Word: desertion
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...uncertainty of the situation raises serious questions about the fate of Hughes' empire. In Nevada, his aviation companies and seven hotels and casinos-including the Sands, the Desert Inn and the Castaways-are the second largest employer (more than 6,000 people) after the Federal Government. His aviation and defense companies even now affect the national interest; for example, Hughes Aircraft, which is the U.S.'s ninth biggest defense contractor, produces the Phoenix air-to-air missile, the Hellfire air-to-surface missile and radar...
...surrounded by speculation, much of it wildly spurious. The only eyewitness account came in 1971, when Howard Eckersley, one of Hughes' principal nurse-aides, was compelled to testify in a Nevada suit. According to Eckersley, Hughes had locked himself into a self-made prison. Whether atop the Desert Inn in Las Vegas (where he lived from 1966 to 1970) or the Inn on the Park in London (1972-73) or the Princess in Acapulco (since February), Hughes' pattern of existence was much the same. He was completely sheltered from outsiders by five nurse-aides, four of whom...
...imperiously chosen to ignore the ordinary routine of days and nights. He spent most of his time sitting in a straight-backed hard chair, most often clad only in pajamas. He was constantly attended by two male aides who acted as secretaries and nurses. When he lived at the Desert Inn, he was separated from the aides by a glass partition to ward off germs. If he wanted to give instructions, he would summon an aide to a door to pick up notes, or he would hold up the notes to a glass. Sample: "Please watch me closely...
...abnormal life-style led to a deterioration of his health, which already had been weakened by earlier accidents and overwork. After the first 18 months of seclusion in the Desert Inn, Hughes had wasted to less than 100 Ibs. He developed chronic anemia in 1968; one of the Western world's two or three richest men suffered from malnutrition...
...Vegas, Hughes found the ideal money machine from which he drew funds for political contributions. It was the Silver Slipper casino, a gaudy gambling house located opposite Hughes' Desert Inn hideaway, which he leased for $4.5 million. From the Silver Slipper till, Hughes in 1970 withdrew at least $1 million for his personal projects. The money was in small-denomination, old bills, which could not be traced by tax authorities. Thus he could contribute to his favored candidates more than the $3,000 tax-free limit that prevailed until 1972. As the Watergate investigations later disclosed, Hughes...