--- alias: - Howard Hughes - Howard R. Hughes - Howard Robard Hughes - Howard R. Hughes Jr. - Howard Robard Hughes Jr. born: 1905-12-24 category: Business & Finance created: 2026-10-01 died: 1976-04-05 location: Houston, Texas / Las Vegas, Nevada relations: - fn: 3 role: sole owner of Hughes Tool Company, later Summa Corporation type: owned with: '[[Hughes Tool Company]]' - fn: 4 role: founder and sole trustee start: 1953-12-17 type: founded with: '[[Howard Hughes Medical Institute]]' - end: 1970-12-05 fn: 3 reverse: true role: personal representative and head of Nevada operations type: represented with: '[[Robert Maheu]]' - fn: 2 reverse: true role: lawyer type: represented with: '[[Chester Davis]]' - fn: 9 reverse: true role: Washington lawyer type: represented with: '[[Edward P. Morgan]]' - fn: 21 reverse: true role: Washington public relations under Robert Bennett type: represented with: '[[Robert R. Mullen Company]]' - fn: 17 reverse: true role: security and management consultants, Nevada casinos start: 1970-12 type: contractor_to with: '[[Intertel]]' - end: 1973-06 fn: 11 role: 100,000 dollars in cash delivered by Richard Danner, returned in June 1973 start: 1969-09 type: funded with: '[[Bebe Rebozo]]' - fn: 9 role: requested to testify; subpoena approved but never served type: subject_of with: '[[Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities]]' - fn: 25 role: Hughes Tool Company named as owner of the Hughes Glomar Explorer start: 1971-04 type: participant_in with: '[[Project Azorian]]' - fn: 1 role: nephew type: relative_of with: '[[Annette Gano Lummis]]' summary: Sole owner of Hughes Tool Company (later Summa Corporation) whose cash gift to Bebe Rebozo, Nevada casino purchases and company name on the CIA's Glomar Explorer run through Senate, court and CIA records. tags: - Person - HowardHughes - HughesToolCompany - SummaCorporation - HughesAircraft - HowardHughesMedicalInstitute - RobertMaheu - Intertel - ProjectAzorian - Watergate - HughesRebozo - CIA - LasVegas - Nevada updated: 2026-10-01 --- Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was born on December 24, 1905, and died on April 5, 1976, aboard an aircraft on the way to Houston.[^1] His father invented and patented the modern oil-drill bit, which was leased for 30,000 dollars a well; Hughes inherited a majority interest in the company at nineteen and bought out his relatives. In December 1970 his holdings in oil-drilling equipment, aerospace, electronics, airlines, communications and real estate were privately owned and not subject to public reporting requirements, and *Time* estimated their value at 1.4 billion to 2 billion dollars. Hughes companies then employed about 65,000 people, and the Hughes Tool Company held about 60 percent of the world market for drill bits.[^2] Hughes Tool, later renamed Summa Corporation, was the holding company for most of the holdings, and Hughes was its sole owner.[^3] ### Hughes Aircraft and the Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute was incorporated in Delaware on December 17, 1953, with Hughes as its trustee, holding full power to manage and control its affairs. An executive committee was created the same day. The institute was funded by the transfer to it of the electronics division of the Hughes holdings, the Hughes Aircraft Company, all of whose stock it afterward held. The [Internal Revenue Service](/organizations/internal-revenue-service/) ruled on March 1, 1957 that the institute was a charitable corporation exempt from federal income tax. On July 3, 1968, by a "Resolution of Trustee" that, according to the complaint of the attorney general of Delaware, Hughes caused to be adopted, the executive committee was delegated all the powers that Delaware law conferred on the board of a business corporation.[^4][^5] In 1970 *Time* described Hughes Aircraft, an electronics and satellite company, as controlled by the medical foundation, "of which Howard Hughes is sole trustee."[^2] ### Robert Maheu and the Central Intelligence Agency Hughes retained [Robert Maheu](/people/robert-maheu/), a former [Federal Bureau of Investigation](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/) agent, in 1953 according to *Time*, and in 1954 or 1955 according to Maheu's own testimony. In that testimony, as summarized by the Ninth Circuit, Hughes several times said that Maheu would be his "alter ego," representing him before government agencies; from 1961 through 1965 Maheu was his personal representative at all levels of government; and Maheu never had a face-to-face conversation with Hughes in the course of a fourteen-year relationship, all communication being by telephone or written memorandum.