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:          25.69028°N 80.165°W25.69028; -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)

500 Bay Lane (1972) 

There was a house on Harbor Drive, where we always had to test all the phones prior to every visit, it was near the Shell Station, that either belonged to or was associated with close friends of Caspar Weinberger. This was well before he became Secretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan, though he had been a longtime advisor. Caspar Weinberger and other notable figures like Pat Buchanan, George Shultz, and even Alan Greenspan were known to stay there during visits. They hosted lively gatherings that included serious drinking sessions and high-stakes poker games.

The comm center delivered a message there once and noticed a progressive poker pot on the table worth around $5,000. None of the participants wanted to be interrupted to sign for the message delivery! Among them, Pat Buchanan stood out as particularly friendly and approachable, always kind to everyone, agreed to sign for the message.

On another occasion, a TTY message was delivered to Secretary of State George Shultz, who was immersed in a poker game alongside Alan Greenspan, Caspar Weinberger, and others. Shultz—having apparently lost a bet—was humorously displaying his famous "Tiger" tattoo on his backside. It was a surreal moment that underscored how, no matter what their age or status, when the guys got together with drinks in hand, anything could happen!

The principal construction work on the Nixon compound by the Government began on 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.

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.

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 bedrooms, 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. 

 

Crandon Courts putting green

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 the food that we had 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 the carpets, 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, 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.

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 the 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, it 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 completely 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.

Upon 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 caused him 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.

500 Bay Lane and the Key Biscayne Compound

View from the helipad (USSS CP on left)

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.

Enjoying the beach at the Key Biscayne Compound

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.

I remember 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 traffic 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. 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 we 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. It seems the crew already knew the limits and 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.

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 and head for the Key Biscayne compounds Helipad.

The Homestead CCT is 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.

Marine One awaits the Presidents arrival      

Patty as Air Force One taxis up to the ramp

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.

WHCA had set up a secure telephone line from the president's study in the 500 house to the living room of his chief of staff's villa at the Key Biscayne Hotel, but there had been no communication until the president called upon his return to his Key Biscayne home  from Grand Cay a private island in the Bahamas on Sunday morning June 18,1972, and even then, they did not discuss the breaking news of the weekend." (Watergate break-in was on Saturday, June 17).

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 the driven 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 demonstrations did take place but without the violence that had erupted in Chicago four years earlier!

Air Force One arrives at Homestead AFB

President Nixon’s arrival at Homestead AFB

In 1972 on a stop during the election campaign, and one of the few times that First Lady Patricia Nixon decided to speak was an impromptu speech at the arrival in Albuquerque, NM on the tarmac. It was very windy, and the A/V technician had applied a WHCA Windscreen on the microphone needed to reduce noise while speaking outdoors. This was before Shure manufactured the foam covers. Just as she stepped up to speak, a gust of wind blew the Shure cover down the tarmac. Whoops! The look on her face was one of those moments that will never be forgotten. The next day everyone possible was issued the correct size Allen Wrench to tighten the screws on the Shure cover. About "WHCA Windscreens", for those of you who do not know they were a prophylactic, these were part of every A/V trip package at the time.

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 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 and 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.

The Miami Convention Center 
 

The Watergate complex located in Washington D.C

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 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 did not 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 his 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 he 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. The President 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.

The Commcenter at Key Biscayne would sometimes have to transmit long TTY messages multiple times, and then piece together to get all the garble out. Nothing worse than having 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. The truth of the matter is that rarely did we find classified documents on the sweeps.

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

The 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  Z                                                                                                                                                                                                    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 extremely 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. I returned on the 12^th to retrieve the equipment.

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 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 that WHCA had installed tape recorders so there was a record of the Presidential conversations and President Nixon refused to release them to Congress.

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.

When the Homestead AFB CST was formed in 1971 time frame, we shared a hangar with the Army One Helicopter Unit until they were withdrawn back to Ft Belvoir. We had a concrete cinderblock building inside the large hangar.

One afternoon, the Army Helo folks took off early and set their appropriate alarms. I can't remember, but the actual aircraft may have been deployed, but we were still inside our building having extensive training (Double Deck Pinochle). It was probably a Friday and once we were certain we were not going to be deployed or have a last minute visit, we folded up shop. As we exited our building, we walking into the alarmed area for the Army Operations and the USAF Base Police arrived. They placed 4 of our team on the ground face down, and drew their weapons. The senior person tried to tell them we were authorized in the building, and they were checking ID's. The guards were not amused when one of our folks asked if the picture matched his backside as he was facedown. We had to come up with all kinds of new procedures for our alarms, their alarms, etc, and once all worked out, they deactivated within 2 days and left the compound permanently except for deployments back in the area to support a Key Biscayne visit. It seemed like it took almost 90 minutes and several calls to the Military Office in DC to sort all this out. The USAF solution was going to be a weekend in the holding cell until the Base Commander returned from TDY.

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 rebuilt and was closed and never re-opened.

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 condo's, 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.. I remember the One Biscayne Tower permanent location where at least one of the units was still electron tubes. There was a stack of old tubes and new replacement tubes stored inside the case. Sometimes, an old tube would be tried, and the unit would come back to life. Never understood that, but it was a really hot location, and always anxious to get finished. Later the building management tried to put of some chain link cages to keep the tubes  out instead of storing them inside the cabinet but that had limited benefits.

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  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, they tried to beat us to death with the waves. We were not ready to get on the helicopter when we arrived at GBI.

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.

72 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, Bahamas Past History
Walkers Cay Club (1972)
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

Robert Abplanalp purchased the lease for Walker's Cay in 1968, and continued the island's development as a sport fishing destination, while also cautiously eyeing the impact on conservation in the waters surrounding it. Abplanalp also took steps to protect the marine life around Walker's Cay. He was a pioneer of tag-and-release fishing, and he worked with the Bahamian government to establish a marine reserve around the island. Over the next three decades, Walkers Cay became the hub for sport fishing in the northern Bahamas.

Abplanalp was a close friend and supporter of President Richard Nixon, Grand Cay became a popular destination for Nixon and his friend Bebe Rebozo. Grand Cay was a nearby private island that Abplanalp owned and was available to the President anytime he decided to visit.

Walkers Cay Club, Bahamas (note radio antenna), WHCA maintained UHF system

I thought Walkers Cay was a true "Paradise" and only a short 90 minutes by helicopter to be in a different world. The Key Biscayne Detachment of WHCA was responsible for maintaining the radio system that connected the Florida White House to Walkers Cay and Grand Cay providing communications whenever President Nixon vacationed at this private retreat on Grand Cay. Robert Abplanalp was a close friend of President Nixon, and owned both Walkers Cay Club, and Grand Cay.

The Walkers Cay Club, and Marina was a popular fishing resort,  particularly known as a location for billfishing, with huge Atlantic blue marlin caught in the area; angling for bonefish was also popular there. Walker's Cay was also known for its annual billfish tournaments that were held there, Walkers Cay Billfish Tournaments attracted some of the best anglers in the world, During Abplanalp's ownership, Walker's Cay became a world-renowned destination for sport fishing and marine conservation.   

 It was a very exclusive resort as the only way to reach the island was either by boat or by air. Walker's Cay Club had a 75-slip fully equipped marina complete with bait, tackle, and snack shop supplying guests with anything they needed. The island's hotel, marina, and airstrip were all upgraded.

 The island's airstrip is suitable only for light aircraft. The resort had regularly scheduled flights from Ft Lauderdale, Fl. by Grumman Mallard Sea Plane. Travel by WHCA to the island was generally by helicopter.  

Guests would arrive on a  Grumman Mallard Sea Plane 

Ariel view of the Hotel, swimming pools, Marina, Chapel, and Guest villas

We would travel to the Walkers Cay to perform monthly maintenance on all of the communication equipment on the island.

Walkers Cay Marina (1973)

A Guest villa at The Walkers Cay Club

The Sea Lion docked at the Marina in 1973

There were several villas available besides the Hotel for guests to stay and a small chapel for use while visiting the island.

The Islands Chapel  in 1973

We would stay at the Walkers Cay Hotel, eat, and drink for a week all with the complements of our host Robert Abplanalp, the NY industrialist who owned Precision Valve Corporation (PVC), makers of the aerosol tip on deodorant, canned paint, bug spray, and just about every aerosol can in your household in the 1970's, and owner of the island. He had a memo to all the staff, that the Military visiting the island were to never be charged for ANYTHING or their employment would be terminated!

