81 Facts About Murray Chotiner

Murray M Chotiner was an American political strategist, attorney, government official, and close associate and friend of President Richard Nixon during much of the 37th President's political career.

Murray Chotiner served as campaign manager for the future president's successful runs for the United States Senate in 1950 and for the vice presidency in 1952, and managed the campaigns of other California Republicans.

Murray Chotiner was active in each of Nixon's two successful runs for the White House in low-profile positions.

Murray Chotiner attended UCLA, and graduated from the Southwestern School of Law.

Murray Chotiner practiced law in Los Angeles, and branched out into public relations.

Nixon was elected, and hired Murray Chotiner to run his 1950 Senate campaign against Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas.

Murray Chotiner used a similar strategy in that campaign, stressing Douglas' liberal voting record and printing the accusations on pink paper to hint at communist sympathy.

Murray Chotiner returned to private practice a year later, but was involved in Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign.

Murray Chotiner described the Watergate break-in that occurred during Nixon's 1972 campaign and that eventually brought down the Nixon administration as "stupid", and when a newspaper accused him of organizing it, he sued for libel and won a substantial settlement.

Murray Chotiner remained an informal adviser to Nixon until he died in Washington, DC, following an auto accident in January 1974, and Nixon mourned the loss of a man he described as a counselor and friend.

Murray Chotiner later described many of his clients as "unsavory, to say the least".

Murray Chotiner initially registered to vote as a Democrat, but soon switched parties, joining the Republicans.

Murray Chotiner involved himself in Republican politics, working on Herbert Hoover's unsuccessful presidential re-election campaign in the 1932 presidential election.

When Earl Warren successfully ran for Governor of California in 1942, Murray Chotiner served as his field director.

Warren had Murray Chotiner thrown out of his office, and the future chief justice refused to let him have anything to do with his re-election campaign in 1946.

Murray Chotiner served as counsel to state committees investigating violence in motion picture strikes and conditions in children's boarding homes and in homes for the elderly.

In 1944, Murray Chotiner was elected president of the conservative California Republican Assembly, a grassroots organization of party activists; he had previously served as president of the Los Angeles Republican Assembly.

One of the first professional campaign managers; Murray Chotiner was retained as a political consultant by Nixon's 1946 campaign for Congress against incumbent Representative Jerry Voorhis.

Murray Chotiner advised linking Voorhis with a political action committee, believed to be communist-dominated, run by the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Murray Chotiner coined the campaign slogan, "We will not surrender" for Knowland, implying that Democratic challenger Will Rogers Jr.

Two years later, Chotiner served as Southern California campaign manager for the unsuccessful 1948 presidential bid of New York Governor Thomas E Dewey.

Murray Chotiner realized that Nixon could not beat Douglas by advocating more social welfare programs, so he advised his candidate to attack Douglas on the issue of communism, seen as a Democratic vulnerability.

Murray Chotiner had parted ways with Governor Warren, and the popular governor, who was running for a third term, "wanted no part" of the Nixon campaign.

Nonetheless, Murray Chotiner sought to maneuver the future chief justice into an endorsement of Representative Nixon.

Murray Chotiner would equate a liberal or a Democrat with a communist.

Nixon arranged for Murray Chotiner to get the file, which was supposed to be for Congressional use only, though he apparently made no public use of the file in the campaign.

Murray Chotiner had volunteered to take care of many of the convention arrangements for the California delegation, and for the Warren campaign headquarters at the Conrad Hilton Hotel.

Murray Chotiner had an extra phone surreptitiously installed in the Warren headquarters so he could quietly communicate the latest developments to Nixon.

Murray Chotiner remained in close contact with Eisenhower aide and future Attorney General, Herbert Brownell.

Murray Chotiner argued to the Nixons that if the Republicans lost, Nixon would retain his seat in the Senate, that if he served as vice president and re-entered private life, he would have a lucrative legal career, but that if Nixon did not move up to the Vice Presidency, with Senator Knowland relatively young and in good health, Nixon was likely to remain merely the junior senator from California for many years to come.

Eisenhower offered Nixon the position, the senator accepted, and with Knowland's re-election bid all but won, Murray Chotiner became Nixon's campaign manager.

