Questions for Douglas Caddy

[Douglas Caddy]

I double-checked it and found that it was indeed the Moodys who bailed out Hilton. Hilton has nothing nice to say about Shearn. Do you know if the Moodys ever had any dealings with the Maceo Brothers, or if they ever had a stake in the legendary Balinese Casino in Galveston?

There were two persons named Shearn Moody, father and son. The son, with whom I worked, was less than 10 years old during the depression. So if Conrad Hilton had anything bad to say about Shearn Moody, it was probably his father. From what I understand, his father and the founder of the dynasty, W. F. Moody, [father of Shearn (sr.)], were both mean in their dealings with others, especially their employees.

The Maceo family, mob connected, operated out of Galveston, a small island 70 miles from Houston, for many years until the Texas Attorney General shut down their gambling operation in the 1950's. From what Shearn Moody told me, the two families each had their own financial empire and there was no cross-fertilization.

I was wondering if the Moodys of Galveston relate to the Moody who, according to Gerry Hemming, arranged for Oswald to be flown back into the U.S. from Merida.

Shearn Moody (sr,) died when his son was two years old. So he could not have had any connection with Oswald.

His son, Shearn (jr.), with whom I worked, was basically non-political and also had no connection with Oswald. He was pre-occupied with getting out from under a $12 million judgment that had been handed down in federal court due to the manner in which he had operated his own insurance company in Alabama. This judgment occurred before I met him but based on what I learned, he had been mistreated by corrupt Alabama insurance officials who essentially devised a scheme to steal his company. His lawyer was Roy Cohn. He ignored Cohn's legal advice about settling his case and then got hit with a huge judgment.

Shearn Moody was interested in history and the story of Billie Sol intrigued him, especially so after he met Billie Sol for the first time at the Hotel Washington. However, he viewed the Billie Sol saga essentially as a means to interest the FBI in his own case in which his Alabama insurance company had been stolen. Later, the FBI did assist him in this and I was asked by the FBI to help it in this operation, which had an unsuccessful ending.

Billie Sol told me that the only person that LBJ physically feared was John Connolly, former Texas governor. The two political giants collaborated in politics and essentially were a team. According to Billie Sol, John Connolly would not hesitate to terminate someone who stood in his way. When I told Shearn Moody about what Billie Sol had said about Connolly , he recounted to me a story about an event that had recently occurred that basically supported Billie Sol's statement.

The bottom line is that the Moody family in Galveston was in no way connected to Oswald or to the JFK assassination.

[Douglas Caddy]

I find it interesting that Mr. Caddy is involved in this aspect of the Crime/Investigation in light of his apparent involvement representing the "Burglars" at the onset of the Watergate investigation.

See PG 10 of this PDF from the Nat'l Archives describing the FBI's early efforts:

Memorandum, L. M. Walters to Mr. Felt, "Subject: Watergate," May 23, 1973 - File # 139-4089-2261x

Is this simply a coincidence that several of these men are suspected conspirators in the assassination as well?

Chris

PS I think the Wallace's print that was identified in the TSBD is one of the most important leads to surface in the last 43 years. What was he doing there if he wasn't a "shooter"?

In regard to the FBI memorandum of 5/23/1973 prepared by L. M. Walters for Mark Felt that mentions my name in several places, I would merely point out that my role in Watergate is explained in prior posts in the Forum that draw upon my manuscript published in The Advocate magazine of August 16, 2005.

In brief, I was retained as an attorney in the early morning hours of June 17, 1972 by Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy to represent them in the case and to represent the five persons arrested within the Democratic Party's national headquarters.

My manuscript and the article that accompanied it in The Advocate can be read in their entirety using links provided in the Forum or provided by Google after typing in Douglas Caddy.

However, it may appropriate for me at this time to provide some additional information, especially since Mr. Newton ties my representation of these individuals to the JFK assassination.

(1) At the time the assassination occurred, I was enrolled in New York University Law School. I also was employed in the New York City office of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, located at 22 West 55th St, on the staff of Lt.-Gov. Malcolm Wilson. I received a phone call within minutes of the shooting of President Kennedy from a friend on Wall Street, who had read about it on the AP wires, and immediately informed Lt.-Gov. Wilson and Gov. Rockefeller's staff, none of whom had heard what had happened.

(2) The Walters' memorandum to Mark Felt of 5/23/1973, prepared in response to a directive of the prior day from Felt, is interesting in what is left out of the FBI document. This is the fact that it was Mark Felt who was Deep Throat and who was supplying Woodward and Bernstein with the inside information of the FBI's investigation. Felt's role is described in Woodward's book published last year, The Secret Man.

