Uncle John’s Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader (34 page)

The Patsies

• Although eyewitness accounts suggest there were as many as five gunmen, only three were captured, and only one of those was actually apprehended in the ballroom.

• Gunman Thomas Hagan was shot in the leg as he fled the ballroom and was quickly trapped by the crowd and arrested by police. But it was only after an “intensive investigation” that two others, Norman Butler and Thomas Johnson, were arrested weeks later. Both were “enforcers” for the Black Muslims who were awaiting trial for the shooting of a Muslim defector.

• When Hagan stood trial he confessed to the murder, but he told the court that the other two suspects were innocent: “I just want the truth to be known—that Butler and Johnson didn’t have anything to do with this crime. Because I was there. I know what happened and I know the people who were there.” (
Seven Days
)

• On March 1, 1966,
The New York Times
reported that Hagan “said that he had three accomplices, but he declined to name them. He said he had been approached early in the month of the murder and offered money for the job, but he declined to say by whom....One thing he did know, he said, was that no one involved in the murder was a Black Muslim.”

• Regardless, on April 16, 1966, Hagan, Johnson, and Butler were each sentenced to life imprisonment for Malcolm X’s murder.

Legendary lawmaker Wyatt Earp was kicked out of California for horse-stealing.

The One That Got Away

• There may have been another suspect caught at the scene who mysteriously disappeared. The first edition of
The New York Times
the next day reported that one of the two police officers at the exit “said he ‘grabbed a suspect’ whom people were chasing. ‘As I brought him to the front of the ballroom, the crowd began beating me and the suspect,’ Patrolman Hoy said. He said he put this man—not otherwise identified later for newsmen—into a police car to be taken to the Wadsworth Avenue station.” (
The Realist
)

• That second suspect was never heard from again, and the press did not pursue the issue. In later editions of the
Times
, the story had been changed and the earlier subhead, “Police Hold Two For Question,” had been changed to “One Is Held In Killing.” (ibid.)

• What makes the case of this mystery suspect even more intriguing is that his appearance—”a thin-lipped, olive-skinned Latin-looking man”—matches the description of a man whom Malcolm X had noticed trailing him through London and on the plane to New York one week before his death. (ibid.)

BURYING THE TRUTH

The Films

• According to a February 25, 1965, article in
The New York Times:
“the police were in possession of motion pictures that had been taken at the Audubon Ballroom...where the killing took place.” These films would have been invaluable evidence—but there was no further mention of them by press or police. (
The Realist
)

The Mysterious Death of Leon Ameer

• Leon Ameer was the New England representative of Malcolm X’s group, the Organization of Afro-American Unity—and many believed him to be Malcolm X’s hand-picked successor. On March 13, 1965, he announced, “I have facts in my possession as to who
really
killed Malcolm X. The killers aren’t from Chicago [Muslim headquarters]. They’re from Washington.” (
The Realist
)

• Ameer promised to hold a press conference to reveal evidence proving the “power structure’s” involvement in the killing, including documents and a tape recording Malcolm X had given him.

#1 jukebox song of all time, according to industry sources: “Crazy,” by Patsy Cline.

• The next morning, Ameer’s body was discovered by a maid in Boston’s Sherry Biltmore Hotel. The police announced that he had died of an epileptic fit, but Ameer’s wife contended that her husband had had a complete medical checkup just one month before—“and there was no hint of epilepsy.” (ibid.)

RECOMMENDED READING

• “The Murder of Malcolm X” by Eric Norden (
The Realist
, February 1967)

• “Who Killed Malcolm X?” by Alan Berger (
Seven Days
, March 24 and April 7, 1978)

TALES OF THE CIA

• As the Cold War ended, the CIA decided it needed to project “a greater openness and sense of public responsibility.” So it commissioned a task force. On December 20, 1991, the committee submitted a 15-page “Task Force Report on Greater Openness.” It is stamped SECRET, and agency officials refuse to disclose any of the contents.

• In its war against Fidel Castro during the 1960s, the CIA literally tried to play hardball politics. “The CIA tried to cut off the supply of baseballs to Cuba. Agents persuaded suppliers in other countries not to ship them. (U.S. baseballs were already banned by the trade embargo the U.S. had declared.)” The bizarre embargo was effective. Some balls got through, “but the supply was so limited that the government had to ask fans to throw foul balls and home runs back onto the field for continued play.”

—Jonathan Kwitny,
Endless Enemies

•
Quiz:
What motto is inscribed on the wall of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia?

A) “Keep the Faith”
B)
“And Ye Shall Know Truth and the Truth Shall Make You Free” C)“A Secret Kept Is a Secret Saved”

Answer: B

Four percent of California automobiles have personalized license plates.

Richard Nixon’s “Checkers Speech” was a trademark mixture of self-pity, pathos, paranoia, sentimentality, and attack. It was the most important speech of his life, because it saved his career and made him a national figure. But it was also one of the most important speeches ever made on TV because it established the power of the medium to influence the political process.

B
ACKGROUND

In the summer of 1952, the Republican party nominated General Dwight D. Eisenhower for president and Senator Richard M. Nixon of California for vice president.

Nixon, who’d only been in politics for six years, was clearly the rising star of the Republican party. But in the middle of September, his political career suddenly became endangered. Investigative reporters revealed that for two years, a group of wealthy Californians had contributed $18,000 to a secret Nixon slush fund. Nixon insisted he’d done nothing wrong—the money was simply “to help defray political expenses.” But polls showed that most Americans thought he was a crook, and should give up the VP nomination.