The relatively small hotel was nothing fancy, but most people were not looking for a luxury hotel, just a place to sleep and take a shower between marathon fishing. The decor in the rooms, hotel lobby, and marina was all very rustic with a Bahamian flare, and often had a dirty appearance with sand on floors in hotel rooms and the carpeted areas were very worn and lots of sand. The light switches and cover plates were all a hodge podge and didn’t match, some installed upside down. We were aware of the need for proper grounding on our equipment and would use a multimeter to look inside the switch plates to ensure that everything was normal. We would have to crawl under a deck, and open the box and see the grounding wires connected to the next box which was linked with plastic PVC pipe instead of metal conduit for traditional conduction. All of the A/C was individual through the wall window type units, and they were not efficient or reliable. The unsteady generator power and frequent surges was not friendly with the A/C units. The units that were working would also often leak condensation all over the room.

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

The hotels fresh and salt water pool area adjacent to the hotels outside bar

The hotel also housed the resorts bar, 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 island had its own power plant and desalinization station for all drinking water.

The Walkers Cay experience was always a great one . Hard work during a Presidential visit, but there were a lot of rewards during our maintenance visits. We are out there living the life eating lobster and fresh seafood, while the hotel bar served the best conch fritters with cocktail sauce in the world!

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! 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 loser buying the next round of drinks (all drinks were free), which meant they had to walk to the bar and bring the drinks back. I was the uncontested champion of the bumper pool table because I never lost a game! Adjacent to the game room there was the card room, We spent many evenings playing pool or playing poker or hearts to pass the time since there was limited television or other forms of entertainment. There was a lot of Per Diem won and lost during our stay. Then after drinking and playing cards until the wee hours in the morning, we had to either get up to go to work or get ready to go back to Key Biscayne.

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 Cay’s 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.

When we called Homestead AFB with an updated weather report for a chopper to pick us up. We always exaggerated the weather conditions and tell them tell them high winds, low visibility, and getting worse by the minute. If they would cancel our scheduled evacuation on Friday afternoon, then we were committed to stay 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.

The Grumman Mallard Sea Plane brought paying customers from Ft Lauderdale to the island on a daily basis and many of us used that as backup when space was available, but we never really begged to get off if we had the chance.

Some of my most memorable moments in all my years in WHCA took place at Walkers Cay and Grand Cay.

UHF Radio System to the Bahamas

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 viewed from offshore from Walkers Cay (1973)

The Key Biscayne Detachment was responsible for the installation and maintenance of the radio system which included an 8 Channel Cardion UHF link between Grand Bahama Island (GBI), and Walkers Cay, and then an Army GRC-103 12 channel between Walkers Cay and Grand Cay. 

UHF Radio system from GBI to Walkers Cay to 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 GBI. This location was used for tracking launches from Cape Canaveral. WHCA used an existing radio tower to install a Farinon UHF radio system on the Air Force facility. GBI shot directly to Walkers Cay where the circuits terminated. All of this was interfaced at GBI to the NASA undersea cable. This system was very labor intensive due to saltwater corrosion from the air

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 and of course all of the WHCA areas. The radios were located in a building adjacent to the 125 ft. tower, FM base stations were also installed for any necessary communications for WHCA, Secret Service, or the White House Staff staying on the island, and in a separate building near the radio room housed a small switchboard and communications center for TTY and fax messages.

There was a secure voice circuit installed that went to the Key Biscayne Commcenter but there was nothing, but voice circuits installed on Grand Cay. Voice circuits were also installed in the communication center for any DEX-1(facsimile) and TTY traffic.

We would travel to Walkers Cay from Homestead AFB each month for maintenance trips. A typical Walkers Cay maintenance visit was launched by a USAF helicopter from Homestead AFB, first stop was Grand Bahama Island AF Station to refuel because the helicopter did not have enough to reach Walkers Cay and return safely.

When refueling was complete we would take off and the pilot would fly at tree top level and curve the coastline before we headed to Walkers Cay. Many sunbathers did not have a chance to grab their towels and tops as they blew down to the beach. We did this routinely for at least two years before the Commander at the GBI USAF Station sent a memo to Homestead AFB flight group. This was always fun until on one flight as we were enjoying the view, the helicopter suddenly raised its nose sharply. None of us knew what happened until we landed at Walkers and the pilot told us that to avoid a direct bird strike, he quickly reacted causing a glancing blow instead of a direct hit, and he “didn’t want to be picking bird feathers out of his teeth”.

The same group of USAF pilots, all were combat veterans who had served in Vietnam and did some strange things on our flights. They 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. On one return flight while landing at Homestead AFB instead of the usual vertical landing the Pilot decided to land like a fixed wing aircraft on the Huey’s skids. I was told that this is a routine training exercise. 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. The voice channels used 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 bunkhouse and both villas to install new phones and any future requirements.

The GRC-103 UHF Radio system used from GBI to Walkers Cay and Grand Cay Islands

The final leg of the 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 USSS 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.

We would usually leave Homestead 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.

The monthly maintenance trips to Walkers Cay were like paid vacations, we would be choppered over from Homestead, We would spend two or three days doing PM's on Walkers and traveling over to Grand Cay by boat. 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.

Ariel view of Grand Cay (1973)

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

Most of the maintenance was accelerated due to salt air corrosion and many of the non-maintenance folks enjoyed being able to help with the grunt labor part of changing out and upgrading various systems.

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

All of the WHCA support personnel would stay on Walkers Cay during the Presidential Trips except for one radio tech that would go to Grand Cay and one radio tech would stay at GBI.  Although I visited Walkers over 20 times to perform maintenance on the radio equipment and Switchboard, I only participated in this one actual visit at Walkers Cay. I was the only Radioman at Walkers so I was assigned a pager and and hung out at the hotel waiting for some thing to stop working.

My activities for the three days that the trip lasted consisted of eating, drinking, playing pool and playing shuffleboard, OK, I also slept. I do regret not being a fisherman, as I would have loved to experience the world-class fishing at Walker's Cay.

During every Presidential visit to Grand Cay, WHCA, the White House staff and the White House Press Corp would stay on Walker’s Cay. Helen Thomas, the Dean of the White House Press Corp who 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! Helen Thomas routinely relaxed 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! The image was  enough to permanently burn the retina of your eyes! 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.

WHCA personnel were given instructions on the route between the various coral rocks to make the 7 mile trip to Grand Cay via a small 13 ft Boston Whaler. For two to three of us to head out on a maintenance trip was very common, but for the Commcenter, they would go solo during TTY message delivery during visits. It was a major short coming because the Commcenter was located at Walkers Cay, and the President located across open water about 7 miles and sometime as much as 45 minutes away on Grand Cay.

When the President departed, we boarded an USAF helicopter and headed back to Crandon Park on Key Biscayne with stops at Grand Cay, and GBI where we picked up other WHCA personnel.

 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.

Note:  Walkers Cay Club was severely damaged in 2004 by two hurricanes

Walkers Cay Island in the Bahamas

Walkers Cay Club after 2004 hurricane

Walkers Cay Club after 2004 hurricane season

Unfortunately the Walkers Cay Club was heavily damaged by several hurricane and was closed down, the island and all of the facilities were, but in 2019 Walkers Cay was sold, renovated and the Marina re-opened as of 2022.

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. After his resignation all of the Communications equipment was removed from GBI, Walkers Cay and Grand Cay.

After the death of Robert Abplanalp in 2003, the fortunes of Walker's Cay took a further turn for the worse when it was hit by two hurricanes in 2004, (Frances and Jeanne), which caused extensive damage. However, in 2005, the Abplanalp family decided to sell the island, marking the end of a 50 year era.

The island went through subsequent ownership changes, but its legacy as a top-tier fishing destination persisted. Additionally, a decline in tourism and changing travel patterns led to its gradual decline becoming a ghost town for fourteen years, with crumbling infrastructure and dilapidated facilities. Until in 2018 Walker's Cay was purchased by Texas businessman Carl Allen, who has begun the process of restoring the island it to its former glory.

Legacy of Robert Abplanalp's ownership of Walker's Cay

Robert Abplanalp's ownership of Walker's Cay had a significant impact on the island and the surrounding waters. He developed Walker's into a world-renowned destination for sport fishing and marine conservation. He also helped to promote tourism to the Bahamas and to create jobs on the island.

His ownership of Walker's Cay spanned several decades, during which the island thrived as a haven for the wealthy and fishing enthusiasts. However, in 2005, the Abplanalp family decided to sell the island, marking the end of an era. The island went through subsequent ownership changes, but its legacy as a top-tier fishing destination persisted.

