January 29, 2007

“Watergate Burglar,” E. Howard Hunt was one of the dark shadows that crossed my path in Washington. He died January 23, 2007 in Miami.

By Ed Martin

   One morning I received a call from an attorney on the Senate Watergate Committee, chaired by Sam Ervin of North Carolina. It was a time when the nation was glued to the TV, watching John Dean and hearing that the director of the FBI was expected to “swing slowly in the wind.” I was astounded to hear from the committee.

   He identified himself and then asked me if I had been being “harassed” in my role as Director of the federal Bureau of Education for the Handicapped. I told him, kiddingly, that I had been acting Deputy Commissioner of Education for about 18 months, rather than being fully appointed. Actually, I explained, that was my expectation, not harassment, because I did not want to take a political appointment in the Nixon Administration. The administration wanted to make another appointment, but Republicans and Democrats in the Congress advised them that I had their support.

   Naturally I was curious about the Committee contact and asked why he was asking. He said he could not tell me, but would be in touch in a few weeks. In a few weeks I heard from a reporter from the Washington Post who asked essentially the same question and said he had a letter he would give me when he was cleared to do so. But let’s start at the beginning.

   In 1970 the Bureau made a contract with a public relations firm, “Robert R. Mullen” to help publicize a program designed to provide information to parents of children with disabilities. At that time children with disabilities could be turned away by schools with no recourse and we began a program called “Closer Look” with a memorable address, Box 1492, in Washington. Closer Look had two parts, one was a group who would answer letters and send information to parents seeking education for their children. The second part was the Mullen Company’s job, to create a public awareness campaign for Closer Look using public service ads, news-stories, etc.

   About one year into the contract, Bob Mullen or his Vice President, Robert Bennett, (now the Senator from Utah), called me to say they had hired a former Time magazine reporter, Howard Hunt, to work on our campaign. He was an experienced writer, I was told.

   Harvey Liebergott, who, admirably, wrote the dissertation which earned his Ph.D. in English while working full-time for us, directed the “Information and Recruitment” program, so he was Hunt’s primary contact. Hunt quickly made clear that he was, politically, somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun.

   The New York Times in an obituary of Hunt on January 24, 2007, commented, “Mr. Hunt was intelligent, erudite, suave and loyal to his friends. But the record shows that he mishandled many of the tasks he received from the CIA and the White House.” I might add that he kept that record intact for the Bureau of Education of the Handicapped as well.

   He accompanied us to Miami, where I was to give a major speech before a convention of 5000 special educators announcing a ten-year goal to provide education to every “handicapped,” (the phrase then), child. We were to shoot some photos at a University of Miami center serving children with disabilities. The center was really a health program, not an education one and Howard managed to get lost driving from Key Biscayne to Miami Beach. When we learned, later, of his many experiences in Miami, it only confirmed our views of him. He also captioned one of our “spots” in Cuban dialect Spanish which did not sit well in the rest of the U.S.

   Bob Bennett called one day to tell me that the White House wanted Howard to work over there part-time. I made sure that he was not on our contract payroll on such days and Bennett assured me that would be the case.

   Howard soon told Harvey that he could get Julie Nixon Eisenhower to film a commercial for Closer Look. This was in 1971, more than a year before the next presidential election. Mrs. Hubert Humphrey, the grandmother of a child with a disability, had made a commercial for the President’s Committee on Mental Retardation and so there seemed to be a precedent for this kind of public service announcement.

   Mrs. Eisenhower was gracious and did a fine job. Months passed and the commercial was never finished its clearance in the White House. We asked Hunt, who said it was “in the works.” Finally around May, Hunt wanted the commercial to air. I said, “No.”

  I felt it was too close to the election and the Bureau would be criticized for using funds for children with disabilities to help hype the Nixon campaign.

  Howard got people in the White House to pressure the Commissioner of Education, Sidney Marland, my boss. Sid spoke with me and I explained that the timing was wrong and that we would release it after the election.

  The pressure intensified and I called Bob Bennett. Bennett’s father, Wallace, was then the Senator from Utah, and I suggested that releasing this commercial was a political mistake, something that Jack Anderson or another reporter would see as a misuse of government funds. I suggested a friend at his father’s office call off the White House.

  That did not happen, or at least not effectively. Sid told me he had a call from presidential assistant, John Ehrlichman, insisting. I refused again, telling Sid that if he wanted to ok it he could, but if Congress asked me, I would have to say I advised against it.

  I called Bennett and he asked if I wanted him to fire Howard. I said that what I wanted was a public relations firm that did not get me and programs for the handicapped in trouble with the White House and Congress, but firing Howard was up to him.

  Commissioner Marland told me he felt he had to release the film. It was June, 1972 and the next day, E. Howard Hunt became a featured player in the Watergate story. The film was not released.

  Investigative reporters from L.A. to N.Y to say nothing of the Washington Post arrived in my office to find out what Howard was doing in our employ, however indirectly. They found a record of the Julie Nixon Eisenhower film in the White House marked, “Campaign 1972” an ambiguous title, perhaps the real “Campaign” or perhaps our little public service campaign.

  Now to the Ervin Committee. John Dean turned over to the committee various documents including one from Charles “Chuck” Colson, head of “dirty tricks” in the White House. Colson’s memo said approximately, “I heard from Howard today, the first time since he was arrested. He wants us to take discreet reprisals against Ed Martin and his “faithful understrapper Harvey Liebergott, who are liberal Democrats of the McGovern stripe or worse.”

  Hunt felt Bennett fired him after his arrest, before due process, at my request. Bennett did not; in fact he called me to tell me he was “suspending” Howard. As it turned out the Mullen company was a CIA front and he was trying to keep the lid on, but failed. He left for Hughes Aviation, another firm with close CIA ties, and ultimately became Senator.

  I received a copy of the Colson memo from the Washington Post reporter.