers wrote that the case reportedly brought him to the attention of [[Henry L. Stimson]], then Secretary of State and later Secretary of War, who appointed him Assistant Secretary of War.[^2] McCloy served Stimson as an expert consultant from October 1940, as Special Assistant from December 1940 and as Assistant Secretary of War from April 1941 to November 1945.[^1]
### Assistant Secretary of War and the Japanese American Exclusion
After the outbreak of war McCloy was the civilian aide to Stimson responsible for Japanese American questions.[^3] In the first weeks of 1942 he took part in the discussions among the [[United States Department of War|War Department]], the [[Western Defense Command]] and the [[Department of Justice]] that preceded [[Executive Order 9066]]. Provost Marshal General [[Allen W. Gullion]] described a heated meeting over a draft press release, which stated that the military situation did not require the removal of American citizens of Japanese descent, between Stimson, McCloy and [[Karl Bendetsen]] for the War Department and Attorney General [[Francis Biddle]], [[J. Edgar Hoover]] and [[James Rowe]] for the Justice Department; Stimson and McCloy wanted General [[John L. DeWitt]] to consider the draft before they responded. On February 3, 1942, DeWitt read McCloy by telephone the memorandum he had promised Gullion and urged deletion of the line stating that citizens need not be removed. The [[Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians]] wrote that McCloy "was most concerned about the legality of any government action," that he favored designating restricted zones and letting people back in by permit, that he would allow in "[e]veryone but the Japs," and that he did not press DeWitt for a military justification for moving the Nisei. On February 4 he met Gullion, Rowe, [[Edward Ennis]] and [[John Burling]] on legislation to remove both citizens and aliens from parts of the West Coast. On February 18, 1942, he attended the conference at which Stimson approved Biddle's draft of the executive order; Stimson wrote in his diary that "Biddle, McCloy and Gullion had done a good piece of work in breaking down the issues between the Departments the night before."[^3] McCloy took [[Milton Eisenhower]] to [[San Francisco]] to meet DeWitt before [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] signed [[Executive Order 9102]] creating the [[War Relocation Authority]] on March 18, 1942. When evacuees were being forced to sell their holdings, he wrote [[Harry Hopkins]] that "[o]ne of the drawbacks they have is the loss of their property," and an exchange with Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]] ended with Frankfurter assuring him that he was handling a delicate matter with wisdom and appropriate hard-headedness.[^4]
In January 1943 McCloy assured DeWitt that the new loyalty review for Nisei volunteers would not affect exclusion from the West Coast. On April 8, 1943, he wrote DeWitt that "[t]he very 'entering wedge' which you appear to dread is precisely what must be accomplished." The same month he told Bendetsen, in a discussion of how the original exclusion decision had been reached: "We never thought about it." When DeWitt's printed Final Report on the evacuation reached him in mid-April 1943, McCloy found it "too self-glorifying and too self-serving," objecting above all to its statement that the impossibility of determining loyalty, not urgency, had been the military necessity for exclusion. Bendetsen carried McCloy's revisions to DeWitt in Alaska, after which DeWitt accepted them and set out to destroy every copy of the April version. A Bendetsen memorandum of the period records that McCloy concluded there "no longer existed any military necessity for the continued exclusion of all Japanese from the evacuated zone," and that the War Department "of its own motion, would not take any action to direct or require the revision or revocation of present restrictions." In early November 1944, a week after General [[Charles H. Bonesteel]] of the Western Defense Command asked him for a personal meeting on ending exclusion, McCloy wrote that "there is a disposition not to crowd action too closely upon the heels of the election."[^5]
McCloy and Bendetsen, the two witnesses before the commission most involved in the evacuation decision, testified that it was not taken on the basis of actual incidents of espionage, sabotage or fifth column activity. The commission concluded that the War Department had "failed to scrutinize General DeWitt's demands closely and critically."[^3] From 1947 to 1949 McCloy supported legislation to accept evacuation claims and to grant naturalization rights to Japanese residents not born in the [[United States]]. He opposed the compensation effort that followed the commission's 1983 report and prepared testimony for the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Law and Governmental Relations in 1984 to 1986.[^6]
In 1953 the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act (the [[Jenner Committee]]), headed by Senator [[William E. Jenner]], issued a report referring to "Army tolerance of Communists" during the war and quoting McCloy's 1945 testimony to the [[House Committee on Military Affairs]]. On February 7, 1954, Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] accused McCloy of having ordered the destruction of Army intelligence files on Communists, and retracted the charge two days later while insisting that McCloy had been the "moving force" behind the commissioning of Communists in the Army. In 1952 Secretary of State [[Dean Acheson]] named McCloy to a special panel on the loyalty case of the Foreign Service officer [[John Carter Vincent]], with Judge [[Learned Hand]], former Assistant Secretaries of State [[James Grafton Rogers]] and [[G. Howland Chase]], and a former ambassador printed in the finding aid as [[Edmund C. Wilson]]; [[John Foster Dulles]] asked the panel to stop work after the change of administration.[^7]
### The Auschwitz Letters
In the summer and fall of 1944 the [[World Jewish Congress]] and the [[War Refugee Board]] forwarded requests to the War Department to bomb Auschwitz. On August 14, 1944, McCloy advised that "such an operation could be executed only by the diversion of considerable air support ... now engaged in decisive operations elsewhere and would in any case be of such doubtful efficacy that it would not warrant the use of our resources." Within a week the [[United States Army Air Forces]] carried out a heavy bombing of the [[IG Farben|I.G. Farben]] synthetic oil and rubber (Buna) works near Auschwitz III, less than five miles from the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center.[^8] On November 18, 1944, answering a letter of November 8 from [[John W. Pehle]], executive director of the War Refugee Board, which forwarded the report of two eyewitnesses on Auschwitz and Birkenau, McCloy wrote that "[t]he Operation Staff of the War Department has given careful consideration to your suggestion." He listed five points, among them that the target was beyond the maximum range of medium bombers, dive bombers and fighter bombers in the [[United Kingdom]], France or Italy, that heavy bombers from British bases would face a "hazardous round trip flight unescorted of approximately 2,000 miles over enemy territory," and that "our strategic air forces are engaged in the destruction of industrial target systems vital to the dwindling war potential of the enemy, from which they should not be diverted." He added: "I know that you have been reluctant to press this activity on the War Department. We have been pressed strongly from other quarters, however, and have taken the best military opinion on its feasibility."[^9]
### The Strategic Services Unit
A CIA historical index card dated December 21, 1965 summarizes two memoranda on the War Department's [[Strategic Services Unit]] (SSU): one from Secretary of War [[Robert P. Patterson]] of September 27, 1945, implementing an executive order of September 20 and designating a War Department representative to administer, operate and liquidate the unit "under authority and policies to be determined by Asst SecWar," and one from McCloy of September 26, 1945, instructing him to examine the unit's facilities to determine their disposition, coordinate with the State Department and the Bureau of the Budget, "preserve SSU functions of peacetime value" and follow War Department fiscal procedures. The card's compiler commented that while the SSU director had the mission to liquidate wartime activities and preserve functions suitable for peacetime, "SSU itself appears to be without any operational mission." The name of the designated representative is withheld in the released card.[^10]
### World Bank and the High Commissionership
McCloy practiced with [[Milbank Tweed|Milbank, Tweed, Hope & Hadley]] in 1946 and 1947.[^1] He was the second president of the World Bank, from March 17, 1947 to June 30, 1949; during his tenure the Bank began to borrow in the capital market and made its first reconstruction and development loans, and he proposed his associate [[Eugene R. Black]] as his successor.[^11] At a meeting on April 30, 1949, [[Harry S. Truman]] asked him to become High Commissioner for Germany, and he resigned from the Bank on May 18, 1949.[^12] The [[Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany]] (HICOG) was established on September 21, 1949, with the creation of the Federal Republic, and McCloy, its first High Commissioner, served until August 1, 1952; the Amherst chronology dates his tenure as Military Governor and High Commissioner from July 1949 to July 1952.[^13] [^1]
On August 18, 1949, [[Director of Central Intelligence]] [[Roscoe Hillenkoetter]] wrote McCloy that a change in the payment of German employees of American units in Germany had affected "[t]he Central Intelligence Agency unit in Germany, the Department of the Army Detachment," and requested that McCloy allot to the detachment, "from the German reparations account," a sum (withheld in the released copy) per year for the salaries of German service personnel who had worked with the CIA unit since the occupation. Hillenkoetter wrote that the Agency had no provision in its budget to carry them and that it wished "to do all possible to aid you in every way you may desire to carry out the aims of your mission."[^14] On January 12, 1951, Director [[Walter Bedell Smith]] answered a McCloy letter of December 12, 1950 concerning his talks with a person whose name is withheld, writing that "Bill, Allen Dulles and I are doing the best we can." On June 19, 1951, Deputy Director [[Allen Dulles]] returned to McCloy a paper he had handed Dulles the night before, keeping a copy, and promised the Agency's views on its recommendations.[^15]
### The Landsberg Clemency Decisions
McCloy appointed an [[Advisory Board on Clemency for War Criminals]] in March 1950 to review petitions from prisoners convicted by the [[Nuremberg Military Tribunals]] and held at [[Landsberg Prison]]. Its members were [[David W. Peck]], Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department, of the New York Supreme Court (chairman); [[Frederick A. Moran]], chairman of the New York Board of Parole; and Brigadier General [[Conrad E. Snow]], Assistant Legal Adviser of the [[State Department|Department of State]]. The board began in Washington, established itself in [[Munich]] in July 1950, sat there for forty days, read the judgments in the cases of 104 defendants and heard 50 counsel representing 90 of them. On January 31, 1951, McCloy announced his decisions: of fifteen death sentences, ten were commuted and five confirmed, four against leaders of the SS [[Einsatzgruppen]] and one against the former head of the concentration camp administration (WVHA).[^16]
In the Krupp case (Case 10), McCloy wrote that the guilt of the defendants "was no greater in these cases than that involved in the Farben and Flick cases" and reduced the sentences "so that the terms served will conform approximately to the sentences in similar cases." The decisions, as printed by his office, were: [[Alfried Krupp|Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach]], "from 12 years and confiscation of all property to time served and no confiscation"; [[Friedrich von Buelow]] and [[Erich Mueller]], from twelve years to time served; [[Eduard Houdremont]] and [[Friedrich Janssen]], from ten years to time served; [[Karl Eberhardt]] and [[Max Ihn]], from nine years to time served; and [[Heinrich Korschan]] and [[Heinrich Lehmann]], from six years to time served. McCloy described the confiscation decree as "the sole case of confiscation decreed against any defendant by the Nuremberg courts," wrote that he could "find no personal guilt in defendant Krupp, based upon the charges in this case, sufficient to distinguish him above all others sentenced by the Nuremberg Courts," and added that he was "making no judgments as to the ultimate title to the former Krupp property," which "will be subject to AHC Law Number 27, 'Reorganization of the German Coal, Iron and Steel Industries,' and is not affected by this decision."[^17] In the Ministries case he approved the board's reduction of the sentence of [[Gottlob Berger]], a close associate of [[Heinrich Himmler]], from twenty-five years to ten, and noted that he had already commuted the sentence of [[Ernst von Weizsäcker]] to time served. The announcement made no mention of the Flick and Farben cases, because all of the defendants in them had been released or were eligible for release.[^18]
On May 9, 1952, reporting to the State Department on meetings with coalition party leaders over the contractual agreements ending the occupation, McCloy wrote that leaders of the German Party "recommended inter alia early release of war criminals of type of Manstein and Kesselring as gesture of good will," and that he had "gained impression that DP and FDP objections to war criminal provisions were not really fundamental and that review board procedure, if instituted at an early date, wld placate them."[^19]
### Klaus Barbie and the Cables over McCloy's Name
Cables from the High Commission concerning [[Klaus Barbie]] went out over McCloy's name; [[Allan A. Ryan]], in his 1983 report to the Attorney General, wrote that this followed the State Department practice by which embassy cables carry the ambassador's name, and that "[o]ne cannot infer from this practice that the ambassador or other signatory actually read or knew about the cable." In June 1950, after a French note of May 5 demanding Barbie's surrender, Deputy Political Adviser [[E. Allan Lightner]] wrote that McCloy had decided to "smoke out EUCOM on the matter to see how far they would go in helping to find this character, and to get more details as to just how embarrassing it would be to them (CIC) if he were turned over to the French." On June 16, 1950, [[Benjamin Shute]], director of HICOG's Office of Intelligence, was told at [[European Command]] headquarters in [[Heidelberg]] that the [[Counter Intelligence Corps]] had ended Barbie's employment on May 24, 1949 and had kept in contact with him until late April 1950. Ryan found that "[t]hese representations by CIC and EUCOM were false": the Counter Intelligence Corps employed and paid Barbie, and knew where he was, from April 1947 until he left for [[South America]] in March 1951. Ryan found Lightner's language not inconsistent with the conclusion that no one at HICOG knew Barbie was still in CIC custody, and recorded that "[n]either Lightner nor McCloy recalled the Barbie matter when questioned in this investigation."[^20]
### The Ford Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations and the CIA
McCloy was brought into the Ford Foundation as a consultant by [[Henry Ford II]] and insisted that it add a full European program, directed by his former HICOG public affairs director, [[Shepard Stone]]. In a letter of December 31, 1951, as he prepared to leave Germany, McCloy urged [[Paul G. Hoffman]] that the Foundation "help to carry on certain operations which the future [US] Embassy may find difficult to continue, but which are of great significance to United States objectives in Germany."[^21] The Amherst finding aid describes his tenure as chairman of the Foundation's board of trustees as running from 1952 to 1965; his Ford papers include a report of the [[Reece Committee|House Special Committee to Investigate Tax-Exempt Foundations]] and [[Grenville Clark]]'s 1954 proposal for a Foundation-supported program on disarmament.[^22]
On April 29, 1953, McCloy, on Council on Foreign Relations letterhead, wrote Allen Dulles, by then Director of Central Intelligence, that he was "delighted to have a report from Shep Stone" that Dulles would join a Council study group on relations between the democratic nations and the [[Soviet Union]], "undertaken at the Council on Foreign Relations under a grant of the Ford Foundation," with a full-time staff under [[Henry L. Roberts]] of [[Columbia University]]. "Though the group will be entirely unofficial, its findings will be made available to our government," he wrote, adding that the CIA's [[Robert Amory]] would attend the first dinner meeting on May 6, 1953.[^23] In a letter of February 25, 1954, quoted by the historian [[Volker Berghahn]] and cited by Harm Langenkamp, Stone wrote McCloy about the [[Congress for Cultural Freedom]]: "you know the sources of funds that have hitherto been supplied to the Congress, but in our conversation with these gentlemen [Nabokov and Rougemont] we should not reveal what we know."[^24]
A memorandum of May 21, 1954 by [[Don K. Price]] set the Foundation's policy on government-sponsored programs: such projects could be recommended if "worth support on their merits, regardless of any official interest," and with the prior approval of three trustees, "the Chairman, the President, and 'Mr. McCloy.'" Langenkamp, citing Price's 1972 oral history and McCloy's interview with [[Kai Bird]], writes that McCloy and Price later defended the arrangement as a means of limiting the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s access to Foundation officers and grantees, quotes McCloy as saying the Foundation could not keep its "shirts clean" had it closed the door on the Agency entirely, and quotes Price's warning to Dulles and [[Frank Wisner]]: "The first time you meddle with our boys, we'll quit this whole program." In 1958 Dulles invited Foundation officers to Washington for a briefing on Agency operations, and in 1959 Price reached an understanding allowing the CIA to approach Foundation fellows after their grants expired; in the early 1960s Foundation president [[Henry T. Heald]] repeated the Foundation's position to Director [[John McCone]].[^24] Writing of 1962, when Stone sought a five-year guarantee of some $2,000,000 a year to free the Congress for Cultural Freedom from the CIA's treasury, Langenkamp describes McCloy as Stone's "staunchest ally" and as having by then assumed the chairmanship of the board. The Congress, which the CIA had tried from the outset to transfer to the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, reached self-sufficiency through Ford's 1957 to 1962 grant at the moment the cover of the Agency's network of front organizations was blown; Stone's 1962 proposal itself foundered.[^25]
McCloy was chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1953 to 1971.[^1]
### Chase Manhattan
McCloy was chairman of the board of the Chase National Bank from January 1953 to December 1960; the bank merged with the [[Bank of the Manhattan Company]] in April 1955 to form the Chase Manhattan Bank.[^1] His papers include six volumes of appointment and telephone logs kept as chairman from 1953 to 1958, consisting mostly of names with almost no notation of subject matter, and correspondence of March 1960 concerning his retirement from the bank.[^26] On April 20, 1962, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence [[Marshall S. Carter]] wrote him at One Chase Manhattan Plaza that he was being briefed that afternoon on "the other matter" they had discussed by telephone and would come back with "a substantive proposal."[^27]
### Counsel to the Oil Companies
From 1961 McCloy was a name partner of Milbank, Tweed, Hope, Hadley & McCloy.[^1] For much of the 1960s and 1970s he advised the "McCloy Group," representatives of most of the major American oil companies and several European and British firms, on legal questions and on foreign and domestic policy, and advocated on their behalf in the Justice Department, the State Department and Congress. His files on the group include representation agreements dated March 20 to August 2, 1962. He kept the Antitrust Division informed of oil group meetings and negotiations, sought specific clearance for actions that might have been construed as violations of the antitrust laws, and "made a point of holding briefing meetings with each new Attorney General to ensure a continuity of contact and goodwill with the Department."[^28]
From the early 1960s McCloy represented the Seven Sisters ([[Gulf Oil|Gulf]], [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell]], [[BP]], [[ExxonMobil|Exxon]], [[Standard Oil of California|Socal]], [[Texaco]] and [[Mobil]]) and was engaged by other companies operating in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. He testified to the [[Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations]] of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee|Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]], chaired by Senator [[Frank Church]], that while an adviser to President [[John F. Kennedy]] he raised the possibility of joint action by the companies against the combined pressure of the producing countries, and that the President arranged a meeting with Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy|Robert F. Kennedy]]. Asked whether the understanding was ever formalized, he answered: "No, I don't believe I ever got a letter from him in regard to it." He informed Deputy Attorney General [[Byron White]] and Attorneys General [[Nicholas Katzenbach]], [[Ramsey Clark]] and [[John N. Mitchell|John Mitchell]] of his concerns about [[OPEC]] in informal conversations.[^29]
On January 11, 1967, as the [[Internal Revenue Service]] questioned the industry's pricing practices, McCloy wrote Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] about an IRS audit of the tax returns of the five American majors: "I believe that the Department of State has a particular responsibility to make known to the Treasury Department the implications of its proposed attack on crude oil prices," because the system of royalties and creditable local income taxes "was recommended to the oil companies and to the foreign governments involved in the Department of State and the Treasury Department," and without it "large amounts of direct foreign aid might well be required." The subcommittee found that the failure of the IRS to reverse its original ruling after posted and realized prices diverged in 1957 "has cost the U.S. Treasury billions of dollars in revenues"; in 1973 Exxon paid an effective rate of 11.2 percent on earnings of $2.98 billion, Mobil 5 percent and Texaco 2.3 percent.[^30]
On December 9, 1969, McCloy joined [[David Rockefeller]] and the men listed as [[J. K. Jamieson|Jamieson]], Anderson, [[Rawleigh Warner|Warner]] and [[John Swearingen|Swearingen]] in a meeting with President [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Henry A. Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]] on the [[Middle East]]; Kissinger's briefing memorandum titled it "Your Meeting with the David Rockefeller Group."[^31]
### The Libyan Producers Agreement and the Business Review Letters
On September 25, 1970, McCloy attended, as attorney for several of the major companies, a meeting at which Under Secretary of State [[U. Alexis Johnson]] told the companies operating in [[Libya]] that United States intervention with the Libyan government would be "ineffective at best."[^32] On September 29, 1970, [[Peter Flanigan]], the President's Assistant for International Economic Affairs, recorded that McCloy, "representative of the International Oil Company," had spoken with Johnson; that Flanigan had cleared with Attorney General Mitchell that the companies could discuss a Libyan proposal together "if they were to sit down together with a member of the Justice Department"; and that "[t]his information was given to John McCloy who also spoke to Mitchell." Flanigan suggested to McCloy that the penalties of a break with Libya were greater than those of a settlement, reasoning that a settlement's cost increase would fall on all European and Japanese supplies but only a small part of American supplies, so that "the result would be a competitive benefit to the United States"; he told McCloy the government would expect the companies "to follow the course that they and he thought best."[^33] On January 7, 1971, Johnson met representatives of Esso, Mobil, Gulf, Texaco and Socal and "attorney John McCloy" on OPEC's demands; McCloy said the producers' cartel was in "very strong bargaining position" and asked whether the State Department "could be helpful with Department of Justice in obtaining permission under anti-trust laws for companies to coordinate response."[^34] [[James Akins]] of the State Department and [[Dudley Chapman]] of the Antitrust Division were detailed to work with the companies and McCloy on the documents.[^29]
The [[United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division|Antitrust Division]] under Assistant Attorney General [[Richard W. McLaren]] issued [[Business Review letter|Business Review letters]] to McCloy covering a joint "[[Message to OPEC]]" and the [[Libyan Producers Agreement]] (the Safety Net Agreement), under which Libyan producers would replace the production of any company shut in for resisting Libyan demands, with Persian Gulf production to be shared under specified circumstances. The letters stated that the Department "does not presently intend to institute any proceedings under the antitrust laws." The subcommittee's report dates the letters January 19, 1971, and in the next paragraph places a January 15 meeting of McCloy and the chief executives with Secretary of State [[William P. Rogers]] and Under Secretary [[John N. Irwin II]] "two days after the issuance of the Business Review letters." At that meeting the companies sought a high-level mission to the producing countries; asked by Church whether he had suggested Irwin, McCloy answered: "No. As long as it was a person of dignity, with clout, to use that expression." Irwin, sent with Nixon's authorization, recommended from [[Tehran]] that the companies negotiate with the Gulf states separately; Rogers communicated the recommendation to McCloy, who informed the chief executives, and the subcommittee found that the State Department had thereby abandoned the strategy of a single global negotiation that lay at the heart of the Message to OPEC and the Business Review letters.[^34] [^35]
The companies formed a [[London Policy Group]], with a parallel group in New York. Each London Policy Group meeting, on dates from January 20 to June 18, 1971, "was attended by a partner or associate from the firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, counsel for the oil companies, whose function was to assure that the discussions remained within the terms of the Message to OPEC, the Libyan Producers Agreement, and the pertinent business review letters from the Antitrust Division." "No member of the Departments of Justice or State attended any of these meetings; instead, both Departments relied upon ex post-factor [sic] oral reports by oil company executives to Akins and written reports from McCloy to McLaren."[^35] The subcommittee found "no evidence of any Department of Justice monitoring of the negotiations"; not until October 1973, after subcommittee staff began to inquire, did anyone at the Department read the cable record of the company-OPEC negotiations.[^36] The February 14, 1971 [[Tehran Agreement]] raised the Gulf governments' take by an estimated $11.7 billion over five years, a cost McCloy described to McLaren as "extremely high."[^35]
