Drew Phipps Wrote:I have "Crosstrails," and I have promised Harry a review of same, but haven't had time to do it justice lately. Harry's main thesis is that the Church of Latter Day Saints, thru its political organization the Birch Society (there are several common founding/important people in common) had JFK killed. As you can see from his remark above, he sees the LDS as using both conservative and liberal groups to advance its agenda.

I will have a review as soon as I can.

Drew Phipps Wrote:Here is my long overdue review of Harry's manuscript "Crosstrails":



Harry Dean's "Crosstrails"


Harry Dean's "Crosstrails" is an unpublished manuscript with a kaleidoscopic view of the author's life. The manuscript contains tales of his childhood, young adult life, and his adult life, mixed with Harry's original poetry, family history (back beyond the American Revolution), newspaper clippings, and most poignantly, scrapbook photographs and vignettes about the tragedy of his son York's death, and the struggle of his family to come to terms with that event. I am supposing that the manuscript is written primarily for his family; and, perhaps, is Harry's way of having a permanent presence in his sundered childrens' and grandchildrens' lives. I am neither competent nor interested in evaluating the poetry he writes, other than to say that every verse seems heartfelt and intensely personal.


The portion of the manuscript which seems of most interest to the readers of this forum concerns events of American history in which Harry himself played a role, namely, Cuba and the JFK assassination. Harry was a card-carrying member of the 26[SUP]th[/SUP] of June Movement (supporting Castro's revolution) when he was approached by the "US National Security Intelligence" (I am unaware of any organization with that name, but perhaps I am reading Harry too literally here) to infiltrate that Cuban organization, and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. It is documented from declassified CIA and FBI files (available on the internet) that Harry did, in fact, "infiltrate" and inform on those organizations (becoming the Secretary of the Chicago branch of the FPCC), though the alphabet organizations in question suggest that Harry was volunteering his services and information. They even go so far as to say that he was discouraged in this pursuit. Harry disagrees.


Harry claims to have gone to Cuba in June 1960 and met with Castro, and his manuscript contains copies of documents that support a Cuba visit. While he was in Cuba he was both imprisoned and also received a permit to travel across Cuba, though he does not discuss where in Cuba he went in the manuscript. Harry claims, after his return to the USA, responsibility both for saving the lives of American "raiders" Leonard Schmidt and 2 others, by way of persuading Havana to spare them (though Morgan was subsequently killed by Castro), and sole responsibility for the sabotaging of Kennedy's post-BOP 35 million dollar "tractors-for-prisoners" proposed exchange. How he accomplished these feats is not described in the manuscript, however, Harry tells me that it was through his contacts with the FPCC and the 26[SUP]th[/SUP] of June Movement. He also claims, upon his return to the USA, to have told the CIA/FBI that the people of Cuba would not support an uprising against Castro; sadly, such a warning went unheeded. Harry has been reticent to speak in detail about his exit from a Cuban prison or the manner of his return to the US, and no further details are made available in the manuscript.


Harry's letter of 11/17/63 to J. Edgar Hoover, has been touted by others in the past as Harry's attempt to warn the FBI of the coming assassination attempt. Crosstrails contains a partially redacted copy of that letter, but upon close reading, appears to be more of a complaint to Hoover, that Harry was "outed" as an officer of the FPCC in the government published records of the Eastland FPCC hearings in 1963, and the dire peril in which Harry felt he was exposed by the official publication, than any sort of warning about the assassination. Perhaps an unredacted copy of that letter would prove me wrong.


Harry was also briefly a suspect in the assassination, quickly cleared by the FBI. (They initially suspected that it was Harry Dean that was photographed leaving the Russian and Cuban Embassies in Mexico City, but agents that knew Harry put that suspicion to rest.) But, a careful reading of Harry's manuscript suggest that the FBI may have been a bit hasty in dismissing him; or perhaps the FBI had other reasons to close the book on Harry. Harry claims in his manuscript, and also during his unaired TV special, that he reported the scarce details that he knew to the FBI. (Such information, however, is not contained in the declassified FBI and CIA files.) However, Harry claims that the other conspirators divulged mis-information about the timing and location of the attack to him and others, which mis-information caused the FBI and Secret Service to concentrate "350 agents" at the Trade Mart, as opposed to along the motorcade route. Subsequent and thorough investigations over the last 50 years have failed to uncover even a rumor of such a Trade Mart warning, nor did the FBI and SS pack the Trade Mart with their agents.