Not only is Mark Felt's role as Deep Throat left out of the FBI memorandum of 5/23/1973 but also omitted is the evidence that Felt was the primary cause of the Watergate coverup.

The evidence is as follows: I was retained by Hunt and Liddy on June 17, the day of the burglary. On June 28, 11 days later, while I was in the U.S. Court House working on my clients' case, I was served with a subpoena to appear Forthwith before the federal grand jury. Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Campbell physically pulled me by my arm into the grand jury room. Over the next three weeks I was to testify five times before the grand jury. I refused to answer a number of questions that I believed violated the attorney-client privilege but did so ultimately after being held in contempt of court by Judge Sirica and the contempt citation being affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals.

All of these events so early in the case were reported by Woodward and Bernstein in the Washington Post. These events had the effect of convincing my clients that they could not receive a fair trial if I as their attorney were being so badly treated. So they embarked on the coverup.

Operating behind the scenes and as an instigator of my being served with a subpoena on June 28, 1972, was Mark Felt. The role of the FBI towards me, under Felt's direction, is described in a two-part article in The Advocate of Feb. 23 and March 9, 1977 titled, Revelations of a Gay Informant: I Spied for the FBI. The article is part-interview with and part-reporting concerning the gay informant, Carl Robert 'Butch' Merritt. Merritt had been employed by the FBI, under Felt's direction, and by the Washington, D.C. police, to infiltrate and spy on the New Left, which was then engaged in vocal dissent against the Vietnam war. (Felt was subsequently indicted and convicted for some of his activities against the New Left. More on this later.)

The following is excerpted from the 1977 Advocate article:

Two days after the Watergate burglary, Carl Shoffler (one of Merritt's former police contacts) turned up with Sgt. Paul Leeper (these officers had been two of the three to have arrested the burglars) with what Merritt recalls as an offer of ˜the biggest, most important assignment" he'd ever had.

The officers, Merritt said, asked if he knew one of the Watergate attorneys. ˜They said he was gay." Merritt did not. They asked if I could get to know him. I asked them why. We'd like you to get as close as possible, they said, to find out all you can about his private life, even what he eats. Merritt says he explained that even if the attorney was gay, it wouldn't be likely that he could arrange to meet him. They said I would be paid quite well, that they weren't talking about dimes and quarters, that they were talking about ˜really big money".

Merritt says that he refused the offer, but that police kept returning to him with the same request, as late as December 1972, months after the city's police claimed to have ended their Watergate investigation.

Police, Merritt says, also tried to recruit him to inform on the gay community. He says he refused these offers as well.

The police and the FBI, Merritt charges, began to harass him soon after he was dropped by the bureau. ˜They threatened my life, broke into my apartment at least three times, they tried to plant drugs on me, they tapped my phone," Merritt charges.

Jim Hougan, in his 1984 book Secret Agenda: Watergate, Deep Throat and the CIA, wrote about Merritt's allegations:

"If we are to believe the disaffected informant, [police officer] Shoffler told him to establish a homosexual relationship with Douglas Caddy, stating falsely that Caddy was gay and a supporter of Communist causes."

As I have written in a prior post in the Forum, it was Edward Miller, a former Assistant FBI Director, who arranged for me in 1984 to visit with Assistant Attorney General Stephen Trott in the U.S. Department of Justice about Billie Sol Estes' desire to come clean with what he knew about LBJ and the Kennedy assassination.

At the time Miller was employed under a 1984 Moody Foundation grant to formulate strategy to combat Terrorism, being so engaged many years before it became the worldwide threat.

Previously, Miller had been convicted along with Mark Felt for "black bag" activities that they had carried out against the New Left in the late 1960's and early 1970's. Their trial and convictions were protested at the time by rank-and-file FBI agents across the country. Not long after his first election as President, Ronald Reagan set aside the convictions of Miller and Felt and granted them Presidential pardons. Reagan, who personally was sympathetic to the plight of Miller and Felt, did so upon the recommendation of Assistant Attorney General Trott.

In 1984, Miller told me that Mark Felt desired to meet me. At the time I only knew of Felt's role with Miller in the "black bag" case and subsequent Presidential pardons. I was unaware of Felt's role in Watergate. When Miller did introduce me to Felt at a meeting that took place in Washington, I found the occasion disconcerting because it became obvious from Felt's attitude towards me that he knew something that I did not. This was cleared up with the revelation last year that Felt was Deep Throat all during the time that he had directed the FBI's investigation into Watergate.

