FEATURED 8 President Nixon’s Florida White House at Key Biscayne Fl. (1972-1974) -revised

Village of Key Biscayne
500 Bay Lane (1972)
Type of Activity	Visiting the Florida White House
Location
Location	Key Biscayne Florida
Date of Activity	1968 thru 1974
Coordinates	25.69028°N 80.165°W25.69028; -80.165

Father Bob Libby shares stories of "Nixon on the Key" 

The decades-long friendship between former U.S. President Richard Nixon and banker Bebe Rebozo would influence a presidency and change a tiny island enclave off the coast of Miami – but their beginning was an inauspicious one.

President Nixon and Bebe Rebozo return from a cruise on the Coco Lobo

The story of Nixon on the Key, as told by Father Bob Libby in a presentation sponsored by the Key Biscayne Community Foundation and Key Biscayne Historical and Heritage Society, it all began in Coral Gables, when Rebozo and George Smathers were students together. After Smathers became a U.S. Senator, Rebozo, by then a business leader in Key Biscayne, decided to invite his former classmate and a group of friends to the island to go fishing.

“Among the senators who went fishing on Key Biscayne that day were three future presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy and LBJ,” Libby recounted.

But for Nixon and Rebozo, it was not friendship at first sight, Libby said.

Rebozo reportedly told Smathers, “Don’t bring that guy back again – he doesn’t drink whiskey, he doesn’t chase women, and he doesn’t even play golf.”

In the years to come, Nixon may not have started chasing women – several of the stories Libby shared highlighted the President’s devotion to wife Pat – but he most certainly learned to play golf (a famous photo shows a smiling Rebozo and Nixon out for a round) and to enjoy a stiff drink: During one of Rebozo’s last conversations with Nixon, when Nixon said his doctor told him to “cut out the martinis,” Rebozo reportedly replied, “I’d get a second opinion.”

 The friendship between the two men would last through failed and successful campaigns, a presidency and, of course, the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s downfall. Throughout, the island of Key Biscayne served as a backdrop, and itself was transformed by its most famous inhabitant.

When Nixon first visited Key Biscayne, Libby said, it was a tiny community of some 100 homes.

Key Biscayne Lighthouse

It was 1950, and Nixon was a newly elected U.S. Senator from California.

He continued to visit the island throughout his term, staying in a rented home and later at the Key Biscayne Hotel. By 1953, Nixon, just 39, saw his political star rise even further: he became Vice President of the United States, serving with President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Key Biscayne Hotel and Villas

He continued spending time on the island in both bad times – after his defeat to JFK in the 1960 presidential election and losing the California Governor’s race two years later – and good: After he was elected President in 1968, he established his Winter White House on the Key at a Bay Lane Complex. It remained his southern home through the high point of a massive reelection win to the low point of Watergate.

Entrance to the Nixon Compound on Bay Lane

As Libby told it, “He was reelected in 1972 in a landslide with the greatest electoral majority of over 500 electoral votes, and he also had the highest popular vote majority. And yet, in 1974, he resigned the Presidency of the United States.”

Many of the events behind those ups and downs have Key Biscayne links, according to Libby.

Inside the Miami Beach Convention Center awaiting 
President Nixon's acceptance speech

Libby, noting Nixon appeared on the cover of Time magazine over 50 times, is still researching how many times “Key Biscayne” was the dateline of a national or international news story.

For starters, there was the 1960 election, when Nixon lost to Kennedy.

Libby showed photos of the two men greeting each other by a villa at the Key Biscayne Hotel, standing outside the hotel surrounded by reporters, and behind a lectern with a Key Biscayne Hotel placard. Nixon had come to the Key after the loss and was having dinner at the Jamaica Inn when he received a series of phone calls.

President elect Kennedy talks to reports at the Key Biscayne Hotel

“One was from Eisenhower, one was from J. Edgar Hoover, one was from the attorney general, and one was from JFK,” Libby said. “The first three were encouraging Nixon to contest the election, because there had been some hanky-panky in Illinois and in Texas. But Nixon said that would take a year, and whoever was in the White House would be powerless. And because they were at the top of the Cold War, Nixon said, ‘I don’t want to put the country in danger.’”

He decided to concede, and Kennedy traveled to the Key to meet with him.

There are also plenty of events with a local link after Nixon did become President, Libby said.

The Jamaica Inn was the site of Nixon’s first interview with Henry Kissinger, his Secretary of State, and Kissinger was a crucial figure in a couple of events that had ties to the Village.

“One of the amazing things that happened on Key Biscayne that changed world history involved the Yom Kippur War,” Libby said.

Egypt and Syria had attacked destroyed the Israeli Air Force, and Nixon, on the Key at the time, got to work and re equipped the Israelis with American planes. It turned the war around and, as it was revealed some years later, potentially mitigated a nuclear threat, Libby said.

Also, Libby added, “Probably the most exciting, wonderful week of Nixon’s life occurred in January of 1973. He was newly re elected as President of the United States. Henry Kissinger had just gone to Paris and signed what he thought was a peace treaty to end the Vietnam War.”

President Nixon with Henry Kissinger upon his return from

 the Paris Peace talks

While peace would prove to be elusive, at the time the treaty was heralded, and Nixon flew to the Key. Libby said there was a big celebration at the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church, and Nixon rang a bell – which is still on church grounds – to mark the end of the war.

Nixon’s downfall also had Key Biscayne ties.

Watergate hearings

Toward the end of his presidency, Libby said, Nixon called his old friend Rebozo and beckoned him to Washington D.C. Rebozo traveled from Key Biscayne to the White House, and when he got there, Nixon walked out and joined him in the limousine that had met him at the airport.

“Nixon directed the driver to go to the Potomac,” Libby said. “There, he directed the captain to take them way out of range. They sat over the engine and talked into each other’s ear. Nixon told him where things stood, and Bebe told him, ‘You’ve got a choice. You can resign and leave in honor, or you can be impeached. It’s up to you.’ They went back to the White House, Bebe spent the night and went back to Key Biscayne the next day.

“Three days later, Richard Nixon resigned the presidency of the United States.”

The President's farewell speech

President leaves the White House for his final flight

The stories that made headlines were not the only ones Libby shared.

He also told of the more personal moments that occur when a president makes a small island Village his part-time home: how Nixon heard Reverend Billy Graham was at the Key Biscayne Hotel pool, so he donned his swimsuit and went down to meet him; how a bellhop at the hotel was impressed that Nixon always remembered his name; how the Key Biscayne Yacht Club would open early to serve Nixon and Rebozo breakfast; how Nixon asked the Chowder Chompers to play Oh Tannenbaum when the German Chancellor visited him on the Key in 1971.

There were also stories about Nixon’s devotion to Pat.

Captain Jim O’Neil remembers Nixon asking him to take Pat and the girls around the island on his boat; many people can still envision them traveling down the canals and waving to people on shore. An island barber recalled the parking lot he shared with a florist being roped off by the Secret Service when Nixon wanted to buy yellow roses for his wife.

President and the First Lady on the Coco Lobo

Libby added, “Nixon attended the [Key Biscayne] Community Church regularly, and when Pat Nixon died, he planted a yellow rose bush in the garden there at the church.”

Church is where many residents encountered the former president.

The Presbyterian Church was the island’s biggest at the time, Libby said, and Nixon attended with his cabinet, including Kissinger. The late Dick Cromartie, who helped found the Village of Key Biscayne and for whom the local American Legion chapter is named, was no fan of the President’s politics, but was impressed when Nixon approached him at the church after hearing of his heroics in World War II. “Nixon thanked him,” Libby said.

Nixon also went to the Community Church often, and one day the pastor saw him walking the beach with his pants rolled up and coat over his head.

The pastor introduced himself, Libby said, and Nixon told him, “I appreciate the fact that you keep the door of the church open. When I come back from campaigning, I’m usually all strung out, and I go and sit in the church for an hour or two to calm down.”

Walking the beach was something Nixon loved, and that drew him so strongly to the Key.

But the Secret Service didn’t think the Atlantic Ocean shoreline was a safe place for Nixon’s strolls, so, when he set up his presidential compound at the end of Bay Lane, “They bought a beach,” Libby said. “They bought the Nixon Beach, and he and his family walked there.”

Beach at the 516 House

Neighbors remember being told to tread carefully:

 “The Secret Service told them, ‘The minute the water splashes, the lights and the sirens are going to come on, so you’re going to have to behave,” Libby said. 

The Secret Service were behind several humorous stories told by Libby.

He said the late Jean Ferris used to talk about how she always knew when Nixon was coming by the arrival of a tribe of Secret Service agents, clad in wild tropical shirts. She remembered, “When I saw the shirts and the grass on Crandon being trimmed, I called my hippie friends in Coconut Grove and they got out here with their protest signs.”

Mike Ruben, whose father owned and managed Burns Men’s shop, recalls the President coming in the store surrounded by a bunch of men in tropical shirts. One time, Ruben’s father was making a shirt for the President, and when he reached in his pocket for a measuring tape he was grabbed by two Secret Service bodyguards.

 The Secret Service may have seemed omnipresent on the Key while Nixon visited as President, but after his resignation, everything changed.

 Nixon continued to spend plenty of time in the Island Paradise, Libby said, but he declined to keep his Secret Service protection, and spent his time on the island in relative quiet.

Those years ultimately became the final chapter of the story of Nixon on the Key.

“After the resignation, Nixon lived another 20 years,” and, having stepped away from work, he did what so many do, albeit under much different circumstances.

As Libby put it, “He became a snowbird.” 

Florida White House in Key Biscayne
The Florida White House on Key Biscayne Island
Coordinates:          25°41′25″N 80°9′54″W / 25.69028°N 80.165°W / 25.69028; -80.165
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Miami-Dade
Elevation	3 ft. (1 m)

Jun 1972 to Dec 1973 to work at the Florida White House in Key Biscayne FL

Key Biscayne is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States on the island of Key Biscayne. The population was 10,507 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 10,324. Key Biscayne is located on the island of Key Biscayne and lies south of Miami Beach and east of Miami. The Village is connected to Miami via the Rickenbacker Causeway, originally built in 1947. Because of its low elevation and direct exposure to the Atlantic Ocean, it is usually among the first Miami areas to be evacuated before an oncoming hurricane.

President Richard Nixon purchased the first of his two waterfront homes, forming a compound known as The Florida White House, in 1969 to be close to his friend and confidant, C.G. (Bebe) Rebozo and industrialist Robert Abplanalp. There was a total of five houses plus the SSCP and helipad that made up the compound at Key Biscayne. President Nixon had two houses, then Bebe Robozo's home the SS/GSA house and finally WHCA/WHMO. The Presidential compound at Key Biscayne was bounded by Biscayne Bay on the west, West Matheson Drive on the south, Bay Lane on the east, and a fence on the north.

The Key Biscayne Compound (Helipad, USSS CU, 516 House, 500 House, Rebozo House)

The President's homes at 516 and 500 Bay Lane are the southernmost houses in the compound Bebe Rebozo owns and uses the house next door at 490 Bay Lane. The Federal Government leases the next two houses at 478 and 468 Bay Lane. The house at 478 Bay Lane, which is owned by Robert Abplanalp, was leased by the Government in February 1969 for use as an office for Secret Service and GSA personnel. Abplanalp purchased this residence after the owners expressed a desire to sell because of the heavy traffic of Government personnel. The house at 468 Bay Lane was leased in December 1968 and served as the telecommunications facility for the WHCA and an office for military aides to the President.

516 Bay Lane prior to demolition (2004)

The principal construction work by the Government began about December 15, 1968 and was largely completed by September 1, 1969. Nixon visited Key Biscayne more than 50 times between 1969 and 1974. During the summer of 1973 there was a new pool and lanai/Florida room constructed in the rear of the 500 house which was also added to the Federal Government’s expenditures in connection with the Key Biscayne compound.

500 Bay Lane (1972)

These expenditures totaled approximately $7.9 million. Of this, approximately $4.56 million was expended for Secret Service, GSA, Coast Guard, and WHCA personnel permanently assigned to that location. The DOD and WHCA spent $2. 1 million for communications, helipad and boat dock, shark net, and electric power generator; the Secret Service spent $67, 000 for security equipment and devices; and the Coast Guard spent $192,000 for boats, buoys, electronic equipment, and boat house.

Don Cammel remembers the early trips to Key Biscayne during the early days of the Nixon Presidency. The switchboard was already operational in the 5 house Presidential Compound about 2 miles away, but the Commcenter was not yet permanently installed.

Crandon Courts putting green

Our primary lodging was at the Crandon Courts Quality Inn. This 1960's motel, had a putting golf course in the courtyard, a pool, and individual small 2 and 3 bedroom cottages. The Commcenter team would live in a 3 bedroom unit with full kitchenette and 2 Commcenter and 2 COMSEC folks would live in 2 of the bedroom, and the 3rd bedroom was our equipment room for the old Model TTY and Crypto equipment. The AC was provided with old window style units through the walls and the heat from our equipment was often a problem.

The pool at the Crandon Court 

We would stock up on groceries from the nearby Food Fair grocery store next door, and supplement them with carry out from a popular Sir Pizza in same plaza. We did a lot of cooking in the kitchenette. Always a good breakfast, and used an outside grill for lunches and dinner.

Although we had some basic shift schedules, we were all able to use the main living room for television, and marathon pinochle games. You could hear the synchronization noise when we were about to receive a TTY message for processing, we would take a break from our card game to process the messages and deliver them to the addressee at the compound.

Toward the end of the trip, we would cook all of the food that was left. On one trip, I decided, that there was no reason to discard a dozen eggs, so I decided to put them in a pot of water and have hard boiled eggs for snacks on the plane when we returned to DC. I then turned on the burner on the stove, and went to the card game in the living room.

About 90 minutes later, we all started to smell something from outside. Turns out, the eggs boiled dry in the pot, and exploded and we had a horrible "rotten egg" odor throughout the entire 3 bedroom apartment. We tried to use multiple cans of air freshener to no avail. All our clothes, curtains, carpet, smelled horrible. We then carried the red hot pan out unto the Courtyard and poured water on it!

The Motel then placed that unit out of service for almost 3 weeks after our trip, repainted the entire room, replaced all of the carpet, and fixtures. WHCA admitted to causing the problem, but the motel evidently had good insurance, because we never received a bill, but they had all kinds of signs in all the kitchens, DO NOT leave stove unattended for any reason! On future trips, I was banned from being alone in the kitchen. Shortly after I was assigned to the permanent party at Key Biscayne working on the CCT and in the Comm Center.

