Robert Mullen Company
Founded1952
FounderRobert R. Mullen
Defunct1974
HeadquartersWashington D.C.
Key people
Robert Foster Bennett

Robert Mullen Company was a public relations company in Washington DC.[1] The firm was founded in 1952 by Robert R. Mullen, who was a campaign press secretary for Dwight D. Eisenhower and information director for the Marshall Plan.[2] A Watergate committee report revealed that the Robert Mullen Company had in at least two instances been a front for CIA operations abroad,[3] in addition for former CIA intelligence case officer and head of the White House plumbers E. Howard Hunt.

In 1971 the Robert Mullen Company was purchased by future U.S. Senator Robert Foster Bennett, son of U.S. Senator Wallace Foster Bennett. He closed it down in 1974.

History

Watergate

In 1972 the company received public attention in relation to the Watergate scandal when staff writer E. Howard Hunt, a former CIA intelligence case officer and Mullen employee, was revealed to have been running a group of Nixon Administration "plumbers" responsible for the break-in. He was subsequently convicted of conspiracy and served time in prison after a check with his name on it found at the scene of the break-in connected him to one of the burglars.[4][5]

CIA relationship

A report by Howard Baker, the Republican vice-chairman for the Watergate committee:[3]

The Mullen Company has maintained a relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency since its incorporation in 1959. It provided cover for an agent in Europe and an agent in the Far East at the time of the Watergate break-in. ...

As well as for former then recently retired Agency case officer E. Howard Hunt, responsible for the break-in that touched off the Nixon Administration-toppling Watergate Scandal.

Demise

Bennett's principal client at the time of the Watergate was the CIA-aligned Summa Corporation, the holding company of billionaire Howard Hughes. In 1974, after his CIA ties and those of the Mullen Company had been revealed by the Watergate investigation,[6][lower-alpha 1] he closed the Company and joined Summa full-time as the public relations director for the parent firm and Vice President for Public Affairs for Hughes Airwest, the airline.

Notable Clients

Notes

References

  1. ↑ Hustlers & Hucksters
  2. 1 2 3 4 Robert R. Mulled Dead at 77; Eisenhower Aide in '52 Race, New York Times, March 20, 1986
  3. 1 2 Mormons and the Watergate Scandal - Justice Dept. Warns Church About Illegal Taping
  4. ↑ ROBERT R. MULLEN DEAD AT 77; EISENHOWER AIDE IN '52 RACE
  5. ↑ Context of 'June 17, 1972: Lead Burglar Cleans out Watergate Listening Post, Alerts Lawyer to Arrests'
  6. ↑ "A Harlot High and Low: Reconnoitering through the Secret Government", Norman Mailer, New York Magazine, August 16, 1976
  7. ↑ Douglas Caddy
  8. ↑ Stauber, John C.; Sheldon Rampton (1995). Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damn Lies, and the Public Relations Industry. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press. ISBN 1-56751-061-2.
  9. ↑ Graff, Garrett M. (2022). Watergate: A New History (1 ed.). New York: Avid Reader Press. pp. 63. ISBN 978-1-9821-3916-2. OCLC 1260107112.
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