Harry further writes that he was part of a group of people that knew in advance of the President's assassination, and even knew that Oswald had been selected as the patsy: "None of us objected, and found it humorous to frame a communist. I quietly considered it as goofy as the weird, but hazy, arrangements to kill the President." Harry also claims to have gone to a meeting with the prime organizer of the plot to pick up money for the operation. If all this material in the manuscript is true, his level of participation in the plot would certainly be considered part of a murder conspiracy, and probably treason. Harry, however, feels compelled to speak out, as the unfortunate tragedy of his son York's death and the subsequent failure of the California authorities to adequately investigate it, have impelled him to bring forth his information.


Harry's theory, in short, is that the John Birch Society is the political arm of the Church of Latter Day Saints, and was responsible for ordering and carrying out the assassination of JFK. Harry names Guy "Gabby" Gabaldon as the prime organizer of the event, and Gen. Edwin Walker as both the selector of Oswald as the patsy, and the supplier of riflemen from his former command, the 24[SUP]th[/SUP] Infantry from Germany (though it might be noted that Caulfield in "General Walker" says that Walker would have had access to both the Minutemen and paramilitary types from the American Volunteer Service). Congressman John Rousselot is said to have provided funds to Gabaldon. John Howard and Loran Hall are said to have driven Oswald to Mexico City to meet first with Gabaldon, who posed as a CIA agent to obtain Oswald's unwitting cooperation in a fake "CIA operation," and later to Sylvia Ortiz's apartment in Dallas (Howard and Hall deny travelling with Oswald and claim their companion in Dallas was William Seymour). The Mexico City part of Harry's theory pre-dates by a decade, but fits in nicely with, recent skepticism about the evidence connected with Oswald's alleged bus ride to Mexico, but the manuscript lacks any independent documentation.


It is certainly true that the John Birch Society contained prominent Mormons in its early stages, notably Ezra Taft Benson, and Robert Welch. Welch made it clear that, in the JBS, he wanted a "secret, monolithic organization" that would "operate under completely authoritative control at all levels". Harry quotes Robert Welch post-assassination from Dec. 1963, "We have become very much a part of the cast, therefore, in the final act of this gory performance." However, the John Birch Society also contained any other number of right wing fanatics, including Fred Koch, an American businessman that built factories for the Nazis (and, yes, the father of THOSE Kochs), Gen. Edwin Walker (who lost his command for indoctrinating his troops with Bircher literature), H.L. Hunt, C. Murchison (who both stood to lose millions of dollars annually if JFK removed the federal oil-depletion-allowance tax credit), and many others. In Dallas, JD Tippet worked weekends at the Dallas restaurant "Austin's Barbecue" frequently used for JBS meetings. Jon Thomas Masen was a JBS member who was one of two Dallas gunsmiths that carried 6.5 mm Western Cartridge ammunition for the Carcano, and indeed (according to the FBI) the only Dallas gunsmith that could custom make non-full-metal-jacketed rounds for the Carcano rifle. The "Welcome to Dallas" ad was a work partly created by Joseph Grinnan, a JBS member, and the "Wanted for Treason" posters made by Robert Surrey, a close associate of Edwin Walker's. It is therefore my strong suspicion that, assuming the JBS was involved, that the Church of Latter Day Saints itself was not the driving force behind these other interested parties.