[^2][^3] The [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) had earlier paid Maheu a 500 dollar retainer, ended when his detective agency became more lucrative. In late August or early September 1960 the agency's Operational Support Chief, Maheu's case officer, asked him to approach [Johnny Roselli](/people/johnny-roselli/) about a plan to "dispose" of [Fidel Castro](/people/fidel-castro/). "At first Maheu was reluctant to become involved in the operation because it might interfere with his relationship with his new client, Howard Hughes." Maheu testified to the [Church Committee](/events/church-committee/) that shortly before the November 1960 election, while he was in [Miami](/places/miami/) on the assassination project, Hughes telephoned and asked him to return to the West Coast, and that, not wanting to lose Hughes as a client, he "definitely told him that the project was on behalf of the [United States](/places/united-states/) Government," including plans to dispose of Castro in connection with a pending invasion.[^6] A CIA memorandum for the record dated May 20, 1971, written by an agency employee seeking employment who had been introduced to the president of [Intertel](/organizations/intertel/), records that in the early 1960s Maheu closed his [Washington, D.C.](/places/washington-dc/) office, took Hughes as his sole client and moved to [Los Angeles](/places/los-angeles/). Its author wrote that during 1962 to 1964 he was himself "working out the details of a nonofficial cover arrangement with the Aircraft Division of the Hughes Tool Company in Culver City, California," that Rhea Hopper, the vice president in charge of the division, "was the principle cleared witting official," that it was "doubtful that details of this arrangement ever reached Mr. Hughes himself," and that Maheu "was cut in as a pickup for insurance." The same memorandum states that Maheu had first done subcontract investigative work for Hughes in the early 1950s, during the Senate hearings conducted by Senator Owen Brewster.[^7] ### Trans World Airlines In 1944 the Civil Aeronautics Board approved control of Trans World Airlines by Hughes Tool, and from 1944 to 1960 every acquisition and lease of aircraft by the airline from the company, and every financing, received the board's approval; in 1960 the company's TWA stock was placed in a voting trust. TWA sued Hughes Tool for treble damages in the Southern District of New York on June 30, 1961. On February 1, 1963 the district court ordered Howard Hughes to appear for a deposition and the company to produce documents it had refused to produce. On February 8 the company filed a "notice of position" resting on the merits of its positions, which constituted a default, and judgment was entered against it on May 3, 1963. The damages were confirmed at more than 145 million dollars with interest. On January 10, 1973 the Supreme Court reversed, holding in *Hughes Tool Co. v. Trans World Airlines*, 409 U.S. 363, that the challenged transactions had been under the board's control and surveillance and were immune from the antitrust laws.[^8] Hughes had sold his TWA shares in 1966 at 86 dollars each and collected 546 million dollars.[^2] ### Las Vegas Hughes moved to [Las Vegas](/places/las-vegas/) in November 1966, and Maheu contracted through his own company to manage the hotels, casinos and other properties Hughes began to acquire, reporting to Hughes rather than to the executives of Hughes Tool.[^9] *Time* noted that Nevada had no inheritance taxes. Hughes lived for four years in the penthouse of the Desert Inn; by 1970 his Nevada holdings, valued by *Time* at 300 million dollars, included the Desert Inn, the Sands, the Landmark, the Frontier and the Castaways, the Silver Slipper, Harolds Club in Reno, the North Las Vegas Airport and the regional airline renamed Hughes Air West. Roselli held a gift-shop lease at the Frontier and said he had collected a finder's fee when the Desert Inn was sold to Hughes. State officials examining the books of the Sands in the summer of 1970 found 186,000 dollars in markers, some signed with fictitious names, which Hughes's managers wished to write off as bad debts and which the officials refused to allow. Hughes became suspicious of his Las Vegas employees in February 1970 after a tip from federal investigators examining kickbacks and skimming in the Nevada operation.[^2] Hughes's purchases drew the [Department of Justice](/organizations/department-of-justice/). In 1968, after Hughes had promised the Nevada Gaming Commission that the Stardust would be his last major acquisition, the department's Antitrust Division prepared a civil complaint against the purchase, signed by Attorney General Ramsey Clark and scheduled for filing in late June 1968; Hughes's representatives postponed the merger shortly before it was to be filed. The Landmark, presented as a failing company, was approved in writing on January 17, 1969.[^10] Maheu testified that he was consulted on which political leaders Hughes should support, that Hughes knew of and approved all political contributions, and that Hughes saw them as ensuring access and influence. By 1969 Hughes's cash contributions were drawn from the Silver Slipper, which Hughes owned as a sole proprietorship. A memorandum from Hughes to Maheu, undated, found in the files of the Senate Watergate committee, reads in part: "Bob, as soon as this predicament is settled, I want you to go see Nixon as my special confidential emissary. I feel there is a really valid possibility of a Republican victory this year. If that could be realized under our sponsorship and supervision every inch of the way then we would be ready to follow with Gov. Paul Laxalt as our next candidate."