President Richard Nixon’s “Enemies List.”
[draft]
“Nixon’s Enemies List” is the informal name of what started as a list of President of the United States Richard Nixon‘s major political opponents compiled by Charles Colson, written by George T. Bell[1] (assistant to Colson, special counsel to the White House), and sent in memorandum form to John Dean on September 9, 1971. The list was part of a campaign officially known as “Opponents List” and “Political Enemies Project”.
The list became public knowledge on June 27, 1973,[2] when Dean mentioned during hearings with the Senate Watergate Committee that a list existed containing those whom the president did not like. Journalist Daniel Schorr, who happened to be on the list, managed to obtain a copy of it later that day.[3]
A longer second list was made public by Dean on December 20, 1973, during a hearing with the Congressional Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation.[4]
Purpose
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The official purpose, as described by the White House Counsel‘s Office, was to “screw” Nixon’s political enemies, by means of tax audits from the Internal Revenue Service, and by manipulating “grant availability, federal contracts, litigation, prosecution, etc.”[5] In a memorandum from John Dean to Lawrence Higby (August 16, 1971), Dean explained the purpose of the list:
This memorandum addresses the matter of how we can maximize the fact of our incumbency in dealing with persons known to be active in their opposition to our Administration; stated a bit more bluntly—how we can use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies.[5]
The IRS commissioner, Donald C. Alexander, refused to launch audits of the people on the list.[6] While none on the list were audited, several major donors to the presidential campaign of George McGovern did get audited in 1973, prompting a later remark from Karl Hess, “The right of the victor of a presidential election is to the authority to audit the losers”.[7]
The twenty names in the memo were as follows, although a master list of Nixon’s political opponents with additional names was developed later.
- Arnold Picker, film executive
- Alexander E. Barkan, head of the AFL-CIO‘s Committee on Political Education
- Edwin Guthman, journalist
- Maxwell Dane, advertising executive
- Charles Dyson, businessman
- Howard Stein, financier
- Rep. Allard Lowenstein (D-NY), congressman
- Morton Halperin, foreign policy expert
- Leonard Woodcock, president of the United Auto Workers
- S. Sterling Munro Jr., aide of former Washington Senator Henry M. Jackson
- Bernard T. Feld, professor
- Sidney Davidoff, lawyer
- Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), congressman
- Samuel M. Lambert, executive secretary of the National Education Association
- Stewart Rawlings Mott, philanthropist
- Rep. Ron Dellums (D-CA), congressman
- Daniel Schorr, journalist
- S. Harrison Dogole, president of Globe Security Systems
- Paul Newman, actor
- Mary McGrory, journalist
Senators
- Howard Baker (R-TN)
- Birch Bayh (D-IN)
- Sam Ervin (D-NC)
- William Fulbright (D-AR)
- Fred R. Harris (D-OK)
- Harold Hughes (D-IA)
- Ted Kennedy (D-MA)
- George McGovern (D-SD)
- Walter Mondale (D-MN)
- Edmund Muskie (D-ME)
- Gaylord Nelson (D-WI)
- William Proxmire (D-WI)
Members of the House of Representatives
- Bella Abzug (D-NY)
- William Anderson (D-TN)
- John Brademas (D-IN)
- Robert Drinan (D-MA)
- Robert Kastenmeier (D-WI)
- Pete McCloskey (R-CA)
- Wright Patman (D-TX)
Black Congressmen and Congresswomen[3]
- Shirley Chisholm (D-NY)
- Bill Clay (D-MO)
- George Collins (D-IL)
- John Conyers (D-MI)
- Ronald Dellums (D-CA)
- Charles Diggs (D-MI)
- Augustus Hawkins (D-CA)
- Ralph Metcalfe (D-IL)
- Robert Nix (D-PA)
- Parren Mitchell (D-MD)
- Charles Rangel (D-NY)
- Louis Stokes (D-OH)
Other politicians
- John Lindsay, mayor of New York City (D-NY)
- Eugene McCarthy, former U.S. senator (D-MN)
- George Wallace, governor of Alabama (D-AL)
Organizations
- Black Panthers, Huey Newton [sic]
- Brookings Institution, Lesley Gelb [sic] and others
- Business Executives Move for VN Peace. Henry E. Niles, national chairman. Vincent McGee, executive director
- Committee for an Effective Congress. Russell Hemenway
- Common Cause, John Gardner, Morton Halperin, Charles Goodell, Walter Hickel
- Congressional Black Caucus
- COPE (AFL–CIO Committee on Political Education), Alexander E Barkan
- Council for a Livable World, Bernard T. Feld, pr idem: professor of physics. MIT
- Farmers Union, NFO
- Institute for Policy Studies, Richard Barnet, Marcus Raskin
- National Economic Council, Inc.
