27. “Your new show” Letter from Lucy Winchester to Roger Ailes, Sept. 23, 1969.
28. When Nixon addressed Ferretti, “Nixon TV Adviser on Standby Call.”
29. In July Joe McGinniss, “The Selling of ‘Selling of the President,’ ” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 4, 1970. McGinniss’s excerpt appeared in the August 1969 issue of Harper’s.
30. Then, a few weeks before Large, “Mr. Nixon on TV: ‘Man in the Arena.’ ”
31. Four days Letter from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, Oct. 2, 1969.
32. Marvin Kitman Marvin Kitman, “The Selling of the President 1968,” New York Times, Oct. 5, 1969.
33. A few days later, Haldeman Letter from H. R. Haldeman to Roger Ailes, Oct. 1969.
34. “That was the thing” Author interview with Joe McGinniss.
35. When McGinniss appeared McGinniss, “The Selling of ‘Selling of the President.’ ”
36. Only a few Roger Ailes letter to Jack Rourke, Oct. 23, 1969.
37. “His career was started” Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.
38. The week before Lawrence Laurent, “Virginia TV Gets School Film Contract,” Washington Post, Oct. 4, 1969. “Ailes Leaves ‘Wholey’ in Contract Dispute,” Broadcasting, Sept. 29, 1969.
39. By the end of 1969 Memo from Richard Nixon to H. R. Haldeman, Dec. 1, 1969.
40. A few days before Christmas Letter from H. R. Haldeman to Roger Ailes, Dec. 19, 1969.
41. confidential seven-page proposal Letter from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, Dec. 1969. In a Jan. 7 letter to Roger Ailes, Haldeman thanks him “for the material you sent me on December 30.”
42. On January 7 Memo from H. R. Haldeman to Richard Nixon, Jan. 7, 1970.
43. Ailes was hired Memo from Nixon aide Lawrence Higby to John Brown, Jan. 22, 1970.
44. “If he is hired” Memo from Dwight Chapin to H. R. Haldeman, Jan. 10, 1970.
45. Ailes told Chapin Memo from Dwight Chapin to Lawrence Higby, Jan. 27, 1970.
46. A Nixon insider, Ziegler Jessica Garrison, “Ron Ziegler, 63; Press Secretary Remained Loyal to Nixon Throughout Watergate,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 11, 2003.
47. On February 4 Memo from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, Feb. 4, 1970.
48. new press briefing room James S. Brady Briefing Room, White House Museum (historical note), http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/west-wing/press-briefing-room.htm.
49. That same day, Ziegler Memo from Ron Ziegler to H. R. Haldeman, Feb. 4, 1970.
50. A few weeks later Memo from Ronald Ziegler to Dwight Chapin, April 7, 1970.
51. Ailes submitted three candidates Memo from Roger Ailes to White House, undated.
52. “Roger wanted me” Author interview with Robert LaPorta.
53. The White House brought LaPorta in Memo from Ronald Ziegler to H. R. Haldeman, Feb. 26, 1970. In an author interview, LaPorta recalled, “Ziegler was very cold to me. It was not a very long interview.”
54. After another candidate Memo from Roger Ailes to Lawrence Higby, March 3, 1970; memo from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, April 29, 1970.
55. In mid-March Memo from Ronald Ziegler to H. R. Haldeman, March 14, 1970.
56. drugstore magnate St. Petersburg Times, Times Wire Services, “Eckerd’s Moves Hint Nixon’s Fighting Kirk,” Feb. 28, 1970, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19700228&id=uM5aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=InwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3405,6023454.
57. “Ailes is involving himself” Memo from Ronald Ziegler to H. R. Haldeman, March 14, 1970.
58. When Taft debated Nyhan, “Roger Ailes: He Doctors a Politician’s TV Image.”
59. the Toledo Blade George Jenks, “Heat Level Rises as Rhodes, Taft Engage in Third Debate,” Toledo (Ohio) Blade, April 28, 1970.
60. A few days after the debate Kent State University’s May 4 Task Force, chronology of events that took place May 1–4, 1970, http://dept.kent.edu/may4/chrono.html. See also Richard Reeves, President Nixon: Alone in the White House (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 213.
61. At a press conference Perlstein, Nixonland, 486.
62. Kent State, Bob Haldeman later wrote David Butler, “The Case Against ‘Operation Menu,’ ” Newsweek, April 30, 1979, citing H. R. Haldeman, The Ends of Power (New York: Times Books, 1978).