Harry Dean has been the subject of researchers for 50 years. Author W.R. Morris discovered Harry in the 70's, after he heard the tale of a man who laid flowers at Oswald's grave every year. Morris got a TV interview for Harry with Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow" show in New York City, where Harry (who wore a mask to the interview) blames the Birchers. The interview did not go well, with Morris attempting to interject his own research, and the show was never aired. Harry and Morris subsequently had a falling out over Morris' attempt to commercialize Harry's story, and Morris wound up writing some sort of wildly exaggerated short work called "The Secret Papers of Harry Dean," which, despite being silly, pretty much permanently ruined Harry's reputation as a source of information for serous researchers. However, recently, Caulfield devotes most of a chapter to Harry in his opus "General Edwin Walker," which, despite its size and repetition, I suggest reading to anyone who believes that right-wingers may have been involved in the assassination.


I am also intrigued about Harry's assertion that the delay of the United States's entry into WW2 was not motivated by isolationism or lack of public support, but by a Machiavellian calculation that it would be in the US' interest to allow the British Empire to crumble, clearing the way for the US to assume Britain's role in the post-war world. Harry provides no evidence, but I am certain that other authors might have trod this particular path.


It is my conclusion that Harry Dean has played more than an insignificant role in these events; however, it is also my opinion that the mighty currents of history that have swirled around him in his life, have not in fact been directed by him, nor impeded by his presence, in any way other than to simply affect the lives of him and his family. Nor do I agree with his conclusion that the Church of Latter Day Saints is either involved with the assassination, nor is it the prime mover in the "deep state" or the "secret government." For one thing, we do not live in a "Handmaiden's Tale"-esque society. Much of our recent history is incompatible with the Mormon Church like gay marriage, legalized marijuana, etc. We had a chance at a Mormon President three years ago and Romney failed. Harry says that Dick Cheney is a Mormon, too, so maybe we got a little too close to having one in 2001. No state, not even Utah, has re-legalized polygamy. Based on active public litigation, Mormons do seem to attempt total control over their communities, but even then, apparently, fail to control access to the judicial system. (In two recent lawsuits it is alleged that two Mormon communities denied water, utility hookups, and police protection, to non-Mormons. The rest of America seems free of that stultifying practice, but maybe the Mormon communities are simply too small to attract much attention.)


I think it would be a mistake, however, to discount the John Birch Society as an active player in the assassination. There are far too many players active in that Society with suspect motives, and indeed too many Dallas John Birch members whose lives and stories intersect the death of JFK for us to discount their involvement. I won't belabor the point with a long list, but, as Harry notes in his manuscript, even Jack Ruby, when sworn in before the Chief Justice of the United States, claimed their involvement, even though such a claim was completely inconsistent with his trial defense.


Crosstrails is more about the journey of a man who has lead a fascinating life, than a well-documented look into the JFK assassination. Sailor, militiaman, deserter, pilot, husband, rebel, publisher, prisoner, sherriff, revolutionary, UFO witness, friend of a grieving mother, informant, saboteur, diplomat, spy, traitor, poet, widower, and father, Harry Dean has been blessed, or cursed, with a very interesting life. His revelations seem sincere, although I can't be sure his conclusions are correct. I'm going to leave you with one of Harry's poems, as it seems fitting:

Life seized by mortality
Is but fabled glory
An error in disguise
Of infinite reality

Escape this dark deceiver
Of false and mortal fate
Claim the great redeemer
In this life eternal.

*******
Thank you Harry, for sending me your manuscript and giving me your permission to review it. I hope that folks will express an interest in your story and attempt to cross reference it with other researchers such as Brussels, Caulfield, and others.

