Citizen Hughes - Michael Drosnin [31]
“I want the Hughes activity to be presented to the public, in a massive new publicity and advertising campaign, as the only example of competitive enterprise still functioning and holding out against the onrushing hordes of corporate giants.
“In other words, the one ‘corner grocery store,’ proprietor-managed type of old fashioned business activity still holding out against the overpowering pressure of the new corporations with their executives, managers, stockholder intracacies of control, politics, proxy battles, institution ownership, etc. etc.—all of the interlocking cross currents and intrigue that go to make up the modern U.S. industrial giant—the corporation, the Establishment.”
That was how he saw himself, as David, not Goliath, as the lone survivor of the American Dream. He had to get that message out to the world.
Meanwhile, continuing to root through his documents, Hughes fished out another plan that had not quite gotten off the ground. Just another “mom-and-pop” operation the proprietor of the last “corner grocery store” had in mind. A grandiose vision of a global Las Vegas, with Hughes at the center, bookie to the entire world:
“I once told you I was interested in acquiring one of the book-making establishments in town,” he wrote his chief aide.
“Well, I dont see any point in buying just one of these books. It is my hope that the damndest book operation anyone ever conceived of can be developed.
“Are you aware that any of dozens of businessmen in the country can pick up the telephone and call their broker, either at his office or at home, or even out at a restaurant, and say: ‘Charley, buy me 50,000 U.S. Steel at the market.’
“So, what I have in mind is a system of credit research by which every man of substance, in the entirety of the U.S., will be catalogued and listed with all the truly significant information necessary to appraise his ability to pay and his integrity.
“I want to see a development under which a wealthy man can phone from London to a certain phone number in Las Vegas and identify himself and place a bet on just about anything—a horse race at Hollywood Park, a track meet in Florida, a football game in New York, an election, at the state or national level, the passage of some bill up in Congress—just about anything.
“Also, I want to see a development which will permit a man to phone from London and, after placing a bet on some event, such as mentioned above, to say: ‘Put $10,000 on the line at the Sands.’
“In fact, when the man on the phone requests the bet, the clerk could hit one of those recording timers, which would be heard over the phone. So, the exact instant of the bet would be recorded, and the clerk could say over the phone to the customer: ‘Your bet is made, at 12:36:04.’ Then, a few seconds later, the clerk could say: ‘Your play occurred at 12:36:12—you won with a natural, eleven. Do you want to bet again?’
“There are many refinements of this deal that could be worked out as you go along.
“Do you know why I think this kind of play would catch on? Because men, simply by nature, like to show off. I can just see some minor league V.I.P. out to dinner with some very attractive young protagonist of the opposite sex, and he picks up the phone, brought to his table at Twenty-One, and he makes a five or ten thousand dollar bet over the phone.
“Then he turns to his girl and says: ‘Well, I just won ten thousand in Vegas—let’s spend it!’
“Look how that would impress the female! She would reason that he must be a pretty wealthy and a pretty trustworthy man to be able to persuade the Las Vegas gambling fraternity to extend credit and take his bet orally, by phone, all the way across the country.
“Now, I urge you not to disclose anything—not to anyone—not even the slightest hint—of this ‘play by phone’ concept.”
Rereading his memo, squinting at his own scrawl, Hughes wondered why this grand scheme had never gone anywhere. It seemed to make such perfect sense laid out so plainly in such meticulous detail. He made a mental note to get it back on track and meanwhile