This is why I maintain Mark Felt, in addition to being Deep Throat, also engaged in outrageous official FBI activities that spurred Hunt and Liddy to embark upon the Watergate coverup, the subsequent exposure of which brought lasting fame and fortune to Felt and to Woodward and Bernstein.

[Chris Newton]

Mr. Caddy,

Thank you for the detailed reply. I had read this thread that serves as your introduction earlier but had seen little on Watergate. I was simply curious to know if there was a connection between your role representing several alledged conspirators in the JFK assassination in 1972 (Hunt, Sturgis, Gonzalez) and later an admitted conspirator, Mr. Estes.

I aplogize now that this seems to be simply a coincidence - I didn't mean it to be confrontational. Thank you for contributing to our forum and helping us out in any way you can.

I was retained by Hunt and Liddy on June 17

Isn't it also correct that you were burglar Bernard Baker's lawyer prior to the 17th? If I remember correctly, his wife had called you on his instructions if she didn't hear from him by 3:00 AM the night of the incident. I don't recall where this was cited so I apologize, again, if I have this wrong.

Chris Newton

[Douglas Caddy]

John, this looks like a very important essay. Can I be so bold as to ask that you repost it as a single piece with footnotes to the sources, if not for my sake then for posterity's? For example, the quote above refers to Grand Jury testimony, and Grand Jury testimony, by definition, is secret. Of course there are rare occasions when Grand Jury testimony is made public (as in the Republican attempt to destroy the Clinton Presidency). Even as I ask the question it occurs to me that the source must be Billie Sol himself, and if so when and to whom did he reveal the substance of his testimony?

You are correct in the general assertion that grand jury testimony is secret. However, there is a recognized exception to this legal rule that permits any witness who has appeared before the grand jury to disclose publicly what transpired during that witness's appearance, including testimony and queries posed by the prosecutor and jury members. This is applicable even if the witness is a defendant, although in most cases a defendant decides not to speak out.

I talked to Billie Sol within a few days following his grand jury appearance in March 1984 in Robertson County, Texas. He had received transactional immunity from the prosecutor before testifying. The grand jury appearance had been arranged with Billie Sol's consent by U.S. Marshal Clint Peoples. It was my impression in talking to Billie Sol afterwards that he wanted his testimony before the grand jury to be made public and had so authorized public discussion by the prosecutor, U.S. Marshal Peoples, and his own attorney. There were a number of press reports at the time, so it would be impossible now to state which exact source of information about Billie Sol's testimony was used by the writer of a particular press report.

Billie Sol desired to set the record straight publicly about murders commissioned by LBJ and wisely employed the grand jury system to accomplish this end.

[Douglas Caddy]

Isn't it also correct that you were burglar Bernard Baker's lawyer prior to the 17th? If I remember correctly, his wife had called you on his instructions if she didn't hear from him by 3:00 AM the night of the incident. I don't recall where this was cited so I apologize, again, if I have this wrong.

I did not represent Bernard Barker, one of the Watergate burglars, prior to the case breaking open on June 17, 1972. However, I did meet him on one occasion several months earlier and so testified before the grand jury in the first weeks of the case.

My meeting came about by Howard Hunt inviting me to join him for lunch at the Navy Club in Washington, D.C. When I arrived there, Hunt and Barker were already seated and Hunt made the introductions. I do not recall exactly what we discussed but it most likely was Barker's role under Hunt in the ill-fated invasion of Cuba that took place under President Kennedy, who later came to believe that he had been misled and misadvised by the CIA on the matter. Hunt's recounting of the invasion is told in his book, "Give Us This Day." Even Hunt's most vociferous critics concede that he is an extremely gifted writer and this is reflected in all of his books, including the above-mentioned one.

I did talk to Mrs. Barker several times in the days immediately following her husband's arrest, primarily about providing security for bail to get him out of jail. With her permission I publicly alluded to these calls in order to provide an excuse for my showing up at the jail on the day of the arrests without having received a telephone call from any of those arrested. Of course, it is well known now that Hunt and Liddy retained my legal services within hours after the arrests to represent them and those arrested. But I could not then publicly disclose Hunt's and Liddy's names as they had not been arrested.