On October 15, 1971, McCloy informed McLaren that Libya had taken unilateral steps on exchange rates, and on October 19 he asked for further Business Review letters covering joint negotiation on currency parity and participation and an extension of the sharing agreement; the Department issued new letters addressed to him.[^37] At a State Department meeting on January 3, 1972 attended by the chairmen of the major companies, [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]] and McCloy, the Under Secretary of State proposed an industry advisory body; on January 20 McCloy and Akins agreed that an informal body was acceptable, and McCloy reported that some executives were "disturbed" by Akins's insistence that the companies change their relationship with the producing countries by 1976.[^38]
The Business Review letters required the companies to report to the Justice Department through McCloy. In March 1973 a suit by the [[Corporate Accountability Research Group]] for the documents was pending against the Justice Department, "[a] similar request by [[New York Times|The New York Times]] in 1971 had been averted under the [[Freedom of Information Act]]," and the companies told State Department officials that the sharing agreement was a "form of insurance" that had allowed Bunker Hunt Oil Company to "stand firm" against Libyan demands. On March 23, 1973, [[Warren Clark]] of the North African Office in the Bureau of African Affairs wrote that release would show Libya that the companies had banded together to "denationalize" part of British Petroleum, and that the matter was "very sensitive from a domestic political point of view. The State Department and the USG have sanctioned in these Business Review Letters a strengthening of the international cartel of seven Anglo-Saxon oil companies." A Senate subcommittee "would fry the State Department if it was revealed that we classified these documents in order to protect the 'cartel,' and that we had taken the position that what was good for the cartel was good for US national security." Clark approved keeping the agreement and the letters classified on the narrow ground of proprietary interest.[^39]
### Oil Diplomacy in 1973 and 1974
[[William J. Casey]] sat on McCloy's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament; the committee's letterheads of June 1970 and March and May 1971 list him among the members.[^40] On September 5, 1973, McCloy met Casey, by then Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, and asked that the government send a strong note on the illegality of Libya's nationalization, work with the Europeans "to make the Libyan expropriation attempt fail" by obtaining agreement not to buy oil from fields operated by the majors, and lift the environmental sulphur restriction as a demonstration of political determination. [[John Knubel]] of the [[National Security Council]] staff recorded for Kissinger McCloy's estimate that the net shortfall to the United States would be "about 50,000 barrels per day" if the majors stopped pumping Libyan oil, "a manageable amount (according to McCloy)".[^41] On October 12, 1973, during the [[October War]], McCloy sent [[Alexander Haig]] a memorandum by the chairmen of Exxon, Mobil, Texaco and Standard Oil of California, stating that the "chief ARAMCO shareholders" wished it "placed in the President's hands as soon as possible"; the memorandum warned that OPEC's demands could raise the free world's oil cost from the Persian Gulf alone by $15 billion a year, and a notation on Kissinger's covering memorandum of November 3 indicates that Nixon saw it.[^42]
On November 20, 1973, Kissinger met ten oil industry executives and McCloy, listed as "Milbank and Tweed," with Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust [[Thomas Kauper]] among the officials present; Kissinger told McCloy he wanted to meet him "and a group of Atlanticists" about the Europeans, and the next day [[Brent Scowcroft]] reported that McCloy was prepared to assemble Americans and Europeans for the purpose. On February 8, 1974, Kissinger telephoned McCloy that "[w]e cannot have the Community organized against us as anti-American."[^43] Opening a meeting with the oil company heads on March 29, 1974, Kissinger said he had called it "after talking with Jack McCloy," and that "[t]he transcript taken here isn't going to go anywhere, except into my own personal files." When Deputy Secretary of Defense [[William Clements]] described the encouragement of technology and industry transfers into [[Saudi Arabia]] and the [[Atlantic Richfield]] chairman, [[Robert O. Anderson]], added, "In exchange for which we get a preferential position," McCloy said: "In other words, pick up the Yamani offer."[^44]
In a letter of September 21, 1973 to Kauper, McCloy listed his clients and reported that the producing states were again demanding changes to the Tehran and Tripoli agreements. In a later letter to Church he stated that American companies in the Middle East had made an affirmative contribution of over $2 billion to the 1972 balance of payments; the subcommittee found that the Commerce Department estimates on which he relied had "recently been found to be substantially in error" because they were computed on posted rather than realized prices.[^45] The McCloy Group appears to have been inactive from June 1973 to February 1979.[^28]
### The Critchfield Reports and the Oil Files
The International Oil series of his papers contains sub-series I, "Critchfield Reports, 1968-1973," consisting of 49 "perspectives on development" and 16 special reports on Middle East issues. The Amherst archivists state that "[m]ost, if not all," were prepared by [[Basic Resources International]], a [[Falls Church, Virginia]], consulting firm "headed by [[James H. Critchfield]], formerly CIA bureau chief for the Middle East," and that Report 60 is a prospectus for the firm. Sub-series K of the same series holds a folder titled "Chase Manhattan Bank. Financial analysis of thirty-one petroleum companies" among oil company reports for 1964 to 1966. Other folders in the series hold a draft legal brief on taxes on oil company income and drafts of a proposed letter from President Nixon to the Shah of Iran.[^46]
### Brazil and the McCone File
On February 21, 1964, Ambassador [[Lincoln Gordon]] reported from [[Rio de Janeiro]] that President [[Joao Goulart|João Goulart]] "said looking forward to McCloy visit and thought Hanna case could have constructive solution." On February 29, 1964, McCloy, then a partner of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy, met Goulart in Rio to discuss the status of the M.A. [[Hanna Mining Company]].[^47] On April 9, 1964, at 11:10 a.m., Director of Central Intelligence John McCone and McCloy spoke by telephone; four pages of the source text of the transcript, filed in McCone's "Eyes Only" telephone records, have not been declassified. The same day the three military ministers, [[Artur da Costa e Silva|Artur Costa e Silva]], [[Francisco de Assis Correia de Melo]] and [[Augusto Rademaker|Augusto Hamann Rademaker Grünewald]], signed Brazil's [[Institutional Act]].[^48] On June 10, 1964, President [[Humberto Castelo Branco]] showed Gordon a staff report on "areas of friction abroad," including the Hanna case, and said work on resolving all of them was going forward rapidly.[^49]
### The Warren Commission
[[Lyndon B. Johnson]] created the Commission by [[Executive Order 11130]] of November 29, 1963, and selected from private life two lawyers, Allen Dulles, former Director of Central Intelligence, and McCloy; Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]], Senators [[Richard B. Russell]] and [[John Sherman Cooper]], and Representatives [[Hale Boggs]] and [[Gerald R. Ford]] completed its membership. Its first meeting was on December 5, 1963.[^50] A transcript titled "Report of Meeting of Members of Staff," dated July 9, 1964, records a meeting attended by General Counsel [[J. Lee Rankin]], staff, McCloy and Dulles, at which Drs. [[Dale C. Cameron]], [[Howard P. Rome]] and [[David A. Rothstein]] gave "an informal colloquy, interrogation, and explanation" on a psychiatric interpretation of [[Lee Harvey Oswald]]; its pages, 7821 to 8071, indicate that it was volume 57 of the Commission's transcripts.[^51] Rankin's files, donated to the JFK Collection, include memoranda and handwritten changes to draft chapters of the report that Ford, McCloy and Dulles, among others, recommended.[^52]
Among the papers of Director McCone, the [[Assassination Records Review Board]] found a notation for a meeting of May 19, 1964, participants "DCI, J.J. McCloy," a dinner at the Director's residence, "Re: Oswald," annotated "Destroyed 1-28-72"; CIA historians had found the document missing when they reviewed the files in 1986, along with a record of a November 26, 1963 meeting between McCone and [[McGeorge Bundy]] on the assassination. The Board designated the notations as assassination records.[^53]
### Disarmament and the Cuban Missile Crisis
On January 27, 1961, Kennedy designated McCloy his adviser on disarmament and arms control, including the nuclear test ban, with offices in the [[White House]] and the State Department. On February 7, 1961, Dulles answered a McCloy letter on the test ban by naming [[Herbert Scoville]], the CIA's Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence, as the Agency's point of contact.[^54] In July 1961 McCloy and [[Valerian Zorin]] conducted bilateral disarmament talks in Moscow; McCloy reported "little point in continuing while Zorin talks about plans and I talk about principles."[^55] McCloy chaired the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament from 1961 to 1974, and the committee's sessions drew briefings from CIA officers including [[Arthur Lundahl]] of the National Photographic Interpretation Center and [[David Brandwein]], chairman of the Guided Missile Committee; in November 1969 he asked Director [[Richard Helms]] for a CIA specialist on Chinese strategic questions, noting that the content of the committee's discussions "is classified and should not be revealed beyond the Committee."[^40]
In the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] McCloy chaired the Coordinating Committee and negotiated with the Soviet representative [[Vasily Kuznetsov]] in New York. On October 26, 1962, he joined [[Adlai Stevenson]] in talks with the [[United Nations]] Secretary-General and his aides on inspection and the removal of the missiles and IL-28 aircraft. A draft United States declaration headed "McCloy draft" and dated November 21, 1962 conditioned an assurance against invading Cuba on the withdrawal of offensive weapons. On January 2 and 3, 1963, McCloy and Kuznetsov negotiated the joint letter withdrawing the matter from the Security Council.[^56]
### Iran
From 1979 to 1981 McCloy was a member of a "Special Project Team" working to gain asylum in the United States for the deposed [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]]; the team was headed by David Rockefeller, then chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, and included Kissinger and Chase vice president [[Joseph Verner Reed Jr.]] The team lobbied the President and the Secretary of State for the Shah's admission; he was admitted in October 1979 for cancer treatment, which was followed by the November 1979 seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran. Rockefeller in particular "was accused of helping the Shah out of self-interest, because of the millions of dollars of Iranian loans and assets held by the Chase Manhattan Bank."[^57]
### The Papers
McCloy gave his papers to Amherst College, where he was a trustee from 1947 to 1989, by a deed of gift in July 1985. Before their transfer, "roughly half of the papers underwent a national security review by the Department of State"; the bulk arrived in May 1986, "with several batches sent later following clearance by the relevant government agency," and a second installment received in June 1990, after his death, was reviewed by the State Department and legal counsel. The collection holds only photocopies of his War Department diaries; the originals are at the [[National Archives and Records Administration]]. Names or other details were removed from some entries to protect the privacy of individuals, and "there are a few places where information was removed from the original by an unknown party prior to the diaries' transfer to Amherst College."[^58]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, "John J. McCloy (AC 1916) Papers, 1897-1989 (Bulk: 1940-1979)," Finding Aid MA.00035, Historical Note and Chronology. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
[^2]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 7: Black Tom, 1924-1946, scope note and sub-series C to E. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
[^3]: Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, *Personal Justice Denied* (Washington, D.C., December 1982), Part I, Chapter 2, "Executive Order 9066." https://npshistory.com/publications/incarceration/personal-justice-denied/chap2.htm
[^4]: *Personal Justice Denied*, Part I, Chapter 3, "Exclusion and Evacuation." https://npshistory.com/publications/incarceration/personal-justice-denied/chap3.htm
[^5]: *Personal Justice Denied*, Part I, Chapter 8, "Ending the Exclusion." https://npshistory.com/publications/incarceration/personal-justice-denied/chap8.htm
[^6]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 11: Japanese Americans: Relocation and Compensation, 1942-1989, scope note, sub-series A to F. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
[^7]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 15: Jenner-McCarthy, 1952-1955, sub-series A to C. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
[^8]: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "The United States and the Holocaust: Why Auschwitz Was Not Bombed," *Holocaust Encyclopedia*, last edited May 1, 2016. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-united-states-and-the-holocaust-why-auschwitz-was-not-bombed
[^9]: John J. McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War, to John W. Pehle, Executive Director, War Refugee Board, November 18, 1944, as reproduced by the Jewish Virtual Library. https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/mccloy-informs-pehle-that-war-department-won-rsquo-t-bomb-auschwitz-november-1944
[^10]: Central Intelligence Agency, index card, "Memoranda for [withheld], Patterson-McCloy, 27, 26 Sept 45," TSD/H 119, dated 12/21/65, CIA-RDP83-00036R000200110010-5 (approved for release 2006/10/17). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00036r000200110010-5
[^11]: World Bank Group Archives, "John J. McCloy, 2nd World Bank President, March 17, 1947 - June 30, 1949." https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/archives/history/past-presidents/john-jay-mccloy
[^12]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 10: World Bank (folder "JJM resignation (to go to HICOG)," 1949 May 18) and Series 2, sub-series B (account of the April 30, 1949 meeting with President Truman). https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
[^13]: Allan A. Ryan Jr., *Klaus Barbie and the United States Government: A Report to the Attorney General of the United States* (U.S. Department of Justice, August 1983), p. 84, note. https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal-hrsp/legacy/2011/02/04/08-02-83barbie-rpt.pdf
[^14]: R. H. Hillenkoetter, Director of Central Intelligence, to John J. McCloy, U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, August 18, 1949, CIA-RDP80R01731R001300150013-2 (approved for release 2003/06/16). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r001300150013-2
[^15]: Walter B. Smith to John J. McCloy, January 12, 1951, CIA-RDP80R01731R001300110003-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r001300110003-7 ; Allen W. Dulles, Deputy Director, to John J. McCloy, June 19, 1951, CIA-RDP80R01731R001300110002-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r001300110002-8
[^16]: Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, Public Relations Division, *Landsberg: A Documentary Report* (Frankfurt, January 31, 1951), "Statement of US High Commissioner," pp. 2 to 4, and report of the Advisory Board on Clemency for War Criminals. https://archive.org/details/landsbergdocumen00unit
[^17]: *Landsberg: A Documentary Report*, "Case 10, The Krupp Case," pp. 9 to 11. https://archive.org/details/landsbergdocumen00unit
[^18]: *Landsberg: A Documentary Report*, note preceding "Case 7, The Hostages Case," and "Case 11, Ministries Case." https://archive.org/details/landsbergdocumen00unit
[^19]: U.S. Department of State, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954*, vol. VII, part 1, *Germany and Austria*, Document 30 (telegram from the High Commissioner for Germany (McCloy) to the Department of State, Bonn, May 9, 1952). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1952-54v07p1/ebook/frus1952-54v07p1.epub
[^20]: Ryan, *Klaus Barbie and the United States Government*, pp. 101 (note), 118 to 121 and notes. https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal-hrsp/legacy/2011/02/04/08-02-83barbie-rpt.pdf
[^21]: Harm Langenkamp, "'A Most Interesting and Complex Involvement': Cold War Alignments between the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, the Congress for Cultural Freedom, and the Central Intelligence Agency," Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports (2021), p. 11 and note 49 (citing McCloy to Hoffman, December 31, 1951, in Kai Bird, *The Chairman*, p. 358). https://rockarch.issuelab.org/resources/38323/38323.pdf
[^22]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 16: Ford Foundation, scope note and sub-series A and B. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
[^23]: John J. McCloy, Council on Foreign Relations, to Allen W. Dulles, April 29, 1953, CIA-RDP80R01731R001200020045-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r001200020045-2
[^24]: Langenkamp, Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports (2021), notes 50 (Stone to McCloy, February 25, 1954, cited by Volker Berghahn), 56 (Price memorandum of May 21, 1954; Price oral history, June 22, 1972, p. 70; McCloy interview in Bird, *The Chairman*, p. 427) and 57 (John B. Howard oral history; Henry T. Heald oral history). https://rockarch.issuelab.org/resources/38323/38323.pdf
[^25]: Langenkamp, Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports (2021), abstract, text at notes 58 and 59, and conclusion. https://rockarch.issuelab.org/resources/38323/38323.pdf
[^26]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 2, sub-series F and G (Chase Manhattan Bank appointment records and telephone logs) and Series 1 (retirement from Chase Manhattan, 1960 Mar). https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
[^27]: Marshall S. Carter, Lieutenant General, USA, to John J. McCloy, April 20, 1962, CIA-RDP80B01676R001300050094-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001300050094-2
[^28]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 20: International Oil, 1946-1981, scope note and sub-series B, C and E. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
[^29]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations, *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, report together with individual views, 93d Cong., 2d sess., committee print, January 2, 1975, pp. 126 to 127. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
[^30]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 13 and 92 to 93 (McCloy to Rusk, January 11, 1967, Multinational Corporations hearings, Part 9). https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
[^31]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, *Energy Crisis, 1969-1974*, Document 21, note 6, and Document 24 (Kissinger to Nixon, December 8, 1969) and note 5. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
[^32]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, p. 125. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
[^33]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 57 (memorandum for the files by Peter Flanigan, September 29, 1970), pp. 130 to 131. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
[^34]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 66 (telegram 3565 from the Department of State, January 8, 1971), pp. 167 to 168; *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 127 to 129. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf ; https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
[^35]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 129 to 133. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
[^36]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, p. 17. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
[^37]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 134 to 135. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
[^38]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 104 (memorandum of conversation, Washington, January 3, 1972) and note 2, pp. 246 to 247. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
[^39]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 173 (editorial note), pp. 438 to 440. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
[^40]: General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament letterheads and correspondence: McCloy to Arthur Lundahl, June 5, 1970, CIA-RDP78B05703A000400090083-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp78b05703a000400090083-2 ; McCloy to David S. Brandwein, March 26, 1971, CIA-RDP81R00560R000100110004-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp81r00560r000100110004-6 ; McCloy to Richard Helms, May 28, 1971, CIA-RDP74B00681R000100160009-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp74b00681r000100160009-6 ; McCloy to Richard Helms, November 10, 1969, CIA-RDP80B01495R000100010004-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01495r000100010004-9
[^41]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 201 (memorandum from John Knubel to Kissinger, September 5, 1973), pp. 548 to 549. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
[^42]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 212 (memorandum by the chairmen of Exxon, Mobil, Texaco and Standard Oil of California, New York, October 12, 1973) and note 1. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
[^43]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 243 (memorandum of conversation, November 20, 1973, 5 p.m.) and note 8, pp. 684 to 690; Document 311 (Kissinger and David Rockefeller, February 8, 1974), note 3. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
[^44]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 345 (memorandum of conversation, March 29, 1974, 5:15 p.m.), pp. 954 to 977. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
[^45]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 14, 127 and 169. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
[^46]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 20: International Oil, sub-series B, I (Critchfield Reports, 1968-1973, Reports 1 to 65) and K (Oil Company Annual Reports, 1964-1966). https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
[^47]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, *South and Central America; Mexico*, Document 183 (telegram 1761 from the Embassy in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, February 21, 1964), paragraph 8 and note 10, pp. 402 to 403. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
[^48]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, Document 210 (transcript of telephone conversation between Director of Central Intelligence McCone and John J. McCloy, April 9, 1964, 11:10 a.m.; source: CIA, Job 80-B01285A, DCI (McCone) Files, Telephone Calls, Eyes Only), p. 461, and Document 211 (telegram 2235 from Rio de Janeiro, April 10, 1964), note 2. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
[^49]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, Document 214 (telegram 2790 from Rio de Janeiro, June 10, 1964). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
[^50]: *Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy*, Foreword, p. ix, National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/foreword
[^51]: National Archives, "Inventory of the Warren Commission's Records," Entry 46 ("Report of Meeting of Members of Staff," July 9, 1964, National Archives Identifier 607521). https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/inventory
[^52]: Assassination Records Review Board, *Final Report* (September 1998), chapter 6, "J. Lee Rankin: Warren Commission Papers." https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/review-board/report/arrb-final-report.txt
[^53]: Assassination Records Review Board, *Final Report* (September 1998), chapter 6, "John McCone." https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/review-board/report/arrb-final-report.txt
[^54]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. VII, *Arms Control and Disarmament*, Document 2 (Kennedy to McCloy, January 27, 1961) and note 1, https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v07/ebook/frus1961-63v07.epub ; Allen W. Dulles to John J. McCloy, February 7, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R000800050039-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r000800050039-9
[^55]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. VII, Document 41 (editorial note). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v07/ebook/frus1961-63v07.epub
[^56]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. XI, *Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath*, Documents 86 (telegram 1484 from the Mission to the United Nations, October 26, 1962) and 263 (editorial note), https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v11/ebook/frus1961-63v11.epub ; "McCloy Draft," 11/21/62, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900100035-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900100035-5
[^57]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 28: Shah of Iran, 1979-1981, scope note. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
[^58]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, "History of the Collection," "Processing Information" and Series 2: Diaries and Communication Logs, notes. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf

201
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/John N. Mitchell.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- JohnMitchell
- Watergate
- AttorneyGeneral
- DepartmentOfJustice
- CommitteeToReElectThePresident
- Gemstone
- RobertVesco
- Wiretapping
- NixonAdministration
- Conviction
- 1970s
alias:
- John N. Mitchell
- John Mitchell
- John Newton Mitchell
summary: "Nixon's law partner and 1968 campaign manager, Attorney General from 1969 to 1972 and 1972 reelection committee head, acquitted in the Vesco case in 1974 and convicted in the Watergate cover-up in 1975."
