59. the Toledo Blade George Jenks, “Heat Level Rises as Rhodes, Taft Engage in Third Debate,” Toledo (Ohio) Blade, April 28, 1970.
60. A few days after the debate Kent State University’s May 4 Task Force, chronology of events that took place May 1–4, 1970, http://dept.kent.edu/may4/chrono.html. See also Richard Reeves, President Nixon: Alone in the White House (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 213.
61. At a press conference Perlstein, Nixonland, 486.
62. Kent State, Bob Haldeman later wrote David Butler, “The Case Against ‘Operation Menu,’ ” Newsweek, April 30, 1979, citing H. R. Haldeman, The Ends of Power (New York: Times Books, 1978).
63. Knickerbocker Letter from Robert Ailes Jr. to H. R. Haldeman, June 11, 1970. “Roger is staying at the Knickerbocker Hotel for an indefinite period,” his brother wrote. “When Roger is not at the hotel he can be reached via The Real Tom Kennedy Show at KTLA-TV in Los Angeles.”
64. Even though he was still married Marjorie Ailes divorce filing, “Lunatics, Drunkards, Divorces: 1977–1978,” Delaware County Courthouse, Media, Pennsylvania.
65. “All I knew” Author interview with TV personality Tom Kennedy.
66. The taping of the premiere Recap of premiere episode of The Real Tom Kennedy Show, http://www.game-show-utopia.net/realtomkennedy/realtomkennedy.htm.
67. In late May Letter from Republican National Committee deputy chairman Jim Allison Jr. to Roger Ailes, May 25, 1970.
68. A White House memo Memo from Nixon aide Gordon Strachan to H. R Haldeman and Herbert Klein, Nov. 13. 1970.
69. A Boston Globe profile Nyhan, “Roger Ailes: He Doctors a Politician’s Image.”
70. After an unsuccessful attempt Letter from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, June 8, 1970.
71. Ailes fired off an angry letter Letter from Roger Ailes to Jim Allison, Aug. 26, 1970.
72. “The press is the enemy” Jonathan Aitken, Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed (New York: Random House, 2010), 143.
73. On June 3, 1969 Memo from H. R. Haldeman to Herbert Klein, June 3, 1969.
74. A few hours later Memo from Herbert Klein to H. R. Haldeman, June 3, 1969.
75. “I have discussed television balance” Memo from Herbert Klein to Richard Nixon, Oct. 17, 1969.
76. In June 1970 Letter from James Cordes of WordCraft Productions to Roger Ailes, June 16, 1970.
77. Ailes told Nixon aide Letter from Roger Ailes to Nixon aide Jeb Magruder, July 3, 1970.
78. In the summer Memo from Nixon aide Gregg Petersmeyer to Herbert Klein, Aug. 13, 1970.
79. Ailes sent Haldeman Roger Ailes’s marked-up, signed copy of the memo proposing a White House news service.
80. just a few months earlier Nyhan, “Roger Ailes: He Doctors a Politician’s TV Image.”
81. “It should be expanded” Roger Ailes’s marked-up, signed copy of the memo proposing a White House news service.
82. A prescient 1973 document Memo from T. O’Donnell to H. R. Haldeman, March 12, 1973.
83. By November 1970 “Memorandum for Bill Carruthers File,” by Dwight Chapin, Nov. 16, 1970.
84. On November 19 Unsigned White House memo, Nov. 19, 1970.
85. The day before Thanksgiving Ailes proposal to Haldeman, Nov. 25, 1970.
86. He hired Carruthers The announcement was made in The Hollywood Reporter. “President Nixon Names Carruthers Consultant,” Hollywood Reporter, Feb. 1, 1970. On December 29, 1970, Chapin wrote to Carruthers, “Bob Haldeman has talked to Roger Ailes and Roger is fully aware of your coming aboard here as well as Mark Goode’s.” See also Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries, 266.
87. The White House worried Chapin memo to Haldeman, Dec. 23, 1970.
88. A meeting was scheduled Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries, 270.
89. A talking paper Undated document, “Re: Roger Ailes’ Meeting,” Nixon Presidential Library Archives.
90. A few weeks later Letter from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, Feb. 9, 1971.
91. “No need for H.” Memo from Nixon aide Bruce Kehrli to Lawrence Higby (undated).
92. “I have been getting a lot” Letter from Roger Ailes to Lawrence Higby, Feb. 12, 1971.
93. The Real Tom Kennedy Show Author interview with Tom Kennedy.
94. An article in Backstage “Ailes, Business Is Not Ailing,” Backstage, March 5, 1971.
95. a speech Roger Ailes, “Candidate + Money + Media = Votes” (transcript of speech), Town Hall of California, June 8, 1971. The speech was mentioned in the pages of Broadcasting on June 14, 1971, in an article titled “Nixon’s Specialist on TV Defends Its Political Use.”
96. He told White House photographer Letter from Roger Ailes to Nixon photographer Oliver Atkins, May 14, 1971.
97. “Roger got caught up” Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.
SIX: A NEW STAGE
1. “He was trying to figure out” Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.
2. Paul Turnley, a liberal Democrat Author interview with former Ailes assistant Paul Turnley.
3. On May 15 Letter from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, May 19, 1971. Even though Ailes lost out on the White House television position, he continued to cultivate a relationship with the administration. In this letter, Ailes told Haldeman that when he traveled to Indiana, he learned that Gene Pulliam, the publisher of The Indianapolis Star, was turning against Nixon. “He has gone as far as to say he is going to back Scoop Jackson for 1972,” Ailes wrote, advising Nixon not to attend the Indianapolis 500 car race. “I think it would be a very bad idea. The situation in Indiana is just too volatile at the moment and I can’t see anything that the president could gain from it politically.” On May 21, Jon M. Huntsman, special assistant to the president, wrote Ailes that he would make office space available for him “during your consultation visits to the White House, as a White House Consultant.” On May 28, Ailes wrote to Haldeman, thanking him for the offer of office space. “I am very happy to know that our relationship is to continue,” Ailes wrote. “As you know, my personal and professional loyalty is with the President and I want to do everything I can to help get him re-elected in 1972. As you pointed out, Bob, I have become somewhat of a political animal now as well as a media adviser and I think this does give me some added strength and in some ways makes me a double-threat man. I was used by Westinghouse Broadcasting as a trouble-shooter in trouble program areas and I think I could serve the same role politically in some of the states where we have problems.… Thank you for your confidence in me.” On June 2, Haldeman replied, “I wish you the best of luck in your new political trouble shooter role. I am sure you will do an excellent job.” Documents available at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum do not indicate that the administration used Ailes in any substantive way. On July 1, Ailes wrote Haldeman’s assistant, Larry Higby, suggesting that Nixon attend a Washington Senators baseball game, at a time when the team was considering relocating to Texas. “We have done nothing recently to build up his ‘sports enthusiast’ image,” Ailes wrote, “and it might be worth a trip during his ‘private hours’ over to the ballpark to see the Senators or to talk to their management about their problems—not as the President but as a sports fan trying to keep the Senators in Washington.” Ailes told Higby that the stunt would “give the President a down-to-earth look.”