Part 2 of 2
[President Richard Nixon] [Whispering] Roberto, when CBS calls...
don't you tell them that I --
Okay.
You just remember what I told you. Okay?
The press and the liberals, they're yellow!
Oh, yes, they hated me...
because they were scared too -- shitless!
Because I was their mess boy!
mess boy
Job Category: Shipboard Officer / Personnel / Crew
Description: The messman's job is not an easy one - his duties are many and varied. He is coffee man, assistant cook, pantry man, waiter, dishwasher, bedroom steward, and porter. He must have in mind, however, that he is training to become a Chief Steward, a position far removed from that of messman in prestige, as well as in responsibility and honor. It is an interesting and highly skilled profession. There are Chief Stewards who are world famous for their ability in supervision and organization and also for their culinary specialties.
The messman who applies himself, who does his work diligently and exerts his best efforts in his learning, has that future before him.
Advancements in the Steward's Department are given to those men who not only are capable of acting as efficient messmen but who are also of good conduct and strong character.
The purpose of this training is not to expend time, effort, and money in turning out men who will always be messmen, but to encourage every man in his studies, so that he may be advanced to a higher position after a few trips to sea.
The messman's duties, in general, consist of the maintenance of officer's quarters and mess-rooms, and the serving of meals. It is to his advantage to know how to wait on tables properly and to prepare salads. Waiting on the crew is another of the messman's duties and he must realize that they are entitled to the same courteous service as anyone aboard.
The messman's personal cleanliness is of great importance. The tidy messman has a healthy body, short fingernails, clean hands, and neat clothing. When serving on tables he does not use strong smelling hair tonics since they may affect a person's appetite."
-- Mess Boy, by MartimeJobs.com
And you know something, Roberto? You are mine!
And you watch out, senor...
because your turn is coming.
All you new guys -- you Cubans, you immigrants --
you'd better watch out for the liberals. Oh, yeah.
The colored found that out when it was too late, that it was the North, not the South --
They'll come after you the way they came after me, and that is what made me: their fear!
And remember this, Roberto -- I knew who I was: nobody.
All they knew was that they didn't want to be me.
So you use 'em -- the press and the liberals. You let 'em use you.
You get in bed with 'em. You fuck 'em! Cuba libre!
[Wheezing Chuckle]
[Switches Clicking]
I still have...
the nightmare.
But it is the American nightmare.
Shit. That's Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam, he's the American nightm --
He's become nothing but a pitiful giant, an old man being eaten alive...
by an army of "Ellsbergers" and, uh... Ralph Naders and Jane Fondas,
all led by Hiss.
Alger Hiss! [Hissing]
And all the Red rats of the Roosevelt -- I mean, the Rosenberg spy gang and the campus crowd --
They're all Jews, you know, every godd -
Look, Lansky and Ratner, they're supposed to be big anticommu --
I mean, even Chotiner -- even Murray, he's a goddamn kike!
Well, the Committee of 100 would not touch any of them with a ten-foot pole.
But when it comes time to hide the bodies in the closet...
oh, yeah, then they pick up the phone and they call Chotiner.
Then he contracts Miami and the Jews.
Well, I beat 'em, the Jews -- almost.
See -- [Sighs]
It was the, um, Committee of 100...
and the China plan people that I, uh --
I -- I couldn't handle.
So that is the reason, Your Honor, that we had to invent Deep Throat...
and use Watergate to, uh...
get out with a pardon...
so that, uh --Because of the, uh --
Oh, God.
Shit!
Shit! Goddamn it!
Where is my mother's Bible?
Oh, yeah.
By that Kissinger shit! [Scoffs]
“American Foreign Policy.
Henry 'Asshole' Kissinger."[Blows Raspberry, Chuckles]
Kissinger, Kissinger, Kissinger!
Look, I don't owe any of them a goddamn cent, much less an apology!
Especially him!
You I owe...
Mother.
Only you.
[Chuckling]
Oh. My, my, my, my, my, my. [Chuckles]
He's got the same -- Just like I've got --
I like that. That's cute.
I like that.
[Stifled Sob]
Oh, no!
[Reading]
"Dear Master...
"The two boys that you left with me...
"are very bad to me.
"Their dog Jim...
"is very old...
"and he will never talk or play with me.
"One Saturday the boys went hunting.
"While going through the woods, one of the boys tripped...
"and fell on me.
"I lost my temper...
"and I bit him.
"He kicked me in the side.
"I started to run.
"When I got home...
"I was very sore.
"I wish you would come home right now...
"Mother.
"Your good dog...
Richard."
"Now I lay me...
down to sleep."
Arthur used to say that little prayer for Mother.
"If I could die before I --"
What the hell are you looking at? Fucking Kissinger!
You Judas son of a bitch!
You wrote that I was praying for guidance after the Watergate...
on the rug that the shah gave me.
Wait until Deep Throat tells the American people the truth about Dr. Shit-ass!
Yes! How Dr. Shit-ass took a fortune from the shah...
and how you and the other guy...
fixed the shah up in New York with a bunch of nice young boys!
That's right, Henry. Deep Throat is going to strike again, and you are going to get yours.
I made you, and I can break you...
you slimy, two-faced...
brown-nosed, ass-licking...
kraut son of a bitch![Blows Raspberry, Laughing]
Mother? I -- Mother, please. Have mercy on me.
Shit! Stop it! Stop this crap, for Christ's sake! Stop it!
Think of something good. Like what? What, what, what, what, what?
Yes, um -- Oh, yes! Um, uh --
Playing "king of the pool" with Bebe down at Key Biscayne at 2:00 a.m.
just splashing around --
Shit! What else? What else, what else?
O -- Oh, yes. Uh, having, uh, dinner at Pompano Beach at the Cork and Screw.
Hobo steaks, ice creams and -- Pistachio, that was --
Aw, shit, shit, shit! [Inhales]
They gave you the Nobel Peace Prize...
and me they called the Mad Bomber!
Look, I had to do it.
I promised to get us out with honor. I could not go soft.
Did you know that I was in Russia...
during the heaviest part of the bombing in Cambodia?
You know, the Russians, they suffered too in the war. They lost 25 million --
And I knelt beside the monuments in Moscow...
and I read the diaries of the children -- the dead children.