- National Education Association, Sam M. Lambert president
- National Student Association, Charles Palmer president
- National Welfare Rights Organization, George Wiley
- Potomac Associates, William Watts
- SANE, Sanford Gottlieb
- Southern Christian Leadership, Ralph Abernathy;
- Third National Convocation on the Challenge of Building Peace, Robert V Roosa, chairman
- Businessmen’s Educational Fund
- Weather Underground
Labor
- Karl Feller, president, International Union United Brewery. Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers, Cincinnati
- Harold J. Gibbons, international vice president, Teamsters
- A. F. Grospiron, president, Oil, Chemical Atomic Workers International Union, Denver
- Matthew Guinan, president, Transport Work. Union of America, New York City
- Paul Jennings, president, International Union Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers, Washington, D.C.
- Herman D. Kenin, vice president, AFL–CIO. D
- Lane Kirkland, secretary-treasurer. AFL–CIO (we must deal with him)
- Frederick O’Neal. president. Actors and Artists America, New York City
- William Pollock, president, Textile Workers Union of America, New York City
- Jacob Potofsky, general president, Amalgam. Clothing Workers of America, New York City
- Leonard Woodcock, president, United Auto Workers, Detroit
- Jerry Wurf, international president, American Federal, State, County and Municipal Employ Washington, D.C.
- Nathaniel Goldfinger, AFL–CIO
- I. W. Abel, Steelworkers
Media
- Jack Anderson, columnist, “Washington Merry-Go-Round“
- Jim Bishop, author, columnist, King Features Syndicate
- Thomas Braden, columnist, Los Angeles Times Syndicate
- D.J.R. Bruckner, Los Angeles Times Syndicate
- Marquis Childs, chief Washington correspondent, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- James Deakin, White House correspondent, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- James Doyle, Washington Star
- Richard Dudman, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Jules Duscha [sic], Washingtonian
- William Eaton, Chicago Daily News
- Rowland Evans Jr., syndicated columnist, Publishers-Hall Syndicate
- Saul Friedmann, Knight Newspapers, syndicated columnist
- Clayton Fritchey, syndicated columnist Washington correspondent. Harper’s Magazine
- George Frazier, The Boston Globe
- Lou Gordon, The Detroit News columnist and television talk show host
- Katharine Graham, editor and publisher, The Washington Post
- Pete Hamill, New York Post
- Michael Harrington, author and journal member, executive committee of the Socialist Party of America
- Sydney J. Harris, columnist, drama critic and writer of “Strictly Personal”, Publishers-Hall Syndicate
- Robert Healy, The Boston Globe
- William Hines, Jr., journalist. science education, Chicago Sun-Times
- Stanley Karnow, foreign correspondent, The Washington Post
- Ted Knap, syndicated columnist, New York Daily News
- Erwin Knoll, The Progressive
- Morton Kondracke, Chicago Sun-Times
- Joseph Kraft, columnist, Publishers-Hall Syndicate
- James Laird, The Philadelphia Inquirer
- Max Lerner, syndicated columnist, New York Post: author, lecturer, professor (Brandeis University)
- Stanley Levey, E.W. Scripps Company
- Flora Lewis syndicated columnist on economics
- Stuart Loory, Los Angeles Times
- Mary McGrory, syndicated columnist
- Frank Mankiewicz, syndicated columnist, Los Angeles Times
- James Millstone, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Martin Nolan, The Boston Globe
- Ed Guthman, Los Angeles Times
- Thomas O’Neill, The Baltimore Sun
- John Pierson, The Wall Street Journal
- William Prochnau, The Seattle Times
- James Reston, The New York Times
- Carl Rowan, columnist, Publishers-Hall Syndicate
- Warren Unna, The Washington Post, National Educational Television
- Harriet Van Horne, columnist, New York Post
- Milton Viorst, reporter, author, writer
- James Wechsler, New York Post
- Tom Wicker, The New York Times
- Garry Wills, syndicated columnist, author of Nixon Agonistes
- The New York Times
- The Washington Post
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Robert Manning, editor, The Atlantic Monthly
- John Osborne, The New Republic
- Richard Rovere, The New Yorker
- Robert Sherrill, The Nation
- Paul Samuelson, Newsweek
- Julian Goodman, chief executive officer, NBC
- John Macy, Jr, president, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, former Civil Service Commission
- Marvin Kalb, CBS
- Daniel Schorr, CBS
- Lem Tucker, NBC
- Sander Vanocur, NBC
Celebrities
- Carol Channing, actress
- Bill Cosby, comedian
- Jane Fonda, actress and political activist
- June Foray, voice actress[10]
- Dick Gregory, comedian and civil rights and peace activist.