My families’ final move while I was assigned to WHCA came in 1972 when I was transferred once again this time to the Florida White House in Key Biscayne Fl.  We were assigned Quarters and lived on Homestead AFB. There was a lot of friction over our priority assignments to the on-base housing list ahead of USAF people that had been waiting on the list for 2 years. 

And now for one of my favorite Bebe Rebozo stories. Mr. Rebozo lived in the middle home of a 5-house compound known as the Key Biscayne Presidential Compound. Two houses to the left of his home were both owned by the President, and the other two were leased space for the USSS and a General Services Administration office, and the second house on the end was owned by heirs of the Campbell Soup company and leased by WHCA.

The government improved the President's property with the installation of an acknowledged $400K helipad that stretched out into Biscayne Bay for Marine One and Army One to land. Lots of controversy over the environmental impact of such a structure. One Monday morning, on a week where we had been alerted to a potential visit beginning of Friday. We would see Mr. Rebozo enter and exit the Compound as he would head to the Key Biscayne Bank where he was the President. It was very uncommon for us to be involved with him on a daily basis other than just a friendly hello in passing.

There were a continuous list of construction projects usually scheduled and coordinated by the GSA; however,  On this Monday morning, around 9am, we received a call, that he had called a meeting in the USSS Office (the house next door) with the USSS,WHCA, and the onsite GSA Rep, he announced he was building a swimming pool in the lanai at the President’s house at 500 Bay Lane as a gift.  He then announced and this was to remain a surprise. This was Monday at opening of business. His next statement was, it needs to be completed and ready to swim in by the Presidents arrival on Friday at 6pm. This was also the first we knew of a pending visit in less than five days. He further informed us that he would manage the pool, lanai, electrical, excavating through his contractor, The President's best friend wanted to surprise him with a special Birthday gift. His plan was to basically, dig a giant hole in the ground and build a swimming pool for the President. Sounds like a really nice gift.

WHCA and USSS would need to reroute many TELCO cables and replace the sod. Somehow, we made it happen, turned out the Dade County permit office was the biggest hurdle on a neighbor trespass, and improvement of his property without permission! The entire pool, lighting, screened lanai, multiple 100 pair cables were finished about 1pm on that Friday, last piece of sod about 2 hours before arrival. WHCA’s shielded Secure Voice wideband circuit was most difficult because it was at end of range for cable length. Fuzzy, but everything happened. In some cases, the wiring plan was completed on the fly and documented later. I always wondered what the cost for this project was to the USSS and WHCA. Southern Bell had some steep tariffs for that type of service.

This is Monday at 9:20 am. By noon, the backhoe and heavy machinery were loading dump trucks and starting the structure. The number of underground cable pairs for all the communications, voice, secure voice, cable television, alarms, motion sensors, smoke sensors, and many others was all contained in two 100 pair cables. There was also a lot of patio lighting and remote controls for allowing access. It was decided to just plow through and start over after the damage was finished. Of course, since we were building a "new" system, the USSS had a lot of additional requirements.

The pool involved heavy equipment, trucks, backhoe, electricians, carpenters, concrete workers, landscapers, and a multitude of other contractors, all of which had to be cleared each time they accessed the front gate. This work resulted in a huge mud puddle. We once counted the number of workers around this new hole in the ground and it exceeded 100 workers. By Thursday, it actually looked like a pool, and water was trucked in with tankers and pumped from the street about 150 feet. The screen enclosure was finally completed about 1pm on Friday, and we had basic telephone service restored along with Secure Voice and CATV systems. All of this was also completed with Dade County permits and inspections along the way. Mr. Rebozo probably paid the pool contractors $35-40K, but the government also was on the hook for tons of overtime for re-installing TELCO, and other non-pool related items. The President arrived about 4pm that afternoon, they were just finishing the last of the St. Augustine sod, and had spread sand in the mud and cleaned it up. The President was absolutely astonished. He was very happy and enjoyed the pool that evening. Happy ending, but I have always wondered since then, in current conditions, have any President's had such a friend since, and would the USSS allow a friend to come in with bulldozers and completed renovate the premises without permission from the owner? It was a beautiful pool, and one of the most aggressive construction projects I have ever witnessed. During the week, we were required to have at least one WHCA member present as they continued to work around the clock. Concrete trucks pumping concrete at 1am really made the neighbors happy! The USSS was overwhelmed with being blind-sided with this project. Burying wires in a hole in the ground in the middle of the night, just outside the Presidents house a mere 72 hours before his scheduled arrival took a lot of manpower.

NOTE: There were about 65 workers doing some form of labor with shovel, wheelbarrows, etc. on Friday morning finishing the construction. All those workers each with different skills were all performing their duties simultaneously. There were a continuous list of construction projects usually scheduled and coordinated by the GSA. 

Bebe Rebozo hired a Cuban refugee name Manuel who was his landscaper/gardener. I am sure this guy was taken care of within his class of people, but obviously was struggling to feed his family. He would take care of the landscaping, grass cutting, rake the beach, trim Palm trees and shrubs, and one-man band. He did a great job and the place was always 100% perfect and ready for a Presidential visit. Word of a visit, he would touch up, and then be forced to depart the compound and NOT return until after the President had left. He was a non-citizen, and lack of background was caused to exclude him from the compound during visits. Bebe was never happy about that rule.

In the 468 Bay Lane house WHCA installed a three position switchboard with FM radio paging, a Comm. Center with secure voice and secure TTY, and a Radio Console that had phone patch capabilities on Baker, Charlie, and Sierra FM frequencies. This console also had a KWM-2 HF transmitter installed. The WHCA house leased at about 3 times market value for 8 years with special clauses that the lease holder, (heirs of Campbell Soup), were excluded from periodic inspections of their property. 

The 468 House was a split plan with a swimming pool and lanai in the center of a horseshoe layout. Everything on one side was traditional bedrooms that were used for the Military Aide and traveling WH Medical Unit doctors and/or nurses. The center room was where the WECO 608 switchboard was located with a frame room built behind the board. The sunken living room was the WHCA office, and the kitchen was small, but had a refrigerator, stove, and primitive microwave oven.

When I arrived in 1972, the swimming pool was fully operational and available to our families on weekends if there were no visits. There was also a beachfront where the family could swim in Biscayne Bay. Unfortunately for us after Watergate it seems like the President was there every weekend to get away from the constant barrage of questions from the Press.

Enjoying the beach at the Key Biscayne Compound 

I remember of all of the circuits that either originated or terminated in the Key Biscayne Compound there was one AT&T wideband circuit from the White House to Key Biscayne used to support the secure voice that was always giving us problems. Of course, there was a backup line, and both were very maintenance intensive. The common error reported was always a "tip/ring" cable reversal on either the transmit or receive which gets confusing when you have both ends on the line at the same time talking to the AT&T trouble desk. After months of spending hours, a week finding these problems repeatedly, a time was established where the trouble shooting would begin at one end and work its way through each Telco CO, in about 12-15 mile increments all the way from Washington DC to Florida. After about 18 hours, the job was completed. I think they found over 23 times the pairs were reversed. Each time someone would find their problem and fix it, the system would work as long as the remaining reversals were an even number. If you remember, back then, it was a work of art in the telco CO's to cable lace with beeswax twine each time a change was made. I am sure plenty of CO's were upset at some of the efforts required to cut the lacing to track pairs. After this exercise was complete, we rarely ever had another outage the rest of our time in KB.

While in Key Biscayne we had a very close group of people, and all worked very well together.

The old E/F air to ground system which processed ONE call on the entire network always seemed to work as designed, but it was a dinosaur. They were using a JetStar from the 89th to shuttle a lot of Cabinet Secretaries and Dr. Kissinger to and from Homestead during visits to Key Biscayne. Someone had a brainstorm that we needed to do some "more" testing of the E/F network that was maintained by AT&T and terminated in DC at Crown Radio . Of course all the testing went fine, we tested a new radio antenna arrangement, but basically it was just a fun day of flight. Destination....Little Rock AFB, Arkansas.

In the 1970's, Coors Beer was only sold in 17 states and the closest state to Florida was Arkansas. Charles "Bebe" Rebozo had asked if we could replenish the supply of Coors beer in the refrigerator at the 500 and 516 Houses in the compound. He peeled off a few hundred-dollar bills and told us to do our magic. 

We landed at Little Rock AFB, got a ride from Base Ops in a pickup truck to the Class VI store while they refueled the aircraft. Seems the crew already knew the limits and I think it was something like 17 cases in the under belly of the JetStar. We might have had 2 or 3 more cases in the seats, I know that we did this drill at least 3 times over the year and a half I was in Key Biscayne and each time it was supposed to be very close hold information, but the crew of the 89th was very aware of what was going on

Marine One awaits the Presidents arrival

There was always a great deal of activity at Homestead AFB. Most of the detachment lived on base and all of the arrivals/departures took place at the base. Air Force One and Marine One were secured on the base while the President was at Key Biscayne. The crews and all of the support staff also stayed at Homestead. After the President arrived he would climb aboard Marine One and head for the Key Biscayne compounds Helipad. The Homestead CCT housed in Bldg. 908 which is where the Army One and the Marine One detachments were housed. They alternated trips to Homestead, their approach to security was totally different. Somewhere I have a signed picture from the Army One Commander, Lt Col Gene Boyer along with an Army One candy dish.

Patty as Air Force One taxi's up to the ramp

Air Force One arrives at Homestead AFB

President Nixon’s arrival at Homestead AFB

I was in the process of moving my family to Key Biscayne when the Watergate break in occurred, little did anybody realize the impact that this incident would have on the Nixon White House and the personnel at Key Biscayne Compound.

 My Family barely got moved into our quarters on Homestead AFB. when I had to get ready for the 1972 Republican Convention.   

The convention was not originally supposed to be held in Miami, but rather in more summer-friendly San Diego. When the Republican National Committee had problems with the City of San Diego they started looking elsewhere. And what better place than Miami Beach, who had already set themselves up for two conventions in the previous four years and had the hotel space and phone, lines to accommodate them. Not to mention a drivable distance to Nixon’s summer home on Key Biscayne where there was all the communications that the USSS needed for security during the time of the convention. The convention was carefully organized to take advantage of television coverage. Because the war in Vietnam was still going on, the White House was expecting large demonstrations at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Some antiwar demonstrations did take place but without the violence that had erupted in Chicago four years earlier!

The Miami Convention Center

During the 1972 re-election campaign and despite his overwhelmingly strong position, Richard Nixon had engaged in a variety of dirty tricks, culminating in the botched burglary in the Watergate Complex on June 17, 1972.  President Nixon was actually visiting Key Biscayne and staying on Grand Cay in the Bahama Islands the day of the Watergate break-in. The Commcenter delivered the TTY message to H.R. Haldeman at the Key Biscayne Hotel on Saturday morning. He glanced at the message, put it back in the envelope dismissed me as he was laying it on the credenza in his Villa. At the end of the visit, that message was still in the envelope on the credenza when the Commcenter did their sweep at the end of the trip.

Donald Cammel was a 72B Commcenter Operator stationed at Key Biscayne. Part of his job was delivering morning messages to key staff each morning in hotel rooms at travel locations. During the transition team trip to Palm Springs and then San Clemente in late December and before President Nixon was sworn in on Jan 20, 1968, he delivered a message early in the morning, with an inflated priority to Colonel Al Haig. This message was notifying him of his selection for promotion to Brigadier General, and at first waking him up unannounced as instructed caused him some grief, but he was very happy after he read the short message sent from the White House Situation Room.

Fast forward about 2 years later during a visit to Key Biscayne, Don once again delivered a message to Brigadier General Haig that he was promoted to Major General and it was like the movie, Ground Hog Day. In 1973, Major General Haig was again surprised to jump from two stars to four stars and again delivered the news Don knocked on his door at the Key Biscayne Hotel and Villas early in the morning again the General thanked him for the good news. DON had also developed a good working relationship with General Haig, and more than once delivered items such as his raincoat that were left in his hotel room, taking it to the helicopter pad before the Generals departure. When Don decided to apply for the Warrant Officer program, he asked General Haig for a letter of recommendation, and that was on a Sunday evening departure from Key Biscayne. the letter was sent by the middle of the next week. Two days later a similar letter arrived from Dr. Kissinger who he I never asked for. He was sure those letters probably helped his successful selection to the Warrant Officer appointment.

In that era, WHCA had more face time interface than today, because automation has taken over a lot of the physical tasks that required us direct contact. It was always a pleasure to deal with Dr. Kissinger and his staff, unlike the hornet's nest with H.R. Haldeman and his assistant Larry Higby (aka Mighty Mouse).

Back then you could slide the News Summaries and unclassified documents, in an envelope under the door and go on to the next room, but if you needed a signature for classified documents on your log, you had to knock on the door even when most of the time it had a DO NOT DISTURB sign posted. H.R. Haldeman opened his door one morning at 0800:10, pointed to the DO NOT DISTURB sign, threw it on the ground near Don Cammel’s feet and slammed the door. After calling for some guidance he went back to the compound in Key Biscayne, and sure enough, Mr. Haldeman called at 0805 and was complaining that he didn't get his morning messages at 0800. When Don returned, General Adams the WHCA commander accompanied him. Mr. Haldeman grabbed the messages from his hands, as Don  handed a log to him and asked for a signature. Mr. Haldeman then said, "He saw you give it to me" and the General then told him, we have procedures and rules, and they apply to everyone. He then took the ball point pen from Don’s hand, and stabbed it through the log making a hole as he attempted to scratch his big "H" and then slammed the door! General Adams asked if this was common, and Don responded with a "Yes, Sir"! For the next two years plus, each time I delivered messages to Mr. Haldeman, he always avoided eye contact and scribbled in the log.

 Seeing lots of messages in the Commcenter, and the 3M Post-It notes that were attached and sent back made it difficult to track, once the reader pulls the Post-It off the document. When President Nixon would travel to Grand Cay, the Commcenter would frequently transmit messages to all levels of the Staff. He issued the order for the Tet Offensive effort in Vietnam while at Grand Cay in the Bahamas. There were also many messages giving guidance for Watergate issues, once again, all on Post-It notes attached to a TTY message reply with the simple initials "RN" somewhere on the page. The Commcenter would sometimes have to transmit long TTY messages multiple times, and then piece together to get all the garble out. Nothing worse that have the last page have a few characters missing! At 100 wpm, a slow process.