Me. Not him, me!
And how they died.
They gave that whoremaster the Nobel Prize...
and me they called freak...
madman, juke, callicak -- [Stammers]
Look, they even said...
that I stole the goddamn silverware out of the White House, for Christ's sake!After they were criticized for taking $190,000 worth of china, flatware, rugs, televisions, sofas and other gifts with them when they left, the Clintons announced last week that they would pay for $86,000 worth of gifts, or nearly half the amount.
Their latest decision to send back $28,000 in gifts brings to $114,000 the value of items the Clintons have either decided to pay for or return.
-- Clintons Return White House Furniture, by ABC NEWS
The mad bomber theory was Henry's idea in the first place...
to scare the North Vietnamese!
And that fat fuck...
is walking around telling everybody that I'm nuts?
[Scoffs] And all the time he thinks that he is, uh,
Napoleon?
Or
Metternich, for Chri -- [Muttering]
Son of a bitch! I --
And then those kids tearing up Washington after Cambodia?
Fuck 'em!
Those kids will not judge me.
I couldn't sleep.
I came down to the Lincoln Monument to talk to the kids. I was so ashamed.
All I could think of to talk about was about football --
Fuck 'em!
Those kids will not evaluate my life!
Because I am a Quaker, goddamn it!
I'm sorry, Mother.
I'm sorry.
My mother always used to say...
that there is no path to peace.
Peace is...
the path.
That's what my mother said.
Roberto...
would you erase everything, please...
back to, uh --
uh, the, uh, Committee of 100, please?
Thank you.
Your Honor...
the Committee of 100, they were, uh... winners.
They were real winners.
[Stammers] Not me. Not yet. I was not -- But, look -- I was not a quitter.
See, the Hiss case was the key...
because the Hiss case proved that I could manage a crisis, that I could save the --
Well, shit, I could save the Committee if I -- I could save the goddamn country --
Your Honor, I would like to talk for a minute, if I may...
about the Hiss case.
If Alger Hiss could look down his Ivy League snoot...
at the House Un-American Activities Committee and get away with it...
then HUAC was through, the Committee was through --
[Stammers] I was sure as hell through!
So what do I do?
I have ten days to prove that Alger Hiss is a high Communist agent...
in our State Department...
or else everybody is going to say that we've been made into a laughingstock...
by a clever psychopath named
Whittaker Chambers...
who has set the Committee up to -- [Stammers] Shit.
"Psychopath," for Christ's sake.
Whittaker wasn't a psychopath. He was a goddamn genius. That's what he was.
As a matter of fact, Whittaker was the only one that I could even --
I think of the two of us, underneath the --
Just...
rocking...
rocking.
Yes? Whittaker?
[Chuckles]
You have been what? A disciple of the devil?
And what are you now? Now you are on God's side?
[Stammers] No, no, no, no. I'm not laughing at you.Whittaker, I know that you're serious.
Because I told you about my mother...
and the Quakers and everything.
Look, Whittaker, I'm going to come over to see you --
[Snickers] Because misery loves company, that's why.
Whittaker, look, we all get low sometimes.
And then we need cheering up. We need to talk to somebody.
You know, man to, uh, uh, uh -- [Stammering]
Straight from the, uh, uh -- I -- Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yes.
I feel that way about you... too.
No, no, look, Whittaker, we are going to use your plan...
because there is no way that we can prove...
that you and Alger Hiss were in the Communist Party at the same time.
But we can prove this: I know I can prove that you and Hiss knew each other.
In fact, that you were very close. That you --
You were both creatures of the Party? And what are you now?
Both creatures of the government.
[Laughing, Stammering] Okay.
Whittaker, look, I think you should get some sleep.
No, no, no, no, listen, listen. This'll help.
"Now I lay me down to sleep --"
Mm-hmm. Uh-huh.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Yes.
Pleasant dreams.
Your Honor...
the Hiss case brought my client national fame.
However, in politics victory is never total.
And as an aftermath to the Hiss case...
I mean, for years afterwards...
my client was subjected to a vicious and utterly unprincipled smear campaign...
in which he was accused of being a liar and a cheat and a thief...
and a pervert --
But the Committee of 100 saw that I had saved the day -- I had.
Alger Hiss? He was in jail for perjury. Whittaker Chambers? He was, uh --
Whittaker was dead.
But I was on top.
I was.
I was on top.
[Stammering]
The, uh, strain -- It was because of the strain...
that I had to, uh, get away.
So I went down to, uh, Bebe's boat in Key Biscayne...
and we talked about it down there, Bebe and I...
and that is where we decided that I should go after Helen Gahagan Douglas...
in the 1950 senate campaign in California.
I -- Helen Douglas, she -- [Chuckles] Remarkable woman.
Strong woman.
Uh, noble-looking.
She was, uh -- There was a -- There was a -- There was a quality of, uh ---
There was kind of an aura – Sh -- She had a -- Th -- Uh --
She was beautiful...
is what she was.
[Whispers] She was very beautiful.
[Stammers]
She was the, uh, kind of woman that I, uh --
Well, I thought that she --
Well, you see, I always felt that Helen -- that she --
I liked her.
I liked Helen.
Shit.
See, I could have beaten Helen Gahagan Douglas...
without any dirty tricks.
But, see, Chotiner and the Committee...
they already had the money coming in from Florida and everywhere.
It's those same jackasses from USC --
the USC rat-fuckers or whatever the hell they called themselves.
Then they paid those students to throw the rotten eggs at her...
and to plant the rumors that she was a Red...
to say that she wore pink panties --
Oh, yes, and that her husband's real name was Hesselstein or Braun or --
Look, I was only 37 years old, for Christ's sake!
I had nothing against Helen Gahagan Douglas.
As a matter of fact, I thought that she was -- To me she was --
But look...
Helen was the leader in the drive...
to take the offshore oil rights away from the big companies, period.
Chotiner and the Committee wanted her dead. I was to be the hatchet man, period.
Okay, Your Honor, so, my idea then, in that campaign...
was to run as, uh, above party.
You know, as a kind of a, uh, Republicrat.
Oh! Yes, yes, yes.
A Republicrat and --
[Chuckling] Yes!