Quote:In our last issue of The Salt Lake City Messenger we pointed out some interesting facts that seem to point to a relationship between the Mormon Church and the CIA. For one thing, we proved that a company which handled international public relations for the Mormon Church was used as "an overseas cover for CIA activities." (Newsweek, July 15, 1974, page 29) This was the Robert R. Mullen and Company. Mr. Mullen is the same man who wrote a book entitled The Latter-day Saints : The Mormon Yesterday and Today. This book is obviously written in defense of the Mormon Church.
Robert Bennett, a prominent Mormon who is the son of Wallace F. Bennett, bought the Mullen Co. in 1971. The notorious Howard Hunt worked under Bennett at the Mullen Co. at the very time the Watergate break-in took place. In fact, the Watergate conspirators met and discussed plans for the burglary in the Mullen Co.
Since the publication of our last Messenger, the Rockefeller Report on the CIA has been issued. It tends to confirm much of our research. The following is taken from that report:
In April 1970, E. Howard Hunt retired from the Central Intelligence Agency after having served in it for over twenty years. With the help of the Agency's External Employment Affairs Branch, he obtained a job with Robert R. Mullen and Company, a Washington, D.C., public relations firm. The Mullen Company itself had for years cooperated with the Agency by providing cover abroad for Agency officers, carrying them as ostensible employees of its offices overseas.
Hunt, while employed by Mullen, orchestrated and led the Fielding and Watergate break-ins and participated in other questionable activities. The Mullen Company had tangential associations with some activities of the White House staff. . . . Robert Mullen had, however, for many years cooperated with the CIA by making some of his overseas offices available at different times as a cover for Agency employees operating abroad. The existence of Mullens' relationship with the CIA was, of course, kept secret to protect the secrecy of the cover arrangements and this led to complications when, after Watergate, the Mullen Company came under investigation. . . .
Eight months after Hunt was hired by the Mullen Company, Robert Bennett joined the company. Bennett, the son of Senator Wallace Bennett (R-Utah), had been active in Republican Party affairs . . . His political connections led him to be involved in some of Hunt's later activities, discussed below. . . .
Bennett brought Hughes Tool Company (now Summa Corporation) as a client to Mullen. He had met Hughes representatives while at the Department of Transportation. Later in 1971, he introduced Hunt to representatives of Hughes and various contacts occurred which are discussed further below. (Report to the President by the Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States, U.S. Government Printing Office, June 1975, pages 173-176)
On pages 193-197 of the Rockefeller Report we find the following:
Hunt had dealings with the Agency in the summer and fall of 1971 in connection with the White House projects previously discussed. And he continued to be employed by Mullen, which had a CIA relationship, and to be associated with Bennett in several projects with political or espionage overtones. . . .
During the period preceding Watergate, Hunt continued to be employed by Mullen Co. and was in regular contact with Robert Bennett, its president. Mullen continued to provide cover for CIA officers abroad and Bennett and Hunt had a few meetings with the case officer respecting these arrangements. . . .
At one time Hunt approached Bennett with a proposal to obtain the assistance of the Hughes organization for a burglary in Las Vegas to secure purported information about Senator Muskie. . . .
During this period Bennett was asked by Hughes' attorneys to get a bid for surveillance of Clifford Irving, who was then writing a book describing his earlier preparation of the fraudulent Hughes biography. Hunt got an estimate from James McCord and gave it to Bennett who passed it to the attorneys. They rejected it as too high.

MISSIONARIES AND THE C.I.A.