When Hunt came to my residence about an hour after the arrests, having a short time earlier telephoned me from his office in the Executive Office Building that adjoins the White House, I was amazed that he did not fully comprehend the significance of what had occurred at the Watergate complex and its potential grave impact. After hearing what he related, I was dismayed and said to myself, "Well, the Republicans have really done it to themselves this time." I knew that it was unlikely that the five arrested individuals could be quickly set free on bail but attempted nevertheless, with the advice of one of the partners of my law firm who was a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, to do so in the hope of averting a major scandal. My effort was in vain, just as I had feared it would be. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

[Douglas Caddy]

Doug, is there any legal chance of the investigation of the Henry Marshall murder being reopened?

In my opinion there is virtually no chance that any of the murders, including that of Henry Marshall, will ever be investigated further. LBJ, Cliff Carter, Mac Wallace, and Clint Peoples are no longer alive. This does not mean that the historical record should not be set straight (forgive the double negative), which is what you are doing at the present time through the Forum.

Robert Caro's final biographical volume on LBJ has yet to be published. I have heard conflicting reports whether it will cover the murders or not. In 1986, I talked to Caro briefly when he gave a speech at the University of Houston about architecture, a subject in which he was absorbed. I asked him afterwards if he was going to include Mac Wallace in his LBJ book. He looked startled and grabbed me by my lapels and asked me for my business card. He obviously was interested in Wallace but I heard nothing further from him.

[Steve Dunnington]

1) Was the Mullen Company a front for the CIA so 'cover' could be given to agents ????

2) If so... did you continue to have any contact with the agency after leaving Mullen, were you any kind of an asset for the purposes of domestic or foreign intelligence????

3) Did your association with the Mullen company, Howard Hunt and other Watergate individuals lead you to any contacts that brought on your representation of Billie Sol Estes????

4) Was General Foods your cover employer at Mullen Company ???

5) Are you the same Douglas Caddy who as an attorney based in Houston, TX has written extensively on laws and regulations in the insurance industry???? ( I 'googled' your name and found some articles by one, Douglas Caddy)

I'll have some more questions soon...... that was a great article in The Advocate , by the way.

(1) The Mullen Company was a front cover for the CIA and, in fact, had been organized as an entity by the CIA. Its CIA background was disclosed in Senator Howard Baker's supplemental statement to the Senate Watergate Committee's final report.

I have never been employed by the CIA or any other intelligence organization. I did at one time join the Association of Former Intelligence Officers as an Associate Member by paying a one year's dues of $10 but did so because I was interested in receiving materials published by the organization. I never attended any of its meetings or met anyone associated with the organization.

When I was graduated from New York University School of Law I became an employee of General Foods Corporation at its White Plains, N.Y. headquarters. One of the reasons the company employed me was that while attending law school, I worked as an employee in the New York City private offices of then Governor Nelson Rockefeller, on the staff of Lt.-Gov. Malcolm Wilson. I was conversant with the New York political scene as well as national politics.

At no time while working for General Foods was I informed that the Mullen Company, which it retained to represent its Washington interests, was a CIA front. In 1969 General Foods assigned me from its headquarters to work in Washington as a prelude to opening its own office there with my being its chief spokesman in Washington. The company told me that for the first year I would be working out of the Mullen Company offices in the Kiplinger Newsletter Building. During that first year there several things occurred that raised questions in my mind about the Mullen Company but I never reached the ultimate conclusion that it was actually a CIA front. Howard Hunt came on board the Mullen Company some months after I began working out of its office, which was how I came to make his acquaintance. At no time was I ever on the payroll of the Mullen Company. I was exclusively employed by General Foods.

I should add that there has always been a question in my mind whether I was used by General Foods and the CIA unwittingly to provide "cover" for the Mullen Company. For example, I served on the Washington Representatives Committee of the Grocery Manufacturers of America, representing General Foods, which lent the air of legitimacy to the role of the Mullen Company being retained by General Foods. By the way, besides General Foods, the Mullen Company's second major client was the Mormon Church. Robert Mullen, a Christian Scientist by religion, was the author of a book on the history of the Mormon Church.

(2) I never had any contact with the Mullen Company after I left employment by General Foods other than my legal representation of Howard Hunt, who was a Mullen employee. Robert Bennett, now Senator Robert Bennett of Utah, apparently was misquoted by Woodward-Bernstein in the Washington Post after Watergate broke about my time at Mullen. He subsequently wrote me a letter of explanation. Bennett, a Mormon, had purchased the Mullen Company from Robert Mullen, apparently at the CIA's direction, about the time I left General Foods to join a law firm in Washington.