63. Knickerbocker Letter from Robert Ailes Jr. to H. R. Haldeman, June 11, 1970. “Roger is staying at the Knickerbocker Hotel for an indefinite period,” his brother wrote. “When Roger is not at the hotel he can be reached via The Real Tom Kennedy Show at KTLA-TV in Los Angeles.”
64. Even though he was still married Marjorie Ailes divorce filing, “Lunatics, Drunkards, Divorces: 1977–1978,” Delaware County Courthouse, Media, Pennsylvania.
65. “All I knew” Author interview with TV personality Tom Kennedy.
66. The taping of the premiere Recap of premiere episode of The Real Tom Kennedy Show, http://www.game-show-utopia.net/realtomkennedy/realtomkennedy.htm.
67. In late May Letter from Republican National Committee deputy chairman Jim Allison Jr. to Roger Ailes, May 25, 1970.
68. A White House memo Memo from Nixon aide Gordon Strachan to H. R Haldeman and Herbert Klein, Nov. 13. 1970.
69. A Boston Globe profile Nyhan, “Roger Ailes: He Doctors a Politician’s Image.”
70. After an unsuccessful attempt Letter from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, June 8, 1970.
71. Ailes fired off an angry letter Letter from Roger Ailes to Jim Allison, Aug. 26, 1970.
72. “The press is the enemy” Jonathan Aitken, Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed (New York: Random House, 2010), 143.
73. On June 3, 1969 Memo from H. R. Haldeman to Herbert Klein, June 3, 1969.
74. A few hours later Memo from Herbert Klein to H. R. Haldeman, June 3, 1969.
75. “I have discussed television balance” Memo from Herbert Klein to Richard Nixon, Oct. 17, 1969.
76. In June 1970 Letter from James Cordes of WordCraft Productions to Roger Ailes, June 16, 1970.
77. Ailes told Nixon aide Letter from Roger Ailes to Nixon aide Jeb Magruder, July 3, 1970.
78. In the summer Memo from Nixon aide Gregg Petersmeyer to Herbert Klein, Aug. 13, 1970.
79. Ailes sent Haldeman Roger Ailes’s marked-up, signed copy of the memo proposing a White House news service.
80. just a few months earlier Nyhan, “Roger Ailes: He Doctors a Politician’s TV Image.”
81. “It should be expanded” Roger Ailes’s marked-up, signed copy of the memo proposing a White House news service.
82. A prescient 1973 document Memo from T. O’Donnell to H. R. Haldeman, March 12, 1973.
83. By November 1970 “Memorandum for Bill Carruthers File,” by Dwight Chapin, Nov. 16, 1970.
84. On November 19 Unsigned White House memo, Nov. 19, 1970.
85. The day before Thanksgiving Ailes proposal to Haldeman, Nov. 25, 1970.
86. He hired Carruthers The announcement was made in The Hollywood Reporter. “President Nixon Names Carruthers Consultant,” Hollywood Reporter, Feb. 1, 1970. On December 29, 1970, Chapin wrote to Carruthers, “Bob Haldeman has talked to Roger Ailes and Roger is fully aware of your coming aboard here as well as Mark Goode’s.” See also Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries, 266.
87. The White House worried Chapin memo to Haldeman, Dec. 23, 1970.
88. A meeting was scheduled Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries, 270.
89. A talking paper Undated document, “Re: Roger Ailes’ Meeting,” Nixon Presidential Library Archives.
90. A few weeks later Letter from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, Feb. 9, 1971.
91. “No need for H.” Memo from Nixon aide Bruce Kehrli to Lawrence Higby (undated).
92. “I have been getting a lot” Letter from Roger Ailes to Lawrence Higby, Feb. 12, 1971.
93. The Real Tom Kennedy Show Author interview with Tom Kennedy.
94. An article in Backstage “Ailes, Business Is Not Ailing,” Backstage, March 5, 1971.
95. a speech Roger Ailes, “Candidate
+ Money + Media = Votes” (transcript of speech), Town Hall of California, June 8, 1971. The speech was mentioned in the pages of Broadcasting on June 14, 1971, in an article titled “Nixon’s Specialist on TV Defends Its Political Use.”
96. He told White House photographer Letter from Roger Ailes to Nixon photographer Oliver Atkins, May 14, 1971.
97. “Roger got caught up” Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.
