Russ Baker’s book Family of Secrets is about how George W Bush became President and the forces that made it possible.
Chapter 1: How did Bush Happen?
Baker began researching this book during the 2004 election cycle, when Bush was going to win reelection. He was disturbed by the Bush administration's many missteps. His thesis: what did the ascendancy of this frighteningly inadequate man signify? Could anything be learned from the George W. Bush phenomenon that would help us understand how we Americans choose our leaders and chart our collective course?
In 1976, George De Mohrenschildt wrote a letter to CIA director Bush. His letter sounded desperate (p. 67). The CIA staff asked Bush if he knew De Mohrenschildt. Bush said yes but down played his knowledge of him. He said he didn’t recall De Mohrenschildt’s role in the JFK assassination.
De Mohrenschildt was the uncle of Bush’s roommate at Andover. During the time Bush was DCI, several Congressional committees were convening to look into the CIA’s abuses (HSCA, Rockefeller, and Church). De Mohrenschildt’s letter states how scared he is; Bush wrote back telling him his fears were unfounded. A year later, De Mohrenschildt was found dead of apparent suicide. When his body was discovered, the authorities found an old address book with Bush’s address and information in it.
De Mohrenschildt was Oswald’s best friend. He found Lee Harvey Oswald jobs, a place to live and introduced him to important people. The Warren Commission concluded that De Mohrenschildt was an eccentric millionaire with tantalizing but benign ties to the world of oil, money, politics and power.
The Warren Commission seemed to steer the questions about De Mohrenschildt away from harm. When training for the Bay of Pigs was taking place in Guatemala, De Mohrenschildt was hiking through Guatemala; {indeed the Warren Commission Report states this very fact in context.} De Mohrenschildt was also present in Haiti shortly before the CIA unsuccessfully toppled their government. De Mohrenschildt was also in Mexico conducting oil business when the Soviet Union was also there for the same reasons. De Mohrenschildt knew personally both Oswald and Kennedy—probably the only person who did.
The Warren Commission didn’t uncover De Mohrenschildt’s ties to George H W Bush. They didn’t learn that De Mohrenschildt traveled to New York after the assassination to meet with Thomas Devin, Bush’s colleague in Zapata and part time CIA agent. “Had the Warren Commission’s investigators comprehensively explored the matter, they would have found a phenomenal and baroque back story that contextualizes De Mohrenschildt within the extended petroleum intelligence orbit in which the Bushes operated.” (p. 70)
Back in Baku
The De Mohrenschildts were major players in the oil industry since the early 20th century. His father and uncle ran oil operation in Russian Azerbaijan along the Caspian Sea. By WWI, all major oil consortiums were interested in taking over this business. But the Communists nationalized the industry and kicked out all Western Powers.
The Czar of Russia, in 1915, sent Ferdinand von Mohrenschildt to the US to plead for American intervention in WWI. Woodrow Wilson was surrounded by men who had their own agendas. Among these was his Secretary of State Robert Lansing (Allen Dulles’ uncle). Wilson’s closest adviser was Edward House, a close ally of James Baker’s family—Bush’s top lieutenant. The Rockefellers were financiers of the czarist regime. And the US ambassador to Russia at this time was George Herbert Walker’s close friend.
Ferdinand von Mohrenschildt was close friends (maybe having an adulterous affair with) Mrs. Harriman, Prescott Bush’s partner. Ferdinand married Woodrow Wilson’s step granddaughter.
The US entered the war, Ferdinand died suddenly and the Communists had their revolution, exiling the Russian aristocracy. De Mohrenschildt’s partner, Emanuel Nobel, sold his Baku holdings to Rockefeller. The Russian aristocracy moved to the US over the next few decades.
Refugees from a Revolution
Dmitri De Mohrenschildt went to Yale. He married Betty Hooker. His stepson (Betty’s son) was Edward Gordon Hooker—the roommate of George H W Bush at Andover prep school. The two boys were inseparable. The two entered WWII in the Navy. After the war, both went to Yale. At Hooker’s daughter’s wedding, Bush gave away the bride. The girl married Ames Braga, a scion of Cuban sugar before Castro nationalized the industry.
Bush’s relationship to the Hookers couldn’t have been much closer but they are never mentioned in his memoirs or published recollections.
George De Mohrenschildt came to the US with a doctorate. His dissertation was on the economic influence of the US on Latin America.
The Imperial Horse Guards
The White Russian émigrés found a warm welcome in the US, especially among the intelligence community. Dmitri De Mohrenschildt was a star player in this game.
The Cold War comes to Dallas
In 1950, George De Mohrenschildt started an oil firm with Bush’s former roommate called Hooker and De Mohrenschildt.
In Dallas, the White Russian community found a home. Anticommunism and rightwing politics united the White Russians with the typical Dallas citizen. The most prominent White Russian citizens in Dallas were Paul Raigorodsky and George Bouhe. Both of these men befriended De Mohrenschildt. They would stay in close contact through 1962 and 1963.
The White Russian community was a piece of the Neil Mallon puzzle “Council on World Affairs”. De Mohrenschildt moved to Dallas in 1952 and joined this community and the Council on World Affairs. The group supported Crusade for Freedom. This was the inception of CIA money laundering in Eastern Europe. This was the forebear of the Iran-Contra scandal.
Members of the Texas Crusade for Freedom included many who are connected to the JFK assassination: Dallas Mayor Earle Cabell and D Harold Byrd who owned the Texas School Book Depository for example.
George De Mohrenschildt married Jeanne LeGon
Cuba Sì, Cuba No
The oilmen of the Southwest noted the oil supply in the US was in decline. They set their eyes on Cuba and Latin America. De Mohrenschildt told the Warren Commission he had managed to obtain huge leases in Cuba (covering nearly half the island). This meant De Mohrenschildt had extensive oil and political ties to Batista. {Oswald and his associates had such ties too; yet the Warren Commission didn’t make see any interesting connections.}
De Mohrenschildt’s company (CVOVT) was underwritten by Empire Trust. Empire was the client of James Baker’s law firm—which oversaw its operations in Texas. Lewis MacNaughton was a director of Empire Trust and was a board member of Dresser Industries (Mallon’s company). MacNaughton was also a member of the Council of World Affairs. He was also the employer of George Bouhe—the Russian émigré who introduced De Mohrenschildt to Lee Harvey Oswald.
But the most interesting Empire Trust employee was Jack Crichton. Crichton was involved in oil intelligence gathering in the Middle East. He was also good friends with De Mohrenschildt. He started a military intelligence reserve unit. He arranged for the Russian translators for Marina Oswald after her husband’s arrest and death. He ran for governor of Texas against Connelly in 1964; on the ticket was Bush who was running for Senator.
All of these plans for Cuba went down the drain when Castro had his revolution. Dulles created a Cuban Task Force. This would eventually develop into the invasion at the Bay of Pigs. The task force was lead by Tracy Barnes who was related to the Rockefellers by marriage. A decade earlier, Barnes was the CIA’s deputy director of Psychological Strategy Board that would try to create Manchurian Candidates. Barnes was also part of the overthrow of Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz. During this operation, Barnes worked with E Howard Hunt and David Atlee Phillips.
Hunt, Phillips and Barnes worked in the Cuban Task Force. General Charles Cabell was in charge of air cover and Nixon was the case officer for this operation. A Cuban intelligence officer Fabian Escalante said Nixon arranged for outside funding for this operation from a group in Texas. Escalante said the Texas group was headed by George H W Bush and Jack Crichton.
Eisenhower signed off on the operation. Dulles began the training of Cuban exiles in Florida and Guatemala. De Mohrenschildt happened to be traveling through Guatemala at this time. Another coincidence is that De Mohrenschildt was good friends will the oil tycoons Murchison, H L Hunt and John Mecom. De Mohrenschildt was used by these men on several missions. Murchison sent him to Haiti and Mecom sent him to Yugoslavia.
Chapter 6: The Hit
George H W Bush had had secrets. He didn’t want anyone to know he was in Dallas on 22 November 1963. He had ties to many of the people associated with those events. These could be coincidences but the author informs us the coincidences keep mounting.
JFK had made many enemies, many of whom had close ties to Bush: Dulles, the Mafia, Hoffa and Hoover.
Kennedy Hangs Tough
Kennedy had campaigned as a Cold Warrior. The events of the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis, however, made him more dovish. He insisted that Hollywood make the move Seven Days in May—a movie about a coup in America.
His critics were also upset with his handling of issues in Indochina. Many of his enemies were critical of his economic policies especially oil and mineral development plans in Latin America. Then he made his speech about supporting the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Uranium mining was a business bonanza and Kennedy was taking it away.
And the hub of the oil, mineral and military nexus of America was Dallas, Texas.
Old Boys, New Money
Texas was an important state. This is why Kennedy picked LBJ as his running mate. Kennedy tried to appease the Southern conservatives with his nominations. However, RFK was Kennedy’s junkyard dog.
Allowance for Greed
Kennedy fought big steel during the “steel crisis” of ’62. He then fought the oil depletion allowance. “[This allowance] gave oil companies an automatic deduction, regardless of their actual costs, as compensation for dwindling assets in the ground” (p. 91)
Dallas and big oil didn’t approve of this. J Edgar Hoover criticized this action. He was close to many in the oil and oil-intelligence arena and he was known for returning favors.
Among those in big oil who were critical of Kennedy’s attack on the allowance were Clint Murchison and Robert Kerr. {Murchison has ties to Nixon and Sirhan Sirhan}. Kerr owned Kerr-McGee Oil Company. Kerr offered Poppy Bush his own executives when Bush started Zapata. Kerr is one of Truman’s confidants who talked him into creating the CIA. Kerr-McGee was the leading producer of uranium. Kerr supported LBJ but hated the Kennedys.
Jack vs. Lyndon
RFK’s investigations kept leading to a web of corruption surrounding LBJ—either by design or coincidence. This, perhaps, is what led JFK to consider dumping LBJ during the ’64 election.
LBJ had numerous connections to the Bushes:
1. Hugh and William Liedtke (Poppy’s business partner and Johnson’s tenant)
2. Prescott Bush (Poppy’s dad and Johnson’s fellow congressman)
One of the most important men in this world of oil and power was Everette DeGolyer (and his son-in-law George McGhee). DeGolyer, who founded Texas Instruments, was on close terms with many oil figures in the Arab world. He was also on the board of Dresser Industries. He played a central role in cementing the US-Saudi oil relationship.
His son-in-law sat on the board of Buckley’s oil company Pantepec Oil which employed George De Mohrenschildt whom McGhee knew personally. Both McGhee and De Mohrenschildt were active in Mallon’s Council on World Affairs. McGhee sat at the bedside of Mossadegh to mediate the ownership of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. When Mossadegh nationalized all of Iran’s industries, the CIA toppled his regime in ’53 {John Foster Dulles at the State Dept and Allen Dulles in the CIA}.
McGhee was LBJ’s protégé. He worked for Johnson’s campaign. When LBJ became VP, he worked as a staffer for LBJ. RFK hated McGhee and vice versa. Kennedy assigned McGhee to West Germany.
With Kennedy as President, the possibility of a Kennedy Dynasty loomed. But within 5 years, JFK was murdered, RFK was murdered and Teddy Kennedy was embarrassed {Chappaquiddick}—a dozen years later a new conservative dynasty emerged: House of Bush.
At the center of several foreign assassination attempts is the CIA: Guatemala (Arbenz), Dominican Republic (Trujillo), Congo (Lumumba), Vietnam (Diem), Cuba (Castro), Indonesia (Sukarno) and Iran (Mossadegh). Is it a stretch to think the CIA was involved in domestic assassinations?
Prepping a Patsy?
Lee Harvey Oswald did not fit the evidence of the JFK assassination but did fit the American psychological needs for the assassination. While the Warren Commission was endorsing the official version, Mark Lane, Jim Garrison and others criticized it.
Oswald’s activities after returning from Russia were closely monitored by the ATF. “Though Texas laws in ’63 allowed untraceable over-the-counter firearm purchases, Oswald went to the seemingly unnecessary step of ordering his guns through interstate mail, which required identification and left a paper trail” (p.96, 97).
Oswald joined the Louisiana Civil Air Patrol (CAP). Oswald was a student of David Ferrie’s in the CAP. The founders of the CAP were D Harold Byrd, a right-wing Texas businessman, and two of the Rockefellers. Byrd was a friend of LBJ’s and he owned the Texas School Book Depository. The CAP was part of the bulwark of the Cold War: it could move supplies, carry out recon and perform search and rescue missions.
The US ran a fake defector program. Oswald, after serving three years in the Marines, defected to the U.S.S.R. The Soviet Union didn’t buy his defection and always kept Oswald at arm’s length. After two years in the Soviet Union, Oswald moved back home, bringing his Russian wife with him.
The Escort Service
LBJ aligned himself with the JCS and against JFK in regards to Vietnam. Because of this LBJ was “in the loop” about intelligence in Vietnam that Kennedy was not.
De Mohrenschildt made contact with J Walton Moore, a CIA man in Dallas. In 1961, Moore told De Mohrenschildt about an ex-Marine how had worked in Minsk before coming back to the States. De Mohrenschildt gathered Moore wanted more information about this Marine (Oswald). This is how and why De Mohrenschildt befriended Oswald.
De Mohrenschildt and Moore first met each other in 1957 after De Mohrenschildt returned from Yugoslavia. There’s a pattern: Oswald comes from U.S.S.R.—Moore wants De Mohrenschildt to befriend him; De Mohrenschildt comes from Yugoslavia, Moore makes contact with De Mohrenschildt.
De Mohrenschildt became Oswald’s friend several months after Oswald moved back to the US. Also, De Mohrenschildt had broken off contact from Oswald several months before the assassination. The author implies this is by design: to give De Mohrenschildt an alibi. He wasn’t the first nor the last person to have contact with Oswald.
The White Russian community in Dallas was perfect for sheep-dipping Oswald because they hated communism and loved cloak-and-dagger.
Oswald and De Mohrenschildt make an odd couple. De Mohrenschildt was middle aged, White Russian, aristocratic, rich and anti-Communist; Oswald was American, a leftist and middle to lower class. Jeanne and George De Mohrenschildt became the Oswalds best friends despite the Lee and Marina’s difficult behavior.
A Legend in the Making
De Mohrenschildt found Oswald employment. The author calls this “reverse laundering”—instead of cleaning Oswald, each pass through the “machine” seemed to make Oswald more of a misfit.
“A friend” got Oswald a job at a secure map making company that did work on aerial photos of Cuba. De Mohrenschildt took Oswald to anti-Castro meetings in Dallas. In New Orleans, Oswald went to both pro and anti-Castro meetings. This could be interpreted as either being a pro-Castro supporter infiltrating anti-Castro groups or vice versa.
On 10 April 1963, someone shot at Maj Gen Edwin Walker in his Dallas home. Marina testified that De Mohrenschildt came to their house and called out to Oswald, “Lee, how did you miss General Walker?” De Mohrenschildt said he was making a joke and that at the time he had no idea Oswald was the one who shot at Walker {the Warren Commission Report suggests there were two people responsible for the Walker shooting: see WCR p. 182}.
De Mohrenschildt introduced the Oswalds to Ruth and Michael Paine. Marina would be living with Ruth when Kennedy was shot. By passing the Oswalds along to the Paines, De Mohrenschildt could honestly assert he had no ties to Oswald in several months—leading investigators away from further inquiry.
Michael Paine’s mother was a close friend of Mary Bancroft—a mistress of Allen Dulles’.
