The account of the Hughes-Nixon dealings in Irving’s book was quoted in an unpublished Senate Watergate Committee report and also in part by a February 4, 1972, story in the New York Times. A White House aide confirmed that Nixon himself read at least a summary of Irving’s account.
Hughes’s activities on the day of his press conference were detailed in the logs maintained by his aides. The Hughes quotes are from a tape recording of that conference.
The creation of the Hunt-Liddy team was described in reports of the Senate Watergate Committee and the House Impeachment Committee, by both Hunt and Liddy in their books, and by Haldeman and Dean in their books.
Nixon’s reaction to reports that Bobby Kennedy had investigated the Hughes “loan” was quoted by a White House aide in an interview. Nixon himself made similar comments in his memoirs RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (Warner, 1978, vol. 1, p. 305), writing that Kennedy’s effort to prosecute his mother and brother was “typical of the partisan vindictiveness that pervaded the Kennedy administration.”
The February 4, 1972, and January 27, 1972, meetings between Liddy, Mitchell, Dean, and Magruder were detailed by Liddy in his book Will (St. Martin’s Press, 1980, pp. 196–203), by Dean and Magruder in Senate Watergate Committee and court testimony, by Dean in Blind Ambition (pp. 79–86), and by Magruder in An American Life (Pocket Books, 1975, pp. 207–12). Both Dean and Magruder testified that Mitchell discussed O’Brien as a target for surveillance. Magruder also told the Senate Watergate Committee, according to an unpublished staff report, that “the attorney general not only brought up the Greenspun entry operation, but also urged Liddy to consider it as more pressing and important than the other targets discussed.”
Hunt detailed the Greenspun plot in Senate Watergate Committee testimony and stated that Bennett first suggested that break-in a few days before the Mitchell-Liddy meeting. Bennett gave a similar account but claimed that it was Hunt who suggested a break-in after Bennett told him Greenspun had Hughes memos. Hunt in his testimony and Liddy in his book (Will, p. 205) confirmed Winte’s involvement.
Nixon’s impatience with the lack of action from Liddy’s operation was reported by Haldeman in his book (The Ends of Power, pp. 10–11). Strachan’s call to Magruder was quoted by Magruder in Senate Watergate Committee testimony. Nixon’s anger at O’Brien over the ITT affair was noted by Haldeman in his book (The Ends of Power, pp. 153–55), by Colson in an interview, and by Nixon himself in his memoirs (RN, vol. 2, p. 54). The Hunt-Liddy-Colson meeting was confirmed by all three, and Magruder testified that Colson called to push him on getting approval of Liddy’s plan.
The Magruder-Mitchell meeting and Mitchell’s revelation of the Hughes motive behind Watergate were described in detail by a confidential source with direct knowledge of their conversation in two hour-long taped interviews. The source agreed to give the information only upon my assurance that he would not be identified.
In Senate Watergate Committee and court testimony, Magruder said that Mitchell approved the Watergate break-in on March 30, 1972. Magruder also testified that Mitchell ordered the second break-in. Liddy stated in Will (p. 237) that Magruder ordered him to photograph O’Brien’s “shit file” on Nixon. “The purpose of the second Watergate break-in” wrote Liddy, “was to find out what O’Brien had of a derogatory nature about us, not for us to get something on him or the Democrats.”
Nixon’s reaction to the Watergate arrests was described by Haldeman in his book (pp. 7–13) and by Nixon himself in his memoirs (vol. 2, pp. 109–13).
Haldeman reconstructed his June 20, 1972, conversation with Nixon in The Ends of Power (pp. 18–19) and in two interviews confirmed that Nixon himself revealed the Hughes connection to Watergate, probably in that erased conversation, and definitely in one of his talks with Haldeman in the days following the break-in.
Epilogue II The Final Days
Hughes’s activities at the time of the Watergate arrests were detailed in the logs maintained by his aides and confirmed by listings for July 16–17, 1972, in a Vancouver edition of TV Guide.
The fact that Hughes was oblivious to Watergate for more than a year was established by the memos his aides and attorney sent in response to his belated inquiries and confirmed in an affidavit by one of his Mormons.
Hughes’s escape from the Bahamas was described by an aide in an interview, and by several other aides in depositions. His dealings with Somoza were established by memos Hughes wrote and dictated, and by others received from his staff. Hughes’s preparations for his meeting with Somoza and Shelton were detailed in his logs, and the meeting itself was described both by an aide who was present and Shelton in an interview with the IRS. Hughes’s arrival in Vancouver was described by an aide who was present.
Bennett’s role as a double agent in Watergate was detailed in Senator Howard Baker’s report of his investigation into “CIA Activity in Watergate,” published as an appendix to the final report of the Senate Watergate Committee.
Nixon’s suspicion that Bennett was “Deep Throat” and that the Bennett-Hughes-CIA axis was somehow responsible for his downfall was reported by Haldeman in The Ends of Power (Times Books, 1978, pp. 134–39) and hinted at by Nixon in his memoirs RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (Warner, 1978, vol. 2, p. 578). “Now that few people seemed to care about the question of who had ordered the break-in,” wrote Nixon, “there was new information that the Democrats themselves had prior knowledge and that the Hughes organization might be involved. And there were stories of strange alliances.”
Ehrlichman detailed his July 24, 1972, meeting with Nixon in an interview and provided a copy of the IRS “sensitive case report” he gave Nixon that revealed Hughes’s payments to O’Brien. “He got very, very excited about it, about as excited as I had ever seen him get,” recalled Ehrlichman. Ehrlichman also reported Nixon’s orders to have the IRS audit O’Brien and put him in jail, and the efforts to use the IRS against O’Brien were confirmed by the final reports of the House Impeachment Committee and the Senate Watergate Committee.
Nixon’s September 15, 1972, conversation with Dean is drawn from a transcript of a White House tape.
Hughes’s contribution of $150,000 to Nixon’s 1972 campaign was reported by Bennett in statements to the Senate Watergate Committee and the Special Prosecutor’s Office. Rebozo’s call to Danner seeking Hughes money was confirmed by Danner in Senate Watergate Committee testimony. Liddy’s involvement in handling the Hughes contribution was noted by Liddy in Will (St. Martin’s Press, 1980, p. 215), and by Bennett in his Senate staff interviews. Bennett reported Evans’s solicitation of another $100,000 in statements to the special prosecutor in which he also noted his arrangement of a birthday call from Nixon to Hughes.
Hughes’s reaction to the Managua earthquake was described by an aide who was present, by other aides in depositions, and detailed in logs the aides kept.
The IRS showdown in Fort Lauderdale was detailed in a series of interviews by Richard Jaffe, an IRS agent who played a key role, and confirmed by Andy Baruffi, who was in charge of the Hughes investigation, and by IRS reports of the incident obtained from a confidential source.