Preface
Acknowledgments
PROLOGUE: DEATH IN MEXICO
1 THE EARLY YEARS
The Family
The Rock Eater
Mother
Tragedy
Power Play
2 HOLLYWOOD
The Legend Begins
Celebrities and Censors
3 HERO
Young Man in a Hurry
Record Breaker
Race Around the World
4 THE WAR YEARS
The “Hate Hughes Club”
Strange Bedfellows
The Flying Boat
“An Awful Smell”
5 THE SENATE INVESTIGATION
The XF-II Crash
Circus on the Potomac
Surprise Flight
6 MOVIES, MISSILES, AND COMMUNISTS
The RKO Takeover
Turnabout
The Red Menace
7 REVOLT AT CULVER CITY
“A Hell of a Mess”
Another Bosom Brouhaha
The Counterfeit Charity
Political Insurance
8 SEEDS OF DISASTER
The Rise of the Mormons
The $400-Million Order
Where Is the Money?
9 BREAKDOWN
Mysterious Marriage
Crisis
Asylum
Showdown with Wall Street
10 RETREAT
TWA v. Hughes
The Germ War
Manhunt
The Victor and the Spoils
11 A NEW CAREER
The Guest Who Overstayed
Maheu’s Old Friend
April Fool’s Day
12 LORD OF THE DESERT
Las Vegas on $178,000 a Day
The Public-Relations Blitz
Masterplan
Warning from Washington
13 OUT OF CONTROL
A Rival
The Emperor’s Lieutenants
A Grave Conspiracy
A Nose for News
Boxcar
14 THE $90-MILLION MISTAKE
Helicopters
The Lobbying Coup
The “Buy-in”
15 THE BILLION-DOLLAR DEAL
Merely a Millionaire
Cornering a Market
A Hughes Lesson
16 THE HIJACKING OF AIR WEST
“Air Worst”
Squeeze Play
Washington’s Rubber Stamp
17 GOLD FEVER
“Comstock Shares Showed Moderate Gains”
A Parade of Prospectors
A Pig in a Poke?
The President’s Brother
The Sting
18 TURNING POINT
Rumblings
Ouster
The Empire Changes Hands
19 THE POLITICAL CONNECTION
“I Can Buy Any Man in the World”
The Secret Investment
The Secret Mission and Secret Alliance
20 LIFE IN EXILE
Hoax
The $350-Million Giveaway
Invalid
21 WATERGATE
Under Fire
The Hughes Connection
The Well-Wired Source
22 HUGHESGATE
“The Bastille”
The Million-Dollar Burglary
23 THE CIA’S BEST-KEPT SECRET
Project Jennifer
The Mell Stewart Problem Cover Story
Cover Story
24 THE LAST YEAR
The Legacy
The Last Fight
The Candyman
Where Is the Will?
25 THE FIGHT FOR THE FORTUNE
Cover-up
The Mormon Will
Fallout
Death by Negligence?
EPILOGUE: A SUMMING UP
Chronology
Appendices
Sources
Notes