Whenever the President came to Key Biscayne for a visit we had to set up and check all of the communications in the Compound, but we also had to place equipment in the Villas at the Key Biscayne Hotel for the Sr. Staff.  H.R. Halderman and Henry Kissinger would have an IBM Dictaphone with a recorder coupler installed on their WH extension, so when they picked up the phone their conversation would be recorded. When the trip ended the villas were swept by Commcenter operators to ensure that no sensitive information was left behind. Truth of the matter is that rarely did we find classified on the sweeps.

The Watergate complex located in Washington D.C.

Whenever the President came to Key Biscayne for a visit we had to set up and check all of the communications in the Compound, but we also had to place equipment in the Villas at the Key Biscayne Hotel for the Sr. Staff. H.R. Halderman and Henry Kissinger would have an IBM Dictaphone with a recorder coupler installed on their WH extension, so when they picked up the phone their conversation would be recorded. When the trip ended the villas were swept by Comm. Center operators to insure that no sensitive information was left behind.

The Watergate scandal would ultimately be his undoing, leading to his resignation in 1974, but it had no impact on the 1972 campaign.

The 1972 Republican National Convention was held in Miami Beach, Florida from August 21-23. President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew were re-nominated on their first ballots.

09 Feb 73 to Jacksonville FL to support Julie Nixon

In Feb.1973 I was sent to Jacksonville FL. for a couple of days to install a radio base station for the Secret Service who was supporting Julie Nixon Eisenhower while she visited the city on official business. This visit was very low key, no staff, no press, just Secret Service support. All I had to do was to install a “Charlie” FM Base station and a remote console in the residence where she was staying. She stayed for two days and then returned to Washington DC.

Things really started to change in 1973 the War in Vietnam was finally over and the POW,s came home, the armed forces moved toward the all voluntary Army and WHCA was lowering its standards as candidates dwindled. WHCA, s mission was changing and they were also going through major technology changes. 

The Watergate scandal was front page news after it was disclosed by Alexander Butterfield that WHCA had installed tape recorders so there was a record of the private Presidential conversations and President Nixon refused to release them to Congress. The Bugging of the White House was disclosed during the Watergate Hearings and only then did the country realize that this was a long standing practice within the White House dating back to Franklin Roosevelt.   

Vice President Agnew resigned from office and Gerald Ford was appointed the new Vice President.

The main reason that I left WHCA after nine years was that I grew tired of traveling and wanted to spend more time at home with my Family, and the office of the President had been surrounded with corruption and was disgraced. I was discharged on December 20 1973 to begin life as a civilian.  It would be only eight months later when President Richard Nixon would resign to end the Watergate scandal.

The WHCA detachment on Key Biscayne began to shut down soon after the President  resigned in August 1974 since he was not expected to return. The CCT at Homestead AFB stayed in place and supported President Ford’s trips until January 1975.

Closing down the compound included the moving of the Homestead CCT to Andrews AFB. I believe most of that was completed by the end of 1974. The contracts that GSA had for their Office and USSS, and the WHCA house, which belonged to heirs of the Campbell Soup company were 8-year leases that required some negotiations and lots of restoral rehab. to return them to their original condition.

President Ford transferred the assets of Army One to the Marines. Army One had been permanently transferred to Homestead AFB to support Key Biscayne and they were moved back to Davidson Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir, VA. The Army and Marines alternated in-town and out of town trips on a monthly basis until the Army unit was deactivated. Homestead AFB was host for the Army One unit and the WHCA troops from the Key Biscayne Compound..

Southern Florida suffered the worst hurricane in their history when Andrew ripped through in 2004. Homestead AFB was reduced to rubble and all of the military quarters were demolished, Homestead was never rebuild and was closed and never reopened.

Key Biscayne also received severe damage many of the hotels that were used during visits were demolished and rebuilt including the Sonesta Beach and Key Biscayne Hotels. The same was true for the Key Biscayne’s Florida White House the 500 and 516 houses were torn down in 2004.

Driving in that neighborhood today, there is NOTHING left of any of the 5 houses, now all multi-story condos, but I do believe the massive concrete helipad is still protruding into Biscayne Bay along with the Key Biscayne Lighthouse both survived the storms. 

Today’s Florida White House built on the site where the 516 house stood

FM Radio Network Key Biscayne (Key Biscayne)

Base Station Site locations of the Key Biscayne FM Radio Network              

The FM radio Network covered all activity from Key Largo in the south, Homestead AFB, Miami, Key Biscayne, and the Coast Guard station in Opa-Locka to the north.  Baker, Charlie and Sierra base stations were installed in the following locations:

                                                                                

1.  Homestead AFB, this site insured coverage of all arrivals and departures, as well as any trips to The Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo where Bebe Rebozo had a vacation house that the President would visit.

FM Radio Site at Homestead AFB

2.  The Miami site was on top of One Biscayne Tower; this was the tallest building in south Miami  1n 1972 and had line of site to most locations including the Convention Center which was the site of the 1972 Republican Convention.  This site also covered all of Key Biscayne and the Rickenbacker Causeway as well as south Dade County.

One Biscayne Tower overlooking the Rickenbacker Causeway

3. The Key Biscayne site was on top of the Sonesta Beach Hotel, this site provided coverage of the beach and hotels where the senior staff stayed.

The Sonesta Beach Hotel on Key Biscayne

4.  Opa-Locka FL, the Coast Guard based at Opa-Locka provided all of the coastal security for the Key Biscayne Compound, the Coast Guard had two chase boats that would patrol the restricted area off of the compound and would challenge and watercraft that might stray to close. The Coast Guard was also available for any trips to the Bahamas. The USCG Cutter, Point Barnes was assigned to assist the USSS for both Biscayne Bay and Walkers Cay support. when we arrived at GBI.

The Coast Guard Base at Opa- Locka FL

We installed a set of WHCA radios on the Point Barnes as well as the two chase boats. For some reason...probably thought that it would be fun, that after an orientation trip for the USCG folks to both Walkers Cay and Grand Cay, there were a couple of us that decided to catch a ride on the Point Barnes from Grand Cay over to Grand Bahama Island and then catch the USAF helicopter from there back to Homestead. The fun wore off after about 10 minutes, I think they tried to beat us to death with the waves. We were not ready to get on the helicopter 

Coast Guard Patrol Boats

All radio circuits terminated at the Key Biscayne Compound either at the Secret Service Command Post (CP), or the WHCA radio console, switchboard and Comm. Center.

1972 Republican National Convention
The President and Vice President accept the 1972 Nomination
Type of Activity		Acceptance Speech
Location
Location	Miami Beach Convention Center
Date of Activity	23 August 1972
Coordinates	25° 47′ 42″ N, 80° 8′ 0″ W

Republican Convention: Miami Beach, FL August 21 to 23, 1972

I was transferred from the San Clemente CCT to the Key Biscayne Communications Detachment in July of 1972 and had just got my family settled when we started to prepare for the 1972 Republican Convention at the Miami Beach Convention Center only a few miles away from the Nixon’s Key Biscayne White House compound.

I arrived just in time to start preparations to provide support to the President, First Family, Vice President, Senior Staff and representatives from the Committee for the Re-Election of the President who were setting up their operations at the Doral Hotel also on Miami Beach.

The Miami Beach Convention Center Site of the 1972 Republican National Convention

The 1972 Republican convention was not originally scheduled to be held in Miami Beach, but rather in more summer-friendly (and drivable from Nixon’s Western White House) San Diego. But when the GOP could not effectively negotiate with the owner of the San Diego Sports Arena and with the threat of massive antiwar demonstrations, the Republican National Committee decided that Miami Beach would be better place for their convention, they had already set themselves up for two conventions in the previous four years and Miami Beach had the hotel space and phone lines to accommodate them. Not to mention Nixon’s other summer home on Key Biscayne.

The Key Biscayne compound had a well-established communications network already used to provide support for the entire staff necessary to set up and conduct the National Convention and at the same time support the President Vice President their family’s as well as the Presidents Senior Staff. WHCA provided additional resources to enable us to provide 24hr support in the communications center, switchboard and the radio console in the Key Biscayne Compound. The Convention Center was set up for the numerous networks and broadcast audio including visual feeds necessary to cover the entire Republican Convention. FM Radio coverage for the USSS throughout Miami Beach and surrounding areas was thoroughly tested, and a regular scheduled courier service was established between the Key Biscayne Compound, Republican National Headquarters at the Doral Hotel and the Miami Beach Convention Center.

The antiwar protesters were assembled at Flamingo Park organized by Ron Kovic of “Born of the Fourth of July” fame, and his band of Vietnam Veterans against War if the GOP had held its convention in California; it would have made for a much shorter trip. As it was, Kovic as well as thousands of others, including Jane Fonda made the trek across the south to Miami Beach. Of course these protesters were not as peaceful as they were at the 1972 Democrat Convention held a few weeks earlier in Miami Beach.

Ron Kovic and Jane Fonda lead the antiwar protests in 1972

Ron Kovic and Jane Fonda lead the antiwar protests in 1972

The 1972 Republican National Convention was opened on August 21 1972 by the convention chairman by then-U.S. House Minority Leader and future Nixon successor Gerald Ford of Michigan.

The President arrived at the Miami International Airport on Aug. 22 1972 and The President addressed the assembled crowd on a nationwide radio and television broadcast. The Presidential Party then departed aboard Marine One for the Key Biscayne Compound.

Later that evening the President motored from the Key Biscayne Compound to the Miami Marine Stadium (a four minute drive), where the President addressed the young people attending, a Presidential Nomination Rally, sponsored by Young Voters for the President. Since President Nixon participated in very few public gatherings, because of the increased security concerns. The public rally at the Miami Marine Stadium was the exception to the rule for the President. The President's address was also broadcast live at the Republican National Convention and on nationwide radio and television. 

The Miami Marine Stadium and floating stage where President Nixon and Sammy Davis Jr appeared at a public rally

Sammy Davis Jr gives President Nixon a hug

The defining moment was when Sammy Davis Jr. introduced the President: “The President and Future President of the United States of America!” When Nixon came onto the stage, Sammy Davis Jr. hugged him.

Aug. 23, 1972 would be a very busy day for all of us because the delegates would place their ballots for the Republican Nominee for President and Vice President who would give their acceptance speeches that evening.

First Lady Pat Nixon behind her is Senator Bob Dole of Kansas
 and Governor Ronald Reagan of California

First Lady Pat Nixon addressed the delegates at the 1972 Republican National Convention; she was the first, First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt to address a party convention, and the first Republican First Lady to do so.

Inside the Miami Beach Convention Center awaiting President Nixon's acceptance speech

Vice President Spiro T. Agnew introduced the President to the delegates attending the 1972 Republican National Convention.

The President and the First Lady went to the speaker's podium. They were accompanied by: Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Cox, Lt. (jg.) and Mrs. David Eisenhower. The President announced his acceptance of the 1972 Republican Presidential nomination to the delegates attending the National Convention. The address was broadcast live on nationwide radio and television. John Cardinal Kro1, Archbishop of Philadelphia, then joined the President on the speaker's platform to deliver the benediction.

Richard Nixon wins the Republican Nomination in 1972

When the Convention was adjourned the President and the First Lady participated in a reception line with convention delegates, alternates and guests. Also receiving guests were Mr. and Mrs. Cox and Lt. (jg.) and Mrs. Eisenhower.

The President and First Family returned to The Key Biscayne compound on Marine One well after midnight.  Although it was a very long day for everyone involved we were all glad that it was over and we could return to our normal activities.

The next day the Presidential party departed aboard “the Spirit of 76” for an extended stay at the Western White House in San Clemente.

The President’s approval was at an all-time high emphasizing a good economy and his successes in foreign affairs, such as coming near to ending American involvement in the Vietnam War which would come to an end in 1973 and establishing relations with China in 1972. President Nixon would decisively defeat Senator George McGovern in upcoming November election receiving 60.7% of the popular vote. He received almost 18 million more popular votes than Senator McGovern, the widest margin of any United States presidential election.

After the 1972 Presidential Election a dark cloud was forming that would shake the Nixon Administration to its core. The Watergate break in occurred in Jan. 1972 and continued to cause controversy surrounding the White House. The Watergate investigation would reveal that the President had WHCA install a voice recording system in the White House and other locations that would produce enough incriminating evidence that would eventually lead to the firing of the Senior Staff, and eventually the President’s resignation on Aug 9, 1974.

President Nixon’s Hydrofoil
Wolfhound a gift from Russia’s General Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev
Type of Activity	Presidential Transport
Location
Location	Miami FL
Date of Activity	Aug 1972-Nov 1972
Coordinates	25.69028°N 80.165°W 25.69028; -80.165

In May 1972, President Richard Nixon paid a head of state visit to the Soviet Union, during which he presented a modified Cadillac sedan to General Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev, on behalf of the United States. Some three months later, in August, a reciprocal gift from General Secretary Brezhnev arrived on board a Russian merchant vessel at the port of Baltimore. The gift was a high-speed, soft-and salt-water traveling hydrofoil boat, Soviet Model 70.

I was at Key Biscayne when the Hydrofoil arrived in Miami and sent to the Coast Guard Station in Miami, Florida, which then provided water security and water transportation for the presidential retreat at Key Biscayne. Although the President did take several cruises during his visits to Key Biscayne the President preferred Bebe Robozo's houseboat the Coco Lobo. The unofficial codename for the Volga 70 Hydrofoil was Wolfhound and would be used whenever the Coast Guard or Secret Service needed to communicate with the Command Post at the Presidential compound. Baker/Charlie P-33's or HT-220's would be used to communicate while on a cruise with the President or on a maintenance trip. After several months of inactivity the Hydrofoil was deemed impactable for the presidents use. 

In November 1972, the White House staff decided that this boat could best be used in the general service of the federal government and transfer to the Coast Guard at Miami was authorized by H.R. Haldeman on October 16, 1972. The boat was subsequently put into service on November 8, 1972, and it remained in the Miami area until February 1977, when the Coast Guard reported it to the General Services Administration (GSA) as being excess to their needs.