Abplanalp's legacy is still felt today. Walker's Cay is still a popular destination for sport fishing and tourism, and the marine reserve that he helped to establish continues to protect the marine life around the island.

Walker's Cay continues to draw visitors from around the world, offering them the chance to experience the same pristine beauty and world-class fishing that attracted Robert Abplanalp and his distinguished guests. The island remains a testament to the vision of a man who transformed a secluded paradise into an exclusive retreat, leaving an indelible mark on the history of Walker's Cay.

The New Walkers Cay

Walkers Cay current Logo (2023) 

Marina Entrance (2023 pictured Don and Becky Cammel)

Philanthropist and marlin fishing enthusiast Carl Allen purchased Walker's Cay in 2018 with a vision to restore it to its former glory. Allen is the founder of Allen Exploration, a company that specializes in underwater exploration and research. He is also a passionate advocate for marine conservation. Since purchasing, Carl Allen, has begun the process of restoring Walkers Cay. There are plans for redevelopment and modernization, aiming to position the island as a premier tourist destination once again. Sustainable development initiatives are being implemented to preserve the natural beauty and ecological balance of the island.

Walkers Cay (2023)

The restored Marina at Walkers Cay Island in the Bahamas (2023)

Allen's restoration of Walker's Cay is already having a positive impact. The decaying infrastructure on the island was entirely revitalized. The island's marina has been fully restored and there has already been two billfish tournaments conducted with a third scheduled for Memorial Day weekend 2024. The Airstrip has been extended and modernized, the 2,500-foot-long (760 m) runway is now suitable for light aircraft.

The Chapel on Walkers Cay under construction (2022)

The Chapel on Walkers Cay under construction (2022)

The Islands chapel has also been restored with the wood carvings of Joseph and Mary that were on each side of the entrance door of the old chapel survived, have been saved, restored, and are on display inside the new chapel.

Walkers Cay’s restored chapel (2023)

Walkers Cay’s restored chapel (2023)

Today, there are only a few structures that have been completed. The new chapel is beautiful, and the “Welcome House” for Customs is a very nice looking building just off the runway.

A new resort is scheduled to open in 2023 or 2024 and Allen has hired a team of local residents to work on all of these projects thus creating jobs and economic opportunities for the people of Walker's Cay. He is working with local residents to develop a sustainable fishing industry and to create new tourism attractions. Allen is also investing in education and training programs for local residents.

Carl Allen's dedication to Walker's Cay has borne fruit. The island is once again becoming a destination of choice for travelers seeking adventure, relaxation, and natural beauty. It's a testament to what can be achieved through a combination of entrepreneurship, conservation, and a deep respect for the environment.

Walker's Cay will not only be a thriving resort but also an eco-friendly destination that upholds responsible tourism. Its restoration serves as a model for sustainable tourism. The island will be powered by renewable energy, and all wastewater will be treated on-site. Allen is also working to restore the island's natural ecosystems, including its mangroves and seagrass beds.

The restoration of Walker's Cay, led by Carl Allen, is a remarkable story of vision, dedication, and environmental stewardship. It demonstrates that even the most challenging restoration projects can succeed with the right mix of passion and commitment. Today, Walker's Cay stands as a testament to the enduring beauty of the Bahamas and the resilience of nature, welcoming visitors from around the world to experience its rejuvenated splendor.

I would like to thank CWO Don Cammel, US Army Ret. for his narrative and photos that I used in this article about Walkers Cay as it is today.  

Big Grand Cay, Bahamas Past History
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

Bahamas Big Grand Cay

President Nixon stayed on Big Grand Cay (aka Grand Cay), Mr. Abplanalp's private 125-acre island in the Bahamas, complete with a house that Mr. Abplanalp had refurbished for the Presidents 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 Sea Lion a sportfishing boat that was sculpted by the talented, skilled, and prideful builders who worked for Whiticar Boatworks 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 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 Robert 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 always stayed on Grand Cay. 

The Sea Lion near Grand Cay

The "Big House on Grand Cay is a 4 bedroom and 5 bathroom vacation home with saltwater swimming pool, expansive decks overlooking tropical beaches, a deep water dock,

Besides the Main House there was also two guest ocean villas. The lead USSS agent, Military Aide and President’s 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, the caretaker’s quarters, sea plane ramp, helicopter landing pad, and various other storage and utility structures.

The main feature was the setting of being on a beautiful, isolated island with a great beach. It was 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 USSS CP and WHCA radio room was in the same building near the front entrance of the main residence.

Main House Living Room

Main House Dining Room

Game Room in Main House

Support Staff Bunk House

VIP Beach House Grand Cay

Looking at the Big House from the boat dock

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.

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 . This support team 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).

Grand Cay Island (Guest villa behind main residence on other side of the island)

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. Of 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 from Grand Cay to the small hotel style switchboard at Walkers 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. I cannot tell you what the outcome was of these discussions.

The trip to Grand Cay was about a 25min. boat ride southeast of Walkers Cay, however in bad weather it was not safe to travel the 7 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. We waited quite some time and thought the hotel had forgotten us, but a little later that evening we heard a vessel arriving at the dock.  To our surprise they sent the Sea Lion to pick us up and not the 13 ft whaler.  

We were given instructions on the route between the various coral rocks and 7 mile trip to Grand Cay via a small 13 ft Boston Whaler, 2-3 of us headed out for a maintenance trip was very common, but the Commcenter had to go solo with TTY message delivery during Presidential visits. It was a major short coming because the Commcenter was located at Walkers Cay, and the President located across open water about 7 miles and sometime as much as 45 minutes away. There were plans that we could just call the Military Aide and request a helicopter for URGENT deliveries, but the few times we tested that we were forced to use our dedicated 13 ft Whaler.

Whenever the Commcenter was summoned by the Military Aid during a visit to come pick up an outgoing message from the President, Dr. Kissinger, or any other Senior Staff member. Once a message was received the WHCA Comm Center tech had to take the boat ride to Grand Cay Because of rough water, it took them over 50 minutes to arrive. They went into the living room of the "Big House" as we call it, and here were the President, Mr Abplanalp, Bebe Rebozo, and Dr. Kissinger sitting around a pool table all in swimming suits, and probably feeling no pain, had a lot of top shelf alcohol available. They were given a 7 pages of yellow legal pad written with a sharpie, arrows and paragraph numbers, and corrections, and then a couple additional pages from other documents.

It took another 50 minutes to return to Walkers Cay, and then we had to type the message for transmission to Key Biscayne who would resend to the Situation Room. From the original call until this message cleared Walkers Cay was close to 4 hours total, it was a very long message, and important, going to General Westmoreland. When the WH Situation Room received the message, they didn't have any warning, and need to verify with the Military Aide that it was real.

The Military Aid and the President were out on the beach at Grand Cay, and took another 30 minutes to get them connected. wait and see if there was a response and then 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 worldwide via the AUTODIN network. Author to recipient times when you add the boat trip, typing times, and relay times were awfully slow.

On Monday morning, they wanted to "hang the messenger" rather that address the real reason for the delay, the message contained immediate bombing instructions which arrived very late to implement on the suggested schedule. Still never did fix the moving of the Commcenter from Walkers Cay to Grand Cay which should have been done from day one, but WHMO had some maximum numbers for support folks on Grand Cay, weather, fire crew, Navy divers, and WHCA.

When President Nixon would travel to Grand Cay, WHCA frequently transmitted messages to all levels of the Staff. The President 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.

The Commcenter would sometimes have to transmit long TTY messages multiple times, and then piece together to get all the garble out. Nothing worse than having the last page have a few characters missing! At 100 wpm, a very slow process. I can remember also when it was 60 wpm.

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)

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. 

In 1973 we expanded the radio system I remember building and installing a new system between Walkers Cay and Grand Cay. The final leg of the 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/WHCA radio room also had phones installed and FM Radio Consoles on Baker and Charlie frequencies. 

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

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

The President was visiting his close friend Bob Abplanalp on Grand Cay. I was assigned as the only radioman on the island during the President’s visit. It was also during a midnight shift change of Secret Service Agents when Army One crashed in the ocean while landing There were fifteen survivors, agents, and crew, they were all on the underside of the chopper which had flipped over when it crashed tragically one Secret Service Agent drowned.

Looking toward the Main Residence from the Army One crash site

This was the last time I was on Grand Cay!

I still think the undertaking of installing permanent Communications to support 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.

President Nixon made many visits to Grand Cay between 1969 and 1974 when he resigned from office, After his resignation all of the Communications equipment was removed from GBI, Walkers Cay and Grand Cay.