It was during De Mohrenschildt’s absence from the Oswalds that Oswald moved to New Orleans. During his stint in New Orleans, Oswald managed to make a public spectacle of himself: arrested for a scuffle, passing out leftist leaflets, on television for his arrest/scuffle, and on the radio to debate the merits of communism.
The Haitian Laundromat
In October 1962, De Mohrenschildt wrote George McGhee at the State Department, offering him some slides from his walking tour in Guatemala. This innocuous letter seems to only establish a minor link between McGhee and De Mohrenschildt. The author believes the letter is to provide cover if an investigator wonders why De Mohrenschildt and McGhee were in contact with each other. On 16 February 1963, De Mohrenschildt wrote JFK personally, offering the President this travelogue. He deliberately mentioned McGhee in this letter. Anyone who investigated superficially would conclude that De Mohrenschildt’s business ties were to the East Coast and not to Oswald.
Two agency reports from April 1963 link De Mohrenschildt and Thomas Devine (Bush’s business partner and former CIA agent) together. The reports say De Mohrenschildt was going from Dallas to Haiti to secure some mineral concessions (sisal, product used to make rope). The report doesn’t mention De Mohrenschildt’s extensive links to intelligence, oil, etc. Haiti was the perfect cover: De Mohrenschildt had previous ties to the island because he went there in the ‘50’s on behalf of some big oil companies.
The second report mentions De Mohrenschildt’s arrival to New York the next day. He arrived at the investment banking firm of Train Cabot (CIA code name SALINE). The chief agent for SALINE was Thomas Devine!
The Potomac Two-Step
Now that there was a benign link between De Mohrenschildt and Devine, George H W Bush could shrug off questions about his associations with Lee Harvey Oswald’s best friend.
After the meeting in New York, De Mohrenschildt went to DC. The meeting was about how to topple Duvalier, the dictator of Haiti. In audience to this meeting was LBJ’s military advisor Howard Burris. Now there was a benign link between De Mohrenschildt and Army Intelligence, one that was free from De Mohrenschildt’s friendship of Oswald.
There are several layers of cover here for De Mohrenschildt, each plausible and each takes would-be investigators further from the truth.
The Book Cover
When De Mohrenschildt left for Haiti in May 1963, Oswald was a man with multiple personas, all of them capable of killing JFK.
Just six weeks before JFK was shot, Oswald landed a job at the Texas School Book Depository. Lone nut theorists state Oswald could not have known at the time he landed this job what JFK’s parade route would be. However, there are only two possible routes through downtown Dallas that lead from the airport to the Trade Mart; and the Texas School Book Depository is on one of them.
The owner of the Texas School Book Depository was D Harold Byrd, friend of Clint Murchison and De Mohrenschildt. Byrd’s name does not appear in the vast majority of books on the assassination. Indeed, Byrd had employed De Mohrenschildt in the 1950’s at Byrd’s Three States Oil and Gas Co. Just weeks before he befriended Oswald, De Mohrenschildt started a foundation for cystic fibrosis and put Byrd’s wife on the board. The author speculates these connections would give Byrd and De Mohrenschildt cover if anyone found out about other links between De Mohrenschildt and Byrd.
Byrd was good friends with Air Force General Charles Cabell (whom Kennedy had fired over the Bay of Pigs). Byrd and the Cabells (both Charles and his brother Earle who was mayor of Dallas) were good friends.
According to the official documents, Oswald got the job at the Texas School Book Depository through Ruth Paine. Paine’s friend Linnie Mae Randle had a brother who worked there. But Randle’s brother had only started at the depository a little while before Lee. The author speculates that De Mohrenschildt may have been influential in both Randle’s brother getting hired and Oswald getting hired.
About the time De Mohrenschildt broke off ties with Oswald and went to Haiti, Byrd left for Africa, thus giving himself an alibi.
Dulles Does Dallas
An FBI report mentions a communication between De Mohrenschildt, Republic National Bank of Dallas and Brown Brothers Harriman during June 1963. This is after De Mohrenschildt is in Haiti. The report says Brown Brothers Harriman had done a credit check on De Mohrenschildt and forwarded its findings to Republic National Bank. This gives Brown Brothers Harriman (and George H W Bush) cover due to their connections to De Mohrenschildt.
The man driving the pilot car for the motorcade was George Lumpkin. Lumpkin was a friend of Jack Crichton, Bush’s GOP colleague. Lumpkin admitted to the House Select Committee on Assassinations he had consulted with the Secret Service about motorcade security which led to the elimination of an alternative parade route.
Where was Poppy? Part II
Poppy Bush had ties to key members of the intelligence community deposed by Kennedy.
Bush was in Dallas on 21 November 1963 and possibly the next morning.
Bush’s business partner Thomas Devine met with De Mohrenschildt
Bush’s GOP running mate in ’64 was connected to military intelligence and to the Lumpkin who led Kennedy’s motorcade.
Crichton and Byrd were connected to De Mohrenschildt and to each other through oil dealings. Oswald was hired at the Texas School Book Depository through friends (Ruth and Michael Paine) who had family ties to Dulles (Michael’s mother was Dulles’ mistress).
Chapter 7: After Camelot
Poppy Bush’s GOP running mate Jack Crichton had deep connections to the Dallas PD. He and George Lumpkin found a Russian interpreter for the Dallas Police Department when they interviewed Marina Oswald.
Despite this, the Warren Commission never interviewed Crichton.
Crichton served in the CIA’s predecessor, the OSS. He then went to work for Everette DeGolyer. Two of Crichton’s company directors were Clint Murchison and D Harold Byrd. In 1952, Crichton was part of a syndicate that included Murchison and DeGolyer to secure mining rights in fascist Spain. The drilling operation was handled by Delta Drilling—owned by Joe Zeppa of Tyler, Texas. Zeppa was the man who flew Bush to Dallas on 21 November 1963.
Gimme Shelter
Crichton was a key member in the Civil Defense of Dallas. This was a program designed to assuage people’s fears of nuclear attack. On 1 April 1962, the Dallas Civil Defense opened an underground compound under the Dallas Health and Science Museum. This headquarters was intended for “continuity of government” in the advent of nuclear war. This meant the compound and tremendous reach into the police and emergency services of Dallas. There is no evidence the Warren Commission ever investigated this compound.
The Poppy and Jack Show
In November 1963, Crichton and George H W Bush were both running for office: governor and senator respectively. Both used the same lawyer, Pat Holloway. Holloway worked out of the Republic National Bank Building. Both Bush and Crichton were recruited by Peter O’Donnell. Thus, Bush and Crichton were working in tandem.
In Crichton’s oral history, he only mentions that Bush is an acquaintance.
A Crime of Commission
Everyone on the Warren Commission was a friend of LBJ’s or Nixon’s—or both. All were conservative.
One member of the Warren Commission was John J McCloy. He was a top operative for the Rockefeller family. McCloy was the best man at Henry Brunie’s wedding. Brunie was head of Empire Trust which employed Crichton and invested in De Mohrenschildt’s Cuban oil project.
When the Warren Commission would come to Dallas for their investigations, Dulles and his colleagues would set up shop in the boardroom of the Republic National Bank. This bank was the headquarters of Dresser Industries (Neil Mallon’s company) and was the building where De Mohrenschildt had once had offices.
A Fascinating Tan
George and Jeanne De Mohrenschildt give 165 pages of testimony to the Warren Commission over 2 ½ days. The interviewer was Albert E Jenner Jr., a junior member of the Warren Commission. The Warren Commission had revealed De Mohrenschildt to be a fascinating character with numerous intriguing ties. But Jenner seemed to steer the questioning away to irrelevant areas. In one exchange (p. 125), Jenner asks De Mohrenschildt about his height, weight and tan.
Company Man
At the time of the assassination, Secretary of the Navy Fred Korth was under investigation for corruption in the awarding of a $7 billion dollar contract to General Dynamics Fort Worth facility. Jenner’s most important client (as a private lawyer) was Henry Crown, the principal shareholder in General Dynamics. During the Warren Commission hearings, General Dynamics was in financial problems. Roger Lewis was the leader of General Dynamics. Lewis was a former executive VP of American Airways, on whose board sat Prescott Bush.
Korth was friends with the Bushes. George W Bush made Penne Korth (Fred Korth’s daughter-in-law) US Ambassador to Mauritius.
Jenner (or any other member of the Warren Commission) ever followed up on De Mohrenschildt’s intriguing testimony. When Jenner interviewed George Bouhe (the man who introduced De Mohrenschildt to Oswald), Bouhe said he was wary of Oswald at first until his lawyer friend Max Clark vouched for Oswald. Max Clark had previously been the head of security for General Dynamics, Jenner’s top client, and was aware of Robert Kennedy’s investigation into the company.
My Dinner with Mrs. Auchincloss
The Warren Commission revealed that De Mohrenschildt was long time friends with Jackie Kennedy’s mom and aunt. Indeed, De Mohrenschildt was once engaged to Jackie’s aunt.
When De Mohrenschildt went into greater detail in this area, Jenner replied, “Well, bring yourself along.”
The Kennedy marriage was not as happy as the public was led to believe. Jackie left the White House at one point to spend time with Aristotle Onassis. Onassis had nearly entered into the Cuban oil deal of De Mohrenschildt and he was at serious odds with RFK.
Poppy’s Moment
In 1964, Poppy lost his bid for US Senator. In 1966, he won his bid for US Congressman.
There’s a Spy in the House
Bush traveled to Vietnam in 1967 with Thomas Devine. A Cuban exile named Felix Rodriguez was involved in Operation Phoenix—an operation to neutralize Vietcong, killing over 20,000 people. Rodriguez was invited to the White House when Bush was President. Hoover’s 1963 memo about “George Bush of the CIA” says Bush acted as an intermediary with Cuban exiles and the CIA. Rodriguez joined Air America in 1970. Air America was involved in trafficking heroin from Laos. This operation was led by Donald Gregg who would be Poppy’s national security advisor.
Poppy and Lyndon
LBJ was Senate majority leader when Prescott Bush was a Senator. LBJ was President when Poppy Bush was a Congressman. Poppy started Zapata Petroleum with Hugh and William Liedtke who were tenants of LBJ’s. Bush became close friends with George and Herman Brown (who founded Halliburton); the Browns were LBJ's chief financiers.
Pat Holloway, Crichton and Bush’s lawyer when they ran for office in 1964, was an employee of Waddy Bullion, LBJ’s personal tax lawyer. At 1pm on 22 November 1963, just moments after JFK is pronounced dead, Holloway was called into a meeting with Bullion. VP Johnson called Bullion. LBJ didn’t talk about the tragedy or a possibility of a conspiracy. LBJ called to say he had to sell his Halliburton stock.
Bush established an office for Zapata Offshore in Medellìn, Colombia. Medellìn is a strange place for such an office because it’s 150 miles from any offshore drilling and is only known for cocaine. Bush’s choice to run this office was Judge Manuel B Bravo of Zapata County, Texas. Bravo was involved in LBJ’s fraud-ridden election of 1948. Bravo revised the Zapata County’s Ballot Box #3 counts until LBJ won the election by 87 votes. In Jim Wells County, some evidence turned up missing, so LBJ was spared further investigation.
Chapter 8: Wings for W
Having LBJ replace JFK was good business for Texans like Bush. However, America’s increasing involvement in Vietnam meant more cannon fodder was required. And Bush was not about to let his son W. fight over there.
W.’s upbringing was to be Poppy’s protégé. He worked summers in what would be apprenticeships for the family business. He was rougher around the edges but not completely out of control.
W. announced his engagement to Cathryn Wolfman. Cathryn did not meet Poppy’s standards (she was half Jewish) and the engagement was called off. Although she was not part of the Bush family, she did land a job at the CIA, compliments of Poppy. Poppy takes care of his friends.
The Bushes were hawkish. Prescott was a WWI veteran; Poppy was a WWII veteran. And all of them supported the war in Vietnam. However, even hawks were reticent to volunteer for Vietnam. What to do?
Poppy got W. into the Texas National Guard, a enviable position which would require some string pulling by Poppy. W.’s military career would be steeped in a shroud of disinformation to prevent the public from knowing the truth.
The unit W. joined was known colloquially as “the champagne unit” because its members were the sons of millionaires. These scions included the grandson of H L Hunt, the son of Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen and the son of Governor John Connally. Slots for these men would have to be created because the Texas National Guard already had enough pilots.
W. had no officer training yet was given a direct commission. Direct commissions are usually reserved for doctors because the military needs more surgeons. Also, W. had no flight training and his flight scores were abysmal.
The Top Gun
W.’s stint in the Texas Air National Guard was hardly ordinary. He took very long leaves of absence and didn’t seem to pass his training sessions.
In November 1969, he met Inge Honneus. W. tried to woo her but she had just gotten divorced and was not interested. After months of rebuffing W.’s advances, Honneus finally gave in. She didn’t hear from him again after that. When she finally tracked him down, W. was disrespectful (p. 142).
Weekend Warrior
After completing his training, W. was obligated to perform duties only one weekend per month. He rented a place at the Chateaux Dijon, an exclusive apartment complex for Houston’s upper crust. Many members of the champagne unit (147th Fighter Wing) lived there; others, like W.’s good friend Jim Bath, were hanging out there all the time.
To give himself a rougher edge, W. would cite his drinking days at the Chateaux as how he was different than his dad. He never confessed to using narcotics but several members of Houston’s social elite said they witnessed W. using cocaine. Even Laura Welch (Bush) who lived near the Chateaux partook of marijuana.
W. dated Robin Lowman during this time. When Robin got pregnant in 1971, W. paid for her to have a D&C, a euphemism for an abortion before abortions were legal in 1973. Lowman admitted to having a D&C to reporters but denied having an abortion.
A reporter brought up this subject to W. in 2000 but W. cut her off and put the reporter on the defensive. Given W.’s stacking of the Supreme Court with pro-lifers, his own decisions in his personal life are telling.
After the debacle with Lowman, Poppy moved W. to Don Ensenat’s place. Ensenat was a trusted friend and he was to babysit W.
W. began working for Stratford of Texas. “Stratford had a complex financial structure and unprofitable foreign operations.” W.’s tenure there would give him foreign policy experience (he had to travel to Jamaica and Guatemala), but he never mentioned his tenure there during his 2000 campaign. Why did he not want reporters looking into this?
Trouble in the Cockpit
In early 1972, W. had to undergo more flight training. The reason has never been satisfactorily explained. The media won a lawsuit to have this information released to the public. Although the information would be published in 2004, it didn’t gain much traction.
W. left the Texas Air National Guard to pursue a career opportunity with Winton “Red” Blount, Nixon’s postmaster general and Poppy’s friend. Winton was running for US Senator for Alabama.
Whistling Dixie
Blount’s campaign was well underway by the time W. joined. Yet a significant post was created for him: assistant campaign manager. W. was charged with developing county organizations. The Blounts didn’t want or ask for W. Poppy called and implored Winton to take him.
Because W’s stint was not over, he had to perform equivalent duty with the Alabama National Guard. His unit was a postal unit—a strange posting for a pilot. The rumor was the unit was to be shut down.
His transfer was nixed and he was assigned to the 187th Tactical Recon unit in Dannelly Field in Montgomery. Journalists have not yet been able to locate records of W.’s completion of his National Guard duties. Members of the unit, including the field commander told reporters that W. never even showed up.
A Guarded Assessment
W. left his Houston Guard unit quickly and quietly. Then he never showed up for duty in Montgomery. His drunken exploits as a pilot and as a campaign staffer were well known. However, the local media treated him like a prince. Despite W.’s actions, the ambitions Poppy had for W. would have to be nurtured.
