Jump to content
The Education Forum

Anthony Ulasewicz


John Simkin

Recommended Posts

Robert wrote:

You mentioned being hired five years prior to the Segretti incident.  Just to be clear: where [sic] you still employed by the Park Motor Inn when you had your meeting with "Simmons?"  And, whether or not you were still in its employ, do you think the Park Motor Inn management would have taken kindly to your poaching a guest's bill?

Robert, the answer to your first question is "Yes", as I recall I quit in mid-January of 1972, and the reason was I had a short-term job working with the Rhode Island Repiblican Party.  While I was so employed, we took a bunch of young people to New Hampshire for a big Nixon rally.  Nixon was not there but there were a lot of celebrities supporting his re-election.  The only one I recall was Lainie Kazan.  (I wonder why?).

It would appear, then, that you vacated your position at the Park Motor Inn just after meeting with Ulacewicz.  Do you recall who hired you, or arranged for your new part time position in Rhode Island?  Did you encounter any odd shenanigans in either Rhode Island or New Hampshire, scene of Muskie's meltdown?

My reason for asking is that it is clear there was a massive attempt to derail Muskie at the time.  Senator George Mitchell, recipient of the Medal of Freedom, was active in the federal Muskie campaigns of of '68 and '72, with responsibility for getting out the vote in Maine.  In an interview, he recalled encountering strange activities designed to further that derailment of Muskie's ambitions:

"In addition, there was the year of the infamous dirty tricks campaign that the Nixon campaign ran against Senator Muskie, particularly in the primary. And I myself was the direct object of a good deal of that campaign. We encountered what then seemed inexplicable crazy events. Everywhere I went on the road, there would be a bill for $2,000 in the restaurant and bar signed with my name. One day, 15 limousines showed up signed with my name. At four o'clock in the morning 500 pizzas were delivered to the hotel, ordered in my name. Crazy actions to disrupt the scheduling, phony photographs of Senator Muskie, cropped photographs distributed at various events. We couldn't figure out what was happening. We had no idea that it was coming from President Nixon's campaign. We thought it might be other Democrats in the primary. It had a tremendous disruptive effect on the operation of the campaign. And then later events, which got a lot of publicity, involved phony letters to the editor and Senator Muskie's response and so forth, which affected the campaign. .......to read about it later, it was really like a light bulb coming on. All of these crazy things that happened that seemed trivial and insignificant and inexplicable at the time suddenly became clear. So it was quite a dramatic time for me, personally, a young guy not really knowing too much about that, thinking, "Gee, I wonder if this is the way all campaigns are run."

We know that a number of similar activities transpired in New Hampshire.  Presumably, similar tactics were employed in Rhode Island.  Do you recall anything of this sort?

Now on to a couple of your other points.  I do not believe Ulasewicz was ever running Segretti.  I have no personal knowledge, of course, but my reading of the Watergate material (including "All the President's Men") was that Segretti was being "run" out of the White House by Dwight Chapin, an aide to H. R. Haldeman.

You may be right that Segretti was run by Chapin, or somebody else, other than Ulasewicz.  However, to credit this as true, one must believe that there were two simultaneous, but discrete, dirty tricks operations being run out of the White House.  I would find it rather astonishing that there could be two such campaigns without somebody within the White House exercising control over both, if only to ensure that the two operations didn't cross wires and/or trip each other up. 

Though it may prove wrong, I think it likelier to conclude that both were essentially components of the same operation, albeit using different personnel, aimed at diminishing Democratic chances for electoral success.  Otherwise, we have Erlichman hiring Caufield and Ulasewicz to run one such program, and Haldeman supervising Chaping running another such project.  Did Haldeman and Erlichman each not know what the other was doing?  While anything is possible, this seems rather far-fetched.  

I have never read ANYTHING linking Rove to Segretti.  If you have any such information, can you please identify its source?

Already answered elsewhere, and of the numerous examples I posted, you took issue with one of them, Robert Reich's piece.  Since John S. has kindly asked us to discontinue that tangent in that thread, and continue it here, I will be pleased to respond if you'd like to cross-post your concerns here.

I think history may record that it was a Segretti type trick that damaged the Muskie campaign. 

History already recorded that more than 30 years ago.  George Mitchell's recollections, cited above, illustrate the extent to which the Nixon White House went in order to undermine Muskie.  The scurrilous accusations about Muskie, but moreso about his wife, in the New Hampshire Leader-Post were clearly the last straw, the one that broke the camel's back.

