Chapter 10
Section 10 of The Watergate Report, Volume 3. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Greg Giordano Final Report of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Volume 3 The Hughes Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters, Part 3
A. Testimony and Statements of the Principles The testimony and statements by the key participants concerning the deliveries of the Hughes' $100,000 do not conform in many key respects. Most of the people involved have changed their testimony and statements as the investigation progressed.
The only consistent assertion of all principles has been that there were only two deliveries. When initially questioned about the deliveries, the various parties, Robert Mayhew, Peter Mayhew, Danner, and Rebozo,
placed the date of the first delivery within about one year of the November 1968 election. Footnote. Citations for the statements made by the various parties are in the lengthier discussions below. End of footnote. As the investigation intensified from about the time Rebozo returned the money in June 1973. The parties began recalling later delivery dates. Other differences in testimony have occurred, including significant changes regarding locations
of deliveries and number of people present. For example, Robert Mayhew has stated that he was present at a delivery in Key Biscayne. Danner initially so testified, but later, after talking with Rebozo, changed his testimony to agree with Rebozo's testimony that Mayhew was not present. Testimony about the Hughes-Rebozo contribution has been extensive and varied. In addition to the staff interviews and sworn testimony in sessions before the select committee,
Testimony concerning the contribution can be found in the Mayhew v. Hughes Tool Company Civil Litigation Footnote Robert A. Mayhew v. Hughes Tool Company Civil No. 72-305HP U.S. District Court for the Central District of California End of footnote
The interviews and depositions relating to the Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation of the acquisition of AirWest by Hughes. Footnote Securities and Exchange Commission, case number H0596, information from the Commission, was furnished to the select committee pursuant to a letter of disclosure. William Turner, a lawyer with the SEC, was particularly helpful. End of footnote.
And the interviews and affidavits furnished to the Select Committee by the Internal Revenue Service pursuant to a Senate Resolution. Footnote. See Senate Resolution 288-93rd Congress, Second Session. End of footnote.
The following summary is not exhaustive and must be read in conjunction with the later sections of the report analyzing the contribution. 1. Richard Danner In February 1969, Richard Danner commenced his employment with Hughes Tool Company as general manager of the Frontier Hotel. His responsibilities also called for him to serve as liaison for the Hughes entities in the Nixon administration. According to Robert Mayhew, Hughes was especially pleased that Danner joined the Hughes operation,
inasmuch as the 1968 campaign contribution still remain undelivered. And Danner, with his connections with Rebozo, could readily remedy this problem. While Danner's recollection has been unclear about the dates of deliveries, who was present, and who provided the money to him, he testified with certainty about the circumstances leading up to the decision
to make the $100,000 in cash available to Rebozo. Danner testified that, in the spring of 1969, he had frequent contacts with Rebozo, during which Rebozo was needling him about used apparent favoritism toward the Democrats by making a large contribution available to then-Vice President Humphrey in 1968 by having Larry O'Brien on retainer and by employing Senator Humphrey's son.
Danner testified that he brought Rebozo's comments to Mayhew's attention, and that shortly thereafter, Peter Mayhew, Robert's son, showed Danner canceled checks reflecting payments to various Nixon ag new committees during the 1968 campaign. Danner testified that he related that information to Rebozo, and, quote, he, Rebozo, still felt that that was not comparable to what they had done for Humphrey. End quote. Dander then told Rebozo that the $50,000 undelivered at Palm Springs was still intact and available. According to Dander's testimony, Rebozo declined the offer. The contribution came up a short time later, in May or June 1969, when Dander testified that Rebozo
raised the question of whether Mr. Hughes would contribute to funds to begin taking polls on candidates for the 1970 congressional elections. The contribution came up a short time later, in May or June 1969, when Danner testified that Rebozo raised the, quote, question of whether Mr. Hughes would contribute to funds to begin taking polls on candidates for the 1970 congressional elections, end quote. According to Danner, he then discussed this matter with Mayhew,
who said that the undelivered $50,000 was available and that an additional $50,000 could be committed. Danner's only other consistent testimony has been that there were only two deliveries, one at San Clemente and one at Key Biscayne.
Danner testified that Robert Mayhew told him the money for the first delivery was in the safe deposit box at the Frontier Hotel. It was either brought to Danner by Peter or Robert Mayhew where Danner picked it up himself from the safe deposit box.