The Washington Star for July 23, 1975, reported the following:
Almost from its inception in 1947, the CIA has used religious groups both as a source of information and as a conduit for funds. CIA spokesmen declined to discuss the CIA-church connection in any detail . . .
Sources said the CIA dealt with religious groups in Latin America, Africa, Asia and elsewhere.
A spokesman for the Senate select intelligence committee said the panel's staff is investigating complaints that the CIA has had improper dealings with missionaries.
In the Salt Lake City Messenger for Jan. 1975, we suggested that the Mormon Church could provide a perfect cover for the CIA agents:
Since the Mullen Company [the firm which handled the Mormon Church's public relations] was used as a cover for the CIA, a question concerning the involvement of the Mormon Church with the CIA naturally arises . . .
The Mormon Church's world-wide activities and mission program could provide a perfect cover for CIA agents, but at the present time we have no evidence that this is actually the case. We do know, however, that the Church provides many men for the CIA. Writing in the New York Times for September 16, 1974, Wallace Turner states: "Many Mormon scholars work on contracts for the C.I.A." We recently asked a man who had taught at Brigham Young University if he had any reason to believe that the Mormon missionary program is used as a cover for CIA agents. He replied that he did not, but he went on to state that many missionaries are later recruited to CIA work. He felt that the missionary program provided good training for CIA agents. The missionaries are taught absolute obedience to authority and many of them learn foreign languages as well.
On Feb. 22, 1975, an employee of the CIA sent us a letter in which he stated:
Thank you for your current "Messenger." As usual it is very informative.
I am currently employed with the Central Intelligence Agency and can attest to the fact that the Agency has been very fruitful in hiring Mormons, especially former missionaries.
In my section they are four . . .
I'm sorry I do not have any vital information other than what I just told you. I would appreciate it if you would keep the above information in your confidence as to not using my name. I do not feel that I have given you any secret information but people can sometimes make something out of nothing.
We tried to get this CIA employee to tell us how large his "section" is, but he would not answer.
While this letter confirms the hiring of "former missionaries," it does not answer the question as to whether the missionary program itself is ever used as a cover for CIA agents. There is, however, a book which may throw important light on this subject. It is written by Patrick J. McGarvey, a man who worked for the CIA for a number of years. This book is entitled C.I.A.: The Myth And The Madness. On page 57 of Mr. McGarvey's book we find this very revealing information:
Lately, CIA uses what they call "deep cover." Men usually accept such tours for seven-to-nine-year periods, and all traces of American governmental or commercial connections are kept to an absolute minimum. They blend into the local landscape and perform only discreet tasks for the Agency. . . . Deep cover knows few bounds. CIA has a surprising number of Mormon Church members in its employ, and the fact that many of these men had spent two years in a Mormon mission in Latin America or the Far East is not overlooked by CIA. A friend found himself back in the Mormon mission in Hong Kong after his training. (C.I.A.: The Myth and The Madness, Maryland, 1974, page 57)
According to the Salt Lake Tribune for June 28, 1975, Mormon Church President Spencer W. Kimball said there are now 20,160 missionaries in 133 missions. It is very unlikely, however, that the CIA would use a large number of Mormon missionaries while they were still serving on their missions. For one thing, most missionaries would be too young to be trusted with such important responsibilities. Then, too, if very many were used, it would soon become generally known and the cover would not be effective.
The CIA would naturally be drawn to the Mormon missionary who has learned a foreign language and has had some experience in a foreign country. If the CIA already has a "surprising number" of Mormons in its employ, they will probably have a great many more in the future because the Church plans to have the "language center of the world" to train missionaries at Brigham Young University. In the BYU alumni paper we read:
It's a profound combination: take BYU and add a multi-million dollar language center designed to teach at least 20 languages to 22,250 missionaries each year. The result is, as one observer conjured, the "language center of the world." (Brigham Young University Today, August, 1974)
Speaking of the CIA, Tad Szulc states:
"An enormous sense of loyalty develops within this elite corps, and this also leads to an unquestioning acceptance of orders from above." (Compulsive Spy, page 33)
The Mormon missionary is certainly trained in this type of absolute obedience to authority. In the ward teacher's message for June 1945 we find these statements:
Any Latter-day Saint who denounces or opposes, whether actively or otherwise, any plan or doctrine advocated by the "prophets, seers, and revelators" of the Church is cultivating the spirit of apostasy. . . . Lucifer . . . wins a great victory when he can get members of the Church to speak against their leaders and to "do their own thinking.". . .
When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done. When they propose a planit is God's plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give direction, it should mark the end of controversy. (Improvement Era, June 1945, page 354)
Heber C. Kimball, First Councilor to Brigham Young, made these statements:
. . . learn to do as you are told, . . . if you are told by your leader to do a thing, do it, none of your business whether it is right or wrong. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, page 32)
If you do things according to counsel and they are wrong, the consequences will fall on the heads of those who counseled you, so don't be troubled. (William Clayton's Journal, page 334)
It would certainly be easy for a Mormon to extend this type of thinking from Church leaders to government leaders.

