Wilson: Lawyer on the Right
NACLA
John J. Wilson, the attorney who represented H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman before the Senate Watergate committee, is probably best known to the public for his "little Jap" remark about Sen....
...3. Miami Herald, August 27, 1972...
...was a best man at John Kennedy's wedding...
...In 1941, Wilson represented a Swiss holding company called Interhandel in a struggle for control of General Airline & Film Corp...
...law firm including Howard Hughes, Phillips Petroleum, Standard Oil of California, and the Pennsylvania Railroad...
...1 The main charge in the suit illustrated the scope of the corruption that was built into the daily operations of the bank: that between 1964 and 1969, pension fund officials had deposited from $200-$500 million of the miners' hard-earned dollars into NBW accounts bearing no interest...
...The U.S...
...Since 1940, Wilson has been a partner of Whitehouse, Hart, Carmody & Wilson whose clients today include Kraftco Foods, Sealtest, Texaco, the NBW, and the American Rifle Association...
...and "Nixon Aides' Counsel," New York Times, April 30, 1973...
...initiated the action because Interhandel was a front for the Nazi-controlled I. G. Farben Corp...
...a key Democratic troubleshooter...
...Wilson won the case for Goldwater...
...his close Syndicate connections and other links to scandal-tainted activities nearly caused John Kennedy to dump Johnson from the vicepresidential spot on the 1960 ticket...
...However, after the Second World War, Wilson's client received a favorable settlement as the U.S...
...Bobby Baker: an important stockholder in the bank...
...See also The Wall Street Journal, December 26, 1969...
...The defendants were Boyle, four directors of the NBW, the leadership of the UMW, its Welfare & Retirement Fund, the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (an organization of the nation's major coal companies), and the NBW's chairman at the time, Wilmer J. Waller...
...George Smathers: former Democratic Senator from Florida...
...4. New York Times, February 21, 1964...
...former Lyndon Johnson confidant Bobby Baker...
...Nazis and Goldwater: Wilson's Legal History With over fifty years of legal experience, Wilson has attained a reputation rarely matched in the world of big-time law...
...The United Mine Worker officials also came under attack for their close links to the coal operators...
...The NBW has been controlled by the United Mine Workers (UMW) since 1952, and has been a vehicle whereby corrupt union officials, led by Tony Boyle, stole millions of dollars from the workers' pension funds...
...Bruce Sundlun: chairman of Executive Jet Aviation, the firm that played a crucial role in the wreck of the Penn Central (see Stans section...
...3 Besides Wilson and Boyle, the following persons (with the exception of Bobby Baker) are among the current or recent NBW directors...
...One of Wilson's most29 celebrated cases was his handling of Barry Goldwater's libel suit against Ralph Ginzburg, the publisher of Fact magazine...
...his law firm-Smathers and Thompson-represents such multinationals as Pan American Airlines and its subsidiary, Intercontinental Hotels...
...Fitzsimmons played a key role in gathering labor votes for Nixon in 1972 and was a personal guest of the president at San Clemente...
...Over the years Clifford has served a wide array of clients out of his Washington, D.C...
...and former United Mine Worker chief Tony Boyle...
...a member of the union leadership which has used workers' pension funds for years to aid the National Crime Syndicate in making investments in Las Vegas casinos and other ventures...
...Outside the Watergate hearing rooms, however, Wilson is a behind-the-scenes Washington lawyer and, interestingly, is a director (since 1963) and chairman of the scandal-ridden National Bank of Washington (NBW...
...In 1952, Wilson represented the steel industry in its historic confrontation with President Truman...
...Essentially, this scheme enriched the bank's already wealthy directors and the' interests they represented at the expense of the miners' families, many of which were fatherless...
...former Secretary to Senate Democrats when Lyndon Johnson was Senate Majority Leader...
...Clark Clifford: former Secretary of Defense under Johnson...
...GAF...
...A look at the NBW offers a graphic illustration of how corrupt union leaders work hand-in-glove with the very corporations that the unions were supposedly established to combat...
...When Boyle was still running the union (before his September 1973 indicement for the 1970 murder of his progressive union rival, Joseph Yablonsky), 4,000 disabled miners and miners' widows initiated a suit for mismanagement, manipulation, and outright embezzlement of the miners' pension funds in August, 1969...
...Fact had run an article questioning the mental stability of the Arizona senator...
...government let bygones be bygones and dropped the case...
...According to Ralph Nader, the NBW made frequent loans to coal mine operators...
...Wilson arranged a surety bond through the Maryland Casualty Company, of which he is a director, to keep Boyle out of jail while his sentence was appealed...
...The National Bank of Washington extended him $179,000 in credit without any collateral within minutes after Boyle had been sentenced to prison...
...2 This affinity between the UMW officials and the coal operators paved the way for the gross neglect of health and safety which led to such disasters as the November 1968 mine explosion near Mannington, West Virginia which killed 78 miners...
...ex-Senator George Smathers...
...Inouye...
...former Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford...
...On the board with him have sat an interesting array of men, including Teamster president Frank Fitzsimmons...
...Now 72, Wilson himself gives the best clue to his politics: "I'm a conservative Republican who hasn't approved of any conservative Republican in years because most convervative Republicans aren't conservative enough for me...
...a close friend and Key Biscayne neighbor of Nixon and Rebozo...
...Two useful sources on Wilson's biography are: "The Little American," Time, August 13, 1973...
...Footnotes 1. Washington Post, August 5, 1969...
...Frank Fitzsimmons: president of the largest union in the nation-the Teamsters...
...2. Washington Post, March 21, 1969...
...Wilson Bails Out Boyle When Boyle was finally convicted in 1972 of making illegal political contributions and diverting union funds to unauthorized uses, Wilson was there to bail him out, pending an appeal of his sentence...
Vol. 7 • November 1973 • No. 9
