The Arrogance of Power

by Anthony Summers

  Rebozo background: (cover name) FB, p. 483 and see WP, Feb. 11, 1978; (“Be-be”) Life, July 31, 1970, ed. Miller, Breaking of President, Vol. IV, op. cit., p. 506; (“best-looking”) ibid., int. Sloan McCrae; (laundries/real estate) Life, July 31, 1970; National Observer, Feb. 2, 1974; (profits) Boston Globe magazine, Oct. 4, 1970; Life, supra.; (exorbitant rate) Newsday, Oct. 6, 1971—the Newsday series of this month directed by Robert Greene remains the most penetrating study of Rebozo’s connections; (hostess) Ladies’ Home Journal, Nov. 1973; (“Blue suits”) Life, July 31, 1970.

  marriages: (Gunn) Boston Globe magazine, Oct. 4, 1970, by Clay Blair, Ladies’ Home Journal, Nov. 1973, National Observer, Feb. 2, 1974; ints. Eric Larson [Gunn’s last husband], Mrs. William Gunn [sister-in-law], Rebozo/Gunn divorce Final Decree, Dec. 5, 1934, Brevard County [FL] Records Office; (Lucke) Boston Globe, Ladies’ Home Journal, supra.; (“antiseptic”) FB, p. 474.

  RN/Rebozo relationship: (“screwball!”) int. George Smathers; (“He’s meditating”) Newsday, Oct. 13, 1971; int. Sloan McCrae; int. Bob Greene by FB, FBP; (Maroon) ibid.; (“sensuality”) int. Dan Rather by FB, FBP; (steward) int. Thomas Kiernan by FB, FBP; (“definitely”) Florence Fuller, cited in int. and corr. with John Hunt, 1995; int. Pamela Fuller Dychess; (“limp wrist”) Roger Morris, Haig, The General’s Progress, Chicago: Playboy Press, 1982, p. 127; Woodward and Bernstein, Final Days, op. cit., p. 211; (woman to Rebozo) int. Norman Casper; (Giancana) Antoinette Giancana and Thomas Renner, Mafia Princess, New York: William Morrow, 1984, p. 161; (Hitchcock) int. Thomas Kiernan by FB, FBP; (lover of JFK) Stephen Dunleavy and Peter Brennan, Those Wild, Wild Kennedy Boys, New York: Pinnacle, 1976, p. 76–; (“ladies’ man) Life, July 31, 1970; (man-about-town) Boston Globe magazine, Oct. 4, 1970; (statuesque) Newsday, Oct. 6, 1971; (“orgies”) int. George Reedy and Robert Greene by FB, FBP; (nurses) New Yorker, Dec. 14, 1992, conv. Seymour Hersh; (“fornicating”) George Rush, Confessions of an Ex-Secret Service Agent, The Marty Venker Story, New York: Donald Fine, 1988, p. 195; David Frost, “I Gave Them a Sword,” New York: William Morrow, 1978, p. 171; (inflatable legs) Rebozo-Cronkite interview, Dec. 19, 1973 in Historic Documents, 1973, Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1974, p. 980; (full-sized?) int. Mary DeOreo (Ervin Cttee. investigator) by FB, FBP; (girl on beach) int. Marty Venker; Rush, op. cit. p. 195; (“adolescents”) int. John Lindsay by FB, FBP; (“like lovers”) int. Bobby Baker; (Baker/Rebozo) AOP, p. 124; Baker with Larry King, op. cit. p. 248; (“boyhood bond”) int. Herb Klein; (“held hands” 1962) Bryant, op. cit., p. 241; (clasping hands) int. Jerome Zeifman; (“unilateral”) int. John Ehrlichman in eds. Miller Center, op. cit., p. 139; (Paar) Jack Paar, P.S. Jack Paar, New York: Doubleday, 1983, p. 131; (Fineman) Miami Herald, Apr. 23, 1994; (Lucke) int. Sloan McCrae; (“N was his God”) int. Jake Jernigan; (Safire) Safire, op. cit., p. 614; (Pat/“sponge”) Good Housekeeping, July 1976 and see Ehrlichman, op. cit., p. 50; (“do you talk to”) Charles Colson int. by Dick Russell, in Argosy, Mar. 1976; (“golfing partner”) West, Double Discovery, op. cit., p. 139; int. Jessamyn West by FB, FBP.