[^9] ### The Contribution to Bebe Rebozo Richard Danner had been the FBI special agent in charge in Miami from 1940 to 1946, when he left to manage the first congressional campaign of George Smathers; after the 1950 election he introduced Senator-elect [Richard Nixon](/people/richard-nixon/) to Bebe Rebozo at Key Biscayne. Danner testified that in 1968 Nixon or Rebozo asked him to learn whether Hughes would contribute to the campaign, and that Rebozo suggested he raise it with Edward P. Morgan, who represented Hughes. Maheu said Hughes approved 50,000 dollars in cash, seeing a contribution through Rebozo as a means of ensuring access to Nixon. On September 9, 1968 Maheu received 150,000 dollars in two checks from the Hughes executive Nadine Henley, to be used in part for a contribution to Nixon. Danner, Rebozo and Morgan met for breakfast on September 11, 1968. Rebozo testified that he was uneasy about taking cash from Hughes through Morgan because of the 1956 loan from Hughes to F. Donald Nixon, the candidate's brother, and because Morgan represented Drew Pearson; the [White House](/places/white-house/) denied that Nixon had discussed a Hughes contribution with Danner, and Danner's diary recorded a call from the candidate "re finances" on September 27, 1968. In December 1968 Maheu received 100,000 dollars in cash, 50,000 of which he tried to deliver to the President-elect or an aide at Palm Springs.[^9][^11] Danner joined the Hughes organization in February 1969. The Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities found that the first delivery of 50,000 dollars to Rebozo took place on September 11 or 12, 1969 at Key Biscayne; Rebozo later moved the date to 1970, and Danner changed his testimony after consulting Rebozo. The committee listed four possible delivery dates (September 11-12, 1969; July 3, 1970; August 19-20, 1970; and October 28-30, 1970) and four possible packets of cash, from the Sands in early December 1968, from Henley on December 5, 1968 and July 11, 1969, and from the Hughes lawyer Thomas Bell out of the Silver Slipper on October 26, 1970.[^11] Asked about a trip to Key Biscayne, made with Maheu, that he had once taken to be the occasion of a delivery, Danner testified: "My recollection of the reason for that trip was to contact Mr. Rebozo and discuss the dumping of the nerve gas."[^12] Danner insisted that the money was requested for the 1970 congressional campaigns; Maheu testified that the first payment fulfilled the 1968 pledge and that the second was to ensure the Hughes people "an entree with the Nixon administration"; Rebozo testified that it was for the 1972 presidential campaign.[^13] In the same period the books of Hughes Tool recorded other political money handled by Maheu. A check for 50,000 dollars dated May 13, 1969 was payable to Robert A. Maheu Associates, with a receipt marked "Nevada and L.V. local," which Chester Davis said the testimony of Henley identified as being for state and local contributions; Davis declined to produce an accountants' list of cash withdrawals from the Silver Slipper as the work product of litigation.[^14] In Maheu's later libel case, Summa pointed to 100,000 dollars Maheu received from Hughes's personal bank account in May 1970 "ostensibly for political contributions," of which about 13,000 dollars was so used and 87,000 dollars carried on Maheu's books as a debt to Hughes; to 59,000 dollars taken from the Silver Slipper in December 1969; and to "the disappearance of 50,000 dollars, an alleged cash contribution for former Vice-President Humphrey." Maheu testified that he delivered the Humphrey money in cash "by leaving it in an attache case in his limousine."[^3] ### The Dunes In early 1970 Hughes instructed Maheu to negotiate the purchase of the Dunes Hotel. Maheu said Hughes told him to send Danner, then manager of the Frontier, directly to Attorney General John Mitchell, whom Danner knew from the 1968 campaign. Danner met Mitchell on March 19, 1970; he testified that Mitchell said, "From our review of these figures, we see no problem. Why don't you go ahead with the negotiations," and that the purchase "met the guidelines." Danner and Maheu were both registered at the Madison Hotel in Washington that day, and Maheu recalled being told that the case "was taken care of in Washington and there would be no interference beyond that." Records of the Sonesta Beach Hotel in Key Biscayne show Danner and Maheu registered there from March 20 to 22, 1970; Mitchell left Union Station in Washington by train for Florida at 3:30 p.m. on March 20. On March 26, unaware of the oral approval, the head of the Antitrust Division, Richard McLaren, wrote Mitchell a memorandum on the Dunes; McLaren said he never met Danner and knew of no approval. On November 24, 1970, [J. Edgar Hoover](/people/j-edgar-hoover/) sent Mitchell a memorandum, still unexplained when the committee reported, stating that Hughes had renewed his interest in the Dunes. The purchase fell through for financial reasons. The committee concluded that, except for that collapse, "this is a classic case of governmental decision-making for friends."