[Singing to the tune: "Happy Days Are Here Again"] The Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds
Atheistic, godless, spying Reds
Hiding under Democratic beds
Ohh
The
Reds The Reds, the Reds, the Reds
The Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds The Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds[Ends singing]
That's what the country believed then, and I believed it too.
As a matter of fact, my platform was...
"I believe in America, and I believe in real estate and...
the Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds --"
The Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds The Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds
[Laughing]
[Clock Chimes Once]
[President Richard Nixon] [Scoffs] I got soft, is what I did.
I let Alger Hiss's wife get away from me because she was a Quaker and everyth --
I learned my lesson, though. Oh, yeah.
You gotta be hard-on. I mean, these women are the worst type --
Dump Nixon. Never --
That's when the goddamn L.A. Times started calling me "Tricky Dick."
And then the cartoons with the stubble and the jowls.
Look, I had feelings too.
My wife, my children, my family, they had to stomach all that crap!
I mean, can you imagine? Making me look like a goddamn tramp!
All right, yes! That's what I am! I'm a tramp!
There I am down in the sewer waiting for my turn...
just like every-fucking-body else!
A slimy slug crawling toward the White House...
down there in the swamp...
where the goddamn Founding Fathers put the White House in the first fucking place.
The goddamn L.A. Times and the Post.
We will get those bastards because they deserve it!
I mean, lording it over the whole country like that.
Look, I was not dumped. Oh, no, no, no, no.
I walked away, but I didn't quit. That's right.
Because I have got the patience. Mm-hmm.
They did not call me Iron Butt in law school for nothing.
Oh, yeah, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh.
Sure. Sure, I drove Pat to her dates with other men before we were married.
And what of it? Nobody dumps Nixon!
And the Times and the Post and the rest of the goddamn country...
they tried to shaft Nixon and the rest of the forgotten Amer --
Even Ike. Ike! Ike tried to get rid of me in '56.
And I said to him, I said, "Shit or get off of the godda --"
Because you listen to this -- Finally, Nixon -- only Nixon could dump Nixon.
Yeah! Hmph.
Fucking tapes! Shit!
The tapes were an invasion of the public's privacy. Not mine! The goddamn public's.
[Chuckles] "Expletive deleted."
For Christ's sake!
The whole goddamn public mind is one great big, fat "expletive deleted"...
as far as the Eastern establishment is concerned.
And, you see, that's why they hated me --
because they hate the ordinary American who lives down there...
in the armpit of this country between New York and L.A.
And the tapes are just one more goddamn set of lies!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
[Scoffs]
Me, a liar?
That's rich, coming from you. Oh, yeah.
Very easy for you...
to take the high road.
But, you see, I couldn't do that.
You delegated. I had to do all the dirty work right from the beginning.
You sat up there and you said, "Can't somebody do something about that Castro fella?"
Look, I heard you say that.
But you understand that it was me that had to go out there and pull the goddamn trigger!
I mean...
you are a hypocrite!
[Scoffs]
Then I answered that goddamn ad...
in that goddamn paper for congressman.
See, from that point on I couldn't even -- I was not even able -- I couldn't --
Fuck. I couldn't do anything.
Well, Your Honor...
they called the tune...
the Committee of 100.
They took me back up there, you know. Oh, yeah. Back up to the Grove.
[Scoffs] No drinks this time.
No, no, no, no, no, no. This was strictly business.
"The American future lies to the East.
"The great free markets of the Pacific Rim...
"are the American destiny.
"Dick, you are going to be president of the United States.
"It is only a matter of time.
"President of the Pacific Rim.
And Taiwan will be yours." [Chuckles]The five waiting men were clearly taken aback when Governor Bill Clinton stepped from the vehicle with his aide, Bob Nash, and led the entourage into the World War II ammunition storage bunker that would serve as the meeting place.
In a low tone, Cathey turned to Terry and said: "Shit! I was afraid he'd show up. That'll certainly upset our agenda. I'm glad Johnson is here. He'll be able to handle him."
The waiting group of five had expected Nash, but not his boss, Arkansas' Commander-in-Chief, Bill Clinton. By his mere appearance, Clinton was risking exposure of his involvement in unauthorized covert operations. But he seemed desperate.
The meeting had been called at Camp Robinson, an Army facility outside Little Rock, to get some problems ironed out. In addition to the governor and his aide, the "guest list" included Max Gomez (Felix Rodriguez), John Cathey (Oliver North), resident CIA agent Akihide Sawahata, Agency subcontractor Terry Reed -- and the man in charge, the one who would call the shots. He called himself Robert Johnson.
Johnson had been sent from Washington to chair this very delicate operational briefing that would hopefully extricate the Agency from its entanglement in what was becoming a messy situation in Arkansas....
Cathey began the briefing.
"Governor Clinton," he said switching to his toastmaster tone, "I'm glad you could attend tonight's meeting with us. We're both surprised and honored. Bobby (Nash) didn't inform us you would be attending ... However, let's get down to it....
Terry viewed this meeting as his initiation into the inner circle. But this impromptu appearance by Governor Clinton, however, would expose Terry to yet more things that he had no "need to know." It would also confirm his suspicions that operations in Arkansas were being run with Clinton's full knowledge....
"Gentlemen," Cathey said, "this meeting is classified Top-Secret. The items discussed here should be relayed to no one who does not have an operational need to know. I repeat Top-Secret. There are to be no notes taken."...
Johnson, Cathey said, was the personal representative of CIA Director William Casey and had been sent to chair the meeting. Casey was too important to show his face, Terry assumed. But he felt honored, and yet surprised, to find he'd been dealing with someone so closely connected to the Director of Central Intelligence, the top of the intelligence pyramid.
"Thank you," Johnson said. "As Mr. Cathey mentioned, I am the emissary of Mr. Casey, who for obvious security reasons could not attend. We are at a major junction of our Central American support program. And I am here to tie up a few loose ends. As you are all aware, the severity of the charges that could be brought against us if this operation becomes public ... well, I don't need to remind you of what Benjamin Franklin said as he and our founding fathers framed the Declaration of Independence ..."
Cathey interrupted. "Yeah, but hanging is a much more humane way of doing things than what Congress will put us through if any of this leaks out." This marked the only time during the briefing that laughter was heard.
