Citizen Hughes (1985)
I finished my assignment for Secret Window, Secret Garden and picked this up to read for a couple of days before I started The Library Policeman. I have had Citizen Hughes for close to 35 years and have never read it.
I know that because my grandfather read it and gave it to me to read. My grandfather was interested in Howard Hughes and I'm sure he bought this as soon as it came out. My grandfather was born in 1920 (he passed 20 years ago) and Howard Hughes was a huge public figure in my grandfathers early years so he always interested in Hughes. Anyway, this book mostly covers the reclusive years of Hughes. There was a break-in of one of Hughes buildings in 1974 and boxes of handwritten notes were stolen (a convenient break in, since Hughes' records had been subpoenaed a few days before
). The book is written in 1985 by a reporter that tracked down the notes.
In his reclusive years, Hughes wrote everything down on yellow legal pads and he had handlers who had to memorize the notes and then go tell the person the note was intended for. Hughes filed the notes away and stored them. Hughes was not seen by almost anybody for the last 20 years of his life. He spent his days on the top floor of a hotel writing notes and controlling his empire. It's really amazing how much influence and control he still had in that condition. It is hinted at in the book that the Watergate break in was partially about getting damning (for Nixon) Howard Hughes notes out of the DNC office.
