November
28, 2007
"Watergate Saved Nixon's Life"
I first met President Nixon exactly
on March 18, Wednesday, 1981. On the previous Sunday,
New York Times' business section put my name in
the front and gave me a two-paged article in conjunction
with my role in engineering the takeover Bache & Co.,
then the nation's second largest brokerage firm
in New York.
When the New York Times reporter interviewed me, I thought
it would be about Bache. It turned out to be a personal
biography.
I quoted that my father was killed in Auschwitz. My idols
were strong-arm politicians like Churchill, Nixon, and
Governor Connally.
On Monday, I wrote another letter to the President which
must have been the fourth of fifth. I must admit, he answered
to every letter telling me that he was very busy, but
eventually he will meet me.
So on Wednesday March 18 at 3:00 p.m., I rang the bell
at East 56th Street.
Nixon had a very attractive small study and channeled
the conversation to a common acquaintance, Mr. Jimmy Crosby,
the President of Resorts International. And 1981 was only
three years after Resorts became a household name, the
first casino in Atlantic City. Crosby was a major supporter
of Nixon. And actually, Nixon acted as an attorney in
1967 when Resorts bought the hotels and the famous bridge
from the impoverished Huntington Hartford. I knew all
the characters, and actually, I met Nixon on the airplane
back from the Bahamas where we were vacationing. It was
a short conversation. He never remembered it.
I felt, when I was sitting opposite him, that the small
talk has to end. He did mention that Governor Connally
mentioned my great interest of meeting him and referred
to this reference. But I suddenly turned to an anecdote
that livened him up.
I asked Mr. President, "Do you remember the Red
Light Bandit?"
He seemed to remember something, but nothing specific.
The fellow was Chessman. He raped girls on the California
Highway. Nixon started to smile and said, "I remember,
but what has it got to do with me?" I said, "Well,
he was in the death row for sixteen years, he became an
attorney in jail, defended himself twice, but after sixteen
years, Governor Brown sentenced him to death."
Lately, a movie was made of Chessman. Dreyfus has a Zola,
Chessman was his own Zola.
Nixon remained silent, and then very graciously said,
"I see. You want to be my Zola."
What does a man like Nixon talk about when he's not on
the stage? What does a man think and talk and refer
to when he talks to a totally nonpolitical person like
myself?
As I soon learned, President Nixon, when he relaxed, he
tried to focus intellectually on a subject that is his
turbulent and busy life didn't always permit him. I was,
and whether it is a complement or not, I was a relaxation.
One night, deeply in thought, walking up and down, and
stopped to refer to Watergate, I asked him why he didn't
give in. He turned and quite seriously but firmly - very
firmly - said, "You always have to keep on fighting. You
have to keep on fighting."
Then, after some silence, he asked me, "Have you ever
heard of anything like Watergate?"
And that is when my moment came. I presume the thoughts
and the words which I uttered probably came to Einstein
when he discovered the theory of relativity. Many great
stock market speculators and the biggest winners usually
come in a single moment and not by long periods of study.
Frankly, this is how I discovered Resorts International.
I read a relatively unpleasant article in the New York
Magazine. Mr. Crosby and his president, Mr. Davis' hands
were painted in black. But I read the facts, the stock
was only $10.00, and I decided in a single moment it's
going to be my big, big winner. It went to $200.00. I
was the first security analyst down in Atlantic City.
The Great Moment, The Great Thoughts. There was a play
with Alan Bates and Maggie Smith when Alan Bates, referring
to his rich former wife, says, "You were my Fulbright."
I looked back at the president and calmly but firmly said,
"Mr. President, Watergate saved your life."
To this, much to his credit, President Richard Nixon sat
down in an armchair. He was silent for a while and then
indicated with his hand that I should continue.
I said, "Well Mr. President, let's look at the facts.
In 1961, September, Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General
of the United Nation was flying to Ndola, northern capital
of Rhodesia, to negotiate with President Thsombe of Katanga.
I was there as a student journalist. Hammarskjold's plane
crashed. Well, I went to see the plane. Do I have to say
a single word?"
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in
Dallas, Texas.
In 1968, at Martin Luther King is shot to death in a motel
corridor.
On June 4, 1968, Robert Kennedy, Former Attorney General,
Senator, Presidential Candidate, Leading Contender for
the Democratic nomination after his victory in California
is shot dead in a kitchen.
Mr. President, these were four public spirited and respected
individuals. All these four died by fulfilling their own
destiny and being at that height of their power.
Nixon then recovered. He said, "Well, it's true. Yes.