"This is true," Johnson replied. "And therefore, Governor Clinton, I'm going to find it necessary to divide this meeting into groups so that we don't unnecessarily expose classified data to those who don't have an absolute need to know. We can first discuss any old business that concerns either "Centaur Rose" or "Jade Bridge", and I think that you will agree that afterwards you and Mr. Nash will have to excuse yourselves ..."
Clinton was visibly indignant, giving the angry appearance of someone not accustomed to being treated in such a condescending manner.
"It seems someone in Washington has made decisions without much consulting with either myself or my aide here, Mr. Nash. And I'd like to express my concern about the possible exposure my state has as you guys skedaddle out of here to Mexico. I feel somewhat naked and compromised. You're right, there are definitely some loose ends!"...
Nash interjected: "Sir, Governor Clinton's concerns are that there may be some loose ends cropping up from the Mena operation in general. As you know, we have had our Arkansas State Police intelligence division riding herd on the project. And that has been no simple task. Even with some of our ASP officers undercover over there, we couldn't have gained any real inside knowledge had it not been for Mr. Reed's ability to report it directly to me. This thing about Barry Seal getting Governor Clinton's brother involved is what's got us all upset. I mean, as we speak, there's an investigation going on that could spill over onto some very influential people here in Arkansas, and people very close to the governor personally ..."
Johnson looked like he was getting irritated. Clinton had not been scheduled to be there and his original agenda now was being discarded.
"Hold on!" Johnson shot back. "Calm down! Mr. Casey is fully in charge here. Don't you old boys get it. Just tell me what has to be taken care of, or who needs to be taken care of, and I'll fix it for you!"
Johnson boasted to the group that Attorney General Edwin Meese, by arranging the appointment of J. Michael Fitzhugh as U.S. Attorney in Western Arkansas, had effectively stonewalled the ongoing money laundering investigations in Mena where the Contra training operations had been centered. It was his impression, Johnson said, that everything was now "kosher" and the "containment" was still in place. Operations "Rose" and "Bridge" had not been exposed because federal law-enforcement agencies had been effectively neutralized. But Johnson said he was now concerned that the "drug" investigation there might expand beyond his control and unmask the residue of black operations.
Now the meeting was starting to turn into a shouting match, Terry quietly observed that Clinton appeared on the verge of losing his well-rehearsed, statesman-like demeanor. Stopping investigations around Mena had helped the CIA and its bosses in Washington, but it had not solved any of the governor's local political problems. And these same problems were threatening to unveil the Mena operations.
It was the spring of 1986, just over a month after Barry Seal's assassination in Louisiana. Clinton was facing a very tough and dirty reelection campaign. His Republican opponent was certain to be ex-Governor Frank White, the only man who had ever defeated Clinton. The newspapers were filled with stories about Clinton's brother, who had been convicted and served time from federal drug trafficking charges, giving White the dirt he needed to launch a serious and damaging political attack.
Roger Clinton had "rolled over" and turned informant, enabling the Feds to begin an investigation of investment banker Dan Lasater, a close personal friend and campaign contributor of Clinton's. This investigation, it was clear, could spill over into Lasater's firm, possibly exposing CIA money-laundering and other possible illegal activities. [1]
The investigation of Clinton's brother had been carried out largely by disloyal state police officials who were backing White, and without Clinton's knowledge, when the inquiry was first initiated. Terry wondered whether a "coup" was building? Clinton was clearly in big political trouble, and his demeanor now was not the cool and composed man people saw on television. Perhaps the CIA and the Reagan administration wanted another "presidente," a Republican one, in its banana republic?
Rumors were also running wild that the bond underwriting business, in which Lasater was a major figure, had been used to launder drug money. In addition, candidate White had another big issue to run with. He would charge later that Clinton was directing choice state legal work as bond counsel to the prestigious Rose Law firm, where his wife, Hillary, was a senior partner. And Clinton had to be fearful that exposure of the Mena operations would be the death blow to his reelection hopes. And, if that weren't enough ammunition, the governor was also facing a possible state budgetary shortfall of more than $200 million.
By his comments, the governor's political problems and his potential exposure were clearly on his mind. Clinton showed his contempt for the young man from Washington as he lost his composure, jumped to his feet and shouted: "Getting my brother arrested and bringing down the Arkansas bond business in the process isn't my idea of kosher! You gents live a long way from here. Your meddling in our affairs here is gonna carry long-term exposure for me! I mean us. And what are we supposed to do, just pretend nothing happened?" He was angry.
"Exactly, pretend nothing's happened," Johnson snapped back. "It's just like the commercial, you're in good hands with Allstate. Only in this case, it's the CIA." Johnson paused, took a deep breath, and continued. "Mr. Clinton, Bill, if you will, some of those loose ends you refer to here were definitely brought on by your own people, don't you agree? I mean your brother didn't have to start shoving Mr. Seal's drugs up his nose and your friend, Lasater, has been flaunting his new wealth as if he's trying to bring you down. We're having to control the SEC and the IRS just to keep him afloat.
"Our deal with you was to help 'reconstruct the South,''' Johnson sniped, using a term Southerners hate, since it reminds them of the post-Civil War Yankee dominance of the South. "We didn't plan on Arkansas becoming more difficult to deal with than most banana republics. This has turned out to be almost comical."
"Bobby! Don't sit here on your black ass and take this Yankee shit!" Clinton yelled at Nash in an appeal for support. "Tell him about Seal bribing those federal agents!" It was getting to resemble a verbal tennis match as volleys were being lobbed, each one with more intensity. From the comment about Seal, Terry concluded that Clinton did in fact have his own intelligence network, too.
"Why, Mr. Clinton, with racial slurs like that, the federal government could terminate educational busing aid here," Johnson wryly shot back. "I thought Arkansas was an equal opportunity employer!"
Nash touched the governor's arm, coaxing him back into his chair.
Johnson continued, "The deal we made was to launder our money through your bond business. What we didn't plan on was you and your token nigger here to start taking yourselves seriously and purposely shrinking our laundry."
"What do you mean by shrinking the laundry?!" Clinton asked still shouting. By now, Clinton's face was flushed with anger.
To the CIA, Arkansas had to be a money-launderers' heaven. To understand why, one must realize that intelligence agencies have the same problem as drug traffickers. To launder cash, a trafficker must either find a bank willing to break the law by not filing the documentation required for cash deposits, or go offshore where reporting requirements are less strict. Like traffickers, once offshore, the CIA must use wire transfers to get their money into the U.S., but at great risk of detection.