He did not count the bills upon receipt, but did note they were bundled in packages of $5,000 each. In a transcribed question-and-answer session with the IRS on May 15, 1972, the first time he was questioned on the $100,000, Danner stated that the first delivery took place at Keepus Gain
in the late summer of 1969, where Robert Mayhew handed the package to Rebozo, and that the second delivery was at San Clemente at an unspecified later date. According to a contemporaneous memorandum, he told an IRS agent on November 29, 1972, in a telephone conversation, that the first delivery in Key Biscayne was in September 1969, and the second delivery in San Clemente on July 3, 1970. In a July 5, 1973
affidavit filed with the IRS as a correction to his May 15, 1972 questioning, Danner changed his prior statement. He said he was certain that the first contribution, not the second, took place on July 3, 1973, at San Clemente, with only Rebozo and Danner present, and that the second contribution was made in Key Biscayne on August 19, 20, 1970, again with only Rebozo and Danner present. He stated to the select committee that he had been to the Western White House at San Clemente
only once, which his travel records show to be on July 3, 1970. Danner testified that he met with the President and Rose Woods after the delivery to Rebozo at San Clemente. His discussion with the President, Danner testified, focused on, quote, the problems at the White House getting entertainment suitable for young audiences, and so on, end quote, and that there was no mention of the contribution.
In his discussion with Rosemary Woods, Danner testified that there was no talk about the purpose of Danner's visit. Woods had no recollection of meeting Danner in July 1970, and said in the staff interview that, quote, I would not know Danner if he walked in, end quote. Danner testified that he was unable to explain why the first delivery would not have been made until the summer of 1970,
rather than in the fall of 1969. Shortly after the spring, 1969 re-bozo-Danner discussions of a possible contribution in Mayhew's authorization of the delivery. 2. Robert A. Mayhew In his statements and testimony about the two $50,000 contributions, Robert Mayhew has provided conflicting information about sources of the money and delivery dates.
First $50,000 When Danner joined the Hughes organization, there were ongoing discussions between Hughes and Mayhew about the uncompleted 1968 contribution. Mayhew suggested Danner as a courier for the funds, and Hughes agreed. Mayhew has provided conflicting statements on the origin of the money. In September 1971, Mayhew told the IRS
that the first $50,000 came from the cashier's cage at the Sands Hotel in early December 1968. In a 1973 IRS interview, Mayhew said the money consisted of the same bills he received from Nadine Henley on December 5th and 6th, 1968, and turned over to Peter Mayhew upon his return from the Palm Springs Governors Conference. In a later interview with select committee staff, he said that he received the money for the first delivery from Henley on July 11, 1969. As to the first delivery, in a 1973 civil deposition, Mayhew testified that, quote, Mr. Danner made the first delivery, which would have been sometime in, to the best of my
recollection, sometime in 1969, end quote. Mayhew told select committee investigators that the delivery was made shortly after Danner joined the Hughes Corporation, which was in February 1969. Later in the same interview, Mayhew stated that the first delivery must have been sometime after July 11, 1969, the date on which Henley sent him $50,000. Similarly, Mayhew has expressed uncertainty about the mechanics of the first transaction,
recalling only that it was his son Peter who transmitted the money to Danner, sometime after the early December 1968 Palm Springs Governor's Conference. Mayhew testified in a civil deposition that Key Biscayne was the place of the first delivery, recalling that Danner and he had flown together on the de Havilland to Miami to make the first delivery. According to Mayhew, the purpose of the first delivery was to fulfill the pledge
that had been made to the Nixon campaign in 1968. He stated that both he and Hughes were concerned that they did not appear to be reneging on their commitments. Second $50,000 Mayhew has given different dates and different reasons for this delivery. He is, however, certain that he was present when an envelope filled with cash was passed through Rebozo in Key Biscayne.
Mayhew first told the committee staff he was contacted by Bob Hope concerning a possible contribution of $50,000 to $100,000 to the Eisenhower Hospital. Mayhew discussed it with Hughes, and Hughes suggested that Mayhew contribute $10,000 to the hospital, and at the same time pledged to the Nixon administration that Hughes would make additional contributions to the congressional races. Hughes felt that through that arrangement he could get more mileage out of the administration.
