E. Howard Hunt

Early Life and Education

Everette Howard Hunt Jr., known as E. Howard Hunt, was born on October 9, 1918, in Hamburg, New York, to Everette Howard Hunt Sr., a lawyer and insurance executive, and Ethel Jean Totterdale, a concert pianist. Raised in a privileged but tumultuous household—his father faced legal troubles for bribery in 1920—Hunt developed a vivid imagination and literary aspirations early on. He attended Hamburg High School, where he edited the school paper, played football, and graduated as salutatorian in 1936. Hunt enrolled at Brown University, majoring in English and graduating in 1940 with a B.A. His college years included literary pursuits, membership in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, and a junior year abroad in France, broadening his worldview amid rising global tensions.

World War II and Early Career

After graduating, Hunt joined the U.S. Navy in 1941, serving as a destroyer gunnery officer in the North Atlantic until he was medically discharged in 1942 after a fall. He then worked briefly as a war correspondent for Life magazine (known for its association with the CIA as part of Operation Mockingbird) in the Pacific and as an editor at Doubleday, refining his writing skills. In 1943, Hunt joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA, training in sabotage and espionage. Stationed in Kunming, China, he coordinated guerrilla operations against Japanese forces, an experience that shaped his covert operations expertise. This is the area where Chinese General Chiang Kai Shek operated and his military attache, Colonel Paul Helliwell was assigned. The OSS and later the CIA would use the drug trafficking of heroin to pay for covert operations modeled by Chiang to create Operation Gladio.

Post-war, he worked for the Economic Cooperation Administration in Paris, administering Marshall Plan aid which was used to fund Operation Gladio being set up in Europe at the time, and briefly as a screenwriter in Hollywood, penning scripts for RKO and advising on films like Bungalow 13. He, along with many other CIA agents, worked in Hollywood for the CIA.

CIA Career

(1949–1970) Hunt joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1949, recruited by Frank Wisner for the Office of Policy Coordination, the agency’s covert action arm. His 21-year CIA tenure involved high-profile operations, often controversial, cementing his reputation as a skilled but reckless operative.

Operation PBSuccess (1954): Hunt served as chief of political action for the CIA’s coup against Guatemala’s President Jacobo Arbenz authorized by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Working under Tracy Barnes and alongside David Atlee Phillips, Hunt orchestrated propaganda, including radio broadcasts and leaflets, to destabilize Árbenz’s government. The operation, driven by United Fruit Company interests and Cold War anti-communism, succeeded in installing Carlos Castillo Armas, but sparked Guatemala’s civil war (1960–1996). Hunt’s memoirs, Undercover (1974) and American Spy (2007), detail his role, confirmed by declassified CIA documents (1997).

Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961): Hunt was a key planner for the CIA’s failed invasion of Cuba to overthrow Fidel Castro, under Richard M. Bissell Jr. As political officer, he liaised with the Cuban Revolutionary Council, a Miami-based exile group, and drafted a provisional government plan. Hunt’s disdain for President John F. Kennedy’s was supposedly based on JFK's refusal to provide air support; however that is untrue. JFK provided air support initially but the operation was compromised by the CIA using the wrong model of aircraft and was highlighted by the media. JFK refused to authorize the second wave of attacks because of the media's exposing the ruse. The operation’s collapse damaged Hunt’s CIA standing, leading to his reassignment which was the real reason for his disdain; he should have foresaw the discrepancy and did not.

Mexico City and Anti-Castro Operations: In the early 1960s, Hunt served in Mexico City, monitoring Soviet and Cuban activities and cultivating anti-Castro exiles. He later claimed involvement in plots to assassinate Castro, though declassified records (e.g., 1978 House Select Committee on Assassinations) offer no direct evidence. His Mexico City tenure overlapped with Lee Harvey Oswald’s 1963 visit, fueling conspiracy theories about Hunt’s role in Kennedy’s assassination, which he denied.