The trafficker, having broken the law to make his money, has no legal recourse if his banker double-crossed him. In other words, it's an insecure investment, which pays low interest, if any.
Arkansas offered the CIA something money launderers are rarely able to achieve, a secure business environment containing a banking industry where vast amounts of money move around unnoticed as part of the normal course of business. Through its substantial bond underwriting activities, the state had a huge cash flow that could allow dirty and clean money to co-mingle without detection. All they were lacking was the "dirty banker" to cooperate with them by ignoring the federal banking laws.
And that they found within the Clinton administration. This "banker" was none other than the Arkansas Development and Finance Authority, or ADFA, which was a creation of, and directly under the control of, the governor's office. Its official mandate was to loan money to businesses either already in or coming to Arkansas in order to develop an industrial base for new jobs that Clinton had made the centerpiece of his administration. ADFA, was in effect, a bank making preferred loans.
But, from what Terry had learned from Seal and Sawahata, that was not all ADFA was doing. ADFA, in effect a state investment bank, was being "capitalized" by large cash transfusions that the Agency was taking great pains to hide.
"No paper, no trail," seemed to be the dominate doctrine of the Agency's activities since, by design, cash dropped from an airplane in a duffel bag is not the standard way of transferring money.
ADFA was designed to compete for the profits generated by the bond issues necessary to industrialize Arkansas. The old Arkansas Industrial Development Commission that Clinton had inherited had no money of its own, and was forced to send prospective clients seeking industrial development loans to the established, privately-run investment banking industry in Little Rock. The state could be very selective in its referral business, however, and those who received the state's business stood to profit handsomely.
This insider referral business was alive and well when Terry moved to Arkansas, and he saw Seth Ward's son-in-law, Finis Shellnut, jockey for a position to reap these profits by going to work for Lasater, who was getting the lion's share of the secret sweetheart deals.
Before ADFA's creation, the state sent preferred business directly to investment banking firms like Lasater's. All that was needed for money-laundering was the firm's silence and a source of cash, which, in this case, the CIA provided. The heads of these firms were a coterie of wealthy and well-connected people who got even richer by doing what comes natural in Arkansas, "The Natural State" as it's called ..... dealing incestuously under the table.
Arkansas desperately needed new businesses -- and so did the CIA. It had plenty of black money, but that alone was not enough. "You can't kill an enemy by lobbing dollars at him" was the phrase Cathey had used with Terry to explain the CIA's dilemma of having the monetary resources to fund the Contras, but no legal way to deliver it directly. The Agency was barred by Congress from converting the cash into weapons and training the Contras needed on the battlefield, at least not through traditional Department of Defense suppliers.
Under Director William Casey's plan, the CIA needed other companies that would be a source of secretly-produced weapons that would find their way into the hands of the Contras. These selected businesses needed payment to perform these services for the CIA, and that cash came to them conveniently in a legal and undetectable manner, through ADFA, in the form of industrial development loans backed by tax-free development bonds. The CIA should have been showing a profit through accrued interest on their secured investments. But a problem had arisen. As Johnson had said, the "laundry" was shrinking.
And Johnson was not happy about that as evidenced by the way he was firing back at Clinton. It was apparent that Johnson knew Clinton and his people had not abided by his agreement with the Agency.
"Our deal was for you to have 10 per cent of the profits, not 10 per cent of the gross," Johnson sternly admonished Clinton.
"This has turned into a feeding frenzy by your good ole boy sharks, and you've had a hand in it, too, Mr. Clinton. Just ask your Mr. Nash to produce a business card. I'll bet it reads Arkansas Development and Finance Authority. We know what's been going on. Our people are professionals; they're not stupid. They didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday, as you guys say. This ADFA of yours is double-dipping. Our deal with you was to launder our money. You get 10 per cent after costs and after post-tax profits. No one agreed for you to start loaning our money out to your friends through your ADFA so that they could buy machinery to build our guns. That wasn't the deal. Mr. Sawahata tells me that one of ADFA's first customers was some parking meter company that got several million in ... how shall we say it ... in preferred loans.
"Dammit, we bought a whole gun company, lock, stock and barrel and shipped the whole thing down here for you. And Mr. Reed even helped set it up. You people go and screw us by setting up some subcontractors that weren't even authorized by us. Shit, people who didn't even have security clearances. That's why we're pulling the operation out of Arkansas. It's become a liability for us. We don't need live liabilities."....
Clinton had paused for a moment to ponder Johnson's words. "What do ya' mean, live liabilities?" he demanded.
"There's no such thing as a dead liability. It's an oxymoron, get it? Oh, or didn't you Rhodes Scholars study things like that?" Johnson snapped.
"What! Are you threatenin' us? Because if ya' are ..."
Johnson stared down at the table, again took a deep breath, and paused. It appeared he wanted to elevate the tone of the disintegrating exchange.
"Calm down and listen," Johnson said. "We are all in this together. We all have our personal agendas ... but let's not forget, both the Vice President and Mr. Casey want this operation to be a success. We need to get these assets and resources in place and get them self-sustaining and prospering on their own while we have the chance. This is a golden opportunity. The timing is right. We have communists taking over a country in this hemisphere. We must all pull together and play as a team. This is no time for lone wolves. Mr. Seal is an example of what happens to lone wolves. They just don't survive in the modern world of intelligence.
"I'm not here to threaten you. But there have been mistakes. The Mena operation survived undetected and unexposed only because Mr. Seal carried with him a falsely created, high-level profile of a drugrunner. All the cops in the country were trying to investigate a drug operation. That put the police in a position where we could control them. We fed them what we wanted to feed them, when we wanted to feed them; it was our restaurant and our menu. Seal was himself a diversion. It was perfect until your brother started free-enterprising and now we have to shut it down. It's as simple as that. Mr. Seal was a good agent and it's a shame he's dead. But, hopefully, our new operation will build on Seal's success in sustaining our Contra support effort while goddamn Congress dilly dallies around as the Russians take over Nicaragua."
Clinton just glared back. "That was a good sermon, but what can you specifically do to end this investigation concerning my brother and the bond business?"