  Rebozo political role: (“truly social”) Miami Herald, Nov. 1, 1973; (culivated senators) Life, July 31, 1970; (Rebozo/Kennedy) Miami Herald, Jan. 12, 1974; JA, p. 198fn; (dirt on JFK) FB research note, FBP, the divorcée was Durie Malcolm; Dunleavy and Brennan, op. cit., p. 21–; (“so careless”) Crowley, Nixon Off the Record, op. cit. p. 33; (1968 meeting) Whalen, op. cit., p. 182; (previous Christmas) MEM, p. 292; (Danner) Danner deposition, Sept. 4, 1973, Plaintiff v. Hughes Tool Co., and Danner to Rebozo, Mar. 17, 1970, E files, Box B-56, NA; (“political influence”) int. John Ehrlichman; Ehrlichman, op. cit., p. 51–; (“Nixon once sent”) Haldeman with DiMona, op. cit., p. 89; (“quarter million”) AOP, p. 4—the candidate was Raymond Guest; (Muskie) ibid., p. 124; (Wallace) HD, p. 408; (Vietnam policy) William Shawcross, Sideshow, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979, pp. 140, 142; Woodward and Bernstein, Final Days, op. cit., p. 204; (hated Castro) Kissinger, White House Years, p. 641; (“did not usually”) ibid., p. 1155; (“edgy”) Haldeman with DiMona, op. cit., p. 341.

  RN/Rebozo money: (“never had the urge”) Nixon, Arena, op. cit., p. 122–; (“means nothing”) Miami Herald, Nov. 1, 1973; (Bassett) int. James Bassett by FB, FBP; (investment advice) Klein, op. cit., p. 149; (dining/beer) Newsday, Oct. 13, 1971; (invested Cuba?) Rolling Stone, May 20, 1976; (FBI informant) Moore to Belmont, Jan. 9, 1959, FBI 480–1542; (motel) Newsday, Oct. 7, 13, 1971; int. Bob Greene by FB, citing Maroon, FBP; (dig derogatory information) Hunt, Undercover, op. cit., p. 183; (“selfless”)Tampa Tribune, June 26, 1958; (“They’ll never get . . .”) Miami Herald, June 15, 1958; (“Nixon never . . .”) int. George Smathers; (Nixon worth 1960–) Stephen Hess and David Broder, The Republican Establishment, New York: Harper & Row, 1967, p. 162.

  Key Biscayne Bank: (described) Nation, Nov. 12, 1973, Paar, op. cit., p. 131; (shovel) Newsday, Oct. 9, 1971; (bust) Nation, Nov. 12, 1973; (bank’s function) ibid.; (Rebozo at bank) NM, p. 363, Miami Herald, Dec. 6, 1974; (Continental) Life, July 31, 1970; (sticker) Sundance, Nov./Dec. 1972, p. 35.

  RN/Rebozo property: (“loved property”) int. George Smathers; (Fisher’s) Newsday, Oct. 13, 1971; (“After the 1968 election . . .”) MEM, p. 952; (Rebozo proposed) Newsday, Oct. 13, 1971; (“two houses”) MEM, p. 952; (Rebozo/Key Biscayne/San Clemente properties) NM, p. 346–; (house for Julie) Miami Herald, Feb. 26, 1974, Boston Globe, May 29, 1974; (Rebozo concern) Ehrlichman, op. cit., p. 51; (“If there’s something”) NM, p. 368; (“help Bebe”) Ehrlichman, op. cit., pp. 47, 51.

  Rebozo in Watergate: (IRS investigation) Miami Herald, Oct. 11, 1973; NYT, Feb. 27, Apr. 23, 1974; (targeted) closing memo, Oct.16, 1975, WSPF(H-R), p. 5–; NM, p. 364; ints. Sam Dash, Terry Lenzner; (hush money) ibid., p. 145–; (Rebozo obstructed) E, Report, pp. 931, 1071; (left country) ibid., p. 1071–; (RN IRS) AOP, p. 31; (Baruffi) int. Andrew Baruffi; (Senior IRS source) int. retired IRS official who requested anonymity; (hearings aborted) ints. Sam Dash, Scott Armstrong and Sam Dash, Chief Counsel, New York: Random House, 1976, p. 245; (“evidence would not support”) WSPF Report, p. 84; (“Star Chamber”) MEM, p. 967.