born: 1913-09-15
died: 1988-11-09
location: "Detroit, Michigan (born)"
relations:
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Richard Nixon]]"
role: "law partner"
start: 1967
end: 1968
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[Nixon Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Mitchell]]"
role: "partner"
start: 1967
end: 1968
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
role: "attorney general"
start: 1969-01-21
end: 1972-03-01
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Committee to Re-elect the President]]"
role: "campaign director"
start: 1972-03-01
end: 1972-07-01
fn: 2
- type: member_of
with: "[[40 Committee]]"
role: "principal"
fn: 17
- type: represented
with: "[[William Hundley]]"
reverse: true
role: "defense counsel"
fn: 41
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
start: 1973-05-10
end: 1974-04-28
fn: 3
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Watergate Special Prosecution Force]]"
reverse: true
end: 1975-01-01
fn: 4
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
John Newton Mitchell (September 15, 1913 to November 9, 1988) was a New York lawyer, law partner of [[Richard Nixon]], manager of Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] of the [[United States]] from January 21, 1969 until March 1, 1972, and head of the [[Committee to Re-elect the President]] until July 1, 1972.[^1][^2] A federal jury in [[New York City]] acquitted him in April 1974 on all counts of an indictment charging conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury in connection with a secret cash contribution by the financier [[Robert Vesco]].[^3] A jury in [[Washington, D.C.]] convicted him in January 1975 of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury in the [[Watergate]] cover-up, and he served 19 months in prison, including five months of medical furlough.[^4][^5]
### Law Practice and the 1968 Campaign
Mitchell was admitted to the New York bar in 1938, was a partner in [[Caldwell, Trimble & Mitchell]] from 1945 to 1966, and was a partner in [[Nixon Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Mitchell|Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander & Mitchell]] from 1967 to 1968.[^1] Testifying before the [[Senate Watergate Committee]] on July 10, 1973, he said that he had a casual acquaintance with Nixon before Nixon came to New York in 1963 to practice law, that the two law firms merged at the end of 1966, that he and Nixon practiced together until both retired from the firm, and that he was known as the campaign director in the 1968 campaign.[^6]
On December 10, 1968, Mitchell wrote to [[Richard Helms]], [[Director of Central Intelligence]], on the stationery of the Office of the President-elect at 450 Park Avenue, New York. The letter thanked Helms for a letter of December 9 concerning [[William Colby|William E. Colby]] and stated that Mitchell would "take the matter up with the appropriate persons."[^7]
[[Harry L. Sears]], a former Speaker of the [[New Jersey]] General Assembly and Majority Leader of the State Senate, became acquainted with Mitchell through work on the 1968 Republican presidential campaign. After an unsuccessful run for the Republican nomination for governor left Sears with campaign debts, a testimonial dinner for him was held at which Attorney General Mitchell was the guest of honor. Robert Vesco had made a contribution to Sears's campaign and had arranged a bank loan for him.[^8]
### Attorney General
President Nixon appointed Mitchell on January 21, 1969.[^1] Asked in 1973 about the 1970 interagency intelligence plan associated with the [[White House]] aide [[Tom Charles Huston]], Mitchell testified that the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s [[Cartha DeLoach]] and [[J. Edgar Hoover]] brought it to his attention, that he had the plan in his possession during those discussions, and that he "joined Mr. Hoover in opposing its implementation." He said he later spoke to [[H. R. Haldeman]] and to the President about it and that "that was the end of it."[^9] He testified that he learned of the White House "[[White House Plumbers|Plumbers]]" unit only after June 17, 1972.[^10]
On November 6, 1970, Mitchell authorized a warrantless wiretap on the telephone of [[William Davidon]], a [[Haverford College]] physics professor who belonged to a group that, according to information received, had made plans to blow up heating tunnels linking federal office buildings in Washington and had discussed kidnapping National Security Adviser [[Henry A. Kissinger]]. The FBI installed the tap in late November 1970 and it stayed in place until January 6, 1971, intercepting three conversations between Davidon and [[Keith Forsyth]]. In [[Mitchell v. Forsyth]] (1985), the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] held that the Attorney General was not absolutely immune from damages for national security actions but that Mitchell was entitled to qualified immunity, because the legality of a warrantless domestic security wiretap was an open question in November 1970.[^11]
In [[Zweibon v. Mitchell]], a suit by members of the [[Jewish Defense League]], the record showed that the Attorney General approved an FBI request to wiretap the League's headquarters during October 1970, the month of the 25th session of the [[United Nations General Assembly]], and approved a second request, for a 90-day tap beginning in early January 1971. The first approval was given, the opinion stated, because of fear of international embarrassment or Soviet retaliation against Americans in Moscow. The district court had sustained the Attorney General's assertion and granted summary judgment for the defendants, and in August 1973 Judge [[Griffin Bell]], writing for a Fifth Circuit panel in [[United States v. Brown]], cited that district court decision as accord for the proposition that the President may authorize warrantless wiretaps to gather foreign intelligence. The [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]] decided the case en banc on June 23, 1975.[^12][^13]
### Chile and the 40 Committee, September to December 1970
A staff report of the Senate [[Church Committee]] recorded that on September 15, 1970, after [[Salvador Allende]] finished first in the [[Chile|Chilean]] presidential election, Nixon met with Helms, Kissinger and Mitchell and that Helms was directed to prevent Allende from taking power without the knowledge of the Departments of State and Defense or the ambassador.[^14] The Committee's interim report on assassination plots reproduced Helms's handwritten notes of the meeting, which read in part "One in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile!" and "$10,000,000 available, more if necessary."[^15] The same report stated that on the morning of September 15, at the request of [[Donald Kendall]], president of [[PepsiCo|Pepsi-Cola]], Kissinger and Mitchell had breakfast with Kendall and [[Agustin Edwards]], publisher of [[El Mercurio]] (the report cited the Mitchell calendar), the subject being the political situation in Chile and "the plight of El Mercurio and other anti-Allende forces."[^16]
At the [[40 Committee]] meeting of October 15, 1970 the principals present were Kissinger, Mitchell, [[David Packard]], [[U. Alexis Johnson|Alexis Johnson]] and Admiral [[Thomas Moorer|Moorer]], together with [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and [[State Department]] officials and Ambassador [[Edward Korry|Korry]].[^17] A memorandum of December 2, 1970 from Helms to Kissinger stated that Helms had given a recapitulation of the CIA's [[Project FUBELT|Track II]] activities to Attorney General Mitchell, who would deliver it personally to Kissinger. Kissinger told the Committee he did not recall receiving the report and was puzzled that it was to be delivered through Mitchell.[^18]
### The Reelection Committee and Liddy
[[John W. Dean]], counsel to the President, testified that on November 24, 1971 he brought [[G. Gordon Liddy]] to Mitchell's office to be interviewed for the post of general counsel of the reelection committee, after [[Egil Krogh]] had cleared the suggestion with [[John Ehrlichman]]. Dean described a general job interview with virtually no discussion of intelligence plans, and submitted an agenda that Liddy had prepared for it.[^19] Mitchell testified that this was the first time he met Liddy, that he knew Liddy had been an assistant prosecutor in New York State, a candidate for Congress, an FBI agent, and a Treasury and White House staff member, and that a one-line reference to intelligence gathering in Liddy's prospectus was not discussed. He said that on December 8, 1971 Krogh brought Liddy to his office for a meeting on the drug abuse law enforcement program, and that he did not then know that Liddy also worked for Krogh as one of the Plumbers.[^20]
[[Howard Hunt]] testified that in late November 1971 Liddy told him that Attorney General Mitchell had proposed a large-scale intelligence and counterintelligence program with Liddy as its chief, that he and Liddy designed a budget for it under the name Gemstone, and that he understood it to have been approved by [[Jeb Stuart Magruder]] and Dean and later by [[Charles Colson]].[^21]
Magruder, deputy director of the reelection committee, testified that on January 27, 1972 he, Dean, Liddy and Mitchell met in the Attorney General's office, where Liddy presented about six charts, each headed by a code word, one of them Gemstone, with a total budget of about $1 million. The projects included wiretapping, electronic surveillance and photography, the abduction of radical leaders to Mexico during the [[San Diego]] convention, and call girls. Magruder said that all three listeners were appalled and that Mitchell, "in an understated way," indicated that the project was not acceptable and that Liddy would go back to the drawing boards.[^22] Dean testified that Mitchell took a few long puffs on his pipe and told Liddy that the plan was not quite what he had in mind and that the cost was out of the question, that Mitchell winked at him during the presentation, and that Dean told Liddy as they left to destroy the charts. Dean described a second meeting on February 4, at which Liddy presented a scaled-down plan and Dean ended the discussion by saying that it could not continue in the office of the Attorney General.[^23]
Mitchell testified that Liddy's presentation was "a complete horror story," that he told Liddy "to go burn the charts," and that in hindsight he "should have thrown him out of the window." He testified that the February 4 meeting was short, that the revised plan was rejected again, and that no targets were discussed.[^24] He also testified that between February 4 and June 15, 1972 he did not see or speak to Liddy, and he called Magruder's account of showing him Gemstone material "a palpable, damnable lie."[^25]
In July 1973 Senator [[Herman Talmadge]] asked Mitchell whether he had played an active role in the campaign while still Attorney General. Mitchell answered that "What I did was succumb to the President's request to keep an eye on what was going on over there," and, when Talmadge used the word "supervisory," said "If you would change 'supervisory' to 'consulting', I think I would be much happier." Talmadge then read him an exchange of March 14, 1972 between Mitchell and Senator [[Edward Kennedy]] before the [[Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]]: "Senator Kennedy. No re-election campaign responsibilities? Mr. Mitchell. Not as yet." Mitchell said the answer related back to the Republican Party.[^26]
Magruder testified that on March 30, 1972, at [[Key Biscayne, Florida]], where Mitchell was vacationing, he went over decision papers with Mitchell and [[Fred LaRue]], that the last item was Liddy's proposal reduced to about $250,000, that it was approved for entry into the [[Democratic National Committee]] headquarters in Washington and possibly later into other targets, and that Mitchell "simply signed off on it."[^27] Mitchell testified that the plan was rejected for a third time at that meeting, that LaRue was present throughout, that LaRue was not enthusiastic and concurred that the plan should not be approved, and that he did not believe Magruder paid Liddy $250,000.[^28] The opinion of the court of appeals affirming Mitchell's convictions summarized the trial evidence as showing that Liddy had pared his budget to $250,000 and that on March 30 Magruder obtained Mitchell's approval for Gemstone at a meeting in Key Biscayne attended only by Mitchell, Magruder and LaRue.[^5]
The same court recorded the testimony of [[Hugh Sloan]], treasurer of the [[Finance Committee to Re-elect the President]], that he turned over to Liddy a total of $199,000 in cash, mostly in $100 bills, and that bills of that denomination later were found in sequence on the five men arrested in the Democratic National Committee offices.[^29] Committee counsel [[Samuel Dash]] read to Mitchell the testimony of [[Maurice Stans]], chairman of the Finance Committee, that after Sloan questioned a request by Liddy for money Mitchell said Magruder directed the spending and that Sloan should pay Liddy what Magruder directed. Mitchell testified that he had told Stans that Magruder had "continuing authorization" to authorize expenditures, disputed that large sums were discussed, and said he would not dispute Stans's statement about Magruder's continuing authority.[^30]
On June 15, 1972 Liddy came to Mitchell's office with the committee's public information officer, [[Van Shumway]], about a letter to the [[The Washington Post|Washington Post]] on charges by the [[General Accounting Office]] under the [[Federal Corrupt Practices Act|Corrupt Practices Act]]. Mitchell testified that this was the only conversation he had with Liddy between February 4 and June 15.[^25]
According to the court of appeals, after the June 17 arrests Liddy reported the capture to the committee's senior officials, who were in California, and Mitchell, [[Robert Mardian]], LaRue and Magruder decided to ask the new Attorney General, [[Richard Kleindienst]], to arrange the release of [[James McCord]] before his alias was penetrated. Kleindienst refused special treatment.[^31] Kleindienst testified that on Saturday, June 17, Liddy and [[Powell Moore]] came to the [[Burning Tree Club]] in Washington, where he was playing in a tournament; that Liddy said some of those arrested might be employed by the White House or the reelection committee and, in Kleindienst's less precise recollection, that Mitchell had asked him to come and talk to Kleindienst; that Kleindienst found this incredible, telephoned Assistant Attorney General [[Henry Petersen]] to instruct that those arrested be given no different treatment, and told Liddy to leave.[^32] A press release denying any link between the committee and the burglars appeared on June 18 under Mitchell's name; Haldeman approved it by telephone although Magruder had told him the break-in was "Liddy's operation."[^31] Mitchell, Mardian and LaRue returned to Washington on June 19 and met that evening in Mitchell's apartment with Dean and Magruder. Mitchell testified that there was no discussion of destroying documents; Magruder testified that the group discussed what to do about the problem, and the court of appeals summarized the evidence as showing that Magruder removed the Gemstone materials from the committee's files and took them to his home.[^33] Mitchell testified that Mardian and LaRue told him, after debriefing Liddy, that Liddy had been involved in the entry into the office of [[Daniel Ellsberg]]'s psychiatrist and in the matter of the [[ITT Corporation|ITT]] lobbyist [[Dita Beard]], whom, as Mitchell understood it, Liddy had assisted in leaving New York for [[Denver]].[^34]
Mitchell resigned as campaign director on July 1, 1972. He testified that the President urged him to stay and that he had spent the previous week working on a family situation so that he could stay as husband and wife.[^2]
### Vesco
In its disciplinary opinion on Sears, the [[Supreme Court of New Jersey]] recorded that Vesco's corporation, [[International Controls Corporation]], was under investigation by the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] over its 1970 purchase of control of [[Investors Overseas Services]]; that Vesco asked Sears several times to speak to Mitchell in the hope that Mitchell would induce SEC Chairman [[William J. Casey]] to monitor and limit the inquiry; and that Sears conveyed these requests in two letters and three meetings with Mitchell.[^35]
The opinion placed one of those meetings on February 11, 1972, when Mitchell was still Attorney General. Sears again asked Mitchell to induce Casey to oversee the investigation and mentioned that Vesco intended to contribute up to $500,000 to the 1972 campaign. Mitchell replied that he would discuss the matter with Stans. By March 11, 1972 Vesco had pledged $250,000 to Stans, who wanted it in currency. At a meeting on April 3, it was decided that $50,000 would be contributed publicly through the New Jersey Finance Committee and the remainder as a secret cash contribution. Sears noted that the [[Federal Election Campaign Act]] of 1971, which required disclosure of contributions above $50,000, would take effect on April 7, 1972; Stans told him that the date of delivery was unimportant. On April 10, 1972, [[Larry Richardson]], president of International Controls, delivered $200,000 in cash to Stans in Washington. Justice Sullivan, who would have disbarred Sears, wrote in dissent that Richardson told Stans, "He'd like to get some help," and that Stans answered, "that is John Mitchell's department." At 2 p.m. that day Sears told Mitchell about the cash contribution and reminded him of the SEC investigation and of his requests for a meeting with Casey. While Sears was in the office, Mitchell telephoned Casey and arranged a meeting between Sears and Casey for later that day, at which, according to the majority opinion, Casey gave personal assurances that International Controls would be afforded an opportunity to respond to the SEC's findings and that he would review its allegations of SEC harassment; Justice Sullivan wrote that Casey told Sears the Commission was not in the habit of taking precipitous action but did not give "any assurance" that the company would be allowed to appear before the Commission itself.[^36]
The opinion recorded that by October 1972 the SEC had traced funds representing the $200,000 to the International Controls treasury and had issued subpoenas to company officers, including Richardson. Sears met Mitchell in October 1972, when Mitchell expressed the belief that the subpoenas would ultimately be withdrawn, and again on November 21, 1972, when Sears gave Mitchell a file compiled by Vesco's Washington counsel and a memorandum from Vesco intended for the President's brother Donald Nixon and ultimately for the President. Mitchell and Sears agreed that the file should be returned to Vesco.[^37] The SEC sued Vesco on November 27, 1972 for a $224 million stock fraud.[^38]
At the 1974 trial, according to *[[Time (magazine)|Time]]*, John Dean testified that beginning about July 14, 1972 he made eight to twelve telephone calls to Casey at Mitchell's behest, relaying Mitchell's complaints that the SEC was harassing Vesco, and that in late October 1972 Mitchell asked him to have Casey postpone the November 2 appearances of subpoenaed Vesco staff, saying that it would be embarrassing for them to take the Fifth Amendment before the election. Dean said that Casey answered that nothing could be done and that the witnesses took the Fifth Amendment. Dean also testified that on March 20, 1973 Mitchell telephoned him after a New York federal grand jury appearance, said "those little bastards were all over me," and told him to call Kleindienst, then Attorney General, "and tell him what's going on"; Dean passed the message to Kleindienst. Defense counsel Peter Fleming brought out that the tape of Dean's conversation with Nixon that day did not mention the request. [[G. Bradford Cook]], the SEC general counsel and later chairman, testified that Stans implied he should remove a reference to Vesco's missing $250,000 from the SEC complaint and that he complied; he acknowledged lying about this to the grand jury and a congressional committee, and resigned as SEC chairman on May 16, 1973 after ten weeks.[^38]
The indictment returned on May 10, 1973 (73 Cr. 439, S.D.N.Y.) charged Mitchell, Stans, Sears and Vesco in a conspiracy count alleging an agreement to obstruct justice in relation to the SEC investigation and proceedings against Vesco and to defraud the United States in relation to the functions of the SEC and the General Accounting Office; Mitchell was also charged with counts of endeavoring to obstruct justice and with six counts of perjury before the grand jury. Paragraph 16(r) of the conspiracy count alleged that in October 1972 Vesco threatened to disclose the $200,000 cash contribution delivered to Stans on April 10, 1972 unless an SEC subpoena issued to him was withdrawn and that Sears relayed the threat to Mitchell. Judge [[Lee Parsons Gagliardi|Gagliardi]] ruled on the pretrial motions on August 29, 1973, denying Stans's motion to dismiss on grounds arising from the grand jury questioning of his lawyer [[Kenneth Parkinson]] and granting alternative relief suppressing Parkinson's grand jury testimony and certain documents.[^39] Sears was indicted on May 11, 1973 and, after plea negotiations, accepted transactional immunity and prepared to testify for the prosecution.[^40]
On April 28, 1974 the jury acquitted Mitchell and Stans on all nine counts against them. Assistant United States Attorney John R. Wing said afterward: "If we could have gotten Vesco back it would have been different." Vesco had left the country and the government had been unable to secure his return.[^3] The Supreme Court of New Jersey, by a vote of four to one, suspended Sears from the practice of law for three years effective October 15, 1976; Justice Sullivan would have disbarred him.[^40]
### Senate Testimony and the Cover-up Trial
Mitchell appeared before the Senate committee on July 10, 1973 under subpoena, accompanied by counsel [[William Hundley]], [[Plato Cacheris|Plato C. Cacheris]] and [[Marvin Segal]]. Hundley stated for the record that by letters of June 18 and July 9, 1973 Mitchell had asked the committee to withdraw the subpoena, that the committee had refused, and that Mitchell would make no opening statement.[^41]