In his July 4, 1973 deposition, where he first publicly discussed Hughes' political contributions, Mayhew noted that the decision to make the contribution was based on conversations with Danner, who told Mayhew of the political necessity of the contribution, rather than on Hugh's instructions relative to Mayhew's conversation with Bob Hope. In a civil deposition, Mayhew testified that the money was transmitted to Danner by Thomas Bell, a Hugh's lawyer in Las Vegas in
early 1970. Later, in a select committee staff interview, he said Bell delivered it to Danner in the summer of 1970. In his second staff interview, he said that he had testified under oath to a federal grand jury investigating Hughes' acquisition of Air West, that the delivery to Rebozo was made by Danner and him on February 3rd through 5th, 1970, in Key Biscayne. Finally, in that same interview, he stated that Thomas Bell's testimony that the money was taken from
the silver slipper on October 26, 1970, plus the trip he and Danner took to Florida about that time, led him to believe that the money could have been delivered in late October 1970. The second delivery, according to Mayhew, occurred at Rebozo's home in Key Biscayne. Mayhew saw the envelope pass from Danner to Rebozo, who opened it but did not count the money. Rebozo then took the envelope, went into another room, and returned in a short time without the
envelope. The only conversation was something by Danner to the effect of, quote, here is the second fifty, end quote. No one else was present, and the three immediately left in Rebozo's car to go out for dinner. 3. Peter R. Mayhew. Peter Mayhew has stated that he transmitted one $50,000 packet to Richard Danner. Robert Mayhew, Peter's father, has testified he instructed him to do so. Footnote. Robert A. Mayhew, Civil Deposition, July 4, 1973, page 1096. As noted in the sections
detailing Robert Mayhew's testimony, there is conflict concerning when Peter Mayhew received this money from his father. End of footnote. And Richard Danner has testified that he possibly received money from Peter Mayhew. Footnote. Richard Danner's Civil Deposition, September 4, 1973, page 48. Danner's recollection is not clear on the event. End of footnote. Peter Mayhew recalled that he received the money at his father's house in 1969 from his father,
who asked Peter to take it because Robert Mayhew's safe was not working at the time. Peter Mayhew stated that the money was wrapped in packets of $50 bills, with a standard bank wrapper around each packet, and that the bills were not new. Peter Mayhew only recalled his father saying, quote,
something to the effect that the money was for political contributions, and to place it in my safe and disperse it at his direction. End quote. Peter Mayhew stated that the source of the money was a silver slipper casino in Las Vegas, which Hughes owned in his own name and used for political contributions. Peter Mayhew took the money home, removed it from the envelope, and put it in his safe. He kept the money for a short period of time, perhaps three weeks,
at which time his father instructed him to deliver it to Danner, explaining, as Peter remembered it, that, quote, Danner was bringing the money to Mr. Rebozo. Mr. Rebozo was going to give the money to Mr. Nixon, end quote. Peter then took the money to Danner at the Frontier Hotel. According to Peter, his meeting with Danner was, quote, extremely short, end quote, and he just, quote, dropped off the money, end quote. He may have told Danner to, quote, have a good trip, end quote. Peter Mayhew
was confident that Danner went to Florida to deliver the money and was sure that his father did not accompany Danner on that trip. Finally, Peter Mayhew, in his staff interview, stated that someone in his father's office gave him a typed sheet of paper to be signed by Richard Nixon, acknowledging Nixon's receipt of $100,000 from Hughes. Danner told Peter Mayhew that Nixon will quote, never sign it, end quote, and Mayhew has been unable to find the document.
4. Thomas G. Bell. According to Robert Mayhew, the second $50,000 contribution was transmitted to Richard Danner by Thomas Bell, a Hughes attorney in Las Vegas. In a select committee staff interview, Bell stated that he was involved in only one delivery of money to Richard Danner, $50,000 delivered at the direction of Robert Mayhew in October of 1970. Bell reasoned that this time was a delivery date by examining the silver slipper disbursement forms and noting that
he delivered the money in one lump sum just prior to the congressional election of 1970, since he had never had as much as $50,000 in the lump sum other than on October 26, 1970, when he withdrew $115,000 from the silver slipper. He stated that this withdrawal was the source of the money for Danner. On the date of withdrawal, he received the call from Robert Mayhew, who, with a great sense of urgency,
said that Hughes wanted the money delivered to Danner. Bell went to the silver slipper, got the money, and immediately delivered it to Danner in Danner's office at the Frontier Hotel.
Bell recalled no conversation with Danner. Bell stated that the same day, or early on the next day, he made a local call to Mayhew to announce that the money had been delivered.
