E. Howard Hunt (1918–2007), CIA officer from 1949 to 1970, author of dozens of spy novels under his own name and pen names, and in 1971–72 a White House consultant. He was convicted for his part in the Watergate break-in. He is the figure Mae followed longest, from the burglars' address books in 1972 to his own late statements about Dallas. No. 51 is where his name first reaches her, two weeks after the arrests.
Across the broadcasts
Enters through other men's pockets and his own fiction: a CIA novelist whose Bay of Pigs past makes the break-in team a reunion
July 1, 1972
Mae's first purchase on Hunt is literary: the false names at the hotel lead to his novels before anything else ties him to the break-in.
"Out of books of fiction that a man by the name of Mr. Hunt writes for the CIA"Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 1 (1 Jul 1972), 7:22
Mae fixes the physical link the papers reported, an arrested man carrying Hunt's name and number, and makes it the hinge of the hour.
"Mr. Barker had the name of Mr. Hunt in his pocket, Howard H. Hunt, and the phone number"Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 1 (1 Jul 1972), 31:15
Mae places Hunt at the head of the 1961 operation, so the men caught at the Watergate become his old team.
"He was the CIA director of the Bay of Pigs invasion"Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 1 (1 Jul 1972), 32:00
Mae sets his pen names beside the guests' aliases: borrowed identity as the habit of the whole operation.
"He goes under the name of Robert Dietrich, John Baxter, and Gordon Davis"Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 1 (1 Jul 1972), 33:41
Mae marks the route from the CIA to the president's staff that makes Hunt the break-in's line into the White House.
"He was a consultant to the White House, to Charles Colson"Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 1 (1 Jul 1972), 34:03
Turns from a name in a burglar's pocket into the man holding the White House to ransom, his errands traced to Bremer's door
June 25, 1973
Mae reads Hunt's price as a measure of what he knows, and stretches what he knows back to 1963.
"And Howard Hunt could blackmail the White House all the way back to Dallas."Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 2 (25 Jun 1973), 7:28
Hunt's demand as the Post reported it, which Mae hears as the same bargain as the alleged assassins' book deals.
"the writer has a manuscript or a play to sell"E. Howard Hunt, read by Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 2 (25 Jun 1973), 8:05
Mae reads Hunt's grand-jury answer as a signal to the White House that his price has not been met.
"So he's letting out a little clue by particularly telling the grand jury in Washington that he wasn't supposed to break in"Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 2 (25 Jun 1973), 15:07
Connections
Mae says the two were CIA colleagues and that McCord carried Hunt's name too.
Hunt was in Miami with Barker two weeks before the break-in.
His White House post was as a consultant to Colson.