Abstract
The Howard Hughes Public Relations Reference Files (1931-1997) were compiled by Richard "Dick" Hannah, vice-president of the Los Angeles public relations firm Carl Byoir & Associates, which was hired to direct public relations for Hughes’ companies. The collection is primarily composed of newspaper clippings organized into reference files. A significant number of the files contain articles about Howard Hughes’ personal life, the operations of his companies, and legal and political disputes involving Hughes and his companies. The files also document a range of other subjects related to his business ventures, including aviation, aerospace, defense industries, motion picture studios, film stars, communism in Hollywood, and the House on Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Later in life Hughes became obsessed with how he was being portrayed in the media. In addition to collecting magazine articles, newspaper clippings, transcripts, screenplays, and books that referenced him. He also collected newspaper clippings about the activities of print media outlets, columnists, radio-television stations, current and former employees, and competitors. The collection also contains newspaper clippings about Watergate, organized crime, gambling, and Las Vegas and contains press releases, correspondence and records generated by Carl Byoir & Associates as well as Rosemont Enterprise, Inc.
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Scope and Contents Note
The Howard Hughes Public Relations Reference Files (1931-1997) were compiled by Howard Hughes' public relations director Richard (Dick) Hannah. Hannah was the account executive and vice-president of the Los Angeles public relations firm Carl Byoir & Associates, which was hired to oversee and direct the public relations of the companies controlled by Hughes.
Although the collection contains a small amount of correspondence, press releases and records from Carl Byoir & Associates, it is primarily composed of newspaper clippings organized into reference files. These files document Howard Hughes’ achievements as an aviation pioneer, studio head, director, and producer, and developer of Las Vegas. The files also chronicle his personal life, mental decline, death, and the fight for control of his estate. They also describe the operations and legal disputes of companies controlled by Hughes, including Hughes Tool Company, Hughes Aircraft Company, RKO Radio Pictures Inc., Hughes Productions, Trans World Airlines (TWA), Hughes Air West, and Summa Corporation. Hughes’ Flying Boat (H-4), XF-11 crash, and appearance before the 1947 Senate hearings are also covered as is Hughes’ fight for control of TWA. Hughes’ conflicts with against Clifford Irving and McGraw-Hill and former top aides Robert Maheu, Noah Dietrich, and John Meier are also documented.
The collection also includes reference files about numerous subjects and people of interest to Howard Hughes and his companies. Aviation, aerospace, defense industries, motion picture studios, film stars, communism in Hollywood, HUAC, employees, business competitors, Watergate, organized crime and gambling, Las Vegas motels and hotels, and the Atomic Energy Commission are all well represented in the files. Hughes was particularly concerned with his depiction in the media so extensive files were kept on columnists, newspapers, magazines and radio-television stations.
The collection also contains some records from Rosemont Enterprise, Inc. a company created by Hughes’ lawyer Chester Davis in 1965 with the purpose of collecting and controlling all literary material past, present, and future about Hughes. The Rosemont files contain investigative reports on a number of journalists and unpublished screenplays, books, and articles, about Hughes. In some cases writers were paid by Rosemont to author positive stories about Hughes.
Access Note
Collection is open for research, with the exception of materials that are closed in accordance with Nevada Revised Statute (NRS) 463.120. Restrictions are noted at the file level of this inventory. Where use copies do not exist, production of use copies is required before access will be granted; this may delay research requests. Advanced notice is required.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
This collection is organized into sixteen series:
Series I. Aviation, aerospace, and defense industries, 1946-1976;
Series II. Legal disputes, 1947-1976;
Series III. Dick Hannah's records from Carl Byoir & Associates, 1946-1976;
Series IV. Rosemont Enterprises, Inc., 1964-1973;
Series V. RKO Radio Pictures Inc. and media, 1946-1976;
Series VI. Howard Hughes' personal life, 1941-1987;
Series VII. People associated with Howard Hughes, 1947-1976;
Series VIII. Watergate, 1960-1976;
Series IX. Photographs and audiovisual material, 1934-1997;
Series X. Organized crime and gambling, 1967-1976;
Series XI. Summa Corporation and Nevada, 1955-1976;
Series XII. Subject files, 1948-1976;
Series XIII. Books, directories, and plaques, 1931-1977;
Series XIV. Chronological newspaper clippings, 1971-1976;
Series XV. Unsorted newspaper clippings, 1946-1977;
Series XVI. Restricted material, 1969-1975.