Since Muskie was presumably a stronger candidate against Nixon than McGovern, that one action might have been quite important.  But overall the whole Segretti operation seems pretty foolish--darn right stupid--to me.  Let's get back to the idea of ruining Democratic fund raising dinners with bogus tickets.  Can you imagine anyone jeopardizing the re-election of a president on such a childish but illegal operation that may have caused some frustration to a Democrat candidate but obviously had no worthwhile political benefits to the Nixon campaign?

Well, Karl Rove has admitted doing something similar, two years before Segretti did the same thing and was disbarred and imprisoned for it.  This was not a one-time-only tactic, clearly.  And, to again cite Mitchell's recollections of that campaign, the initial worry in the Muskie camp was that ordering pizzas and limousines, etc., was being done by another Democratic primary contender.  This Segretti/Rove style of tactics could only sow distrust between Democrats vying for the same position, and weaken the unity within the party.  That seems a pretty significant potential payoff in return for a minimal investment of time and money, and with little downside risk of exposure.  

As I have stated before, I think there may have been more to the Watergate burglary (a "secret agenda") than history has recorded.  But clearly there was no "secret agenda" in the Segretti operation. 

Well, that's not entirely true.  He used an alias for a reason, and was disowned by CREEP and the White House - even to you, a concerned Republican - until those lies were no longer tenable.  When you started rocking the boat, somebody warned Segretti that you were non-secure, precisely in order to preserve the "secret" you now claim wasn't secret at all. 

Some (not all) of the things he did were illegal, but most were so pointless that one cannot help but question the judgment of not only Segretti but the person or persons behind him.

Since the Segretti campaign succeeded in nuking Muskie, I don't question the judgement exercised by the White House.  It achieved its intended goal.  The astonishing lack of ethics, however, is beyone dispute, and unworthy of the hypocrites who extol the virtues of democracy, while breaking every rule in the book in order to subvert it.

My political instincts told me Segretti spelled trouble.  But my naivety led me to conclude that no one in a position of responsibility in either the WH or CREEP would have authorized that kind of operation, the illegality of parts of which was only exceeded by the stupidity.

How disillusioning it can be to learn realpolitik lessons the hard way. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will respond to some of Robert's questions and comments inm different posts. First this:

I wrote:

As I have stated before, I think there may have been more to the Watergate burglary (a "secret agenda") than history has recorded. But clearly there was no "secret agenda" in the Segretti operation.

Robert replied:

Well, that's not entirely true. He used an alias for a reason, and was disowned by CREEP and the White House - even to you, a concerned Republican - until those lies were no longer tenable. When you started rocking the boat, somebody warned Segretti that you were non-secure, precisely in order to preserve the "secret" you now claim wasn't secret at all.

Robert, obviously the Segretti dirty tricks campaign was supposed to be a secret, deniable operation. My reference to the "secret agenda" theory is to the theory that the Watergate burglary had really nothing to do with the Nixon campaign but was in fact orchestrated by someone with his own, hidden agenda. For instance, it could have been a John Dean operation intended to check on information possibly linking his wife to a call girl operation (I know I have over-simplified this). The secret agenda may not have been designed to embarass Nixon and cost him the presidency, although I think there are some conspiracy theories that even go this far.

My point was simply that the Segretti dirty tricks campaign was clearly set up by Nixon supporters solely to benefit Nixon's campaign (as wrong-headed as the strategy was) and was not prompted by some hidden hand or secret agenda. Of course, one of my concerns had been precisely that Segretti (Simmons to me) was an agent provocateur intending to entrap Republicans in situations so embarrassing (and potentially illegal) that it could have cost Nixon his re-election. And while Segretti was not an agent provocateur, had his operations been fully exposed prior to the election, they might indeed have derailed Nixon's re-election campaign.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Robert wrote:

It would appear, then, that you vacated your position at the Park Motor Inn just after meeting with Ulacewicz. Do you recall who hired you, or arranged for your new part time position in Rhode Island? Did you encounter any odd shenanigans in either Rhode Island or New Hampshire, scene of Muskie's meltdown?

My reason for asking is that it is clear there was a massive attempt to derail Muskie at the time. Senator George Mitchell, recipient of the Medal of Freedom, was active in the federal Muskie campaigns of of '68 and '72, with responsibility for getting out the vote in Maine. In an interview, he recalled encountering strange activities designed to further that derailment of Muskie's ambitions:

Robert, as I recall it was Karl Rove who obtained the position for me. Don't remember exactly when it was finalized, but I had accepted the job, with a start date in late January BEFORE I received the call from "Simmons". I was paid by the Rhode Island state Republican organization. My job responsibility was to organize Republican clubs in the state of Rhode Island. I was moderately successful and I had an interesting time. As I posted before, we organized one or two busloads of both college and high school students for a day of campaigning in New Hampshire. We passed out Nixon literature during the day and then attended a large Nixon rally with appearances by celebrities.