"Your brother needed to go to jail," Johnson said staring at the governor. "As governor you should intervene and make things as painless as possible now. As far as the money investigation goes, Mr. Meese is intervening right now. There will be no money investigation. The U.S. attorney's office (in Little Rock) is 'getting religion' as we speak. *
"There may be nothing we can do about your friend Lasater's drug problem. I suggest that he and everyone else caught with their pants down take the bad along with the good and do a little time -- as your brother has. It's a shame. But bartenders shouldn't drink. If some of our people are going to be in the drug business as a cover, they should do as Mrs. Reagan says and 'just say no'."
Johnson had applied the balm and now the massage began.
"Bill, you are Mr. Casey's fair-haired boy. But you do have competition for the job you seek. We would never put all our eggs in one basket. You and your state have been our greatest asset. The beauty of this, as you know, is that you're a Democrat, and with our ability to influence both parties, this country can get beyond partisan gridlock. Mr. Casey wanted me to pass on to you that unless you fuck up and do something stupid, you're No. 1 on the short list for a shot at the job you've always wanted.Then-Vice President George H.W. Bush with CIA Director William Casey at the White House on Feb. 11, 1981. (Photo credit: Reagan Library)
"That's pretty heady stuff, Bill. So why don't you help us keep a lid on this and we'll all be promoted together. You and guys like us are the fathers of the new government. Hell, we're the new covenant."
Clinton, having been stroked, seemed satisfied that the cover-up was expanding to, at least, protect the bond business. Like Lyndon Johnson, Clinton had learned that politics is the "art of the possible." He had not gotten everything he wanted, but he was at least walking away whole.
It appeared to Terry that Johnson had won the debate. Clinton and his administration had no grounds to complain about the Agency terminating its operation. Too many errors had been made. The young governor seemed to recognize he had lost, for now, and didn't want to continue the argument in front of the others.
"Bobby, I guess you and I should excuse ourselves," Clinton said while turning to his aide. "These gentlemen have other pressing business and besides, we don't have a need to know ... nor do I think we want to know."
When Clinton exited the bunker, Terry took a moment to absorb what had happened. Clinton had been treated badly in front of the others. Terry had certainly underestimated Johnson, the man he had sized up initially as a mere errand boy for Casey. His youthful demeanor had been misleading. He was clearly a skilled hatchet man. But Terry felt somewhat embarrassed for the governor. Johnson had effectively neutralized the governor of Arkansas' argument by simply changing the subject, and what a subject it was!
Was he hearing that the presidency is offered to a few groomed men, men groomed by the CIA?Who was this guy, "Johnson," who so easily manipulated Bill Clinton? He made Bill Clinton, on his own turf, appear to be under the control of an invisible force. Up until now, Terry had known Johnson only as the lawyer for Southern Air Transport. He was obviously a lot more than that. He was beginning to take on the mannerisms of a Viceroy and Clinton was certainly showing his obedience to authority and paying the price for fealty. Clinton was compromised....
When Clinton and Nash had gone, the mood changed dramatically. A mood of familiarity returned and only the brotherhood remained. Gomez was the first to speak. The man who was to be in charge of the new operation in Mexico was indignant.
"Presidente Clinton," he said with disgust in a thick Hispanic accent. "Why is it I have more respect for the enemy I've slain on the battlefield than I have for that yuppie kid governor. I've seen everything now. Republicans conspiring with Democrats. Isn't that similar to capitalists trusting Marxists?"
Johnson restrained himself as if wanting to chastise Gomez for not showing proper respect for Clinton in front of the others. "You need to realign your thinking about black and white, good and bad, us and them. Under our new plan we all get along for the advancement of the common goal."
Gomez spit contemptuously on the concrete floor. "Sounds like Mao Tsetung or Lenin philosophy to me!"
Cathey stepped in. "Let me apologize for Max and the rest of us cold warriors here. We're a product of our training, and old hatreds die slowly, if ever. But what we must all come to understand is that communism is our common enemy and not our dislike for one another. We are all hand-chosen by the highest office in the land to be entrusted with this mission. We should all feel honored to be here. Our objective is two-fold. One, to rid this earth of the evil communist element we've been trained to seek out and destroy. The other is to set in place a true self-sustaining and modern black operations division worldwide, as Mr. Casey has envisioned ..."
-- Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA: How the Presidency was Co-opted by the CIA, by Terry Reed & John Cummings
I -- I will never forget Arnold Smith's voice.
"Taiwan will be your trigger finger. Your trigger finger!"
And then somebody -- I forget -- Oh, yes, Chotiner.
He said something in Yiddish, and all those jerks from Miami laughed.
Oh, then Haldeman's father -- the old man --
he whispered in my ear...
"Taiwan is the China plan --
"the shaft, the arrow...
that will plunge into the body of the East."
Well, I was drawing a long bow that night.
I found that out later.
But that night I just...
wandered...
in that redwood forest...
all by myself.
You understand what they told me?
They told me that the China plan would be my Excalibur.
A plan for peace is what they told me, a plan for good, for greatness.
My Camelot!
I could hear those guys out there in the woods...
laughing and singing.
Yes, I knew they were using me. Of course I knew that.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
My life ended that night.
God forgive me.
I mean --
I mean...
there were so many dirty tricks!
I had no one to talk to.
I was getting pressure from above, pressure from below.
[Stammering]
Where's Deep Throat when I need him? I need to leak how they made me do it!
Look, I am not a fool.
I knew that this was the crossroads.
I knew it was either go all the way with the China plan people...
or suffer the consequences.
That's right. I did know that I was signing a pact with the devil out in that wilderness.
Yes, I knew that!
Shit!
See, I can feel Mother's eyes right now beaming down on me.
Stop it, Mother!
Searchlights of truth burning into each crisis in my miserable life!
Mother, do you remember when Harold lay dying in Arizona...
and we fought together, you and I?
Remember, you were by his bedside and I was out barking -- Arf, arf, arf, arf!
I was trying to bring in a little money to help out.
Remember I used to say, "Step right in! Step right in! Win your fortune on the ins --"
And then I'd come home, Mother...
and you would tell me what a good boy I was...
and I would tell you how I wanted to grow up to be Abraham Lincoln.
Mother?
Mother?
Step right in. Step right in.
