And when Hughes sent Maheu to offer Lyndon Johnson a million-dollar bribe to end the bomb tests, it was O’Brien who set up the big meeting at the LBJ Ranch. Although he succeeded, he was not the best go-between. Despite Maheu’s assurances, Johnson was still bitter about O’Brien’s defection to Bobby Kennedy.
“Poor Larry,” the president told his appointments secretary Jim Jones. “First he jumps to Bobby, now to Hughes. He’s making a big mistake. Hughes will just chew him up, then spit him out.”
O’Brien had not even officially joined Hughes, however, when a threatened new bomb test set the stage for his first big mission.
It was December 12, 1968. The Atomic Energy Commission had just announced another megaton blast, the first since “Boxcar” started Hughes on his ban-the-bomb crusade eight months earlier. He had hoped to stave off the holocaust until a more pliant president took office. Now, with an unbought LBJ still in the White House and a bought Nixon elected but not yet sworn in, Hughes was faced with a real problem: he didn’t know whom to bribe.
“Please press to reach Humphries, or let O’Brien take my offer to the Democratic chief of finance,” wrote a frantic Hughes. “I implore that we pull out all the stops.”
Once more Hughes demanded that Maheu offer a million dollars—to Johnson again, to the defeated Humphrey for his campaign deficit, to the depleted treasury of the Democratic party, to the victorious but still powerless Nixon—to anyone who could block the impending blast.
The AEC’s sneak attack caught Maheu down in the Bahamas, hobnobbing with the Nixon gang. While he continued to work on the incoming administration, he called in his new recruit to pull out ’the stops in Washington.
“Larry O’Brien will meet with the top man tomorrow morning,” Maheu reported to Hughes. “Howard, I have thought of going to Washington but after serious consideration I cannot think of anything I could do there more effectively than O’Brien.”
While O’Brien prepared to meet with Lyndon Johnson, the man he had helped make president, Maheu shuttled between Miami and the Bahamas in an effort to reach the president-elect, and also reached out to the still cooperative vice-president.
“I have a call in right now for Humphrey,” he assured Hughes. “I really want to tap his brain in great depth before making any further moves, so please bear with me, Howard.
“On the other side, [Lee] DuBridge, who will be Nixon’s top scientific advisor, is behind us but recommends very strongly to the new administration that they, definitely, take a hands off policy insofar as this particular blast is concerned.
“Nixon’s closest advisors informed me that the president-elect in no way will stick his nose in this matter until, in fact, he has taken over.
“Howard,” Maheu concluded, “this leaves us pretty much with the Democrats at this particular time, and that is the reason why it is so important for me to exhaust every possibility insofar as Humphrey and LBJ are concerned.”
Up in his penthouse, sweating out another grim countdown, Hughes was dismayed by the failure of his henchmen to find a taker for his million-dollar payoff.
“I am heartbroken that you propose a hands off policy,” he wailed, “and that we have not even come close thus far in delaying this test.
“You say we should accept this one because it will be successful. I dont question that it will be successful in terms of visible evidence.
“However, now I feel our prestige and entire public image will be most seriously damaged if we permit this one to proceed, or if we have not the political strength to stop it.
“I implore you to reverse your attitude and pull out all the stops. I have received no indication that my offer of support (20 times Humphries)[10] has ever been put to anyone who was in a position to accept it or negotiate.
“I agree with concentrating on the Democrats. My message of yesterday urged it.”
Maheu was quick to assure Hughes that he was not once more playing the reluctant bagman.
“I am continuing the battle to the fullest extent,” he reported to the command post. “As to the offer, I am happy we did not proceed too quickly, because it is obvious that it would have done no good, for instance, to make it to the Republicans.
“I had a very long talk with Vice President Humphrey. He will make one more big try at delaying the blast, but admitted that he was not necessarily encouraged. He is most appreciative of our offer to help in the deficit, but would prefer not to accept it unless he is capable of causing the delay, or after we are fully convinced that his efforts will produce the necessary results as to future and bigger blasts.”
Meanwhile, back in Washington, Larry O’Brien was also waging an uphill campaign. While Maheu confronted a Nixon gang not yet open for business and a vice-president too high-minded to accept payment for unfinished business, O’Brien was apparently getting the business from the man who had his finger on the button, Lyndon Johnson. He had made no headway at all.
“Howard,” reported Maheu, “I just had a long talk with Larry O’Brien and we have decided to make one more pass at the President on the blast.”
O’Brien continued to knock at the White House door but failed to gain entrance: “I have been in constant touch with Larry and as of 15 minutes ago he had not been successful in our mission, but he is continuing throughout the evening.”
The dreaded blast was now less than two days away. Hughes had had it with O’Brien. As the zero-hour approached, he demanded that Maheu personally deal with the president.
“Howard, before I leave Larry wanted me to give you his thinking,” Maheu replied from Miami. “He is convinced that this blast is a compromise to which LBJ is irrevocably committed. He is truly concerned that a request for an appointment for me could be misinterpreted by the President since he and Larry have been so close for many years, and it could be thought that we have no confidence in the President or Larry.
“He points out also that a personal contact between me and the White House at this critical time could not avoid public scrutiny.”
This mission was getting dangerous. Both O’Brien and Maheu were eager to bail out. But Hughes was insistent. Again, he ordered Maheu to go see the president and make the big payoff. So far Maheu had not brought O’Brien in on the bribery plot. Now, however, with Hughes demanding that he once more personally offer Johnson a million dollars, Maheu apparently spelled it all out for his cohort.
“Via a pre-established code I was able to convey to Larry the extent to which we are willing to go,” he reported.
Perhaps for the first time O’Brien had to realize exactly what he was getting into, just what kind of a man he had signed on to work for. It must have been a chilling moment. He was not about to bribe a president. But neither was he so shocked as to quit his new job.
“He thought this should be reconsidered,” continued Maheu, reporting O’Brien’s reaction, “because he feels it is too late for LBJ to change his mind, and, in fact, it could eventually be used to our detriment. He is willing to stake his business career with us (which starts officially on Jan. 1, 1969) that he will accomplish our principal goal.”
If O’Brien himself was not willing to bribe Johnson, he apparently was still ready to arrange for his new partner to make the payoff.
“Howard, as you know I am prepared to do anything you request,” concluded Maheu, “and Larry, of course, will set up the appointment.”
Only Lyndon Johnson’s continued intransigence prevented the White House parley. Whether because Hughes had failed to make the library donation, or because Johnson was never made aware of the potential rewards, or simply because he remained unwilling to sell Hughes the bomb, the president refused to meet Maheu.
10
Humphrey received $100,000 from Hughes. It is unclear if the billionaire had forgotten the full amount or was counting only the $50,000 in secret cash handed directly to the vice-president when he now equated “20 times Humphries” with his proposed million-dollar bribe.