A grand jury indictment in the case that became United States v. Mitchell et al., D.C. Criminal No. 74-110, charged Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Colson, Mardian, Parkinson and [[Gordon Strachan]] with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and false statements to the FBI, the grand jury and the Senate committee. The jury acquitted Parkinson, convicted Mardian of conspiracy, and convicted Mitchell, Haldeman and Ehrlichman of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and all the perjury counts submitted. The sentences were concurrent terms of 20 months to five years on the conspiracy and obstruction counts and 10 months to three years on each perjury count, the latter consecutive, for a total of two and a half to eight years. The court of appeals, sitting en banc, affirmed on October 12, 1976, and the Supreme Court denied certiorari on May 23, 1977.[^5]
The court's summary of the trial evidence stated that Magruder, preparing his grand jury testimony in August 1972, reviewed his account with Mitchell, who urged him to minimize Mitchell's role in running the campaign, and that when [[E. Howard Hunt]] demanded another $122,000 on March 16, 1973, Dean relayed the demand to Ehrlichman and, at his suggestion, to Mitchell.[^42] An [[Associated Press]] obituary reported that on a March 22, 1973 White House tape Ehrlichman said "John says he's sorry he sent those burglars in there," Nixon replied "That's right," and Mitchell said "You are very welcome, sir." The same report stated that the verdict was returned on January 1, 1975 and that the sentence was two and a half to eight years.[^4]
On June 17, 1976 the [[New York Court of Appeals]] rejected Mitchell's appeal from an Appellate Division order striking his name from the roll of attorneys on the basis of the federal judgment.[^43] The Associated Press obituary stated that he served a 19-month term that included five months of medical furloughs.[^4]
### Testimony in the Felt and Miller Trial
In 1980 Mitchell and Kleindienst testified at the trial of the former FBI officials [[W. Mark Felt]] and [[Edward S. Miller]], indicted in April 1978, during the tenure of Attorney General Griffin Bell, on charges of conspiring to deprive relatives and acquaintances of fugitives from the [[Weather Underground]] of their rights under 18 U.S.C. 241. [[Mark D. Cummings]], a lawyer who was assigned to Felt's defense, wrote in the *National Security Law Journal* that Mitchell testified that J. Edgar Hoover's 1966 halt on surreptitious entries was motivated less by legal concerns than by regard for the Bureau's image, and that neither Mitchell nor Kleindienst had ever been asked to approve a covert entry but both agreed it was a legal tool when national security was at stake. Cummings cited trial transcript pages 5742 to 5826 for the testimony of the two former Attorneys General.[^44]
### Later Life and Death
Mitchell died on November 9, 1988, in Washington, D.C., after collapsing on a street in [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]]; the Associated Press reported that he had suffered a heart attack.[^1][^4]
### Attributed Introduction of Jeffrey Epstein and Steven Hoffenberg
In a 2003 *[[Vanity Fair]]* article, [[Vicky Ward]] wrote that [[Steven Hoffenberg]] said he and [[Jeffrey Epstein]] were introduced by [[Douglas Leese]], a defense contractor, and that "Epstein has said they were introduced by John Mitchell, the late attorney general."[^45]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, "John Newton Mitchell," Attorneys General biographies (born Detroit, September 15, 1913; partner at Caldwell, Trimble & Mitchell 1945 to 1966 and Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander & Mitchell 1967 to 1968; appointed January 21, 1969; served until March 1, 1972; died November 9, 1988, Washington, D.C.). https://www.justice.gov/ag/bio/mitchell-john-newton
[^2]: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Senate Resolution 60: Watergate and Related Activities*, hearings, 93d Cong., 1st sess., Book 4 (1973), testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1664-1665 (resignation as campaign director July 1, 1972). https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit; and U.S. Department of Justice, "John Newton Mitchell," Attorneys General biographies (Mitchell served as Attorney General until March 1, 1972, "when he resigned to head President Nixon's reelection committee"). https://www.justice.gov/ag/bio/mitchell-john-newton
[^3]: Associated Press, "Jury acquits Mitchell, Stans," *State News* (Michigan State University), April 29, 1974, p. 1 (acquittal on all nine counts, April 28, 1974; indictment of May 10, 1973; Assistant U.S. Attorney John R. Wing quoted; Vesco fled). https://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/state_news/1974/state_news_19740429.pdf
[^4]: "John Mitchell, 75, Watergate Conspirator, Dies," Associated Press, *Deseret News*, November 10, 1988. https://www.deseret.com/1988/11/10/18783557/john-mitchell-75-watergate-conspirator-dies/
[^5]: *United States v. Haldeman*, 559 F.2d 31 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (en banc) (Nos. 75-1381, 75-1382, 75-1384), decided October 12, 1976, cert. denied May 23, 1977, Part I.A and n.6 (Gemstone, March 30 Key Biscayne meeting, verdicts, sentences). https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/559/559.F2d.31.6.8.12.23.75-1384.html
[^6]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, p. 1602. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^7]: Letter, John N. Mitchell, Office of the President-elect, to Richard Helms, December 10, 1968, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP80B01086A000800030005-7. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP80B01086A000800030005-7
[^8]: *In re Sears*, 71 N.J. 175 (N.J. 1976), Part I (decided September 30, 1976). https://static.case.law/nj/71/cases/0175-01.json
[^9]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1603-1604. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^10]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, p. 1605. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^11]: *Mitchell v. Forsyth*, 472 U.S. 511 (1985), Part I and Part III. https://static.case.law/us/472/cases/0511-01.json
[^12]: *Zweibon v. Mitchell*, 516 F.2d 594 (D.C. Cir. 1975) (en banc) (No. 73-1847), decided June 23, 1975. https://static.case.law/f2d/516/cases/0594-01.json
[^13]: *United States v. Brown*, 484 F.2d 418 (5th Cir. 1973) (No. 72-2181) (Bell, J.), decided August 22, 1973, Part V. https://static.case.law/f2d/484/cases/0418-01.json
[^14]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Covert Action in Chile 1963-1973*, staff report, 94th Cong., 1st sess. (December 18, 1975), p. 11. https://archive.org/details/CovertActionInChile196373
[^15]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, interim report, S. Rept. 94-465 (1975), p. 227. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^16]: S. Rept. 94-465, p. 228 and n. (Helms testimony of July 15, 1975, pp. 4-5, quoted). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^17]: S. Rept. 94-465, p. 250 (40 Committee meeting of October 15, 1970). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^18]: S. Rept. 94-465, p. 253 (Helms to Kissinger memorandum of December 2, 1970; Kissinger testimony of August 12, 1975, pp. 71, 74). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^19]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3 (1973), testimony of John W. Dean III, pp. 927-928. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
[^20]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1608-1609. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^21]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 9 (1973), testimony of E. Howard Hunt, p. 3663. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp09unit
[^22]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 2 (1973), testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, pp. 787-788. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp02unit
[^23]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, pp. 929-931. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
[^24]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1610-1611. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^25]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1619-1620. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^26]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1653-1654. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^27]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 2, testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, pp. 794-795, 812. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp02unit
[^28]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1615-1616. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^29]: *United States v. Liddy*, 509 F.2d 428 (D.C. Cir. 1974) (en banc) (No. 73-1565), Part I (testimony of Hugh Sloan). https://static.case.law/f2d/509/cases/0428-01.json
[^30]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1617-1618. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^31]: *United States v. Haldeman*, 559 F.2d 31 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (en banc), Part I.B. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/559/559.F2d.31.6.8.12.23.75-1384.html
[^32]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 9 (1973), testimony of Richard G. Kleindienst, August 7, 1973, pp. 3560-3562. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp09unit
[^33]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, p. 1622; Book 2, testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, p. 799; *United States v. Haldeman*, 559 F.2d 31, Part I.B. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^34]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, p. 1622; Book 5 (resumed testimony, July 11, 1973), p. 1919. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp05unit
[^35]: *In re Sears*, 71 N.J. 175 (1976), Part I.A. https://static.case.law/nj/71/cases/0175-01.json
[^36]: *In re Sears*, 71 N.J. 175 (1976), Part I.B. https://static.case.law/nj/71/cases/0175-01.json
[^37]: *In re Sears*, 71 N.J. 175 (1976), Part I.C. https://static.case.law/nj/71/cases/0175-01.json
[^38]: "Trials: What, Never? No, Never, Never," *Time*, April 8, 1974. https://time.com/archive/6842371/trials-what-never-no-never-never/
[^39]: *United States v. Mitchell*, 372 F. Supp. 1239 (S.D.N.Y. 1973) (No. 73 Cr. 439) (Gagliardi, J.), decided August 29, 1973, introductory paragraphs and Part II. https://static.case.law/f-supp/372/cases/1239-01.json
[^40]: *In re Sears*, 71 N.J. 175 (1976), Part I.C (indictment of May 11, 1973; transactional immunity; disciplinary charges). https://static.case.law/nj/71/cases/0175-01.json
[^41]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1601-1602. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
[^42]: *United States v. Haldeman*, 559 F.2d 31 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (en banc), Part I.B and I.C. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/559/559.F2d.31.6.8.12.23.75-1384.html
[^43]: *In re Mitchell*, 40 N.Y.2d 153 (N.Y. 1976), decided June 17, 1976. https://static.case.law/ny-2d/40/cases/0153-01.json
[^44]: Mark D. Cummings, "Presidential 'Warrants,'" 7 *National Security Law Journal* 142, 148-149 (2020), citing *United States v. Felt*, No. 78-00179 (D.D.C. 1980), trial transcript pp. 5742-5826. https://www.nslj.org/wp-content/uploads/Cummings_Presidential-22Warrants22-Final.pdf
[^45]: Vicky Ward, "The Talented Mr. Epstein," *Vanity Fair*, March 2003. https://vickyward.com/article/the-talented-mr-epstein/

161
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ken Howery.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
---
category: "Technologists"
tags:
- Person
- KenHowery
- PayPalMafia
- FoundersFund
- AmbassadorToSweden
- AmbassadorToDenmark
- Greenland
- PeterThiel
- AmericaPAC
- CampaignFinance
alias:
- Ken Howery
- Kenneth Howery
- Kenneth A. Howery
summary: "PayPal and Founders Fund co-founder who served as Trump's ambassador to Sweden from 2019, gave 1 million dollars to America PAC in June 2024, and became ambassador to Denmark in 2025."
location: "Texas (state of residence); Stockholm, Sweden (2019); Copenhagen, Denmark (2025)"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[PayPal]]"
role: "co-founder; director of corporate development in a January 2002 filing; chief financial officer per TechCrunch"
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Founders Fund]]"
role: "co-founder; director or promoter of Founders Fund vehicles in Form D filings, 2009 to 2016"
fn: 8
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Peter Thiel]]"
start: 2009-05-15
role: "co-director or co-promoter of Founders Fund vehicles in Form D filings"
fn: 8
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Luke Nosek]]"
start: 2009-05-15
role: "co-director or co-promoter of Founders Fund vehicles in Form D filings"
fn: 8
- type: member_of
with: "[[Explorers Club]]"
role: "member"
fn: 1
- type: appointed
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-09-20
role: "ambassador to Sweden; confirmed September 17, 2019, 62 to 32"
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[State Department]]"
start: 2019-10-12
role: "ambassador to Sweden, non-career appointee"
fn: 3
- type: appointed
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
reverse: true
start: 2025-10-07
role: "ambassador to Denmark; confirmed in en bloc vote 547, 51 to 47"
fn: 4
- type: funded
with: "[[Republican National Committee]]"
start: 2020-10-13
end: 2024-02-23
role: "200,000 dollars on October 13, 2020, as U.S. ambassador; 413,000 dollars on February 23, 2024"
fn: 6
- type: funded
with: "[[Blake Masters]]"
start: 2022-03-27
end: 2022-03-27
role: "5,800 dollars to Blake Masters for Senate"
fn: 6
- type: funded
with: "[[JD Vance]]"
start: 2024-05-14
end: 2024-05-14
role: "3,300 dollars to JD Vance for Senate"
fn: 6
- type: funded
with: "[[America PAC]]"
start: 2024-06-20
end: 2024-06-25
role: "1,000,000 dollars in four contributions of 250,000 dollars"
fn: 10
- type: funded
with: "[[Trump 47 Committee]]"
start: 2024-10-17
end: 2024-10-17
role: "150,000 dollars in three contributions of 50,000 dollars"
fn: 6
- type: funded
with: "[[MAHA Alliance]]"
start: 2024-10-11
end: 2024-10-17
role: "100,000 dollars, 25,000 dollars of it attributed to the Kenneth Howery Revocable Trust"
fn: 6
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Kenneth A. Howery co-founded [[PayPal]] after graduating from [[Stanford University]] and later co-founded a venture capital firm, [[Founders Fund]], with [[Peter Thiel]] and [[Luke Nosek]].[^1][^2] He was the [[United States]] ambassador to [[Sweden]] from 2019, appointed as a non-career appointee with [[Texas]] as his state of residence, and was confirmed as ambassador to [[Denmark]] on October 7, 2025.[^3][^4] He told the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] in 2025 that his grandfathers "eventually raised their own families in Texas, where I grew up."[^5]
### Family and Early Career
In his statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 16, 2019, Howery introduced his mother, Karen Howery, his father, Ken Howery, and his sister, and said that both of his grandfathers had served in the Second World War: Fred Howery in the [[United States Navy]] in the Pacific and Hubert Jurek in the [[United States Army]] in Europe and North Africa.[^1] He repeated the family history to the committee in May 2025.[^5]
He told the committee in 2019: "When I graduated from Stanford, I co-founded PayPal. Our idea was simple: to make online transactions easy."[^1] [[Ingrid Lunden]] of TechCrunch wrote in January 2025 that Howery was part of the original "[[PayPal Mafia]]", "the CFO who helped bring it together and sell it to eBay", and "a close pal of Elon Musk's".[^2] A [[Federal Election Commission]] record of a 5,000 dollar contribution to the PayPal Inc. Political Action Committee on January 17, 2002 gives his employer and title as "PayPal Inc./Director of Corporate D[evelopment]", Palo Alto.[^6]
### Founders Fund
In his prepared statement of 2019 Howery wrote: "After PayPal, I co-founded a venture capital firm that has and continues to support hundreds of new companies, helping create tens of thousands of jobs, and fostering innovation in space exploration, quantum computing, biotechnology, virtual reality, alternative energy, and consumer technologies." He named [[Spotify]] as one of those companies.[^7] In 2025 he described the fund's early investments as including companies "working in fields including aerospace, defense, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology", and said: "In 2019, I left the private sector for public service".[^5]
The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]]'s Form D filings for Founders Fund vehicles list Howery with Thiel and Nosek. Founders Fund SpaceX Fund, LP (filed May 15, 2009; 3,481,500 dollars sold to 11 investors, amended on August 17, 2009 to 6,737,500 dollars from 29 investors) lists Howery, Thiel, Nosek and [[Sean Parker]] as directors, at One Letterman Drive, Building C, Suite 420, [[San Francisco]]. Founders Fund III (filed May 5, 2010; 107,272,727 dollars from 21 investors) and Founders Fund IV (filed December 1, 2011; 500,000,000 dollars from 58 investors) list him as a promoter; Founders Fund V (filed March 6, 2014; 1,015,200,000 dollars from 109 investors) and Founders Fund VI (filed March 25, 2016; 1,274,127,000 dollars from 197 investors) list him as a director.[^8] A Federal Election Commission record of October 7, 2016 gives his employer as Founders Fund and his occupation as general partner.[^6] At his 2019 hearing Senator [[Mitt Romney]], presiding, introduced him as "the co-founder of PayPal, as well as an early investor in major [[Silicon Valley]] companies such as Facebook and SpaceX".[^1]
### Ambassador to Sweden
The committee heard the nomination on May 16, 2019, with Romney presiding and Senators [[Ben Cardin]], [[Jeanne Shaheen]], [[Tom Udall]] and [[Tim Kaine]] present. Howery listed participation in the [[World Economic Forum]] and membership of the [[Explorers Club]], said that he advised [[Kiva]], and said he had travelled to 99 countries. In questioning, Romney asked about the security partnership with Sweden, and Howery answered that Sweden was "a [[NATO]] partner, not a NATO member". Shaheen asked about Russian disinformation in Sweden; Howery cited Sweden's national board for psychological defense and agreed to meet the State Department's [[Global Engagement Center]]. Udall asked about climate change and Kaine about antisemitism in Sweden.[^1]
In answers to written questions from Senators [[Robert Menendez]] and Cardin, Howery answered "No" when asked whether anyone had made a complaint of sexual harassment, discrimination or inappropriate conduct against him. Asked whether he would bring to the committee's attention any change in policy that he suspected might be influenced by the business or financial interests of the President or senior [[White House]] staff, he answered: "If confirmed, I commit to comply with all relevant federal ethics laws, regulations, and rules, and to raise concerns that I may have through appropriate channels." Asked whether he or his immediate family had financial interests in Sweden, he answered: "My investment portfolio includes interests in entities that have a presence in Sweden. This includes stock holdings, mutual funds or exchange traded funds, and private investment funds that hold interests in companies with a presence in Sweden." He added that if confirmed he would "divest all investments the State Department Ethics Office deems necessary and recuse myself from matters when required to avoid a conflict of interest".[^1]
The Senate confirmed the nomination, PN127, on September 17, 2019 by a vote of 62 to 32 (roll call 285).[^9] He was appointed on September 20, 2019 and assumed charge on October 12, 2019.[^3] Federal Election Commission records show three contributions by "Howery, Ken Mr." to the [[Republican National Committee]] dated October 13, 2020: 106,500 dollars to its headquarters account, 58,000 dollars to its legal proceedings account and 35,500 dollars to its general account, 200,000 dollars in all. The employer on each entry is "Stockholm" and the occupation "U.S. Ambassador".[^6] In 2025 Howery told the committee that in Sweden he had worked on "countering China's influence" and on "strongly advocating for Sweden's increased defense spending and interoperability, helping pave the wave for its eventual NATO accession".[^5]
### Political Contributions, 2022 to 2024
Federal Election Commission records list the following contributions by Howery, with the employer and occupation as reported on each filing.[^6]
- 2022: two entries of 2,900 dollars to [[Blake Masters]] for Senate on March 27, through WinRed; 36,500 dollars and 13,500 dollars to the Republican National Committee on September 22 (employer "PayPal and Founders Fund", occupation co-founder).
- 2023: on October 13, 58,700 dollars and 41,300 dollars to the Republican National Committee (contributor name "Howery, Ken Ambassador") and 100,000 dollars to the Daines Senate Majority Fund.
- 2024: on February 23, 41,300 dollars to the Republican National Committee and 123,900 dollars to each of its convention, headquarters and legal proceedings accounts, and 11,600 dollars to the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee; 100,000 dollars to the Cornyn Victory Committee (May 14), with 3,300 dollars to JD Vance for Senate and 5,000 dollars to Working for Ohio, a leadership PAC whose FEC record lists Vance as its affiliate, the same day; 100,000 dollars to the 2024 Thune Republican Senate Victory committee (May 28) and entries of 3,400 to 10,000 dollars to 34 Republican state party committees, including the District of Columbia's, from May 28 to June 3; 100,000 dollars to the Hudson Victory Fund (June 14); 75,000 dollars on October 11 and 25,000 dollars on October 17 to MAHA Alliance, the latter attributed to the Kenneth Howery Revocable Trust; and three entries of 50,000 dollars to Trump 47 Committee, Inc. on October 17.