  Rebozo dubious business activity: (federal loan) Newsday, Oct. 6, 1971, National Observer, Feb. 2, 1974, Miami Herald, Aug. 20, 1972; (shopping center) Newsday, Oct. 7, 1971; (Buttari) Miami Herald, Feb. 8, 1969, Miami News, Feb. 9, 1969, eds. Peter Dale Scott, Paul Hoch, Russell Stetler, and Sylvia Meagher, The Assassinations: Dallas and Beyond, New York: Vintage, 1976, p. 404; (“kid gloves”) Newsday, Oct. 7, 1971, Miami Herald, Oct. 7, 8, 1971; (bank application) NYT, Oct. 17, 1973; Providence Journal, Nov. 6, 1973; (Rebozo held funds?) NM, p. 366; (RN net worth) Newsday, Dec. 9, 1973; Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1973, p. 1046–; (Rebozo net worth) ed. Miller, Breaking of the President, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 518, Miami Herald, Nov. 5, 1973; (Stans) int. Maurice Stans; (earrings) WP, July 11, 1974, NM, p. 367; Safire, op. cit., p. 615; (RN rebuttal) MEM, p. 952; (Anderson) Miami Herald, Mar. 20, 1974; (“totally false”) MEM, p. 953; (Rebozo dismissed) NYT, Mar. 21,1974.

  Rebozo/organized crime: (Danner) Sundance, Nov./Dec. 1972, Hank Messick, Lansky, New York: Putnam, 1971, p. 189; (Miami hotels) Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, U.S. Sen., 81st Cong., Washington, D.C., U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Interim Report, p. 7–; (Smathers arranged) int. George Smathers; (Lansky associates) ed. Weissman, op. cit., p. 263; (RN/Mackles friendly) Washington Star, Dec. 25, 1968, Ladies’ Home Journal, June 1971; (“fronting”) Sundance, Nov./Dec. 1972; (Frederich) Newsday, Oct. 13, 1971; (Fincher) Newsday, Oct. 13, 1971; (Fincher links) Moldea, Interference, op. cit., p. 292–; (Orowitz) Penthouse, July 1974, p. 106; (Polizzi picked/1943 conviction/Cleveland boss/petitions) Newsday, Oct. 7, 1971; (Grand Council) Los Angeles FBI report, Dec. 23, 1957, FBI 92-3229-5; (smuggling booze) Village Voice, Aug. 30, 1973; (Kefauver) ibid., Newsday, Oct. 7, 1971; Estes Kefauver, Crime in America, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1951, p. 64; (“one of the most”) David Scheim, Contract on Am
erica, New York: Shapolsky, 1988, p. 298, re. 1964 Senate narcotics hearings; (FBI bug) Cleveland FBI report, June 21, 1965, FBI 92-3229-59, and see Louis Mastriana testimony, Sept. 18, 19, 1973; Sen. Permanent Subcttee. on Investigations, Cttee on Govt. Ops., U.S. Senate, 93rd Cong., 1st Sess., Pt. II, p. 181–; (Berg) Newsday, Oct. 13, 1971, int. Donald Berg, Village Voice, Aug. 30, 1973, Nation, Nov. 12, 1973; (associate of Lansky/Hoffa) Allen Friedman and Ted Schwartz, Power and Greed, Inside the Teamsters, New York: Franklin Watts, 1989, p. 155; ed. Weissman, op. cit., pp. 264, 267—the associate was Arthur Desser; (Secret Service) Newsday, supra.; (Berg/RN 1994) int. Donald Berg.

