18. Morton signed Ailes up Letter from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, June 8, 1970. “For the past year my company has had a small consultancy contract of $12,000.00 with the Republican National Committee,” Ailes wrote. “Can you advise me if there is any chance of getting it renewed?”
19. In May H. R. Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House (New York: Putnam, 1994), 75.
20. in June Memo from Nixon aide Stephen Bull to Carson Howell, June 30, 1969.
21. The next month http://nixonfoundation.org/2012/09/roger-ailes-recalls-the-moon-landing/. “I was watching the feed from the moon and I realized we could have the first inter-planetary split screen,” Ailes told Bill Hemmer in a 2012 interview. “The problem was that there was no way to predict which way Armstrong would be standing and facing.” After having monitors placed on both sides of the president’s desk, Ailes cued Nixon which way to look. On the screen, it appeared as if Nixon and Armstrong were facing each other. “That was my contribution,” Ailes recalled.
22. “He felt” Memo from Haldeman aide Larry Higby to H. R. Haldeman, Aug. 6, 1969.
23. “The White House” Mary Wiegel, “Apollo 11 to Star on Earth,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 13, 1969.
24. Sheraton Gibson Hotel Jack Rourke letter to Roger Ailes, Aug. 1, 1969. The letter was mailed to the hotel. See also Fred Ferretti, “Nixon TV Adviser on Standby Call; Roger Ailes Flew in from Ohio for Briefing at U.N.,” New York Times, Sept. 21, 1969. Ferretti writes of Ailes, “He maintains an apartment here as well as others in Washington and Philadelphia, has a hotel room in Cincinnati, and a house in New Jersey.”
25. “Yesterday’s premiere” Lawrence Laurent, “Wholey Does His Thing,” Washington Post, Aug. 19, 1969.
26. “Roger would say” Author interview with liberal TV personality Dennis Wholey. Despite their political differences, Wholey and Ailes got along well. “I didn’t see eye-to-eye with him,” Wholey said, “but I recall him having a presence, having a strong sense of humor, and having a great sense of confidence.” Wholey was also struck by Ailes’s bluntness. In one conversation, Ailes confronted Wholey about his excessive drinking. “Only two people I can recall ever called me on my drinking. Roger was the first,” Wholey said. “As I recall, he said, ‘You certainly like to drink, don’t you?’ And I replied, ‘Yes, I like to drink!’ ” Ailes stared back at him. “He said, and this was the point that scored with me, ‘That’s a good way to lose a career.’ I said, ‘What do you mean by that?’ He said, ‘If you get caught in any kind of an incident, disorderly conduct’—specifically he mentioned drinking and driving—’that’s a way to totally lose a career.’ ” Ailes’s advice stayed with him even as his alcohol problems worsened. It was not until the early 1980s when Wholey thought he had run another car off the road, that he got himself into rehab. “It’s amazing how few people step up to the plate to say you have a problem,” he says. “Roger recognized it way back.”
27. “Your new show” Letter from Lucy Winchester to Roger Ailes, Sept. 23, 1969.
28. When Nixon addressed Ferretti, “Nixon TV Adviser on Standby Call.”
29. In July Joe McGinniss, “The Selling of ‘Selling of the President,’ ” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 4, 1970. McGinniss’s excerpt appeared in the August 1969 issue of Harper’s.
30. Then, a few weeks before Large, “Mr. Nixon on TV: ‘Man in the Arena.’ ”
31. Four days Letter from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, Oct. 2, 1969.
32. Marvin Kitman Marvin Kitman, “The Selling of the President 1968,” New York Times, Oct. 5, 1969.
33. A few days later, Haldeman Letter from H. R. Haldeman to Roger Ailes, Oct. 1969.
34. “That was the thing” Author interview with Joe McGinniss.
35. When McGinniss appeared McGinniss, “The Selling of ‘Selling of the President.’ ”
36. Only a few Roger Ailes letter to Jack Rourke, Oct. 23, 1969.
37. “His career was started” Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.
38. The week before Lawrence Laurent, “Virginia TV Gets School Film Contract,” Washington Post, Oct. 4, 1969. “Ailes Leaves ‘Wholey’ in Contract Dispute,” Broadcasting, Sept. 29, 1969.
39. By the end of 1969 Memo from Richard Nixon to H. R. Haldeman, Dec. 1, 1969.
40. A few days before Christmas Letter from H. R. Haldeman to Roger Ailes, Dec. 19, 1969.
41. confidential seven-page proposal Letter from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, Dec. 1969. In a Jan. 7 letter to Roger Ailes, Haldeman thanks him “for the material you sent me on December 30.”
42. On January 7 Memo from H. R. Haldeman to Richard Nixon, Jan. 7, 1970.
43. Ailes was hired Memo from Nixon aide Lawrence Higby to John Brown, Jan. 22, 1970.
44. “If he is hired” Memo from Dwight Chapin to H. R. Haldeman, Jan. 10, 1970.
45. Ailes told Chapin Memo from Dwight Chapin to Lawrence Higby, Jan. 27, 1970.
46. A Nixon insider, Ziegler Jessica Garrison, “Ron Ziegler, 63; Press Secretary Remained Loyal to Nixon Throughout Watergate,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 11, 2003.
47. On February 4 Memo from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, Feb. 4, 1970.
48. new press briefing room James S. Brady Briefing Room, White House Museum (historical note), http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/west-wing/press-briefing-room.htm.
49. That same day, Ziegler Memo from Ron Ziegler to H. R. Haldeman, Feb. 4, 1970.
50. A few weeks later Memo from Ronald Ziegler to Dwight Chapin, April 7, 1970.
51. Ailes submitted three candidates Memo from Roger Ailes to White House, undated.
52. “Roger wanted me” Author interview with Robert LaPorta.
53. The White House brought LaPorta in Memo from Ronald Ziegler to H. R. Haldeman, Feb. 26, 1970. In an author interview, LaPorta recalled, “Ziegler was very cold to me. It was not a very long interview.”
54. After another candidate Memo from Roger Ailes to Lawrence Higby, March 3, 1970; memo from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, April 29, 1970.
55. In mid-March Memo from Ronald Ziegler to H. R. Haldeman, March 14, 1970.
56. drugstore magnate St. Petersburg Times, Times Wire Services, “Eckerd’s Moves Hint Nixon’s Fighting Kirk,” Feb. 28, 1970, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19700228&id=uM5aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=InwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3405,6023454.
57. “Ailes is involving himself” Memo from Ronald Ziegler to H. R. Haldeman, March 14, 1970.
58. When Taft debated Nyhan, “Roger Ailes: He Doctors a Politician’s TV Image.”