Bennett's letter is included in my professional files on the founding of the modern conservative movement, Watergate, Billie Sol, and other matters that I donated some years ago to the University Library Archives of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon.

(3) No person that I was associated with at General Foods, Mullen Company, or in Watergate led me to representing Billie Sol. As I have previously explained, this came about through my acquaintance with Shearn Moody, a trustee of the Moody Foundation of Galveston, Texas.

(4) General Foods was my sole employer when I worked out of the Mullen Company offices at the behest of General Foods. I have concluded that General Foods knew the Mullen Company was a CIA front and that General Foods cooperated with the cover operation and undoubtedly benefitted from it by receiving "inside? government information that was beneficial to its corporate interests, much akin to the United Fruit Company.

(5) I am the author of two books on insurance, both published by the Texas A&M University Press.

Thank you Mr. Caddy for your answers to my questions. I have some great concern about Howard Hunt's status with the Mullen Company, the CIA and his employment at the White House. Since Mullen was controled by the CIA , Hunt must have been planted as a CIA operative at the White House. I can draw no other conclusion and would like to know if you agree or disagree.

The ramifications concerning Watergate are tremendous.!!!! But a bigger question is who engineered the entire " Hunt at the White House " scenario ???? And why??? Your comments and opinion would be appreciated

[Douglas Caddy]

Thank you Mr. Caddy for your answers to my questions. I have some great concern about Howard Hunt's status with the Mullen Company, the CIA and his employment at the White House. Since Mullen was controled by the CIA , Hunt must have been planted as a CIA operative at the White House. I can draw no other conclusion and would like to know if you agree or disagree.

The ramifications concerning Watergate are tremendous.!!!! But a bigger question is who engineered the entire " Hunt at the White House " scenario ???? And why??? Your comments and opinion would be appreciated

Howard Hunt was placed in the Mullen Company in 1970 by the then Director of the CIA. When Robert Mullen decided to retire, he initially approached Hunt and myself to purchase the company from him. There were several discussions among the parties, which abruptly ended when Mullen announced that he was selling the company solely to Robert Bennett, whose father was a U.S. Senator from Utah. I departed General Foods at that time to begin employment with a law firm in Washington, D.C.

The Mullen Company collapsed in the wake of the Watergate scandal when its cover was blown as a CIA front. Robert Bennett then went to work for a Howard Hughes entity and later succeeded his father as U.S. Senator, where he serves today, doing the bidding of the Mormon Church and the CIA.

In 1971 Charles Colson, a fellow alumnus of Brown University, approached Hunt about working part-time for the White House while still being employed by the Mullen Company. Soon thereafter Hunt met Gordon Liddy and the two began coordinating activities. In answer to your query about how Hunt ended up with an office in the White House, the answer then is solely through the sponsorship of Charles Colson.

[John Simkin]

1. It seems that two men murdered Henry Marshall. Is it possible that the other man involved was Billie Sol Estes? For example, the drawing of the man who asked directions to Marshall’s farm is more like Estes than Wallace. Even his daughter admitted that the drawing appeared to be of Estes.

2. Did Billie Sol Estes provide any documentation concerning the deaths of Henry Marshall, George Krutilek, Harold Orr, Ike Rogers, Coleman Wade, Josefa Johnson, John Kinser and John F. Kennedy? Have you had any communication with Billie Sol Estes since 1984?

3. Do you have any information on the death of Ike Rogers?

4. In 1960 you played a very active role in the formation of the Young Americans for Freedom. Could you explain what the main policies of the YAF concerning the main issues of the day (taxation, foreign policy, civil rights, social issues, etc.)

5. One source has claimed that the first national council of the YAF included eleven members of the John Birch Society. Another source claims that YAF was the “youth arm of the John Birch Society”. What was the link between YAF and the John Birch Society?

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/groupwatch/wacl.php

6. Were Ray Cline, E. Howard Hunt or John Singlaub involved in establishing YAF?

[Douglas Caddy]

1. It seems that two men murdered Henry Marshall. Is it possible that the other man involved was Billie Sol Estes? For example, the drawing of the man who asked directions to Marshall’s farm is more like Estes than Wallace. Even his daughter admitted that the drawing appeared to be of Estes.

(1) Billie Sol never indicated to me that he was in any way involved in the Henry Marshall murder. However, he also never fully discussed this case with me. As far as I know, he only disclosed it in detail when he appeared before the Robertson County, Texas, grand jury in 1984.

