"Nixon's Enemies List" is the informal name of what started as a list of
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's major political opponents compiled by
Charles Colson
Charles Wendell Colson (October 16, 1931 – April 21, 2012), generally referred to as Chuck Colson, was an American attorney and political advisor who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. Once known as P ...
, written by
George T. Bell (assistant to Colson,
special counsel to the White House), and sent in
memorandum
A memorandum ( : memoranda; abbr: memo; from the Latin ''memorandum'', "(that) which is to be remembered") is a written message that is typically used in a professional setting. Commonly abbreviated "memo," these messages are usually brief and ...
form to
John Dean
John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) is an American former attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal ...
on September 9, 1971. The list was part of a campaign officially known as "Opponents List" and "Political Enemies Project".
The list became public knowledge on June 27, 1973, when Dean mentioned during hearings with the
Senate Watergate Committee that a list existed containing those whom the president did not like. Journalist
Daniel Schorr
Daniel Louis Schorr (August 31, 1916 – July 23, 2010) was an American journalist who covered world news for more than 60 years. He was most recently a Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio (NPR). Schorr won three Emmy Awards for his te ...
, who happened to be on the list, managed to obtain a copy of it later that day.
A longer second list was made public by Dean on December 20, 1973, during a hearing with the Congressional Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation.
Purpose
The official purpose, as described by the
White House Counsel
The White House counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Of ...
's Office, was to "screw" Nixon's political enemies, by means of tax audits from the
Internal Revenue Service, and by manipulating "grant availability, federal contracts, litigation, prosecution, etc."
[Dean, John (August 16, 1971). Dealing with our Political Enemies.] In a memorandum from
John Dean
John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) is an American former attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal ...
to
Lawrence Higby
Lawrence M. Higby is an American businessman and political activist. Higby was assistant to White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman during the Nixon Administration. He later went on to become CEO of home medical equipment company Apria. Until ...
(August 16, 1971), Dean explained the purpose of the list:
The IRS commissioner,
Donald C. Alexander, refused to launch audits of the people on the list.
People listed
The twenty names in the memo were as follows, although a
master list of Nixon's political opponents
Master or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
* Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans
*Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...
with additional names was developed later.
*
Arnold Picker, film executive
*
Alexander E. Barkan, head of the
AFL-CIO's Committee on Political Education
*
Edwin Guthman
Edwin O. Guthman (August 11, 1919 – August 31, 2008) was an American journalist and university professor. While at the ''Seattle Times'', he won the paper's first Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1950. Guthman was third on Richard Nixon ...
, journalist
*
Maxwell Dane
Maxwell "Mac" Dane (June 7, 1906 – August 8, 2004) was an American advertising executive and co-founder of the Doyle Dane Bernbach agency, known as DDB, that was established in Manhattan in 1949. For advertising against U.S. presidential candid ...
, advertising executive
*
Charles Dyson
Charles Henry Dyson (August 2, 1909 – March 14, 1997) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was founder of the Dyson Kissner-Moran Corporation (founded in 1954) and the Dyson Foundation (founded in 1957).
Business career
Dyson bega ...
, businessman
*
Howard Stein
Howard Mathew Stein (October 6, 1926 – July 26, 2011) was an American financier who is widely considered one of the fathers of the mutual fund industry. He was featured on the cover of ''Time'' magazine on August 24, 1970. Stein invented the ...
, financier
*Rep.
Allard Lowenstein (D-NY), congressman
*
Morton Halperin
Morton H. Halperin (born June 13, 1938) is a longtime expert on U.S. foreign policy, arms control, civil liberties, and the workings of bureaucracies.
He was a senior advisor to the Open Society Foundations, which was founded by George Soros. ...
, foreign policy expert
*
Leonard Woodcock, president of the
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) ...
*
S. Sterling Munro Jr., aide of former
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
Senator
Henry M. Jackson
Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson (May 31, 1912 – September 1, 1983) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. representative (1941–1953) and U.S. senator (1953–1983) from the state of Washington. A Cold War liberal and a ...
*
Bernard T. Feld, professor
*
Sidney Davidoff
Sidney Davidoff (born July 18, 1939) is an American lawyer who was one of 20 people on Nixon's Enemies List.
Life and career
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Davidoff graduated with a bachelor's degree from City College of New York in 1960 and earn ...
, lawyer
*Rep.
John Conyers (D-MI), congressman
*
Samuel M. Lambert, executive secretary of the
National Education Association
The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college stud ...
*
Stewart Rawlings Mott
Stewart Rawlings Mott (December 4, 1937 – June 12, 2008) was an American philanthropist who founded the Stewart R. Mott Foundation. He was the son of Charles Stewart Mott, and appeared on Nixon's Enemies List for his support of liberal causes.
...
, philanthropist
*Rep.
Ron Dellums (D-CA), congressman
*
Daniel Schorr
Daniel Louis Schorr (August 31, 1916 – July 23, 2010) was an American journalist who covered world news for more than 60 years. He was most recently a Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio (NPR). Schorr won three Emmy Awards for his te ...