SIX: A NEW STAGE
1. “He was trying to figure out” Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.
2. Paul Turnley, a liberal Democrat Author interview with former Ailes assistant Paul Turnley.
3. On May 15 Letter from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, May 19, 1971. Even though Ailes lost out on the White House television position, he continued to cultivate a relationship with the administration. In this letter, Ailes told Haldeman that when he traveled to Indiana, he learned that Gene Pulliam, the publisher of The Indianapolis Star, was turning against Nixon. “He has gone as far as to say he is going to back Scoop Jackson for 1972,” Ailes wrote, advising Nixon not to attend the Indianapolis 500 car race. “I think it would be a very bad idea. The situation in Indiana is just too volatile at the moment and I can’t see anything that the president could gain from it politically.” On May 21, Jon M. Huntsman, special assistant to the president, wrote Ailes that he would make office space available for him “during your consultation visits to the White House, as a White House Consultant.” On May 28, Ailes wrote to Haldeman, thanking him for the offer of office space. “I am very happy to know that our relationship is to continue,” Ailes wrote. “As you know, my personal and professional loyalty is with the President and I want to do everything I can to help get him re-elected in 1972. As you pointed out, Bob, I have become somewhat of a political animal now as well as a media adviser and I think this does give me some added strength and in some ways makes me a double-threat man. I was used by Westinghouse Broadcasting as a trouble-shooter in trouble program areas and I think I could serve the same role politically in some of the states where we have problems.… Thank you for your confidence in me.” On June 2, Haldeman replied, “I wish you the best of luck in your new political trouble shooter role. I am sure you will do an excellent job.” Documents available at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum do not indicate that the administration used Ailes in any substantive way. On July 1, Ailes wrote Haldeman’s assistant, Larry Higby, suggesting that Nixon attend a Washington Senators baseball game, at a time when the team was considering relocating to Texas. “We have done nothing recently to build up his ‘sports enthusiast’ image,” Ailes wrote, “and it might be worth a trip during his ‘private hours’ over to the ballpark to see the Senators or to talk to their management about their problems—not as the President but as a sports fan trying to keep the Senators in Washington.” Ailes told Higby that the stunt would “give the President a down-to-earth look.”
4. “I don’t have this burning thing” “Nixon’s Roger Ailes,” Washington Post.
5. Ailes arranged for a barber Author interview with Paul Turnley. In an interview, Andrew Stein confirmed that he wore a hairpiece but said he could not recall Ailes calling in a barber. Stein praised Ailes’s talents for communication. “He was a force of nature then too. It was a terrific experience.… I remember him saying something once: ‘Sometimes it’s important to say nothing, to have a pause. Some people always think they have to be talking, but that’s not true.’ ”
6. Jim Holshouser “Holshouser Releases Promised Tax Records,” United Press International (printed in Lexington, North Carolina’s The Dispatch), Aug. 12, 1974. See also http://www.wral.com/former-gov-jim-holshouser-dies/4369405/, http://www.unctv.org/content/biocon/jamesholshouser/installments.
7. Holshouser flew to New York Author interview with Paul Turnley.
8. “I don’t think” Author interview with Paul Turnley.
9. On February 12 Letter from Roger Ailes to Jack Rourke, Feb. 12, 1971.
10. born Ellen Boulton Earl Wilson, “Snakes Alive! Patrice Munsel Has Pet Boa,” Milwaukee Sentinel, June 24, 1974, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EmlRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rBEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6410,1719404&dq=kelly-garrett&hl=en.
11. four years younger Tom Sharpe, “Kelly Garrett 1944–2013: Acclaimed Singer Had Roots in New Mexico,” New Mexican, Aug. 12, 2013.
12. she grew up in Santa Fe Jay Sharbutt, “Kelly Garrett Isn’t ‘Overnight’ Success,” Associated Press, published in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 1, 1974, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19740710&id=e2QwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YW0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3300,1401941.
13. At age twenty-two Author interview with Kelly Garrett’s sister, Georgia Pearson. See also “California, Marriage Index, 1960–1985,” index, Michael T. Mikler and Ellen M. Boulton (1966), FamilySearch.
14. She got a divorce “California, Divorce Index, 1966–1984,” index, Ellen M. Boulton and Michael T. Mikler (1970), FamilySearch.
