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Jim Hougan
James Richard Hougan (born George James Edwards on October 14, 1942) is an American author, investigative reporter and documentary film producer.
A best-selling novelist in the United States and Europe, he is also known for Secret Agenda, a book on the Watergate scandal.
Hougan was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from William Horlick High School in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1960. In 1966, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Hougan wed Carolyn Johnson and began work as a newspaper reporter and photographer for the Prince George's County Sentinel in the Washington metropolitan area. Afterward he joined the Capitol Times newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1971, while working there and as a stringer for The New York Times, he was awarded a study grant from the Alicia Patterson Foundation and was a Rockefeller Foundation fellow. Reporting from Mexico City, Amsterdam, Ibiza, Athens, and London, his articles for the two foundations about "contemporary Western youth movements" were published in national newspapers and magazines.[failed verification] During this time, while covering countercultural movements in the West, he reported as well on the massacre of student dissidents in Tlatelolco, Mexico City and on the violent repression of their Greek counterparts by the Greek military junta in Athens. Both assignments were considered dangerous.
Hougan's first book, Decadence, was published soon after his return from Europe. His second book, Spooks, reported on the "metastasis" of the American intelligence community and the emerging "cryptocracy." In its review, the Los Angeles Times declared Spooks "one of the best non-fiction books of the year, a monument of fourth-level research and fact-searching."[citation needed] Howard Hughes, Robert Maheu, Robert Vesco, Aristotle Onassis, and Yoshio Kodama were among the book's more infamous subjects, but its most important contribution to the investigative canon may have been its reportage about lesser known intelligence agents such as Bernard Spindel, Lou Russell, Mitch WerBell, John Frank, Joseph Shimon and others.[independent source needed]
Hougan testified at the trial of Mark Knops, editor of the Madison Kaleidoscope, a newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin.
As Washington Editor of Harper's Magazine (1979–84), Hougan wrote extensively about the U.S. intelligence community, and the CIA in particular.[citation needed] His investigation of the Watergate break-in uncovered links between the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate office building and a call-girl ring at a nearby apartment complex.[citation needed] This liaison arrangement, coupled with evidence implicating the CIA in the operation, led to the publication of Secret Agenda: Watergate, Deep Throat and the CIA by Random House in 1984. A Book of the Month Club selection, Secret Agenda was chosen by The New York Times as "one of the year's most noteworthy books."[citation needed] Hougan made appearances on such programs as NPR's All Things Considered, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and programs hosted by Larry King, Tom Snyder, and Regis Philbin.[citation needed]
In the mid-1980s, Hougan and author Sally Denton formed Hougan & Denton, a Washington-based company that did investigative research for law firms and labor unions. Clients included the AFL-CIO, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the United Mine Workers of America, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).[citation needed] During this period, Hougan joined with Norman Mailer and Edward Jay Epstein in forming what Hougan characterized as "an invisible salon," but which The New York Times called "a small coterie of intelligence buffs, conspiracy theorists and meta-political speculators, who, with all proper self-mockery, call themselves 'the Dynamite Club.'" The group met irregularly at the Manhattan apartment of Edward Jay Epstein and at the Washington manse of Bernard "Bud" Fensterwald (founder of the Assassination Archives and Research Center in Washington, D.C.). Attendees included Dick Russell (author of The Man Who Knew Too Much), Don DeLillo (Libra and Underworld), Kevin Coogan (Dreamer of the Day), G. Gordon Liddy (Will) and others. At the time, Hougan was helping Norman Mailer in his research for what became the latter's CIA novel, Harlot's Ghost. While Mailer referred to these informal gatherings – drinks and dinner – as "meetings," the affairs had more in common with those of a salon than of an actual "club."
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Jim Hougan
James Richard Hougan (born George James Edwards on October 14, 1942) is an American author, investigative reporter and documentary film producer.
A best-selling novelist in the United States and Europe, he is also known for Secret Agenda, a book on the Watergate scandal.
Hougan was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from William Horlick High School in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1960. In 1966, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Hougan wed Carolyn Johnson and began work as a newspaper reporter and photographer for the Prince George's County Sentinel in the Washington metropolitan area. Afterward he joined the Capitol Times newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1971, while working there and as a stringer for The New York Times, he was awarded a study grant from the Alicia Patterson Foundation and was a Rockefeller Foundation fellow. Reporting from Mexico City, Amsterdam, Ibiza, Athens, and London, his articles for the two foundations about "contemporary Western youth movements" were published in national newspapers and magazines.[failed verification] During this time, while covering countercultural movements in the West, he reported as well on the massacre of student dissidents in Tlatelolco, Mexico City and on the violent repression of their Greek counterparts by the Greek military junta in Athens. Both assignments were considered dangerous.
Hougan's first book, Decadence, was published soon after his return from Europe. His second book, Spooks, reported on the "metastasis" of the American intelligence community and the emerging "cryptocracy." In its review, the Los Angeles Times declared Spooks "one of the best non-fiction books of the year, a monument of fourth-level research and fact-searching."[citation needed] Howard Hughes, Robert Maheu, Robert Vesco, Aristotle Onassis, and Yoshio Kodama were among the book's more infamous subjects, but its most important contribution to the investigative canon may have been its reportage about lesser known intelligence agents such as Bernard Spindel, Lou Russell, Mitch WerBell, John Frank, Joseph Shimon and others.[independent source needed]
Hougan testified at the trial of Mark Knops, editor of the Madison Kaleidoscope, a newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin.
As Washington Editor of Harper's Magazine (1979–84), Hougan wrote extensively about the U.S. intelligence community, and the CIA in particular.[citation needed] His investigation of the Watergate break-in uncovered links between the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate office building and a call-girl ring at a nearby apartment complex.[citation needed] This liaison arrangement, coupled with evidence implicating the CIA in the operation, led to the publication of Secret Agenda: Watergate, Deep Throat and the CIA by Random House in 1984. A Book of the Month Club selection, Secret Agenda was chosen by The New York Times as "one of the year's most noteworthy books."[citation needed] Hougan made appearances on such programs as NPR's All Things Considered, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and programs hosted by Larry King, Tom Snyder, and Regis Philbin.[citation needed]
In the mid-1980s, Hougan and author Sally Denton formed Hougan & Denton, a Washington-based company that did investigative research for law firms and labor unions. Clients included the AFL-CIO, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the United Mine Workers of America, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).[citation needed] During this period, Hougan joined with Norman Mailer and Edward Jay Epstein in forming what Hougan characterized as "an invisible salon," but which The New York Times called "a small coterie of intelligence buffs, conspiracy theorists and meta-political speculators, who, with all proper self-mockery, call themselves 'the Dynamite Club.'" The group met irregularly at the Manhattan apartment of Edward Jay Epstein and at the Washington manse of Bernard "Bud" Fensterwald (founder of the Assassination Archives and Research Center in Washington, D.C.). Attendees included Dick Russell (author of The Man Who Knew Too Much), Don DeLillo (Libra and Underworld), Kevin Coogan (Dreamer of the Day), G. Gordon Liddy (Will) and others. At the time, Hougan was helping Norman Mailer in his research for what became the latter's CIA novel, Harlot's Ghost. While Mailer referred to these informal gatherings – drinks and dinner – as "meetings," the affairs had more in common with those of a salon than of an actual "club."