X-Ray Optional
After Blount was defeated in Alabama, W. went back to Houston. He never reported for duty at Ellington like he was supposed to.
The Republicans were in trouble. The Watergate scandal was all over the news. And Poppy had taken over as chairman for the Republican Party. W.’s embarrassing performance in the National Guard could not be allowed to affect Poppy.
W. stopped by Dannelly Air Force Base for a routine X-ray from the base dentist. This simple act would create paperwork that Bush was at the base during the time when his stint was about to end. That’s how the White House would portray the exam. However, the dentist in question told the author that he only charted W.’s teeth for identification purposes in case of death. This is odd since W. was no longer a resident of Alabama nor in the National Guard anymore.
The media take George W Bush’s word when he presented this documentation that he had completed his service.
Very Private Public Service
W. began working for PULL (Professional United Leadership League). This organization was virtually a creation of Poppy’s as a way of generating African American support for his endeavors.
George W Bush made it sound like he was lucky to be offered this position. However, the workers at PULL claim W. was required to sign in and out to generate documentation that he had been there.
W. claims to have worked full time at PULL during this time. He also claims to have put in many long hours at Ellington Field to complete his guard duty. Eyewitnesses suggest he wasn’t at either place.
W.’s backers would produce a ton of payroll records to suggest W. had completed his duty.
Boots in Harvard Yard
W.’s admission into Harvard should raise eyebrows. The official story is that W. earned the position.
Chapter 9: The Nixonian Bushes
In early 1969, Nixon arranged a date for his daughter Tricia and W.
Nixon had seriously considered Poppy as his running mate. Two years into his administration he would make Poppy the US Ambassador to the UN. Two years after that, Bush would be head of the GOP.
The Nixon tapes reveal that he and Kissinger considered Bush to be a lightweight. However, Nixon continued to promote Bush. If Nixon had not done this, Poppy would never have been President. And if George H W Bush was never President then George W Bush would never have been President.
The strange relationship between Nixon and the Bushes has eluded most historians.
Obeisance
When Poppy was elected to the Congress, Prescott saw to it that he was put on the House Ways and Means Committee. No freshman had gotten into this committee since 1904. Prescott got Gerald Ford to make the request.
This position made Poppy the crucial link between the Eastern bankers and the Western oil producers. Nixon needed both to win elections.
Nixon recruited several of Poppy’s friends: Bill Liedtke, John Tower for example. When Nixon threw his hat into the ring in 1968, Poppy’s supporters asked him to make Bush his running mate. Nixon chose Maryland’s Governor Spiro Agnew because Agnew wouldn’t outshine Nixon.
Nixon’s Big Break
Nixon entered the political scene in 1945 after returning from World War II. Businessmen from LA asked him to come to California and run against Congressman Jerry Voorhis. These businessmen were a front for powerful organizations that wanted Voorhis out of office because he wanted to repeal the oil depletion allowance.
Voorhis “exposed a secret government contract that allowed Standard oil to drill for free on public lands in Central California’s Elk Hills” (p. 163). Voorhis was an opponent of corporate excesses. He acknowledges that powerful forces were moving against him in his memoirs (p. 163). He says a “representative from a large New York financial house” was the one who organized Nixon’s campaign.
Nixon’s backers included the Chandler family who owned the LA Times. The Chandler’s were been business partners with Dresser Industries for several years. Dresser had begun buying up land in southern California when lucrative defense contracts available after WWII. The Chandlers were majority owners in Pacific Pump, the makers of components for atomic bombs, before Dresser Industries bought them out.
The author says the evidence suggests the “representative from a New York financial house” was no other than Prescott Bush.
A Quick but Bumpy Ascent
Nixon began his campaign of Red baiting his opponents when he ran against Jerry Voorhis.
In 1950, Nixon was elected to the US Senate. In 1952, allies and friends of Brown Brothers Harriman imposed Nixon upon Eisenhower. Nixon’s ascension came with resentment. He resented the ease with which Kennedy received everything. And Nixon resented the fact that he owed people favors in return for higher office.
Symbiotic Relationship
In 1931 the giant East Texas oil fields were discovered. The oil men fought for their oil depletion allowance. Eisenhower supported the allowance and got the oil men’s backing.
The oil men backed Nixon in 1960 when he ran against Kennedy. When Nixon lost in 1960 (and in 1962 against Governor Brown), the oil men looked for a new man to support: George H W Bush.
In 1964 the GOP backed Barry Goldwater. The oil men turned their back on their fellow oil man Nelson Rockefeller. This may be due to Rockefeller’s liberal leanings on social issues and because he was recently divorced. Although Goldwater lost the election, his campaign would change the GOP forever.
Nixon Presidency, 1969
People were nagging Nixon to give Bush a job in his administration. Nixon surrounded himself with many of Bush’s friends. Bill Liedtke was Nixon’s finance chairman. Bill Clements was Bush’s oil drilling partner and Nixon’s Deputy Secretary of Defense. Harry Dent was Nixon’s Southern strategist. Tom Lias was Dent’s top aide. These men are not widely known today but were instrumental in bringing down Nixon.
Nixon stood on the edge of a shifting GOP. On the right were the warriors (like Goldwater). On the left were the traders (like Rockefeller). Nixon and Kissinger would have to do a balancing act to keep both sides happy.
Nixon tried to run foreign and defense policy out of the White House. But he had encountered countless leaks. The military had a back channel into the White House that would pass documents from Nixon to the NSC and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The First Challenge
In 1969, the liberals wanted to roll back the oil depletion allowance. George H W Bush stood on the bridge to fight this roll back. Nixon would eventually acquiesce. Nixon was not as stalwart against the attacks on the oil depletion as the oil men would like.
But the liberals in the GOP were also critical of Nixon. They argued that Nixon was catering to the far right way too much.
Bush’s Run for the Money: the 1970 Campaign
Nixon promised George H W Bush that he would support Bush’s next Senate bid. To win the Senate race, Bush would have to give up his powerful Congressional seat on the Ways and Means Committee. Nixon assured Bush that he would make Bush his running mate in 1972 if Bush won and would make Bush a cabinet officer if he lost.
Bush lost his bid for the US Senate to Lloyd Bentsen Jr. Bush asked Nixon to be Undersecretary of Treasury. Nixon shocked everyone when he selected John Connally for the Treasury job. {Connally was in the limo with Kennedy when JFK was killed}. Connally and Bush didn’t like each other so Bush was displeased.
Nixon often backed conservative Democrats because they supported his policies while staying out of internecine bickering in the GOP.
As a consolation to Bush, Nixon offered him the ambassadorship to the UN. Nixon also made this a full ambassadorial position. As such, Bush was allowed at all of Nixon’s cabinet level meetings. But he remained a Washington outsider, free from any blame when Watergate went down.
Chapter 10: Downing Nixon Part I: The Setup
On 17 June 1972, a group of burglars broke into the Watergate Hotel. This break in would eventually be tied to Nixon’s reelection campaign and drive him from office. However, there are several key things about the Watergate scandal that most people don’t know.
Hanky-Panky, Cuban-Style
Nixon denied having prior knowledge of the break in. He thought breaking into the Democratic National HQ was foolish. The real information is in the candidate’s HQ. He thought some Cubans were pulling some prank. Nixon: “The whole thing was so senseless and bungled that it almost looked like some kind of setup” (p. 176).
On 23 June 1972, Nixon had a conversation with Haldeman. Haldeman stated the FBI agents working the Watergate case believe the break in was perpetrated by the CIA. Nixon concurred, adding that an investigation into Hunt and the Cubans would lead to the Bay of Pigs.
Nixon’s statements show us that he knew the burglary was carried out by pros but was decidedly amateurish. And an investigation into the crime would lead to motive—and Nixon was the most obvious person to have a motive for bugging the DNC.
Nixon recognized the men involved immediately. They were responsible for the Bay of Pigs, assassinations of foreign leaders and are linked to the JFK assassination.
The investigators of Watergate focused on Nixon’s taped conversations taken out of context. When taken in context, Nixon may not have been colluding; he may have been stating he didn’t want to take the rap for something the CIA was pulling (and that he did not authorize). Nixon, therefore, was not trying to cover up his own wrong doing per se, he was trying to not get blamed for something the CIA was doing.
Sniffing Around the Bay of Pigs
Nixon may have realized the Watergate break in was a set up just by looking at the names of those involved. Even G Gordon Liddy called them a bunch of “professional killers” (p. 179). The most prominent name was E Howard Hunt.
Hunt had ties to Cuban émigrés, the JFK assassination and was a staunch ally of Dulles.
Nixon was at war with the CIA over documents from the Kennedy administration and before. He was an action officer for the planning of the Bay of Pigs. By coincidence, he was also in Dallas when JFK was killed.
Nixon was obsessed with the Bay of Pigs. His advisors Haldeman and Ehrlichman noted this in their memoirs. Nixon was also aware that JFK’s demise was precipitated by a struggle with the CIA.
In 1969, Nixon order Ehrlichman to go to see Helms and order him to surrender all of the CIA documents pertaining to Nixon. Six months later, Ehrlichman confided that the CIA had failed to do so.
Nixon followed suit, ordering Helms to surrender these documents. Helms would later recall that Nixon “asked me for some information about the Bay of Pigs and the I think about the Diem episode in Vietnam and maybe the thing about Trujillo in the Dominican Republic” (p. 181). All of these things are regarding assassinations of foreign heads of state—of which Nixon was involved in.
On 23 June 1972, Nixon ordered Haldeman to go to Helms and have Helms shut down the Watergate investigation because the whole thing could lead back to the Bay of Pigs.
A little Exposure never hurts
Nixon had been called to Dallas on 22 November 1963 for a bottling convention on behalf of Pepsi. Nixon had left Dallas at 9:05 am CST. He learned later that day of JFK’s death.
Coincidentally, LBJ, Poppy and Nixon were all in Dallas on 22 November 1963. Three futures Presidents were all in the same city that the current President was murdered in.
Bottled Up
Nixon worked for a law firm after losing the gubernatorial election in 1962. He was friends with Donald Kendall, the longtime head of Pepsi’s international operations.
On 1 November 1963, President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam was assassinated. Nixon blamed Kennedy. LBJ is on record saying, “We killed him…” but it is unclear who the “we” he is referring to is.
Nixon agreed to go to Dallas for a bottler’s convention. He did this to stay in the limelight, keep himself politically relevant.
Kendall, like Bush and Nixon, was a Pacific Theatre veteran of WWII. And he too had a passion for covert operations and a fear of communist encroachment on American interests.
Kendall had a keen interest in sugar, the main ingredient of Pepsi, and the largest export of Cuba to America. Brown Brothers Harriman, it will be noted, had extensive sugar plantations in Cuba before Castro.
In the Nixon Presidential Library, the following letter from Nixon to Kendall was found (previously unpublished):
Dear Don:
In view of our discussion yesterday morning with regard to Cuba, I thought you might like to see a copy of the speech…When I return from Europe, I am looking forward to having a chance to get a further fill-in with regard to your experiences on the Bay of Pigs incident.
This letter was from June 1963—two years after the Bay of Pigs. And what was Kendall’s fill-in? He was a Pepsi bottler. Nixon and Kendall were close. Therefore, this is hardly the first time they would have had to get caught up on the Bay of Pigs.
Nixon was very familiar with the sugar lobby from his days as VP. And the CIA used Pepsi and Coke as cover for intelligence missions.
Kendall was a friend of Bush’s. In 1988 he served as Poppy’s finance chair. He also donated to W.’s congressional bid in 1978.
Kendall was identified with the successful overthrow of Allende. Kendall was named in the Senate Select Committee report on “Alleged Assassination Plots involving foreign leaders”. He was a link between Nixon and important Chilean officials who would benefit from Allende’s assassination.
The bottlers were notoriously right wing. After JFK’s death, an FBI report was received about a bottler who had threatened Kennedy. According to an FBI report, one of the convention attendees had a drink with Jack Ruby on 21 November 1963.
The keynote speaker at the bottlers’ convention was LBJ.
The bottlers’ convention was so large, it occupied Dallas’ largest venue, the Market Hall. Therefore Kennedy would have to settle for Dallas’ second largest venue: the Trade Mart. There are only two ways to get from the airport to the Trade Mart and one was past the Texas School Book Depository.
The Trade Mart’s venue was secured by the Dallas Citizens Council, a very rightwing group. Thus, Kennedy’s movements in Dallas were constrained by the bottlers’ convention and the Dallas Citizens Council.
The bottlers’ convention had attracted 8,000 people to Dallas. The Warren Commission was not interested in this fact.
The Loyalist in chief
George H W Bush worked hard to be Nixon’s most loyal servant. After winning his second term (and after the Watergate story broke), Nixon decided to clean house. He got rid of everybody in his cabinet—except for Bush.
Poppy turned coat as soon the deck was stacked against Nixon.
Watergate’s Unknown Prelude
Shortly after being elected and taking office, Nixon was called by oilman John M King. King owned a considerable oil empire. He had donated considerably to Nixon’s election campaign so his calls got Nixon’s personal attention.
King’s call was to ask Nixon to funnel money from big GOP donors directly to Senate and House candidates of its choice. Customarily the GOP party got to decide who received the contributions.
The idea of Nixon being in charge of campaign finance for his party’s House and Senate campaigns (against his party’s rules) appealed to the White House. The man managing this operation was Jack Gleason. Gleason commented on how needlessly complicated the operation was to be handled (p. 192). For example: “While donors could simply—and legally—have written a single check to each candidate’s campaign committee, they were instructed instead to break up their donations into a number of smaller checks. The checks were then routed through the townhouse, where Gleason would pick them up an deposit them in a “Jack Gleason, Agent” account…[he] then could convert the amounts into the amounts into cashier’s checks…” The only reason for such a complicated procedure was to give the appearance of illegality.
Deep-Sixing Nixon
In October 1970, Gleason was ordered to seek out the midterm candidates and personally hand them a check for $6,000. Then Gleason was to tell the candidate the money was from Dick and Pat. The purpose of this was to give Nixon leverage over the candidates. Often candidates would not remember (or would conveniently forget) to record cash contributions made directly to the candidate. Nixon kept receipts for these handouts and then could use it against the candidate if he didn’t claim the contribution.
Gleason confessed as much to the Watergate prosecutors in 1973. He assumed the people responsible for this operation were Nixon loyalists.
Nixon and his staff seem to be in the dark about the townhouse operation that Gleason was managing.
Meet John Dean
Haldeman gave all correspondence from the townhouse operation to John Dean. Coincidentally, the press started getting information about the townhouse operation almost immediately after Dean took this post.
Dean arrived at the White House as a junior staffer. He quickly rose through the ranks to the point where he had the President’s ear.
Brazen Burglary
If the townhouse operation was created to discredit Nixon, it had a glaring flaw: the financial doings were so technical that most people and reporters would not have found them appealing. Watergate, on the other hand, was very sexy. It had a burglary, Cuban expatriates, and documents found linking the burglary to the White House and Nixon’s reelection campaign. And the break in took place in DC so the national press wouldn’t have far to travel to cover the story.
The burglars were found with bugging equipment. But Nixon had no need to bug the DNC. Nixon said in his memoirs that the whole thing felt like a setup.
The burglars’ flubs were so obvious that it made them look like amateurs—which they were not.
The burglars placed duct tape horizontally over the lock, thus allowing anyone to see the door was jimmied. The preferred method would have been to place the tape vertically.