The Renovated Grand Cay

After the death of Robert Abplanalp in 2003, the fortunes of Grand Cay took a further turn for the worse when it was hit by two hurricanes in 2004, (Frances and Jeanne), which caused extensive damage. The Big House, CP/radio room, bunk house and both of the villas survived because they were all concrete structures. The boat dock and care takers house suffered moderate damage.

However, in 2005, the Abplanalp family decided to sell the island, marking the end of a 50 year era. In 2015 the island was purchased by coal magnet Chris Cline from Illinois who was the largest producer of coal in the US, with mines in both Illinois and West Virginia had a vision to turn Grand Cay into a private retreat for his family and friends. Cline died in a crash with six others while taking off from the island under an emergency medical situation for a family member via helicopter around 2019. During the evacuation, the helicopter crashed very near the previous site where the Presidential Helicopter Army One crashed in 1973, again under the hours of darkness and it was not discovered for a couple days, no one checked to see if it had reached their destination for 24 hours. The most recent owner of the island is a Soccer Team owner who has already greatly expanded the island. and uses it as a reward to provide a place for his soccer team players to come after tournaments.

Today Grand Cay is beyond recognition from what it was in the 70’s. The Island now features seven houses, including a 1950’s coral stone home, contemporary-style villas, staff homes and a dormitory-style building for workers that can accommodate dozens of guests as well as a large professional kitchen, also a feature swimming pool, two marinas, a gym, tennis, pickleball and basketball courts. For transportation, there is a fleet of dune buggies and golf carts are available.

Grand Cay 2023

All of the construction force used to renovate the island is made up of the local labor pool of Bahamian natives from nearby Little Grand Cay.

The “Big House” survived the hurricanes and remains on the hill, and it remains intact, the house has been remodeled, but the outside still looks run down, with outside mildew, and bad need of repairs to the steps and path leading to the main entrance. The 1970’s paneling in the game room has all been replaced, and the pool off the patio has been restored.

The Big House on Grand Cay

The pool at the Big House

The old two hexagonal homes where the USSS and Military Aides stayed are still there and they have built additional cabins.  

A restored and remodeled VIP villa

VIP villas beach entrance shower

Several new contemporary-style villas have been built on the far side of the island to accommodate Guests.

 One of the islands private beaches

The New Guest Villas

The restored USSS Cp/WHCA radio room

The old Radio Room/USSS CP building has been given a metal roof and an extreme makeover. The radio room is now an office and laundry room, The concrete pad for the GRC-103 antenna is still on the side of the building, but expanded to a larger pad to accommodate trash cans on the outside of the building.

A view of the USSS CP/ WHCA radio room 

The expanded concrete pad where the GRC-103 antenna stood

The new floating dock

The caretakers home is gone, and an upscale floating dock has been installed in its place.

I don’t think anything on Grand Cay is designed to be revenue generating, only there to give the soccer teams a place for R&R in off season and between tournaments. There are “First Class” accommodations built for the support staff.

The recreation hall, and dormitory

The recreation hall, dormitory, pool, pickleball, and tennis courts

The large Recreation Hall is equipped with shuffleboard, roulette wheel, poker tables, pool tables, ping pong, a very large bar, outdoor waterfall jacuzzi overlooking boat dock, tennis courts, basketball court, and pickleball court. Outside grills, and hammocks are plentiful.

Great hotel like rooms, four to a room for lower level workers, then some two person rooms, and four larger single rooms for supervisors. There was a first class Mess Hall style kitchen to serve 80 people. and don’t forget the pool and gym, as well as the tennis, pickleball and basketball courts.

The Recreation Building

I would like to thank CWO Donald Cammel, US Army Ret. for his narrative and photos that I used in this article about Grand Cay as it is today. 

Big Grand Cay, Bahamas Past History

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

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 

DOD IG Audit of WHCA
Type Of Activity	DOD IG Audit
Location
Location	Washington DC
Date of Activity	Dec 1995
Coordinates	38°53′52″N 77°02′11″W

Over the decades, WHCA’s mission has grown significantly. What began as a low-profile communications unit now encompasses a wide range of services supporting the president, vice president, National Security Council, First Family, and White House staff. This includes setting up secure communications, videotaping key presidential moments for the National Archives, providing stenographic services for press briefings, and managing logistics for presidential appearances.

By 1978, WHCA had reached a peak staffing level of over 1,000 personnel. Although downsizing efforts reduced the agency to about 850 members, it remains the largest organization under the White House Military Office (WHMO), with a budget exceeding $120 million during the Clinton administration. Despite this, WHCA operated largely under the radar, with minimal oversight from both the Department of Defense (DoD) and White House leadership.

Scandals, Oversight, and “The Coffees”

In the 1990s, WHCA faced increased scrutiny due to its involvement in videotaping Democratic National Committee (DNC) fundraisers and informal White House coffees. This controversy erupted after WHCA, following Senate inquiries into campaign finance practices, delayed the release of video footage, sparking accusations of obstruction. The tapes documented President Bill Clinton’s interactions with major donors, raising questions about WHCA’s role in preserving politically sensitive moments.

Critics argued that WHCA’s presence at these events blurred the line between its communications mission and political activities. Some speculated that WHCA’s expanded duties were a byproduct of bureaucratic mission creep, with the agency taking on additional roles to justify its budget and staffing levels. Others noted that Clinton may have become so accustomed to constant video documentation that he failed to question WHCA’s ubiquitous presence.

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes acknowledged the ambiguity surrounding WHCA’s activities, admitting in congressional testimony that White House staff rarely noticed the agency’s video crews. He also described WHCA as part of the White House Military Office, a unit with a long history of classified projects, including the construction of presidential bomb shelters and secret taping systems used by past presidents.

A History of Secret Funds and Loose Oversight

WHCA’s overseer, the White House Military Office, controlled a secret fund during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. This fund, purportedly for security-related expenses, was sometimes used for questionable projects, including renovations to presidential properties and the installation of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s and President Richard Nixon’s secret recording system. WHCA personnel were often assigned to these classified tasks, highlighting the agency’s role as a tool for executive discretion.

Following revelations about this secret fund in the 1980 book Breaking Cover by former WHMO Director Bill Gulley, the Reagan administration promised reforms, but questions about WHCA’s management persisted. In the 1990s, congressional inquiries and audits by the DoD’s Inspector General revealed issues such as unaccounted property, excessive equipment leases, and mission overreach.

A History of Secret Funds and Loose Oversight

WHCA’s overseer, the White House Military Office, controlled a secret fund during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. This fund, purportedly for security-related expenses, was sometimes used for questionable projects, including renovations to presidential properties and the installation of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s secret recording system. WHCA personnel were often assigned to these classified tasks, highlighting the agency’s role as a tool for executive discretion.

Following revelations about this secret fund in the 1980 book Breaking Cover by former WHMO Director Bill Gulley, the Reagan administration promised reforms, but questions about WHCA’s management persisted. In the 1990s, congressional inquiries and audits by the DoD’s Inspector General revealed issues such as unaccounted property, excessive equipment leases, and mission overreach.

Despite WHCA’s considerable size, WHCA has operated with little attention from either its Defense Department or White House masters. The agency’s basic tasks have been reviewed only three times since its inception, and it escaped formal audit until a DOD IG audit was completed in  November 1995.

The initial attempts to conduct oversight of this 900-person, $100 million-a-year White House-directed agency were made by Congress in 1994. Those attempts were met with repeated  delays  and White House stonewalling. Early 1995, after meetings with the White House Counsel's office, GAO, and the Department of Defense IG's office, Congress finally received the approval to have an IG's investigation done going back 5 years.

WHCA was annually performing $7.8 million worth of tasks beyond the scope of its mission; it was unable to account for more than half a million dollars’ worth of agency property; and it was paying close to $800,000 to lease superfluous equipment.

This report on phase one of the audit cited “no evidence of significant theft or significant waste” in WHCA, but noted several areas in need of “management attention.”

The DODIG’s report concluded that WHCA's budgets have gone largely unreviewed. Its annual performance plan has failed to meet DOD standards. Its acquisition planning has violated DOD  regulations and resulted in wasteful purchases.

Finally, the DODIG concluded that WHCA is providing the White House with services and equipment which are outside way, out­side of the scope of its mission of telecommunications support to the President of the United States.

Congressional Inquiry and the Road Ahead

Despite these findings, WHCA’s operations remain shrouded in secrecy due to their classification as matters of “presidential protection.” Efforts by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate WHCA were blocked by the White House, which cited national security concerns. Congressional Republicans pushed for further hearings resulting with Congressional hearings conducted on May 16 and June 13, 1996.

