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Show ' H-T A ' V-- . ' The Paper That Dares To Take A Stand 8. ly do it - was fit to be President. And Admiral Ira McMillian wouldnt raise a dime for such a man. What is more, thinking of his own son, he meant to tell what the President had said to him and tell it and tell it. The following day the roof fell in on Admiral McMillian. He describes the events of that day: After meetings with the President and Henry Kissinger, it became apparent to Rear Admiral Ira McMillian that Mr. Nixon meant what he had told him in August 1970 about dragging out the war in Vietnam until October 1972. But Admiral McMillian did his best to end die playing of politics with die war, going from door to door among his powerful friends in Washington. Thinking that if enough big money could be raised for the Presidents campaign Mr. Nixon might give up his bloody political ace, McMillian met repeatedly with the Watergate crowd, where support for his plan to end the war was offered like a carrot in return for raising large sums. The theme was repeated in a meeting with die President on January 31, 1972. When the Admiral finally began to repeat what President Nixon had told him he meant to do, McMillian was called upon by Richard Helms of die C.I.A., then kidnapped off die street and locked up in Bethesda Naval Hospital (left) where he was told he had been taken on the orders of Henry Kissinger and would be held indefinitely. Admiral McMillian finally bribed an orderly and got word to an important friend who went to Admiral Zumwalt, was told that it was a Kissinger operation, and went to Kissinger. After being held four weeks for telling the truth, Admiral Ira McMillian was released. On October 26, 1972 -i- keeping with die Presidents political timetable Henry Kissinger announced an informal deal had been made and Peace is at hand. no-wi- n n - At this second meeting with the President it was suggested that the Admiral meet with Maurice Stans, who would soon be finance chairman for the Committee to the President. Admiral Re-Ele- ct had a talk lasting approximately ninety minutes with Stans, going over prospective donors whom the Admiral knew in the world of finance. Later that same day he visited Ayerell Hardman and his new bride, Pamela Churchill Harriman. McMillian had known Hardman as a friend of Sam Rayburn. Mr. Hardman listened politely, recalls the Admiral, but he didnt think he could do much. However, he said he thought I should talk with Ambassador Dobrynin to find out if he agreed with my idea that we diould go direct to Moscow and Hanoi. On February 3, 1972, Admiral Ira McMillian went to see Senator Strom Thurmond in his office. The Admiral remarks: McMillian I had met the man years before Mr. through Rayburn, and since I was groping for straws trying to figure out some way to get my "thing done, I thought perhaps Senator Thurmond might be of sane assistance. He listened courteously, but like so many was noncommittal about what he would do. Admiral Ira McMillian is a tenacious man, but he was growing weary. What kept him going was the memory of that scene at the summer White House in August 1970: End the war? Well, said the President, well do that in October 1972. Threats Then Action of February brought The twenty-eightthe Admiral his first call from Richard Helms, then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He told McMillian that he wanted to send two of his men to talk to him about his plan. McMillian reports: On the first of March, Mr. Howard Osborn, one of the top deputies of the CI.A., and another agent, spent several hours with me at the Club. I told them what Army-Nav- y I had in mind and that I had proceeded officially through the President. Since I was not negotiating directly or indirectly with a (old them that I foreign power, therewas felt nothing the CI.A. it. with had to do h - Ignoring what he now realizes he should have read as a warning, the Admiral continued to try to win support for his effort to put an end to the playing of politics with American lives. He now discussed his plan with such influential persons as former Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard; Newbold Noyes, editor of the Washington Star, Perle Mesta; and, Katharine Graham of Newsweek and the Washington Post. On Sunday, the twelfth of March, the Admiral says, CJ.A. Director Richard Helms and Mr. Osborn came over to Club and told me they the Army-Nav- y were upset about the things I was saying and trying to do; things they viewed with alarm. They talked to me in my room for about an hour. There were no actual threats, but I assume they were sent to try to scare me off. The next day, McMillian continues, Club Osborn came to the Army-Nav- y once again to talk to me. We rehashed the same ground for about an hour. Apparently a lot of people in Washington were talking about my project and there were others who were upset about it. Here the plot takes a sticky turn. Again, the Admiral is telling his own story: the fifteenth ofMarch, 1972, I went to see Strom Thurmond for a second time. I pleaded with him to help me. While we were in the midst of the conference, a door bunt open and a beautiful woman On came rushing in. She was very, very excited. She was introduced to me as Nancy Thurmond, the Senator's wife. Right away she said to the Senator? "May I tell him? May 1 tell him? He said : "What are you talking about, you just met this man. "I want to tell him, she said. And