Perfectly Clear: Nixon from Whittier to Watergate by Frank Mankiewicz

Author:Frank Mankiewicz
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: mom 04/05/2014
Publisher: [New York] Quadrangle
Published: 1973-04-05T05:00:00+00:00

On September 16, 1971, I said at a press conference that we were involved in the Vietnam war because of our complicity in the murder of President Diem. It was the first time any American President had ever suggested that possibility, and Mr. Colson quickly told a number of reporters how important my statement had been.

Mr. Colson then took the forged cable and gave it to a reporter from Life magazine with the hope that the reporter would write a major article about it because that would have severely damaged Senator Edward Kennedy and, indeed, the reputation of the whole Kennedy family. Unfortunately, the reporter from Life discovered that the cable was a forgery and did not use it.

It was that cable, as well as some of Mr. Hunt’s other memoranda about Edward Kennedy, that Mr. Dean and Mr. Ehrlichman gave to Mr. Gray, and which Mr. Gray later destroyed.

Now I would like to tell you some things about how we raised the money with which to conduct my campaign and all these extra activities. As you know, it takes a great deal of money to run a campaign—particularly when you are running for President and particularly when your campaign has as many extra expenditures as mine did. Many people do not want to give money to a political campaign, and in fact will not do so unless it can be made clear to them that there is some financial advantage which they could obtain as a result. So in 1971 and 1972, Mr. Stans and Mr. Kalmbach went around the country making it as clear as they could that contributions to the Nixon campaign, particularly from corporations and from the officers of large corporations, were not just contributions to politics, but were some of the wisest investments that those people and corporations could make.

Mr. Kalmbach, for instance, was not only my personal attorney, but he was also the attorney for United Airlines. When he went to American Airlines and asked them for $100,000, he wasn’t just asking for help in providing good government. After all, the President makes the final decision on foreign airline routes, and he also has a good deal to say about who will decide on domestic airline matters. American Airlines thought enough of that argument to give Mr. Kalmbach $100,000.

Mr. Stans and Mr. Kalmbach had the added advantage of being able to tell contributors that they could conceal their names and the amounts that they had contributed if they gave the money before April 7, 1972, or soon thereafter. In this way, they were able to raise nearly $25 million in secret contributions from people who wanted to hide the money they had given.

On March 23, 1971, Mr. Murray Chotiner, a lawyer who had been a part of my campaign organization in California and in my campaign for President, asked if I would meet in the Cabinet Room at the White House with him and some representatives of the dairy industry. At that meeting, we talked, as you might imagine, about the price of milk.

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