  Stolen stocks case:Newsday, Oct. 9, 1971; LAT, Sept. 12, 1970; ints. Ron Kessler, Jake Jernigan; WP, Oct. 25, 1973—major report by Ron Kessler but see Rosen to Sullivan, Sep. 12, 1970, FBI 87-102621-18, SA [name redacted] Miami to SAC Miami, Sep. 11, 1970 and other corr. in FBI 87-102621 and 62-112-974; (Salerno/Beckley) ibid., Messick, Lansky, op. cit., p. 193; Sifakis, op. cit., p. 314; (King) WP, Oct. 25, 1973; Penthouse, July 19, 1974; ed. Weissman, op. cit., p. 263–; (Kotz) int. and corr. Alvin Kotz; (Teresa) closing memo, Oct. 16, 1975, WSPF (H-R); Vincent Teresa with Thomas Renner, My Life in the Mafia: The True Confessions of a Mob Leader, London: Grafton, 1974, p. 288–; (Mastriana) testimony, Sept. 18, 19, 1973, Hearings of Perm. Subcttee. on Investigations, Cttee. on Govt. Ops., U.S. Sen., 93rd Cong., 1st. Sess.; (Alo/Lansky) Teresa, op. cit., p. 220–; Lacey, op. cit., p. 290– and see SAC Dallas to director, Aug. 20, 1971, FBI 92-128-23-5; (long-held suspicions) Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, op. cit., p. 258; Messick, Lansky, op. cit., p. 187–; (Gallinaro) ints. William Gallinaro.

  “non-member associate”: ints. and corr. Michael Ewing, former congressional investigator of organized crime and Watergate; Ewing was given the designation by former FBI Agent Charles Stanley.

  RN promise re: crime:LAT, Oct. 21, 1968.

  Newsday series: Oct. 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 1971; (reaction/reprisals) McDermott to Jenkins, June 25, 1974, FBI 74575-150; Henry Ruth to Clarence Kelley, Feb. 27, 1974, FBI 62-112974; Wise, American Police State, op. cit., p. 129 and Wise, The Politics of Lying, op. cit., p. 324–, Joseph Spear, Presidents and the Press, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1984, p. 130; Donner, op. cit., p. 351, Hunt, Undercover, op. cit., p. 183; Caulfield testimony, E, Bk. 22, p. 10368–; (agents’ surveillance) WP, June 28, 1974; (“worse than foolish”) Safire, op. cit., p. 615.

  RN “resented”: Pierpoint, op. cit., p. 82.

  Smathers: int. George Smathers.

  Finch: int. Robert Finch by FB, FBP.

  “nails pulled out”: ed. Miller, Breaking of a President, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 511.

  “never going to blab”: Safire, op. cit., p. 615.

  Chapter 12

  “All you have got to do”:U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 3, 1952.

  “end is power”: Hess and Broder, op. cit., p. 143.

  hero/preacher: Mazo, op. cit., p. 85.

  “A few friends”:MO, p. 629.

  Eisenhower meetings: (1949) MO, p. 507; (1950/51) ibid., pp. 577, 644–.

  “prat boy”: RN in Frank Gannon int. transcript, CBS 60 Minutes, Apr. 8, 1984; Wicker, op. cit., p. 160.

  Dewey: (“a possibility”) Mazo, op. cit., p. 90; (“you can be President”) MEM, p. 84; Nixon, Six Crises, op. cit., p. 299; (tempted Nixon?) Frontier, Apr. 1962; MO, p. 684–.

  Warren: (questionnaire) FB, p. 253; Vernon O’Reilly unid. article, Sept. 26, 1952, Box G 281, DPP; (at convention) ed. Sevareid, op. cit., p. 76; Costello, op. cit., p. 86; James to Wilma Bassett, July 9, 1952, Bassett Papers, courtesy of Cynthia Bassett; Leo Katcher, Earl Warren, A Political Biography, New York: McGraw Hill, 1967, p. 290–; Earl Warren, The Memoirs of Earl Warren, New York: Doubleday, 1977, p. 252–; MO, pp. 691, 719–; Arnold, op. cit., p. 29–; (The most distasteful”) int. John Rothmann and see Louis Kohlmeier, Jr., God Save This Honorable Court, New York: Charles Scribner’s, 1972, p. 93; (“ ‘Tricky’ . . . despicable”) William Buckley column, Mar. 20, 1975, National Review and see Jack Harrison Pollack, Earl Warren, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979, p. 142.