Billie Sol is an active member of the Church of Christ denomination. If the Moody Foundation grant had been approved to fund the telling of his story, it was to have been through a grant from the Foundation to Abilene Christian University, an educational institute located in Billie Sol's hometown that had previously received Moody Foundation grants. Billie Sol on more than one occasion said to me that the primary reason he want to tell publicly what he knew about his relationship with LBJ was to set the record straight to atone for serious sins he had committed.

2. Did Billie Sol Estes provide any documentation concerning the deaths of Henry Marshall, George Krutilek, Harold Orr, Ike Rogers, Coleman Wade, Josefa Johnson, John Kinser and John F. Kennedy? Have you had any communication with Billie Sol Estes since 1984?

(2) Billie Sol never provided any documentation to me concerning the deaths of Henry Marshall, George Krutilek, Harold Orr, Ike Rogers, Coleman Wade, Josefa Johnson, John Kinser and John F. Kennedy. He was to disclose fully what he knew about these murders to the FBI agents that were sent from Washington, D.C. to interview him in September 1984, but he abruptly backed out at the last moment from so doing.

3. Do you have any information on the death of Ike Rogers?

(3) I do not have any information about the death of Ike Rogers and his secretary.

[Douglas Caddy]

4. In 1960 you played a very active role in the formation of the Young Americans for Freedom. Could you explain what the main policies of the YAF concerning the main issues of the day (taxation, foreign policy, civil rights, social issues, etc.)

(4) In 1960, while a student in the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University in 1960, I helped form Youth for Goldwater for Vice President. Nixon was assured the GOP's presidential nomination, so the strategy was to build up Goldwater's statute through advocating his nomination for the second position. Goldwater was a big success at the 1960 GOP convention in Chicago, which transformed him into a national political figure. In a meeting during the convention held at the Pick Congress Hotel, Goldwater told the Youth for Goldwater activists there that they should not let their movement end with the convention, that they should form a permanent organization. William F. Buckley, along with Marvin Liebman and myself, were present at this meeting and Buckley volunteered his family estate, Great Elm, in Sharon, Connecticut to host the founding of the permanent national youth organization. This took place subsequently in September 1960 and chose the name of Young Americans for Freedom. The story of the founding of YAF is best told in Prof. John Andrew's book, "The Other Side of the Sixties: Young Americans for Freedom and the Rise of the Conservative Politics" and in M. Stanton Evans' book, "Revolt on the Campus."

At the founding meeting, I was elected as National Director of YAF. About a year after it was formed, I entered the U.S. Army, where I served 6 months active duty and 7 ½ years reserve duty. While I was on active duty, Marvin Liebman and William Rusher, publisher of Buckley's National Review, organized a coup that brought new leadership into the organization. In effect, YAF then became an auxiliary of the Young Republican National Federation, and, in my opinion, lost is effectiveness in affecting intellectual thought. After my release from the U.S. Army, I soon ceased to be active in YAF not only because I disagreed with its overt partisan political approach but also because I had entered New York University Law School. As a result I am not in a position to comment on the policy positions it later took on the main issues of the day. Prof. Andrew's book probably is the best source of information on this.

5. One source has claimed that the first national council of the YAF included eleven members of the John Birch Society. Another source claims that YAF was the “youth arm of the John Birch Society”. What was the link between YAF and the John Birch Society?

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/groupwatch/wacl.php

(5) To the best of my knowledge, the original YAF board of directors had only one member of the John Birch Society on it. This was Scott Stanley, editor of American Opinion, the Birch national magazine. Stanley was among those directors, including myself, who vigorously opposed the Liebman-Rusher strategy of converting YAF into an auxiliary of the Young Republican National Federation. YAF at no time was ever the arm of the John Birch Society, although Scott Stanley's presence on its board of directors permitted the Society's views to be espoused at the directors' meetings.

6. Were Ray Cline, E. Howard Hunt or John Singlaub involved in establishing YAF?

(6) Ray Cline, E. Howard Hunt, and John Singlaub were not involved in any way in establishing YAF. The main persons so involved were William F. Buckley, Marvin Liebman, Charles Edison and myself. I was never paid compensation for the volunteer work that I did for YAF. My full time job, until I entered the Army, was Executive Director of the Committee for Public Affairs, McGraw-Edison Company. Charles Edison, son of Thomas Edison, former governor of New Jersey and former Secretary of the Navy under Roosevelt, was chairman of McGraw-Edison Company and provided the financial "seed" money that launched YAF. I worked on a daily basis with Gov. Edison, who resided in the Towers of the Waldorf-Astoria on the same floor with General Douglas MacArthur and Herbert Hoover. Marvin Liebman, who had his own public relations company, was Edison's right-arm in the latter's attempts to influence public affairs. Gov. Edison and I shared the same political philosophy that the American Eagle needs two wings, right and left, to fly straight and that the Eagle faces danger in surviving if either of these wings becomes overwhelmingly too strong, as is the case today with the GOP sociopaths and opportunists in control of U.S. government.

