Voices Behind the Curtain

by Gordon Zuckerman

  As he watched the flames dance through the sides of his amber-filled snifter, he found himself momentarily at peace. For the first time in 4 days, he could sense his mind clearing, not unlike the temporary lifting of a thick fog. He was starting to see glimpses of new alternatives, ways to overcome his recent defeat. Anything has to be better than sitting here and stewing in his own juices.

  It was during one of these nightly sessions when the idea that there was nothing to prohibit him from discussing his concerns with attorneys who represented the majority of the companies operated by the members of Manuel’s Club when the thick fog that had been clouding his mind started to rise. These were no ordinary lawyers; they were men experienced in dealing with disturbing news, using their analytical minds to search for new solutions, and working cohesively together to execute new plans of action. They obviously had risen to the pinnacle of their profession and earned their positions of trust and respect the hard way. There were valid reasons why they served as confidants to their powerful employers. Individually and collectively, they represented some of the nation’s more brilliant minds.

  Late in the afternoon of the following day, Jordan and the six attorneys were gathered in the privacy of his office at Southwick & Cornforth. The day staff had departed. Other than the building maintenance staff, there was no one present, no one who could report their meeting.

  To a man, each of the lawyers was deeply concerned about the future of Jordan. By the end of the first hour, it had become clear that they only had two choices: shut down their operation and abandon the rearmament goals or find an alternate solution.

  Ben Holt, a bear of a man with a keen mind and considerable curiosity, a former Harvard classmate of Jordan’s, was attempting to summarize. “I think there’s something going on here that we don’t fully understand. Take that legal brief, for example. Whoever provided that work has to be well funded and motivated to oppose what we are attempting. Their presence raises two questions . . . Who are they, and why are they so determined.”

  Pete Scott, the Houston attorney, immediately said, “It has been reported that Mike Stone and Natalie Cummins were seen sitting together in the back of the hearing room when Gloria Adams appeared before the committee. I know from personal experience that Mike Stone is the same Mike Stone of Stone City Bank and one of the original Sentinels. He and his friends were deeply involved in their effort to diversify the oil industry. They are no strangers to our kind of problem and deserve to be respected. If they are involved, and judging by the growing number of Hollywood personalities that are appearing in the audience of the committee hearings, I would think this problem is not going away.”

  Alarmed by this revelation, Jordan said, “That means trouble! Several of my German clients tell me these Sentinels, prior to the conclusion of the last war, managed to prevent them from using their ‘fortunes of war’ to finance the organization of a future Fourth Reich.”

  Bert Damner, the Seattle aircraft lawyer, said, “I am not aware of any connection between the musical stage and Hollywood movie production. How do we not know whoever is behind this is primarily interested in the civil rights issues that may be involved, not our rearmament plan?”

  Dale Pennington, the Los Angeles lawyer, immediately answered, “It’s no secret. Natalie Cummins has recently announced her intention of starting a transatlantic entertainment industry casting company. According to reports, she appears to be intent on taking advantage of her theatrical associations in London to find employment for out-of-work commercially successful Hollywood movie actors, writers, and directors. It would appear she has become most upset with the inquisitional Communist tyranny the Hollywood studios are attempting to impose on members of their industry. If she was accompanied by Mike Stone, could it be she has managed to enlist the assistance of the Sentinels?”

  Ken Hoffman, a bespectacled Pittsburgh attorney known for his caution and dedication, spoke next. “Jordan, knowing we have someone as resourceful as the Sentinels on our trail scares the hell out of me. I question whether the Sentinels would become involved unless they believed the problems they are hearing are part of a more elaborate plan. I don’t think we should discount that possibility. Should the sources and recipients of our fund become public information, breaking a few election laws could become the least of our worries.

  “Fortunately, our Mexican war chest has recently been replenished with twice the amount of money you originally requested. Under current conditions, knowing we have access to the extra funds gives me some comfort. At least we know we have plenty of money available to fight back, should it become necessary. In the meantime, I strongly recommend we shut down the Acapulco operation, repatriate the balance of our money, and destroy any records Manuel may be keeping as soon as possible.”

  “Fine, fine,” said Burt Damner, a long-recognized supporter for moving the appropriation bills through Congress as quickly as possible. “My clients have been telling me these new planes they have on their drawing boards should render obsolete every frontline aircraft currently in use by the Americans or the Russians. Final preparations are being undertaken to advance their development from the design stage to the prototype manufacturing stage. The prototypes are needed for final testing. They believe the prototype stage is the most critical phase of new product development and must be carefully protected. Until this stage has been successfully committed, the consummation of the really big contracts cannot be completed.”

  * * *

  BREAKING INTO THE CONVERSATION, PETE SCOTT ASKED, “BURT, ARE you suggesting we are to ignore the risk our clients will be exposed to should we proceed with our present plan?”

  “No, I am about to suggest we approach the problem from a different direction. What do you think might happen if we approached the National Committees of both the Republican and the Democratic parties to inquire how supportive they might become of our particular agenda in exchange for us individually and collectively making significant financial contributions, with the prospect of more to follow?

