(3 of 15)
In the end, however, no contracts were canceled.
Getting tax information on individuals was relatively easy for the White House aides. Haldeman was able to obtain a "status report" on Gerald Wallace, brother of Alabama Governor George Wallace, in early 1970. Haldeman told Clark Mollenhoff, then a Special Counsel to the President (since returned to his reporting job for the Des Moines Register and Tribune), to acquire the information, and Mollenhoff agreed after being assured by Haldeman that Nixon wanted it. Mollenhoff got it from Assistant IRS Commissioner Donald W. Bacon. The report, which claimed that Gerald Wallace might have failed to report kickbacks from state liquor sales and federal highway contracts, was then leaked to Columnist Jack Anderson by a source "at the highest White House level," said Mollenhoff in a Judiciary Committee affidavit. The aim apparently was to impair George Wallace's re-election prospects in hopes of removing him from the 1972 presidential race. Anderson claims that he received the tax report from Murray Chotiner, a Nixon adviser who died early this year. Disclosing such tax information is a criminal offense.
Repeatedly bypassing the reluctant IRS commissioners, Dean, Caulfield and other Nixon aides often got tax information from Assistant Commissioner Vernon Acree, whom Nixon later promoted to Commissioner of Customs. According to Caulfield's secret testimony to the Senate Watergate committee, Acree told him how tax audits could be initiated by writing anonymous letters to the IRS. Acree followed such a procedure himself, according to Caulfield, in 1971 when the White House wanted a tax investigation made of Newsday Editor Robert Greene, who had written a series of articles exposing some financial dealings of C.G. ("Bebe") Rebozo, Nixon's closest friend. Greene was audited by New York State tax authorities after New York and IRS officials had exchanged information.
In an attempt to find out through tax audits in 1971 whether Actor John Wayne, a supporter of the President, was being unfairly treated by IRS, Caulfield secured tax-status reports from Acree on such other cinema celebrities as Richard Boone, Sammy Davis Jr., Jerry Lewis, Peter Lawford, Fred MacMurray, Lucille Ball and Frank Sinatra, as well as on California Governor Ronald Reagan. After comparing these reports with Wayne's treatment by IRS, Caulfield concluded that "the Wayne complaint ... does not appear to be strong enough to be pursued." The same Acree-to-Caulfield connection gave the White House information on a 1971 IRS investigation of the Rev. Billy Graham's taxes. Dean sent Caulfield's findings along to Haldeman with the notation, "Can we do anything to help? ..." In a response that has never been explained, Haldeman wrote: "No—it's already covered."
The most brazen attempted use of the tax power by the White House was its persistent effort to destroy the reputation of Democratic National Chairman Larry O'Brien just before the 1972 election. Not only was O'Brien's phone bugged (in the Watergate breakin, the device failed to work), but John