Citizen Hughes - Michael Drosnin [164]
“If the above items will not purchase a certain amount of freedom for me, then my 64 years of effort have been wasted.
“If I am not permitted to use such funds and resources as I have to purchase a little more time prior to the Landmark opening, in order to remove the weight and pressure on me which would result from an attempt to meet a July 1st deadline, then I must assume that my 64 years of effort has been wasted.
“I do not say it cannot be done on July 1st, I just say I dont want the July 1st date committed or promised.”
July 1 was less than three days away. Maheu was in a state of panic. Hughes had just told him that his entire life was meaningless if he could not keep the opening date open, but Maheu desperately needed a decision.
“Any decision is better than none from this point on,” he urged his boss. “Howard, the impression is being gained in certain quarters that we are not very well organized.”
It was the ultimate understatement. Hughes, however, took it as the ultimate insult, one that called into question not only the Landmark party, not only his entire Las Vegas adventure, not only his troubled relationship with Maheu, but his entire life. Indeed, he now reviewed the whole of it in detail, all in another attempt to justify leaving the opening date open.
“I am very grateful to you for the many contributions you have made toward the success of the various activities I have assigned to you,” wrote Hughes.
“However, Bob, there comes a time when the success of a man’s business endeavors are not as important as his peace of mind and the condition of his health.
“Bob, I have worked as hard, and devoted myself as completely to my work as anybody I know.
“So, I now wind up a supposedly successful business man who has wrecked his health and consumed the best part of his life in the process,” he continued, seeming for the first time to glimpse his own sad reality.
“Bob, I have tried to be scrupulously honest, and I have tried to give, for charitable purposes, a sum in relationship to my earnings in excess of what is considered fair,” he went on, seeking salvation by a spurious statement of his good works.
“When the newspapers print stories of the unbelievable increase in business revenues in this area and the incredible increase in population, I can’t help but feel I must have given something to this community.
“Yet, somehow, this supposed success story does not seem to be enough for you, Bob,” he complained, as if to an unflattering mirror.
“Your messages, every so often, disclose a resentment lying beneath the surface. Sometimes it is only a few words, sometimes it is more.
“I got the impression from you that the purchase of the Landmark constituted an important contribution to the community.
“But now, you tell me that I dont have enough reserve of good will on deposit with the Governor and our other friends to permit a moderate delay in the announcement of the opening date of the Landmark.
“Bob, I think the most disturbing feature of your message is the statement that I should reconcile myself to the fact that the appearance is being gained in ‘certain quarters’ that we are not very well organized.
“The shocking part of this whole thing, in my opinion, Bob, lies in the fact that you and I dont have enough good will stored up to bridge over a delay of a few days in an announcement of this kind as if it were nothing.
“So, Bob, my point is that, if, after all the contributions to the community, which have led to unprecedented income and growth, if, after all this, I cannot tell you that I will give you this opening date in a few days without being warned that the Governor, etc. are going to lose faith and think the entire operation is ‘not very well organized,’ then I say my life is drawing too short for this kind of pressure.”
Not very well organized. He certainly would not sit still for that kind of slander. And all this