  “In my haste to introduce fresh thinking, I may have failed to mention other steps that have to be part of any plan. If you will allow me to explain, I think I might convince you why this new plan can be made to work.

  “In Texas, we have a group of wealthy and powerful businessmen who regularly meet in Suite F of Houston’s Shamrock Hilton Hotel. They assemble for the purpose of assessing the political electability and philosophy of aspirants seeking election to offices throughout Texas. Prior to contributing to their individual campaigns, we have to be assured they are prepared to support the political agenda of both the state and the Central Republican Committees. By the time they have progressed up our political ladder, we have assured ourselves they can be depended upon. Interestingly enough, I have been reliably informed the Democratic Party follows a similar procedure.

  “By contributing to both the state and national political committees of both the Republican and Democratic parties, we should be able to control who gets nominated. From that point forward, we can relax. Independent of who wins the general election, our interests and agendas will be well represented.”

  Thinking ahead, Jordan asked, “How many seats do we have to control before we can create a majority in a close vote on sensitive legislation?”

  “Not as many as you might think. You would be surprised to learn how frequently senators and congressmen habitually vote along traditional party lines. If we were to assume those votes will be somewhat evenly split over issues of concern, we will only need to control enough votes, when added to the regular vote, to provide a majority. If I had to guess, we would need to control less than 10 seats in the Senate and maybe 40 seats in the House.”

  Hoffman, who had been making some notes, asked, “How much will it cost to support the election of 55 members to Congress? I am not up to date on what the current cost of a campaign at each of the different political levels is, but when you multiply any reasonable estimate by 55, you are talking about a lot
of money.”

  Expecting the question, Pete was ready with his answer. “Maybe not as much as you might think. When you factor into consideration we will only be willing to support candidates who have provided evidence of their campaign fund, raising our contribution should represent less than 50 percent of their total campaign costs to support one-third, or 17 candidates, every 2 years. As a consequence, the annual cost becomes much more manageable, well within the collective contributions Manuel’s members are accustomed to making each year. The only difference is we would have to develop some means for coordinating our individual contributions to national political parties.”

  Thinking out loud, Jordan asked, “Should we be ready to abandon one of our original concepts. Wouldn’t it be more practical to limit our support of new candidates to compensate for our failure to attract the cooperation of a suitable number of incumbent candidates?”

  * * *

  AN OBVIOUSLY AGITATED BERT DAMNER WAS ON HIS FEET. “JORDAN, I agree with you. While there is little doubt that given enough time, the new programs we have just finished outlining should provide us with the desired control, how does that program address our more immediate problem? Before we abandon our present program, don’t we need to focus our efforts on what will be required to introduce and pass our pending legislation?”

  * * *

  HEARING ONLY COMMENTS OF ASSENT AND NOTICING THE NODDING heads of approval, the rejuvenated and much relieved “Lawyer from Wall Street” said, “Gentlemen, I would like to congratulate you! It would appear that not only have we succeeded in turning a very nasty problem into an even better potential opportunity, but the implementation will require our clients to become more dependent upon our respective legal services. Maybe we should think of ourselves as the Voices Beyond the Voices Behind the Curtain? Why don’t we plan on completing our research assignments and reconvening at the earliest possible opportunity?”

  CHAPTER 19

  Mercedes Exits Mexico

  MEXICO CITY, JANUARY 1949

  One night after attending an exhibition of Diego Rivera’s most recent painting, Manuel invited Mercedes to accompany him back to his house for an after-dinner drink. Without thinking about the possible consequences, she automatically accepted his invitation. With everything seeming so exciting, she didn’t think to question what was really happening. He had a lot to drink, and she wanted to make certain he safely returned home.

  Mercedes must not have been paying attention when he said, “Let’s do something different; I have something I want to show you.”

  They were comfortably sitting on one of the magnificent overstuffed white leather couches in his viewing room when he offered her one of his large, bellshaped snifters generously filled with his favorite Cognac. She was surprised when he stood up, walked to the far wall, and punched a cleverly concealed button. A wall-size panel began to move, revealing a very large walk-in safe.

  * * *

  STANDING BEHIND HIM, SHE COULD SEE LARGE STACKS OF AMERICAN dollars, shelves of color-coded files, long narrow tubes that appeared to be filled with gold coins, and rows of large, one-inch thick cylindrical metal cans that presumably contained movie films all carefully labeled with titles she couldn’t read. His attention seemed to be focused on the top-most row. Taking his time, he selected one of the thin cans, opened it, and withdrew the 16-millimeter movie reel before saying, “Here, this should prove entertaining.”

  The moving of another panel revealed a motion picture projector. A big screen dropped out of the ceiling. As they were sitting on his big deep couch, sipping Cognac, they watched one of his friends, a man who Mercedes had previously met, enjoying himself with one of the girls Mercedes knew from the studio. Without warning, Manuel pulled her over to him, pushed one of his hands down her front, and began fondling her while he watched the movie. Next, he grabbed her other free hand and stuck it down the front of his trousers. That was when Mercedes pulled back her hand, stood up, and walked out of the room.