so die turned to me and announced: "1 am going to have another baby. 1 was a little dumbfounded that die would come up with something that personal and 1 didn Y undentand why she felt she had to tell me. She was just super excited, I guess. After Mrs. Thurmond left, the Senator dropped the blockbuster. Apparently convinced that McMillian would go to the public with what the President had told him in August 'of 1970 about holding off a Vietnam solution" until October of 1972, Senator Thurmond warned Admiral McMillian: If you go ahead with this thing, there is a distinct possibility that the President wont be and I am going to do everything I can to stop you. The next day Ira McMillian sent a telegram to President Nixon informing him that he would not raise funds for the campaign among his wealthy friends. He realized, as he put it, that they were just toying with me." In the Admirals view, no man who would boast of playing politics with American lives and actual On the. seventeenth of March, 1972, a Friday, I had a lunch scheduled for the Mayflower Hotel at 12:00, and a meeting at 2:00, then a date with General Olmsted at 4:00 p.m. 1 completed my luncheon at the Mayflower about a quarter of two. I had with me an important briefcase with some important papers and a considerable amount of cash. 1 decided to take a taxi back to the Army-Nav- y Qub to deposit the briefcase in my room and have the cab wait to return me to the Mayflower. When I got back to the Mayflower Hotel, I got out of the taxi and paid the driver. At that moment an Armed Forces taxi pulled up, and the driver and a man from the back seat got out and pushed me into the back seat. It happened so fast 1, didn't know what was happening I demanded to know what was going on. The man beside me in the back seat said to me: "We have orders to take you. " 1 asked what for, and was told: "You will find out " I demanded that he stop the ' car, but he refused. There was no threat of force and no guns were in evidence. The car was moving rapidly and there wasn't ary way forme to get out. I tried to find out again where I was being taken. I was told: You just relax. Everything is going to be all right. This'wOl all explain itself when we get to our destination. Our destination, as it turned out, was the Bethesda Naval Hospital At that time I did not know about the mysterious deaths there of Tames Forrestd or Joseph McCarthy, or die botching of the J.F.K. aitopsy. If 1 had, I would have been petrified. They took me, inside the hospital, and there were about twdve people waiting for me. Half of them were of enormous stature. was surrounded, and so completely bewildered I couldn't believe what was happening to me. I ms told to take off all my clothes and was given a robe and shoes. I asked: "Will you explain to me what you are doing? What is going on? And one of the men said: "We have orders to keep you indefinitely. " I asked why, and then my mind began to jell and I said: "I think this has something to do with my activities in Washington. We are talking about the First Amendment to the Constitution." And the man replied: "How does that affect you?" I answered: The First Amendment to die Constitution is His reply freedom of expression. was: "I don 't know anything about that. Take off your clothes. If you don Y, we will do it. " 1 complied, and they took the contents of my pockets. I had a daily diary bound in a leather case in which I made daily notes, and a wallet where I carried various credit cards and cash. They took all these, and 1 sad: "Wait a minute. Now you are violating the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. " And the leader of the group anwould like to say the swered: Constitution of the United States doesnt apply to you. We are going to keep you here incommunicado. " My response was: "The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution says you cant seize and search a person without a court order. Where is your court order?" He said: "We dont have a court order and we don Y need one. asked to see Vice Admiral a close friend of mine. . . . They refused. I asked to see a lawyer. Agon the answer was no. I said: "If I murdered someone I would be allowed to make one telephone call to a lawyer. " "You are not going to call i me?" "That f iJ' Utah 'Independent 1973 i right, " was his reply. For the next four weeks, as the Admiral remarks bitterly, he was treated like a common criminal. Well, he was and he wasn't. A common criminal must be charged with something. The Admiral was charged with nothing, and was allowed to communicate with no one. He was not kept in a cell, but locked in a hospital room on what he thinks was the eighth floor. He was well fed and not physically abused or mistreated. His cap-tor- s even brought him a portable radio, Although it was still several days before Admiral McMillian was released, he was allowed to telephone his family the day after that visit to Henry Kissinger. Admiral Ira McMillian continues: On the seventeenth of April, was told I would be re1972, leased and that they were sorry that they had gotten mixed up in it. They said they had made a horrible mistake and that there was an Armed Forces car waiting to take me to Andrews Air Force Base where there was a plane to fly me to Texas or California or anywhere. I was supposed to believe that being kidnapped and held incommunicado against my will for thirty days was all a big misunderstanding. I told them that all I wanted was a taxicab and