- Gene Hackman, actor
- Eartha Kitt, actress and singer
- Burt Lancaster, actor
- Steve McQueen, actor
- Joe Namath, former New York Jets Quarterback, erroneously listed as the New York Giants QB
- Paul Newman, actor
- Gregory Peck, actor
- Tony Randall, actor
- Barbra Streisand, actress, singer, director, producer, writer, philanthropist, political advocate
- Tom Smothers, folk singer and comedian
Business people
- Charles B. Beneson, president, Beneson Realty Co.
- Nelson Bengston, president, Bengston & Co.
- Holmes Brown, vice president, public relations, Continental Can Co.
- Benjamin Buttenweiser, limited partner, Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
- Lawrence G. Chait, chairman Lawrence G. Chait & Co., Inc.
- Ernest R. Chanes, president, Consolidated Water Conditioning Co.
- Maxwell Dane, chairman, executive committee, Doyle, Dane & Bernbach, Inc.
- Charles H. Dyson, chairman, the Dyson-Kissner Corp.
- Norman Eisner, president, Lincoln Graphic Arts.
- Charles B. Finch, vice president, Alleghany Power System, Inc.
- Frank Heineman, president, Men’s Wear International.
- George Hillman, president, Ellery Products Manufacturing Co.
- Bertram Lichtenstein, president, Delton Ltd.
- William Manealoff, president, Concord Steel Corp.
- Gerald McKee, president, McKee, Berger, Mansueto.
- Paul Milstein, president, Circle Industries Corp.
- Stewart R. Mott, Stewart R. Mott, Associates.
- Lawrence S. Phillips, president, Phillips-Van Heusen Corp.
- David Rose, chairman, Rose Associates.
- Julian Roth senior partner, Emery Roth & Sons.
- William Ruder, president, Ruder & Finn, Inc.
- Si Scharer, president, Scharer Associates, Inc.
- Alfred P. Slaner, president, Kayser-Roth Corp.
- Roger Sonnabend, chairman, Sonesta International Hotels.
Business additions
- Business Executives Move for Vietnam Peace and New National Priorities
- Morton Sweig, president, National Cleaning Contractors
- Alan V. Tishman, executive vice president, Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Inc.
- Ira D. Wallach, president, Gottesman & Co., Inc.
- George Weissman, president, Philip Morris Corp.
- Ralph Weller, president, Otis Elevator Company
Business
- Clifford Alexander, Jr., member, Equal Opportunity Commission; LBJ‘s special assistant
- Hugh Calkins, Cleveland lawyer, member, Harvard Corp
- Ramsey Clark, partner, Weiss, Goldberg, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; former attorney general
- Lloyd Cutler, lawyer, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Washington, D.C.