We obviously did no dirty tricks nor did I encounter them.

However, your Mitchell quote is interesting because Segretti had expressly mentioned to me that one of his objectives was to sow disunity between the Democrat candidates, so what Mitchell states was certainly consistent with what I suspect Segretti was up to. I almost think I remember him discussing ordering huge numbers of pizzas. Again, Segretti was, in my opinion, doing things that created no real political benefit for Nixon but if exposed might have cost Nixon the election.

This Segretti thing really has nothing to do with the JFK assassination but it would be interesting to see a list of the people who had criminal judgments entered against them for participating in the Segretti operation--and what the offense was. As I recall, some of the convictions related to violation of campaign finance laws: e.g. printing literature claiming it was authorized by one campaign organization when it was really authorized by the Segretti operation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wrote:

I have never read ANYTHING linking Rove to Segretti. If you have any such information, can you please identify its source?

Robert wrote:

Already answered elsewhere, and of the numerous examples I posted, you took issue with one of them, Robert Reich's piece. Since John S. has kindly asked us to discontinue that tangent in that thread, and continue it here, I will be pleased to respond if you'd like to cross-post your concerns here.

Robert, would you respond to my concerns about your sources?

I noted on the other thread that there is not a single sentence linking Rove to Segretti in the anti-Rove book "Bush's Brain."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Members might be interested in Ulasewicz’s early career. As an officer in the NYPD's Bureau of Special Service and Investigation (BOSSI), his assignments included escorting and guarding the security of world leaders and their families. People who Ulasewicz protected included Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Nikita Khrushchev, the Shah of Iran, Andrei Vishinsky, John F. Kennedy, Rafael Trujillo and Fulgencio Batista. Ulasewicz first met Nixon when he was vice president under Eisenhower. It was to be a long friendship that continued even after Watergate.

During this period Ulasewicz became very friendly with several right-wing politicians. In his book he proudly reprints a letter from Rafael Trujillo, one of the world’s most unpleasant dictators. Despite this friendship, BOSSI gave Ulasewicz the job of investigating the kidnapping and murder of Jesus de Galindez, the academic who had written a book critical of the Trujillo's military dictatorship. As one can imagine, Ulasewicz was reluctant to do anything to hurt his friendship with Trujillo. This was reinforced when Ulasewicz discovered the CIA had stolen documents belonging to Galindez soon after he went missing. Ulasewicz clearly decided to back-off when he discovered that the CIA was probably involved in his abduction. However, J. Edgar Hoover insisted on a full investigation. Galindez had been a FBI undercover agent (codename “Rojas”) who had been providing important information to Hoover.

Recruited in June, 1944, Galindez had originally been asked to discover information about Spaniards who had migrated to the Dominican Republic after the Spanish Civil War. Galindez role was to discover if any of these men were “communists” and who might get involved in the campaign to bring democracy to the Dominican Republic.

Galindez also provided Hoover with information on the rebels in Cuba. This included information that Castro was a communist agent. This was important news at the time because Hoover was aware that the CIA were at the time helping Castro in his struggle with Batista.

Ulasewicz eventually traced the two men who flew the drugged Galindez to Dominica. Both these pilots, Gerald Murphy and Octavia de la Maza were murdered soon after this had taken place. So also was Ana Gloria Viera (Maza’s girlfriend) who was also on board the plane that night. Gerald Murphy, a young American pilot, had the contact details of man called John Frank in his possession when his body was found. Frank had been working with Robert Maheu. At the time it was believed that Frank and Maheu were involved in some CIA operation. It included a deal that involved the future of Batista’s gambling empire in Cuba and the training of CIA operatives in the Dominican Republic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Photograph of Dike House. Ulasewicz interviewed Sylvia Malm who was staying in Dike House at the time. Dike House was only 150 yards from the scene of the accident. Malm told Ulasewicz that she was reading in bed on the night of the accident. She remained awake until midnight but no one knocked on her door.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

As I remember footage of Tony Ulasewicz at the time, he was a big, beefy man with black hair that was not curley and talked a blue streak in a New York accent.. He may or may not have been Bremer's companion at the ferry terminal, but his operative presence in Wisconsin has been established.