Meet real men and riches...
and heart's desire...
on the inside!
Mother, have mercy on your little dog. Please.
Do you remember...
your little dog?
Arf?
Arf?
[Guttural] Arf.
[Softly] Arf, arf, arf.
[Stifled Sobs]
I wish you...
would come home right now...
Mama.
[Grunts]
Your Honor, I, uh --
Shit!
All right, goddamn it!
You wanted to hear it.
This is it.
Your Honor...
I did not have a choice.
I mean...
I had to get out.
I had to resign right after the election, get the pardon...
or follow the Committee of 100's orders to prepare for a public mandate.
Now, that is a constitutional amendment. T -- That's right, Your Honor.
A third term for my client.
And whatever happened to me after that, that would've been my problem.
It would've all come out in the end anyway because the Patman Committee --
Congressman Wright Patman and his -- [Stammering]
The American people must understand why I could not level with my lawyers...
and burn the --
They were stabbing me in the back anyway. Fuck 'em!
Patman and his committee...
they were following all this cash that was coming into the Committee to Re-elect the President.
Now, CREEP -- The committee -- had money in, uh --
Well, shit, Taiwan, of course, and, uh -- and Hong Kong...
and, uh -- and Singapore and Rangoon, I -- I --
Millions! Millions of dollars.
All right, Patman, he's a Texas radical, you know, and he is very bright.
He is onto something here and he knows it.
I mean, Your Honor, that money...
was flooding into the Committee to Re-elect the President...
after the president had already been re-elected, for Christ's sake!
I mean, after the biggest landslide in American history in 1972.
And Patman, he's saying, "Why is all this money still coming in to the committee?"
And especially he wants to know, Your Honor...
why all that money is coming in from, uh -- from Asia.
[Stammering] That money was to be used, Your Honor...
to re-elect Nixon in '76.
You know, "Stick with Dick in '76" and all that shit, for Christ's --
All right, the Saigon government is sending back millions of dollars.
I-In the meantime, ol' Henry, he's out there talking about --
I - [Stammers] "Peace is at hand," some shit.
Even I don't know what the hell he's talking about, for Christ's sake.
Okay, the Saigon government is kicking back millions of dollars in U.S. Aid.
Now, understand this -- this is money that we had originally sent to them.
They're sending it back to me and to CREEP.
Now, the Committee of 100 said to me...
that they didn't give a shit if I went to China and got in bed with Chairman Mao.
They didn't give a shit about Communism.
What they told me was this --
They had to have me in the White House for eight more years because it involved --
What else? Money and power.
I mean, millions for the Bohemian Grove guys...
and billions for the Mob...
because of the, uh --
because of the, uh...
heroin.Your Honor...
ladies and gentlemen of the American jury...
your hour has come.
Consider the crisis.
It is the morning after the smashing victory mandate.
November 8, 1972.
My client, Richard Nixon, has just received the word...
from the Committee of 100...
and that word was...
"Here is the plan, Richard."
All right, ladies and gentlemen of the jury...
point one of that plan --
Continue the war in Vietnam...
until 1976...
whatever the cost.
Uh, point two --
Accept a draft in '76...
for a third term.
Or take it.
Point three --
Seal the deal with China against the Soviets...
and then...
carve up the markets of the rest of the goddamn world.
That's it. That's the plan, Your Honor. Period.
Sure, that is the word...
that my client received from his masters.
And you know who they are, too.
All right, Your Honor, what did my client do?
Well, I'll tell you this -- He took the hardest possible way.
He chose to orchestrate the tapes...
like a great drama.
He chose secret honor!
Yeah, sure.
Secret honor.
And public shame.
You know...
I really did...
want to grow up...
to be Abraham Lincoln.
No, no, I did.
But you know what I found out?
I found out that the world is nothing more than a bunch of...
second-generation mobsters...
and their lawyers...
and the P.R. Guys...
and the new-money crooks who made theirs in the war...
and the old-money crooks who made theirs selling slaves...
and phony merchandise to both sides during the Civil --
Look, I didn't want this. I sure as hell didn't look for it.
But that is what I found!And I'll tell you something else -- That is what public life is all about!
And I am not the only one!
And if you can't stand the burnt, then you get the hell out of the, uh --
Y -- You get -- You get out the --
Shit! Fuck! Piss! You know what the hell I'm trying to say, for Christ's sake!
Well, so, I, um -- I, um --
I had to have a way to, uh, leak the tapes.
I-I-I-I needed a deep background source.
[Chuckles] I needed a Deep Throat, is what I --
Look, I had to find a way to destroy that huge '72 popular vote mandate --
Look, I would have been unbeatable in '76. You understand what I --
I did not want to run in '76!
I -- I could not continue...
with this fraud.
I couldn't -- I couldn't go on. I was --
Well, so, um...
Dean, he, uh --
Uh, no. No, no. It was -- It was -- It was not Dean.
It was, uh -- It was Haig.
He, uh -- He carried the ball for me on the tapes...
and he cut Henry off at the pass in Paris --
Then that Judas son of a bitch turned out to be a Rockefeller traitor all the goddamn time!
They knew that I had to go because they wanted their man.
They wanted Ford in there for six more years. [Chuckles]
They would have got him too, except that he had to pardon me...
and thereby destroy his chances for re-election in '76.
Poor bastard. [Snickers, Chuckles]
I -- [Muttering] John Dean, John Dean, John Dean, John --
You know John Dean did me a favor?
I would have had to invent John Dean! [Chuckles]
What the hell. He was young. He had to watch his ass.
I have nothing against John Dean.
As a matter of fact, I like John Dean.
[Chuckles]
No...
I have nothing against any of them...
because we were all small-fry nothings...
compared to the big guys up there at Bohemian Grove.
You know what I did?
I sold my soul at Bohemian Grove...
for shit.
I kissed Rockefeller's ass...
and he shit all over me.
Oh, yeah. That's what they do.
Those Eastern pricks!
They fly from New York to Los Angeles...
shitting every step of the way on all of us!
And they got a million guys down there too. Oh, yeah.
They can send down to Central Casting in Hollywood...
and get some dummy that looks good on the tube --
[Chuckling, Muttering] Mm-hmm!
Some Arrow-collared killer type who --
All right. All right.Wall Street is asking for Agnew?