The burglars were all guests at the Watergate Hotel—they had no need to break in at all. They had keys, found on them by the police at the time of their arrest.
The burglars carried identification that led the authorities back to their boss
A check with Hunt’s signature was found on the burglars. The check also had the White House’s phone number on it (Hunt’s office therein).
The burglars kept their room keys on them. In their rooms was found credentials implicating CREEP as the reason for the break in.
The materials identified pointed not just to the White House but to those in the CIA involved in the Bay of Pigs and the JFK assassination.
Hunt was part of the coup in Guatemala and Cuba. James McCord began working on another pan for an invasion of Cuba around JFK’s assassination. Eugenio Martinez was an anti-Castro Cuban and one of the burglars. Bernard Barker, Frank Sturgis and Martinez all worked with Hunt and McCord on the second Naval Guerrilla operation.
Nixon had been pleading with the CIA to submit to him the Bay of Pigs paperwork that implicated him in all those dirty deeds. Now several CIA men who were directly responsible for those dirty deeds turn up in the Watergate scandal.
Layers and Layers
There was another Watergate break in earlier on. This one was to install the bugs. The second one was to remove the bugs. The purpose of this bugging operation was ostensibly to give Nixon information about a sex ring for Democrats so he could blackmail them.
The same Watergate crew was involved in the break in of Dr. Lewis Fielding, the shrink for Daniel Ellsberg. Eugenio Martinez said he was disappointed that the break in found nothing of value. But, he said, Hunt was jubilant, opening a bottle of wine to commemorate the event. The break in of the doctor’s office was needlessly destructive. They broke windows and knocked over filing cabinets. This ensured the generation of a police report which Dean would dramatic bring up two years later.
The author concludes Nixon was setup, that he was not the perpetrator of the break in. Three of the most widely regarded books on the break in all reach this conclusion as well. Each takes a different approach to arriving at this conclusion. Each focuses on different aspects of the case and different sets of facts and sources.
Secret Agenda by Jim Hougan
Silent Coup by Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin
The Strong Man by James Rosen
James Rosen’s book is the result of 17 years of research and has sources previously untapped by investigators. He concludes that John Mitchell (Nixon’s attorney general and America’s highest ranking official to be sentenced to prison), had no idea about the break in beforehand. The break in was authorized by Jeb Magruder and John Dean.
Woodward at His Post
Woodward was an ex-Navy officer. He worked in the White House in 1969-1970, working for Admiral Thomas Moorer. He often ferried notes from Moorer to Haig. In 2008, Woodward denied having any intelligence connections or working for the White House.
The author of Silent Coup produced audiotapes of interviews with Admiral Moorer, Melvin Laird and Jerry Friedheim with Woodward’s father Al—all discussing Woodward’s tenure in the White House.
Woodward was recommended to the Washington Post by Paul Ignatius. Ignatius was LBJ’s Secretary of Navy. How did Woodward (a lieutenant in the navy) know Ignatius?
A month before Watergate, Woodward scooped the Wallace shooting by having a “friend” fill him in on the details of Arthur Bremer.
No one at the Post seemed to be interested in how quickly Woodward went from being a new reporter to taking down a President. No one seemed interested in learning who in the White House would recommend Woodward for his position at the Post and therefore would be in a position to bring down Nixon.
The CIA was not able to confirm whether Woodward was a member of the agency.
Woodward’s connections enabled him to get exclusive interviews with George W Bush, an administration that wouldn’t talk to any member of the press.
One of Woodward’s books was Veil: the Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987. The book came out when Poppy was running for President but didn’t make any substantive mention of him in its 543 pages. Asked how Woodward could leave Poppy out of his work, he responded that George H W Bush was out of the loop.
When the Watergate story broke, it was dropped onto Woodward’s lap. He had an inside source (Deep Throat) who kept him on the right course.
Poppy Enters, Stage Right
Bush asked Nixon to make him the head of the RNC. Poppy convinced Nixon to allow him to continue to sit in on cabinet level discussions. Bush had ties to the CIA. Now he was head of the Republican Party. And he was still sitting in on Nixon’s cabinet meetings.
When Poppy moved to the RNC, he saw to it that his friends Thomas Lias and Harry Dent were installed as staffers in the White House. Then Bush made contact with Dean. The phone logs show Bush calling Dean on 6 December 1971. Dean has said why Bush would even call him.
Slumming in Greenwich
In the spring of 1973, six defendants were sentenced for their roles in the Watergate break in. Nixon had a fresh start because the investigation was sealed off. Then on 20 March 1973, Bush told Nixon that he should send Dean to talk to the Watergate hearings. This specific piece of advice would eventually lead to Dean turning against Nixon and bring down Nixon’s administration.
Poppy had quite good intelligence on Nixon. Perhaps this was due to his good friend Richard A Moore being with Dean and Nixon during the weeks leading up to Dean turning coat.
Moore shows up in a number of Nixon tapes about Watergate. He inspired Dean to make the famous, “cancer on the Presidency” comment. Moore suggested to Ford that he make Poppy his VP. Moore would be Bush’s ambassador to Ireland in 1989.
Repeat after Me
Dean called Nixon right after Poppy met with him. Dean admitted he (Dean) had information about Watergate that he had never told Nixon about. They agreed to meet the next day to discuss. This meeting and the smoking gun tape, Nixon’s fate was sealed.
At that meeting, Dean made his famous “cancer on the Presidency” comment. He then went on to say that Hunt and the Cubans wanted $1,000,000 for their troubles.
Chapter 11: Downing Nixon Part II: The Execution
Lowell Weicker would be the man who saw to it that all the “facts” would be used to down Nixon.
Weicker claims he sprung into action against Nixon when he had a conversation with Ed DeBolt, an RNC member. Weicker claims after this conversation he believed Nixon was capable of planning and executing the break in.
DeBolt worked for the RNC and thus was an employee of Bush’s. Dick McGowan, Weicker’s press secretary, churned out tons of information to the media. McGowan would later go work for Poppy.
29 March 1973, nine days after convincing Nixon to have Dean testify, Bush urged Nixon to disclose everything to the public.
10 April 1973, Jack Gleason of the Townhouse operation, called on Weicker. Gleason said someone in the White House (he couldn’t remember who) called him and said Weicker was going to take the fall for any financial misdeeds at the Townhouse. Someone in the White House was trying to anger Weicker to the point where he would turn on Nixon. It worked.
A few days later, an anonymous source in the White House told the press about illegalities in the Townhouse operation. Gleason and Weicker would both be moved to act against Nixon.
Then John Dean turned on Nixon.
Will the Real John Dean Please Stand up?
Dean came from a wealthy family. He was close to the Goldwaters. He was a roommate of Barry Goldwater Jr.) Barry Goldwater Sr. was instrumental in removing Nixon, telling Nixon to resign for the good of the country.
Dean married Karla Hennings. He was close to Robert McCandless who was married to Karla’s sister. McCandless worked for Senator Robert Kerr, an Oklahoma oil man who was one of LBJ’s biggest supporters.
Dean worked for Deputy Attorney General Richard Kleindienst. From there, he would work under Ehrlichman as a staffer inside the White House.
Egil, or “Evil,” Krogh?
Krogh brought both G Gordon Liddy and Dean into the White House. He was also the man who approved the Ellsberg break in.
Krogh was the White House liaison to the FBI and the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD). He had a CIA contact. This contact was also dealt with Hunt all through the Watergate period.
Krogh was a student of Professor Roy Prosterman, the man who developed the plan which would eventually lead to the Phoenix Program. Krogh went to Vietnam before Nixon was elected. The BNDD also sent Dean to the Philippines.
Intelligence Czar
Not widely reported at the time, but the following is a list of things we now know about Watergate.
· In November 1971 Dean recruited private eyes to do a walk-through of the Watergate.
· Dean encouraged Liddy to set up a 1st class intelligence operation which would lead to Operation Gemstone—including eavesdropping on the Democrats.
· Dean was the instigator of the Watergate break in. He ordered Magruder who told Liddy.
· Dean was the one who offered hush money to Hunt, not Nixon
On 23 June 1972 Dean prompted what would become the smoking gun piece of evidence. He advised Nixon and Haldeman to stop the investigation into the Watergate break in.
Dean insisted he sit in on all of FBI director Pat Gray’s interviews regarding the Watergate case. Gray mentions in his memoirs that Dean was central to “hatching the plot that would eventually drive Nixon from office.”
Neighbors and Friends
Weicker said in his memoirs he went through intermediaries to meet Dean. This is strange since they were neighbors. In 1974 Dean would sell his house to Weicker.
Dean warned Weicker that the White House was going to use the Townhouse operation against Weicker and let him be the fall guy.
Dean’s lawyer was Charles Shaffer who was on the Warren Commission. Dean’s cocounsel was his brother-in-law Robert McCandless. McCandless would later partner with Bernard Fensterwald who had represented James McCord. Fensterwald would also attempt to be the chief counsel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations.
McCandless would work for the law firm Burwell, Hansen and McCandless which handled several CIA proprietaries. McCandless’ firm’s ties to the CIA are mentioned in a book by CIA officer Phillip Agee. McCandless would later represent Haiti’s military junta. He denied ever having CIA ties.
Dean was the Watergate hearings’ golden boy. He confessed to some wrong doing and soon had the committee members eating out of his hand.
Dean released to the press Nixon’s enemies list.
The Burning Bush
On 11 July 1973, an anonymous tip told the Washington Post that Weicker had received some from the Townhouse operation. He went berserk. He had collected money but it was all legal.
Then Poppy called him. Poppy said he and Weicker were in this thing together. And Poppy said he had some receipts and asked Weicker if he wanted them burned.
Weicker interpreted this to mean the White House was setting him up. Weicker emphatically told Bush not to burn them. Bush denies this story but Weicker stands by it.
Bush’s goal in this was not to look after Nixon’s best interest. It was to provoke the anger of Weicker.
Butterfield: the Icing on the Cake
Alexander Butterfield would be the man who would reveal the White House taping system to the world. Butterfield claims he was following his conscience. Butterfield was career military. Perhaps he was following orders—from someone other than Nixon.
An article said Butterfield had been in the CIA but he denied this. Butterfield had been in charge of rehabilitating Cuban survivors of the Bay of Pigs in 1964 to 1967. This work was also done by McCord and Hunt. Note: Cuban survivors of the Bay of Pigs perpetrated the Watergate break in.
Haldeman said Butterfield had written to him asking for a position in the White House. This means there is a growing list of CIA connected men who were in Nixon’s inner sanctum: Bush, McCord, Dean, Hunt and Butterfield.
Butterfield and the tapes came to the Watergate hearings via two people: Bob Woodward and John Dean. The person who directed Congress’ attention to the smoking gun tape was CIA deputy director Vernon Walters.
The Watergate Committee might have figured out that those who perpetrated the break in were also closely tied to the JFK assassination. The committee selected Carmine Bellino to be the chief investigator. Bellino was close to the Kennedys and would have been curious about CIA connections to the JFK assassination.
Bush attacked Bellino publicly and got him replaced (see p. 235-236). Sam Ervin chalked this up to Bush trying to protect Nixon. The author chalks it up to Bush trying to cover the CIA’s tracks.
The Little Man on the Cake
Leon Jaworski was installed as prosecutor. Jaworski was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials. He was a lawyer for LBJ. Jaworski launched a Texas based investigation into the Kennedy assassination. Earl Warren told Jaworski that he would not be part of the official investigation and that he would have to cease his investigation. As a consolation he could handle the Texas end of the investigation. “Thus, Jaworski and his friends were monitoring all proceedings, including those at which Bush’s old friend and Oswald’s mentor George De Mohrenschildt testified” (p. 237).
Jaworski’s memoirs would ridicule all conspiracy theories regarding JFK.
Jaworski was recommended by Alexander Haig. Haig shot through the ranks with great (and curious) success. Haig’s success was due in part to his closeness to Joseph Califano. Califano was LBJ’s Secretary of Army and was in charge of looking after the vets of the Bay of Pigs. He was also the counsel for the Washington Post (the newspaper that broke the Watergate story) and the DNC (the victim of the Watergate break in).
Also, Haig may have been Woodward’s inside man in the White House.
Poppy praised Jaworski in h is book All the Best. Jaworski, a lifelong Democrat, supported Reagan/Bush in 1980.
In 1967, the Post published n article bout CIA connected foundations and mentioned Jaworski briefly. He was an attorney and trustee for one of these organizations.
Jaworski did not pursue any leads that led to Bush.
Getting the Tapes
Jaworski and Bush never mentioned the CIA’s ties to the break in. Eighteen months later, Bush would be DCI.
The Loyalty Trail
Bush has a knack for dodging blame. In the Watergate scandal, he could side step any landmines through the Townhouse operation.
Funds involved in Watergate would end up in Texas members of Poppy’s team. Included were William Liedtke of Pennzoil. The FBI’s investigation was blocked by the CIA.
Because the CIA was blocking these portions of the investigation it would appear to many investigators that the CIA was working on behalf of Nixon. This was not the case, however. Nixon and the CIA were feuding. The CIA’s investigation blocks were thus performing double duty: prevent the agency from further investigation from the proper authorities; make Nixon look like he was covering up the investigation.
This money trail was not picked up by anyone even Woodward and Bernstein who were noted for “following the money”.
Wright Patman, the chair of the House Banking Committee, was able to trace money found in the pockets of Bernard Barker back to William Liedtke.
Poppy’s Foundation
Richard Harwood’s reporting (which drew from Wright Patman’s investigations) uncovered many conduits for CIA monies. A surprising amount of these organizations are Texas based. Not just Texas based but with important ties to Bush or the JFK assassination or both.
· The family foundation for the Dallas Republic National Bank. This bank was the HQ of oil intelligence, Dresser Industries and housed De Mohrenschildt’s office.
· San Jacinto Fund was incorporated by oil man John W Mecom Sr., a backer of De Mohrenschildt.
· Family foundation of Peter J O’Donnell Jr. He was the chairman of the Texas Republican Party when JFK was killed. He was responsible for the candidacies of Bush and Crichton.
On Oil Connections
In March 1974, those who were trying to oust Nixon were making things uncomfortable for Bush and his allies.
Nixon’s Justice Department was investigating anti-trust violations wherein some in the oil business sat on multiple and simultaneous oil company boards. This list is a veritable who’s who of the JFK assassination and those who were strong supporters of Poppy.
· Clint Murchison Sr.
· Admiral Arleigh Burke—an ally of Dulles
· George Brown of Brown and Root—a backer of LBJ and Poppy and an employer of De Mohrenschildt.
· Dean McGee—former business partner of Senator Robert Kerr
· Toddie Lee Wynne—his family provided lodging for Marina Oswald after the assassination
· Jack Crichton
· Neil Mallon
The Extent of the Infiltration
The CIA’s penetration into the Nixon White House was pervasive. The author argues Magruder was also tied to the agency (p. 244-245).
Denial
The author asks the question “Why isn’t Nixon’s removal from power common knowledge?”
The answer: the gatekeepers.
Stanley Kutler, author of Abuse of Power, considered by academics to be a par excellence source on Watergate, is close friends with John Dean. If Dean was CIA, then Kutler was either duped or complicit.
Another gatekeeper was Bob Woodward. Woodward’s intelligence ties were noted above.
With Nixon out of office, Gerald Ford was sworn in as President. Bush was on the short list of VP candidates.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Bush was not offered the VP. He was offered the ambassadorship of France or Britain. He declined and asked for China. The envoy of China didn’t need to be approved by Congress whereas those of France and Britain did. This would keep Bush from having to be raked by Congressional inquiries.
