Richard Danner, Vegas Hotel Manager Who Gave Hughes’ Cash to Nixon, Dies
Richard G. Danner, the Las Vegas hotel manager who served as a conduit for funds from Howard Hughes to the reelection campaign of President Richard M. Nixon, has died in Las Vegas, Daily Variety reported this week.
The entertainment trade newspaper said Danner, a former FBI agent, was 76 and died July 29.
According to testimony at a 1974 trial in which former Hughes executive Robert A. Maheu was suing Hughes for defamation, Danner twice delivered packages containing $50,000 to Nixon’s close friend, C. G. (Bebe) Rebozo.
Although Danner said the contributions were made only to convince Nixon that Hughes was a supporter, the contributions, returned after the 1972 campaign, came shortly after Atty. Gen. John Mitchell approved a Hughes hotel acquisition in Las Vegas.
Danner was head of the Miami FBI bureau during World War II and later became manager of the Hughes-owned Sands Hotel.
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