CIA & the Church's Educational System

In the last Messenger we reported that a man who had taught at the Brigham Young University told us that the Church's educational system contains a large number of men who have been involved in the CIA or FBI. We now have evidence that even the Church's commissioner of education, Dr. Neal A. Maxwell, has been connected with the CIA. In the Brigham Young University's paper The Daily Universe we found the following:
Dr. Neal A. Maxwell, Church commissioner of education and regional representative to the Council of the Twelve, . . . was a legislative assistant to Senator Wallace F. Bennett and served for two years with the United States Central Intelligence Agency. (Daily Universe, Feb. 23, 1971)
Dr. Maxwell not only serves as Church commissioner of education but as an assistant to the Twelve Apostles. The Salt Lake Tribune for June 7, 1975 said that "He is commissioner of the educational system of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and an assistant to the Council of Twelve Apostles." Dr. Maxwell worked at the University of Utah sometime between leaving the CIA and accepting his call from the Mormon Church. Some people at the University of Utah seem to have been suspicious that Dr. Maxwell had not completely severed his contact with the CIA. We do not know whether there is any truth to this accusation, however.
In the last issue of the Messenger we stated:
There can be little doubt that the Church's Brigham Young University provides many men for the CIA. . . .
The Brigham Young University's Daily Universe reported the following on Nov. 7, 1974:
An expense paid trip to the nation's capital and a monthly salary of $780 from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), provided BYU law student Dale Storer with an "interesting experience" last summer. . . . Storer spent the summer in Washington D.C., doing research for the CIA . . .
He said there are many opportunities to work with the CIA and urged students wishing to gain more information to contact Dr. Lawrence G. Woodward, coordinator for cooperative programs.
In the same issue of the Messenger, we cited the following from a letter:
. . . I did have a professor at BYU who had been first a member of U.S. Army Intelligence (Korean War), and later an employee of the CIA . . . and he never made any secret of it. . . . I also had a roommate at BYU who is now and has been for some time a covert agent (a "007") for the CIA, . . .
After publishing this information we had a very interesting thing happen. The very man who was a "covert agent" for the CIA visited our bookstore. After conversing for some time, he made some statements concerning his friends and travels which led us to suspect that he was the "covert agent" mentioned in the letter cited above. We confronted him with these facts, and he frankly admitted that he was the man. He stated that he had served on a mission for the Mormon Church. Later he worked in the language department at Brigham Young University where he was recruited by the CIA. He served as a covert agent for the CIA, but he was unable to adjust to the double life. He claimed that he finally left the CIA altogether, and he asked us not to reveal his name. He seemed to be disillusioned with both the CIA and the Mormon Church.