Bush also wanted to get away from the stench of Watergate. Ford preemptively pardoned Nixon. With Bush in China, the media focus would be elsewhere.
Chapter 12: In from the Cold
In 1974, Seymour Hersh wrote an article about the CIA about their family jewels. The article told about CIA abuses in foreign assassinations, drug experiments on unwitting Americans and physical surveillance against journalists.
DCI Colby had opened the doors wide for the public to see what the CIA was doing.
The public began demanding answers about these things and about the JFK assassination. The President was Gerald Ford, former member of the Warren Commission. Ford’s conviction to the Warren Commission’s findings should arouse suspicions when he started the Rockefeller Commission—a committee to look into these CIA abuses. The Rockefeller Commission also narrowly looked at issues surrounding the JFK assassination such as the Zapruder film and whether CIA agents Frank Sturgis and Howard Hunt were in Dallas that day.
The Rockefeller Commission was chaired by Nelson Rockefeller. Nelson was a huge fan of covert operations. And since he was a Rockefeller, his family made their money from oil.
Nelson was Ike’s special assistant on psychological warfare and cold war strategy. He also chaired the NSC’s special group that oversaw all of the CIA’s covert activities—including the family jewels. Thus, the Rockefeller Commission was a whitewash. It’s hardly surprising the Rockefeller Commission found no credible evidence of CIA involvement in the JFK assassination.
Before the Rockefeller Commission could publish its findings, the Church Committee was set up. The Democrats didn’t trust Ford or Nelson so they started their own commission. The Church Committee found an amazing array of CIA abuses. They passed much legislation regarding their findings. Ford passed a banned prohibiting the CIA from assassinating foreign leaders.
The Church Committee found many intriguing leads in the JFK assassination.
Home at Last
William Colby was too candid with the Justice Department. He had released the family jewels document and confirmed it. Ford then fired all undesirables including Colby. This Washington shakeup would be known as the Halloween Massacre. The orchestrators of the Halloween Massacre were Ford’s chief of staff Donald Rumsfeld and Rumsfeld’s deputy Dick Cheney. And Poppy would take over the CIA.
By 1976, Rumsfeld was Defense Secretary and Cheney was chief of staff. Also, the new NSA was Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft. Bob Dole would replace the moderate Rockefeller.
This group would keep surfacing in later Republican administrations. Scowcroft was George H W Bush’s SNA and Cheney was Defense Secretary. Under W. Rumsfeld was Defense Secretary and Cheney was VP.
Bush deflected questions about his connections to Watergate by saying Jaworski had given him a clean bill. Unmentioned is the fact that Bush was a pallbearer at Jaworski’s funeral and Bush and Jaworski were very close before Watergate.
Bush had to mollify an angry Congress (the Church Committee) and had to manage the CIA. He was able to do this by burying or burning paperwork. Even Helms destroyed CIA documents about mind control. Bush wrote Nixon saying the CIA cannot be compromised further by these reckless disclosures.
While Bush was burying the CIA’s dirty laundry, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz were stacking the White House deck with likeminded people. Anyone who didn’t sufficiently hype the Soviet threat was fired. (Later, these same fellows would do the same during the Iraq invasion.) Newsweek made a comment on this in 2003 (see p.261).
Bush enlisted the Saudis to perform covert actions on behalf of the CIA.
In September 1976 a car bomb exploded in Washington D.C. This killed Orlando Letelier, Allende’s Chilean ambassador. Letelier was a critic of Pinochet’s regime. Bush said the CIA had no knowledge of this act of terrorism. But the Chileans said the assassination was carried out by Michael Townley a former CIA agent.
Plenty to Digest
A lot of eyes were turning to the JFK assassination. The CIA had many strands in this and people were beginning to pick up on them. Bush wrote a strange internal memo asking about a visit between Jack Ruby and Santo Trafficante. Trafficante would later admit he had participated in CIA attempts to kill Castro.
Sam Giancana was killed in 1975 shortly before he was to testify about his activities against Castro.
Trafficante says he was recruited into anti-Castro groups by Johnny Rosselli. Rosselli testified before the Church Committee in 1975. In April 1976 Rosselli was called before the Church Committee again. He did not show up. His body was discovered three months later hacked to pieces.
In January 1976 De Mohrenschildt wrote to Willem Oltmans, the Dutch reporter. Oltmans had some interesting ties: he graduated from Yale the same year as Buckley, was stridently anti-Communist, and comes from a rich colonial family. He helped steer De Mohrenschildt in a way consistent to how De Mohrenschildt steered Lee Harvey Oswald.
Oltmans spoke in Dallas a few times, even “coincidentally” meeting Marguerite Oswald in January 1964.
Oltmans interviewed both George and Jeanne in 1968 and 1969. In 1976, Oltmans would edit some of De Mohrenschildt’s writings.
Reader’s Digest was becoming interested in the JFK assassination. This magazine was the most widely published in the world, giving it an air of authority. However, Nelson Rockefeller’s brother sat on the board. Reader’s Digest had many long existing ties to the FBI and the CIA. The magazine published its reason for looking into the JFK case. They stated more or less that they were wondering why so much new material was now available than was available in 1964. Thus, Reader’s Digest was not interested in investigating new material so much as they were interested in assuaging people that Oswald was guilty despite this insurgence of new information.
Reader’s Digest selected Edward Jay Epstein to do this investigation for them. Epstein’s book Inquest is a mild critique of the Warren Commission. Epstein’s conclusion that Oswald was a Soviet agent was identical to that of CIA’s security chief James Jesus Angleton. Angleton also stated that Yuri Nosenko was a Soviet agent who gave Oswald cover. Epstein, citing Angleton, also concluded this.
Epstein’s book beat the House Select Committee on Assassinations by releasing his book first, and possibly influencing their conclusion in so doing.
De Mohrenschildt was called before the House Select Committee on Assassinations. De Mohrenschildt wrote to Bush. Bush typed an internal memo to his staff about De Mohrenschildt admitting he knew De Mohrenschildt. He said De Mohrenschildt knew Oswald before the assassination; that he couldn’t remember De Mohrenschildt’s role in all this; and that De Mohrenschildt was mixed up in controversial dealings with Haiti. How could the DCI not know a friend’s role in all this? How could Bush then turn around and say he knew De Mohrenschildt was involved in some business in Haiti.
From one George to Another
On 5 September 1976 De Mohrenschildt wrote Bush again. De Mohrenschildt said there were people after him. He also wrote he said he must have angered a lot of people with his writings on Lee Harvey Oswald. This is strange since his writings hadn’t been published. The only person who knew about his writings was the Dutch reporter Oltmans.
Bush responded on 26 September 1976. He gave a boilerplate response. He looked into the concerns De Mohrenschildt had written about and there was no need to worry. The response mentions De Mohrenschildt’s daughter (who died of cystic fibrosis). This gives an alternate reason for De Mohrenschildt’s disquiet. And Bush’s response also suggests De Mohrenschildt was not mentally stable.
Oltmans was passing through Dallas and called De Mohrenschildt. De Mohrenschildt was in a mental institute receiving electric shock therapy. Jeanne De Mohrenschildt was looking after George while he was in the hospital.
Jeanne De Mohrenschildt was divorced from George at this time. Why would she be at his bed side? According to Michael Kurtz, author of several books on JFK, Jeanne was once a coworker of Richard Helms and was well acquainted with James McCord and David Atlee Phillips.
Cut Loose
Jimmy Carter fired Bush from the DCI position and hired Admiral Stansfield Turner. Poppy moved on to new gig: consultant to First International Bancshares of Dallas. When asked in 1988 what his duties had been, Bush responded that he could not recall.
The Cuckoo’s Nest
Oltmans contacted De Mohrenschildt when De Mohrenschildt had been released from the institute. De Mohrenschildt told Oltmans about many things: he had known Ruby; he felt responsible for Oswald’s behavior; and he provided the names of CIA and FBI agents. These interviews lasted for a few days in Holland.
Then Oltmans said he had a friend, a Soviet diplomat, whom he had to meet for lunch. Upon hearing this, De Mohrenschildt left Europe and never returned. Perhaps De Mohrenschildt saw the writing on the wall. Oswald was made to look like a communist. Was De Mohrenschildt’s presence with a Soviet leader part of an arrangement to do the same to him?
A Key to a Mystery
Within days of leaving Europe, De Mohrenschildt’ body would be pored over by Palm Beach police. The Palm Beach police received a tip about a man named Jim Savage. They didn’t pursue this lead very deeply.
Savage is from that cluster of people who knew both Bush and De Mohrenschildt for many years. Savage had worked with De Mohrenschildt and for Kerr-McGee. Savage introduced Poppy to Kerr-McGee. Savage’s supervisor at Kerr-McGee was George B Kitchel. De Mohrenschildt was a close friend of his too. Kitchel’s name appeared in De Mohrenschildt’s address book too.
Kitchel would, years later, acknowledge his friendship with both Bush and De Mohrenschildt. He also stated he was not aware that Bush and De Mohrenschildt knew each other. This is weird given all the connections. This suggests that Kitchel knew the ramifications of Bush and De Mohrenschildt having known each other.
When Bush needed an alibi for 22 November 1963, he called Graham Kitchel, George’s brother. After the assassination, the FBI interviewed George Kitchel. Kitchel told the FBI that De Mohrenschildt was close to Clint Murchison and H L Hunt. The FBI report did not mention Bush or that fact that Kitchel’s brother was an FBI agent who happened to receive a curious call from Bush right after the assassination.
Savage and Kitchel were De Mohrenschildt’s ride home when he came back from Guatemala in 1961. When De Mohrenschildt went to Haiti in 1962, Kitchel and Savage were his ride home.
Before the JFK assassination, Savage worked for Sun Oil. Sun Oil also employed Ilya Mamantov, the man who would be Marina’s interpreter.
Blast from the Past
In March 1977, the House Select Committee on Assassinations sent Gaeton Fonzi to interview De Mohrenschildt. Reader’s Digest beat Fonzi to the punch. De Mohrenschildt gave an interview to Epstein. He learned that Fonzi had been there to interview him too. De Mohrenschildt shot himself.
Two weeks later Paul Raigorodsky, De Mohrenschildt’s mentor, also died. He had gout.
Chapter 13: Poppy’s Proxy and the Saudis
In March 1976, Jim Bath brokered a deal to sell aircraft to Salem bin Laden, Osama’s half brother. The bin Ladens were the largest civil engineers in Saudi Arabia. Bath also grew friendly with Khalid bin Mahfouz, heir to the largest bank in Saudi Arabia. Both the bin Ladens and Mahfouzs were close to the king of Saudi Arabia.
The author implies there is no coincidence between Jim Bath being close to W. and Poppy and his sudden rise in Saudi commerce. Bath lied to author Craig Unger (House of Bush, House of Saud) ouHOuHOuabout this, saying he got a call from Saudi Arabia in 1974. However Bath didn’t broker in airplanes until 1976. Thus, Bath has something to hide.
At the same time Bath became a rising star in Saudi commerce, Bush was deepening America’s involvement in the kingdom. This was to help ensure oil supplies to the US and to evade congressional restrictions on intelligence/covert operations.
A Bath or a Sheep-Dipping?
Bath’s military record suggests he was sheep-dipped. He was a very talented pilot by all accounts. As a member of the “Champagne Unit” Bath would be rubbing elbows with the scions of powerful men: John Connally, Lloyd Bentsen and George H W Bush. This would make him useful to these men who wanted their sons to avoid Vietnam but to appear to everyone that their sons had performed their military duties.
Bath had performed his military service already. His decision to join the Texas Air National Guard was voluntary. Bath was hired in 1968 at Atlantic Aviation. Bath’s position (VP) would give him exclusive rights to sell the corporate jet manufactured by Israeli Aircraft Industries.
In 1966, both Bath and Bush were on the lecture circuit. Bill White, a longtime partner of Bath’s, said Bath would not have gotten the job at Atlantic if it had not been for Bush.
Suspended Disbelief
George W Bush’s flying skills were poor. When reporters dogged him about the cessation of his flying, he said he began working in Alabama and couldn’t make his physical. The cessation from flying was due to his suspension for failing to take a physical. The White House released Bush’s suspension paperwork showing two men got suspended for the same thing. The other man suspended was James R Bath.
Bath’s suspension gave W. cover. To the casual observer it may appear that suspensions are common. However, suspensions are highly unusual. And for two men to be suspended at the same time for not taking a physical is very suspicious.
The punishment, suspension from flying, is highly suspicious. Why would the Air National Guard invest all that money into a couple of men just to suspend from flying?
Drilling Deep for Answers
Bath has not commented on whether he has worked directly for the CIA. He refuses to go on the record.
Friends with Benefits
American interest in Saudi Arabia began in the 1930’s. In 1944 a US delegation visited Saudi Arabia. This delegation was led by Everette DeGolyer. In 1945 FDR made a deal with the Saudis: oil for security. The US would get oil in exchange for bolstering the kingdom’s defenses. After WWII and after the UK/French embarrassment in the Suez Canal crisis, the US looked like a good bet.
The Eisenhower Doctrine would deepen America’s commitment to the region. Kennedy would send troops to the kingdom during the Yemeni Civil War (1962-1970).
The Nixon Doctrine declared the US would not be the sole benefactor of Middle Eastern peace. But Nixon’s policy to send equipment to the region would further deepen US entanglements in the region.
Nixon tilted heavily in favor of Israel during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. The Saudis responded by nationalizing their oil industry. The US tried to renew its relationship with the kingdom by supplying weapons and military services.
These military services included training Saudis to fly fighter jets.
US support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War saw the Saudis react with an embargo.
Bush was at the nexus of all these deals: intelligence, CIA, oil.
The US encouraged the Saudis to spread Islam extremism in an effort to bring down to the U.S.S.R.
The Men to Know
Bill White, Jim Bath’s partner, was friends with Ken Lay of Enron infamy. Lay would replace Robert Herring at Houston Natural Gas Company. Herring’s wife, Joanne, was the woman who brought Charlie Wilson, Prince Bandar and James Baker together to arm and train the mujahedeen.
Ken Lay was in charge of energy policies when the oil embargo of 1973 hit. He would later turn up in the Bush/Cheney White House.
Another person of interest in the Bush circle is a Saudi named Ghaith Pharaon. He bought an ailing Detroit bank which would allow the Saudis a stepping stone for further acquisitions.
Bush became friendly with the Saudi General Intelligence Division. The head of this division was Kamal Adham. He was in charge of protection of the royal family. Adham was a close friend of bin Mahfouz, the man who hired Jim Bath.
When Kamal Adham would be involved in a banking scandal, Bush denied ever knowing him. Is it possible that Bush, a man with such ties to oil, money and intelligence, would not know the head of the Saudi intelligence bureau at a time when he was head of the CIA?
In March 1975, King Faisal was assassinated by his nephew. Crown Prince Khalid, who was widely known to have pro-Western views, was coronated king. Rumors that the assassination was a foreign plot circulated. The CIA dispatched Vernon Walters to improve Saudi security.
Poppy cashed in on the king’s fears. He could ask the king to provide him anything.
The House of Bath
Bush entered into a quid pro quo relationship with the Saudis. The Saudis were afraid of a fundamentalist revolution.
Chapter 14: Poppy’s Web
The hub of oil/military/intelligence shifted with Poppy from Langley, Virginia to Houston. Poppy took over the Dallas-based company Fit International Bancshares (FIB).
FIB was like a twin of the Republic National Bank in Dallas (run by Neil Mallon). Both were entangled in off the books covert operations and had the same cast of characters in proximity of their operations.