My investigation in Milwaukee determined that Bremer had a close association with a group of "Jesus Freaks" with a red, white and blue "Jesus Saves" bumper sticker. In other words pro-Nixon. This becomes interesting in light of the RFK case. Shortly after his assassination I inteviewed a fundamentalist free-lance preacher named Jerry Owen, The Walking Bible. He claimed he picked up Sirhan hitchhiking the day before the election and was to deliver a race track pony to him at the Ambassador Hotel on election night. To make a long story short---my book "The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy" recounts it in full---we determined that Owen had a pre-existing custodial relationship with Sirhan. In 1975 Owen sued a TV station that had disclosed the relationship, and he had a devoted follower named Gail Aiken ready as a character witness at the trial. Imagine his surprise when Vince Bugliosi, primed by us, asked Owen if Aiken was'nt Arthur Bremer's sister. With that Aiden was harriedly sent back to Florida where her brother, William Bremer Jr., had been convicted of fraud. William's attorney was Ellis Rubin, who represented the Miami Four in the Watergate prosecutions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Galindez also provided Hoover with information on the rebels in Cuba. This included information that Castro was a communist agent. This was important news at the time because Hoover was aware that the CIA were at the time helping Castro in his struggle with Batista. "

First I've read on this above. Sources?

Shame on me for not reading these threads, all interesting. I'd like to know more about the Galindez Ulacewicz connection and if it has anything to do with a man I'm searching for, John Meckpless Spiritto, aka Johny Espiritus in Cuba who was with counter rev group with my father in '59. He was arrested with Wilson Hudson, my father Paul Hughes, and others in a Nicaraguan invasion plan from Havana. Tosh earlier here indicated there was significance of Murphy's disappearance and Galindez and events/people later in Havana operations. Any info and whereabouts most appreciated. Recall John Spiritto made film for Cuba indicating CIA involvement in death of Gaitan. Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Galindez also provided Hoover with information on the rebels in Cuba. This included information that Castro was a communist agent. This was important news at the time because Hoover was aware that the CIA were at the time helping Castro in his struggle with Batista. " 

First I've read on this above. Sources?

Shame on me for not reading these threads, all interesting.  I'd like to know more about the Galindez Ulacewicz connection and if it has anything to do with a man I'm searching for, John Meckpless Spiritto, aka Johny Espiritus in Cuba who was with counter rev group with my father in '59.  He was arrested with Wilson Hudson, my father Paul Hughes, and others in a Nicaraguan invasion plan from Havana.  Tosh earlier here indicated there was significance of Murphy's disappearance and Galindez and events/people later in Havana operations. Any info and whereabouts most appreciated. Recall John Spiritto made film for Cuba indicating CIA involvement in death of Gaitan. Thank you.

----------------------

Christy:

In Cuba, we and the Cuban rebels called him "Johnny Sancti Espiritu", after the city located near Santa Clara, in the then Las Villas Province [situated between the Escambray mountain chain ("Sierra del Escambray") and smaller hills to the east.

Also, to this day, the Cuban slang for "Norte-Americanos" is not "Gringos" nor "Yanquis" -- amongst themselves we are always "Johnnies"; which they pronounce "Yonnies", as they have problems with the "J" when vocalized as a "G" !! I was always "Yetti", because they couldn't prounounce "Gerry".

I thanked them mucho for identifiying me with the "Abominable Snowman" of the Himallayas, but no thanks again. They hadn't a clue where these strange-sounding Tibetan/China/Nepal mountains were, nor anything whatsoever about some hairy entity -- so I avoided the many hours it might take to tutor them...thankya velly much !!

Hugs to Y'all,

G.

____________________________

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ha, well we have little control over how history remembers us, esp when we're gone.

A bit on Spiritto is in the new book by Escalante, The Cuba Project. Think the connection with him and early work with Tony U. was made in work of Hank Albarelli (sp) if I'm not mistaken. I asked Nat Weyl about this NYC/Stanley Ross/Tony U stuff and how it related to Cuba but he died without answering unfortunately.

What do you remember about John Hudson Wilson? He was with Spiritto. From Britain but carrying Chilean passport. A reporter supposedly. Wonder if he came in contact with DAPhillips at the time. Your thoughts? Sturgis and DAP get alot of coverage in the aforementioned book as promoting the idea of Batista challenge, leading to creation of a second front. Spiritto gets start in MX early before Granma expedition. Reminds me of the pulp book by Robin Moore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...