In conclusion the committee recommended, both a comprehensive audit and a more formal, explicit delineation of responsibilities were long overdue for WHCA. Although management controls were generally satisfactory, there were deficiencies in several areas that needed attention. More systematic oversight is important in the future to assist WHCA in being as efficient and effective as possible. The DOD IG will work closely with DISA and WHCA to make sure that the problems found in the audit get fixed. but WHCA’s low-profile history and classified status may limit what can be uncovered.

While WHCA continues to support the president with essential communications services, its evolving mission, political entanglements, and history of minimal oversight raise ongoing questions about transparency, accountability, and the proper scope of its activities.

The April 1996 phase-two report concluded that WHCA was receiving “little or no oversight of budgeting, acquisition planning, and organizational effectiveness,” and recommended that the DoD’s oversight role be strengthened.

WHCA has been a deep, dark hole over at the White House into which there has been spending nearly $100 million annually without any executive branch oversight. It  has  also become  a  pot of money devoted to many things-kind of a miscellaneous pot of money-that have nothing to do with telecommunications or the President.                                                                            

The White House Communications Agency has had a totally unique mission, and the staff who serves there perform their duties exceptionally well and have done so for more than 50 years and for 11 Presidents, both Democrats and Republicans.

Among these:

The DOD IG’s report concluded that WHCA's budgets have gone largely unreviewed. Its annual performance plan has failed to meet DOD standards. Its acquisition planning has violated DOD  regulations and resulted in wasteful purchases.

Finally, the DOD IG concluded that WHCA is providing the White House with services and equipment which are outside way, out­side of the scope of its mission of telecommunications support to the President of the United States.

The executive summary is copied below with complete report available at Audit Report on White House Communications Agency. (Report No. 96-033) and Audit Report on White House Communications Agency Phase II. (Report No. 96-100)    

Transcript of Congressional hearings conducted on May 16 and June 13, 1996 Oversight of theWhite House Communications Agency

INSPECTOR GENERAL

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

400 ARMY NAVY DRIVE

ARLINGTON. VIRGINIA 22202·2884

November 29, 1995

MEMORANDUM FOR DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE MILITARY OFFICE

UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (COMPTROLLER)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (COMMAND,CONTROL, COMMUNICATIONS AND INTELLIGENCE)

DIRECTOR, DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY

COMMANDER, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS AGENCY

SUBJECT: Audit Report on White House Communications Agency

(Report No. 96-033)

We are providing this report for review and comment. We performed the audit in response to a request from Congress and the Deputy Secretary of Defense. We considered management comments on a draft of this report in preparing the final report.

The recommendations in Findings A and B relate to a reallocation of funding between parts of the DoD budget and the budget for the Executive Office of the President. Finding A questions the appropriateness of DoD, through the White House Communications Agency, funding audiovisual, stenographic and news wire services and photographic equipment for the White House. Finding B covers the provision of .White House Communications Agency support and equipment to the Secret Service. Although the Secret Service is required by law to reimburse an agency providing the support, the Secret Service has not done so. Several DoD appropriations and Secret Service appropriations would be affected by the recommendations. Thus, we suggest early consultation with the Office of Management and Budget and the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) so those changes, if agreed to, could be implemented in the President's FY 1997 budget.                     

DoD Directive 7650.3 requires that all recommendations be resolved promptly. Management comments were responsive to all recommendations except the recommendation to specify services to be provided by the White House Communications Agency and to transfer funding, managing, contracting, and purchasing of audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services and camera equipment to the Executive Office of the President. We request that the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence) reconsider his position and provide additional comments by January 12, 1996.

We have not completed our audit of all aspects of White House Communications Agency activities. We started work on the final phase of the audit and expect to provide a draft report in early 1996. The issues we plan to review during the final phase include the organization and staffing of the White House Communications Agency, acquisition planning, management of telecommunications equipment and services, and controls over selected financial activities.

Office of the Inspector General, DoD

November 29, 1995

Report No. 96-033

(project No. 5RD-5027)

White House Communications Agency

Executive Summary

Introduction. The Chairman,  House Committee on Government Reform and  Oversight; the Chairman, House Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight; and the Deputy Secretary of Defense requested the audit. The Deputy Secretary of Defense emphasized that this review should be as thorough as possible of all White House Communications Agency (WHCA) activities in the last 5 years.

Audit Objectives. The audit objective was to review all activities at the WHCA, the authorities and management controls under which the activities are conducted, and various nonspecific allegations of mismanagement and waste. The adequacy of the management control program will be discussed in a subsequent report.

Audit Results. We found no evidence of theft or significant waste of resources in this phase of the audit. However, the following areas need management attention.

o During FY 1995, WHCA and DoD funded about $7.8 million for services and equipment that are not within the scope of the WHCA telecommunications mission as presently defined and should be funded by the Executive Office of the President (Finding A).

o WHCA was not reimbursed for permanent support to the Secret Service, as required by law, and understated support costs reported to Congress by $3.2 million. The Secret Service did not reimburse about $4.3 million for support and, because DoD absorbed support costs, the. The Secret Service budget was augmented by that amount. WHCA is expected to provide permanent support valued at $7.0 million during FYs 1996 through FY 2001 for which DoD should be reimbursed by the Secret Service (Finding B)..

o WHCA managers did not maintain control over repair parts inventories, and contracting officer's representatives did not document maintenance data. Therefore, WHCA can neither ensure the adequacy or accountability of repair parts inventories nor determine the cost-effectiveness of maintenance contracts (Finding C).

o WHCA lacked accountability for nonexpendable property on hand and had excess expendable supplies valued at about $226,000. Property valued at about $577,000 was not accounted for and is at risk for potential waste or loss. Further, by reducing the requisition objective for expendable items and by eliminating excess expendable items with no demand histories, $226,000 could be put to better use during FY 1996 (Finding D).

o The inventory of base communications equipment and services is neither complete nor accurate. Consequently, the inventory could not be audited, and WHCA could neither review and revalidate communications requirements nor assess the cost effectiveness of configurations for equipment and services. Further, WHCA is at risk of paying for unneeded equipment and services (Finding E).

o WHCA paid for leased, long-haul telecommunications circuits and equipment that were no longer required. If the circuits are terminated, about $759,000 can be put to better use during FYs 1996 through 2001 (Finding F).

o WHCA did not validate bills for long-haul telecommunications equipment and services before verifying that the bills were accurate. As a result, WHCA had no assurance that payments ceased for terminated services or that payments would not be initiated for services ordered but not installed. If effective procedures are implemented, about $294,000 could be put to better use during FYs 1996 through 2001(Finding G).

Summary of Recommendations. We recommend that management take the following corrective actions.

o Specify the services. that WHCA is to provide to the Executive Office of the President.              Transfer responsibility for funding, managing, contracting, and purchasing of audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services and camera equipment to the Executive Office of the President.

o Specify the permanent and temporary support provided to the Secret Service and determine which is reimbursable or non-reimbursable, specify billing procedures, and bill the Secret Service for reimbursable support provided during FY 1995 and continue to bill for all future reimbursable support.

o Fully implement the existing maintenance management system, turn in excess. repair parts, update lists of equipment under maintenance contracts, and use vendor service reports to assess the cost-effectiveness of maintenance contracts.

o Record identified property in the property book, establish the control point for receiving all property, perform monthly reconciliations of the document register, annually review requisition objectives, and turn in excess property.

o Establish a complete and accurate inventory of short-haul equipment and services, and maintain required inventory records.

o Initiate action to terminate unneeded long-haul circuits and equipment, establish the required review and revalidation program for equipment and services and establish a complete inventory of equipment and services.

o Establish procedures to verify the accuracy of Customer Cost and Obligation Reports on a monthly basis.

Management Comments. The Assistant Secretary of Defense (Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence) submitted joint comments for himself; the Director, DISA; and the Commander, WHCA. The Assistant Secretary concurred in all recommendations except for the recommendation to specify the services that WHCA is to provide to the White House and to transfer responsibility for funding, managing, contracting, and purchasing of audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services and camera equipment to the Executive Office of the President. See Part I for a summary of management comments and Part III for the complete text of management comments.