[^10] *Time* reported in October 1973 that the committee intended to examine Maheu's reported allegation that the gifts to Rebozo were meant to buy influence on two federal decisions: the Civil Aeronautics Board's approval in July 1969 of the purchase of Air West, and the cancellation by the Justice Department in the late summer of 1970 of an antitrust action against further casino purchases.[^15] Committee counsel put the question to Davis in executive session on December 4, 1973 in four forms: whether the two 50,000 dollar payments related to the pending acquisition of the Dunes and Justice Department approval of it; to the purchase of Air West and government approval of it; to Hughes's desire to have nerve gas dumped in the Atlantic Ocean; and to any position Hughes took on the anti-ballistic missile system. Davis answered "None whatever" to each.[^14] ### Departure and Intertel A few minutes before ten o'clock on Thanksgiving Eve, November 25, 1970, Hughes left the Desert Inn by an interior fire escape, was driven to North Las Vegas Airport and flew in a Hughes Tool jet to the [Bahamas](/places/bahamas/). By the next day he occupied a ninth-floor suite of the Britannia Beach Hotel on Paradise Island, held for him for more than a year; nearly all of Paradise Island was owned by Resorts International, which *Time* reported Hughes had reputedly tried to buy the year before for 85 million dollars. Eighty-four hours passed before the guards at the Desert Inn discovered he was gone. The Hughes Tool executives Raymond Holliday and Frank W. Gay and the lawyer Chester Davis gathered at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, summoned a Maheu aide and demanded Maheu's resignation; Maheu obtained a court order and the undersheriff searched the empty penthouse. Hughes then telephoned Governor Paul Laxalt and the district attorney at 1:30 a.m. to say he wanted Maheu fired.[^2] Hughes discharged Maheu on December 5, 1970.[^3] In a teletype of December 7, 1970, the FBI's Las Vegas office reported that Davis and Gay had announced that Intertel would be engaged to operate security and certain management phases of the Hughes casino-hotels and that Intertel had reportedly been "originally financed to extent of about two million dollars" by Resorts International. The teletype recorded the statement of "an official of Hughes operations (former SA Richard Danner)" that Resorts International and its predecessor, the Mary Carter Paint Company, "may possibly be hoodlum infiltrated or financially indebted to [Meyer Lansky](/people/meyer-lansky/)."[^16] A memorandum from J. H. Gale to Mr. Sullivan, filed in January 1971, states that "Intertel has been engaged by officials of the Hughes Tool Company to take over the management and operation of several of the hotels and casinos in Las Vegas." On January 5, 1971 the Bureau told its legal attaché in Ottawa that it had conducted no investigation of the firm.[^17] Intertel's president was [Robert Peloquin](/people/robert-peloquin/). The Sandwedge memorandum of 1971 recorded that the former [Secret Service](/organizations/united-states-secret-service/) agent Jim Golden, "formerly with Intertel, has now switched over to the Hughes' Tool Company."[^16][^18] Danner testified that Golden visited Rebozo in December 1970 and discussed Danner's "precarious position" after the change of administration in the Hughes organization; Golden was later replaced by Ralph Winte.[^12] The May 1971 CIA memorandum recorded that Hughes Tool had engaged Intertel "to conduct a sweeping and exhaustive investigation into the affairs and past activities of Robert A. Maheu," on a contract "reported to run upward to a million dollars," and that Intertel had already turned information over to the Internal Revenue Service, with the former head of IRS intelligence William Kolar on its staff in Las Vegas. It recorded the account of a former agency employee then on Intertel's staff that Edward P. Morgan had been paid "almost a million dollars" for past services and was "making noises to certain unnamed Hughes Tool Company officials to the effect that they had better take it easy on Maheu because of the past involvement with CIA in covert operations," and that the Intertel man "will not allow Maheu to use the Agency as a shield."[^7] Jim Hougan wrote that Maheu sent a task force of private detectives to the Bahamas to bug Hughes's suite and to enable him to leave, and that Intertel agents discovered the eavesdropping and had the intruders deported.