On June 20, 21, 24 and 25, 2024, Howery gave 250,000 dollars each to [[America PAC]], 1,000,000 dollars in all, with his employer given as self-employed and his occupation as investor.[^6][^10] America PAC (committee C00879510) is registered as an independent-expenditure-only committee with a post office box in [[Austin, Texas]], Chris Young as treasurer, and a first filing date of May 22, 2024. Its other contributions of 200,000 dollars or more in June 2024 were 1,000,000 dollars each from James J. Liautaud (June 6), Lonsdale Enterprises Inc. (June 7), [[Joe Craft]] of Alliance Resource Partners (June 10), [[Douglas Leone]] of Sequoia Capital (June 14) and [[Antonio Gracias]] of Valor Equity Partners (June 28); 500,000 dollars each from Watershed Capital LLC, WCM Investments LLC and its owner Troy Link, [[Shaun Maguire]] of Sequoia Capital and John Hering of Lookout; 250,000 dollars each from [[Cameron Winklevoss]] and [[Tyler Winklevoss]] (June 21); and 200,000 dollars from Michael Thompson (June 20). [[Elon Musk]], with his employer given as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is first recorded as a contributor on July 3, 2024 (5,000,000 dollars); his entries include 40,495,178 dollars on November 25, 2024. The committee reported 263,494,648.67 dollars in receipts for the 2024 cycle.[^10]
### Ambassador to Denmark
Lunden described Howery in January 2025 as "U.S. President-elect Trump's pick to be the next ambassador" to Denmark. She quoted [[Greenland]]'s prime minister, [[Múte Egede]]: "We don't want to be Americans."[^2] The Copenhagen Post wrote that [[Donald Trump]] nominated Howery in December 2024.[^11]
At the committee's hearing on May 8, 2025, Howery's prepared statement named three priorities: shared security, the economic relationship, and "Arctic security, particularly in Greenland". It referred to the 1951 defense agreement with Denmark, to [[Pituffik Space Base]] as "the northernmost U.S. military base", and to the reopening of the American consulate in Nuuk in 2020, and stated that "recent conversations about this reality, and the appropriate U.S. role in Greenland's future, have been spirited". It also said he would "work closely with Danish leaders to strengthen defense, law enforcement, and intelligence cooperation".[^5]
The Senate confirmed him on October 7, 2025 in roll call 547, a single en bloc vote of 51 to 47 on 107 nominations provided for under Senate Resolution 412. The package included his nomination, "Kenneth Howery, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark", with those of [[Sergio Gor]] (India), [[Herschel Walker]] (Bahamas), [[Jacob Helberg]] (Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth) and [[Paul Atkins]] (Securities and Exchange Commission).[^4] The Copenhagen Post reported that the official residence in Copenhagen was under renovation.[^11] The Local, carrying a Ritzau report of November 10, 2025, wrote that Howery had arrived in Denmark the previous week and had an audience with King [[Frederik X of Denmark|Frederik]] on November 5.[^12]
### Greenland Interference Reports
The Local reported that the Danish broadcaster [[DR (broadcaster)|DR]] had reported in August 2025 "that at least three US officials close to US President Donald Trump have been involved in 'interference' activities in Greenland aimed at creating division with Denmark", including gathering information on past tensions between Greenland and Denmark and identifying Greenlanders sympathetic to an American takeover. The Danish intelligence service [[PET]] had stated that Greenland was the target of such campaigns. Foreign minister [[Lars Løkke Rasmussen]] told AFP in August that "any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the kingdom will of course be unacceptable" and summoned the American chargé d'affaires; Denmark had also summoned the chargé in May 2025 after the [[Wall Street Journal]] reported that the United States wanted to increase espionage in Greenland. The State Department said at the time: "The United States respects the right of the people of Greenland to determine their own future." Prime Minister [[Mette Frederiksen]] had noted that the United States had not explicitly denied involvement.[^12]
In an interview with the newspaper [[Børsen]] reported on November 10, 2025, Howery stated that he had no direct knowledge of any interference campaign orchestrated by the United States in Greenland and did not believe the United States government to be behind it, and said: "There are individual Americans who could have an interest in Greenland. But the US government does not direct or control the actions of private individuals."[^12]
On November 25, 2025, with his employer given as the [[State Department|U.S. Department of State]] and his occupation as ambassador, Federal Election Commission records list contributions from Howery of 7,000 dollars to Whatley for Senate (part redesignated), 5,000 dollars to North Carolina First, and corresponding WinRed entries.[^6]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Nominations of the 116th Congress, First Session, Part I, S. Hrg. 116-273 (hearing of May 16, 2019): opening statement of Senator Romney (p. 303); statement and prepared statement of Kenneth A. Howery, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden (pp. 307 to 310); questioning by Senators Romney, Shaheen, Udall and Kaine (pp. 317 to 323); responses to additional questions for the record submitted by Senators Menendez and Cardin (pp. 328 to 331). https://www.foreign.senate.gov/download/transcript-051619
[^2]: Ingrid Lunden, "Ken Howery: The tech mogul at the center of Trump's Greenland ambition," TechCrunch, January 17, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/17/ken-howery-the-tech-mogul-at-the-center-of-trumps-greenland-ambition/
[^3]: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, "Kenneth A. Howery," Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission (non-career appointee; state of residence Texas; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Sweden; appointed September 20, 2019; assumed charge October 12, 2019; database updates suspended January 2024). https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/howery-kenneth-a
[^4]: U.S. Senate, roll call vote 547, 119th Congress, 1st session, October 7, 2025, 5:01 p.m., "Confirmation: En Bloc Nominations Provided for Under the Provisions of S. Res. 412," Nomination Confirmed (51 to 47), including PN54-3. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00547.xml
[^5]: Statement of Kenneth A. Howery, Nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, May 8, 2025. https://www.foreign.senate.gov/download/050825_howery_testimonydocx
[^6]: Federal Election Commission, itemized Schedule A receipts for contributor names "Howery, Ken" and "Howery, Kenneth," 2002 to 2025, including images 22990662913 (PayPal Inc. PAC, January 17, 2002), 201610279036648865 (Tiberi for Congress, October 7, 2016), 202010229333170964 and 202010229333162503 (RNC, October 13, 2020), 202204159496855438 and 202204159496855439 (Blake Masters for Senate), 202210209541164400 and 202210209541200766 (RNC, 2022), 202311209599329779 and 202311209599319468 (RNC, 2023), 202405239648744395 and 202405239648741077 (RNC, February 23, 2024), 202404159632972497 (Trump Save America JFC), 202502119753399060 and 202502119753399061 (Trump 47 Committee), 202410249710186578 and 202412059731464457 (MAHA Alliance). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?contributor_name=Howery%2C+Kenneth and https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202010229333170964
[^7]: Prepared statement of Kenneth A. Howery, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, May 16, 2019. https://www.foreign.senate.gov/download/howery-testimony-051619
[^8]: Founders Fund SpaceX Fund, LP, Forms D filed May 15 and August 17, 2009 (accessions 0001464202-09-000001 and 0001464202-09-000003); Founders Fund III, LP, filed May 5, 2010 (0001288320-10-000004); Founders Fund IV, LP, filed December 1, 2011 (0001535267-11-000002); Founders Fund V, LP, filed March 6, 2014 (0001601419-14-000001); Founders Fund VI, LP, filed March 25, 2016 (0001669874-16-000001). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1464202/000146420209000001/primary_doc.xml , https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1491094/000128832010000004/primary_doc.xml , https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1535267/000153526711000002/primary_doc.xml , https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1601419/000160141914000001/primary_doc.xml and https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1669874/000166987416000001/primary_doc.xml
[^9]: U.S. Senate, roll call vote 285, 116th Congress, 1st session, September 17, 2019, "On the Nomination PN127, Kenneth A. Howery, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden," Nomination Confirmed (62 to 32). https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1161/vote_116_1_00285.xml
[^10]: Federal Election Commission, America PAC (C00879510), committee record, 2024 cycle totals and Schedule A receipts of 100,000 dollars or more through June 30, 2024 (images 202410099684835306 to 202410099684835311), and receipts from Elon Musk (including image 202412059738029687). https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00879510/ and https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00879510&two_year_transaction_period=2024
[^11]: "US ambassador to Denmark finally approved," The Copenhagen Post, October 8, 2025. https://cphpost.dk/2025-10-08/news/round-up/us-ambassador-to-denmark-finally-approved/
[^12]: Ritzau/The Local, "US Ambassador denies Trump link to Greenland 'interference'," The Local (Denmark), November 10, 2025. https://www.thelocal.dk/20251110/us-ambassador-denies-trump-link-to-greenland-interference

184
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Lyman Kirkpatrick.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- CIA
- InspectorGeneral
- BayOfPigs
- MKULTRA
- FrankOlson
- OSS
- ColdWar
- BrownUniversity
alias:
- Lyman Kirkpatrick
- Lyman B. Kirkpatrick
- Lyman B. Kirkpatrick Jr.
- Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Jr.
- Lyman Bickford Kirkpatrick Jr.
summary: "CIA inspector general from 1953 to 1961 who investigated the Frank Olson death, wrote the restricted 1961 survey of the Bay of Pigs operation, then served as executive director before teaching at Brown."
born: 1916
died: 1995-03-03
location: "Rochester, New York (born); Middleburg, Virginia (died)"
relations:
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Helen Kirkpatrick]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[U.S. News & World Report]]"
end: 1942-06
role: "staff of the U.S. News Publishing Corporation"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Office of Strategic Services]]"
start: 1942-06
end: 1945
role: "officer; briefing officer to General Omar Bradley"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
start: 1947-01
end: 1965
role: "chief of domestic planning, inspector general, executive director-comptroller"
fn: 4
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Walter Bedell Smith]]"
role: "executive assistant"
fn: 4
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Allen Dulles]]"
start: 1953
end: 1961
role: "inspector general"
fn: 2
- type: reported_to
with: "[[John McCone]]"
start: 1962
end: 1965
role: "executive director"
fn: 4
- type: head_of
with: "[[Joint Study Group on the Foreign Intelligence Activities of the United States Government]]"
end: 1960-12-15
role: "chairman"
fn: 8
- type: investigated
with: "[[Frank Olson]]"
start: 1953-11
role: "inspector general investigating the death"
fn: 10
- type: investigated
with: "[[Bay of Pigs]]"
end: 1961-11-20
role: "author of the Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation"
fn: 16
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Brown University]]"
start: 1965
end: 1982
role: "professor of political science"
fn: 1
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Lyman Bickford Kirkpatrick Jr. (1916 to March 3, 1995) was an officer of the [[Office of Strategic Services]] and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] who served as the Agency's Inspector General from 1953 to 1961 and as its Executive Director, later Executive Director-Comptroller, from 1962 to 1965, and who then taught political science at [[Brown University]] until 1982.[^1] [^2]
### Early Career
Kirkpatrick was born in [[Rochester, New York]], and graduated in 1938 from [[Princeton University]]'s School of Public and International Affairs, where he was undergraduate chairman of the [[Woodrow Wilson School]]. He worked for the U.S. News Publishing Corporation ([[U.S. News & World Report]]) until June 1942, when he enlisted and was assigned to what became the OSS; in 1944 he went to Normandy as General [[Omar Bradley]]'s briefing officer, on the staff of the 12th [[U.S. Army]] Group, and he left the Army in 1945 as a major.[^1] [^3] He received the Legion of Merit and five battle stars, and after a year back at U.S. News, as an editor of "World Report," he joined the CIA.[^3] [^4] His sister was the journalist [[Helen Kirkpatrick]], foreign correspondent of the [[Chicago Daily News]].[^5] [^1]
Kirkpatrick joined the CIA in January 1947 as chief of the domestic planning office, soon became chief of the division, then deputy assistant director under General [[Walter Bedell Smith]] and shortly afterward Smith's executive assistant in reorganizing CIA operations. In 1952 and 1953 he was hospitalized for eight months with poliomyelitis, which left him paralyzed from the waist down; he afterward traveled by wheelchair.[^4] [[Nicholas Horrock|Nicholas M. Horrock]] of the [[New York Times]] reported in 1977 that when he returned from the hospital [[Richard Helms]] had been appointed director of covert operations, a job Kirkpatrick had been expected to receive, and that "[o]ld agency hands believe that Mr. Helms gained the advantage at this point to rise to [[Director of Central Intelligence]] in the 1960's."[^2]
### Inspector General
The Director of Central Intelligence appointed Kirkpatrick Inspector General in 1953. He obtained approval in April 1953 for an inspection program of planned, periodic inspection of Agency components, although the Inspection and Review Staff of the Directorate of Plans kept responsibility for reviewing its own components; by mid-1954 the Inspector General's staff had grown to fifteen; in January 1955 the Director authorized him to inspect components of the Directorate of Plans independently of that staff; and by December 1959 his office had completed its first cycle of component inspections.[^6] His duties included trips to all continents and investigating the basis of charges against the CIA by Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]].[^4] On October 4, 1960, as Inspector General, he addressed the 67th annual conference of the [[International Association of Chiefs of Police]] in Washington on "Free World Police: Target for Communist Subversion."[^7]
In the fall of 1959 the [[Bureau of the Budget]] proposed, and President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] approved, a study of the intelligence agencies. Kirkpatrick chaired the resulting [[Joint Study Group on the Foreign Intelligence Activities of the United States Government]], whose members included Lieutenant General [[Graves Erskine]] of the Defense Department, [[Allan Evans]] of the [[State Department]]'s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, [[James S. Lay]] of the [[National Security Council]], and [[J. Patrick Coyne]], executive secretary of the President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities. The group submitted a 141-page report on December 15, 1960; the National Security Council approved most of its 43 recommendations on January 18, 1961, and the State Department's historians trace to it the creation of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] in August 1961.[^8] [^4]
### The Olson Investigation
[[Frank Olson]], a [[Special Operations Division]] scientist at [[Fort Detrick|Camp Detrick]], died on November 27, 1953, when he fell from a tenth-floor window of the [[Statler Hotel]] in New York. At a meeting at [[Deep Creek Lodge|Deep Creek Lake]], Maryland, on November 19, [[LSD]] placed in a bottle of Cointreau by [[Robert Lashbrook]] had been served to the Special Operations Division participants; neither the chief of the [[Technical Services Staff]] nor the Deputy Director for Plans specifically authorized the experiment, which [[Sidney Gottlieb]] carried out with the approval of his immediate supervisor.[^9]
On December 1, 1953, the chief of the Inspection and Review staff sent Kirkpatrick a memorandum on "Use of LSD" prepared "[p]ursuant to your request." It reported that the chief of the Technical Services Staff, [[Willis Gibbons]], had "impounded all LSD material in CIA Headquarters in a safe adjacent to his desk" and was stopping any LSD tests under way; that only two field stations, [[Manila]] and [[Atsugi]], held LSD, and that there was none in Germany "although Mr. [[William Harvey]] recently expressed interest in the subject"; that the CIA had furnished LSD to [[George Hunter White]], chief of the New York District of the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury Department]]'s Narcotics Division, who was "fully cleared according to Dr. Gibbons"; that [[Harold Abramson]] had experimented with the drug; and that most of the Agency's LSD came from [[Eli Lilly]] of Indianapolis, which "apparently makes a gift of it to CIA," through a mechanism Gibbons could not describe.[^10]
According to a CIA official, the Special Operations Division participants "agreed that an unwitting experiment would be desirable"; the [[Church Committee|Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities]] wrote that this account "directly contradicts" the recollection of Colonel [[Vincent Ruwet]], and cited Kirkpatrick's memorandum for the record of December 1, 1953 for it. In May 1953 Helms had told a staff meeting that LSD "was dynamite and that he should be advised at all times when it was intended to use it," a statement the committee cited to the Inspector General's diary of December 2, 1953; [[Frank Wisner]] had required that the Deputy Director for Plans personally approve any use of LSD. Gottlieb testified that he remembered neither the meeting with Helms nor the Wisner memorandum.[^11]
[[John Marks]] wrote in *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate* that [[Allen Dulles]] personally ordered Kirkpatrick to make a full investigation, after Agency officials had first tried to make sure that no outsider would tie Olson's death to the CIA or LSD. Marks wrote that Kirkpatrick sequestered Gottlieb's LSD files, and quoted Kirkpatrick: "I brought out his stutter. He was quite concerned about his future." According to Marks, Kirkpatrick recommended some form of reprimand for Gottlieb, Gibbons and the deputy chief of the staff, [[James Drum|James "Trapper" Drum]], who had waited twenty days after Olson's death to admit that Gottlieb had cleared the experiment with him; Admiral [[Luis de Florez]], the Agency's research chairman, sent Dulles a personal memorandum against reprimands; and Kirkpatrick went through six drafts of the letter to Gottlieb, from "exceedingly bad judgment" to "very poor judgment" to "poor judgment," after which the officers were told the letters were not reprimands and would not be placed in their personnel files.[^12]
On February 12, 1954, the Director wrote Technical Services Staff officials criticizing them for "poor judgment" in administering LSD "on an unwitting basis and without proximate medical safeguards" to Olson and for the lack of "proper consideration of the rights of the individual to whom it was being administered." On the same day the Inspector General reviewed a report on Subproject Number 3 of [[Project MKULTRA|MKULTRA]], submitted by the chief of Inspection and Review on February 10, in which the same officers were quoted as stating that one purpose of the subproject was to "observe the behavior of unwitting persons being questioned after having been given a drug." The committee found no evidence that the subproject was terminated; the evidence indicated that it continued until 1963, with test subjects contacted at random in bars and given drugs in safehouses.[^13] Horrock reported that Kirkpatrick had never testified publicly about the Olson case, but that he had reportedly told [[Nelson Rockefeller|Vice President Rockefeller]]'s commission on the CIA that he had recommended that the employees involved in giving Olson the drug be disciplined. "They were not," Horrock wrote, and Kirkpatrick "later told associates he regretted not having taken a firmer stand."[^2]
### The 1957 Survey of the Technical Services Division and the 1961 Mail Review
The Inspector General's report of 1957 on the [[Office of Technical Service|Technical Services Division]], issued during Kirkpatrick's tenure, stated that "[s]ix specific products have been developed and are available for operational use. Three of them are discrediting and disabling materials which can be administered unwittingly and permit the exercise of a measure of control over the actions of the subject." The same report stated: "Precautions must be taken not only to protect operations from exposure to enemy forces but also to conceal these activities from the American public in general. The knowledge that the Agency is engaging in unethical and illicit activities would have serious repercussions in political and diplomatic circles and would be detrimental to the accomplishment of its mission."[^14]
A 1961 review by the Inspector General's office, part of an evaluation of the [[CIA Office of Security|Office of Security]], examined the New York mail-opening project ([[HTLINGUAL]]). It found that "few of the operational leads have ever been converted into operations" for the Soviet Russia Division, and that "[t]he activity cannot be called a 'project' in the usual sense, because it was never processed through the approval system and has no separate funds." It recommended a coordinated evaluation by the Deputy Directors for Plans and Support. The Senate committee found that the project was reviewed by disinterested Agency components only twice, in 1961 and 1969.[^15] Horrock reported in 1977 that Kirkpatrick had testified that he knew about the illegal mail openings and that Dulles also knew of them, and that he had reportedly said the Agency was convinced that "the national security need for the mail-openings outweighed the fact that they were against the law."[^2]
### The Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation
On November 20, 1961, Kirkpatrick transmitted to [[John McCone]], who was about to succeed Dulles, a 150-page survey of the CIA's operation against [[Fidel Castro]], dated October 1961, with five annexes and ten recommendations. His covering memorandum stated that he had reviewed the material prepared for General [[Maxwell Taylor]]'s committee and the committee's minutes, that his meeting with the top three officers of the branch the week after the landing was reported in some seventy pages, and that "there has been a tendency in the Agency to gloss over CIA's inadequacies and to attempt to fix all the blame for the failure of the invasion upon other elements of the Government." He would make no further distribution until McCone indicated whom he wished to receive copies; the [[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]] had requested a copy so that Coyne could report on it at its December 9 meeting.[^16]
The survey rests on interviews by the Inspector General and his representatives with about 125 Agency employees, and "contains no evaluation of or judgment on any decision or action taken by any official not employed by the Agency." It states: "The project had lost its covert nature by November 1960. ... For more than three months before the invasion the American press was reporting, often with some accuracy, on the recruiting and training of Cubans. ... Plausible denial was a pathetic illusion." Its first conclusion was that "[t]he Agency failed to recognize that when the project advanced beyond the stage of plausible denial it was going beyond the area of Agency responsibility as well as Agency capability"; others were that the Agency failed to keep national policymakers "adequately and realistically informed," reduced the exiled leaders "to the status of puppets," and entered the project without adequate boats, bases, training facilities, agent nets and Spanish speakers.[^17]