Audit Response. As a result of information from management, we deleted one recommendation (Finding D) regarding property accountability. The Assistant Secretary's comments are not responsive regarding the recommendation related to specifying WHCA services and transferring these responsibilities. We maintain that WHCA should not fund the costs of audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services and photographic equipment for the White House absent clearer direction to do so. We do not question the President's need for the services, contracts, or equipment provided by WHCA, and we recognize the legal authority of the President to issue an Executive  Order to specify the services WHCA is to provide. However, as a DoD organization, WHCA is governed by DoD Directive 4640.13 in providing telecommunications services and the functions now performed and funded by WHCA go beyond telecommunications services as defined in that Directive. We request that the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence) reconsider his position and provide additional comments in response to the final report by January 12, 1996.

Oversight of the White House Communications Agency
Type of Activity	IG audit of Communications Support
Location
Location	Washington DC
Date of Activity	May 16, 1996, June 13 1996
Coordinates	38°53'51.2"N 77°02'20.9"W

When I arrived in WHCA in the mid-1960's, the term "Ranch" was the LBJ Ranch in Texas. Since then, we have had Santa Barbara and Crawford. Nixon was still the king of compounds, had three if you count Key Biscayne, San Clemente, and the other private retreat at Grand Cay, in the Bahamas. The WHCA budget to support Walkers Cay, Grand Bahama Island, and Grand Cay, along with the NASA sub-cable from the Cape to GBI was off the charts.

The large remote Detachments from the days of LBJ, Nixon, Reagan started to become flags for Congressional budget oversight. Those jobs and slots were justified based on disbursement of assets for quick response, and on paper were to eliminate TDY travel when the President went home for weekend! The permanent building leases, alarms, Long Lines, TTY, vehicles, maintenance, all added up and the original planned savings was almost non-existent.

There is little history on the actual budget for the Nixon compound built on Grand Cay with relay sites at Walkers Cay, Grand Bahama Island, and overseas cable head at Cape Canaveral. I would guess we spent more on the Bahamas retreat than actual costs of Key Biscayne. There was also another Coral Reef house owned by Bebe Rebozo in the Card Sound area that had many government "improvements". After Nixon and Key Biscayne and San Clemente, the budgets were under more oversight for future Presidents.

The White House Communications Agency is formally charged with providing telecommunications and other similar services to the President, First Lady, and staff. It has existed since the late 1940's, when it had a trivial budget and a staff of 30 people. Today, the White House Communications Agency has over 900 employees and over a $100 million budget.

The initial attempts to conduct oversight of this 900-person, $100 million-a-year White House-directed agency were made by Congress 2 years ago in 1994. Those attempts were met with repeated delays and White House stonewalling. Early last year, after meetings with the White House Counsel's office, GAO, and the Department of Defense IG's office, Congress finally received the approval to have an IG's investigation done going back 5 years.

WHCA has been a deep, dark hole over at the White House into which there has been spending nearly $100 million annually without any executive branch oversight. It has also become a pot of money devoted to many things-kind of a miscellaneous pot of money-that have nothing to do with telecommunications or the President.

The White House Communications Agency has had a totally unique mission, and the staff who serves there perform their duties exceptionally well and have done so for more than 50 years and for 11 Presidents, both Democrats and Republicans.

The DODIG’s report concluded that WHCA's budgets have gone largely unreviewed. Its annual performance plan has failed to meet DOD standards. Its acquisition planning has violated DOD regulations and resulted in wasteful purchases.

Finally, the DODIG concluded that WHCA is providing the White House with services and equipment which are outside way, out­side of the scope of its mission of telecommunications support to the President of the United States.

Congressional hearings conducted on May 16 and June 13, 1996

Congressional Hearings complete Transcript

The following individuals testified 

HENRY L. HINTON, JR., ASSISTANT COMPI'ROLLER GENERAL NATIONAL

 SECURITY AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS DIVSION

ROBERT J. LIEBERMAN, ASSISTANT INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR AUDITING

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

COL. JOSEPH J. SIMMONS IV, COMMANDER

WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS AGENCY

EMMETT PAIGE, JR., ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

(COMMAND, CONTROL, COMMUNICATIONS, AND INTELLIGENCE)

Oversight of the White House Communications Agency, was the topic of these particular hearings that grew out of a Department of Defense Inspector General's investigation and the efforts by Congress to have the General Accounting Office investigate the allegations of waste and mismanagement at the White House communications Agency.

In fact, this was only the second hearing ever on the White House Communications Agency, with the previous hearing being held before the House Defense Appropriations Sub­ committee in 1977. Also, this is the first-ever audit of the agencies 55-year history.

The DOD IG’s audit review primarily focused on FYs 1991 through 1995, but we did examine some documentation dated as far back as 1967 and as recent as FY 1996.

There were several areas of concern identified and without further correction and White House commitment, the problems will continue:

• $577,000 worth of missing equipment will remain unaccounted for.
• $300,000 software packages will be purchased yet sit unopened.
• $294,000 will be paid for services never provided.
• $784,000 in illegal contracts will continue to be let.
• $4.9 million unusable communications trailers will continue to be purchased.
• $2.1 million maintenance contracts will continue to be sole sourced to WHCA friends in total violation of Federal contracting law.
• services quoted at $35,000 will be billed at $91,000, and those bills will be paid.
• $14.5 million in outstanding obligations will remain unvalidated.

There is a clear need for reform according to the DOD IG. Operational control of WHCA remains at the White House, and the White House is uncommitted to reform and unwilling to discuss change.

The DOD Inspector General reported on issues beyond those that were noted in their preliminary work. 

For example, the Inspector General reported that WHCA's inventory of short-haul telecommunications equipment and services, such as circuits and maintenance, was neither complete nor accurate because WHCA failed to record some of the equipment and services, terminate the equipment from the inventory, or update costs. The Inspector General's April 1996 report found that WHCA had made little progress in correcting deficiencies identified in its earlier November 1995 report and the inventory remained auditable.

The DOD Inspector General's detailed examination identified $7.8 million in services (audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services) and the procurement of camera equipment that the Inspector General found were outside of WHCA's mission.

For example, WHCA's Audiovisual Unit provides flags at presidential events, develops, and prints photographs of the President and First Lady, and mounts and frames photographs. WHCA also provides stenographic services for the White House Office of the Press Secretary. WHCA has tried unsuccessfully since 1971 to transfer funding for these services to the White House or the General Services Administration, but the White House has prevented the transfer.

Also, the White House deploys Department of Defense moneys to fund an elaborate frame shop in the basement of the White House, which frames any staffer's pictures. It funds stenographic services, audiovisual services, photos and emblems, podiums, and other non-telecommunications expenditures. WHCA's activities are undertaken pursuant to a number of laws and regulations.

These activities range from providing communications support, such as nonsecure voice, secure voice, and recorded communications, to other support, including automated data processing and construction of presidential podiums. The IG did not determine the cost of the activities or how they were funded and reported since the White House would not release the necessary documents.

The DOD Inspector General's detailed review disclosed that since 1991, WHCA had provided communications support to the Secret Service on a non-reimbursable basis and failed to report to the Office of the Secretary of Defense all costs for providing communications support to the Secret Service. WHCA had not charged the Secret Service for the support because a 1989 WHCA and Secret Service memorandum of agreement did not clearly delineate reimbursable and non-reimbursable communications support to be provided. As a result, from 1990 to 1995, the Secret Service did not reimburse DOD for annual communications support totaling $4.3 million and Congress was not informed of communications support totaling $3.2 million that WHCA had provided to the Secret Service. Because DOD absorbed costs of support to the Secret Service, the Secret Service's budget was augmented by $4.3 million.

The DOD Inspector General's detailed review disclosed that WHCA expended $4.9 million on a mobile communications system known as the Air Transportable Integrated Communications System (ATICS) that did not meet operational needs. According to the WHCA "Enterprise Architecture Document, February 3, 1995, WHCA had planned to use the mobile communications system to provide telecommunications support on most Presidential trips. WHCA specified that the mobile communications system must fit on C- 141 and C-5 aircraft but did not consider the additional equipment normally carried on the aircraft. As a result, the mobile communications system and all WHCA equipment needed to support the President do not fit on one C-141 air­ craft. In addition, the design of the communications system does not allow WHCA personnel to operate efficiently. Because it was determined that the communications system did not meet all operational needs, WHCA did not exercise contract options to purchase additional communications systems .

 DETAILS OF THE DOD IG AUDIT REPORTS

 First report: Report No. 96-033, November 1995:

Finding A - About $7.8 million in services and equipment provided to the White House were not within the scope of the White House Communications Agency telecommunications mission as presently defined and should be funded by the Executive Office of the President.