The restored Volga 70 Hydrofoil

GSA’s Property Utilization and Donation Branch then authorized the transfer of the boat to the Fish and Wildlife Service, with initial utilization in Louisiana, but the service location was changed in June 1977 and the boat was brought to the Washington, D.C. area for use in security and surveillance work by an unspecified federal security agency. The hydrofoil remained in the Washington area until February 3,1982, when GSA authorized the Fish and Wildlife Service to dispose of it by donation to the Nebraska Agency for Surplus Property, with further and specific donation to the City of Ogallala, where it was used on Lake McConaughy, a “25 mile long, 4-mile-wide oasis on the Nebraska plain. “In April 1987, the City of Ogallala donated the hydrofoil to the Ogallala Chamber of Commerce which used it under the name of “Viktoria,” the name of Brezhnev’s wife, as a promotional vehicle on the lake. 

In 2005, the USS Aries Hydrofoil museum acquired President Nixon’s Volga and began restoring the craft. She has been returned to the original Paint scheme and undergone engine work. Currently she operational and flies very well.

President Nixon’s visit to the Ocean Reef Club
Entrance to the Ocean Reef Club on Key Largo FL
Type Of Activity	Boat Cruise
Location
Location	Key Largo FL
Date of Activity	11 November 1972
Coordinates	25°19'13.0"N 80°16'42.0"W

Multiple visits 1972/1973 to Key Largo FL to support President Nixon

Whenever the President came to the Florida White House for the weekend, they would always relax with the President's friends, Bebe Rebozo and Robert Abplanalp. They would go usually go to the Grand Cay in the Bahamas, play Golf locally, or take a boat ride on Mr. Robozo’s houseboat the Coco Lobo III! This weekend would be no exception the Presidential party would go by boat to the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, which was approximately thirty miles south of the Key Biscayne Compound. The First Lady seemed content staying with the kids in the compound at Key Biscayne as she usually did not accompany them. Even when they would plan dinner at Joe's Stone Crab on Biscayne Blvd in Miami, it was always just the boys!

We were very familiar with the Ocean Reef Club because Mr. Rebozo owned a villa at the club and we did quite a bit of work installing the stereo equipment and ceiling speakers in the house and the outdoor speakers’ poolside. We were always sent down to the villa in advance of the President arrival to make sure that the TV and Stereo equipment was fully functional. We would check the pool heater and other mechanical equipment in the house.

"Wolf Hound" Volga 70 Hydrofoil (2008)

The President and Mr. Rebozo first went boating on the Volga 70 Hydrofoil (which was given to the President by Russian Premier Brezhnev after his trip to Russia). We had un-officially assigned the hydrofoil the codename of Wolf Hound. After about an Hour cruising in Biscayne Bay the President and Mr. Rebozo returned to the dock and then boarded the Coco Lobo III.

The President and Mr. Rebozo on the Coco Lobo

The President would then cruise to North Key Largo Docking at the Ocean Reef Club where they motored to Mr. Robozo’s villa. The Coco Lobo III then returned to Key Biscayne. The President and Mr. Rebozo were greeted by Robert H. Abplanalp when they arrived at the villa. They then watched a college football game and ate dinner. After dinner the President, Mr. Rebozo and Mr. Abplanalp motored from the Ocean Reef Club to the North Key Largo helipad and returned to the Key Biscayne Compound on Marine One.

Cruising and fishing on the Coco Lobo III was a common occurrence every time the President visited the Florida White House.

Returning to Key Biscayne from Key Largo

 

The Presidents Christmas Visit (1972)
The Blue Room at the White House  Christmas Party (1972)
Type Of Activity	Christmas Visit
Location
Location	Key Biscayne FL
Date of Activity	December 24-26, 1972
Coordinates

December 24,1972:The Florida  White House  Key Biscayne

I never had an opportunity to attend any of President Nixon’s Staff Christmas Parties because I was transferred to the San Clemente CCT in 1970 and the Key Biscayne Communications Detachment in 1972. 

However in 1972, given the exhaustion the Nixon family experienced following their intensive travel schedules of the president’s re-election campaign (which had concluded just weeks before Christmas), the holidays were a more relaxed, subdued season. It would mark the only Christmas Day of the Nixon presidency that Richard and Pat Nixon celebrated outside the White House, as they spent the holiday in Key Biscayne, Florida, and the President and First Lady celebrated together, without any of their family members; the two First Daughters and their husbands shared the holiday together in Athens, Greece, where David Eisenhower was stationed on duty in the U.S. Naval Reserves. 

Staff Christmas Party (1972)

The Nixon’s held the Staff Christmas as usual in Washington and then got ready to spend a quiet Christmas in Key Biscayne. As usual we checked all radio systems surveyed the telephones, stereo equipment, TV’s, and dictation equipment in the compound and at the Villas at the Key Biscayne Hotel where the Senior Staff stayed. In preperation for the I went to the Ocean Reef Club to Mr, Reboso's house to make sure that the heater for the pool and all the phones were working. This ended up a very normal trip for us, although we would be working on Christmas eve and Christmas Day.

The arrival at Homestead AFB

The President arrived at Homestead AFB on December 20 and was choppered to the Key Biscayne Compound. The President was met by his friend Mr. Bebe Rebozo and went to the 500 house for dinner and a movie.

The next day The President and the First Lady went swimming in the pool and took a walk along the beach. Later the President and Mr Rebozo motored to the Ocean Reef Club and spent a few hours at the house Mr. Rebozo owned. They then motored back to the Key Biscayne Compound. Later that evening accompanied by Mr. Rebozo the President and the First Lady motored to the Key Biscayne Hotel where they had dinner. After dinner and before they returned to the compound the President and the First Lady motored through Key Biscayne to view Christmas decorations.

The next couple of days the President remained in the compound relaxing, swimming in the pool, and in Biscayne Bay, The President also relaxed watching several football games includeing the Washington Redskins.

Preparing to depart for a cruise on the Coco Lobo III

On Christmas day after calling many people wishing them a Merry Christmas, the President and Mr. Rebozo went boating on Coco Lobo III.

The next day on December 26 the President and first Lady returned to Washington. The Detachment swept all of the villas where the Senior Staff stayed, collecting the equipment placed in service for the duration of the trip. 

The invition to the 1973 and last of Richard Nixons Staff Christmas Parties

Nixon’s Staff Christmas Cards

 

 George Washington 1969 Staff Christmas card

                                         Thomas Jefferson 1970 Staff Christmas card

                                 Abraham Lincoln 1971 Staff Christmas card

 

Theodore Roosevelt 1972 Staff Christmas card

James Monroe 1973 Staff Christmas card

 

Walkers Cay and Grand Cay, Bahamas
Walkers Cay Club, Bahamas (note radio antenna)  WHCA maintained UHF system
Type of Activity	Communications Support Trips
Location
Location	Bahama Islands
Date of Activity	Various
Coordinates	27°15′27.8″N 78°23′40.7″W

4 May 1973 to Walkers Cay to support the President’s visit on Grand Cay

Robert Abplanalp the owner and President of PVC Corporation was a close friend of President Nixon. Mr. Abplanalp owned two islands in the Bahamas’, Walkers Cay and Grand Cay.

The Walkers Cay Club and Marina was a very popular fishing resort. It was a very exclusive resort as the only way to reach the island was by boat or by air. The resort had regularly scheduled flights from Ft Lauderdale, Fl. by seaplane. Travel by WHCA to the island was generally by helicopter. A relatively small hotel was on the island as well as the resorts bar and restaurant and two swimming pools one fresh water and one salt water. There were several buildings where the staff lived while on the island.  The marina was fully equipped with bait, tackle, and snack shops. The island had its own power plant and desalinization station for all drinking water.

The Walkers seaplane arriving on the island    

The hotel’s outside bar and pool area (1973)

There were several villas available besides the Hotel for guests to stay while visiting the island. The marina was fully equipped with bait, tackle, and snack shops. 

A Guest villa at The Walkers Cay Club

The Sea Lion docked at the Marina in 1973

We would travel to the Walkers Cay to perform monthly maintenance on all communication equipment on the island. The radios were in a building adjacent to the 125 ft. tower, and a separate building near to the radio room housed a small switchboard and communications center for TTY and fax messages. We would stay at the Walkers Cay Hotel, eat, and drink for a week all with the complements of our host Robert Abplanalp.

The Walkers Cay experience was always a great one . Hard work during a visit, but there were a lot of rewards during our maintenance visits. We are out there living in "Paradise" eating lobster and fresh seafood the hotel bar served the best conch fritters with cocktail sauce in the world! Next to the bar was a game room equipped with a regulation pool table and a bumper pool table. There were some pretty competitive games with the looser buying the next round of drinks (all drinks were free). I was the uncontested champion of the bumper pool table because I never lost a game! Adjacent to the game room there was a card room, We spent many evenings playing pool and poker to pass the time. There was a lot of Per Diem won and lost during our stay.

What "Flavour" of drink would I order? No, I didn't spell it wrong. Flavour was the hotel’s bartender, and he made awesome "mega hot" Bloody Mary’s. He also made great Yellow Birds, and Planters Punch, then "GOOD NIGHT" lights OUT! Then then after drinking until the wee hours in the morning we had to get ready to back to Key Biscayne the next morning at 8:00AM.

We always exaggerated the weather when we called Homestead AFB with an updated weather report for a chopper to pick us up. We would always tell them high winds, low visibility, and getting worse by the minute. They would try to cancel our scheduled evacuation on Friday afternoon, and then we were committed through the weekend, they also could never support a mission on Mondays. If you could convince them NOT to fly on Friday, you would have 4 full days of down time. Chances were 50/50 that the weather would be bad on Tuesday. The Abplanalp Grumman Mallard Sea Plane brought paying customers from Ft Lauderdale on a daily basis and many of us used that as backup when space was available, but we never really begged to get off

I remember when Dave Dersham arrived at Key Biscayne just out of school and new to WHCA, We broke him in as we did all new radio guys a trip to Walkers Cay to introduce him to the most unique UHF radio system in the world! LOL. After working 24 straight hours re-wiring the radio Room I sent Dave back to Key Biscayne while Chuck Rasmussen and I stayed behind to finish up and completed testing the radio equipment.  Dave and I worked together until I was discharged in 1974. Our Walkers Club membership of the Key Biscayne Detachments personnel that maintained the communication equipment  is getting smaller each year. Probably only about 6 of us left.

Helen Thomas, the Dean of the WH Press Corp was in that position for what seemed like forever. During the Nixon years, she would have already been a woman in her late 40's or early 50's. On the trips to the Bahamas, she would lead the Press Pool and stay in the hotel on Walkers Cay, some 7 miles from Grand Cay where President Nixon, Robert Abplanalp, and Bebe Rebozo would relax on the beach.

 The WHCA Commcenter would actually file her stories and transmit them back to the Press Center, but her access to actual news was limited to whatever the Military Aide would feed her. Now, the ugly! Her routine was to relax beside the pool at the Walkers Cay Hotel. This woman should NEVER have been a candidate for a two-piece bathing suit at any age! My retina still burns from the image! All that being said, she did keep the other correspondents in check and establish some rules of engagement, although she could be as rough as any of them, especially during Watergate.

Going back to the Watergate days. The Attorney General John Mitchell eventually went to jail, once it was discovered he was one of the ring leaders of the entire operation. Today, I am not sure with cellphones, emails, instant messages how Watergate would have unfolded. Seeing lots of messages in the Commcenter, and the 3M Post-It notes that were attached and sent back are very difficult to track once the reader pulls the Post-It off the document. When President Nixon would travel to Grand Cay, WHCA frequently transmitted messages to all levels of the Staff. He issued the order for the Tet Offensive effort in Viet Nam while at Grand Cay in the Bahamas. There were also many messages giving guidance for Watergate issues, once again, all on Post-It notes attached to a TTY message reply with the simple initials "RN" somewhere on the page. We would sometimes have to transmit long TTY messages multiple times, and then piece together to get all the garble out. Nothing worse that have the last page have a few characters missing! At 100 wpm, a very slow process. I can remember when it was 60 wpm,

The logistics to support this effort relied on helicopter support from Homestead AFB, and the US Coast Guard to bring large items aboard barges or other watercraft. The USSS always wanted to "gold plate" everything and their Grand Cay observation post near the beautiful beach was a small 14-foot Camper style trailer with a long table down the wall, and signs on the door NOT to use the toilet. Or course someone would always use it, and then the task of emptying it after a visit. The USSS decided to upgrade, and they purchased a larger trailer, maybe 18 feet. They took this to Opa-Locka, and the fabrication shop installed an extended "Bay Window" that protruded about 18-24 inches out from the normal wall. This was to allow for a better field of vision from inside this beach Command Post. We installed the appropriate radio base stations, and had a terminal to connect phone lines to the small hotel style switchboard at Grand Cay. We tested everything, the USSS signed off that it was exactly what they needed. Next step was to remove all the electronic equipment, furniture, and any weight we could remove so this trailer could be placed in a sling under a Helicopter. The USCG delivered the trailer to Grand Bahama Island, and the chopper was needed for the last 40 miles. Everyone at GBI watched as the chopper took off, we boarded a Huey to fly in formation to Grand Cay. 

About 5 minutes into the flight, we saw the door fly open and break off the trailer. Soon after, the new "Bay Window" broke loose and dropped in the drink. That allowed the side to start caving in, and within another 10 miles, the only thing left was the axle hanging in the sling.

The pilot headed out to the deep ocean and dropped the load. Cost of the trailer, the fabrication, purchasing in DC and driving to Florida, meetings, and all the effort must have cost a fortune! The USSS, WHCA, and the USAF all had a big argument on the budget for this fiasco.

USSS would also plan quarterly orientations for new members of the PPD, and they would travel to Walker's Cay, Grand Cay, and the routine was to always stop at Grand Bahama Island (GBI USAF Station) and refuel. It also always involved a Class VI run while refueling. They would totally load the helo with cases of booze. They would fly back into the Key Biscayne Compound (call it a training flight) and off load the cargo. One such trip, the chopper developed a hydraulic leak about 30 miles offshore headed toward Key Biscayne. The pilot started getting worried about having to ditch in the ocean, and he made a bee line toward South Miami Beach and landed right at ground zero for tourists on the beach. They all scattered, and of course the local police arrived to assist. The USSS directed that the area be secured and the news people with cameras rolling were asking a lot of questions. They drove back to Key Biscayne, but left two agents to guard the cargo, and after the repairs, they flew it on to Key Biscayne several hours later. The amount of booze on that chopper was insane! That was the last quarterly orientation that included a run to the class VI store when they refueled on GBI!