[Douglas Caddy]

I noticed that I failed to answer a question that you recently posed about whether I have been in communication with Billie Sol Estes since 1984. The answer is negative. After he failed to meet with the FBI agents sent to Abilene to interview him in Sept. 1984, our communications ceased. I did keep in contact for a brief time with Pam Estes, his daughter, who completed an unrelated research paper for which she was paid through a Moody Foundation grant.

I might add other clarifications here also.

I have seen Forum posts linking me to Operation Gemstone, which was part of Watergate. I was in no way connected with Gemstone and only learned about it from reading the press.

About three months before the Watergate case broke in June 1972, one of the partners of the law firm at which I was employed assigned me to do volunteer legal work for John Dean, Counsel to the President. Up until the case broke I did legal work on campaign financing issues on a part-time basis out of the White House under Dean's direction and one of his close associates. I also prepared a legal paper on campaign financing for Gordon Liddy, who was Counsel for the Committee to Re-Elect the President. To the best of my recollection, I was never questioned about this legal work for Dean or Liddy either when I was before the Watergate grand jury or by the Watergate Special Prosecutor. Apparently, these authorities were aware of the work and had checked it out and found it not relevant.

I was never interviewed by the Senate Watergate Committee, although I sent its chairman, Senator Sam Ervin a copy of my first book "The Hundred Million Dollar Payoff", which carried an introduction dealing with Watergate, and received a nice letter from the Senator in response.

Also, in regard to Marvin Liebman: After Liebman and William Rusher, two adults, engineered the takeover of Young Americans for Freedom by making it an auxiliary of the Young Republican National Federation in 1961, I ceased contact with Liebman. He claimed that I had brought about a split in the YAF board of directors over the issue when in fact the takeover of the organization took place when I was on 6-months active duty in the U.S. Army. I did oppose the takeover but being in the service at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, severely limited my ability to influence the outcome.

However, Liebman asked me to visit him just prior to his death, which took place about six years ago (I cannot remember the precise year.)

At our visit we made amends for any ill feelings that stemmed from the YAF controversy that occurred over 30 years previously. Only then did Liebman tell me that he was dying of cancer. He showed me a column he had written that he proposed to send to the various gay newspapers around the country that regularly carried his writings. The title of the column was "Lenin was Right." Liebman maintained, correctly, in the column that the Republicans and the conservatives were reverting to their old roots that espoused advocating only the cause of the elite and wealthy. (Liebman, in prior columns in the gay newspapers, had written about his days in the youth arm of the Communist Party in the 1930's.) I advised him that sending out a column with the inflammatory title of "Lenin was right" in light of his failing health would only serve to alienate many of those in the modern conservative movement who admired what he had done in launching it. He reluctantly agreed. As we parted, he said, "See you on the other side." When he died soon thereafter, no memorial service was held, which was in accordance with his expressed wishes.

[Pat Speer]

In 1971 Charles Colson, a fellow alumnus of Brown University, approached Hunt about working part-time for the White House while still being employed by the Mullen Company. Soon thereafter Hunt met Gordon Liddy and the two began coordinating activities. In answer to your query about how Hunt ended up with an office in the White House, the answer then is solely through the sponsorship of Charles Colson.

It should also be noted that Bennett's purchase of Mullen was orchestrated by Colson. Colson was Nixon's point man in winning back Howard Hughes, and his money... When Hughes fired Maheu, Nixon was horrified to find out that Maheu had put Larry O'Brien on Hughes' payroll. Nixon was scared that Maheu had told O'Brien about the pay-offs Maheu had given to Rebozo. Nixon had Colson work with Hughes and find Hughes a Washington representative, one that Nixon could trust. It's unclear whether it was Hughes or Colson who came up with the idea of finding a good Mormon to work for Hughes. (Hughes trusted Mormons.) Anyhow, Bennett fit the bill, got the Hughes gig (through Colson) and got Mullen (through Colson). Ironically, Neither Nixon nor Colson had any idea that Mullen was also a CIA front, and that, as a result, Bennett also got a case officer along with his Mullen gig. When Colson and Nixon found out about Bennett's CIA ties, they decided that all of Watergate had been a set-up and that it had been orchestrated by the CIA using Hunt, and Bennett as its principle agents. The irony, of course, was that both these men had achieved their proximity to the White House entirely through Colson's machinations.