[^19] In late 1971 a publisher announced an "autobiography" of Hughes based on interviews by Clifford Irving. On January 7, 1972 Hughes spoke by telephone from Paradise Island to reporters assembled in Los Angeles; asked why Maheu had been fired, he said: "Because he's a no-good, dishonest son-of-a-bitch, and he stole me blind." Maheu sued Hughes Tool for defamation in *Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co.*. Hughes "had totally withdrawn from direct contact with the outside world. He would not appear in any court; he would not give depositions." The jury awarded Maheu more than 2.8 million dollars in compensatory damages and Summa about 48,000 dollars on its counterclaims; on one of them, Maheu had held about 74,000 dollars sent to him to pay the rent on a hangar leased from the Tucson Airport Authority and was about nine months behind. The Ninth Circuit reversed in part and remanded for a new trial.[^3] Hougan wrote that Peloquin, called by Maheu's lawyer, acknowledged that Intertel agents had filed more than five hundred written reports on Maheu and found no evidence of theft. He also wrote that Hughes moved to [Managua](/places/managua/) in February 1972, where the American ambassador, Turner Shelton, formerly consul general in the Bahamas, acted as liaison between [Anastasio Somoza](/people/anastasio-somoza/) and Hughes.[^19] In February 1977 Intertel still controlled the security for much of the Hughes empire.[^20] ### White House Memoranda, 1971 White House memoranda of January and February 1971 on Hughes were printed as exhibits to the testimony of Lawrence Higby, an aide to H. R. Haldeman. On January 15, 1971 Charles Colson wrote that Robert Bennett, son of Senator Wallace Bennett, had left the Department of Transportation to take over the [Robert R. Mullen Company](/organizations/robert-r-mullen-company/), that one of his new clients was Howard Hughes, and that "Larry O'Brien has been the principal Hughes man in Washington." He added: "The important thing from our standpoint is to enhance Bennett's position with Hughes because Bennett gives us real access to a source of power that can be valuable."[^21] Jack Caulfield wrote to John Dean on January 22 and 25 that O'Brien and "Mayhew" were longtime associates from Boston; that "serious negotiations" had taken place in 1969 for O'Brien's firm to represent the Hughes interests in Washington, with "knowledgeable sources" putting the fee at 100,000 dollars; that Maheu's "tentacles touch many extremely sensitive areas of government"; that "Mayhew apparently forwarded Hughes' political contributions, personally, to both parties over the last ten years," dealing with a Nixon fund-raiser, Vic Johnson; that the former congressman Pat Hillings, close to Murray Chotiner, had been retained by Maheu for years; that Danner was close to Smathers and professed friendship with Rebozo; that the law firm of [Clark Clifford](/people/clark-clifford/) had for years represented the Hughes legal interests in Washington; and that Maheu had been a close associate of the former FBI agent John Frank, "generally believed to have engineered the assassination of Jesus de Galindez" in 1956 on behalf of [Rafael Trujillo](/people/rafael-trujillo/). He proposed "an in depth analysis of all (CIA, F.B.I., IRS) information available for White House perusal."[^21] Dean reported to Haldeman on January 26 that Rebozo said his information on the O'Brien retainer had come from Maheu "at a time when Maheu was professing considerable friendliness towards the Administration," and that Rebozo "also requested that if any action be taken with regard to Hughes that he be notified because of his familiarity with the delicacy of the relationships as a result of his own dealings with the Hughes people." Bennett told Dean there was "no doubt" that O'Brien had been retained by Hughes and that the contract was still in existence, and that he was going to the West Coast to discuss his Hughes relationship with Gay. Haldeman replied on January 28 that Colson should "come up with a way to leak the appropriate information," that "Frankly, I can't see any way to handle this without involving Hughes," and that "we should keep Bob Bennett and Bebe out of it at all costs."[^21] On February 1 Caulfield wrote that the retainer could be documented only indirectly, payment having been made "via the Mahew-Claude De Sautels route"; that "Don Nixon visited the [Dominican Republic](/places/dominican-republic/) with a group of wheeler dealers in September 1969," who, he wrote, "assertedly were connected with" Maheu's forces in Nevada; and that "Mahew's covert activities from his Washington association with CIA in the early sixties to his Nevada involvment on behalf of Hughes are only generally known here, at this time." On February 3 he drew Dean's attention to a *60 Minutes* broadcast with an interview of Maheu and "an indication of Intertel's activity in Nevada." An unsigned memorandum in the same exhibits alleged that Maheu had established "close and ominous relationships" with Mafia figures, that huge profits were being skimmed from the casinos, and that Maheu's representatives might have paid hotel and bar bills for the presidential advance party for an October 31 visit to Las Vegas.