I still think the undertaking of installing permanent Communications to support both Walkers Cay and Grand Cay in the Bahamas was one of the most challenging efforts of WHCA over the years. It was a very elaborate set up and at the same time a Rube Goldberg design.

Prior to 1969 there was little or no communications on Walkers Cay or Grand Cay. There was a low power radio at the Walkers Cay Club that they used to communicate to their office in Ft. Lauderdale, and for emergencies. There was nothing on Grand Cay!

The Radio Tower offshore from Walkers Cay

The UHF System WHCA designed to provide 8 channels of voice grade circuits from the Key Biscayne White House switchboard to a mini switchboard at Walkers Cay.  The Walkers Cay switchboard would also terminate 24 voice grade circuits from Key Biscayne and Grand Cay. 

AT&T provided the voice circuits from Key Biscayne to a NASA submarine cable that terminated at a down range missile tracking station on Grand Bahama Island (GBI).  Using an existing radio tower WHCA installed a Farinon UHF radio system on the Air Force facility.  GBI shot directly to Walkers Cay where the circuits terminated. 

On Walkers Cay there were telephones installed in the Walkers Cay Club’s office and several of the hotel rooms where supporting staff would stay during all Presidential trips to Grand Cay. 

There was a secure voice circuit installed that went to the Key Biscayne Commcenter but there was nothing installed on Grand Cay. Voice circuits were also installed in the communication center for any Dex-1(facsimile) and TTY traffic.  FM base stations were also installed for any necessary communications for WHCA, Secret Service, or the White House Stall staying on the island.  

Walkers Cay Prior to the 2004 hurricanes

We would travel to Walkers Cay to perform monthly maintenance on all communication equipment on the island.  The radios were in a building adjacent to the 125 ft. tower, and a separate building near to the radio room housed a small switchboard and communications center.

In 1973 we expanded the radio system I remember building and installing a GRC-103 UHF radio system between Walkers Cay and Grand Cay. Mario Lilla, who was also the father of the WHCA mini board, engineered the interface that we installed on Walkers Cay and Grand Cay. That was the most Rube Goldberg setup of all times, Quindar Ringers, numerous relays, 4W to 2W conversions, interfacing the GRC-103 Radios with a Farinon UHF Radio Carrier to Grand Bahama Island where it was connected to AT&T submarine cable to Key Biscayne, We built and tested the interface and radio system at the CCT shop at Homestead AFB before going to the Bahamas to install it. While we were on Grand Cay, we also buried a 50 pr cable from the radio room to the bunk house and both villas and installed new phones.

All of the WHCA support personnel would stay on Walkers Cay during the Presidential Trips to Grand Cay. Although I visited Walkers over 20 times to perform maintenance on the radio equipment and Switchboard, I only participated in one actual visit at Walkers Cay and one visit on Grand Cay by President Nixon.

The island had its own power plant and desalinization station for all drinking water. There were several buildings where the staff lived while on the island. The radios were in a building adjacent to the 125 ft. tower, and a separate building near to the radio room housed a small switchboard and communications center.

Walkers Cay Island in the Bahamas

All of the WHCA support personnel would stay on Walkers Cay during the Presidential Trips to Grand Cay.  Although I visited Walkers over 20 times to perform maintenance on the radio equipment and Switchboard, I only participated in one actual visit at Walkers Cay and one visit on Grand Cay by President Nixon.

Walkers Cay Club after 2004 hurricane 

Walkers Cay Club after 2004 hurricane season 

Note:  Walkers Cay Club was severely damaged in 2004, was closed and recently sold and is now being renovated.

Grand Cay Bahamas

President Nixon stayed on Grand Cay, Mr. Abplanalp private 125-acre island in the Bahamas, complete with a house that Mr. Abplanalp had refurbished for presidential use, and for relaxation a 55-foot yacht the Sea Lion was always available for their use. President Nixon would cruise the waters in the Red Lion, a sportfishing boat was sculpted by the talented, skilled, and prideful builders who worked for Whiticar Boat Works under the direction of the late master builder Curt Whiticar. When it first splashed in 1963, it bore the classic lines of a Whiticar — elegant, sleek, and unmistakable.

The Sea Lion

The Sea Lion was built of wood originally and designed to handle the sharp choppy seas off Florida and the Bahamas as it pursued sailfish, blue marlin, mahi mahi, tuna and wahoo. Inventor and engineer Bob Abplanalp of New Jersey owned the Sea Lion for many years and owned the island of Walker's Cay in the Bahamas as well as Grand Cay. President Nixon stayed on Grand Cay, Mr. Abplanalp private 125-acre island in the Bahamas, complete with a house that Mr. Abplanalp had refurbished for presidential use, and for relaxation a 55-foot yacht was always available.

The Commcenter would usually make the trip to Grand Cay in a small 13 ft Boston Whaler however in bad weather it was not safe to travel the 5 miles back to Walkers Cay. One such incident, where the weather conditions were actually bad. I found myself on Grand Cay with a Commcenter tech and we requested to be picked up and requested that the hotel bring us some food as we had not eaten that day. We waited quite some time and thought the hotel forgotten us, but later that evening we heard a vessel arriving at the dock. To our surprise they sent the 55 ft Sea Lion to pick us up. When we boarded and we went blew to the Galley there was a mess hall size tray with 24 split lobster tails...…for two people waiting for us. After each of us had eaten about 4 of them, we no longer were counting, absolutely the best lobster tails ever!

Once a message was received the WHCA Comm Center tech had to take the boat ride to Grand Cay, wait and see if there was a response and then return to return to Walkers Cay, type the message on tape, send to Key Biscayne, and then they relayed it to the White House, who then made distribution and sent it on worldwide via the AUTODIN network. Author to recipient times when you add the boat trip, typing times, and relay times were awfully slow. Nothing like Instant Messages and email we enjoy today. A 3rd grade kid on the street corner today has better comm than POTUS did 40 years ago without the Internet or cellphones.

Main Residence where President Nixon would always stay

The President was actually staying on the island the day of the Watergate break-in, but there had been no communication until the President called upon his return to his Key Biscayne home on Sunday morning June 18,1972, and even then they did not discuss the breaking news of the weekend." (Watergate break-in was Saturday, June 17 1972)

Game Room in Main House

Besides the Main House there were also two villas located on the island for other guests. the lead USSS agents, Military Aide and Presidential Doctor stayed in one villa, and if David and Julie Eisenhower or Ed and Trisha Cox came out, they would stay in the other villa on the beach.

VIP Guest Villa Grand Cay

2nd VIP Beach House Grand Cay

The main feature was the setting of being on a beautiful isolated island with a great beach. It was very rare for the First Lady to accompany the President, it was normally President Nixon, Bebe Rebozo, and Bob Abplanalp in the Main House,

The Main House Boat Dock and USSS CP on Grand Cay

There was a small house by the boat dock for the caretaker and a small bunk house for necessary support personnel during the trip. The Secret Service CP and WHCA radio room was in the same building near the front entrance of the main residence. 

Support Staff Bunkhouse

The bunk house was two small to house everyone, so the Secret Service would stay on Grand Bahama Island (GBI) near Freeport and they would be choppered in to change shifts. Golf carts were the normal mode of transportation.

Big Grand Cay Island (Guest Villa behind Main Residence on other side of the island)

The Air Force at Homestead AFB provided an 11-man Civil Engineering Presidential support team, and it was responsible for the Ground Power Production on all trips the President made to Grand Cay. The team supported The White House Communications Agency (WHCA) and the United States Secret Service (USSS) with backup ground power on the island.

The advance team usually had 2 ground power and 2 EOD men and 3 Firemen to setup and man the helicopter pad as well as 4 Secret Service men for a total of 11. We were always the first on the island. WHCA usually followed bringing the radio equipment, and the shifts of Secret Service agents would be choppered back and forth from Grand Bahama Island (GBI). It was also during a midnight shift change when Army One crashed and one Secret Service Agent drowned. The team went down near the water to help the survivors of the crash coming ashore.

Looking toward the Main Residence from the chopper pad

UHF Radio System to the Bahamas

UHF Radio shot from GBI to Walkers Cay to Grand Cay

In 1973 we expanded the radio system I remember building and installing a GRC-103 UHF radio system between Walkers Cay and Grand Cay. Mario Lilla who was also the father of the WHCA mini board, engineered the interface that we installed the systems at Walkers Cay and Grand Cay. That was the most Rube Goldberg setup of all times, Quindar Ringers, numerous relays, 4W to 2W conversions, interfacing the GRC-103 Radios with a Farinon UHF Radio Carrier to Grand Bahama Island where it was connected to AT&T submarine cable to Key Biscayne. We built and tested the interface and radio system at the CCT shop at Homestead AFB before going to the Bahamas to install it. While we were on Grand Cay, we also buried a 50pr. cable from the radio room to the bunk house and both villas and installed new phones.

The GRC-104 UHF Radio system used from GBI to Walkers Cay and Grand Cay Islands

The final leg was a GRC 103 UHF radio system, with a TD 660 multiplexer providing 24 voice circuits between Walkers Cay and terminating on Grand Cay.  Telephones were installed in the Main residence and both villas, as well as the bunkhouse on the island.  The Secret Service CP also had phones installed and FM Radio Consoles on Baker and Charlie frequencies.  All equipment, tools, and personnel had to be sent in on helicopters from Homestead AFB.

Once we placed the systemin service we experienced lots of saltwater corrosion, which required continuous maintenance. It took us about a week staying at Walkers Cay, but who could complain, Great food, private beach, nice bar, friendly staff, drawing govt per diem and our host, Robert Abplanalp had left orders not to not take our money for anything! 

It took us about a week staying at Walkers Cay, but who could complain, Great food, private beach, nice bar, friendly staff, drawing govt per diem and our host, Robert Abplanalp had left orders not to not take our money for anything!

We would travel to Walkers Cay from Homestead AFB each month for maintenance trips. Due to fuel capacity, we always had to refuel at Grand Bahama Island enroute and then would take off and the pilot would fly at tree top level and curve the coastline before we headed to Walkers and Grand Cay. Many sunbathers did not have a chance to grab their towels and tops as they blew down the beach. We did that routinely for at least two years before the Commander at the GBI USAF Station sent a memo to Homestead AFB flight group. Same group of USAF pilots would use a grappling hook with bait and go trolling for sharks. Feeling a 300 lb. shark shaking on a nylon rope below the helicopter was an experience, but often wondered how they would have explained if they went down in the shark infested waters.

The monthly maintenance trips to Walkers Cay were like paid vacations, we would be choppered over from Homestead, spent two- or three-days doing PM's on Walkers and traveling over to Grand Cay by boat. During this time, we ate, drank, and slept all complementary. Plus, we would of course have to man all locations during any official trips. 

We also had a UHF system between Freeport on GBI to Walkers Cay which meant side trips to the Casino in Freeport GBI. We would go out on Monday or Tuesday with a return scheduled for Friday afternoon, normally about 2pm. Some of the USAF chopper pilots enjoyed coming early and enjoying lunch at the hotel. 

We honestly did do some work during some of these trips.  I never had any problem finding volunteers to help me on maintenance trips.

When it was time to leave, we would look out at the beautiful weather, and call into Key Biscayne at 9am to give a weather condition for our scheduled pick up since ground radar didn't reach that area. Our report was always, we are having some very high winds, and heavy rain at the moment. At 1030 we would update, and report it was a little better, but still very windy. The USAF would then cancel the mission, and we would be fishing within minutes of that notice. The Abplanalp Grumman Mallard Sea Plane, brought paying customers from Ft Lauderdale on a daily basis and many of us used that as backup when space was available, but we never really begged to get off the island.

The Main House on Grand Cay from the boat dock

Unfortunately the Walkers Cay Club was heavily damaged by several hurricanes and was closed down in 2004, the island and all of the facilities are presently for sale, but in 2019 Walkers Cay was sold and presently being renovated..

President Nixon visited Key Biscayne more than 50 times this also included several visits to Grand Cay between 1969 and 1974 when he resigned from office.

Operation Homecoming
Type of Activity	Return of our POW’s from Vietnam
Location
Location	Clark AFB PI
Date of Activity	12 February 1973
Coordinates	15°11'31.16"N 120°33'33.95"E

  

The End of the Vietnam War

It was early 1973, many years since the War in Vietnam started but two more years before the conflict fully ended, President Richard Nixon announced that ‘peace with honor’ had been achieved.

The Paris Peace talks with North Vietnam had been going on for a long time when the talks concluded on January 13, 1973 with the final agreement. The peace agreement was formally signed on January 27, 1973. America's longest war was finally over!

This was great news for all of us in the Military as this unpopular conflict was coming to an end! Ever since my first trip with President Johnson to Dallastown PA in 1966 there were always antiwar protesters present at every event that WHCA would support! Bomb threats at speech sites became so frequent that the US Secret Service would have Explosive Ordnance (EOD) teams sweep all locations where the President, Vice President or other VIP’s were scheduled to speak. I personally sat through many threats and demonstrations while working in the USSS command post.

This was not a pleasant time for anyone remaining in the Military and the POW’s that first returned were not welcomed home by all Americans, it would take many months before our nation forgot this controversial conflict.

America’s POWs are finally on there way home!

 Inside the C-141A, later known as the "Hanoi Taxi"

Operation Homecoming was a series of diplomatic negotiations that in January 1973 made possible the return of 591 American prisoners of war held by North Vietnam. On Feb. 12, 1973, three C-141 transports flew to Hanoi, North Vietnam, and one C-9A aircraft was sent to Saigon, South Vietnam to pick up released prisoners of war. The first flight of 40 U.S. prisoners of war left Hanoi in a C-141A, later known as the "Hanoi Taxi" and now in a museum.

From February 12 to April 4, there were 54 C-141 missions flying out of Hanoi, bringing the former POW's home. Each plane brought back 40 POW's. During the early part of Operation Homecoming, groups of POW's released were selected on the basis of longest length of time in prison. The first group had spent 6-8 years as prisoners of war.

The first of the POWs arrive at Clark AFB, PI. 

POWs return home

After Operation Homecoming, the U.S. still listed about 1,350 Americans as prisoners of war or missing in action and sought the return of roughly 1,200 Americans reported killed in action and body not recovered. These missing personnel would become the subject of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue.