The holding company for FIB had Robert H Stewart III has its chairman, a long time friend of J Edgar Hoover. FIB was intimately associated with the Murchison, Hunt and Bass families. FIB did a lot of business with Saudi Arabia. The bank provided a revolving line of credit for Salem bin Laden. FIB’s London bank was a former FBI man who employee of Magnolia Oil—a company that was had employed with several figures associated with Lee Harvey Oswald.
FIB would later merge with other banks and change its name several times. In the early 80’s it would go belly up. Many banks during this time did so. This was due to Reagan’s deregulation policies that would undo FDR’s New Deal.
The Outlaw Bank and its Spooky Customers
Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was the world’s biggest ever financial fraud (p. 310). This bank was connected to Pakistan and other Gulf States. It helped Pakistan obtain a nuclear bomb. It was the bank of choice for crime syndicates, dictators, drug lords and intelligence gatherers. The bank provided banking services to Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega and the heroin kingpin of the Golden Triangle.
Investigations into this bank took place in the late 80’s. The investigators met mysterious resistance from the Reagan/Bush White House. The investigations would lead to the bank’s demise. But further inquiries were blocked because the bank had provided services for the CIA, MI6, Mossad, and the Iranian security force.
Robert Mueller said he could not establish any links between BCCI and Reagan/Bush. Mueller was a member of the Justice Department under Poppy and was Director of the FBI under W. Had his investigation been thorough, he would have found that William Casey had made deals with BCCI to fund covert operations.
The largest shareholder of BCCI was Bath’s partner Khalid bin Mahfouz. He would have to pay $225M for fraud. The Bush ties to Bath and Bath’s ties to Mahfouz were never raised. The man at the Treasury Department scrutinizing the BCCI affairs was John M Walker, Bush’s first cousin.
A Veiled Attempt at Banking
In Houston, while Bush was running FIB, his friends were starting up Main Bank, a joint Texas/Saudi banking firm. The principal investors were Jim Bath, Khalid bin Mahfouz and Ghaith Pharaon. The bank would disburse $10M a month in $100 bills. This is highly unusual and is suggestive of money laundering. But this is also suggestive of funding of covert operations.
Lancing Carter
Jimmy Carter lacked foreign policy experience. David Rockefeller’s Trilateral Commission helped him out by providing Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Bert Lance was Carter’s most trusted advisor. Lance was offered a job as president of the National Bank of Georgia. This bank was part of the Financial General Bankshares (FGB) stable.
Carter tried to reform the CIA. He had Turner oust many in the CIA’s “dirty tricks” division. Schlesinger and Colby had already riled up this anthill. Now Turner was stepping into it.
These reforms were countered by Angleton’s new group SIF (Security and intelligence Fund). He started his own covert operations organization. While these reforms were taking place, the Senate began looking into Lance’s finances. Lance resigned his post with Carter.
He was then approached by Abedi, the Pakistani head of the BCCI. Abedi wanted Lance to be the front for Abedi’s entry into US banking, something foreigners were not allowed to do. Abedi put Lance in touch with Pharaon. Pharaon, it was explained to Lance, was allowed to own a bank in the US because he already had permission previously. Lance needed cash so he sold his shares of the National Bank of Georgia.
Next, Lance was approached by some disgruntled shareholders form FGB. They wanted to sell their shares to a bank. This made Lance’s appearance in the illegal selling of shares to BCCI and his help in selling FGB shares to BCCI prominent. Anyone investigating these activities would no doubt see him and Carter as being dirty.
Billy Carter was wooed by Israel into a lucrative arms deal with Omar Kaddafi.
Shah? Shush!
The Shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, visited Bath’s office after the Shah was toppled. He had been training to be a fighter pilot. The Ayatollah put a contract on his life so Reza was not safe anymore. His father had been installed by way of two coups, one British (1947) and one American (1953). His national police force was trained by General Norman Schwarzkopf whose son would lead Desert Storm. Dulles and Helms helped train the Iranian secret police force SAVAK. Helms told Nixon he would take the Ambassadorship of Iran in exchange for covering up Watergate.
The Rockefellers and Brzezinski would urge Carter to give the Shah asylum in the US. Carter would acquiesce despite his grave misgivings. This act would lead to the Iran Hostage Crisis which would undo Carter’s presidency. The Rockefellers used the pretext of the Ayatollah’s takeover as an excuse to freeze Iran’s petrodollars. This would lead to Carter seizing all of Iran’s money.
Poppy for President
The intelligence community supported Bush’s bid for President in 1980. Their enthusiasm cannot be explained by Bush’s single year as DCI. Bush had Karl Rove and James Baker in his campaign staff. The former deputy director of the DIA was involved. The CIA’s director of security resigned his post at Langley to help Bush. The former CIA station chief of Bangkok resigned his post to help Bush.
Bush would lose the Republican nomination to Reagan. The combined fears of both Bush and Reagan were that Carter’s October surprise would be a successful resolution of the Iran Hostage Crisis. William Casey made a deal with Iran to keep the hostages until after Reagan’s election. In exchange for this, Reagan would give weapons to Iran.
CIA off the Books
Bush used his VP position to fund unauthorized wars in Central America. Jim Bath’s usefulness became evident. He was a pilot, had top-secret clearance and had been vetted by the FBI. He ran many of the CIA activities funded by the Saudi royal family.
Bath supplied BCCI with airplanes and played an integral role in Iran/Contra. He brokered deals to BCCI shareholders. The same incorporation company used by Bath was the one that set up the funding for Oliver North’s Iran/Contra dealings.
Arm’s Length
Bush claimed he didn’t know anything about Iran/Contra. However, even North’s diaries show Colonel North meeting with Bush during the height of the scandal. This is similar to Poppy distancing himself from Bath.
Railroaded
Bill White did not thrive like his partner Jim Bath. For 14 years, they were partners and were successful. White would not promise to keep quiet about the Bush-Saudi relationship. This would result in several “misfortunes” befalling White.
Bath owned Southwest Airport Services. Airforce One fueled there for up to 60% more than market price. Bath sold or defaulted on this to the Saudis. Under W. Airforce One continued to use this facility.
Chapter 15: The Handoff
George W Bush went to work for an Alaskan firm called Alaska International Industries. AII worked on the Alaskan pipeline. The owner, Neil Bergt, said W. was a political hire. Bergt also confirmed W. did good work. W. offered to develop Bergt’s business plan.
Bush never mentioned his work in Alaska. Was it because he was avoiding his final year in the Air National Guard?
Bergt also said his company did some weird things. And we did all kinds of weird stuff…We did some spying for the CIA after Jimmy Carter …gutted the CIA” (p.321). This included Uganda, Iraq, Guatemala and Libya. Bergt says his company may have been involved in the funding of Iran/Contra.
None of W.’s biographies mention this job.
Starting at the Bottom…of the Top
America’s top businesses made a beeline for Harvard’s graduates in 1975. But none offered W. a job. He went to West Texas to be a landman, a man who tries to procure mining rights to other people’s property.
An Early Political Ambition
W. ran for Congress in 1978 against the Democrat George Mahon. W.’s campaign raised $450,000, a whopping amount for the time.
All of Poppy’s friends chipped in. And Bath introduced W. to the right people. White recalls Bath insisting that W. would one day be President.
And He shall have a Wife
The official account says Laura Welch met George W Bush in 1977. However, they lived in close proximity to each other in some years earlier. And they traveled in the same circles during that time. After officially meeting Laura in 1977, George W Bush married Laura Welch three months later.
Back to Business
Bush lost the election to Kent Hance. Hance defined W. by his Yale/Harvard education, a carpetbagger and a member of the Trilateral Commission.
Bush would never again allow someone else to define him. The Bush clan came together to help W. in the election. And people showed their support for the Bushes by giving W. 47% of the vote.
Monopoly Money
Reagan instituted a tax cut which would cause the oil business to experience a slide in prices.
W.’s Arbusto was hitting dry holes. He changed the name to Bush Exploration and he began to get more investors.
One investor was Philip Uzielli. Uzielli was asked to invest by Poppy’s friend George L Ohrstrom Jr. Ohrstrom’s son said his dad was involved in the intelligence services. Uzielli’s investment was 25 times the value of the company.
Another source of funding for W. was Moran Exploration, a company that had done business for Dresser Industries. The geological data said the sites were dry but the top management ordered Moran to invest in Bush Exploration.
Saudis in Early
Bath was a middleman for the Saudis who invested in Bush’s oil company. Bush told the press he didn’t have a relationship with Bath after their guard stints. The fact that some of the Bath money was from the bin Ladens shows how prudent the Bushes were to stonewall inquiries.
A Broad Spectrum
Despite these investors, Bush’s company continued to sink. That’s when Spectrum 7 Energy stepped in. Spectrum 7 merged with Bush Exploration in 1984 just as Bush Exploration was nearing collapse. Bush became the CEO of the parent company.
Spectrum was started by William O DeWitt Jr. and Mercer Reynolds III. DeWitt’s family owned the Cincinnati Reds. He said he met with W. and thought Bush was the ideal candidate. This is very unlikely since Bush had been a business failure on his own. Two years later, DeWitt and his Spectrum partner Reynolds were on the ground floor of Midwest Employers Casualty Company (MECC). This company included some of Poppy’s intelligence/business friends.
People in Reynolds’s zip code in Cincinnati gave more to Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004 than anywhere else except Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Bush beat Kerry by a razor thin margin in Ohio in 2004.
W. would later name Reynolds as his ambassador to the banking havens of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. DeWitt would be appointed to his Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Why was the former owner of the Cincinnati Reds given such a post?
W.’s Lucky Chance
Bush was invited onto the board of Lucky Chance Mining. This company was far from an average investment. It involved many figures from the intelligence field. It involved foreign money from governments close to the US. And W. didn’t like to talk about his sting there.
Lucky Chance was in the business of buying up silver and gold mines. It was run by David Klausmeyer, a friend of Bob Gow’s. Klausmeyer’s reason for buying this company: his son liked the name.
The funding for Lucky Chance came from Schroder Bank and Trust, a bank with ties to Dulles and Poppy. Money came in from Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Lucky Chance declared bankruptcy in 1982. In 1984, W. was asked to come onto the board.
Chapter 16: The Quacking Duck
When Spectrum began to collapse in September 1986, Harken Energy bought them out. They put W. on their board. This allowed W. to support his dad’s Presidential bid in 1992 while giving himself another entry on his modest resume.
Harken Energy had suspicious books. The only people who seemed to make any money were the insiders. The people associated with BCCI, gold caches and secret societies all appear in the tale of Harken Energy.
Before 1983, Harken Energy was fairly profitable. But with the decline in oil prices, the company took a hit. Phil Kendrick, the founder, met with William Quasha to help with Harken Energy. Quasha was a WWII vet who was the power behind Marcos, so to speak. By coincidence, after Kendrick heard of Quasha, one of his Harken investment bankers mentioned a man named Quasha who was looking to make a major oil company purchase. This Quasha was Alan, William’s son.
Harken sold out to Alan Quasha. Quasha then proceeded to destroy the value of Harken’s stocks. He did this deliberately in order to buy them back at deflated prices. Quasha’s funding for this company came from a trust in his mother’s name. Ostensibly his dad William owned 21% of Harken. Why did the Quashas find this company so valuable?
School for Scandal
After George W Bush accepted a board position, several powerful figures joined forces with Harken. The biggest shareholder of Harken’s was Harvard University.
In 1986 Harken reported revenue in excess of $1 billion but few outside investors made any money. Why did Harvard bankroll this lemon? The manager of Harvard’s investment arm has declined interviews regarding Harvard’s Harken investments.
Sly and the Family Stone
Robert G Stone Jr. is the chairman of Harvard’s governing body. He said he did not recommend the Harken investment and does not know anything about it. However, he has substantial ties to the Bushes.
· He donating to Poppy’s candidacy against Reagan’s in 1979
· He supported Prescott Bush Jr.’s Senate bid in 1982
· He was in business with Thomas Devine, the man who helped start up Zapata Offshore.
Stone started Stonetex Oil in Dallas in 1950. Years later, Devine became the treasurer.
Stone married a Rockefeller. His in-laws were close friends of Prescott and Dorothy Bush. He also was chairman of the board for the Kirby Corporation, a company over which Clint Murchison had substantial ownership. Stone was executive chairman of Combustion Engineering, a company with deep ties to Saudi Arabia.
The Boston Globe reported that there were not too many degrees of separation between Stone and Quasha.
A Golden Opportunity
When Stone married into the Rockefeller clan, he joined the board of Freeport Mining. Freeport had substantial mineral rights in Indonesia and the Philippines. This board also had Prescott’s partner Robert A Lovett. Lovett was assistant Secretary of War (and Defense) and is regarded as one of the architects of America’s Cold War strategy.
Freeport is closely identified with the CIA coup that put Suharto into power in 1965. His predecessor was Sukarno. The efforts to remove Sukarno were led by Alfred Ulmer.
Other Freeport board members were Henry Kissinger and Admiral Arleigh Burke.
Both Robert G Stone and William Quasha were WWII vets who served in the Philippines.
General MacArthur’s family managed the Philippines. (His father, Lieutenant General MacArthur was the military governor.) Stone and Quasha both served in the company of General MacArthur.
Stone was in charge of security on MacArthur’s personal yacht. He also worked with Benjamin Allin III, the acclaimed marine engineer. Stone did intelligence work on ports and oil in Iran during WWII.
Quasha, who graduated from St. John’s a year ahead of Reagan’s CIA director Casey, worked in MacArthur’s legal department.
Manila Poppy
Poppy’s service in WWII included some duties in the Philippines. Poppy would also meet with the Joint Intelligence Center for the Pacific Ocean Areas (JICPOA). The early incarnation of JICPOA was headed by Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoeter who would become DCI.
MacArthur refused to allow the OSS to help him on the Philippines. This allowed MacArthur to perform his own intelligence work. MacArthur once worked for E H Harriman, Prescott’s closest partner’s dad. MacArthur’s widow would live next to Poppy when he was UN Ambassador. She contributed to W.’s 1978 Congressional bid.
Gold Busters!
The Philippines was rife with gold. It had gold mines and gold hoards. MacArthur had major holdings in gold mines. His staff officer Major General Courtney Whitney had been an executive of several gold mining companies before WWII.
Rumors of a Japanese gold being buried in the Philippines were rampant. Several journalists have alleged the US seized this cache of gold. The gold was never reported because it would wreak havoc in the world’s economy. The estimated booty was $45 billion to hundreds of billions.
Perhaps this is why so many of the aforementioned companies seem to work in contradiction to economic logic. Zapata Offshore, Stratford, Arbusto and Harken all persisted without profits for great stretches. Gold is a more universal currency than US dollars. Was gold being used to bankroll off the books covert operations?
MacArthur appointed Quasha as administrator of alien property. If the Japanese had any gold on the islands, this would fall under Quasha’s jurisdiction.
Deputy CIA director Ray Cline said the US did locate this cache of Japanese gold and used it to fund anti-Communist operations abroad. Some of the gold was used to quickly install a friendly Japanese government. MacArthur’s duties in the Pacific included overseeing the occupation of Japan. The administrator of this slush fund that channeled monies to Tokyo was Alfred C Ulmer.
The authors of Gold Warriors contend the use of Japanese gold to bankroll further operations was originally started in Europe with Nazi gold. The mastermind was Henry Stimson, FDR’s War Secretary. His assistants on this project were John McCloy (Warren Commission member) and Robert Lovett (a board member of Freeport).