HUGHES AND MORMONS

Although the Rockefeller Report says that the Mullen Co. had "a number of clients having no known relationship to the CIA," it does concede that "various companies who were clients of the Mullen firm may in turn have had relationships with the CIA, . . . (Report to the President by the Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States, pp. 174, 176) In our last issue of the Messenger we stated the belief that at least three clients of the Mullen Co. had some involvement with the CIA. (We feel that this list can be increased to six, and we have deep suspicions about some of the other clients.) Two clients which we mentioned in the last issue were the Mormon Church and Howard Hughes. The relationship between these two clients is a story in itself, but when we add the involvement of the CIA it becomes even more intriguing.
Robert Bennett, the Mormon who bought the Mullen Co., is the same man who brought the Hughes account to that firm. On page 176 of the Rockefeller Report we read: "Bennett brought Hughes Tool Company (now Summa Corporation) as a client to Mullen. . . . Later in 1971, he introduced Hunt to representatives of Hughes . . ."
After the Watergate break-in was discovered, Robert Bennett found himself faced with the possibility that his activities would bring embarrassment to both the Mormon Church and the CIA. Therefore, he did his best to cover-up the relationship between his company and the CIA and the fact that a Brigham Young University student had been involved with Howard Hunt in his conspiracy to bug the Democrats (see Salt Lake City Messenger, Jan. 1975). Bennett's cover-up proved unsuccessful and the Mullen Co. was brought to ruin. It is interesting to note, however, that Robert Bennett is now working for Hughes:
Robert Bennett . . . said that the Mullen company went out of business last June and three months later he moved to California to become director of pr for the Sum[m]a Corp., wholly owned by Howard Hughes, to handle his corporate activities. (Advertizing Age, Feb. 3, 1975, page 1)
We first began to suspect Hughes' relationship with the CIA when we read the following statement in Senator Baker's Report:
CIA records indicate that Agency consideration was given to utilizing Mullen's Hughes relationship for a matter relating to a cover arrangement in [South America], and to garner information on Robert Maheu. ("The Baker Report," page 8)
The depth of Hughes' involvement with the CIA really began to come to light sometime after a burglary was reported at the Hughes' headquarters. As the story unfolded it became apparent that the recovery of a Russian submarine was involved:
The Times early last month was the first to report that the CIA, using a revolutionary ocean mining craft purportedly owned by Howard Hughes, had recovered a Russian submarine. . . .
The CIA obtained Hughes' permission to use the billionaire's ongoing ocean mining venture as a front to cloak the true nature of the operation. (Salt Lake Tribune, March 19, 1975)
Howard Hughes has had two objectives which are of particular interest to us here: First, to establish a relationship with the CIA. Second, to staff his organization with a large number of Mormons. Mr. Hughes seems to have succeeded very well in both areas.
Noah Dietrich, the man who "took control of Hughes Tool and who guided the destiny of the entire empire for over thirty years," has written the following:
The early years of the 7000 Romaine message center brought the Advent of the Mormons.
"I think Mormons as a whole have the most integrity of any group of people in the country," Howard told me. "They take care of their own people, and they won't accept help from charity or the government. And I like the idea that they don't drink liquor. You can trust them."
Howard began staffing the message center and the fleet of Chevrolets exclusively with Mormons. (Howard: The Amazing Mr. Hughes, page 218)

SO-CALLED "MORMON MAFIA"