Dr Henry Kissinger chief negotiator in the Paris Peace talks 

President Nixon welcomes John McCain upon his return from Vietnam

The American commitment to defend South Vietnam, described as unequivocal by President Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger, had been weakened by the Watergate scandal and Nixon's subsequent resignation. By that time, the Paris Accords seemed memorable only as the vehicle on which the United States rode out of Southeast Asia.

On April 30, 1975, a little over two years after the final agreement was signed by the United States of America, the North Vietnamese Army took over Saigon with little resistance, and Peace in Vietnam was restored!

Grand Cay, Bahamas
Main Residence, Boat Dock, USSS CP and WHCA Radio Room
Type of Activity	Communications Support Trip
Location
Location	Bahama Islands
Date of Activity	26 May 1973
Coordinates	27°15′27.8″N 78°23′40.7″W

26 May 73 to Grand Cay Bahamas to support President Nixon during Visit

The President was visiting his close friend Bob Abplanalp on Grand Cay. I remember the night from hell on Grand Cay very well, I was there when the Mayday call came in. When the midnight shift of USSS agents came in for a landing the blades hooked the water and 16 agents plus the chopper crew hit the water and started to sink. I was asleep when the Mayday call came in. I grabbed a radio and headed for the chopper pad without a flashlight God was it dark, but I could hear the agents yelling. The 15 survivors, agents and crew, were all on the underside of the chopper which had flipped over when it crashed. About the time that I got to the pad Bob Abplanalp arrived on a golf cart which had headlights so we could see the chopper. I called the CP to let them know where the chopper was located and that everyone was still on the chopper and that it was partially submerged. . Maybe five min. after that the boat arrived with the divers and started evacuating the agents. Luckily there were divers on the trip and they finally got to the chopper to start evacuating everyone.

Others arrived and I then went back to the radio room to make sure all the radios were working. I called Walkers Cay to let someone know over there what had happened, I then went to the bunk house where they were bringing everyone any necessary medical treatment, The Presidents personal physician was checking everyone involved in the crash. I found out that an agent was trapped inside the chopper and drowned. Agent J. Clifford Dietrich - May 26, 1973 was killed in this helicopter crash near Grand Cay Island in the Bahamas while on assignment with the Presidential Protective Division. I then returned to the USSS CP to see if the agent on duty needed anything. I was asked to help place Agent Dietrich’s body on a Chinook that had arrived to transport everyone back to GBI and then back to Homestead. They placed him under the jump seats of the chopper and none of the agents that flew back ever knew they were sitting over him. This was one night that I will never forget. That was the last time I ever saw the Army One crew and I think that they were deactivated in 1976, in part because of this crash. In LTC Boyer’s book “Inside the Presidential Helicopter” he disclosed that the altimeter was not properly calibrated and was off by 300 ft. this along with inadequate lighting contributed to the crash.

Army helicopter crashes near Grand Cay Bahamas, lay overturned in water

Nixon Orders Inquiry Into Fatal Crash Of Army Copter Ferrying His Guards

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla., May 27 (UPI)—President Nixon ordered today an investigation to determine what forced an Army helicopter to plummet into the Atlantic last night while taking seven. Secret Service agents to guard him and his family, on a Bahama island. One agent died and nine .men suffered minor injuries.

The twin-engine helicopter went down shortly after 10 P.M. (E.D.T.) about a mile south of Grand Cay, the island owned by Mr. Nixon's close friend, Robert H. Abplanalp, a New York multimillionaire. 

The aircraft, which was ferrying the Secret Service agents from Florida for their overnight shift, was approaching a landing pad when it went into the water. Gerald L. Warren, deputy White House press secretary, said the dead agent's body was recovered by divers at the scene of the crash. He was identified by the White House as Joseph C. Dietrich, 25 years old, of Woodbridge, Va., married and the father of two children. He had been an agent for "three or four years," Mr. Warren said.

Mr. Nixon, immediately notified of the crash, "expressed deep sadness and sympathy for the family of agent Dietrich," Mr. Warren said. "He has ordered all necessary steps be taken to investigate the cause of the accident and directed the Department of Defense to appoint an investigative board." An Air Force plane flew Mr. Dietrich's body from Homestead Air Force Base in Florida to Greenwich, Conn., where funeral services will be held. Mrs. Dietrich flew in from Washington to accompany his body. 

The agent had lived in Greenwich most of his life before joining the White House protective detail two months ago. 

The six other agents and three crew members were "slightly injured" and were taken to a hospital at Homestead Air Force Base, Mr. Warren said. The President and his family flew back to their bayside villa here this afternoon aboard a similar Army helicopter.

The survivors had been assisted from the overturned helicopter by the pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Ronald C. Bean, 37 years old, of Dale City, Va. 

The agents were able to climb on top of the chopper and to await rescue aboard small boats dispatched from Grand Cay, where they were heard shouting for help. 

The chief White House photographer, Ollie Atkins, was standing on the landing pad awaiting the arrival of the helicopter when he heard the splashdown and the engines cut off.

 "It was as dark as a cow's belly," Mr. Atkins 'told reporters after he radioed to the security communications base at Walker Cay, six miles away for help. 

The VH3A helicopter is one of three used to transport the President and his family, and Mr. Nixon had frequently flown in it. 

"I heard a swishing noise like water being poured on hot cement and then the motor stopped," said Mr. Atkins, adding that for the next few moments "I stood there helpless listening to all these guys . . yelling for help."

Rescuers got to the craft about 15 minutes later as the Helicopter that crashed Saturday near Grand Cay, Bahamas, lay overturned in water survivors, coughing from fumes and oil-soaked water, waited on top of it. The survivors were given a preliminary examination on Grand Cay, and then flown by helicopter to the Homestead base for treatment of shock and slight burns from the fuel oil. All were released this morning. Three Navy frogmen—on' alert whenever the President is near water assisted in the rescue. 

The surviving agents were identified as: Charles W. Rochner, 31 years old; Michael E. Cleary, 26; William H. Brawley, 34; Stephen J. Petro, 30; Robert R. Stewart Jr., 26, and James Reiter, 30.

The other crewmen were copilot Frederick W. Evans, 33, and Sgt. William R. Robinson, 32, both of Fort Belvoir, Va.

Two rubber rafts, one from the nearby Coast Guard cutter Cape Knox and another deployed from the downed chopper by the pilot, were used in the rescue along with a runabout brought from  Grand Cay by Secret Service agents.

A barge was summoned from the Grand Bahama Island to assist in the salvage of the chopper, which remained afloat.