Captain Edward Lansdale was the point man in this operation. His life was the inspiration for the title character in the movie The Ugly American. He helped direct counterinsurgency all over the world, including the Philippines. Lansdale was prominent in counterinsurgency meetings in the JFK administration. He was the head of Operation Mongoose, the CIA project to kill Castro.
The US was desperate for allies in East Asia. And Marcos was the man to hold down the fort in the Philippines. In return for propping him up, Marcos allowed the US to use several bases on the islands. In 1978, Marcos forced all gold in the Philippines to be sold to the government. This allowed Marcos to launder his gold.
Poppy took opportunities to praise Marcos and to meet with him personally. Imelda Marcos claimed Poppy urged Ferdinand to invest his money in covert operations.
On the Home Front
William Quasha became the only American who was licensed to practice law in the Philippines. His clientele included some CIA tied banks. Quasha may have been Ferdinand Marcos’ money man, moving it to overseas intermediaries.
Alan Quasha majored in law with an emphasis in corporate takeovers. He took over Harken at a time when Poppy was VP. Quasha went to Harvard and his time there overlapped with W.’s. Did Harvard play a role in this? They were investors in Harken Energy.
Robert G Stone was on the Gold Fund of Scudder Investments. The Gold Fund was established in 1988, shortly after Stone invested Harvard’s money into Harken.
In 1992 Alan Quasha joined the board of AXP Precious Metals Fund.
In 1994 Quasha joined Harvard University’s foreign affairs center.
An Alpine Rescue
George W Bush took a year off to campaign for his father. He met with Jackson Stephens the head of Stephens Inc, the largest non Wall Street bank. Stephens brought in Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS). The London branch of UBS underwrote Harken’s $25 million stock offering. The bulk of these shares went to a Saudi operating in a shell company in the Caribbean.
Bahrain, in Vain
Harken Energy got a major Bahrain oil drilling contract. Harken had never previously done any overseas or offshore drilling. Yet they beat out Amoco for the rights. The actual drilling work was assigned to huge backers of the Bushes.
Lurking in the background in this deal is BCCI. There are 3 major BCCI contacts involved: the consultant who put Bahrain and Harken together, the US Ambassador to Bahrain, and the Prime Minster of Bahrain.
Timing is Everything
The Bahrain deal didn’t find any oil. But W. did well anyway. The news sent Harken’s stocks soaring. He sold his shares and got a ton of money. Harvard bought his shares.
Harvard came to his rescue in 1986 and would later make him a fortune.
Six weeks after George W Bush sold his shares, Iraq invaded Kuwait.
Chapter 17: Playing Hardball
George W Bush was trying to buy the Texas Rangers at the very time his dad was running for President in 1988. His ownership of the Texas Rangers would eventually lead him into the White House himself.
W. told people he had no interest in higher office until well into the 90’s. However, Karl Rove was letting people know that a younger Bush was in the wings. W.’s name was touted as a possible candidate for governor of Texas in 1990 but Barbara Bush thought this would be a referendum on Bush Sr.’s Presidency.
The Major League commissioners were full of Bush supporters. Peter Ueberroth was getting out of baseball to go into politics. He was replaced by Bart Giamatti, an Andover alum and former president of Yale. Giamatti was succeeded by Fay Vincent who was in the Midland oil business and had lived with the Bushes when W was a kid.
Inside Baseball
The investors put up $87M to buy the Texas Rangers. The group of investors included DeWitt and Reynolds—guys who bailed out Arbusto.
Like many other Bush ventures, the people who invested were happy to sail beneath the radar. When an attorney got a list of the investors, the partners were desperate to keep the list secret.
Roland Places his Betts
Like Harvard who backed W.’s Harken Energy, Yale would help him out with the Rangers. Bush’s Yale friend Roland Betts put up the most money for the Rangers.
Betts brought Bush onto the board of Silver Screen Management, a company that would finance nearly all of Disney’s films between 1985 and 1991. However, Betts’ got his start up money from E F Hutton which was being run by W.’s uncle Scott Pierce.
Another Yale grad who was on board was the Bass family. Richard Rainwater set up the deal between Bush and the Bass family. Rainwater was partners with W at the same time the Bass’s were partners with W. in Harken’s Bahrain drilling deal.
Ed Bass stopped a hostile takeover of Disney which would benefit W. and Betts.
Ed Bass was ideologically in line with W. He donated $20M to Yale to revitalize its Western Civilization curriculum. He didn’t like multiculturalism.
When W. became President, Betts and Bass were both become one of the 19 trustees at Yale.
Harvard and Yale would both have a hand in enriching W.
W.’s Domain
The Texas Rangers deal was essentially about real estate. W. and his investors convinced the city to buy them a stadium. This would increase the team’s worth from $83M to $138M. The city had to levy a tax to get the stadium built.
When Poppy was President, he sold the government land to W. for pennies on the dollar. What they couldn’t get on the market, they got with government assistance. They claimed eminent domain on hundreds of acres of property. They forced people to sell their homes so the Texas Rangers could buy the land.
Greene becomes Green
W. appointed Greene to be head of the EPA over several states. Greene had no qualifications for this position and this position required no senate approval.
Owning Up to It
Owning the Texas Rangers gave W. a statewide post. It appealed to people with state pride because it’s the TEXAS Rangers. And the institution known as rangers evokes pride.
Gore could have tore into W. for his dealings with the Texas Rangers due to the $135M bill he stuck to the people of Arlington. But he and Kerry didn’t go after Bush.
A Good Job—if You can Get it
Rove would insist that reporters refer to W. as the owner of the Rangers. But Bush didn’t do much in way of administration of the team. He used his position with the Texas Rangers to win the gubernatorial election.
Chapter 18: Meet the Help
George W Bush’s term and a half as governor of Texas should have been an indication as to what kind of president he would be. However, the press did not go after him. Even Tucker Carlson (see p.371-372) admitted the press was giving W. a lot of slack. The press skewered Gore but absorbed all of W.’s spin.
Karl the Killer
Rove was handpicked by Poppy when Poppy was the head of the Republican Party. Rove was a master of dirty tricks back then. When the Washington Post was reporting on Rove’s misdeeds, Poppy investigated and gave Rove a clean bill of health. Then Poppy hired Rove to be his assistant.
Rove repaid Poppy’s kindness by introducing him to Lee Atwater. Atwater would destroy Dukakis in the 1988 campaign.
Rove also helped James Baker with Poppy’s campaign bin in 1980.
The Texas Hustle
Rove would fill empty subscription forms to annoy a publication that hadn’t paid him the money he was owed. Rove also claimed a bug was planted in his office on the eve of a debate between his candidate Bill Clements and the Democrat Mark White. This would fluster White and Clements would win the election. “Rove represented the sub rosa convergence of politics with intelligence and espionage—truly the embodiment of the Bush political psyche” (p. 374).
Rove at First Sight
When Rove met W. he was so impressed he knew he could make a candidate out of W. They kept in touch over the years until W. was ready for public office. Rove dirtied W.’s opponents while cleaning W.
The Rainbo Coalition
W. was invited to buy a house in an exclusive resort. The members of this resort included Poppy’s friend Harvey “Bum” Bright, an oil and real estate man. He was the man who bought the notorious anti-Kennedy ad in the Dallas Morning News on 22 November 1963.
The Rainbo Club was able to reduce property taxes by having the resort labeled a sanctuary. This also kept the club private.
When W. assembled his gubernatorial team, it included Jim Francis, the political operative of Bum Bright. Francis was later replaced by Joe Allbaugh.
Allbaugh was a campaign manager for the Reagan/Poppy effort in 1984. He was also appointed to the head of FEMA by W. before Hurricane Katrina.
Allbaugh had served as a liaison on the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority to underwriting a bond to business for that authority. His wife would leave him because of unexplained cash flowing into their accounts—including asking her to sign a series of blank checks.
With Karen Hughes, Karl Rove and Joe Allbaugh, George W Bush won the gubernatorial race in Texas in 1994.
Tough on (some) Crime
The Texas government was ideally suited to W.’s ambitions for higher office. The lieutenant governor has most of the power whereas the governor has limited powers. Thus, W. was able to pick his battles and associate himself with causes which would propel him to higher office. Rove and W. made their agenda “for children” and “against criminals”.
He supported tough sentences on first time drug offenders. He reduced the release rate of these offenders drastically and called it “compassionate conservatism.”
Despite this, some of W.’s biggest supporters were not estranged because of their own bouts with cocaine (Bath and Jerry Chiles).
W. also modified the Tort laws to benefit corporations over individuals. Many who benefited from this would donate millions to Bush—including Bob Perry who spent millions in the Swift Boat attacks against John Kerry in 2004.
Sophisticated Hicks
Bush sold his interest in the Rangers in 1998 for $15M. His original investment was $600,000 and was mostly borrowed. The buyer was Tom Hicks. Hicks worked at First Dallas Capital where Poppy worked after he left his CIA post.
Hicks was perturbed when the University of Texas refused to invest in a dental company he owned. When W. was governor, he made Hicks in charge of the university’s investment company. Among those who benefited from this was the Carlyle group. Another was Maverick Capital Fund which would donate heavily to the swift boat attacks.
Hicks aided W. in 2003 by promoting pro-Iraq propaganda through his ownership of Clear Channel Communications.
The Seduction
The Bushes completely seduced the media. Napoleon too seduced the media and history remembers him not Louisa of Prussia. Karen Hughes job was to enable this seduction.
Borrowing a Persona
Rove liked legends. He learned about William McKinley and Mark Hanna (McKinley’s handler). He decided to use this as a model for creating W.
The professor who was teaching the class Rove was in at the time did not buy the comparison of Bush = McKinley. This hardly mattered because the media went to sleep.
The better comparisons would be Reagan or Clinton. Both wooed the media.
The Texas Education Miracle
Bush campaigned in 2000 that he was the education president. He was touting his success in education in Texas. Upon closer look, the truth was far from a miracle.
The RAND Corporation debunked the miracle two weeks before the election. Students scored better on statewide tests (from coaching) but didn’t score better on nationwide tests.
He used his model from Texas as the new “No Child Left Behind” act. He assigned his secretary of education was Rod Paige, the superintendent of Houston’s schools. He was cooking the books to promote the image of success. After leaving the administration, Paige went to work for Fox News.
Compassionate Conservatism
Bush gave blacks positions of authority in his administration if they could be easily manipulated. Powell was ignored and disrespected. He also declined 5 straight invitations to talk to the NAACP.
Chapter 19: The Conversion
W. and his handlers knew that his partying, womanizing and military service had to be wiped clean. This was done through a religious transformation. To have a credible conversion, the Bushes invited Billy Graham to their resort. George W Bush said his beachside walk with Billy Graham had left him a changed man.
The idea to recreate W. as a religious man belonged to Doug Wead.
The Religion Coach
Doug Wead was a minister and a business man. He studied the political potential of the evangelical vote.
Wead was a ghostwriter for Senator Lowell Weicker in 1981. Weicker thought the revelations in his memoirs would doom Poppy. Wead felt affection for the man Weicker was venting against.
Wead would make contact with Poppy when Poppy was vice president. They grew close in 1984 when Wead and Bush sat next to each other at a charity dinner honoring George H W Bush’s humanitarian efforts in Central America.
Wead would meet with Kaufman, Poppy’s national campaign director. Wead was asked to write a memo on the religious right. This would lead to Wead writing many memos on how to woo the evangelical votes. The memos would end up in the hands of W. Even though Wead wouldn’t meet W. until 1987, W. was well aware of who Wead was.
Family Powwow at Camp David
Soon after Reagan won reelection, Poppy began his work to win the 1988 election. George W Bush and John Ellis Bush would be the enforcers, testing people’s loyalty. But W.’s background was a liability. He needed a convincing tale of redemption.
W. Sees the Light
The constituents in Texas thought favorably of born-again politicians. The evangelicals acted as a united voting bloc which voted based upon a narrow set of basically irrelevant issues. The issues which mattered most to the evangelicals mattered least in the Oval Office.
Wead and W. would discuss which evangelical leaders to approach to woo their votes.
W.’s Ears Prick Up
Wead told W. that a conversion story had to be believable. It couldn’t be too tacky or radical. This is why Wead said Billy Graham would be ideal.
The Corporate Confessor: Billy Graham to the Rescue
Billy Graham has always been the minister to America’s powerful. Graham would tell reporters years later he didn’t remember converting George W Bush.
Rocky Mountain High
A conversion story is not believable unless a person changes his ways. This would lead W. to dramatically give up booze. This was a very valuable political move. A negative became a positive.
Spy vs. Spy
In 1988 Pat Robertson was running for the Republican nomination. Wead had men infiltrate Robertson’s organization. These spies were reporting to Poppy from the beginning.
Wead was amazed at W.’s mastery of spycraft. They would do a good deed and then bury the story deep. Journalists who dug deep enough would get a great sense of authorship and fiercely defend their story. The journalists would be duped into thinking they had done a great job of digging up a story and would never guess the story was planted.
The Safe with Two Keys
Wead would often tape his conversations with Poppy, with Poppy’s permission. He even taped some conversations with W. These conversations would turn into a controversy years later largely due to the secretiveness of the Bushes.
When the New York Time got a hold of some of these tapes, though they were largely benign, the Bushes acted with great anger. Laura Bush castigated Wead for his lack of discretion. Wead agreed that the tapes would be jointly owned by the White House and himself.
Chapter 20: Skeleton in the Closet
Bush had a noisy skeleton in his closet: his National Guard duty. In 1994 when he was running for governor of Texas, reporters were sniffing around the story. Bush’s mouthpiece Karen Hughes berated the reporters who were sniffing around the story.
Rove did the same thing but was a bit more reserved than Hughes. The Bush team didn’t want anyone to ask questions about Bush’s guard duty.
Once Bush was elected governor of Texas, he became commander in chief of the Texas National Guard. This made cleaning up his guard record easier. He sent Jim Allbaugh to meet with guard officials to see Bush’s personnel records. Allbaugh asked for two records: Bush’s and Daniel O Shelly’s. This was probably for cover so it would seem the request was routine. Their job was to “just get rid of the embarrassments” (p. 410).
Bill Burkett was hired to assess the state of the Texas National Guard. He said he witnessed the discarding of counseling statements from Bush’s National Guard personnel file. Many gaps in Bush’s paperwork still exist.
Bush’s reasons for wanting his records (to review them for his autobiography) prove suspect. He barely mentions his guard duties in his autobiography and when he does, they are vague.
Bush Accused: The Lottery Gambit
An anonymous letter was written to the US Attorney in Austin. The letter stated that Ben Barnes knew about or was involved in favoritism in doling out the coveted National Guard assignments. Bush was desperate to suppress this information and gave Barnes a lucrative contract.
Ann Richards gave a lottery contract to Barnes’ company GTech Corporation. Bush yanked the contract when he became governor and then gave it back to Barnes on the stipulation that Barnes keep his mouth shut.
Bush dispatched Don Evans to talk to Barnes as part of the cleanup effort. Don Evans ran Bush’s gubernatorial reelection bid 1998. Evans had connections to Barnes. He was married to Susie Marinis, Barnes’ secretary. Marinis was a childhood friend of W.’s. When W. needed some favoritism to get into the Champagne Unit, the place was wired for W.’s admittance.
Spelling W.
Robert Spellings was Barnes’ chief of staff in 1968 when Bush was shown favoritism. Spellings was gossiping about how Bush was shown favoritism, according to an anonymous letter written 1996.
