MAURICE
STANS (now deceased)
AND NIXON (now deceased)
ELECTION FINANCES.Typeface changed on July 29,2002
MAURICE
STANS (now deceased)
AND NIXON (now deceased)
ELECTION FINANCES.I was in Geneva Switzerland at a Fund of Fund Directors meeting when Henry Buhl,of the Fund of Funds,asked me if I was returning to New York. I answered that I was and he asked me if I would bring a check to Maurice Stans for the 1972 Richard Nixon Presidential reelection campaign. I answered that of course I would be happy to do that. He gave me an envelope that was not sealed and I put it in my brief case.
After I had settled down in New York I called Maurice Stans (always called "Maury" Stans) at what had been the Bible building on the corner of 57th street and Park Avenue. I told him I had the check and would like to bring it over to him. He told me to come ahead and when I got there he invited me into his office. At that time he was the head of fund raising for the Nixon Presidential reelection campaign and of course knew each other from the 1968 campaign.
I handed him the check and got up to leave. He told me not to go but to sit awhile and meet with some of the people that were coming to see him. Within the space of about 30 minutes three well known business biggies walked into his office (one at a time of course) and handed him a check. They were all for the same amount, namely, $100,000. In todays terms that would be about $1,000,000.
Each and every one of them wanted to be an Ambassador to some important country and that is why they were making the donation. Not one of the three hesitated to let Mr. Stans know why they were making the donation and what they hoped to gain from the donation.
That satisfied each of the suckers and they left with a satisfied grin on their faces convinced they were going to be "Mr. Ambassador". Why do I say they were suckers? Because after all three had left Maurice Stans looked at me and started to laugh and said,
"Not one of them has a shot, I promised nothing (he didn't) and I did tell them the truth that RN will be a friend in the White House. What they read into that is their own doing, not mine."
With that he thanked me for the check I delivered
(I never opened it nor looked at it so do not know from whom it came) and
left the building shaking my head in disbelief.
Stans, Maurice
Stans, Maurice (1908- ), American accountant, government official, and finance director for the 1972 reelection campaign of President Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974). Maurice Hubert Stans was born in Shakopee, Minnesota. He played a pivotal role in overseeing expenditures that were eventually used for "dirty tricks" against Nixon's political opponents, including the 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Stans became finance chairman of the Nixon campaign's Committee to Re-elect the President in 1972 and was noted for his effectiveness in raising huge sums of money from corporations. Investigations later revealed that some of these contributions violated federal campaign laws. However, Stans was repeatedly found innocent during the Watergate trials of any knowing violations of the law, and he maintained that he knew nothing of the conspiracies and cover-ups that were financed by his fund-raising.The Encarta® 99 Desk Encyclopedia Copyright © & ? 1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
"There's a sucker born every minute."Phineas T. Barnum (attributed to) (1810-91), U.S. showman. Barnum doubted ever having uttered these words, though he conceded he may have said, "The people like to be humbugged." See the appendix to A. H. Saxon, P. T. Barnum: The Legend and the Man (1989), where it is claimed that the phrase: "There's a sucker born every minute, but none of them ever die" originated with a notorious con-man known as "Paper Collar Joe" (real name, Joseph Bessimer), and was later falsely ascribed to Barnum by show-biz rival Adam Forepaugh in a newspaper interview. Barnum never took pains to deny it, and even thanked Forepaugh for the free publicity.The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright © 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