Looking toward the Main Residence from the chopper pad and site of the crash Vice President Agnew Resigns Vice President Agnew at one of his many fundraisers Type of Activity  Political Resignation Location Location  Washington DC Date of Activity  11 Oct 1973 Coordinates  38°53'51.2"N 77°02'20.9"W Vice President Agnew Resigns from Office 11 Oct 1973 The announcement that the Vice President resigned from office came as a shock to me and I was saddened because I had worked with his staff and protection detail on many support trips and got to know everyone quite well! I first worked with them right after his nomination at the 1968 Republican Convention spending many days covering various, fundraisers, special events and even several vacation trips to Palm Springs. My last involvement was at the 1972 National Republican Convention in Miami when I was with the Key Biscayne Communications Detachment. The NIXON/Agnew ticket achieved a resounding victory in the November 1972 election with a landslide defeat of Senator George McGovern. Re-election victory for the President and Vice President in 1972 Vice President Agnew is sworn in at 1973 Inaugural Ceremony In just 11 years, Spiro Agnew rose from being an attorney for a Union and serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals, to being elected Baltimore County Executive, and after taking advantage of a feud within the Democratic Party, finding himself elected Governor of the State of Maryland. Richard Nixon in need of a running mate that did not drag down his poll numbers, turned to the unknown Agnew to be his running mate in 1968 for Vice President of the United States.   An amazing rise for anyone to have come so far so fast.   The State of Maryland had a very unusual way of doing business that apparently everyone was aware of and no one really talked about. It involved people looking to do work with various local governments subsidizing the decision-making office holders income.  Now today that would be considered illegal, and it is rather shocking to me that it was not considered illegal then, but the  truth is it wasn't. That basic fact is a part of the story rarely if ever discussed and it is about the only defense available for not only a Vice President forced to give up his office but for the rather large list of other public figures this scandal involved in the state of Maryland.  Then we listen in on CBS News coverage of the events of October 10, 1973 as Spiro Agnew showed up at a Baltimore Courthouse to plead Nolo Contendere to one count of Federal Income tax evasion after resigning the Vice Presidency. Then he exits the stage only to return for a brief moment to sell his Memoirs in which he claimed he feared for his life after a visit from Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig who had been tasked with pushing the Vice President to resign by the Administration.  The Vice President had very little time to enjoy his landslide victory, as a scandal was brewing in the summer of 1973, involving the Vice President. The United States Attorney's Office in Baltimore, Maryland, was investigating allegations that Vice President Agnew, while Baltimore County executive in 1966, had solicited payoffs from contractors doing county business and that as governor of Maryland and later as Vice President he had accepted kickbacks from engineers whose firms had received state contracts, even accepting several $2,000 payments in the Executive Office Building next to the White House. On July 31, 1973 Agnew's lawyers were handed a letter written by George Beall, United States attorney for Baltimore, informing them that the Vice President was under investigation for conspiracy, extortion, and bribery. At a meeting with Attorney General Elliot Richardson, Agnew denied all the charges, and on August 6, 1973 as the story broke in the newspapers, the Vice President released a statement saying, "I am innocent of any wrongdoing." The Vice President had very little time to enjoy his landslide victory, as a scandal was brewing in the summer of 1973, involving the Vice President. The United States Attorney's Office in Baltimore, Maryland, was investigating allegations that Vice President Agnew, while Baltimore County executive in 1966, had solicited payoffs from contractors doing county business and that as governor of Maryland and later as Vice President he had accepted kickbacks from engineers whose firms had received state contracts, even accepting several $2,000 payments in the Executive Office Building next to the White House. On July 31, 1973 Agnew's lawyers were handed a letter written by George Beall, United States attorney for Baltimore, informing them that the Vice President was under investigation for conspiracy, extortion, and bribery. At a meeting with Attorney General Elliot Richardson, Agnew denied all the charges, and on August 6, 1973 as the story broke in the newspapers, the Vice President released a statement saying, "I am innocent of any wrongdoing." Vice President Agnew meets with reporters in front of the federal Courthouse in Baltimore MD Although President Nixon called Vice President Agnew into the Oval Office and assured him of his support, the White House chief of staff, Alexander Haig, immediately dropped over to Vice President Agnew's office after that conference and suggested to the Vice President that if he were indicted he should consider how it would affect his performance as Vice President—a not so subtle hint to consider resignation. The Vice President exits the federal Courthouse in Baltimore MD after pleading "No Contest" In September of 1973, Vice President Agnew began to plea-bargain with the prosecutors, but negotiations dragged on for more than a month as he sought a deal that would not involve any admission on his part of wrongdoing. He tried desperately to get out of the corner: he made an issue of leaks to the press by the prosecutors; he had a meeting with President Nixon, desperately trying to get the President to put pressure on Richardson to agree to a compromise; he asked the House of Representatives to impeach him so that Congress could conduct an investigation. White House aides refused to pressure Richardson, and the Democratic majority in the House refused to impeach Agnew until judicial proceedings had run their course. The delay was not to Agnew's advantage. He antagonized Nixon by attacking the Justice Department. His standing in the polls was dropping, a sure sign that he was a political liability. An exhaustive investigation of his finances was completed by the Internal Revenue Service, and the prosecutors now had details about his personal life that conceivably could prove embarrassing if they were revealed. Vice President Agnew’s letter of resignation to the President Between October 5 and October 9, 1973 Vice President Agnew's lawyers and justice department lawyers cut a deal, which on October 8, 1973 was agreed to by a federal judge. On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew officially resigned from office. Vice President Agnew’s letter of resignation  New York Times Headlines on Oct 11, 1973   With Vice President Agnew out of the way, President Nixon named Congressman Gerald R. Ford (R-MI) as his nominee for vice president. Two days before the Presidents announcement, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned his office after being convicted of tax evasion charges unrelated to Watergate. Congressman’s Fords nomination was received by Congress with great enthusiasm and strong bipartisan support. Gerald Ford is sworn in as the new Vice President With the resignation and succession crisis resolved, attention once again turned to the long-simmering Watergate crisis. It would only take another eight months of intense scrutiny for Watergate to bring down the entire Nixon administration leading to President Nixon’s Resignation in 1974. After he resigned, Vice President Agnew and Judy moved to a winter home at the Springs Country Club in Rancho Mirage. By then, the Agnew’s had visited the Coachella Valley numerous times and had become friends with Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra. They avoided publicity and lived a quiet, reserved country-club style life. He played tennis and golf. Neighbors recall seeing him bicycle around Rancho Mirage, dine at local restaurants and party, often at the Sinatra compound. The Vice President’s resignation and Gerald Ford's swearing in as the new Vice President would be the last major event that I would be a member of WHCA. I was discharged at Andrews AFB on December 10, 1973. I had experienced so much history of the 1960’s and 1970’s, from the escalation of the war in Vietnam, and the antiwar protests, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the ensuing civil unrest at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, the San Clemente Western White House, the historic trip To China, the Florida White House in Key Biscayne, the end of the Vietnam war including the return of the POW/MIA’s, the Watergate break in, the cover up and the resignation of the Vice President!  There are so many details that I have forgotten, but so much that I can remember to say that I was very proud to have served as a member of the White House Communications Agency for over nine years.            President Nixon Resigns President Nixon resigns for his involvement in the Watergate scandals Type of Activity Political Resignations Location Location Washington DC Date of Activity 9 August 1974 Coordinates 38°53'51.2"N 77°02'20.9"W It was shortly after the 1972 Presidential Election that things started to unravel for the Nixon White House. The Watergate break-in was the beginning of the end of the Nixon Presidency and over the next two years the country listened to the relentless pursuit of proving the guilt that the White House was involved with the a cover-up of this and other illegal activities known as Watergate.. The Watergate Break-in Early in the morning of June 17, 1972, several burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. The Watergate Complex in Washington DC The Democrat National Headquarters in the Watergate Complex                                                                                                                  The Watergate break-in occurred about a month prior to the Republican Convention: Miami Beach, FL August 21 to 23, 1972 and I never paid much attention to the incident because the Key Biscayne Detachment was concentrating on setting up communications required for the Convention. We were also working with the Committee for the Re-election of the President (CREEP) at the Doral Hotel with communications which we found out that the burglars were also working for CREEP. When the Convention ended we removed all of the temporary equipment at the hotels and villa’s where the staff stayed. We then got ready for a busy fall as the election campaign of 1972 began! The 1972 Presidential Election On November 7, 1972 the Nixon/Agnew ticket was reelected in one of the largest landslides in American political history, taking more than 60 percent of the vote and crushing the Democratic nominee, Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota. The President and his family visited Key Biscayne the day after the election to relax and celebrate the overwhelming victory! The Family along with Mr.’s Rebozo and Abplanalp spent the weekend aboard the Coco Lobo III and visiting the Ocean Reef Club at Key Largo FL. The President then returned to Washington to start his second term. The Nixon’s would return and spend Christmas at Key Biscayne and just prior to the inauguration. President Nixon’s second Inauguration January 20, 1973 The second inauguration of Richard Nixon as the 37th President of the United States was held on January 20, 1973. The inauguration marked the commencement of the second term (which lasted approximately one and a half years) for Richard Nixon as President and the second term (which lasted approximately nine months) for Spiro Agnew as Vice President. The Watergate Scandal 1973 1973 for us in Key Biscayne was pretty much as observers, although the Watergate break-in and cover-up was daily news. We never knew what happened that day; but it was common knowledge to us that recording devices were being used in the White House as well as other locations, This was nothing new, LBJ had all of them removed from the White House in 1968, so the new Nixon administration would not know that LBJ recorded many of his conversations. As a routine set up for all visits to Key Biscayne we would place a recorder coupler and IBM dictating machine on telephones used by senior staff that always stayed in villas at the Key Biscayne Hotel. These machines were connected to start up as soon as the phone was in use and since one party knew about the call was being recorded no BEEP tone was present. In Feb.1973 I was sent to Jacksonville FL. for a couple of days to install a radio base station for the Secret Service who was supporting Julie Nixon Eisenhower while she visited the city on official business. This visit was very low key, no staff, no press, just Secret Service support. All I had to do was to install a “Charlie” FM Base station and a remote console in the residence where she was staying. Also in February of 1973 The Senate voted (77-0) to create the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. The Committee is chaired by Senator Sam Ervin (Democrat, North Carolina). Ervin cultivated a folksy image as a country lawyer, but his supervision of this committee is crucial to the outcome. His deputy is Senator Howard Baker (Republican, Tennessee). The Senate Watergate Sub-committee Sam Ervin Chairman and his Deputy Howard Baker In Late March of 1973 James W. McCord who was the head of the Watergate burglars wrote a letter to Judge John Sirica in which he claims that the defendants had pleaded guilty under duress. He says they committed perjury and that others are involved in the Watergate break-in. He claims that the burglars lied at the urging of John Dean, Counsel to the President, and John Mitchell, the Attorney-General. These allegations of a cover-up and obstruction of justice by the highest law officers in the land blew Watergate wide open. I had met John Dean and his wife in October of 1972 when they came to Key Biscayne on their honeymoon. I was at home, trying to enjoy a weekend that no visitors were scheduled to come to town when I received a phone call from our CO. I was sent to the Key Biscayne compound to pick up a stereo system and take it over to one of the Senior Staff villas at the Key Biscayne Hotel and install it for Mr. and Mrs. Dean. When I arrived I was greeted by Mr. Dean and escorted to the living room where I installed and tested the system. We would always provide stereo equipment as part of the set up on all trips when the villas were occupied. When I left that day I would never see the Dean’s again until they appeared on national TV during Watergate. In early April 1973 John Dean, the White House Counsel, began to co-operate with the Watergate prosecutors, and President Nixon announces that senior White House staff will appear before the Senate Committee. He promises “major new developments” in the investigation, saying there will be real progress towards finding the truth. An official statement was released from the White House claiming President Nixon had no prior knowledge of the Watergate affair. A month later President Nixon would appear on national television to announce the dismissal of John Dean, and also announced the resignations of Robert Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, describing them as two of his “closest advisers”. The Attorney-General, Richard Kleindienst, also resigns and is replaced by Elliot Richardson. The President would then appoint Gen. Alexander Haig as his Chief of Staff replacing Robert Haldeman. The Senate Watergate Committee began public hearings on May 17, 1973, and began its nationally televised coverage the next day. Our lives began to change as we watched the daily broadcasts. The President made frequent visits to Key Biscayne and Bahamas until the day I was discharged from the military. No one could anticipate how bad things would get! John Dean would become the prosecutor’s chief witness. The Washington Post reported that John Dean has told Watergate investigators that he discussed the Watergate cover-up with President Nixon at least 35 times In June of 1973 while testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee, John Dean claims that Nixon was involved in the cover-up of the Watergate burglary within days in June 1972. In a seven-hour opening statement, he details a program of political espionage activities conducted by the White House in recent years. John Dean with his wife Moreen John Dean is sworn in at the Watergate hearings The most damaging testimony however: came from a most unsuspected source and would expose WHCA to very close scrutiny! Alexander P. Butterfield, a former presidential appointments secretary, informed the Senate Committee of the White House taping system. He said that since 1971 President Nixon had recorded all conversations and telephone calls in his office and other locations where these recording systems were presumably set up by the White House Communications Agency and serviced by the Secret Service. Butterfield also revealed that President Nixon was recording all conversations in the oval office with his staff and others. The recordings were secret and very few people knew about them. President Nixon struggled to protect the tapes during the summer and fall of 1973. His lawyers argued that the president’s executive privilege allowed him to keep the tapes to himself, but Judge Sirica, the Senate committee and an independent special prosecutor named Archibald Cox were all determined to obtain them. When Cox refused to stop demanding the tapes, Nixon ordered that he be fired, leading several Justice Department officials to resign in protest, (These events, which took place on October 20, 1973, and are known as the Saturday Night Massacre.) Eventually, Nixon agreed to surrender some—but not all—of the tapes. During this period of time the President frequently visited Key Biscayne and made several trips to the Bahamas and Grand Cay. Nothing had changed in our preparation for his visits except they were generally only over a weekend and then they would return to Washington. During late summer dark clouds were forming around the Vice President about illegal activities performed while he was the Governor of Maryland. Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew resigned after pleading no contest to a charge of income tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation and a $10,000 fine. On October, 12 1973 President Nixon nominated Gerald Ford, Republican Minority leader in the House of Representatives, as the new vice-president. I was nearing the end of my career with WHCA and would leave on December 20, 1973 so my knowledge the events that occurred in 1974 are only obtained from the various news outlets. Early in 1974, the cover-up began to fall apart. On March 1, 1974 a grand jury appointed by a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski indicted seven of President Nixon’s former aides on various charges related to the Watergate affair. The jury, unsure if they could indict a sitting president, called Nixon an “unindicted co-conspirator.” In July, 1974 the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes. While the president dragged his feet, the House of Representatives voted to impeach him for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, criminal cover-up and several violations of the Constitution. Finally, on August 5, 1974 Nixon released the tapes, which provided undeniable evidence of his complicity in the Watergate crimes. The tapes revealed President Nixon's knowledge and cover up of Watergate and brought down his Presidency. The Nixon’s say goodbye to the White House Staff President Nixon’s Letter of Resignation In the face of certain impeachment by the Senate, the president resigned on August 8, 1974. As he flies out of Washington on August 9 1974 in route to his San Clemente estate, Richard Milhous Nixon resigns as the 37th President of the United States, the first President ever to do so. His resignation letter is submitted to the Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, at 11:35 am and Gerald Ford is sworn in as President shortly afterwards. Gerald Ford becomes the 38th president. Later, he nominates the former Republican Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller, as vice-president. They became the nation’s first unelected presidential duo. Gerald Ford is sworn in as the new President  On November 11 1974 only about six weeks after the new president Gerald Ford was sworn in, he made a surprise Sunday morning announcement, President Ford granted a “full free and absolute” pardon to Richard Nixon for “all offenses against the United States” committed between January 20, 1969 and August 9, 1974.     /                           President Ford pardons ex-President Nixon Richard Nixon’s Pardon Some of Nixon’s aides were not so lucky: They were convicted of very serious offenses and sent to federal prison. Ex-President Nixon himself never admitted to any criminal wrongdoing, though he did acknowledge using poor judgment. His abuse of presidential power had a negative effect on American political life, creating an atmosphere of cynicism and distrust. While many Americans had been deeply dismayed by the outcomes of the Vietnam War, Watergate added further disappointment in a national climate already soured by the difficulties and losses of the past decade. The WHCA Shop in Anacostia: Today’s WHCA Headquarters Building completed in 1991 Type Of Activity WHCA Operations Location Location Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling Date of Activity 1974 to Present Coordinates 38°50′34″N 077°00′58″W  WHCA started moving into Anacostia in the early 70's. There was Bldg. 94 which held Personnel, Material and Supply, and maybe a few other Admin. Groups. Bldg. 47, which was a converted double hanger with the Electronics Branch on the ground floor and The Photo Lab occupied the entire 2nd floor. The Photo Lab was one of the last groups to leave the M Street complex. Between Bldg. 47 and Bldg. 94 was a single hanger type building that Transportation occupied.  Building 91, became WHCA's Training Center. If you go back in WHCA far enough, you will remember that was the old HMX-1 facility before WHCA obtained it and turned it into today’s training center. M street was closed when they finished the remodel of the hanger next to Bldg. 94 about 1976.   Building 94 WHCA location at Anacostia mid 70’s WHCA operations building at Anacostia Location of WHCA HQ’s building Construction of the Col George J McNally building was completed in 1991 and became the permanent home of The White House Communications Agency (WHCA) The Agency moved into Building 399 in 1991.  Rear entrance to the WHCA HQ building 399 I enjoyed my WHCA assignment and working at the Georgetown location before it was all moved to Anacostia even though I was still in the Agency when it all moved, I never visited or saw the facilities at Anacostia!

Looking toward the Main Residence from the chopper pad and site of the crash

Vice President Agnew Resigns
Vice President Agnew at one of his many fundraisers
Type of Activity	Political Resignation
Location
Location	Washington DC
Date of Activity	11 Oct 1973
Coordinates	38°53'51.2"N 77°02'20.9"W

Vice President Agnew Resigns from Office 11 Oct 1973

The announcement that the Vice President resigned from office came as a shock to me and I was saddened because I had worked with his staff and protection detail on many support trips and got to know everyone quite well! I first worked with them right after his nomination at the 1968 Republican Convention spending many days covering various, fundraisers, special events and even several vacation trips to Palm Springs.

My last involvement was at the 1972 National Republican Convention in Miami when I was with the Key Biscayne Communications Detachment. The NIXON/Agnew ticket achieved a resounding victory in the November 1972 election with a landslide defeat of Senator George McGovern.

Re-election victory for the President and Vice President in 1972

Vice President Agnew is sworn in at 1973 Inaugural Ceremony

In just 11 years, Spiro Agnew rose from being an attorney for a Union and serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals, to being elected Baltimore County Executive, and after taking advantage of a feud within the Democratic Party, finding himself elected Governor of the State of Maryland. Richard Nixon in need of a running mate that did not drag down his poll numbers, turned to the unknown Agnew to be his running mate in 1968 for Vice President of the United States. 

 An amazing rise for anyone to have come so far so fast.  

The State of Maryland had a very unusual way of doing business that apparently everyone was aware of and no one really talked about. It involved people looking to do work with various local governments subsidizing the decision-making office holders income.  Now today that would be considered illegal, and it is rather shocking to me that it was not considered illegal then, but the  truth is it wasn't. That basic fact is a part of the story rarely if ever discussed and it is about the only defense available for not only a Vice President forced to give up his office but for the rather large list of other public figures this scandal involved in the state of Maryland. 

Then we listen in on CBS News coverage of the events of October 10, 1973 as Spiro Agnew showed up at a Baltimore Courthouse to plead Nolo Contendere to one count of Federal Income tax evasion after resigning the Vice Presidency. Then he exits the stage only to return for a brief moment to sell his Memoirs in which he claimed he feared for his life after a visit from Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig who had been tasked with pushing the Vice President to resign by the Administration. 

The Vice President had very little time to enjoy his landslide victory, as a scandal was brewing in the summer of 1973, involving the Vice President. The United States Attorney's Office in Baltimore, Maryland, was investigating allegations that Vice President Agnew, while Baltimore County executive in 1966, had solicited payoffs from contractors doing county business and that as governor of Maryland and later as Vice President he had accepted kickbacks from engineers whose firms had received state contracts, even accepting several $2,000 payments in the Executive Office Building next to the White House.

On July 31, 1973 Agnew's lawyers were handed a letter written by George Beall, United States attorney for Baltimore, informing them that the Vice President was under investigation for conspiracy, extortion, and bribery. At a meeting with Attorney General Elliot Richardson, Agnew denied all the charges, and on August 6, 1973 as the story broke in the newspapers, the Vice President released a statement saying, "I am innocent of any wrongdoing."

The Vice President had very little time to enjoy his landslide victory, as a scandal was brewing in the summer of 1973, involving the Vice President. The United States Attorney's Office in Baltimore, Maryland, was investigating allegations that Vice President Agnew, while Baltimore County executive in 1966, had solicited payoffs from contractors doing county business and that as governor of Maryland and later as Vice President he had accepted kickbacks from engineers whose firms had received state contracts, even accepting several $2,000 payments in the Executive Office Building next to the White House.

On July 31, 1973 Agnew's lawyers were handed a letter written by George Beall, United States attorney for Baltimore, informing them that the Vice President was under investigation for conspiracy, extortion, and bribery. At a meeting with Attorney General Elliot Richardson, Agnew denied all the charges, and on August 6, 1973 as the story broke in the newspapers, the Vice President released a statement saying, "I am innocent of any wrongdoing."

Vice President Agnew meets with reporters in front of the federal Courthouse in Baltimore MD

Although President Nixon called Vice President Agnew into the Oval Office and assured him of his support, the White House chief of staff, Alexander Haig, immediately dropped over to Vice President Agnew's office after that conference and suggested to the Vice President that if he were indicted he should consider how it would affect his performance as Vice President—a not so subtle hint to consider resignation.