  1952 convention: (Ike’s list) Sherman Adams, Firsthand Report, New York: Harper, 1961, p. 34; Eisenhower press conference, May 31, 1955, James Hagerty Papers, DDEL; (smoke-filled rooms) Manchester, The Glory and the Dream, op. cit., p. 619; (RN picked) MO, p. 732; Richard Norton Smith, Thomas Dewey and His Times, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982, p. 596; (“Surprised”) ibid., p. 597; (argued with Pat) PAT, p. 114–; MEM, p. 85–; (Pat surprised) Saturday Evening Post, Sept. 6, 1952; (platform) Smith, Thomas Dewey, op. cit., p. 597; (photographers) Time, Feb. 29, 1960; PAT, p. 117; (Ike irritated) Lurie, op. cit., p. 116–; (Time) Time, Aug. 25, 1952.

  scandals: (Truman plagued) MO, p. 642–; (“When we are through”) Nathan Miller, Stealing from America, New York: Marlowe, 1996, p. 331.

  Fund Crisis: (Post) New York Post, Sept. 18, 1952; (tip etc.) Washington Sunday Star, Sept. 21, 1952; Robert Humphreys to Sherman Adams, Feb. 7, 1959, DDEL; MO, p. 757–; ed. Sevareid, op. cit., p. 88, but see Katcher, op. cit., p. 294; (use of money) New York Post, Sept. 18, 1952; U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 3, 1952; (“all wrong”) Mazo, op. cit., p. 107; (“just . . . fund”) MO, p. 759; Nixon, Six Crises, op. cit., p. 73–; (“nothing to worry”) ibid., p. 78; (Edson story) Chicago Daily News, Sept. 18, 1952; (Ike response) MO, p. 770; (“hounds tooth”) NYT, Sept. 21, 1952; (“Hiss crowd”) MO, pp. 772, 774–; (call to withdraw) MO, p. 780–; (Dewey/resign) MO, p. 803; (Ike called Nixon) MO, p. 807.

  Checkers speech: (no rehearsal?) Nixon, Six Crisis, op. cit., p. 112; MEM, p. 103; Look, Feb. 24, 1953; (witness) James Kearns in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 28, 1952; (delayed?) Variety, Sept. 21, 1954 and draft article, both in Box G 281, DPP; (60 million) Barry Goldwater, With No Apologies, New York: William Morrow, 1979, p. 67; MO, p. 827; (text of speech) U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 3, 1952; (Pat sat close) Westporter Herald, Sept. 25, 1952; (Lincoln quote) Nixon, Six Crises, op. cit., p. 103; Wills, op. cit., p. 104; (hands reaching) MEM, p. 104; (hurled notes) Look, Feb. 24, 1973; Mazo, op. cit., p. 131; PAT, p. 124; (“I was a failure”) JA, p. 218; (euphoric) MO, p. 844; (fur coats) Washington Times-Herald, Sept. 30; Wall Street Journal, Oct. 10, 1952; (RN “stripped”) Wicker, op. cit., p. 107.

  Ike response to Checkers: (watched) Robert Humphreys to Sherman Adams, Feb. 17, 1959, Humphreys papers, DDEL; (Mamie wept) MEM, p. 105; (telegram lost) PAT, p. 124; MO,p. 839; (Chotiner intercepted) Pat Hillings with Howard Seelye, Irrepressible Irishman, privately published: Harold Dean, 1993, p. 61; MO, p. 840–; (“You’re my boy”) MEM, p. 106; (RN endorsed) MEM, p. 107; (RN weeps) ibid.; (drama coach) Kornitzer, op. cit., p. 106 and John Rothmann, unpub. ms., p. 36—coach was Albert Upton; (“amazing”) int. Bryce Harlow in eds. Miller Center, op. cit., p. 7.