You know what I did?
I gave 'em Agnew!
[Laughing]
That fucking Agnew!
I mean, he was taking bribes with both goddamn hands, for Chri --
You know what Agnew did? You won't even believe this.
Agnew, one time -- [Chuckling] Fuckin' Ag --
One day Agnew, he took a turkey and $200...
right in the office!
[Laughing]
A live fucking turkey, for Christ's sake!
[Continues Laughing] Fucking Agnew!
You see, they wanted more from me.
They wanted everything from me because I was the hole card.
See, I was the China card.
I was in the middle.
The Rockefeller guys were screwing me from the rear...
and the China Committee big boys had me by the nuts up front.
Look, I had to be very cautious...
because Hunt and Liddy and Krogh and Caulfield --
You know, th – th -- the Watergate -- They're all ex-C.I.A., those guys, you know.
They're ex-this and they're ex-that.
And those bastards, they know where the bodies are buried, see.
So I couldn't just go running in there and do any goddamn thing I wa --
All right, that money...
is still pouring in from Asia!
[Chuckles] And Patman, he -- he's watching all this money --
I mean, it's coming in there...
from Flying Tiger, you know, and, uh, Air America...
[Imitates Plane Engine, Blows Raspberry]
Dropping millions of goddamn dollars!
And Patman, he -- he -- It was coming in from the Bank of Seoul too.
And, of course, always from the Bank of Taiwan.
But Patman, he was so fuckin' funny. Fuckin' -- He -- [Laughs]
Goddamn Patman, he -- he said -- he said -- he said -- he said -- he said -- he said -- he said -- he said -- he said...
"Where the fuck is all this money coming from?"
[Continues Laughing]
I -- I just --
You understand...
what it means...
if they catch me?
It means the, uh --
[Whispers] It means the firing squad.
That's right, Your Honor.
That's what it means.
Make no mistake...
about that.
If they catch me -- Phfft!
I mean, do you think that there would be a pardon...
for the man who kept the war going in Southeast Asia...
in exchange for vast sums of money?
American tax money?
A fortune in blood to be used to purchase a third term for my client?
I mean, Your Honor, the country would have boiled over...
because this blood bribery meant the death of thousands of American boys.
I didn't want that! I didn't --
I mean, for Christ's sake, who the hell wants to go down in history...
as a traitor who took bribes to keep a fucking war going?
[Stammers] You understand then...
why I had to lead the press and the Congress to the tip of the wrong iceberg?
See, I had to leave a little trail of crimes and misdemeanors for them to follow...
so that they wouldn't find out about the treason and stick me in a cage...
like a fucking animal!
I mean, like a...
common criminal.Your Honor...
the prisoner in the dock...
is guilty of one crime only...
and that crime is being...
Richard Milhous Nixon!
I -- I just wanted power.
That's all.
I mean, to be president you have got to have power!
Without power, you can't do -- You can't -- Shit! I --
[Pointing to President Wilson] See, I know that you understand this...
'cause you had power in World War I --
See, when you've got it, it's nothing. If you've got it, it's nothing.
They broke your heart too, didn't they?
With the League of Nations.
You know what they wrote about me?
They said at the end...
that I was running around the White House...
crazy drunk, talking to the pictures on the walls.
Yes, I was.
I was lonely.
I needed somebody to talk to besides a machine.
Mother?
Mother?
Mother, I-I-I just --
I just wanted to be a -- a man.
Not a nothing, not your dog...
but a real man!
Mother?
[Screaming] Mother!
Yes, Mother, I know what I've done!
[Stammers] Mother. Mother.
Just...
tell me who I am.
Tell me what to do... Mama.
What? No, Mother!
I did not elect myself.
They elected me! Not once, not twice, but all my goddamn life!
And they would do it again, too, if they had the chance.
Oh, sure, they said they didn't trust me.
They said, "Let Dick Nixon do it," and I did it!
They said they wouldn't buy a used car from me...
but they gave me the biggest vote in American history.
And then they flushed me down the toilet.
And they wanted me to stay down.
They wanted me to kill myself.
Well, I won't do it.
If they want me dead...
they'll have to do it.
Fuck 'em! Fuck 'em!
Fuck 'em! Fuck 'em!
Fuck 'em!
Fuck 'em!
[Crowd Chanting] Four more years!
Fuck 'em!
Fuck 'em!
Fuck 'em!
Fuck 'em! Fuck 'em! Fuck 'em!
[Crowd Continues] Four more years!
Fuck 'em!
Fuck 'em!
[Crowd Continues Chanting]
Four more years! Four more years!
Four more years! Four more years!
Four more years! Four more years!
Four more years! Four more years!
Four more years! Four more years!
Four more years! Four more years!
[Chanting Fades]
[Static]
[Crowd Cheering, Applauding]
[Crowd Resumes Chanting, Indistinct]
[Chanting, Cheering, Applauding Fade]
**************
Richard Milhous Nixon: PHILIP BAKER HALL
The World Premier of SECRET HONOR was produced by Diane White and Adam Leipzig at the Los Angeles Actors’ Theatre, Los Angeles, California
Bill Bustinell, Artistic Producing Director
Associate Producer: DOUG COLE
Assistant Director: ALLAN NICHOLLS
Stage Manager: JOHN BRIGLEB
Camera Operator: JEAN LEPINE
Camera AssistantL REBE DAUGKE
Sound Mixer: ANDY AARON
Boom Man: DAN GLEICH
Assistant Editor: MICKEY KACZOROWSKI
Sound Editor: BERNARD HAJDENBERG
Re-Recording: PAUL COOMBE, Sound One, Inc.
Gaffer: JONATHAN LUMLEY
Electrician: JOEY FORSYTE
Key Grip: TOM GRUNKE
Grip: HARRY TRACOSAS
Production Secretary: GEORGIA HAMLIN
Production Assistants: JACK KNEY, MAREK ALBRECHT
Music Performed by: CONTEMPORARY DIRECTIONS ENSEMBLE
University of Michigan, School of Music
Conducted by CARL ST. CLAIR
Music Assistant: PRESTON STAHLY
Postproduction Coordinator: MATTHEW SEIG
Filmed at the University of Michigan, Martha Cook Building
ROSALIE MOORE, Director