Other Operations: Hunt worked on covert actions in Japan, Uruguay, and Spain (where Otto Skorzeny operated under the CIA's and NATO's guidance as a trainer for Operation Gladio as well as one of their operators), often under diplomatic cover. In 1950, he was station chief in Vienna, managing anti-Soviet operations. He us said to have played a role in the 1953 Operation Ajax (Iran coup) as well. Hunt’s flamboyant style—nicknamed “Eduardo” by colleagues—clashed with CIA’s bureaucratic culture, limiting his promotions.

White House and Watergate

(1970–1972) Hunt retired from the CIA in May 1970, frustrated by limited advancement, and joined the Robert R. Mullen Company, a PR firm which operated as a CIA front. In July 1971, he was recruited by Charles Colson, a Nixon aide, as a consultant to the White House Special Investigations Unit, known as the “Plumbers,” tasked with plugging leaks and targeting Nixon’s enemies. Working under G. Gordon Liddy, Hunt’s key activities included:

Ellsberg Break-In (September 1971): Hunt and Liddy orchestrated the burglary of psychiatrist Lewis Fielding’s office in Los Angeles to obtain files on Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers. The break-in, executed by CIA trained Cuban exiles, found no compromising material but violated legal boundaries, setting a precedent for Watergate.

Watergate Break-In (June 1972): Hunt masterminded the break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s Watergate complex, aiming to wiretap phones and photograph documents. On June 17, 1972, five burglars, including CIA-trained Cubans and Plumber James McCord, were caught, with Hunt’s phone number found in their possession. Hunt and Liddy, stationed nearby, fled but were soon implicated. Hunt’s White House safe, containing incriminating documents, was opened by John Dean, exposing the operation’s scope.

Arrest and Trial

(1972–1973) Hunt was arrested in August 1972, charged with conspiracy, burglary, and wiretapping. Facing financial ruin—his wife, Dorothy Louise Wetzel, carried $10,000 in hush money to secure silence, he pleaded guilty in January 1973. On March 23, 1973, he was sentenced to 35 years, later reduced to 33 months, served at Eglin Air Force Base and other facilities until February 1975. Dorothy died in a December 1972 plane crash, carrying the hush money, many suspect fowl play in the plane crash. His guilty plea and cooperation, including testimony implicating Nixon aides, contributed to the Watergate scandal’s unraveling, leading to Nixon’s resignation in August 1974.

Literary Career and Later Life

Hunt was a prolific writer, publishing over 80 novels under pseudonyms like John Baxter, Gordon Davis, Robert Dietrich, and David St. John. His early works, such as East of Farewell (1942) and Limit of Darkness (1944), drew on wartime experiences, while later spy thrillers like Bimini Run (1949) reflected his CIA background. Post-Watergate, novels like The Berlin Ending (1973) and The Hargrave Deception (1980) capitalized on his notoriety, though sales were modest. His memoirs, Undercover and American Spy, provided self-serving accounts of his CIA and Watergate roles, often disputed by historians.

After prison, Hunt struggled financially, relying on book royalties and a small CIA pension. He remarried in 1977 to Laura Elizabeth Martin, a schoolteacher, and had two children, David and Hollie. Living in Miami, he faced health issues, including cancer and a stroke, and died on January 23, 2007, at age 88 in a Miami hospital from pneumonia. His son, Saint John Hunt, later publicized claims that Hunt confessed to peripheral involvement in a Kennedy assassination plot, detailed in Bond of Secrecy (2012), though these remain unverified and widely disputed.

Personal Life

Hunt married Dorothy Louise Wetzel in 1949, a former CIA secretary, and they had four children: Lisa, Kevan, Howard St. John, and Austin. Hunt’s second marriage to Laura provided stability in his later years. Known for his dapper style—bow ties, tweed jackets—and literary flair, Hunt cultivated a romanticized spy persona, but his impulsiveness and loyalty to Nixon aides like Colson led to his downfall.

Legacy and Critical Perspective

E. Howard Hunt’s career encapsulates the Cold War’s covert excesses and the Watergate scandal’s political fallout. His role in Operation PBSuccess demonstrated CIA efficacy but contributed to Guatemala’s long-term instability, as noted in Bitter Fruit by Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer. The Bay of Pigs failure and Watergate break-in exposed his operational recklessness, with declassified FBI files and Senate Watergate Committee records confirming his central role.