The survey cited earlier warnings from the Inspector General's office: a June 1958 recommendation, in a survey of the Far East Division, for a high-level study of the extent to which the Agency should engage in paramilitary operations, "if any"; a January 1959 memorandum to the Deputy Director for Plans that "the Clandestine Services tends to assume responsibilities beyond its capabilities"; a 1955 survey of the Psychological and Paramilitary Operations Staff and a March 1961 survey of the Covert Action Staff, both warning against bypassing those staffs; and a July 1959 survey of the Plans directorate, which wrote that operations that "may be aimed at the overthrow of a hostile regime" require high-level liaison with the State Department and the [[White House]], and that task forces within a single division "represent a woefully inadequate response to a problem of major national significance." The survey's first recommendation was that such an operation be carried out by a task force under a senior official "on a full-time basis, and organizationally outside the DD/P structure"; its second, that "[t]he Agency should request that such projects should be transferred to the [[Department of Defense]] when they show signs of becoming overt or beyond Agency capabilities."[^18]
### Distribution and Restriction
Twenty copies were made because, as a later memorandum in Kirkpatrick's name explained, it had been understood when the report was written that copies would go to the President's board. The only distribution was: McCone, November 21, 1961; Dulles, Deputy Director [[Charles P. Cabell]] and Deputy Director for Plans [[Richard Bissell]], November 24; the Inspector General; the file of the acting Inspector General; the chief of the [[CIA Western Hemisphere Division|Western Hemisphere Division]], Colonel [[J. C. King]], and [[Jacob Esterline]] of that division, November 24; and the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, through [[J. S. Earman]] at the Director's request, on January 18, 1962. The remaining copies stayed in his office.[^19] On November 28, 1961, Cabell recorded that he had called Kirkpatrick "to state that the fact of the IG's report on Cuba should be restricted on a must-need-to-know basis," that no further copies would go out "without authority of the DCI or DDCI," that the restriction "also specifically applies to distribution to the President's Board of Intelligence Advisors," and that he had discussed "holding this report tightly" with Dulles and Bissell.[^20]
On November 22, 1961, two days after transmitting the survey, Kirkpatrick sat with Dulles, Cabell, Bissell, Helms and McCone in Dulles's office to review the plan, set by President [[John F. Kennedy]] and Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy]] at the White House the day before, for a committee under General [[Edward Lansdale]] on action against Cuba, which the Attorney General said would embody covert operations, propaganda and actions creating dissension within Cuba; Lansdale had proposed [[James H. Critchfield]] as the CIA's man on the committee, and Bissell offered alternate names.[^21] When McCone took office on November 29, he asked Kirkpatrick to head a study of the Director's role, his relations with the White House and other agencies, and the organization of the CIA and the intelligence community; the President's statement of January 16, 1962 on the Director's responsibilities resulted from it.[^22]
On December 1, 1961, after McCone said he was concerned that the survey taken alone "might give an erroneous impression as to the extent CIA is responsible for the failure of the operation," Kirkpatrick wrote that the failure "should be charged in order" to "[a]n over-all lack of recognition on the part of the U.S. Government as to the magnitude of the operation required to overthrow the Fidel Castro regime"; to "[t]he failure on the part of the U.S. Government to plan for all contingencies ... including the necessity for using regular U.S. military forces in the event that the exiled Cubans could not do the job themselves"; and to the government's unwillingness "to commit to the Cuban operation, as planned and executed, those necessary resources required for its success."[^23] On December 15, 1961, Cabell wrote that a detailed comment would require noting "inaccuracies, omissions, distortions, unsupported allegations, and many erroneous conclusions," that "[n]either Mr. Dulles nor I was consulted in the preparation of the Inspector General's report," and that "[i]n unfriendly hands, it can become a weapon unjustifiably to attack the entire mission, organization, and functioning of the Agency."[^24]
McCone directed that the survey be bound with an analysis by the Deputy Director for Plans dated January 18, 1962; his January 19, 1962 letter to [[James R. Killian]], chairman of the President's board, transmitting both; memoranda by [[Tracy Barnes]] and Kirkpatrick; and Dulles's comments of February 15, 1962, which McCone acknowledged on February 19.[^25] On April 19, 1963, at McCone's direction and as Executive Director, Kirkpatrick took the bound report to [[McGeorge Bundy]]. His memorandum for the record states that Bundy asked for a summary, scanned the conclusions, and "commented that this was an aspect of the operation about which the President and himself had not been informed"; Bundy kept the report because the President "would probably wish to read it over the weekend," and asked whether [[Brigade 2506|the Brigade]] had been told before the landing that it would not be supported by U.S. military forces, which Kirkpatrick said he could not answer.[^26]
The survey remained classified until 1998, when the [[National Security Archive]]'s Cuba Documentation Project obtained its declassification. The CIA's own five-volume official history by its historian [[Jack Pfeiffer]] includes a fifth volume titled "Internal Investigation Report"; in 1987 Pfeiffer sued under the [[Freedom of Information Act]] for its release, and the CIA convinced the court that it could not be declassified.[^27]
### Executive Director
In 1962 a panel headed by Kirkpatrick, then the CIA's Executive Director-Comptroller, recommended creating an office in the Clandestine Service to centralize and professionalize paramilitary action and contingency planning, "drawing upon Agency-wide resources for large-scale operations"; a new paramilitary division was established under a new National Security Council approval group, the [[Special Group (Counterinsurgency)]].[^28] Under McCone's reorganization the Executive Director became the number three position in the CIA, responsible for its internal management, and in 1963 the posts of Executive Director and Comptroller were combined; the [[Baltimore Sun]] wrote in 1965 that he had been outranked only by McCone and Lieutenant General [[Marshall S. Carter]].[^22] [^4] The Audit Staff was transferred to the Office of the Inspector General on April 1, 1962.[^6] On January 19, 1965, as Executive Director, he informed the deputy directors that [[Chester Cooper]], formerly assistant to the Deputy Director for Intelligence, had moved to the White House, that consultation with him "should not be discouraged," and that the deputy directors should be kept advised of such contacts.[^29]
Horrock reported in 1977 that Kirkpatrick had reportedly told the Senate intelligence committee and the [[Rockefeller Commission 1975|Rockefeller Commission]] that a CIA officer complained to him in the early 1960s about being ordered to prepare an assassination attempt against [[Patrice Lumumba]], and that, according to Horrock's sources, he testified that he had gone on record within the Agency as opposing the attempt, and that, according to some sources, he testified that he was unaware of plots against Castro and [[Rafael Trujillo]].[^2] The committee's published report on assassination plots records that [[Michael Mulroney]], after Bissell asked him in 1960 to go to the Congo to kill Lumumba and he refused, made his opposition "a matter of record" with Helms and told his superior, William Harvey; the report does not name Kirkpatrick in that account.[^30]
In 1976 Kirkpatrick wrote to the Senate committee on the functions of the Inspector General; the committee quoted a former Inspector General's letter that "[i]t is necessary that the DCI fully back the Inspector General in his recommendations unless there are overwhelming reasons to the contrary," citing Kirkpatrick's letter of January 13, 1976, and noted that "[s]ince Lyman Kirkpatrick, all the Inspectors General have taken that office as their last post with the CIA."[^31]
### Brown University and the 1977 Nomination
In August 1965 Kirkpatrick, holder of the President's 1964 award for distinguished federal civilian service, retired from the CIA to become professor of political science at Brown University; in his spare hours he had set up the Agency's Public Service Aid Society and its Educational Aid Fund.[^4] Horrock reported that "[s]ome sources said he resigned because he no longer expected to become the director."[^2] He taught at Brown until 1982, wrote on defense intelligence and served on several intelligence boards.[^1]
On July 14, 1977, senior administration officials told Horrock that President [[Jimmy Carter]] had offered Kirkpatrick the post of deputy director of the CIA and that he had accepted, the announcement to await the President's conviction that he could be confirmed "without the expenditure of large amounts of political capital." Horrock reported that members and staff of the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] indicated he would be closely questioned about his knowledge of assassinations, drug testing and illegal mail openings, and that a prominent Democrat said he would be "more comfortable" with another choice. Kirkpatrick, reached in Rhode Island, declined to comment.[^2] He died at his home in [[Middleburg, Virginia]], on March 3, 1995.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Lyman Bickford Kirkpatrick Jr. '38," memorial, *Princeton Alumni Weekly*. https://paw.princeton.edu/memorial/lyman-bickford-kirkpatrick-jr-38
[^2]: Nicholas M. Horrock, "Lyman Kirkpatrick Termed Choice of Carter as C.I.A. Deputy Chief," *New York Times*, July 15, 1977, p. A21, CIA-RDP90-01208R000100230084-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-01208r000100230084-6
[^3]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Biographical Sketch, Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Jr., Inspector General, CIA," CIA-RDP75-00001R000200200078-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00001r000200200078-9
[^4]: "CIA's Lyman Kirkpatrick to Retire, Start Teaching," *Baltimore Sun*, August 5, 1965, CIA-RDP75-00001R000200190026-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00001r000200190026-8
[^5]: "Kirkpatrick, Helen (1909-1997)," *Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia* (Gale), via Encyclopedia.com (born Rochester, daughter of Lyman Bickford Kirkpatrick; name variation Helen Milbank). https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/kirkpatrick-helen-1909-1997
[^6]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Final Report*, Book I, *Foreign and Military Intelligence*, S. Rep. No. 94-755 (1976), "The Office of the Inspector General," pp. 290 to 291. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
[^7]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick Jr., "Free World Police: Target for Communist Subversion," address to the 67th Annual Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Washington, D.C., October 4, 1960, CIA-RDP67-00318R000100530001-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp67-00318r000100530001-9
[^8]: U.S. Department of State, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. XXV, *Organization of Foreign Policy; Information Policy; United Nations; Scientific Matters*, Document 78 (editorial note). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v25/ebook/frus1961-63v25.epub
[^9]: *Final Report*, Book I, Appendix C, "Drug Testing Program," pp. 394 to 396. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
[^10]: Chief, Inspection and Review, Memorandum for Inspector General, "Use of LSD," December 1, 1953, 2 pp., Center for National Security Studies FOIA, National Security Archive. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/1953-12-01a%20CNSS-ocr.pdf
[^11]: *Final Report*, Book I, Appendix C, p. 395 and notes (citing Memorandum for the Record from Lyman Kirkpatrick, 12/1/53, p. 1; Inspector General Diary, 12/2/53; Gottlieb testimony, 10/18/75, p. 16). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
[^12]: John Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control* (New York: Times Books, 1979), chapter 5, text as posted at https://www.druglibrary.net/schaffer/lsd/marks5.htm
[^13]: *Final Report*, Book I, Appendix C, pp. 399 to 400 and notes (memoranda from the DCI to Sidney Gottlieb and to the Chief of Operations, TSS, 2/12/54; memorandum to Inspector General from Chief, Inspection and Review, on Subproject #3 of MKULTRA, 2/10/54). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
[^14]: *Final Report*, Book I, Appendix C, p. 393 note and p. 394 (quoting the Inspector General's Report of 1957 on the Technical Services Division). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
[^15]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Final Report*, Book III, *Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans*, S. Rep. No. 94-755 (1976), "CIA Intercepting and Opening of Mail," pp. 577 and 581 to 582 (citing memorandum from L. K. White to Acting Inspector General (attachment), 3/9/62). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf
[^16]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Inspector General, Memorandum for Mr. McCone, "Survey of the Cuban Operation," November 20, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160016-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160016-0
[^17]: Central Intelligence Agency, Inspector General, *Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation*, October 1961, Introduction, paragraphs 5 and 6 (printed pp. 1 to 2, PDF pp. 9 to 10), "The Choice," paragraph 42 (printed p. 61, PDF p. 69), and Conclusions (printed pp. 143 to 144, PDF pp. 151 to 152), National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 341. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/IGrpt1.pdf
[^18]: *Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation*, printed pp. 146 to 148 (PDF pp. 154 to 156). https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/IGrpt1.pdf
[^19]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Memorandum for Director of Central Intelligence, "Inspector General Survey of the Cuban Operation (dated October 1961)," February 16, 1962, in *Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation* (PDF p. 2). https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/IGrpt1.pdf
[^20]: C. P. Cabell, General, USAF, Deputy Director, Memorandum for the Record, November 28, 1961, in *Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation* (PDF p. 226). https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/IGrpt1.pdf
[^21]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. X, *Cuba, January 1961-September 1962*, Document 275 (memorandum for the record drafted by McCone, Washington, November 22, 1961). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v10/ebook/frus1961-63v10.epub
[^22]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. XXV, Document 95 (memorandum for the file, December 27, 1961), note 3. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v25/ebook/frus1961-63v25.epub
[^23]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Inspector General, Memorandum for Director of Central Intelligence, "Report on the Cuban Operation," December 1, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160013-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160013-3
[^24]: C. P. Cabell, General, USAF, Deputy Director, "The Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation," December 15, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160013-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160013-3
[^25]: Index note "at the direction of Mr. John A. McCone," tabs 1 to 11, in *Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation* (PDF p. 3), https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/IGrpt1.pdf ; John A. McCone to Allen W. Dulles, February 19, 1962, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160007-0, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160007-0
[^26]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Executive Director, Memorandum for the Record, "Meeting with Mr. McGeorge Bundy, Friday, 19 April 1963, 4:15 p.m.," CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160006-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160006-1
[^27]: Peter Kornbluh, "CIA Sued for 'Holding History Hostage' on Bay of Pigs Invasion," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 341, April 14, 2011. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/index.htm
[^28]: *Final Report*, Book I, chapter on covert action, note on the 1962 paramilitary office, p. 150. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
[^29]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Executive Director, Action Memorandum, January 19, 1965, CIA-RDP84-00780R001000070006-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84-00780r001000070006-0
[^30]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report*, S. Rep. No. 94-465 (1975), pp. 38 to 40. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
[^31]: *Final Report*, Book I, pp. 296 (note 71, citing Kirkpatrick letter, 1/13/76, p. 2) and 299 (notes). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf

210
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Mercer family.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
---
category: "New Right"
tags:
- Family
- MercerFamily
- RobertMercer
- RebekahMercer
- MercerFamilyFoundation
- RenaissanceTechnologies
- GovernmentAccountabilityInstitute
- Breitbart
- CambridgeAnalytica
- DarkMoney
- Parler
alias:
- Mercer family
- Mercers
- Robert Mercer
- Robert L. Mercer
- Robert Leroy Mercer
- Rebekah Mercer
- Rebekah A. Mercer
- Jennifer Mercer
- Heather Mercer
- Mercer Family Foundation
summary: "Family of the Renaissance Technologies co-chief executive Robert Mercer and his daughters, whose private foundation, super PAC contributions and company investments reached conservative organizations, Cambridge Analytica, Parler and 1789 Capital."
location: "East Setauket, New York"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Renaissance Technologies]]"
role: "Robert Mercer, co-chief executive; announced on November 2, 2017 that he would step down"
fn: 10
- type: owned
with: "[[Cambridge Analytica]]"
role: "Robert Mercer, investor holding 90 percent for an initial 15 million dollars, per the account of Christopher Wylie"
fn: 4
- type: director_of
with: "[[Emerdata]]"
start: 2018-03-16
role: "Rebekah Mercer and Jennifer Mercer, directors"
fn: 28
- type: head_of
with: "[[Government Accountability Institute]]"
role: "Rebekah Mercer, chairman of the board in the returns for 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2022"
fn: 21
- type: funded
with: "[[Government Accountability Institute]]"
start: 2013
end: 2017
role: "Mercer Family Foundation grants totaling 7,460,000 dollars in tax years 2013 to 2017"
fn: 14
- type: funded
with: "[[Media Research Center]]"
start: 2011
end: 2017
role: "Mercer Family Foundation grants totaling 17,772,420 dollars in tax years 2011 to 2017"
fn: 14
- type: funded
with: "[[Heartland Institute]]"
start: 2010
end: 2017
role: "Mercer Family Foundation grants, 4,818,000 dollars in tax years 2011 to 2017"
fn: 14
- type: funded
with: "[[Federalist Society]]"
start: 2013
end: 2017
role: "Mercer Family Foundation grants totaling 6,450,000 dollars in tax years 2013 to 2017"
fn: 14
- type: funded
with: "[[DonorsTrust]]"
start: 2016
end: 2024
role: "Mercer Family Foundation grants totaling 67,450,000 dollars in the returns for 2016, 2017 and 2019 to 2024"
fn: 15
- type: funded
with: "[[Make America Number 1]]"
start: 2015-04-10
end: 2016-07-14
role: "Robert Mercer, 15,500,000 dollars"
fn: 3
- type: funded
with: "[[John Bolton Super PAC]]"
start: 2014-04-28
end: 2017-12-28
role: "Robert Mercer, ten contributions of 500,000 dollars"
fn: 26
- type: funded
with: "[[Trump 47 Committee, Inc.]]"
start: 2024-03-25
end: 2024-03-25
role: "Robert Mercer, 814,399 dollars"
fn: 8
- type: funded
with: "[[Parler]]"
role: "Rebekah Mercer, described by chief executive John Matze as a lead early investor"
fn: 30
- type: director_of
with: "[[Parler]]"
role: "Rebekah Mercer, executive officer, director and promoter in the Form D of January 6, 2022"
fn: 5
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Omeed Malik]]"
role: "Rebekah Mercer, managing member of the general partner of 1789 Capital Fund I, LP"
fn: 6
- type: owned
with: "[[Breitbart News]]"
role: "Robert Mercer, who wrote on November 2, 2017 that he was selling his stake to his daughters"
fn: 10
- type: director_of
with: "[[Dynamo Recoveries Limited]]"
start: 2021-03-12
role: "Rebekah Mercer and Jennifer Mercer, directors"
fn: 29
- type: owned
with: "[[Dynamo Recoveries Limited]]"
start: 2021-03-12
role: "Rebekah Mercer, person with significant control holding 75 percent or more"
fn: 29
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
The Mercer family is the family of Robert Mercer, who was a co-chief executive of the hedge fund [[Renaissance Technologies]] until he announced in November 2017 that he would step down, and his daughters Rebekah Mercer and Jennifer Mercer; a Heather Mercer appears with them as a director of the family's private foundation and as a beneficiary of a trust holding shares in [[Emerdata]].[^1][^2] The family's records include a private foundation, a series of federal super PAC and party contributions, an investment in the data company [[Cambridge Analytica]], a role in the social network [[Parler]], and a private equity vehicle, [[1789 Capital]], of which Rebekah Mercer is a managing member of the general partner.[^2][^3][^4][^5][^6]
### Renaissance Technologies and the basket options hearing
On July 22, 2014 the [[Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]] of the [[United States Senate]] held a hearing, "Abuse of Structured Financial Products: Misusing Basket Options to Avoid Taxes and Leverage Limits," chaired by [[Carl Levin]]. In his opening statement Levin said that Renaissance's Medallion fund had used basket options to produce profits from 1999 to 2013 totaling more than $30 billion and that [[Deutsche Bank]] and [[Barclays]] had earned about $570 million and $655 million in revenue from the structures. The tax expert Steven Rosenthal testified that the structures reduced taxes paid to the Treasury by approximately $6.8 billion by converting short-term trading profits taxed at 35 percent into long-term gains taxed at 15 percent.[^7] The Renaissance witness was Peter Brown, identified in the hearing record as co-chief executive officer and co-president of Renaissance Technologies. The name Mercer does not appear in the text of the printed hearing record, which lists among the exhibits an October 1, 2004 indemnity agreement among Barclays and the Medallion entities including Medallion Capital Investments Ltd.[^7]
[[Federal Election Commission]] contribution records from the 2010 through 2022 cycles give Robert Mercer's employer as Renaissance Technologies and his occupation in some entries as "co-CEO" and in others as "CEO."[^8] The Form 990-PF of the [[Mercer Family Foundation]] for the period beginning June 18, 2004 lists an investment in "Medallion Capital Investments" with a book value of $550,358; the return for 2010 lists "Medallion investments" valued at $8,456,921 at the start of the year and $23,361,133 at its end.[^9]