The Vice President exits the federal Courthouse in Baltimore MD after pleading "No Contest"

In September of 1973, Vice President Agnew began to plea-bargain with the prosecutors, but negotiations dragged on for more than a month as he sought a deal that would not involve any admission on his part of wrongdoing. He tried desperately to get out of the corner: he made an issue of leaks to the press by the prosecutors; he had a meeting with President Nixon, desperately trying to get the President to put pressure on Richardson to agree to a compromise; he asked the House of Representatives to impeach him so that Congress could conduct an investigation. White House aides refused to pressure Richardson, and the Democratic majority in the House refused to impeach Agnew until judicial proceedings had run their course.

The delay was not to Agnew's advantage. He antagonized Nixon by attacking the Justice Department. His standing in the polls was dropping, a sure sign that he was a political liability. An exhaustive investigation of his finances was completed by the Internal Revenue Service, and the prosecutors now had details about his personal life that conceivably could prove embarrassing if they were revealed.

Vice President Agnew’s letter of resignation to the President

Between October 5 and October 9, 1973 Vice President Agnew's lawyers and justice department lawyers cut a deal, which on October 8, 1973 was agreed to by a federal judge. On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew officially resigned from office.

Vice President Agnew’s letter of resignation 

New York Times Headlines on Oct 11, 1973  

With Vice President Agnew out of the way, President Nixon named Congressman Gerald R. Ford (R-MI) as his nominee for vice president. Two days before the Presidents announcement, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned his office after being convicted of tax evasion charges unrelated to Watergate. Congressman’s Fords nomination was received by Congress with great enthusiasm and strong bipartisan support.

Gerald Ford is sworn in as the new Vice President

With the resignation and succession crisis resolved, attention once again turned to the long-simmering Watergate crisis. It would only take another eight months of intense scrutiny for Watergate to bring down the entire Nixon administration leading to President Nixon’s Resignation in 1974.

After he resigned, Vice President Agnew and Judy moved to a winter home at the Springs Country Club in Rancho Mirage. By then, the Agnew’s had visited the Coachella Valley numerous times and had become friends with Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra. They avoided publicity and lived a quiet, reserved country-club style life. He played tennis and golf. Neighbors recall seeing him bicycle around Rancho Mirage, dine at local restaurants and party, often at the Sinatra compound.

The Vice President’s resignation and Gerald Ford's swearing in as the new Vice President would be the last major event that I would be a member of WHCA. I was discharged at Andrews AFB on December 10, 1973.

I had experienced so much history of the 1960’s and 1970’s, from the escalation of the war in Vietnam, and the antiwar protests, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the ensuing civil unrest at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, the San Clemente Western White House, the historic trip To China, the Florida White House in Key Biscayne, the end of the Vietnam war including the return of the POW/MIA’s, the Watergate break in, the cover up and the resignation of the Vice President!  There are so many details that I have forgotten, but so much that I can remember to say that I was very proud to have served as a member of the White House Communications Agency for over nine years.           

President Nixon Resigns
President Nixon resigns for his involvement in the Watergate scandals
Type of Activity	Political Resignations
Location
Location	Washington DC
Date of Activity	9 August 1974
Coordinates	38°53'51.2"N 77°02'20.9"W

It was shortly after the 1972 Presidential Election that things started to unravel for the Nixon White House.

The Watergate break-in was the beginning of the end of the Nixon Presidency and over the next two years the country listened to the relentless pursuit of proving the guilt that the White House was involved with the a cover-up of this and other illegal activities known as Watergate..

The Watergate Break-in

Early in the morning of June 17, 1972, several burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C.

The Watergate Complex in Washington DC

The Democrat National Headquarters in the Watergate Complex

                                                                                                                

The Watergate break-in occurred about a month prior to the Republican Convention: Miami Beach, FL August 21 to 23, 1972 and I never paid much attention to the incident because the Key Biscayne Detachment was concentrating on setting up communications required for the Convention. We were also working with the Committee for the Re-election of the President (CREEP) at the Doral Hotel with communications which we found out that the burglars were also working for CREEP. When the Convention ended we removed all of the temporary equipment at the hotels and villa’s where the staff stayed. We then got ready for a busy fall as the election campaign of 1972 began!

The 1972 Presidential Election

On November 7, 1972 the Nixon/Agnew ticket was reelected in one of the largest landslides in American political history, taking more than 60 percent of the vote and crushing the Democratic nominee, Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota. The President and his family visited Key Biscayne the day after the election to relax and celebrate the overwhelming victory! The Family along with Mr.’s Rebozo and Abplanalp spent the weekend aboard the Coco Lobo III and visiting the Ocean Reef Club at Key Largo FL. The President then returned to Washington to start his second term. The Nixon’s would return and spend Christmas at Key Biscayne and just prior to the inauguration.

President Nixon’s second Inauguration January 20, 1973

The second inauguration of Richard Nixon as the 37th President of the United States was held on January 20, 1973. The inauguration marked the commencement of the second term (which lasted approximately one and a half years) for Richard Nixon as President and the second term (which lasted approximately nine months) for Spiro Agnew as Vice President.

The Watergate Scandal 1973

1973 for us in Key Biscayne was pretty much as observers, although the Watergate break-in and cover-up was daily news. We never knew what happened that day; but it was common knowledge to us that recording devices were being used in the White House as well as other locations, This was nothing new, LBJ had all of them removed from the White House in 1968, so the new Nixon administration would not know that LBJ recorded many of his conversations. As a routine set up for all visits to Key Biscayne we would place a recorder coupler and IBM dictating machine on telephones used by senior staff that always stayed in villas at the Key Biscayne Hotel. These machines were connected to start up as soon as the phone was in use and since one party knew about the call was being recorded no BEEP tone was present.

In Feb.1973 I was sent to Jacksonville FL. for a couple of days to install a radio base station for the Secret Service who was supporting Julie Nixon Eisenhower while she visited the city on official business. This visit was very low key, no staff, no press, just Secret Service support. All I had to do was to install a “Charlie” FM Base station and a remote console in the residence where she was staying.

Also in February of 1973 The Senate voted (77-0) to create the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. The Committee is chaired by Senator Sam Ervin (Democrat, North Carolina). Ervin cultivated a folksy image as a country lawyer, but his supervision of this committee is crucial to the outcome. His deputy is Senator Howard Baker (Republican, Tennessee).

The Senate Watergate Sub-committee Sam Ervin Chairman and his Deputy Howard Baker

In Late March of 1973 James W. McCord who was the head of the Watergate burglars wrote a letter to Judge John Sirica in which he claims that the defendants had pleaded guilty under duress. He says they committed perjury and that others are involved in the Watergate break-in. He claims that the burglars lied at the urging of John Dean, Counsel to the President, and John Mitchell, the Attorney-General. These allegations of a cover-up and obstruction of justice by the highest law officers in the land blew Watergate wide open.

I had met John Dean and his wife in October of 1972 when they came to Key Biscayne on their honeymoon. I was at home, trying to enjoy a weekend that no visitors were scheduled to come to town when I received a phone call from our CO. I was sent to the Key Biscayne compound to pick up a stereo system and take it over to one of the Senior Staff villas at the Key Biscayne Hotel and install it for Mr. and Mrs. Dean. When I arrived I was greeted by Mr. Dean and escorted to the living room where I installed and tested the system. We would always provide stereo equipment as part of the set up on all trips when the villas were occupied. When I left that day I would never see the Dean’s again until they appeared on national TV during Watergate.

In early April 1973 John Dean, the White House Counsel, began to co-operate with the Watergate prosecutors, and President Nixon announces that senior White House staff will appear before the Senate Committee. He promises “major new developments” in the investigation, saying there will be real progress towards finding the truth. An official statement was released from the White House claiming President Nixon had no prior knowledge of the Watergate affair.

A month later President Nixon would appear on national television to announce the dismissal of John Dean, and also announced the resignations of Robert Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, describing them as two of his “closest advisers”. The Attorney-General, Richard Kleindienst, also resigns and is replaced by Elliot Richardson. The President would then appoint Gen. Alexander Haig as his Chief of Staff replacing Robert Haldeman.

The Senate Watergate Committee began public hearings on May 17, 1973, and began its nationally televised coverage the next day. Our lives began to change as we watched the daily broadcasts.

The President made frequent visits to Key Biscayne and Bahamas until the day I was discharged from the military. No one could anticipate how bad things would get! John Dean would become the prosecutor’s chief witness. The Washington Post reported that John Dean has told Watergate investigators that he discussed the Watergate cover-up with President Nixon at least 35 times

In June of 1973 while testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee, John Dean claims that Nixon was involved in the cover-up of the Watergate burglary within days in June 1972. In a seven-hour opening statement, he details a program of political espionage activities conducted by the White House in recent years.

John Dean with his wife Moreen

John Dean is sworn in at the Watergate hearings

The most damaging testimony however: came from a most unsuspected source and would expose WHCA to very close scrutiny! Alexander P. Butterfield, a former presidential appointments secretary, informed the Senate Committee of the White House taping system. He said that since 1971 President Nixon had recorded all conversations and telephone calls in his office and other locations where these recording systems were presumably set up by the White House Communications Agency and serviced by the Secret Service. Butterfield also revealed that President Nixon was recording all conversations in the oval office with his staff and others. The recordings were secret and very few people knew about them.

President Nixon struggled to protect the tapes during the summer and fall of 1973. His lawyers argued that the president’s executive privilege allowed him to keep the tapes to himself, but Judge Sirica, the Senate committee and an independent special prosecutor named Archibald Cox were all determined to obtain them. When Cox refused to stop demanding the tapes, Nixon ordered that he be fired, leading several Justice Department officials to resign in protest, (These events, which took place on October 20, 1973, and are known as the Saturday Night Massacre.) Eventually, Nixon agreed to surrender some—but not all—of the tapes.

During this period of time the President frequently visited Key Biscayne and made several trips to the Bahamas and Grand Cay. Nothing had changed in our preparation for his visits except they were generally only over a weekend and then they would return to Washington.

During late summer dark clouds were forming around the Vice President about illegal activities performed while he was the Governor of Maryland. Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew resigned after pleading no contest to a charge of income tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation and a $10,000 fine.

On October, 12 1973 President Nixon nominated Gerald Ford, Republican Minority leader in the House of Representatives, as the new vice-president.

I was nearing the end of my career with WHCA and would leave on December 20, 1973 so my knowledge the events that occurred in 1974 are only obtained from the various news outlets.

Early in 1974, the cover-up began to fall apart. On March 1, 1974 a grand jury appointed by a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski indicted seven of President Nixon’s former aides on various charges related to the Watergate affair. The jury, unsure if they could indict a sitting president, called Nixon an “unindicted co-conspirator.”

In July, 1974 the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes. While the president dragged his feet, the House of Representatives voted to impeach him for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, criminal cover-up and several violations of the Constitution. Finally, on August 5, 1974 Nixon released the tapes, which provided undeniable evidence of his complicity in the Watergate crimes. The tapes revealed President Nixon's knowledge and cover up of Watergate and brought down his Presidency.

The Nixon’s say goodbye to the White House Staff

President Nixon’s Letter of Resignation

In the face of certain impeachment by the Senate, the president resigned on August 8, 1974. As he flies out of Washington on August 9 1974 in route to his San Clemente estate, Richard Milhous Nixon resigns as the 37th President of the United States, the first President ever to do so. His resignation letter is submitted to the Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, at 11:35 am and Gerald Ford is sworn in as President shortly afterwards. Gerald Ford becomes the 38th president. Later, he nominates the former Republican Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller, as vice-president. They became the nation’s first unelected presidential duo.

Gerald Ford is sworn in as the new President 

On November 11 1974 only about six weeks after the new president Gerald Ford was sworn in, he made a surprise Sunday morning announcement, President Ford granted a “full free and absolute” pardon to Richard Nixon for “all offenses against the United States” committed between January 20, 1969 and August 9, 1974.

    /                          

President Ford pardons ex-President Nixon

Richard Nixon’s Pardon

Some of Nixon’s aides were not so lucky: They were convicted of very serious offenses and sent to federal prison. Ex-President Nixon himself never admitted to any criminal wrongdoing, though he did acknowledge using poor judgment. His abuse of presidential power had a negative effect on American political life, creating an atmosphere of cynicism and distrust. While many Americans had been deeply dismayed by the outcomes of the Vietnam War, Watergate added further disappointment in a national climate already soured by the difficulties and losses of the past decade.

The WHCA Shop in Anacostia:
Today’s WHCA Headquarters Building completed in 1991
Type Of Activity	WHCA Operations
Location
Location	Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling
Date of Activity	1974 to Present
Coordinates	38°50′34″N 077°00′58″W

WHCA started moving into Anacostia in the early 70's. There was Bldg. 94 which held Personnel, Material and Supply, and maybe a few other Admin. Groups. Bldg. 47, which was a converted double hanger with the Electronics Branch on the ground floor and The Photo Lab occupied the entire 2nd floor. The Photo Lab was one of the last groups to leave the M Street complex.

Between Bldg. 47 and Bldg. 94 was a single hanger type building that Transportation occupied. 

Building 91, became WHCA's Training Center. If you go back in WHCA far enough, you will remember that was the old HMX-1 facility before WHCA obtained it and turned it into today’s training center. M street was closed when they finished the remodel of the hanger next to Bldg. 94 about 1976.

 

Building 94 WHCA location at Anacostia mid 70’s

WHCA operations building at Anacostia

Location of WHCA HQ’s building

Construction of the Col George J McNally building was completed in 1991 and became the permanent home of The White House Communications Agency (WHCA)

The Agency moved into Building 399 in 1991. 

Rear entrance to the WHCA HQ building 399

I enjoyed my WHCA assignment and working at the Georgetown location before it was all moved to Anacostia even though I was still in the Agency when it all moved, I never visited or saw the facilities at Anacostia!

Vice President Agnew Resigns

Vice President Agnew at one of his many fundraisers

Type of Activity

 Political Resignation

Location

Location

 Washington DC

Date of Activity

 11 Oct 1973

Coordinates

 38°53'51.2"N 77°02'20.9"W

President Nixon Resigns

President Nixon resigns for his involvement in the Watergate scandals

Type of Activity

Political Resignations

Location

Location

Washington DC

Date of Activity

9 August 1974

Coordinates

38°53'51.2"N 77°02'20.9"W

The WHCA Shop in Anacostia:

Today’s WHCA Headquarters Building completed in 1991

Type Of Activity

WHCA Operations

Location

Location

Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling

Date of Activity

1974 to Present

Coordinates

38°50′34″N 077°00′58″W