Biographical / Historical Note
American businessman Howard Hughes was born September 24, 1905 in Houston, Texas. Hughes' business career began when he gained control of Hughes Tool Company in 1924 at the age of 19, following his father's death. An indifferent student, he withdrew from Rice University, married Ella Rice and moved to Los Angeles, where he directed and produced a number of films including
Hughes was also an avid aviation enthusiast and in 1932 he formed Hughes Aircraft Company as a division of Hughes Tool Company to support his passion for flying. In 1935, he set the land speed record in his plane, the Hughes H-1 Racer. In 1937 Hughes, in a modified version of the Hughes H-1 Racer, set a new transcontinental airspeed record. The following year he completed a record-breaking flight around the world. During the Second World War, Hughes Aircraft Company won defense contracts to develop high-speed pursuit and reconnaissance aircraft and communication systems. In 1946, while flying the XF-11, an experimental prototype, Hughes almost died when the plane crashed. Undeterred, Hughes chose to fly another prototype the H-4, better known as the Flying Boat or 'Spruce Goose,' a gargantuan wooden cargo plane. In 1947, Hughes piloted the plane on its first and last flight, during which it traveled just one mile and never climbed more than 70 feet above Long Beach Harbor in California.
During this same period, Hughes appeared before the U.S. Senate to counter assertions that he was a war profiteer. In spite of aviation failures and senate investigations, Hughes Aircraft Company became a major innovator in radar, avionics, and missiles. However due to Hughes’ erratic management style, many key managers and executives resigned and threatened the ability of the company to fulfill its contracts with the U.S. Air Force. Threatened with having the contracts pulled, Hughes remove himself from active involvement with Hughes Aircraft. In 1953, he made the company a subsidiary of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a tax-exempt entity.
After Hughes Tool Company acquired a controlling interest in RKO Radio Pictures Inc. in 1948, Hughes became the head of one of the largest motion picture studios in Hollywood. By the early 1950s, the growing fear that Communists had infiltrated Hollywood forced Hughes to take action to root out Communists and their influence in his studio, or face condemnation by HUAC and the American Legions' Anti-Communist Crusade. Although on the periphery of the
On November 27, 1966, Howard Hughes moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, and took up residence on the top floor of the Desert Inn Hotel. Hughes purchased real estate in Las Vegas and started the Summa Corporation in 1972, as a holding company that managed Hughes' remaining investments and primarily developed and managed the Hughes real estate holdings on the west side of the Las Vegas Valley. After a number of abrupt moves to hotels outside the United States, Hughes died on April 5, 1976. Weeks after his death a handwritten will was found, known as the "Mormon Will" that gave over a billion dollars to various charities. The Nevada State Court declared the will a forgery in 1978.
Sources:
“Howard Hughes Biography.”
Nix, Elizabeth. “History stories: 7 Things you may not know about Howard Hughes.”
"Welcome Home Howard!"
Preferred Citation
Howard Hughes Public Relations Reference Files, 1931-1997. MS-00380. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated in 1996 by the Howard Hughes Corporation of Las Vegas; accession number 1996-21.
Processing Note
The material was partially processed and inventoried by Special Collections staff. In July 2014, Hannah Robinson wrote the collection description and subsequently entered the data into ArchivesSpace. In 2018, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Brooks Whittaker and Chris Bruce arranged and rehoused approximately half the collection, and revised the collection description to bring it into compliance with current professional standards.