Some of Hughes' closest aides are sometimes referred to as the "Mormon Mafia." In his secret executive session testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee, page 68, Howard Hunt spoke of the "Mormon Mafia." In an article published in Time on Jan. 24, 1972, we read of "the 'Mormon Mafia'the secretary-nurse-assistants who attend Hughes round the clock. . ." Wallace Turner give the following information concerning the so-called "Mormon Mafia":
The guys you have to talk to are the five who live with him and are the only ones who ever see him. You might as well have a chat with the Sphinx. These guys are hired and paid by Frank W. (Bill) Gay, who was a young Mormon student at U.C.L.A. when Hughes hired him. . . . It was Gay who built up the security capsule that still surrounds Hughes. . . .
Hughes is supposed to prefer Mormon employees in key spots in his security network because they don't drink or smoke. Further, their religion includes strong drives for submission to authority. Besides, Bill Gay, a Mormon likes to hire Mormons. . . . Three of the five executive assistants are Mormons and a fourth is married to a Mormon. . . . Only the insiders knew all five of these men, who shuttled mysteriously around Las Vegas for four years. . . . One, Howard Eckersley, commuted from Salt Lake City where he kept his family. Before the big flight, their names were known only to a handful. Now Eckersley and Myler have been photographed and their pictures are in the files of every major news agency in the world. They are both Mormons. So is George Francom. Roy Crawford is Presbyterian, married to a Mormon. John Holmes is a Catholic. . . . I wondered how these fellows could serve a demanding boss like Hughes and still find time for the work load of being a Mormon Church official. Myler and I talked about it and he said it took a lot of doing. (Esquire, July, 1971, pp. 65, 67 and 73)
In his book The Real Howard Hughes, Stanton O'Keefe gives this interesting information:
Hughes remained isolated on the ninth floor of the Desert Inn throughout everything that went on. The only members of his staff with whom he had personal face-to-face contact were the five secretary-nurses of his so-called "Mormon Mafia."
They tended to all his needs and maintained the sophisticated communications center. Although Hughes obviously watched television and read newspapers to keep abreast of developments, the "Mormon Mafia" were literally his only real contact with the outside world. (The Real Howard Hughes Story, page 189)
The headquarters, message center and general command post of Hughes' spy network and secret empire is an unimposing two-story beige stucco building in downtown Los Angeles. . . .
The Romaine Street headquarters is a nerve center of the finest and most sophisticated electronic equipment available in the espionage field. Various warning devices can spot any attempt to intrude anywhere in the building. . . .
The selection of employees to work in the building involves more screening and investigation that [than ?] the CIA uses in selecting its agents. . . .
An asphalt parking lot on one side of the building is staffed by expressionless young Mormon men. There are noticeable bulges under the arms of their jackets. . . .
Like his own living quarters, the Romaine Street building is staffed primarily by Mormons. (Ibid., pp. 205-207)
Stanton O'Keefe goes on to state that "All of the members of the 'Mormon Mafia' were hired and paid by Frank W. Gay, the Hughes Tool executive. . . ." (Ibid., page 209) Fortune Magazine for Dec. 1973, page 175, gives this information: "Since the sale of Toolco, Summa has been run by Frank W. Gay, a long-time Hughes aide, who operates out of an office in Los Angeles." The Washington Post for April 1, 1975, carried this information:
Summa Corp. is the financial umbrella under which most of Hughes' worth is contained. . . .
Most recently, another Summa "asset" hit the news: the $350 million Hughes Glomar Explorer vessel that Hughes built at the behest (and the expense of) the Central Intelligence Agency . . .
Nearly all of Hughes' holdings are under the Summa corp. umbrella. . . . Its board of directors (Hughes is not a member) consists of Frank W. (Bill) Gay, . . . Chestor Davis, . . . Nadine Henley . . . and John Holmes and Lester Mylar, two of Hughes personal assistants who remain with him and who are among the few individuals who see him face to face.
The Mormon Church's Brigham Young University has honored Frank W. Gay for "distinguished service to the University" and to his fellowmen (see Brigham Young University Today, Oct. 1974, page 16) On March 19, 1975, the BYU paper Daily Universe reported:
A native Provoan who works in top positions in the Howard Hughes organization will speak on campus Thursday.
Frank William Gay, executive vice president and chief executive officer, director and chairman of the executive committee of the Summa Corp., will be the guest speaker at the Executive Lecture Series, . . .
An active Latter-day Saint, Gay has served as a stake high councilman, member of the General Sunday School Board, and is presently on the board of directors and vice-chairman of the executive committee of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. . . . he serves on the BYU National Advisory Council and its executive committee associated with the College of Business. (Daily Universe, March 19, 1975)
The reader will notice that Mr. Gay is "on the board of directors and vice-chairman of the executive committee of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii." This is very interesting because the Salt Lake Tribune for Nov. 15, 1970, states that the Mormon Church's "Zions Security Corp. . . . is owner and manager of the Village of Laie in Hawaii, . . . and the Polynesian Cultural Center."
Kay Glenn, whom Time Magazine for Jan. 24, 1972, identified as one of the "Mormon Mafia," now serves as "a vice president of the Summa Corp." (Salt Lake Tribune, April 4, 1975) According to the New York Times for March 27, 1975, it was Mr. Glenn who had custody of the memo which told of the CIA's involvement in the Glomer Explorer project.

Drew Phipps Wrote:Here is my long overdue review of Harry's manuscript "Crosstrails":



Harry Dean's "Crosstrails"

--snip--



I am also intrigued about Harry's assertion that the delay of the United States's entry into WW2 was not motivated by isolationism or lack of public support, but by a Machiavellian calculation that it would be in the US' interest to allow the British Empire to crumble, clearing the way for the US to assume Britain's role in the post-war world. Harry provides no evidence, but I am certain that other authors might have trod this particular path.