Response: A Memorandum of Agreement between the White House Office of Management and Administration and Assistant Secretary of Defense, Command, Control Communications and Intelligence validated and expanded DISA's functional oversight over the White House Communications Agency to include responsibility for funding managing, contracting, and purchasing of audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services and camera equipment to the Executive Office of the President. DISA will sample services provided to determine if these services are as provided for in the Memorandum of Agreement.

Finding B - The White House Communications Agency was not reimbursed for permanent support to the Secret Service, as required by law, and understated support costs to Congress by $3.2 million. The Secret Service did not reimburse about $4.3 million for support and, because DoD absorbed support costs, the Secret Service budget was augmented by that amount.

Response: This finding was addressed in a Memorandum of Understanding between the White House Communications Agency and the Secret Service was revised to specify permanent and temporary support provided to the Secret Service and which support is reimbursable or non-reimbursable. DISA will review the support provided to the Secret Service to make sure it agrees with the provisions of the revised Memorandum of Understanding. It should be noted that a change of the DoD Appropriation Act of 1996 has changed all support to the Secret Service to be on a non-reimbursable basis.

Finding C - The White House Communications Agency managers did not maintain control over repair parts inventories and contracting officer's representatives did not document maintenance data.

Response: DISA will review the management of maintenance operations and verify that the White House Communications Agency has fully implemented the existing maintenance management system, turned in excess repair parts, updated lists of equipment under maintenance contracts, and used vendor service reports to assess the cost-effectiveness of maintenance contracts.

Finding D - The White House Communications Agency lacked accountability for non-expendable property on hand and had excess expendable supplies valued at about $226,000. Property valued at about $577,000 was not accounted for and is at risk for potential waste or loss.

Response: DISA will evaluate the White House Communications Agency's procedures for receiving property and recording it in the property book. DISA will also perform tests necessary to determine if information in the property book is accurate and current.

Finding E - The inventory of base communications equipment and services is neither complete nor accurate. Consequently, the inventory could not be audited, and White House Communications Agency could neither review and revalidate communications requirements nor assess the cost effectiveness of configurations for equipment and services.

Response: DISA will determine if the White House Communications Agency has implemented efficient and effective procedures to conduct a complete ana accurate inventory of short-haul equipment and services and to maintain required inventory records.

Finding F - The White House Communications Agency paid for leased long-haul telecommunications circuits and equipment that were no longer needed.

Response: DISA will ensure that the White House Communications Agency terminates unneeded long-haul circuits and equipment and establishes a review and revalidation program for equipment and services.

Finding G - The White House Communications Agency did not validate bills for long-haul telecommunications equipment and services before verifying that the bills were accurate.

Response: DISA will verify that the White House Communications Agency has established effective bill validation procedures to make sure that payments would not be made for terminated services or services ordered but not installed.

Second Report: Report No. 96-100, April 29, 1996:

Finding A - DISA exercised limited administrative, financial, and operational oversight responsibility for the White House Communications Agency.

Response: This process has been streamlined in the March 1996 Memorandum of Agreement that I signed, specifying the oversight responsibility for the White House Communications Agency. DISA will evaluate procedures established to ensure that DISA provides the required administrative, financial, and operational oversight of the White House Communications Agency.

Finding B - The White House Communications Agency did not comply with contracting and payment procedures and did not estab1ish duties and responsibilities to ensure the most cost-effective methods of leasing telecommunications equipment and services.

Response: The White House Communications Agency is holding discussions with the Defense Information Technology Contracting Office (DITCO), an operating unit of DISA (regarding contracting support) and with the Defense Finance Accounting Service - Pensacola (regarding payment functions). Interim procedures have been established with the U.S. Army Information Systems Command to ensure that a for­ mal contract is in place before communications vendors provide telecommunications equipment and services to WHCA. DISA will monitor these actions for proper implementation and later follow-up to see if the actions correct any reported deficiencies. 

Finding C - The White House Communications Agency could not validate outstanding unliquidated obligations totaling $14.1 million for telecommunications equipment and services. Of note, the $14.5 million figure has been reduced to $4.5 million today.

A March 1996 memorandum of agreement between the White House Office of Management and Administration and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, and Communications and Intelligence again assigned these functions and the associated funding to WHCA.

The DOD IG’s audit was performed in two phases, with two reports, because of the volume of audit tests required to review all WHCA activities, the lack of previous coverage, and the need to report initial audit results in a timely manner. We had a positive working relationship during the audit with WHCA and the other organizations involved, and the DOD IG obtained access to all information that was requested.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

The audit found that WHCA did a superior job in accomplishing its operational mission of supporting the Office of the President. It also found no evidence of theft, or gross malfeasance, and management controls were generally adequate. However, the audit did identify areas that needed improvement and opportunities to cut future operating costs. Some of the problems that were identified, such as duplicate payments, unneeded circuits, and invalid unliquidated obligation balances, are similar to what we have found at many other DoD organizations. WHCA funds the contract for the stenographers, they do not control the stenographers. In addition to developing and printing photographic film, WHCA pays for camera equipment used by the White House photographers. We estimated that providing such services and equipment that are not usually considered telecommunications cost the DoD about $7.8 million in FY 1995.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, both a comprehensive audit and a more formal, explicit delineation of responsibilities were long overdue for WHCA Although management controls were generally satisfactory, there were deficiencies in several areas that needed attention. More systematic oversight is important in the future to assist WHCA in being as efficient and effective as possible. The DOD IG will work closely with DISA and WHCA to make sure that the problems found in the audit get fixed.

Besides the obvious improvements in procedures for accountability and oversight, the stipulations in the Memorandum of Understanding represent some profound changes and a great opportunity. The previous relationships were somewhat limiting, because of the distinction made between operational support and oversight by all members of the team, including the White House, DoD, DISA, and WHCA. That distinction has changed, with this Administration permitting, for the first time, the DoD Inspector General to perform a thorough review of the operations and administrative functions of WHCA. The reinforced and well-defined relationship between the WHCA and DISA provides an opportunity to optimize the suite of capabilities and services provided to the White House. The Director, DISA, can use the expertise and the capabilities developed to support the President. This will ensure a continuous capability for our National Command Authorities that has served the country well over the last thirty-three years.

The Nixon Library and Birthplace
Type Of Activity	Nixon Presidential Library
Location
Location	Yorba Linda CA
Date of Activity	Est, 1990
Coordinates	33°53′21″N 117°49′10″W

The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum is located in Yorba Linda, California and houses the Nixon Presidential Materials (textual, photographs, sound, and moving images), Nixon White House Tapes, Nixon pre- and post-Presidential Materials, as well as the Museum, Birthplace, and Helicopter.

The museum is housed in a 52,000-square-foot building in the suburbs of Yorba Linda. Opening its doors in 1990, this complex was established to celebrate former President Nixon's accomplishments as a peacemaker and an international statesman. From the humble farmhouse built by his father in 1912, to priceless gifts from heads of state, to the peaceful memorials of the President and Mrs. Nixon, the museum and its beautifully landscaped grounds and gardens trace the long road from Richard Nixon's past. 

The entire facility underwent a $15 million renovation in 2016, and reopened on October 14 2016. The Library now features updated, multimedia museum exhibits; aimed at bringing the country’s 37th president closer to younger generations less familiar with his groundbreaking trip to China or the Watergate scandal. the complex is jointly operated by NARA and the Richard Nixon Foundation.

Wall mural of former President Richard Nixon in the lobby area of the  Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum   

President Nixon's Oval Office

In the Nixon Library is a replica of the Oval Office in the White House, where President Nixon made many of his most crucial decisions.

  President Nixon’s Oval Office

The Apollo Exhibit

The Space Race gallery connects Nixon to NASA's missions. There's an Apollo 16 space suit reproduction, dehydrated pork and scallops astronaut food, and gift lunar landing cufflinks. 

  Apollo 11 display at the Nixon Library and Museum

 The Moon Walk 1969  

When Apollo 11 landed on the moon I was in New Delhi India preparing for President Nixon’s arrival on his first world tour since taking office in 1969. Since the Janpath Hotel in New Delhi did not have a radio or TV I had to read about its success in the Newspaper the next day.

A phone used by Nixon to call the Apollo 11 astronauts after they landed on the Moon may be on display (it occasionally goes on tour), along with a contingency speech drafted by speechwriter William Safire in case of a disastrous ending of the mission.