15. Rourke responded Letter from Jack Rourke to Roger Ailes, Feb. 24, 1971.
16. Ailes chose Mother Earth Entry for Mother Earth on Internet Broadway Database, http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=2966.
17. But the conservative spirit South Coast Repertory (historical account on the company’s website), http://www.scr.org/about/scrstory.aspx#.UYp1YYLuf3o.
18. Toni Tennille Bob Thomas, “Both Critics and Audience Like ‘Mother Earth,’ Stage Musical,” Associated Press, published in Daytona Beach Morning Journal, Aug. 25, 1971.
19. The musical, he wrote Script of original production of Mother Earth.
20. The show opened “Repertory Show Will Start Jan. 8,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 27, 1970.
21. “I am one” Script of original production of Mother Earth.
22. “After we ended” Author interview with South Coast cofounder Jim dePriest.
23. After successful runs Margaret Harford, “ ‘Mother Earth’ to Move to Bay Area,” Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1971; Gregg Kilday, “ ‘Mother Earth’ Set at Hartford,” Los Angeles Times, July 25, 1971.
24. Ray Golden “Screen News Here and in Hollywood,” New York Times, Feb. 22, 1941; “The Theatre: New Revue in Manhattan,” Time, Sept. 19, 1955; “Openings of the Week,” New York Times, Jan. 15, 1950.
25. “Roger came back” Author interview with Paul Turnley.
26. Over lunch Author interview with April Garrett, Ron Thronson’s widow.
27. A couple of months before Louis Calta, “2 Musicals Set Their Premieres,” New York Times, Sept. 7, 1972; author interview with April Garrett.
28. “It turned into” Author interview with Martin Benson.
29. “We got bamboozled” Jan Herman, “Toni Tennille: No Hits but ‘Always Sold Out,’ ” Los Angeles Times, April 10, 1988.
30. he met the Broadway producer Scott Collins, Crazy Like a Fox: The Inside Story of How Fox News Beat CNN (New York: Penguin, 2004), 29.
31. His string Albin Krebs, “Kermit Bloomgarden, Producer of Many Outstanding Plays, Dead,” New York Times, Sept. 21, 1976.
32. “Given the circumstance” Author interview with Kermit Bloomgarden’s son John Bloomgarden.
33. During the height of McCarthyism California Senate, Report of the Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities, 1948: Communist Front Organizations, 1948, http://archive.org/stream/reportofsenatefa00calirich/reportofsenatefa00calirich_djvu.txt.
34. Though Bloomgarden was never called See, for instance, Elia Kazan, A Life (New York: Da Capo, 1997), 440, 461, 592.
35. “What the hell” Author interview with Robert Cohen. Bloomgarden was not a Nixon supporter. During the 1968 campaign, he helped produce a “Garden Rally for McCarthy” hosted by Tony Randall at the Waldorf-Astoria. The A-list crowd of attendees included Mike Nichols, Dustin Hoffman, Leonard Bernstein, Alan Arkin, Neil Simon, Barbra Streisand, and Arthur Miller. (Private Papers of Kermit Bloomgarden obtained from the Wisconsin Historical Society.) When Robert Cohen went to work for Ailes, Bloomgarden would ask Cohen about Ailes’s po
litics. “Every now and then Kermit would ask, ‘Do you talk about politics with Roger?’ ” Cohen recalled. “And I said, ‘As little as possible to be very honest with you. It’s not my politics, you know that.’ He goes, ‘Yeah.’ ”
36. Bloomgarden earned Author interview with Stephen Rosenfield.
37. To finance Mother Earth Author interview with Howard Butcher IV.
38. Frank Coombs Author interview with dancer Frank Coombs.
39. Cast member John Bennett Perry Author interview with actor John Bennett Perry.
40. “He’d sit in the back room” Author interview with actor Rick Podell.
41. “She was striking looking” Author interview with John Bennett Perry.
42. “Roger made sure” Author interview with Rick Podell.
43. Frank Coombs, who was asked Author interview with Frank Coombs.
44. Inviting John Bennett Perry Author interview with John Bennett Perry.
45. Looking back, Podell recognized Author interview with actor Rick Podell.
46. Robert Cohen thought Ailes Author interview with Robert Cohen.
47. By staging a photo shoot Author interview with Frank Coombs.
48. Ailes made another plug Joe McGinniss, “The Resale of the President,” New York Times Magazine, Sept. 3, 1972.
The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--and Divided a Country Page 56