[^21] Asked in December 1973 whether Intertel had investigated the O'Brien-Maheu relationship, Davis answered that he knew of Intertel's work only under his own direction for litigation, and added: "insofar as I am concerned, there doesn't remain any question in my mind about payments made to and received by Mr. O'Brien."[^14] ### The Senate Investigation William E. Griffin, a lawyer whom Rebozo consulted in April or May 1973, testified that Rebozo told him he held 100,000 dollars in cash in a safe-deposit box at Key Biscayne, in the identical bills he had received, and that a government agency, he thought the IRS, or the Maheu case had prompted inquiry; that Rebozo then had difficulty getting Danner to take the money back, once reaching him on a golf course; and that the money was returned to Danner against a receipt.[^22] *Time* reported in October 1973, citing committee sources, that Rebozo said the second installment was paid on July 3, 1970 at Nixon's house at San Clemente, the date on which Rebozo and Robert Abplanalp were closing the purchase from Nixon of 2.9 acres of the San Clemente property for, according to the same sources, 100,000 dollars; Rebozo denied that any Hughes money was used. Maheu had mentioned the contribution in a deposition in his 17 million dollar suit against Hughes in the spring of 1973.[^15] Rebozo returned 100,100 dollars in 1,001 Federal Reserve notes. The committee traced their serial numbers through the [Federal Reserve](/organizations/federal-reserve-board/) and found that, for every combination of delivery dates but one, the notes included bills not released for circulation until after a delivery date; on the combination that Danner and Rebozo described, 35 of the bills identified as the second delivery were not available until after August 20, 1970, the latest released on October 1, 1970.[^11] Herbert Kalmbach testified that on April 30, 1973 Rebozo told him he had spent some of the Hughes money on F. Donald Nixon, Edward Nixon, Rose Mary Woods and others. Hughes also contributed some 150,000 dollars directly to the 1972 Nixon campaign.[^10][^13] The committee requested Hughes's appearance by letter, which was never answered; a subpoena was approved but could not be served because Hughes remained outside the country throughout the investigation. Rebozo refused to produce records of the Key Biscayne Bank and, when Chairman Sam Ervin sought his response in June 1974, left the country and became unavailable for service of a subpoena.[^9] By the spring of 1974 Danner had been examined twice by the [Securities and Exchange Commission](/organizations/securities-and-exchange-commission/), once by a federal grand jury and twice by the IRS, and Winte had been interviewed twice by the FBI.[^12] The committee's questions extended to Resorts International. Kalmbach testified that Rebozo suggested he see James Crosby, the head of Resorts, and that Crosby's pledge to the 1970 senatorial campaign program fell from 25,000 dollars to 5,000 dollars. Griffin testified that around 1969 or 1970 he had one conversation in Washington with Crosby and Jack Davis of Resorts, whom he had first met at the 1969 inauguration, about options Resorts held on Pan American World Airways stock, that he thought Peloquin and Abplanalp were also present, and that he advised them to see the senators sponsoring restrictive legislation. Asked whether the IRS had cases involving Resorts International, the commissioner, Johnnie Walters, answered: "Not to my knowledge ... I do not even know whether there were cases."[^23] The May 1971 CIA memorandum recorded that in January 1969 Resorts had moved to take control of Pan Am by buying a 9.7 percent interest, and that the Civil Aeronautics Board had intervened.[^7] In *The Village Voice* of January 31, 1974, Lucian K. Truscott IV wrote that a person close to the committee staff told him the staff had been instructed, "apparently by Ervin and Baker," to "stay away from" any possible quid pro quo for the donation, the Paradise Island casino, Rebozo's bank, "F. Donald Nixon's involvement" and "the whole area of the President's finances," and that Smathers and Danner were in Washington.[^24] ### Project Azorian In April 1971 the chairman of Global Marine, Robert F. Bauer, announced that the company would build a 600-foot mining ship for the Hughes Tool Company. The Hughes Glomar Explorer was launched on November 4, 1972, with speeches by Bauer and by Paul Reeve, general manager of the Ocean Mining Division of Hughes Tool. The government later acknowledged in court CIA sponsorship of the [Project Azorian](/programs/project-azorian/) recovery of the Soviet submarine K-129 "for intelligence collection purposes," and the participation of Hughes Tool, Summa and Global Marine.