  The phone used by Present Nixon to call the Apollo 11 astronauts

The China Exhibit

The Library has extensive presentation on Nixon’s historic trip to China. The San Clemente CCT was sent to Guam where the President an staff spent overnight relaxing prior to the flight to mainland China. My team made up the core manpower to support the visit and provided all of the equipment . We set up the switchboard and Comm. Center in the Hotel that we were staying, the B/C/S FM base stations and  URT-28 HF Radio Equipment was temporarily installed at Anderson Air Force Base, Agana Guam.

The President arrived on Guam and spent the night at the residents of Rear Adm. Pugh Residence, Commander of the U.S. Naval Forces, Mariana Islands. While the President was on the mainland we were held in reserve for any Personnel sickness or equipment malfunction, The team spent two weeks there without incident before we returned to San Clemente.

  President Nixon’s arrival in China

President Nixon is greeted By Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai 

President Nixon's Presidential Limo

The U.S. government limousine used by President Nixon throughout his presidency, a customized 1969 Lincoln Continental

  Stagecoach  the President's Limousine

President Nixon’s “Sea King” helicopter

One of the museum’s highlights is President Nixon’s “Sea King” helicopter. The helicopter was in the presidential fleet from 1961 to 1976, transporting Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and many foreign heads of state and government. The Sea King was operated and maintained by the Army and when the President was on board it was “Army One. Army One flew President Nixon to the Western White House on the day he resigned. In 1976 President Jimmy Carter, as a cost cutting move, disbanded the Army’s Executive Flight Detachment and Army One was retired. Former White House helicopter pilot LTC Gene Boyer found where Army One was mothballed and led a team of volunteers that restored the helicopter for the Nixon Presidential Library.

 Army One 

Richard Nixon's Birthplace

Behind the museum is the birthplace, which was constructed by Nixon’s father using a home-building kit and restored to appear as it was in 1910. 

  President Richard Nixon’s Birthplace

President Nixon’s Birthplace is located in a slightly secluded setting east of the main building, in a grove of trees. It is a 1+1⁄2 story Craftsman-style bungalow, with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. The house was built in 1910 on family ranchland; President Nixon was born there the following year. He and his family stayed there until 1922, when they moved to Whittier, California

The front entrance

  The Rear on the Birthplace

  The piano on which Richard Nixon learned to play.

  In the Kitchen as it was in 1910

The Presidents Bedroom

The Nixon Memorial Garden.

The original farmhouse where President Nixon was born is just a few steps away from his final resting place in the Nixon Memorial Garden.

President and Mrs. Nixon are buried on the grounds, just a few feet from his birthplace

  President Richard Nikon’s headstone

 First Lady Patricia Nixon’s headstone 

In 2023 there was a reunion of past and present members of the White House Communications Agency at the Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace and these photographs were taken by Marty Williams during a tour.

WHCA Recruitment Video (1992)
Type of Activity	White House Communications Agency in 1992
Location
Location	Washington DC
Date of Activity	1992
Coordinates	38°53′52″N 77°02′11″W

Ever since its inception, and officially formed by the War Department on 25 March 1942 during the Roosevelt Administration, the mission of WHCA was to provide primer communications for the President of the United States,

The Unit was activated under the Military District of Washington to provide normal and emergency communications requirements in support of the President. Initially named the White House Signal Detachment (WHSD) consisting of 32 people provided mobile radio, teletype, telephone, and cryptographic aids in the White House and at the Presidential Retreat Shangri-La, now known as Camp David.

WHSD wasn’t even a real agency for the first three months of its life. Rather, it was an unofficial collection of the U.S. Army whose low-profile mission was to provide secure lines of communication for the president during World War II. Officially activated in March 1942, WHSD has since undergone two name changes and a couple of shifts in oversight. During the Eisenhower administration WHSD was renamed the White House Army Service Agency (WHASA)

In June of 1962, a review of the organizational arrangements by which the Communications needs ln the White House were being met and the review suggested certain changes involving Department of Defense support. It was believed that these changes would facilitate the White House operations. The White House Communications Agency (WHCA), as it has been known since 1962, is a “joint service agency” staffed by all branches of the armed forces, as well as a handful of civilians. Recruiting qualified personnel was always a huge problem, because of the sensitive nature of the assignment WHCA formed recruiting teams and sent them to many bases in the US and overseas,

I reported into Ft. Monmouth and started training as a Microwave Radio Repairman in April 1965. Several weeks before I completed training, I was interviewed by a recruiting team from the White House Communications Agency (WHCA). Normally these teams were comprised of an Trip Officer and three enlisted members knowledgeable of the MOS’s needed by the Agency. After reviewing hundreds of 201 files, a handful of students were selected to be interviewed. I returned the next day and was told that I had been selected.

 Passing a polygraph examination was required and your background needed to be squeaky clean and have ZERO deceptions with your answers, you can't get offended or flinch even when they ask you insane questions about your character or lifestyle. I remember the first time through the test I had no deceptions, and the examiner asked the last question “have you told the truth to all of the previous questions”? Well the machine went wild, so after some consultation with the examiner, I re-took the test and passed.

Then an extensive background investigation was conducted, even for those of us who already had security clearances, my WHCA contact told me that only 1 of 3 make it through the screening.

Reportable items included within the Interview , but are not limited to, were as follows: 

-Adverse involvement with law enforcement agencies to include arrests, fines, speeding tickets and parking tickets

-Negative Counseling or Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) punishment

-Security Incidents/Infractions

-Court Summons

-Credit judgments, bankruptcy filings, repossessions, or late payments

-Association with foreign nationals (not previously reported or a change in contact relationship/frequency)

-Foreign Travel (NLT 30 days prior to travel)

-Change in marital status -Legal name change

The background investigation actually took about six months with Investigators interviewing references and traveling to my hometown talking to my neighbors

I was ultimately selected and was transferred to WHCA in Washington DC. It was November of 1965 when my experiences with WHCA began. 

When I reported for duty in 1965 WHCA had a total of 450 people assigned. I quickly found out that it was a very unique organization, no uniforms, civilian status, and an assignment that was unlimited in length. 

There was a different set of rules for the old timers who were there . They served the President with excellent service longevity which seemed more valuable then. The term “WHCA Baby” was coined for homesteaders. Many folks arrived from AIT as E-3’s and stayed an entire career. Only a few were promoted to E-9, many hit ceiling at E-8 and had choice to return to Army and attend SGM Academy, but many deserving troops just retired and moved on to great second careers . I ended up serving nine years at four duty stations, but I know serval people who served twenty years in WHCA. 

Civilian status is a very interesting situation when you are told to “blend in” and you are  assigned to a military installation. It was my honor to serve in WHCA for over nine years, and although I worked on a Naval Support Facility, Coast Guard Station, Marine Corp Air Station, and Air Force Base, I was never required to wear a uniform. 

Today uniform policy differs from section to section as members are required to wear uniforms while they are at their duty station. However, when traveling on a support trip, civilian attire is worn. 

WHCAs mission has constantly grown over the years by adding new responsibilities such as the Photo Lab, the Audio/Video Section, the Carpenter Shop (building all Presidential podiums),  AG, Financial, Transporters, Logisticians, Sheet Metal workers, Multimedia Specialists, and Intelligence, Finance, Logistics, and Military Intelligence fields, as well all other activities as directed by the White House Military Aides Office (WHMO). By 1990 the Agency had grown to over 1000 service members and civilians.

WHCA would constantly send out four men recruiting teams to various military installations worldwide looking for potential personal with needed MOS’s. Military training schools were prime targets for finding qualified targets. Recruiting qualified individuals had become so difficult that recruitment became a priority. WHCA produced video’s like this one, Ready To Receive, as an attempt to stimulate interest in active units within all branches of the military and Reserve units. Soliciting applications became the preferred way of recruitment in WHCA.

WHCA Headquarters Building (Front Entrance)

WHCA Headquarters Building (Rear Entrance) 

WHCA is currently accepting applications from personnel on active duty in the grades of E4 with less than eight years in service (on a case-by-case basis) and grades of E5 to E6 with less than 15 years in service. for a 5 year tour. But people would leave early do to dropping packets for varies things. Now it's policy to stay at WHCA for a minimum of 3 years, for all branches. Currently there is a recruiter assigned to each branch of the service with a defined application process for each branch.

A typical Army Application package would contain:

• Application (SSQ)
• Last three NCOERs or Counseling Statements
• Last three APFT (with body fat worksheet if applicable)
• Current SRB

Everyone selected to work at WHCA receives special duty assignment pay and a civilian clothing allowance. They serve a minimum of three years in a presidential support duty and are eligible to earn the Presidential Service Badge. WHCA trains and works with cutting-edge communications and media technology.