I've read where Bernard Barker said that Hunt worked for Hughes in the early sixties. Hunt's story was that he was with the CIA during this time. Did Hunt ever let on that he'd worked for Hughes prior to his working oin the Hughes account at Mullen? Do you still talk to Hunt? Is he working on any more books about his exploits?

Edited February 16, 2006 by Pat Speer

[Steve Thomas]

Mr. Caddy,

When Hunt came to my residence about an hour after the arrests, having a short time earlier telephoned me from his office in the Executive Office Building that adjoins the White House, I was amazed that he did not fully comprehend the significance of what had occurred at the Watergate complex and its potential grave impact.

From what you know, why was the Watergte broken into?

Steve Thomas

[Douglas Caddy]

In 1971 Charles Colson, a fellow alumnus of Brown University, approached Hunt about working part-time for the White House while still being employed by the Mullen Company. Soon thereafter Hunt met Gordon Liddy and the two began coordinating activities. In answer to your query about how Hunt ended up with an office in the White House, the answer then is solely through the sponsorship of Charles Colson.

It should also be noted that Bennett's purchase of Mullen was orchestrated by Colson. Colson was Nixon's point man in winning back Howard Hughes, and his money... When Hughes fired Maheu, Nixon was horrified to find out that Maheu had put Larry O'Brien on Hughes' payroll. Nixon was scared that Maheu had told O'Brien about the pay-offs Maheu had given to Rebozo. Nixon had Colson work with Hughes and find Hughes a Washington representative, one that Nixon could trust. It's unclear whether it was Hughes or Colson who came up with the idea of finding a good Mormon to work for Hughes. (Hughes trusted Mormons.) Anyhow, Bennett fit the bill, got the Hughes gig (through Colson) and got Mullen (through Colson). Ironically, Neither Nixon nor Colson had any idea that Mullen was also a CIA front, and that, as a result, Bennett also got a case officer along with his Mullen gig. When Colson and Nixon found out about Bennett's CIA ties, they decided that all of Watergate had been a set-up and that it had been orchestrated by the CIA using Hunt, and Bennett as its principle agents. The irony, of course, was that both these men had achieved their proximity to the White House entirely through Colson's machinations.

I've read where Bernard Barker said that Hunt worked for Hughes in the sixties. His official story was that he was with the CIA during this time. Did Hunt ever let on that he'd worked for Hughes prior to his working oin the Hughes account at Mullen? Do you still talk to Hunt? Is he working on any more books about his exploits?

This is the first time I have heard that Charles Colson was responsible for Robert Bennett purchasing the Mullen Company from Robert Mullen. The scenario that you outline makes a great deal of sense, although I lack any personal information to support it.

As I have indicated in a prior post, Robert Mullen wanted to retire and had approached Howard Hunt and myself about purchasing the Mullen Company. At that time I was an employee of General Food Corporation, a Mullen client, and did not know the Mullen Company was a CIA front.

Howard Hunt obviously did know of the CIA connection as he was placed in the Mullen Company by Richard Helms, CIA Director. This took place soon after I commenced working out of the Mullen offices as a General Foods employee.

When Robert Mullen suddenly disclosed that he was selling his company to Robert Bennett, both Hunt and I were taken by complete surprise. Hunt, even then, was a close friend of Colson through their Brown University alumni association. It would seem more likely that Colson would have asked Bennett and Hunt to be the co-purchasers of the Mullen Company, but I have no evidence to support this thesis.

Whenever I see Robert Bennett on television these days, as the U.S. Senator from Utah, I say to myself that "The Secret State" has it own man looking after its interests directly in the U.S. Congress, a disturbing thought indeed.

I am not in communication these days with Hunt. The last communication that I received was a letter from his wife about two years ago informing me of Hunt having undergone a hospital operation and reporting on his health developments.

When the Advocate article of August 16, 2005 about my role in Watergate was published, I sent a copy of the magazine to both Hunt and Gordon Liddy but never received a reply back from either.

While there is controversy about some of the activities that Hunt engaged in during his professional career, in my opinion his motivation was always to do what he thought was best for his country, which included at times putting his own life on the line.