Bell said there were 10 packages of $100 bills totaling $50,000, and that most of the bills were fairly new and crisp. He is not certain whether the money was wrapped at a Las Vegas bank or at the Silver Slipper, but he was certain that the wrappers were initialed and dated. 5. Charles G. Rebozo
Charles Rebozo testified that he had no official fundraising responsibilities with regard to the 1972 presidential campaign when he began to discuss the Hughes contribution with Richard Denner in 1969, but that nonetheless, Rebozo stated to the committee that the $100,000 contribution from Hughes
was received on behalf of the 1972 Nixon re-election campaign. Footnote. 21 hearings, 9955. In addition to Rebozo's receipt of $100,000, which he claims was for the 1972 Nixon campaign,
Records indicate that Hughes contributed $150,000 to the 1972 Nixon campaign, $50,000 of which appeared on the pre-April 7, 1972 list of contributors kept by Rosemary Woods. The remainder was contributed after April 7 and duly recorded. End of footnote. Rebozo's first discussion of the two contributions with a governmental agency took place May 10, 1973, when, according to an IRS memorandum of the interview, he stated that he received the
money on two separate occasions, each in the amount of $50,000, that he could not recall whether he received the first package in Key Biscayne or California, but that he had received one package in each location. The California location was San Clemente. We attempted to zero in on the dates that he received the money. To his best recollection, it was late 1968, or early 1969, and that there were two or three months between each delivery. Mr. Rebozo said he had
been approached by Danner in the fall of 1968, before the election, about a political contribution to Nixon. Rebozo had refused it because he did not think it would be proper. After the election, he was approached again by Danner about the contribution. Rebozo could not remember whether he approached Danner or Danner approached him. As far as Rebozo was concerned, the money was for President Nixon's 1972 campaign. Mr. Rebozo was asked if it could have been for senatorial or
congressional campaigns in 1970. Rebozo stated not as far as he was concerned. What was in Danner's or Mayhew's minds, Rebozo did not know. Rebozo testified before the select committee that, after the 1968 election, Danner occasionally visited Rebozo in Florida and brought up the subject of a used contribution to President Nixon. During these conversations, Rebozo testified he asked Danner why Hughes hired Larry O'Brien and placed Hubert Humphrey's son on the payroll,
if Hughes was generally interested in supporting President Nixon. Rebozo testified that Danner approached him on four or five occasions in 1969 to offer the contribution which, Danner later told Rebozo, was the same money earmarked for the 1968 campaign. Rebozo remembered one instance when Danner appeared at Key Biscayne with $50,000, but Rebozo refused to accept it. Rebozo had no recollection of discussing with Danner using the contribution for polling
purposes in the 1970 congressional elections. First $50,000 contribution. Rebozo testified that, after a number of conversations with Danner in 1969, Rebozo finally agreed to accept the contribution. His rationale was that Danner then had been working for Hughes a couple of years or so. I had come to know Mayhew, whom I didn't know when he first offered the money. Morgan was seemingly out of the picture, and I began to get a little confidence in the fact that maybe this
money could be utilized, and it wouldn't present any embarrassing problems. So it was somewhere after he had been with them for some time, they agreed to take it. After agreeing to accept the money, and shortly before the delivery, Rebozo testified that he talked with Danner, who said he would come to Miami to make the delivery. Rebozo responded that he was, quote, going to be in California next week, and that would save Danner a trip, end quote. Rebozo also recalled
Danner saying at about the time of the first delivery that there would be more than $50,000 contributed, but he did not recall whether Danner mentioned a specific amount. Although he initially told the IRS that he was not sure where the first delivery was made, Reboza later testified that the first contribution took place July 3, 1970, at San Clemente, a conclusion he reached after checking hotel and airline records and talking with Danner.
Rebozo testified that he and Danner met alone at San Clemente, and that during this meeting, Danner gave him a vanilla envelope containing $50,000. Rebozo took the envelope and put it in his bag. He has no recollection of what occurred next, but he and Danner may have visited briefly with the President, or Rosemary Woods.
Second $50,000 Delivery Rebozo testified that the second delivery took place soon after the first, within, quote, a matter of weeks. It could have been three months. I really don't know. I think I saw somewhere Danner had indicated it was in August, and that would be correct, end quote. Rebozo could not recall the discussion leading up to this delivery, and was, quote, inclined to
think that Danner just brought it down to Key Biscayne, end quote. Rebozo testified that he was not certain whether the delivery in Key Biscayne took place at his home or at his bank. Rebozo testified that he is uncertain about any conversation he had with Danner, although Danner may have said, quote, there was another fifty, end quote. Rebozo testified that he did not open the envelope. Rebozo testified that Mayhew, quote, was never there when Danner gave me the money
on either occasion. End quote. End of section 10. Recording by Greg Giordano, Newport Ritchie, Florida.