  Dog: (collars, etc.) Nixon, Six Crises, op. cit., p. 125; (lived on) Madeleine Edmondson and Alden Duer Cohen, The Women of Watergate, New York: Pocket, 1975, p. 102; NYT, July 3, 1968; (exhume?) CNN Website, citing AP and U.S. News & World Report, Apr. 28, 1997; (Order of . . . Tooth) Nixon, Six Crises, op. cit., p. 125; Arnold, op. cit., p. 23; Colliers, July 9, 1954, James Bassett unpub. ms., Apr. 9, 1954; Bassett Papers.

  RN reminded:PAT, p. 126, Crowley, Winter, op. cit., p. 19.

  “truth on my side”: Monica Crowley, Nixon Off the Record, New York: Random House, 1996, p. 63.

  press on fund:New Republic, Oct. 6, 1952.

  problems with RN’s answers: (needed home) New York Post, Sept. 18, 1952; (no maid) ibid., MO, p. 757; ($20,000) U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 3, 1952; MO, p. 653; (decorator) ibid.; PAT, p. 111; (RN admitted) Costello, op. cit., p. 110; (acquired maid) New Republic, Sept. 29, 1952; (increased prosperity) New York Post, Oct. 31, 1952; (could not have been charged) MO, p. 856; (RN told newsman) Costello, op. cit., p. 95; (speech fees) Look, Feb. 24, 1953; (sheet on desk) MO, p. 762, citing int. Leo Katcher; (two accounts?) memo to DP, Oct. 20, 1952, citing Jiggs Donohoe, and AP, Oct. 18, 1952, memo citing Judge Thurman Clark, B
ox G 281, DPP; (three funds) Washington Daily News, Feb. 26, 1953.

  fund contributors: (“We’ve been paying”) MO, p. 762; (Chotiner) Lurie, op. cit., p. 127; (“Who’s Who”) MO, p. 636; (millionaires) DP column “Why?,” fall 1952, not run in local papers, Box G 272, DPP; (“We realized”) article by Richard Donovan, one of three journalists who developed fund story, The Reporter, Oct. 14, 1952; (within a week) MO, p. 632; (Woodward/Anderson) Pilat, op. cit., p. 302; DP broadcast, Nov. 2, 1952, Box G 281, DPP; MO, p. 650; (Ghormley) ibid. and see Kornitzer, op. cit., p. 190–; (Crail) Costello, op. cit., p. 216–; (Adams/Rowan bros.) New Republic, Sept. 29, 1952—Adams does not appear in U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 3, 1952 version of contributors list; (“Never . . . a phone call”) U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 3, 1952; (Hammond call) DP column, “Did Nixon’s Angels benefit?” Box G 281, DPP.

  Dana Smith: (friend/host) int. Jean Smith Goodrich, Smith’s daughter; (IRS problem) NYT, Sept. 24, 1952; AP wire copy, Sept. 23, 1952, Box G 281, DPP; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 30, 1952.

  Smith/Nixon? and Cuba: (RN to Embassy) AP wire copy, Oct. 29, NYT, Oct. 30, 1952, DP column, Oct. 29, 1962, with detail from embassy files, and see MO, p. 941n., p. 649; (“routine”) NYT, Oct. 30, 1952; (office insisted) Look, Feb. 24, 1953; (RN reported in Cuba) St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 30, 1952; (demands retraction) RN to Ted Bates agency, Nov. 3, 1952, cited in full in Harrington telegram to DP, Box G 281, DPP; (claims Hawaii) Look, Feb. 24, 1953; MEM, p. 108; (Link background) NYT, Feb. 15, 1974; int. Theodore Link, Jr.; (Free- man/5 witnesses) memo to DP, Box G 281, DPP; (“Nixon agreed”) Messick, Lansky, op. cit., p. 190; (Culbertson) ed. Tyler Abell, Drew Pearson Diaries, 1949–1959, New York: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, 1974, p. 335, entry for Oct. 27, 1954; (other Rothman ints.) FBI summaries, “Norman Rothman, Internal Security—Cuba,” June 26/27, director to Asst. AG Byron White, July 25, 1961, and SAC Miami to director, FBI 97-4030-20 in FBI Cosa Nostra files supplied to House Select Cttee. on assassinations, released 1998, JFK Collection, NA; (Rothman covered up?) ibid. and ed. Abell, op. cit., p. 335.