Right or Wrong?

Eisenhower wasn’t sure. He declared in a formal statement he believed “Dick Nixon to be an honest man.” But behind the scenes, his advisors were hotly debating the issue. Was it worse strategy to dump Nixon...or to keep him on and let him drag the whole ticket down?

Eventually, even Republicans began to clamor for Nixon’s resignation. At that point, Ike made it clear that unless Nixon could prove he was “clean as a hound’s tooth,” the veep-to-be would be off the ticket.

After a private meeting with Eisenhower, Nixon announced he would make a nationwide radio and TV address. People wondered whether he would defend himself or resign from the campaign. Nixon wouldn’t even tell his own aides what he planned.

Holy Mackerel: A tuna can swim 100 miles a day.

THE CHECKERS SPEECH

Immediately following the “Milton Berle Show” on September 23, 1952, Senator Richard Nixon took to the airwaves to defend himself. The program began with a shot of Nixon’s calling card. Then the camera focused on the senator, who was sitting behind a desk. Here are some excerpts of what Nixon said:

“My Fellow Americans: I come before you tonight as a candidate for the vice presidency and as a man whose honesty and integrity have been questioned....I am sure that you have read the charge and you’ve heard that I, Senator Nixon, took $18,000 from a group of my supporters. Now, was that wrong? Because it isn’t a question of whether it was legal or illegal, that isn’t enough. The question is, was it morally wrong?...

“Let me say this: Not one cent of the $18,000 ever went to me for my personal use. Every penny of it was used to pay for political expenses that I did not think should be charged to the taxpayers of the United States.”

Paying Political Expenses

“The question arises, you say, ‘Well, how do you pay for these and how can you do it legally?’ There are several ways that it can be done. The first way is to be a rich man. I don’t happen to be a rich man so I couldn’t use that. Another way that is used is to put your wife on the payroll. Let me say, incidentally, my opponent, my opposite number for the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket, does have his wife on the payroll. And has had her on his payroll for the past ten years....

“Now just let me say this. That’s his business and I’m not critical of him for doing that. You will have to pass judgment on that particular point. But I have never done that for this reason. I have found that there are so many deserving stenographers and secretaries in Washington that needed the work that I just didn’t feel it was right to put my wife on the payroll.

“My wife’s sitting over here. She’s a wonderful stenographer. She used to teach stenography and she used to teach shorthand in high school. That was when I met her. And I’m proud to say tonight that in the six years I’ve been in the House and the Senate of the U. S., Pat Nixon has never been on the government payroll.”

Suzuki is the most common last name in Japan.

Here’s What I’ll Do

“Now what I am going to do—and incidentally this is unprecedented in the history of American politics—I am going at this time to give to this television and radio audience a complete financial history; everything I’ve earned; everything I’ve spent; everything I owe. I want you to know the facts. I’ll have to start early.

“I was born in 1913. Our family was one of modest circumstances and most of my early life was spent in a store out in East Whittier. It was a grocery store—one of those family enterprises....I worked my way through college and to a great extent through law school. And then, in 1940, probably the best thing that ever happened to me happened, I married Pat—sitting over here. We had a rather difficult time after we were married, like so many of the young couples who may be listening to us. I practiced law; she continued to teach school. I went into the service.”

The Respectable Cloth Coat

“Now what have I earned since I went into politics? Well, here it is—I jotted it down, let me read the notes. First of all I’ve had my salary as a Congressman and as a Senator....I have made an average of approximately $1,500 a year from nonpolitical speaking engagements and lectures. And then, fortunately, we’ve inherited a little money....

“What did we do with this money? What do we have today to show for it? This will surprise you, because it is so little, I suppose, as standards generally go, of people in public life. First of all, we’ve got a house in Washington, which cost $41,000 and on which we owe $20,000.

“We have a house in Whittier, California, which cost $13,000 and on which we owe $10,000....I have just $4,000 in life insurance, plus my G. I. policy which I’ve never been able to convert...I have no life insurance whatever on Pat. I have no life insurance on our two youngsters, Patricia and Julie. I own a 1950 Oldsmobile car. We have our furniture. We have no stocks and bonds of any type. We have no interest of any kind, direct or indirect, in any business.”

“It isn’t very much but Pat and I have the satisfaction that every dime that we’ve got is honestly ours. Pat doesn’t have a mink coat. But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat. And I always tell her that she’d look good in anything.”

Good guess: The Earth weighs 6 septillion tons.

I’m Keeping Checkers

“One other thing I probably should tell you because if I don’t they’ll probably be saying this about me, too, we did get something—a gift—after the election. A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog. And, believe it or not, the day before we left on this campaign trip we got a message from Union Station in Baltimore saying they had a package for us. We went down to get it. You know what it was?

“It was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that he sent all the way from Texas. Black and white spotted. And our little girl—Trisha, the six-year-old—named it Checkers. And you know, the kids love the dog and I just want say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we’re gonna keep it.”

Just a Common Fellow

“It’s fine that a man like Governor Stevenson who inherited a fortune from his father can run for president. But I also feel that it’s essential in this country of ours that a man of modest means can also run for president. Because, you know, remember Abraham Lincoln, you remember what he said: “God must have loved the common people—he made so many of them.”

I’m a Fighter, Not a Quitter

“Now, let me say this: I know that this is not the last of the smears. In spite of my explanation tonight other smears will be made; others have been made in the past. And the purpose of the smears, I know, is this—to silence me, to make me let up.