- Henry L. Kimelman, chief fund raiser for McGovern. president, Overview Group
- Raymond Lapin, former president, FNMA; corporation executive
- Hans F. Loeser, chairman, Boston Lawyers’ Vietnam Committee
- Robert McNamara, president of the World Bank; former Secretary of Defense
- Hans Morgenthau, a pioneer in the field of international relations theory
- Victor Palmieri, lawyer, business consultant, real estate executive, Los Angeles
- Arnold Picker, Muskie‘s chief fund raiser; mayor of Golden Beach, Florida; executive vice president of United Artists; enemy number one on Nixon’s Enemies List
- Robert S. Pirie, Harold Hughes‘ chief fund raiser: Boston lawyer
- Joseph Rosenfield, Harold Hughes‘ money man; retired Des Moines lawyer
- Henry Rowen, president, Rand Corp., former assistant director of budget (LBJ)
- R. Sargent Shriver, Jr., former US. ambassador to France; lawyer, Strasser, Spiefelberg, Fried, Frank & Kempelman, Washington, D.C.; 1972 Democratic Party Vice Presidential candidate; former director of the Peace Corps
- Theodore Sorensen, lawyer, Weiss, Goldberg, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, New York
- Ray Stark, Broadway producer
- Howard Stein, president and director, Dreyfus Corporation
- Milton Semer, chairman, Muskie Election Committee; lawyer, Semer and Jacobsen
- George H. Talbot, president, Charlotte Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.; headed anti-Vietnam ad
- Arthur Taylor, vice president, International Paper Company
- Jack Valenti, president, Motion Picture Association
- Paul Warnke, Muskie financial supporter, former assistant secretary of defense
- Thomas J. Watson, Jr., Muskie financial supporter; chairman, IBM
Academics
- Michael Ellis DeBakey, chairman, department of surgery, Baylor College of Medicine; surgeon-in-chief, Ben Taub General Hospital, Texas
- Derek Curtis Bok, dean, Harvard Law School
- Kingman Brewster, Jr., president, Yale University
- McGeorge Bundy, president, Ford Foundation
- Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Carl Djerassi, professor of chemistry, and co-inventor of the first oral contraceptive pill, Stanford University
- Daniel Ellsberg, professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- George Drennen Fischer, member, executive committee, National Education Association
- J. Kenneth Galbraith, professor of economics, Harvard University
- Patricia Harris, educator, lawyer, former U.S. ambassador; chairman welfare committee, Urban League
- Walter Heller, regents professor of economics, University of Minnesota
- Edwin Land, inventor of instant photography
- Herbert Ley, Jr., former FDA commissioner; professor of epidemiology, Harvard University
- Matthew Stanley Meselson, professor of biology, Harvard University
- Lloyd N. Morrisett[A], professor and associate director, education program, University of California
- Joseph Rhodes, Jr., fellow, Harvard University; member, Scranton commission on Campus Unrest
- Bayard Rustin, civil rights activist; director, A. Philip Randolph Institute, New York
- David Selden, president, American Federation of Teachers
- Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., professor of humanities, City University of New York
- Jeremy Stone, director, Federation of American Scientists
- Jerome Wiesner, president, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Samuel M. Lambert, president, National Education Association
According to Dean, Colson later compiled hundreds of names on a “master list” which changed constantly. On December 20, 1973, the Congressional Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation concluded that people on the “Enemies” list had not been subjected to an unusual number of tax audits. The report revealed a second list of about 576 (with some duplicates) supporters and staffers of George McGovern‘s 1972 presidential campaign given to Internal Revenue Commissioner Johnnie Walters by John Dean on September 11, 1972. The Washington Post printed the entire list the next day, but The New York Times reported just a few paragraphs on page 21.[8][9
Newsman Daniel Schorr and actor Paul Newman stated, separately, that inclusion on the list was their greatest accomplishment. When this list was released, Schorr read it live on television, not realizing that he was on the list until he came to his own name.[10] Author Hunter S. Thompson remarked he was disappointed he was not on it.[11]
In the United States, the term “enemies list” has come to be used in contexts not associated with Richard Nixon. For example, satirist P. J. O’Rourke‘s 1989 “A Call for a New McCarthyism” in The American Spectator has a hybrid blacklist and enemies list, suggesting that, contrary to the spirits of these lists, the subjects there should be overexposed, not suppressed, “so that a surfeited public rebels in disgust.”
In Philip Roth’s Our Gang, which was published in 1971, two years before the list was first mentioned in public, the Nixon parody character Trick E. Dixon begins to compile a rudimentary list of five political enemies. It includes Jane Fonda and the Black Panthers who were on the real-life expanded master list, The Berrigans (who were not) and Curt Flood.
In “Homer’s Enemy” (1997), an 8th-season episode of The Simpsons, Moe Szyslak shows off his own enemies list, which Barney Gumble quickly appraises as Nixon’s list, with the latter’s name crossed out and replaced with Moe’s. Moe promptly adds Barney to the list for his insolence. An earlier episode was also a likely reference to the enemies’ list when Homer falls to the floor as a result of a shoddy chair. In anger, Homer remarks that the manufacturer “just made the list!”.
In Futurama‘s first episode, “Space Pilot 3000” (1999), Fry and Bender walk through a room of live preserved heads of famous people. When Fry knocks over Nixon’s jar, Nixon says “That’s it, you just made my list!”
In a BoJack Horseman second-season episode called “The Shot” (2015), the title character and Todd visit the Nixon Presidential Library with the intent of stealing a scaled-down replica of the library. Mounted on the walls are Nixon’s Enemy and “Frenemy” Lists. Walt Disney is included on the Enemy List.
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