Spellings’ career would get a boost after this incident. He married Margaret LaMontagne, a Rove protégé. This gave him new clients including John Adger, the son of the man whom Barnes claimed showed W. favoritism. John Adger was also in the Champagne Unit. Once Spellings became the beneficiary of these incentives, he was no longer a threat to Bush.
Spellings would agree to an interview with the author only if he was allowed to video the interviewer in order to study his body language. The author believed this was an intimidation tactic and refused.
A Flight of Fancy
Evans said in 1976, W. took him for a ride in a Cessna. W.’s flying skills were horrible and Evans had to issue instructions. Evans’ story refutes the story that W. never flew again after his ANG duty in 1972.
A Charge to Keep
Mickey Herskowitz approached W. about doing an autobiography. Herskowitz was a noted ghostwriter. They agreed to this project which would create the book A Charge to Keep. Herskowitz wanted to tease out some personal and unguarded remarks to make the book more marketable. No one would want to read a book filled with self serving anecdotes. Herskowitz said W. was shy about his NG duty and when he did speak about it, his remarks were contradictory.
Bush said he was excused from the NG in 1972. There is no evidence he was excused and this contradicts his previous statements that he had finished his guard duty.
Getting Rid of Mickey
Herskowitz was pulled off the autobiography. The Bush team arrived early in the morning at Herskowitz’s place to gather the notes. Poppy would later ask Herskowitz to write his autobiography.
Chapter 21: Shock and …Oil?
Herskowitz said Bush was inclined to overthrow Saddam Hussein before he was even president. In order to achieve this, Bush would have to have overwhelming popularity.
Bush’s circle liked the model provided by Margaret Thatcher and her handling of the Falklands War. Particularly they liked the idea of launching wars against small, limited targets (Panama, Iraq and Grenada). They attributed Carter’s downfall to his failure to launch such a war.
Bush mentioned his desire to invade Iraq even before he was a candidate for President in 1999 (p. 424-425).
The PNAC (Project for a new American Century) made it clear that Iraq was a target for the projection of American military might in the world. The PNAC document says this outcome could not be realized unless there was a catalyst like Pearl Harbor.
Vice in Charge
Dick Cheney was pretty much in charge of W.’s foreign policy including the Iraq War. Cheney had spent his entire adult life catering to corporate interests including military contractors. Among these was Halliburton.
Halliburton and its subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root were rife with corruption.
But Cheney would also dominate other areas of W.’s administration including Supreme Court appointments and energy policy.
From One Bunker to Another
Bush’s approval ratings soared after September 11th. But his approval ratings diminished in the months that followed. Rove decided it was time to push the war button to improve W.’s image.
Iraq
George W Bush would continually tout Saddam’s use of biological weapons on his own people as a pretext for war with Iraq. However, W. failed to mention that Donald Rumsfeld had gone to Iraq to give Saddam weapons and that Poppy and Reagan had continued dealings with Saddam after the gassings.
America’s ties to Saddam go back to 1959 when the dictator of Iraq was Prime Minister Qasim. Allen Dulles said Iraq was the most dangerous place in the world and the CIA began looking for ways to get rid of Qasim. Saddam happened to be the young man who the CIA backed. Qasim was killed in 1963. The US paid for Saddam’s training and moved him back to Iraq to take over.
Manuel Noriega is another example of a Bush-backed dictator. Noriega was supported very favorably by Poppy. But Noriega and Poppy got into a spat over Noriega’s shortcomings in towing American imperial interests in Latin America. This would lead to Poppy’s invasion of Panama.
Twisting Arms
W. had to keep America distracted. He didn’t want people to ask how 9/11 had happened or how the US had created the situation in Afghanistan to mire the U.S.S.R. What about Bush’s strong ties to Saudi Arabia and the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis?
The media and the public at large were bound to ask tough and embarrassing questions about George W Bush. But a war takes center stage. And so off to war America went.
Help, Britannia
W. needed an ally in the war. That ally would come in the form of the UK. What is the connection between Tony Blair and George W Bush?
The Bush family has been close friends with the Scottish banking family known as the Gammells. J A H Gammell ran the British military mission to Moscow when Averell Harriman was US ambassador to the U.S.S.R. Jimmy Gammell became an early investor in Bush-Overbey, one of Poppy’s earliest intelligence based companies. Jimmy Gammell would later run Ivory and Sime which was called a CIA station by a Scottish newspaper.
Poppy help cultivate a friendship between his son W. and Jimmy Gammell’s son Bill. Bill Gammell would be an investor in some of W.’s businesses.
Bill Gammell was a classmate of Tony Blair.
Bill Clinton put into place sanctions against India due to their nuclear weapons ambitions. W. removed this sanction and Gammell got a lucrative contract to mine oil in India.
Blair’s administration was surrounded by British Petroleum interests. This would lead to a newspaper calling BP “Blair Petroleum”.
And where allies were not willing, George W Bush was willing to put sanctions into place against countries that would not join the coalition.
Making the Case
Bush and his team attacked anyone in the media who would not wholly support the invasion of Iraq. Then they made the case that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.
Poppy also used propaganda to assuage the public. He used the testimony of a Kuwaiti girl to move people to action. The girl, it turned out, was a member of the Kuwaiti royal family had been coached on what to say. None of her speech was true (p. 437).
Great Moments in Chutzpah
After the invasion, the Bush team saw to it that Americans would not see any body bags or gore. Then Bush flew onto an aircraft carrier with the sign “Mission Accomplished” splayed across it.
The truth was far different as the war would drag on. Also the weapons of mass destruction were never found. And Saddam never posed an imminent threat to the US.
If Saddam was the threat, why do we have a Homeland Security? If Osama was the threat, why didn’t W. go after him more tenaciously? Why haven’t the people held Bush and his team accountable?
The Guard—Again?
Bush would send many National Guard soldiers to Iraq. He himself never served in Vietnam and didn’t even finish his tour of duty with the guard.
Chapter 22: Deflection for Reelection
Bush’s unexplained absence from the National Guard continued to linger. Michael Moore called him a deserter at a rally. DNC head Terry McAuliffe accused Bush of being AWOL. The Bush team responded.
Bush said the lack of evidence didn’t mean he was AWOL. He claims he showed up for his duties.
The issue of his guard duty could have swung the 2004 election.
A Masterpiece of Spin
To deflect serious inquiries, the Bush team did several things:
· Dumped a large quantity of records from Bush’s service. This engulfed the media and kept them busy
· The White House used friendly reporters to ask safe questions to run out the clock
· Stonewall all serious inquiries
The White House put out several conflicting stories about Bush’s National Guard service:
· Bush couldn’t take his physical because his personal physician was back in Texas
· Bush failed to take his physical because he was not on flight status anymore
· Bush had the required service points therefore he had completed his service requirement. However, his dad was head of the Republican Party and the National Guard director in DC resigned due to scandal due to favoritism charges. This suggests the service points may not have been earned.
A few witnesses with sketchy backgrounds confirmed seeing Bush at the base in Alabama. The stories of Bush’s presence conflict with previous stories put out about Bush’s service.
The final corroboration for Bush’s presence in Alabama was his weird visit to the dentist. Scott McClellan used the dentist visit along with the testimony of Joe Holcombe and Emily Marks Curtis to prove Bush did his duty in Alabama. However, Joe and Emily’s testimonies are sketchy. Neither claimed to have witnessed Bush in the guard. They both said Bush told them that he was in the guard at the time.
Emily Marks Curtis was touted as Bush’s girlfriend at the time. However this was not the case. In fact the only time they ever went out was when Bush came back to Alabama. “So here’s the full extent of the Emily Marks Curtis—dental connection: When Bush returned briefly to Alabama, he did three things. He called up Emily Marks and asked her out. He told her he was in town for Guard duty. And he went to get a dental checkup” (p. 449).
Eyewitness News
Bush needed his buddies from the Champagne Unit to keep the lid on his AWOL. Some people who were looking for help from Bush stepped up and gave vague accounts of Bush’s performance. Among these were Maury Udell and Dean Roome.
A Roome with a View
W. got chummy with his old guard buddies. He gave them a top secret briefing on Iraq and Afghanistan. This seduced them into giving Bush the benefit of the doubt.
At this same time, Bill Burkett would get some political dynamite that would tar Mary Mapes and Dan Rather.
A Swift Boot
Karl Rove masterminded the swift boat attacks on John Kerry. The swift boat team had the same legal adviser that Poppy had when he wreaked havoc on Michael Dukakis in 1988. Kerry brought on the attacks himself when he criticized them in his book. Also Kerry did not properly respond to the swift boat attack. And when he did respond, it was too little too late.
The Chase is on
Burkett was in possession of some documents that proved Bush did not complete his guard service. Mary Mapes was elated at this information. The documents included a suspension record for not taking a physical. Mary Mapes needed to ascertain the veracity of these documents.
Document experts claimed the signatures looked real. However not everyone agreed. The proof was not conclusive. Mapes wanted more time but her producers refused.
The Bloggers who ate CBS
Within seconds of CBS airing the show, bloggers were busy dissecting the memos. Many characterized the documents as forgeries because the blocks and fonts were not consistent with documents from 1972. The amount of blogging taking place on this subject was monumental.
But an investigation into the blogging showed the bloggers in question were Republican operatives.
People would eventually be convinced that CBS, Mary Mapes and Dan Rather had done something wrong and that Bush had not done anything wrong.
The Independent Panel
Dan Rather said the other evidence presented proves the case. If contrary evidence is found, CBS would report it.
If the documents were real then Bush is guilty of being AWOL. If they are forgeries, they were crafted to sink CBS and Bush’s critics. The speed of the bloggers to raise issues with the memos is telling. If anti-Bush forgers were at fault, why would they only make very skeletal claims that were independently proven? Why not add some juicy new tidbits that were (also) false?
The treatment received by CBS was a warning to other media outlets to not sniff around Bush’s dirty laundry. The media complied.
Chapter 23: Domestic Disturbance
In the wake of 9/11, Bush signed an executive order declaring that previous presidents could have privilege over their papers despite the wishes of the current president. This would be part of a trend towards more secrecy in government.
Bush ordered Poppy’s records closed along with Cheney’s and Rumsfeld’s dealings.
Poppy built his presidential library and put former CIA director Robert Gates in charge.
Albert Gonzalez and Karl Rove ordered their staffers to use private email accounts to keep the public eyes off of their communications.
Cheney would routinely order the secret service to destroy visitors’ log. And he never kept public calendar.
Signs of Intelligence
Bush wanted to keep his administration secret but wanted to know everyone else’s secrets. He ordered wiretaps without warrants. He strong armed telecommunications companies into giving him private records. The outing of Valerie Plame put her life in danger.
W. politicized the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB). Clinton had appointed a former secretary of defense, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former Speaker of the House. W. appointed oil businessmen like William DeWitt and Ray Hunt. Also Bush’s top fund raiser Don Evan was added to the board.
The Bush administration used fear to get its way. Over 1,000,000 names were on the terrorist watch list. Many orange alerts were released in the campaign months of 2004. Bush sought to impose controls on PBS to prevent its independent thinking.
The Hackocracy
Bush campaigned for president on the promise of limited government. However he greatly expanded the government in ways that benefited his cronies. And he limited the government in ways that were injurious to his cronies.
The FDA took a hit because his cronies were adversely affected by the FDA’s rules. The EPA also took a hit for the same reason.
But government contracts for Iraq and the military swelled.
Bush canned the S-Chip (State Children’s Health Insurance Program). The program would have cost less over five years than the country spends on 4 months in Iraq. Bush canned it on principle.
All in the Family
But the cronyism also extended into Bush’s family.
Neil Mallon Bush become director of the Silverado Savings and Loan after Poppy become VP. This S&L would eventually go belly up and cost the taxpayers $1B.
Marvin Bush got a contract providing security in Kuwait.
Jeb Bush would benefit greatly from the Cuban exile community in Miami. He made a fortune on real estate before bilking the taxpayers with a defaulted loan.
Poppy’s brother Bucky Bush received multiple no bid contracts from the Pentagon.
Poppy would become a spokesman for the Carlyle Group. Former presidents get CIA briefings if they choose to. The Carlyle Group, being a global enterprise, could certainly benefit from CIA briefings about security risks anywhere in the world.
To accomplish this level of control, W. had to fire all US attorneys who would not politicize their offices.
Bush appointed Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Miers was an old ally of Bush’s and had never served as a judge before.
In the case of Hurricane Katrina, cronyism would come back to bite Bush.
Partners in Disaster
As the National Weather Service reported the power of the coming storm, Bush and his administration were rather ambivalent in their response. Bush and Cheney were elsewhere and didn’t show much concern for the Gulf Coast.
With ample and accurate warnings, FEMA simply did not respond to the call. Bush told FEMA’s director, Michael Brown, that he was doing a heckuva job.
Bush appointed Joe Allbaugh to be head of FEMA in 2001. Allbaugh was not qualified for this position. Allbaugh purged FEMA’s ranks, removing anyone contrary to Bush’s ideology. Bush and Allbaugh saw FEMA as a bloated entitlement agency that needed to be scaled back.
Cashing In
Allbaugh was serving on Cheney’s secret energy task force and his wife was a paid consultant (lobbyist) for Reliant Energy. Allbaugh took Halliburton as his client and received a contract from the government for Katrina related relief efforts. He also was involved in defense contracting in Iraq.
He was also involved in many other contracts and businesses with Bush cronies including contracts with Homeland Security and Blackwell Fairbanks.
A COG in the Wheel
Allbaugh had vetted Cheney for the position of VP. And Cheney in turn put Allbaugh on his secret energy task force.
FEMA was supposed to be in charge but a continuity of government (COG) was actually in place. This was a secret government in waiting in the event of a serious threat to the US. A key component of FEMA’s readiness was its COG aspect. In 1984 Oliver North coordinated a training exercise where FEMA rounded up 400,000 refugees for detainment. In 2006, Halliburton was awarded a contract for $385M to build immigration detention centers.
Preparing the Turkey Shoot
Allbaugh resigned his post at FEMA and made Michael Brown his successor. Brown presented an exaggerated resume to the Senate to get approval. Brown’s rise to prominence tracks back to Poppy Bush.
The Right Stable
Before FEMA, Brown’s highest government job was as an assistant to a city manager in Edmond, Oklahoma. He had worked as an inspector for Arabian horses.
As an inspector for Arabian horses, Brown’s job was to root out cronyism. However, he made removing a successful trainer (David Boggs) his mission. Many wanted Boggs gone including Poppy’s friend and fund raiser Alec Courtelis.
Brown received a lot of help over the years from Andrew Lester. Lester was an Andover classmate of Marvin Bush. Lester also worked for Dresser Industries. During the House investigation into Katrina, Lester can be seen whispering advice to Brown.
All of the money for FEMA went into anti-terrorism efforts not natural disaster relief.
FEMA under Poppy Bush doled out millions to people in need when Hurricane Frances hit Dade County. This was a political move because Dade County was a crucial political area and New Orleans was not.
Contracts
Bush moved FEMA’s bottled water contracts from Nestle to a small company called Lipsey Mountain Spring Water. This small company was not able to keep up with the demands of Hurricane Katrina like a bigger company may have.
Conclusion
The author makes the case that George W Bush’s presidential administration is a seminal period in our history. W. has inadvertently invited us to reexamine our democracy.
The fear of being labeled a conspiracy theorist often prevents people from making deeper queries.
http://mtracy9.tripod.com/kennedy.html
(for a clearer image see this link: http://home.att.net/~south.tower/KCBushIalibi1_files/BushJfkBookDepo2.jpg)