[^25] The CIA's history of the project attributes the leak behind the press accounts of 1975 to "an improbable series of events following a break-in and robbery in June 1974 at Summa Corporation headquarters in Los Angeles," and records the belief that the stolen documents might include "a memorandum from a senior Hughes official to Howard Hughes describing a proposed CIA attempt to recover a sunken Soviet submarine and requesting Hughes' approval for Hughes Company participation." Several persons in the investigation were briefed, and the source of the leak was never identified.[^25] On February 7, 1975 CIA Director [William Colby](/people/william-colby/) told President [Gerald Ford](/people/gerald-r-ford/) that the *[Los Angeles Times](/organizations/los-angeles-times/)* had asked whether the agency had raised a piece of a Soviet submarine: "We have called Frank Murphy to try to kill it."[^26] ### Death and Estate On April 14, 1976 Hughes's aunt and closest living relative, Annette Gano Lummis, and her son William R. Lummis were granted temporary letters of administration in Probate Court No. 2 of Harris County.[^1][^27] The Howard Hughes Medical Institute claimed on February 24, 1977 that Hughes had executed a will leaving it his entire estate; a jury found on a trial begun December 6, 1977 that Hughes was domiciled in Texas. The probate court granted summary judgment that the alleged will was not valid; on January 23, 1980 the Court of Civil Appeals at Houston reversed that judgment as an impermissible advisory opinion and refused to disqualify Lummis's lawyers, Andrews, Kurth, Campbell and Jones, who had served as the institute's counsel for more than twenty years and had helped obtain its tax exemption.[^27] In each state that sought death taxes, the estate's personal representative contended that Hughes died domiciled in Nevada, "the only State in the Union without death taxes." [California](/places/california/) and [Texas](/places/texas/) each claimed him; the bulk of the estate consisted of shares in a single holding company, and California alleged that its judgment would be uncollectible to the extent of about 21 million dollars. On June 22, 1978 the Supreme Court denied California leave to file a bill of complaint against Texas in *California v. Texas*, 437 U.S. 601.[^28] Hughes died without naming a successor trustee of the medical institute, and the Delaware complaint alleged that the institute had since been controlled by Gay and Davis as majority members of its executive committee, which on July 10, 1978 purported to amend the charter to abolish the office of trustee. The attorney general of Delaware and William Lummis, as Delaware ancillary administrator, sued in the Delaware Court of Chancery to have a trustee appointed.[^4][^5] A claim by the actress Terry Moore that she had married Hughes at sea in 1949 was dismissed on judicial estoppel; the opinion affirming the dismissal was written by Justice Paul Pressler.[^1] [^1]: *Moore v. Neff*, 629 S.W.2d 827 (Tex. App., Houston [14th Dist.] 1982), No. B2947, decided February 4, 1982 (Pressler, J.), full text at the Harvard Caselaw Access Project. https://static.case.law/sw2d/629/cases/0827-01.json (birth date computed from *Time*'s statement of December 21, 1970 that Hughes "will be 65 on Christmas Eve"). [^2]: "Business: Shootout at the Hughes Corral," *Time*, December 21, 1970. https://time.com/archive/6838449/business-shootout-at-the-hughes-corral/ [^3]: *Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co.*, 569 F.2d 459 (9th Cir. 1977), modified January 12, 1978, Nos. 75-1306 and 75-2353 (Duniway, J.), parts I to V. https://openjurist.org/569/f2d/459 [^4]: *Wier v. Howard Hughes Medical Institute*, 404 A.2d 140 (Del. Ch. 1979), decided June 26, 1979 (Marvel, Ch.), full text at the Harvard Caselaw Access Project. https://static.case.law/a2d/404/cases/0140-01.json [^5]: *Wier v. Howard Hughes Medical Institute*, 407 A.2d 1051 (Del. Ch. 1979), decided October 26, 1979 (Marvel, Ch.). https://static.case.law/a2d/407/cases/1051-01.json [^6]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, S. Rept. 94-465 (1975), pp. 74-75 and n. 2 (Maheu testimony of July 29, 1975, pp. 22-23), and p. 307 n. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf [^7]: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum for the record, "Robert D. Peloquin, President, International Intelligence, Inc. (INTERTEL)," May 20, 1971, signed John G. Southard, 6 pp., NARA record number 104-10122-10288, released under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, March 18, 2025. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10288.pdf [^8]: *Hughes Tool Co. v. Trans World Airlines, Inc.*, 409 U.S. 363 (1973), Nos. 71-827 and 71-830, decided January 10, 1973, opinion of the Court (Douglas, J.) and dissent (Burger, C.J.) reciting the procedural history. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/409/363 [^9]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981 (June 1974), ch. 8, "The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters," introduction and sections I-II, pp. 931-936 and n. 7 (Hughes memorandum to Maheu). https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities [^10]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981, ch. 8, section VI, "Dunes Report," pp. 980-998. https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities [^11]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981, ch. 8, section V, "Delivery and Retention of the Contributions," pp. 944-948. https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities [^12]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Senate Resolution 60, Executive Session Hearings, Book 24: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), testimony of Richard G. Danner, pp. 11417, 11464-11465, 11553-11555, and letter of Chester C. Davis to the committee, p. 11480. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24.pdf [^13]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981, ch. 8, section X, "The Issue of Use of the Money," p. 1030, and section on purpose of the money, pp. 1055-1056. https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities [^14]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 24*, testimony of Chester C. Davis (executive session of December 4, 1973), pp. 11398-11401, 11609-11611. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24.pdf [^15]: "The Nation: The Hughes Connection," *Time*, October 22, 1973. https://time.com/archive/6841879/the-nation-the-hughes-connection/ [^16]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Peloquin file, FOI/PA No. 1602405, Part 01, teletype, Las Vegas (92-3659) to Director and Miami, December 7, 1970, pp. 21-25 (PDF pages). https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file [^17]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, memorandum, J. H. Gale to Mr. Sullivan, "William G. Hundley, Robert D. Peloquin, International Intelligence, Inc.," December 1970 (file stamp January 8, 1971), p. 33; Director to Legat, Ottawa, January 5, 1971, p. 42. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file [^18]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 21* (GPO, 1974), "Operation Sandwedge," Tab 31, pp. 9899-9902. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21.pdf [^19]: Jim Hougan, *Spooks: The Haunting of America: The Private Use of Secret Agents* (William Morrow, 1978), pp. 262-263, 384-385. https://archive.org/details/hougan-jim-spooks [^20]: Tom Zito, "Peloquin of Intertel: Intelligence, Security, 'Targets of Opportunity,'" *The Washington Post*, February 20, 1977, pp. L1, L12 (page images in the Weisberg Subject Index Files, Hood College). http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/I%20Disk/Intertel%20on%20Assassination%20Samples%20of/Item%2001.pdf [^21]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 23: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), Higby Exhibits 5-A to 5-I, pp. 11123-11135: Colson memorandum of January 15, 1971; Caulfield to Dean, January 22, January 25, February 1 and February 3, 1971; Dean to Haldeman, January 26, 1971; Haldeman to Dean, January 28, 1971; Dean to Caulfield, February 5, 1971; unsigned memorandum, Exhibit 5-I. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob23/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob23.pdf [^22]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 22: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), testimony of William E. Griffin, pp. 10429-10431, 10446-10448. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob22/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob22.pdf [^23]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 21* (GPO, 1974), testimony of Herbert W. Kalmbach, p. 10183; *Book 23*, testimony of William E. Griffin, pp. 10792-10793; *Book 24*, testimony of Johnnie M. Walters, p. 11623. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21.pdf [^24]: Lucian K. Truscott IV, "Watergate, the Bahamas & Howard Hughes," *The Village Voice*, January 31, 1974. https://villagevoice.com/1974/01/31/watergate-the-bahamas-howard-hughes [^25]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Project AZORIAN: The Story of the Hughes Glomar Explorer," released January 2010, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 305, document 1 (scanned images, OCR read). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb305/doc01.pdf [^26]: Memorandum of conversation, President Ford, Henry Kissinger, James Schlesinger, William Colby, David Jones and Donald Rumsfeld, Oval Office, February 7, 1975, Gerald R. Ford Library, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 305, document 2. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb305/doc02.pdf [^27]: *Howard Hughes Medical Institute v. Lummis*, 596 S.W.2d 171 (Tex. Civ. App., Houston [14th Dist.] 1980), No. A2176, decided January 23, 1980 (Brown, C.J.). https://static.case.law/sw2d/596/cases/0171-01.json [^28]: *California v. Texas*, 437 U.S. 601 (1978) (per curiam, June 22, 1978), with concurring and dissenting opinions. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/437/601