On November 2, 2017 Robert Mercer wrote to Renaissance investors that he was stepping down as co-chief executive and selling his stake in [[Breitbart News]] to his daughters; in the same letter he wrote that he had been mistaken to support [[Milo Yiannopoulos]]. [[National Public Radio]] wrote that the Mercers reportedly introduced [[Donald Trump]] to [[Steve Bannon]] and to [[Kellyanne Conway]] and "also own part of Cambridge Analytica."[^10]
In September 2021 the [[Associated Press]] reported, citing reports by the [[Wall Street Journal]] and the [[New York Times]], that Renaissance insiders including its founder [[James Simons]] and Robert Mercer had agreed to pay as much as $7 billion to settle a dispute with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] covering transactions between 2005 and 2015.[^11]
### Mercer Family Foundation
The Mercer Family Foundation (EIN 20-1982204) is a private foundation with a recognition date of June 2005 whose recent returns carry the care-of address of the accounting firm BerryDunn in Waltham, Massachusetts. Its Form 990-PF for 2004 covers a tax year that began on June 18, 2004; the foundation's disbursements for charitable purposes were $69,000 in 2005, $292,000 in 2007, $1,565,000 in 2008, $1,770,000 in 2009 and $4,039,000 in 2010.[^9][^12] The returns for 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 list Rebekah Mercer as the only director; the return for 2023 lists Rebekah, Robert, Jennifer and Heather Mercer, each at one hour a week, and gives Rebekah Mercer as the person in whose care the books are kept.[^2][^13]
The foundation's grants paid, as reported to the Internal Revenue Service, were $7,105,215 in 2011, $11,677,197 in 2012, $13,492,358 in 2013, $18,300,979 in 2014 and $24,544,570 in 2015, and its total assets at the end of the year fell from $37,887,151 in 2011 to $22,729,081 in 2015.[^12] The return for 2016 reports grants of $19,025,582.[^14]
The itemized recipients in the returns for 2011 to 2017 include the [[Government Accountability Institute]] ($1,000,000 in 2013 and 2014, $1,735,000 in 2015, $2,000,000 in 2016 and $1,725,000 in 2017, a total of $7,460,000); the [[Media Research Center]] ($1,800,000, $3,000,000, $2,972,420, $3,000,000, $3,000,000, $2,000,000 and $2,000,000 in 2011 through 2017, a total of $17,772,420); the [[Heartland Institute]] ($444,000, $912,000, $877,000, $885,000, $100,000, $800,000 and $800,000 in 2011 through 2017, a total of $4,818,000, after a grant of $100,000 in 2010); the [[Federalist Society]] ($1,600,000 in 2013, $2,050,000 in 2014, $2,300,000 in 2015 and $500,000 in 2017); the [[Citizens United Foundation]] ($2,000,000, $1,000,000, $550,000 and $250,000 in 2012 through 2015); the [[Heritage Foundation]] ($500,000 in each of 2013 through 2016); and [[Reclaim New York]] ($75,000 in 2014, $1,250,000 in 2015, $1,600,000 in 2016 and $1,760,000 in 2017).[^14] The return for 2016 also lists $500,000 to the [[Cleveland 2016 Host Committee]] and $500,000 to the [[Rev the Vote Foundation]], and the return for 2017 lists $500,000 to the [[Susan B. Anthony List]] Education Fund.[^14] The itemized grant lists in the returns for 2011 through 2017 and 2019 through 2024 contain no grant to Breitbart News, Parler or Cambridge Analytica.[^14][^15]
From 2016 the lists change in form. [[DonorsTrust]] received $2,250,000 in 2016 and $500,000 in 2017, and the returns for 2019 to 2024 list DonorsTrust as the principal recipient: $1,400,000 in 2019, $19,250,000 in 2020, $5,800,000 in 2021, $31,000,000 in 2022, $3,500,000 in 2023 and $3,750,000 in 2024, which with the amounts for 2016 and 2017 total $67,450,000 (the return for 2018 is not included in these totals).[^14][^15] The only other recipients in the returns for 2019 to 2024 are the [[American Association for Aerosol Research]] ($9,000 in each of 2019 to 2021), the [[Marine Corps University Foundation]] ($20,000 in 2019), the [[Hospital for Special Surgery]] ($6,772,269 in 2020), the [[Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America]] and the [[Explorer's Club]] ($100,000 each in 2021), the [[Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine]] ($250,000 in 2021) and [[Ohio State University]] ($149,778 in 2022).[^15] The Oregon Institute's address on the return for 2021, 2251 Dick George Road, Cave Junction, Oregon, is also the registered address of the committee Art Robinson for Congress, which paid Cambridge Analytica $20,000 in 2014.[^15][^16] The foundation's return for 2011 lists a grant of $965,000 to an organization at Cave Junction, Oregon.[^14] The return for 2014 lists $100,000 to the Job Creators Alliance of Addison, Texas.[^17]
A letter dated May 5, 2014 on the stationery of the Mercer Family Foundation, 240 Riverside Boulevard, New York, addressed to Mary Ann Coleman of Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, asks that $100,000 be wired from the foundation to the account of Job Creators Network Foundation; a callback verification block on the page names Rebekah Mercer. The document is in the [[Department of Justice]] [[Epstein Files|Epstein Library]] data set 10 among Deutsche Bank trust department records that also include client lists naming a Mercer family trust, and the page itself contains no reference to [[Jeffrey Epstein]].[^18]
### Government Accountability Institute
The Government Accountability Institute (EIN 45-4681912), a [[Tallahassee]], Florida charity with a recognition date of January 1, 2013, states its mission as "to investigate and expose crony capitalism, misuse of taxpayer monies, and other governmental corruption or malfeasance."[^19] Its Form 990 for 2012 lists Bannon as chairman (30 hours a week, compensation $80,769), [[Peter Schweizer]] as president and secretary-treasurer, and Rebekah Mercer as a director at one hour a week, with [[Hunter Lewis]], Owen Smith and Ronald Robinson as the other directors, and Wynton C. Hall as communications strategist. Schedule O to that return states that "Stephen Bannon, Chairman, and Rebekah Mercer, Board Director, have a business relationship."[^19]
Schedule L to the returns for 2013, 2014 and 2015 reports purchases of advertising on the website of Breitbart News Network, LLC, with the explanation that "Stephen Bannon is chairman of the board" of that company, in the amounts of $102,500, $7,500 and $98,000; the return for 2015 adds that a committee of disinterested board members reviewed the proposed purchase and collected comparison data from other online advertising venues.[^20] Bannon's reportable compensation from the institute was $100,000 for 2013, $100,733 for 2014 and $96,703 for 2015.[^20] The return for 2016 lists Rebekah Mercer as "Chairman of the Board" at 30 hours a week without compensation, Bannon as a board director at one hour a week with compensation of $61,539, Schweizer at $210,000 and Hall as a key employee at $175,000; the returns for 2017, 2020 and 2022 also list her as chairman.[^21]
The institute's total contributions were $2,200,000 in 2012, $2,602,500 in 2013, $1,701,000 in 2014, $2,587,000 in 2015, $2,601,000 in 2016 and $2,435,250 in 2017; for 2013 through 2017 the foundation's itemized grants to the institute were $7,460,000 of $11,926,750 in contributions.[^14][^22]
### Federal contributions
The OpenFEC database attributes to Robert Mercer of East Setauket, New York, individual contributions of $88,500 in the 2008 cycle, $764,426 in 2010, $5,712,860 in 2012, $8,749,000 in 2014, $23,421,700 in 2016, $5,275,000 in 2018, $1,865,200 in 2020, $600,000 in 2022, $849,399 in 2024 and $100,000 in the 2026 cycle to date, and to Rebekah Mercer of New York $1,015,050 across the 2010 to 2024 cycles, in itemized receipts of $200 or more excluding memo entries.[^8] The largest single recipient in the database is [[Make America Number 1]] ($15,500,000); the others over $1,000,000 are the [[John Bolton Super PAC]] ($5,000,000), [[Freedom Partners Action Fund]] ($2,500,000), [[American Crossroads]] ($2,000,000), [[Club for Growth]] Action ($2,000,000), the [[Congressional Leadership Fund]] ($1,900,000), [[Ending Spending Action Fund]] ($1,750,000), [[KelliPAC]] ($1,500,000), the [[Republican National Committee]] ($1,154,900 from 2008 to November 2025), [[Restore Our Future]] ($1,000,000) and [[Remember Mississippi]] ($1,000,000).[^8] The database also records $814,399 from Robert Mercer to [[Trump 47 Committee, Inc.]] on March 25, 2024, $449,400 from Rebekah Mercer to [[Trump Victory]] on June 13, 2016, and $355,200 from Robert Mercer to Trump Victory on February 14, 2020.[^8]
Other itemized contributions by Robert Mercer in the database include $643,750 to Concerned Taxpayers of America between September 13 and December 16, 2010; $920,000 to Prosperity First Inc. in three payments from April 1 to October 22, 2012; $500,000 to Women Speak Out PAC on August 28, 2014; $500,000 each to New York Wins PAC (January 29, 2016) and Fighting for Ohio Fund (May 16, 2016); $1,500,000 to KelliPAC in four payments from July 22, 2016 to June 29, 2018; $637,100 to Black Americans for a Better Future in ten payments from September 18, 2015 to May 7, 2024; $400,000 to Great America PAC on October 25, 2018; $100,000 to [[Protect Ohio Values PAC]] on March 12, 2021, five days before a $50,000 contribution to the same committee by Rebekah Mercer; and $500,000 to General John Stark PAC on June 6, 2022.[^23] The database lists Rebekah Mercer's largest recipients as Trump Victory ($449,400), The Founders Committee ($67,700 in two committee records), Romney Victory Inc. ($65,800), Coalition for American Values PAC ($50,000) and Protect Ohio Values PAC ($50,000).[^23]
The committee now named Make America Number 1 (C00575373) filed its original statement of organization on April 6, 2015 under a cover letter headed "Keep The Promise I," signed by the treasurer, Jacquelyn James, with the address 2 Roosevelt Avenue, Port Jefferson Station, New York; the amended statement signed on June 22, 2016 gives the name Make America Number 1.[^24] The paid-preparer block of the Mercer Family Foundation's returns for 2013 through 2017 names Jacquelyn James Varga of Golub LaCapra Wilson & DeTiberiis LLP, 2 Roosevelt Avenue, Port Jefferson Station, the same street address, and the returns for 2011 and 2012 name Brian Golub of the same firm; the return for 2019 names Louis M. Cohen of Caler Donten Levine of West [[Palm Beach, Florida]], and the returns for 2020 through 2024 name Barbara J. McGuan of Berry Dunn McNeil & Parker LLC of Portland, Maine.[^25] The committee received $11,000,000 from Robert Mercer on April 10, 2015, $500,000 on February 26, 2016, and $2,000,000 on each of March 17 and July 14, 2016; other receipts of $1,000,000 or more were $2,000,000 from [[Bernard Marcus]] (September 6, 2016), $1,000,000 from [[Peter Thiel]] (October 26, 2016) and $1,000,000 from [[Cherna Moskowitz]] (August 23, 2016).[^3] In the 2016 cycle it reported receipts of $20,737,585, disbursements of $19,659,532 and independent expenditures of $13,432,443.[^3] Its disbursements include $1,476,484 to Cambridge Analytica, $952,015 to [[The Polling Company]], $950,000 to [[Trusted Leadership PAC]], $538,446 to [[Greenberg Traurig]], $500,000 to [[Carly for America]], $336,495 to [[Bracewell & Giuliani]], $280,641 to [[Glittering Steel LLC]] for video production, $119,341 to Breitbart News Network LLC and $115,262 to [[The Aventine Group]].[^3] On December 23, 2022 it recorded a contribution refund of $620,000 to Robert Mercer.[^3]
The John Bolton Super PAC received ten contributions of $500,000 from Robert Mercer, dated April 28 and June 30, 2014; February 24, June 30, September 28 and December 18, 2015; July 5 and September 6, 2016; and October 23 and December 28, 2017, and paid Cambridge Analytica $1,152,300 between July 7, 2014 and September 29, 2016.[^26]
### Cambridge Analytica and Emerdata
According to [[Christopher Wylie]], Robert Mercer invested $15 million in Cambridge Analytica for 90 percent of the company and served as its president, with Jennifer Mercer as treasurer; the company's statement of financial affairs lists Rebekah Mercer as a member of the board of managers and vice president and Jennifer Mercer as a member of the board of managers from March 6, 2014 through January 23, 2018.[^4] [[Brittany Kaiser]] told the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] that almost every client meeting with a political figure was preceded by an introduction from Bannon, Rebekah Mercer or Conway, and [[Jared Kushner]] told the committee that the Mercers aggressively advocated the campaign's use of the company.[^27]
Rebekah and Jennifer Mercer became directors of Emerdata Limited on March 16, 2018 and are recorded as active directors on the Companies House register of October 1, 2026; the company has been in administration since December 9, 2024.[^28] Jennifer Mercer was appointed on March 12, 2021 a director of [[Dynamo Recoveries Limited]], a non-trading company incorporated on March 4, 2021 with Terence William Donal Blaney as its first person with significant control; since March 12, 2021 Rebekah Mercer has been recorded as its only person with significant control, holding 75 percent or more of the shares and votes. [[Jacquelyn James-Varga]], who is also a director of Emerdata, is a director of the company.[^29] Companies House gives the correspondence address of the Mercers, James-Varga and Dynamo Recoveries as 60 Churchill Square, Kings Hill, West Malling, England.[^28][^29]
### Parler and 1789 Capital
In November 2020 [[Newsweek]] reported, citing people familiar with the matter who spoke to the [[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]], that the Mercers had ties to Parler; Newsweek wrote that the chief executive John Matze had confirmed Rebekah Mercer as a lead investor in the early stages of the company and that her funding was conditional on the application relinquishing control over what users can see, and that she had written on the platform that she launched Parler with Matze to "provide a neutral platform for free speech, as our founders intended."[^30] A Form D filed with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] on January 6, 2022 by Parler Inc., a Delaware corporation at 901 Woodland Street, Nashville, lists Rebekah Mercer as an executive officer, director and promoter alongside the chief executive George Farmer; it reports a first sale of equity on December 15, 2021, $20,250,000 offered and sold to 10 investors at a minimum of $50,000, and finders' fees of $500,000, with William C.T. Gaynor II of Washington as the sales compensation recipient.[^5]
A Form D filed on February 9, 2023 by 1789 Capital Fund I, LP of Palm Beach, Florida lists [[Omeed Malik]], Rebekah Mercer and [[Christopher Buskirk]] each as executive officer, director, promoter and managing member of the general partner, with a first sale on January 31, 2023, $100,000,000 offered and $10,000,000 sold to one investor at a minimum of $1,000,000.[^6] Two further Forms D filed on June 10, 2024 by 1789 Capital Co-Invest I, LP and 1789 Capital BH, LP list her as manager of the general partner; the first reports $2,162,000 sold to seven investors and the second $9,700,000 of a $10,000,000 offering sold to 28 investors.[^31]
### Footnotes
[^1]: House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, *Disinformation and "fake news": Final Report*, HC 1791, February 18, 2019, paragraph 286 and note 327 (describing "Jennifer and Rebekah Mercer (daughters of financier Robert Mercer)" as directors of Emerdata and listing trusts for the benefit of Rebekah, Jennifer and Heather Mercer among its shareholders as of August 10, 2018). https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcumeds/1791/1791.pdf
[^2]: Mercer Family Foundation (EIN 20-1982204), Form 990-PF for 2023, Part VII (officers: Rebekah, Robert, Jennifer and Heather Mercer, directors, 1.00 hour a week each), Part VIII line 1 ("books are in care of Rebekah Mercer") and Part XV (DonorsTrust, $3,500,000), ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer full text. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202423199349104317/IRS990PF
[^3]: OpenFEC API, Schedule A receipts and Schedule B disbursements of Make America Number 1 (C00575373): Robert Mercer, $11,000,000 on April 10, 2015 (file 1027937), $500,000 on February 26, 2016, $2,000,000 on March 17, 2016 and $2,000,000 on July 14, 2016; Bernard Marcus $2,000,000 (September 6, 2016); Peter Thiel $1,000,000 (October 26, 2016); Cherna Moskowitz $1,000,000 (August 23, 2016); committee totals for the 2016 cycle (receipts $20,737,584.81, disbursements $19,659,532.23, independent expenditures $13,432,442.89); disbursements to Cambridge Analytica, The Polling Company ($952,015), Trusted Leadership PAC ($950,000), Greenberg Traurig and Greenberg & Traurig ($538,446 and $41,972), Carly for America ($500,000), Bracewell & Giuliani ($336,495), Glittering Steel LLC (seven payments from July 17, 2015 to November 1, 2016, $280,641), Breitbart News Network LLC ($109,341.25 on November 25, 2015 and $10,000 on January 27, 2016) and The Aventine Group ($55,625 and $59,637); and a contribution refund to Robert Mercer of $620,000 dated December 23, 2022 (file 1681564, https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202301299575139049). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00575373/
[^4]: U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, *Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election, Volume 5: Counterintelligence Threats and Vulnerabilities*, report released August 18, 2020, pp. 664 to 667 and note 4303 (proffer of Christopher Wylie, May 17, 2018; Statement of Financial Affairs of May 31, 2018 in *In re Cambridge Analytica LLC*, Case No. 18-11500-shl (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.)). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/report_volume5.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Form D, Parler Inc. (CIK 0001902750), accession no. 0001902750-22-000002, filed January 6, 2022: related persons George Farmer (executive officer, director), Rebekah Mercer (executive officer, director, promoter) and others; exemption Rule 506(b); date of first sale December 15, 2021; total offering amount and amount sold $20,250,000; 10 investors; minimum investment $50,000; finders' fees $500,000; sales compensation recipient William C.T. Gaynor II. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1902750/000190275022000002/primary_doc.xml
[^6]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Form D, 1789 Capital Fund I, LP (CIK 0001965234), accession no. 0001965234-23-000001, filed February 9, 2023: related persons Omeed Malik, Rebekah Mercer and Christopher Buskirk, each executive officer, director, promoter and managing member of the general partner; date of first sale January 31, 2023; total offering amount $100,000,000; amount sold $10,000,000; one investor; minimum investment $1,000,000. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1965234/000196523423000001/primary_doc.xml
[^7]: U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, hearing of July 22, 2014, *Abuse of Structured Financial Products: Misusing Basket Options to Avoid Taxes and Leverage Limits*, S. Hrg. 113-422: opening statement of Chairman Carl Levin; testimony of Steven M. Rosenthal; testimony of Peter Brown, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-President of Renaissance Technologies; index of exhibits, item 43 (Indemnity Agreement dated October 1, 2004, Barclays Bank PLC, Palomino Limited, Badger Holdings L.P., Medallion International Limited, Medallion Capital Investments Ltd., Medallion Associates L.P., Medallion Fund L.P., Medallion USA L.P. and Medallion RMP Fund L.P., BARCLAYS-PSI-632877-904). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-113shrg89882/pdf/CHRG-113shrg89882.pdf
[^8]: OpenFEC API, Schedule A itemized individual contributions of $200 or more, excluding memo entries, for contributor names "MERCER, ROBERT" (including "ROBERT L"), "MERCER, REBEKAH" and "MERCER, JENNIFER" with New York addresses (Robert Mercer: East Setauket, Stony Brook, St. James or New York, employer Renaissance Technologies, occupations including "financial consultant" and "CO-CEO"), two-year transaction periods 2008 to 2026, retrieved October 1, 2026; recipient committees including Make America Number 1 (C00575373), John Bolton Super PAC (C00542464), Freedom Partners Action Fund (C00564765), American Crossroads (C00487363), Club for Growth Action (C00487470), Congressional Leadership Fund (C00504530), Ending Spending Action Fund (C00489856), KelliPAC (C00572941), Republican National Committee (C00003418), Restore Our Future (C00490045), Remember Mississippi (C00641423), Trump 47 Committee, Inc. (C00867937; $814,399 on March 25, 2024, file 1857498, https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202412059731342737) and Trump Victory (C00618389; Rebekah Mercer $449,400 on June 13, 2016, file 1087212; Robert Mercer $355,200 on February 14, 2020, file 1413489). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
[^9]: Mercer Family Foundation, Form 990-PF for the tax year beginning June 18, 2004 (Part II, line 10b, "Medallion Capital Investments," book value $550,358), https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_200412_990PF.pdf; Form 990-PF for 2010 (schedule of investments, "Medallion Investments," $8,456,921 beginning of year and $23,361,133 end of year), https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201012_990PF.pdf
[^10]: Jim Zarroli, "Billionaire Investor Robert Mercer To Step Down From Firm, Selling Stake In Breitbart," National Public Radio, November 2, 2017 (as published by KPBS). https://www.kpbs.org/news/2017/nov/02/billionaire-investor-robert-mercer-steps-down
[^11]: "Renaissance hedge fund execs to pay $7 billion in settlement with IRS, reports say," Associated Press, as published by CBS News, September 2021 (reporting the accounts of the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times; settlement "as much as $7 billion"; transactions between 2005 and 2015). https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-mercer-irs-tax-settlement-7-billion/
[^12]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, organization record for Mercer Family Foundation (EIN 20-1982204): recognition date June 2005; address care of BerryDunn, 51 Sawyer Road, Waltham, Massachusetts; grants paid and total assets at end of year by tax year, 2011 to 2023 (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/201982204.json); Forms 990-PF for 2005 (line 25, $69,000), 2007 ($292,000), 2008 ($1,565,000), 2009 ($1,770,000) and 2010 ($4,039,000), https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_200512_990PF.pdf and the corresponding archive files for 2007 to 2010.
[^13]: Mercer Family Foundation, Forms 990-PF for 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, Part VIII (officers, directors, trustees), e.g. https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201612_990PF.pdf
[^14]: Mercer Family Foundation, Forms 990-PF for 2011 to 2017, Part XV line 3a (grants and contributions paid during the year), recipient lists as printed; amounts totaled by recipient from the itemized lists, e.g. 2013 (https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201312_990PF.pdf), 2015 (https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201512_990PF.pdf) and 2016 (https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201612_990PF.pdf, which reports total grants of $19,025,582, the grant to OISM of Cave Junction, Oregon, and the accounting firm address 2 Roosevelt Ave, Port Jefferson Station, New York).
[^15]: Mercer Family Foundation, Forms 990-PF for 2019 to 2024, Part XV (grants and contributions paid), ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer full text: 2019 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202012559349100501/IRS990PF; 2020 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202212639349100101/IRS990PF; 2021 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202213199349104431/IRS990PF; 2022 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202303189349100610/IRS990PF; 2023 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202423199349104317/IRS990PF; 2024 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202513169349100411/IRS990PF. The 2016 and 2017 DonorsTrust grants are from the Part XV lists in the returns for those years. The Part XV list for 2020 totals $26,031,269 including $6,772,269 to the Hospital for Special Surgery; the grants-paid field in the ProPublica summary for 2020 reads $19,259,000.