  Sitting in the back of the cab, she realized she needed to escape from Manuel’s world and the unfortunate situation she had unwittingly allowed to occur.

  * * *

  AT ARENA STUDIOS, THE WHEELS OF MOVIE PRODUCTION HAD BEEN slowly turning. The producers of Mercedes’s new film regarded her as a beautiful but unremarkable actress; reviewing the takes was not an immediate priority. The canisters containing the developed films of her latest takes had been stacked on the bottom shelf, along with the films of movies of lesser importance. Judging from their dust-laden appearance, they had been left unattended for quite some time. When the arrangements were finally made, only the cinematographer, the dialogue coach, and the assistant director were sitting in the room.

  To their surprise, they were watching the captivating performance of a fine actress. She was delivering sensitive, well written dialogue with naturalness and professionalism normally associated with a veteran-accomplished actress. Her performance was electrifying, the on-screen chemistry she managed to develop with the handsome middle-aged male actor enlivened every scene. Realizing they had vastly underestimated her acting abilities, they replayed the rushes over and over. Finally, all three men agreed, there was something special about Mercedes’s abilities, something they had not seen in a very long time. With renewed enthusiasm, they dragged the lead director and the executive producer into the small theater and asked the projectionist to rerun the rushes. Thirty minutes later, it was agreed; they would schedule the next shoot for the following Monday.

  * * *

  ON MONDAY MORNING, WHEN MERCEDES FAILED TO ARRIVE AT THE studio for her hair and makeup appointments, the impatient lead director and the crew waited for an hour. After another hour had elapsed and she had still not arrived, the concerned director sent his assistant to find her. Forty-five minutes later, he returned to the set and told the director, “She’s not here; she’s not in her apartment; nobody has seen her. Her driver reported when she failed to appear curbside, he knocked on her apartment door, and when he failed to receive a response, he contacted the apartment manager, who used his passkey and allowed me to enter her apartment. Everything was cleared out. All her clothes, her money, her jewelry—everything! Clearly, she has left and is not planning to return.”

  * * *

  Unaware of what had occurred at Arena Studios, a hungover and depressed Manuel was sitting behind his desk, drinking coffee, and hoping nothing of importance would interfere with what was going to be a difficult day. The events of the previous Saturday night were still embedded in his wounded brain. Mercedes isn’t the first unappreciative actress who has stormed out of my home, and she’s probably not the last.

  * * *

  FOLLOWING A PERFUNCTORY KNOCK, THE DIRECTOR ENTERED ARENA’S office, then collapsed into the deep leather chair and announced, “Boss, it looks like we have a problem.”

  There was nothing Manuel could do but sit quietly, sip his coffee, and listen as he was told what had happened. He was not surprised by what he was hearing. Feeling no obligation to relate what had happen between Mercedes and himself, he was tapping his forehead with his index finger as he attempted to focus his foggy attention on the anxious director.

  After a long pause, he said, “If what you are telling me about her performance is accurate, this is a movie we need to finish shooting. We’ve invested a great deal of our investors’ money in this production, and the studio needs a hit! We can’t afford to lose her. Somehow, we need to find out where she went and bring her back! Finding her may not be so difficult. Convincing her to return, positively motivated to complete the movie, may be more difficult.”

  * * *

  A FEW DAYS LATER, A LARGE CARTON CONTAINING 24 PERFECT, LONG- stem red roses, a new contract, a very large check, and a personal apology from Manuel was delivered to Gloria’s home in Brentwood. It was addressed to Mercedes Velasquez.

  Mercedes was confused. Never in her wildest imagination had she assumed that Manuel would apologize and literally make her an off
er that would be difficult to refuse. As tempted as she might have been to return to Mexico City and finish the film, she understood her returning to Mexico City would expose her to Manuel and his pack of jackal friends. In the next moment she thought of the reel of film Arena had stored in his safe. Maybe I am being a bit hasty, she thought.

  CHAPTER 20

  Target Manuel

  NEW YORK, DECEMBER 1949

  Word of Cecelia’s remarkable discovery was quickly circulated among the other Sentinels and their colleagues. From all indications, it seemed apparent that Manuel Arena’s indiscretions might be the weakest link in a very complex chain and vulnerable to attack. It was mutually decided it was time to attack on a second front. Should they manage to legally obtain possession of the Manuel’s Club operating records, presumed to be in Manuel’s private safe, they reasoned they might be able to publically expose the source of the contributions and the recipients. Voter reaction to the information would not only interfere with the designated candidates’ quest for election or re-election, but severely hamper the identified lobbyists, the law firm, and the responsible donors’ ability to directly support future candidates. Members of Manuel’s Club would have to abandon their grand plan.

  * * *

  NEEDING TO FIND SOME WAY OF MAKING CONTACT WITH SEñOR Manuel Arena, Mike asked Natalie to call Gloria Adams. Despite its size, he knew the film industry was a closed world—longtime members seemed to know, be aware of, or be familiar with everyone who was an active participant. Hopefully, Gloria might be able to establish some kind of contact with the filmmaker from Mexico City.