They were all public spirited people."
Mr. President, you have been a well-known international
attorney. May I respectfully ask, "Do you remember a single
trial upon the death of these four eminent people?"
Nixon by then was interested and using his memory, he
apparently went through in his head about the four murders
and he said, "No, there was no public trial."
Let's take the last assassination. Robert Kennedy, he
is on the platform, he raises his fingers "onto Chicago".
He walks out through a large but unguarded kitchen. I
don't want to be disrespectful, Mr. President, but have
you ever left the platform and walked alone or with no
guard? Did you walk through a kitchen? Or
walk away from a platform particular if you have a major
victory when every photographer from television wants
to look at you. Wouldn't you want to walk to the main
door so more pictures can be taken? At that time,
Robert Kennedy needed more publicity, more recognition
by the media than any time in his lifetime. He goes through
a kitchen. Now, how does that sound?
And if you want to emphasize a little bit, all I remember
is that a few days later, they pointed -- they found the
father and mother of this Jordanian assassin in Jordan
in a village and the television was showing that this
is the family that killed Robert Kennedy. That's it.
Nixon remained silent and I started to observe that his
mind was working, that his brilliant brain which is compared
to the calculating ability of a chess master, his mind
was at work.
Now, let me go just a step further. Mr. President, we
were talking about four isolated assassination of public
figures. All four attempts were made, and all four attempts
were successful. Now, may I ask you, what does for out
of four mean to you?
There was a first smile. He said, "Poker."
And this is where now we have to turn to the fate of President
Richard Nixon. In order to make assassination against
President Nixon, the conspirators had to make a fixed
attempt. Going back to your word poker, if you face a
poker and you try to take another victim which, Mr. President,
would have been you, it would have been betting against
the poker. Now, referring to your experience, Mr. President,
in the Pacific, did you ever make a bet against a poker?
Nixon was back at his professional mode. He said, "No,
of course not. You never bet against the poker."
So before we turn to the fifth assassination, we have
to ask a question. How is it that four public assassinations
of public figures never brought along a single trial?
Not a single major trial. It could have meant that
there was a common trend - people, authority, methods
- a common trend among the four assassinations. Otherwise,
out of the four, there would have been at least one trial.
And now, having established the past, we turn to the assassination
of President Richard Nixon.
The conspirators obviously voted against it. The reason
is quite simple. President Nixon didn't move as freely
as President Kennedy. And by the choice of circumstances,
the assassination may not have been successful. They may
have hurt you or being sick for six months, but they may
have killed you.
Now, there was something different. By 1971 to the 10
years of Dag Hammarskjold in 1971, the President of the
United States, President Richard Nixon, had a friend namely
Leonid Brezhnev, Secretary General of the Soviet Politburo.
The KGB was doing its own research of President Kennedy's
murder. They didn't believe in the official theory.
The assassination of President Richard Nixon, successful
or not successful, would be against the policy and interest
of the Soviet Union. First, they would have been very
unhappy. Second, they have rightfully assumed that there
are elements in America who always want to sabotage the
friendship, the business relationship between the Soviet
Union and the United States. Two presidents in ten years.
Brezhnev would have to ask: Who runs America?
In any case, Brezhnev would have brought in the KGB, wanted
or unwanted, in the United States, and the whole conspiracy
going back to Dag Hammarskjold, the people, they probably
would have been wiped off the face of the earth. Even
so, you would have been only hurt for a period of six
months.
That is why, Mr. President, Watergate saved your life.
Nixon got not so happy, but he was trying to get to the
root of the matter. Then what was the Watergate all about?
The only thing I can tell the president that the conspirators
decided not to kill you, not to make an attempt to kill
you. But they have made an attempt to eliminate you from
the seat of power. And the only other way to eliminate
somebody from the White House is to study his life, study
his weaknesses, study the way he operates, study the people
around you, and trick him. Mr. President, my conclusion
is Watergate was the most successful trick ever played
on a human being of prominent position. The truth of the
matter, Mr. President, you were totally innocent. You
were simply tricked.
Almost 35 years has passed since your resignation. The
tricks worked.
It is 13 years that you left us on April 22nd, 1994 which
happens to be my birthday. I have a six year-old grandson
named Daniel.
Today, the Russians and the Chinese have accumulated well
over $1 billion in our currency and they are buying up
the world. Abu Dhabi invested $7.5 billion to save City
Corp. The two communist empires you have inherited are
booming. To be fair, Mr. President, you tricked the world.
While you were president, you tricked everybody. You changed
the world.
Andrew Racz