[^16]: Federal Election Commission, committee record for ART ROBINSON FOR CONGRESS (C00481341), 2251 Dick George Rd, Cave Junction, Oregon; Schedule B disbursements to Cambridge Analytica of $20,000 in three payments, June to November 2014. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00481341/
[^17]: Mercer Family Foundation, Form 990-PF for 2014, Part XV (Job Creators Alliance, Addison, Texas, 100,000 dollars, "non profit donation"). https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201412_990PF.pdf
[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, DataSet 10, EFTA01400922 (letter of May 5, 2014, Mercer Family Foundation to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas; related items EFTA01398726, EFTA01398757, EFTA01398924 and EFTA01398965 not reopened). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01400922.pdf
[^19]: Government Accountability Institute (EIN 45-4681912), Form 990 for 2012, Part III (mission), Part VII Section A (officers and compensation), Schedule O; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer record (recognition date January 1, 2013). https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201212_990.pdf and https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/454681912
[^20]: Government Accountability Institute, Forms 990 for 2013, 2014 and 2015, Schedule L Part IV (business transactions involving interested persons) and Part VII: https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201312_990.pdf ; https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201412_990.pdf ; https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201512_990.pdf (amount for 2013 as read from the scanned return)
[^21]: Government Accountability Institute, Forms 990 for 2016 (Part VII Section A), 2017, 2020 and 2022, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer full text: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/454681912/201743179349306999/IRS990 ; /201833199349301453/IRS990 ; /202111759349300306/IRS990 ; /202343009349300814/IRS990
[^22]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, organization record for Government Accountability Institute (EIN 45-4681912), total contributions by tax year, 2012 to 2017. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/454681912.json
[^23]: OpenFEC API, Schedule A itemized contributions attributed to Robert Mercer and Rebekah Mercer of New York, New York, excluding memo entries, retrieved October 1, 2026: Concerned Taxpayers of America (C00488437; file numbers 502614, 508878, 521433, 711830); Prosperity First Inc. (C00517466; files 795576, 815221, 837748); Women Speak Out PAC (C00530766; file 1007524); New York Wins PAC (C00603365; file 1059531); Fighting for Ohio Fund (C00573014; file 1119836); KelliPAC (C00572941; files 1096404, 1164890, 1180218, 1251801); Black Americans for a Better Future (C00567784); Great America PAC (C00608489; file 1346216); Protect Ohio Values PAC (POV PAC) (C00770495; file 1532515, Robert Mercer $100,000 on March 12, 2021 and Rebekah Mercer $50,000 on March 17, 2021); General John Stark PAC (C00815407; file 1611754). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
[^24]: Federal Election Commission, Form 1 Statement of Organization of committee C00575373, original filed April 6, 2015 under cover letter headed "Keep The Promise I" signed by treasurer Jacquelyn James, 2 Roosevelt Avenue, Port Jefferson Station, New York (https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/670/15031410670/15031410670.pdf), and amended Form 1 dated June 21, 2016, filed June 22, 2016, in the name "Make America Number 1" (https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/183/201606229020090183/201606229020090183.pdf).
[^25]: Mercer Family Foundation, Forms 990-PF, paid preparer blocks: 2011 and 2012 (Brian Golub, Golub LaCapra Wilson & DeTiberiis), 2013 to 2017 (Jacquelyn James Varga, Golub LaCapra Wilson & DeTiberiis LLP, 2 Roosevelt Ave, Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776), e.g. https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201412_990PF.pdf and https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201612_990PF.pdf; 2019 (Louis M Cohen, Caler Donten Levine et al PA), 2020 to 2024 (Barbara J McGuan CPA, Berry Dunn McNeil & Parker LLC, PO Box 1100, Portland, Maine), ProPublica full text, e.g. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202423199349104317/IRS990PF.
[^26]: OpenFEC API, Schedule A receipts of John Bolton Super PAC (C00542464) from Robert Mercer, East Setauket, New York, $500,000 each on April 28, 2014, June 30, 2014, February 24, 2015, June 30, 2015, September 28, 2015, December 18, 2015, July 5, 2016, September 6, 2016, October 23, 2017 and December 28, 2017 (e.g. https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201801319091015357); Schedule B disbursements to Cambridge Analytica, July 7, 2014 to September 29, 2016, totaling $1,152,300. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00542464/
[^27]: U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, *Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election, Volume 5: Counterintelligence Threats and Vulnerabilities*, report released August 18, 2020, p. 672 and note 4348 (Kaiser transcript, pp. 40 to 43), and p. 674 and note 4362 (Kushner transcript II, pp. 84 to 85). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/report_volume5.pdf
[^28]: Companies House, EMERDATA LIMITED (company number 10911848), officers and insolvency pages, and personal appointments pages for Jennifer Lynne Mercer and Rebekah Anne Mercer (each appointed March 16, 2018, active), viewed October 1, 2026; administration started December 9, 2024. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10911848/officers
[^29]: Companies House, DYNAMO RECOVERIES LIMITED (company number 13246135), incorporated March 4, 2021, SIC 74990 non-trading company, registered office Suite 21, 60 Churchill Square, Kings Hill, West Malling; persons with significant control (Terence William Donal Blaney, March 4 to March 12, 2021; Rebekah Mercer, from March 12, 2021, 75 percent or more of shares and votes); officers including Jacquelyn James-Varga and Jennifer Lynne Mercer (each appointed March 12, 2021), viewed October 1, 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13246135/persons-with-significant-control
[^30]: "Parler Reportedly Backed by Mercers, Same Family That Funded Cambridge Analytica," *Newsweek*, November 2020 (reporting the account of the *Wall Street Journal* and statements of John Matze and Rebekah Mercer). https://www.newsweek.com/parler-reportedly-backed-mercers-same-family-that-funded-cambridge-analytica-1547519
[^31]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Forms D filed June 10, 2024: 1789 Capital Co-Invest I, LP (CIK 0002026273), accession no. 0002026273-24-000001 ($2,162,000 sold; seven investors) and 1789 Capital BH, LP (CIK 0002025959), accession no. 0002025959-24-000001 ($9,700,000 sold of $10,000,000; 28 investors; Rebekah Mercer listed as manager of 1789 Capital Fund I GP, LLC). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2026273/000202627324000001/primary_doc.xml

121
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Nick Lowles.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
---
category: "Extremism & Violent Networks"
tags:
- Person
- UK
- AntiFascist
- Searchlight
- HOPEnotHate
- CombatEighteen
- Author
- Informants
alias:
- Nick Lowles
- Nicholas Lowles
- Nicholas Lloyd Lowles
- Nick Lowles MBE
summary: "British anti-fascist writer and campaigner, Searchlight editor to 2011, founder and chief executive of HOPE not hate, author of White Riot on Combat 18, and company director of its successor bodies from 2005."
born: 1968-06
location: "London, United Kingdom"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[HOPE not hate]]"
start: 2004
role: "founder"
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[HOPE not hate]]"
role: "chief executive"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Searchlight Magazine]]"
start: 1999
end: 2011
role: "co-editor, then editor"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[HOPE not hate]]"
start: 2005-06-25
role: "director of Searchlight Information Services Limited, later Hope Not Hate (1986) Limited"
fn: 6
- type: director_of
with: "[[HOPE not hate]]"
start: 2012-08-22
end: 2020-02-18
role: "director of Hope Not Hate Limited"
fn: 3
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
---
Nick Lowles (Nicholas Lloyd Lowles, born in June 1968 ([[Companies House]] record)) is a British anti-fascist campaigner and writer. He was co-editor and then editor of [[Searchlight Magazine]] between 1999 and 2011, founded [[HOPE not hate]] in 2004 and has been its chief executive.[^1][^2][^3] He wrote White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18 (2001) and a number of other books, and was appointed MBE in the New Year Honours of 2017.[^4][^5]
### Early Life and Searchlight
Lowles grew up in [[Hounslow]] and moved to [[Shrewsbury]] at the age of ten, became involved in the anti-fascist movement as a student volunteer at the [[University of Sheffield]], worked as a freelance investigative journalist in television, with credits on [[BBC]] Panorama, World in Action, Channel Four Dispatches and MacIntyre Undercover, and was co-editor and then editor of Searchlight between 1999 and 2011 ([[HarperCollins]] author biography).[^1] The [[Sheila McKechnie Foundation]] gives the mid-1980s as the start of his campaigning at school and 2004 as the founding of HOPE not hate, in response to the rise of the [[British National Party]].[^2]
The Companies House record of Searchlight Information Services Limited, later renamed Hope Not Hate (1986) Limited, lists Lowles as a director appointed on 25 June 2005, with [[Gerry Gable]] as director since before 1991 and [[Sonia Gable]] as secretary.[^6]
### Books
The Open Library catalogue lists the following titles with Lowles as author or editor: White Noise, with [[Steve Silver]] (Searchlight, 1998); White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18 ([[Milo Books]], 2001); Mr. Evil, with [[Graeme McLagen]] ([[John Blake Publishing|John Blake]], 2002), catalogued under the subjects terrorists, bombings and neo-Nazism; Hooligans, with [[Andy Nicholls]] (Milo Books, 2005); A-L of British Football Gangs and M-Z of Britain's Football Hooligan Gangs, with Nicholls (2007); From Cable Street to Oldham, edited by Lowles (Searchlight, 2007); and How to Defeat the Far Right (HarperCollins, 2025).[^4] The charity's annual report for 2021 records that he "wrote Codename Arthur, the true story of the anti-fascist spy who spent 10 years infiltrating the BNP and identified the London nail bomber", released to coincide with a [[Netflix]] documentary on the nail bombing.[^7]
### Combat 18 and the Wells Informant
[[Larry O'Hara]] of [[Notes From The Borderland]] wrote in an introduction to his 1995 notes on [[Combat 18]] and [[MI5]] that the C18 booklet was written by [[Wilf Browning]] "with significant input from Darren Wells (aka McKenzie) who later 'came out' as a Searchlight/[[Special Branch]] informant in 2002", and that his site would at some point "dissect the tendentious disinformation peddled by Searchlight editor Nick Lowles in his 'White Riot' book on C18". O'Hara described Searchlight as "presenting themselves as squeaky clean 'Community-oriented' anti-fascists via their 'Hope Not Hate' front." O'Hara also wrote that he had never thought Browning or [[Steve Sargent]] were state assets.[^8] Searchlight's obituary of Gable, written by the magazine, describes its use of agents or "moles" within far-right groups as its "true hallmark" and says that "some of these were inserted, some had a change of heart and resolved to make amends, some simply wanted money".[^9]
### Company Records
Companies House lists Lowles as a director of the following: Searchlight Information Services Limited (from 25 June 2005; the company was renamed Hope Not Hate (1986) Limited in October 2012 and dissolved on 14 July 2015); Hope Not Hate (Services) Limited (from 25 September 2012; dissolved 10 September 2013); and Hope Not Hate Limited (22 August 2012 to 18 February 2020, and again from 1 September 2026).[^3][^6][^10] He was secretary of Hope Not Hate Limited from 31 August 2023 to 1 September 2026 and of the charity then named Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust from 31 August 2023 to 30 June 2025.[^3][^11] The charity's annual reports for 2021 to 2024 list him under "Key management personnel", with [[Jemma Levene]] also listed in the report for 2021.[^12]
### The 2011 Separation
[[Martin Bright]] wrote in the [[The Jewish Chronicle|Jewish Chronicle]] in August 2012 that Lowles was "Mr Gable's heir apparent", that he had "effectively spun off Hope Not Hate as a separate organisation", and that Gable had retained control of the magazine; Bright took neither side.[^13] The Borderland timeline, whose author is hostile to both sides, states that on 28 March 2011 Lowles and [[Cormac Hollingsworth]] met the Gables to ask for the Searchlight magazine shares and for Gable's resignation from the Searchlight companies by the end of June 2011, that Lowles resigned as editor on 23 September 2011, and that Lowles stated around the summer of 2010 that Gable had told him he would "step aside" in 2011, which the timeline records that Gable "vehemently denies".[^14] Searchlight's 2026 obituary of Gable states that Gable offered Lowles "the hand of friendship" at an anti-fascist anniversary event in 2023.[^9]
### Informants
[[Ed Caesar]] reported in The New Yorker in 2019 that Lowles, then HOPE not hate's chief executive, "runs several moles", that one source was an anti-fascist campaigner who went undercover nearly twenty-five years earlier, and that Lowles received a briefing after [[Robbie Mullen]] e-mailed the organisation in April 2017. According to Lowles, the police then believed that [[National Action]] had been all but dismantled after its ban. Mullen later worked for HOPE not hate as a researcher after Lowles found him the position.[^15]
### Disputes
[[Nigel Farage]] said on the radio station [[LBC]] in December 2016 that HOPE not hate pursued "violent and undemocratic means". HOPE not hate began a crowdfunded libel action, and on 14 November 2017 announced that Farage had filed a statement in the High Court acknowledging that it "does not tolerate or pursue violent or undemocratic behaviour".[^16]
On the night of Saturday 3 August 2024, during rioting in Middlesbrough, Lowles wrote on X: "Reports are coming in of acid being thrown out of a car window at a Muslim woman in Middlesbrough. Absolutely horrendous." The post was seen by more than 100,000 people. [[Cleveland Police]] stated that it had not received any formal complaint from any victim. On 4 August Lowles wrote that police had denied knowledge of the attack, "though some in the local Muslim community insist it happened", and "Hold my hands up if my initial tweet was wrong". The Conservative member of Parliament [[Neil O'Brien]] described the original post as "Incredibly irresponsible".[^17]
In 2025 and 2026 complaints to the [[Charity Commission]] by [[Jack Rankin]] and Farage concerned the relationship between the charity and Hope Not Hate Limited, of which Lowles was a director until 2020 and secretary from 2023; the Commission closed its compliance case in January 2026 and took no further action on the second complaint. Its press release of 22 January 2026 refers to the charity's changes to its secretary and trustees and does not name Lowles.[^18][^19]
### Funding Records of the Organisation
The [[Electoral Commission]] register records donations to HOPE not hate Ltd, a permitted third party, in the years in which Lowles was an editor or chief executive, among them 80,000 pounds from [[UNISON]] on 14 May 2009, 65,000 pounds from [[Unite the Union]] on 14 December 2009, 60,000 pounds from the [[National Union of Teachers]] on 17 February 2010, 200,000 pounds from an individual recorded as [[David Sainsbury]] on 4 November 2019, 100,000 pounds from Mr [[Greg Nasmyth]] on 12 December 2019 and 75,000 pounds from [[Open Britain|Open Britain Ltd]] in two payments in November and December 2019.[^20] The Borderland timeline states that in September 2010 "Labour-supporting financier [[Richard Brindle]] moves into HNH orbit, entrancing Lowles"; the timeline's author is hostile to both sides, and the Electoral Commission search for HOPE not hate Ltd returns no donation from a person of that name.[^14][^20] The charity's accounts record an unrestricted grant of 46,000 pounds from the [[Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust]] in each of 2019 and 2020 and grants from the charity to Hope Not Hate Limited of 625,000 pounds in 2022, 650,000 pounds in 2023 and 787,858 pounds in 2024.[^21][^22][^23][^24] The [[Sigrid Rausing Trust]] lists HOPE Not Hate as a grantee since 2013 with 1,615,000 pounds of previous grants.[^25]
### Honours
The [[Cabinet Office]] list of the New Year Honours 2017 contains the entry "Mr Nicholas LOWLES, Founder, Hope Not Hate. For services to Community Cohesion and Combating Extremism", London, under Members of the Order of the British Empire. The Cabinet Office list for the 2016 New Year Honours contains no entry for the name. The publisher's biography gives 2016 as the year of the award, and the 2017 list is the one that carries the entry.[^1][^5]
### Footnotes
[^1]: HarperCollins Rights, "Nick Lowles" author biography (grew up in Hounslow, moved to Shrewsbury aged ten; student volunteer at Sheffield University; television credits; "Between 1999 and 2011 Lowles was co-editor, and then editor, of Searchlight magazine"; "awarded an MBE in 2016"), harpercollinsrights.co.uk, accessed 1 October 2026. https://www.harpercollinsrights.co.uk/contributors/nick-lowles-28341-uk/
[^2]: Sheila McKechnie Foundation, "Nick Lowles", Long Term Achievement Award 2024 page. https://smk.org.uk/awards_nominations/nick-lowles/
[^3]: Companies House, appointments of Nick Lowles (born June 1968): HOPE NOT HATE (SERVICES) LIMITED, director from 25 September 2012; HOPE NOT HATE LIMITED (08188502), director 22 August 2012 to 18 February 2020, secretary 31 August 2023 to 1 September 2026, and director again from 1 September 2026 (filing AP01, 15 September 2026), accessed 1 October 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/jk99RhE3ohSWf-QgztVYEGaMHUU/appointments and https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08188502/officers
[^4]: Open Library, author search "Nick Lowles", openlibrary.org, queried 1 October 2026 (White Noise 1998; White Riot, Milo Books, 2003 edition record, first published 2001 per Internet Archive item whiteriotviolent0000lowl; Mr. Evil 2002; Hooligans 2005; A-L and M-Z 2007; From Cable Street to Oldham 2007; How to Defeat the Far Right 2025). https://openlibrary.org/search.json?author=Nick+Lowles
[^5]: Cabinet Office, New Year Honours 2017, full list (CSV): Members of the Order of the British Empire, "Mr Nicholas LOWLES, Founder, Hope Not Hate. For services to Community Cohesion and Combating Extremism", London, GOV.UK; the Cabinet Office CSV for the New Year Honours 2016 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80ca2e40f0b62302695834/NewYearHonoursList2016.csv) was searched for the name without result. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f0f19e5274a2e8ab49da3/new-years-honours-2017-full-list-csv.csv
[^6]: Companies House, officers of HOPE NOT HATE (1986) LIMITED (02055070), formerly SEARCHLIGHT INFORMATION SERVICES LIMITED: Nick Lowles, director, appointed 25 June 2005; Gerry Gable, director, appointed before 31 December 1990, resigned 4 December 2011; Sonia Kathleen Emma Gable, secretary, 1 November 1992 to 4 December 2011, accessed 1 October 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02055070/officers
[^7]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2021, filed 29 September 2022, Companies House filing MzM1MzYwMDY0NmFkaXF6a2N4 (key management personnel N Lowles and J Levene; "Publications" section). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history/MzM1MzYwMDY0NmFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=xhtml&download=1
[^8]: Larry O'Hara, "Combat 18 and MI5: Some Background Notes", with a later undated introduction, Notes From The Borderland, borderland.co.uk (partisan source; the notes are dated December 1995). https://borderland.co.uk/combat-18-mi5-some-background-notes/
[^9]: Searchlight, "Obituary: Gerry Gable (1937-2026), architect of modern British anti-fascism", searchlightmagazine.com, January 2026. https://searchlightmagazine.com/2026/01/obituary-gerry-gable-1937-2026-architect-of-modern-british-anti-fascism/
[^10]: Companies House, officers of HOPE NOT HATE (SERVICES) LIMITED (07719229), accessed 1 October 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07719229/officers
[^11]: Companies House, appointments of Nick Lowles as secretary of HOPE UNLIMITED CHARITABLE TRUST (02738367), 31 August 2023 to 30 June 2025, accessed 1 October 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/emU3mSR1s-h9BzsxxdYnfy2z_dY/appointments
[^12]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual reports and financial statements for 2021 (filing MzM1MzYwMDY0NmFkaXF6a2N4), 2022, 2023 (MzQzNzcyNTg5NmFkaXF6a2N4) and 2024 (MzQ4MjkyNzA1OWFkaXF6a2N4), "Key management personnel", Companies House company 02738367. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history
[^13]: Martin Bright, "Tragedy of a serious split between anti-fascists", The Jewish Chronicle, 9 August 2012. https://www.thejc.com/opinion/analysis/tragedy-of-a-serious-split-between-anti-fascists-p843rzof
[^14]: Larry O'Hara, "Exclusive: Introduction and Time-line to Hope Not Hate versus Searchlight Civil War Article NFB 10", Notes From The Borderland, borderland.co.uk (partisan source, hostile to both sides). https://borderland.co.uk/exclusive-introduction-time-line-to-hope-not-hate-versus-searchlight-civil-war-article-nfb-10/
[^15]: Ed Caesar, "The Undercover Fascist" (print title "Hate and Love"), The New Yorker, 27 May 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/27/the-undercover-fascist
[^16]: Peter Walker, "Nigel Farage withdraws 'violent means' claim against Hope Not Hate", The Guardian, 14 November 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/14/nigel-farage-withdraws-claim-hope-not-hate-high-court
[^17]: Fiona Parker, "Hope Not Hate boss apologises for false 'acid attack on Muslim woman' tweet", The Telegraph, 5 August 2024, as syndicated by Yahoo News. https://www.yahoo.com/news/hope-not-hate-boss-apologises-162745371.html
[^18]: Charity Commission, "Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust addresses concerns following intervention by regulator", GOV.UK press release, 22 January 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hope-not-hate-charitable-trust-addresses-concerns-following-intervention-by-regulator
[^19]: Dami Adewale, "Charity cleared by commission after Farage complaint", Third Sector, 24 June 2026. https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity-cleared-commission-farage-complaint/governance/article/1962712
[^20]: Electoral Commission, Political Finance Online, donations search for "hope not hate" (recipient HOPE not hate Ltd, regulated entity type Third Party), queried 1 October 2026. https://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/
[^21]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2020, filed 9 December 2021, Companies House filing MzMyMzA3OTQwOWFkaXF6a2N4 (unrestricted grant from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust 46,000 pounds in 2019 and 2020). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history/MzMyMzA3OTQwOWFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=xhtml&download=1
[^22]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022, Companies House, company 02738367 (grant to HnH Ltd 625,000 pounds). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history
[^23]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023, filed 30 September 2024, Companies House filing MzQzNzcyNTg5NmFkaXF6a2N4 (grant to Hope not Hate Ltd 650,000 pounds). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history/MzQzNzcyNTg5NmFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=xhtml&download=1
[^24]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024, filed 28 September 2025, Companies House filing MzQ4MjkyNzA1OWFkaXF6a2N4 (grant to Hope not Hate Ltd 787,858 pounds). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history/MzQ4MjkyNzA1OWFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=xhtml&download=1
[^25]: The Sigrid Rausing Trust, grantee profile "HOPE Not Hate" (supported since 2013; total of previous grants 1,615,000 pounds), accessed 1 October 2026. https://sigrid-rausing-trust.org/grantees/hope-not-hate/