, journalist
*
S. Harrison Dogole, president of Globe Security Systems
*
Paul Newman, actor
*
Mary McGrory
Mary McGrory (August 22, 1918 – April 20, 2004) was an American journalist and columnist. She specialized in American politics, and was noted for her detailed coverage of political maneuverings. She wrote over 8,000 columns, but no books, ...
, journalist
Halperin and
Davidoff
Davidoff is a Swiss premium brand of cigars, cigarettes and smoker's accessories. The Davidoff cigarette brand has been owned by Imperial Brands after purchasing it in 2006. The non-cigarette portion of the Davidoff tobacco brand is owned by ...
were the only two individuals from the original list still living.
Master list of political opponents
According to Dean, Colson later compiled hundreds of names on a "master list" which changed constantly. On December 20, 1973, the Congressional Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation concluded that people on the "Enemies" list had ''not'' been subjected to an unusual number of tax audits. The report revealed a second list of about 576 (with some duplicates) supporters and staffers of
George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign given to Internal Revenue Commissioner Johnnie Walters by John Dean on September 11, 1972. ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' printed the entire list the next day, but ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reported just a few paragraphs on page 21.
Reception
Newsman
Daniel Schorr
Daniel Louis Schorr (August 31, 1916 – July 23, 2010) was an American journalist who covered world news for more than 60 years. He was most recently a Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio (NPR). Schorr won three Emmy Awards for his te ...
and actor
Paul Newman stated, separately, that inclusion on the list was their greatest accomplishment. When this list was released, Schorr read it live on television, not realizing that he was on the list until he came to his own name. Author
Hunter S. Thompson remarked he was disappointed he was not on it.
In popular culture
In the United States, the term "enemies list" has come to be used in contexts not associated with Richard Nixon. For example, satirist
P. J. O'Rourke's 1989 "A Call for a New
McCarthyism" in ''
The American Spectator
''The American Spectator'' is a conservative American magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. It was founded in 1967 by Tyrrell, who remains its editor- ...
'' has a hybrid
blacklist
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, ...
and enemies list, suggesting that, contrary to the spirits of these lists, the subjects there should be overexposed, not suppressed, "so that a surfeited public rebels in disgust."
In Philip Roth's ''
Our Gang'', which was published in 1971, two years before the list was first mentioned in public, the Nixon parody character Trick E. Dixon begins to compile a rudimentary list of five political enemies. It includes
Jane Fonda and the
Black Panthers who were on the real-life expanded master list,
The Berrigans (who were not) and
Curt Flood
Curtis Charles Flood (January 18, 1938 – January 20, 1997) was an American professional baseball player and activist. He was a center fielder who played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Redlegs, St. Louis Cardinals, ...
.
In "
Homer's Enemy
"Homer's Enemy" is the twenty-third episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 4, 1997. "Homer's Enemy" was directed by Jim Reard ...
" (1997), an 8th-season episode of ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'',
Moe Szyslak
Moe Szyslak is a recurring character from the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the series premiere episode " Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". Moe is the proprietor and bartender o ...
shows off his own enemies list, which
Barney Gumble
Barnard Arnold "Barney" Gumble is a recurring character in the American animated TV series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode " Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".
Barney is the ...
quickly appraises as Nixon's list, with the latter's name crossed out and replaced with Moe's. Moe promptly adds Barney to the list for his insolence. A later episode made likely reference to the list when Homer falls from a shoddy chair that breaks, then remarks that the chair's manufacturer "just made the list!".
In ''
Futurama''s first episode, "
Space Pilot 3000
"Space Pilot 3000" is the pilot episode of the American animated television series ''Futurama''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 28, 1999. The episode focuses on the cryogenic freezing of the series protagonist ...
" (1999),
Fry and
Bender walk through a room of live preserved heads of famous people. When Fry knocks over Nixon's jar, Nixon says "That's it, you just made my list!"
In a ''
BoJack Horseman'' second season episode called "The Shot" (2015), the title character and Todd visit the Nixon Presidential Library with the intent of stealing a scaled-down replica of the library. Mounted on the walls are Nixon's Enemy and "Frenemy" Lists.
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
is included on the Enemy List.
See also
*
Disposition Matrix
*
IRS targeting controversy
References
External links
Records of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force 1971 to 1977via
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...
EnemiesList.info a complete, searchable, annotated Nixon's Enemies List
Statement of Information, Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-Third Congress, Second Session, Pursuant to H. Res. 803, a Resolution Authorizing and Directing the Committee on the Judiciary to Investigate Whether Sufficient Grounds Exist for the House of Representatives to Exercise its Constitutional Power to Impeach Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States of America, Book VIII, Internal Revenue Service, May-June 1974via the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
{{Richard Nixon
Watergate scandal
Lists of American people
Political terminology of the United States