I went directly to Admiral 00000's house. which they purchased with some of the cash they had taken from him. He showed me the radio a small cylindrical G.E. model. There was no television, but the Admiral was supplied with books with which to pass the time. On the second day of his incarceration, McMillian was visited by a reserve Lieutenant Commander, a psychiatrist, who accused the Admiral of being prejudiced against Henry Kissinger and admitted that it had been Kissinger who had ordered him taken out of circulation. He bragged that if I ever told anybody about what was happening to me, related the Admiral, my reputation would be completely destroyed. This amazingly arrogant man said that others had been destroyed . . . and they would do the same thing to me if I didnt keep my mouth shut. Midway in McMillians captivity, the Lieutenant Commander disappeared for about ten days and was replaced by a man who identified himself as Dr. Dr. K expressed shame at what was Although much has transpired in the Admirals life since he walked out of Bethesda Naval Hospital on April 17, 1972, it has all been Admiral McMillian spent much time and money attempting to get a forum to tell the countiy what had happened to him before the last election. He talked to many powerful men who at first expressed interest and pledged support. But, to a man, they all backed out . . . some indicating openly that they had been pressured in various ways. Many of these influential men are committed Republicans who doubtless felt that, despite what had happened to the Admiral Nixon was infinitely preferable to McGovern. And, after all, October of 1972 was almost upon them. Also, we can only guess what kind of tales the Nixon Administration was by now peddling about Admiral Ira McMillian. Who had more credibility, a retired Rear Admiral or the President of the United States? Remember, this was before the Watergate revelations .established that a plan for political kidnapping had been prepared by the Nixon Watergators a scheme known as the Liddy Plan. K. happening and told the Admiral that his incarceration was a travesty of justice. Finally, after three weeks. Admiral McMillian was able to bribe an orderly with the promise of a payment of one thousand dollars to telephone Fishbait Miller, an old friend. Mr. Miller, who is highly respected in Washington, is the doorkeeper for the House of Representatives. Apparently he couldnt believe it. The Admiral recounts the incident: I persuaded a man, at the risk of his life and Umb, to call Fishbait. " He got him at home and Miller'k incredible answer was: "Covdd you coil me at die office tomorrow and fill me in? The orderly explained to Miller that he was calling him under extremely dangerous circumstances: that was in jeopardy and needed immediate help, and this old friend's response was: Could you call me tomorrow and fill me . According to testimony, the Water-gatowere ordered by Presidential Counsel Charles Colson to get on the stick and get the Liddy operation in effect at precisely the time Admiral McMillian was kidnapped. What this means is anybodys rs . guess. in?" The bribed orderly did, however, contact an Admiral friend of McMillians who went directly to Admiral Elmo Zumwalt and told him he knew all about what was being done to Admiral McMillian. The infuriated friend later reported that Zumwalt said he had refused to have anything to do with Admiral McMillians kidnapping and that it had been arranged by Henry Kissinger . . . after Strom Thurmond had reported McMillians story. Senator Thurmond believed that if it ever got out that Mr. Nixon had told McMillian he had no intention of settling the Vietnam War . Naturally, there will be charges and countercharges over the kidnapping of Admiral McMillian. One can hardly expect cries of mea culpa and a signed confession from either Henry Kissinger or the President. Mr. Nixon could settle the matter by releasing a tape of their meeting at San Clemente, but dont hold your breath. All we can say is that for six months your correspondent and his associates have checked the Admiral and his story as far as is practicable. His track record for honesty appears to be one hundred percent. These days, his alleged abductors can hardly make that statement. Continued on page 15 American Opinion is the magazine forAmericans who want the truth and wart it straight- Our magazine repeatedly exposes the plans and programs of those who would defray our But even more, we tell our country. readers, in simple, straightforward language, how to combat the poison of the Left. bu care about this country Shouldn't you be reading American Opinion every month? - . now and Non 16th, 1973 you can receive ONE FULL YEAR OF AMERICAN OPINION VOL IV OF THE BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF THE LEFT- SPECIAL OFFER-Betwe- il en - A $2L95 value at a special limited-tim- e price of just ten dollars! Send your check for $10.00 to: AMERICAN OPINION 63 East 200 South Salt Lake City, Utah Mr. Mrs. Miss. address city state 9 Release And Retrospect any- body, "was the response. I told him: "You say the Constitution of the United States doesn Y apply to me. Do you know who I am? Just look at one of these cards. lama retired Admiral in the Page until October of 1972, it could cost the Republicans the election. McMillians Admiral friend then went directly to Kissinger to demand his immediate United States Navy. And you say the Constitution doesnt apply to I 000 000, ' zip |