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What would his enemies have to gain if Hughes lost the Nevada licenses? Some might want to buy up the casinos. Some might want simple revenge. They might also hope that the book would reveal details that would damage Hughes' appeal to the Supreme Court for reversal of a $145 million judgment won against him for alleged mismanagement of TWA. In addition, Robert Maheu has filed a $50 million suit against Hughes; he contends that Hughes had no right to fire him because they had a lifetime "verbal contract." If the book mentioned such a contract, Maheu would at least have firm evidence in court.
THEORY II, VARIATION B. One of the "Mormon Mafia"—the secretary-nurse-assistants who attend Hughes round the clock—decided to cash in on the intimate association by selling Irving an accumulated background of Hughes' autobiographical transcripts. According to this theory, aides totally familiar with Hughes' handwriting could have forged the documents.
Actually, of the six, only four are Mormons—Howard Eckersly, George Francom, Levar Myler and Kay Glenn, who functions as paymaster and general manager of the group. John Holmes is a Roman Catholic, and Roy Crawford is a Presbyterian who is married to a Mormon.
Hughes has had a longtime affinity for Mormons; they are generally nondrinkers, nonsmokers and rigidly honest about money. Despite such probity, three of Hughes' men—Eckersly, Myler and Francom—have been linked to a stock swindle involving a defunct Canadian company called Pan American Mines, Ltd. Hughes, however, is an extraordinarily watchful man; it is said that he changes his own bedsheets lest a maid steal the notes he has been making on the telephone. In this version, Irving would have had to be duped by a man impersonating Hughes—or else he would have had to invent the entire story of his meetings, in collusion with the purveyors of the transcripts. On balance, both scenarios seriously stretch belief.
THEORY III. Hughes did provide Irving with some or all of the autobiographical material, either meeting personally with him, as Irving claimed, or sending him written transcripts. According to this theory, Hughes acted without the knowledge of legal advisers, talking with a sometimes brutal frankness about his life. Then, when McGraw-Hill announced the book, Hughes' shocked lawyers and associates persuaded him that the book would be disastrous to his business affairs. Somehow he had to get out of it. One way open was total repudiation.
Noah Dietrich, who is preparing a book of his own about Hughes—he sold it to Fawcett Publications for a $40,000 advance in the rising Hughes literary market just after the controversy broke—subscribes to the third theory. "He is a very devious man." says Dietrich, who was Hughes' chief executive officer for three decades and helped build his financial empire. "He went off on one of those ego binges of his. He was inviting libel and slander suits that could jeopardize millions of dollars in litigation. He's going to lay