Murray Chotiner's spirits revived by Chotiner's loyalty, Senator Nixon delivered the televised Checkers speech, during which he defended himself and emotionally stated he would not return a black and white dog that had been given to his children.

Murray Chotiner dictated a telegram to his secretary, Rose Mary Woods, giving up his place on the ticket, but Chotiner took the telegram and ripped it up, unsent.

On November 17,1956, Murray Chotiner married his longtime assistant, Ruth Arnold.

Murray Chotiner had the habit of a man like that of tramping on them.

In 1955, Murray Chotiner lectured at the Republican national campaign school.

Under questioning by subcommittee counsel Robert F Kennedy, the younger brother of committee member and future president John F Kennedy, Chotiner disclosed that he had been retained by New Jersey mobster Marco Regnelli in an attempt to stave off a deportation order.

Murray Chotiner testified that he never discussed his clients with Nixon, and had not used the Vice President's offices for business purposes.

On June 2,1956, the Republican National Committee announced that Murray Chotiner would have no role in the upcoming campaign.

Congress's investigations of Murray Chotiner continued through much of 1956, and were eventually postponed until after the election.

Senator Knowland considered hiring Chotiner to manage his 1958 run for governor, but did not do so, and lost to Edmund G "Pat" Brown.

Murray Chotiner ran for the United States House of Representatives in 1960, proclaiming himself "vindicated and exonerated" by the fact that no adverse report had been issued against him by the Senate.

In early 1962, Chotiner managed the unsuccessful primary campaign of conservative California Senate candidate Loyd Wright, who was easily defeated by incumbent Senator Thomas H Kuchel in the Republican primary.

Five days after the election, Chotiner appeared as a Nixon defender on Howard K Smith's News and Comment program on ABC in the episode entitled "The Political Obituary of Richard M Nixon".

Murray Chotiner had represented Hinman's wife in a contested divorce case, and Hinman had been jailed for eleven days for failure to pay his fees.

Murray Chotiner was involved in Nixon's successful 1968 presidential bid, but kept out of the public eye as special assistant to Nixon campaign manager John Mitchell.

Murray Chotiner served as liaison between the campaign and 14 Republican state organizations.

Murray Chotiner was able to place a "mole" on the Humphrey campaign press plane; the agent sent back almost daily reports on off-the-record or unreported comments made by the Democratic candidate and his staff, and evaluations of their morale.

Haldeman wished to see Murray Chotiner given a position outside the White House, as they saw him as a rival.

Accordingly, they proposed that Murray Chotiner be made RNC executive director, to wield the real power with the chairman as figurehead.

Murray Chotiner was given an office at the RNC, nominally as the official in charge of tickets for the inauguration.

Nixon, Haldeman, and Mitchell did nothing to clear up the situation, and Murray Chotiner finally took action on his own and told Bliss that he was to take control.

Bliss's aides publicized the reasons for his resignation, and reporter David Broder contacted Murray Chotiner, who confirmed the story.

Murray Chotiner took the bad news philosophically, stating that it was not the first time he had been treated badly, and that his estranged wife had predicted that Nixon would "screw" him.

However, some job still had to be found for Murray Chotiner, who had wound up his California practice and sold his home.

Murray Chotiner served as liaison between the White House and Republican organizations in 31 states.

Murray Chotiner taught at a March 1970 seminar for Young Republican leaders where he suggested that the Republican running against Senator Edward Kennedy mention the Chappaquiddick incident at every opportunity, while insisting that it was not an issue in the campaign.

Murray Chotiner was involved in recruiting Republican candidates in the unsuccessful attempt to get a Republican majority in the 1970 United States Senate elections.

Some of Murray Chotiner's friends stated that Nixon involved him in this project after news reports claimed that Nixon had abandoned his former campaign manager Murray Chotiner himself denied that and stated he had been made special counsel because some people in the White House had decided he could be useful.

Murray Chotiner stated that his twenty-year association with Nixon made it possible for him to move on matters without needing to consult the President on every detail.

Mimi Chotiner testified that the couple's matrimonial difficulties began when he left California to work for the Nixon campaign, while Murray Chotiner retorted that his wife had said that his government job in the Nixon Administration "wasn't good enough for her".

Mrs Murray Chotiner had refused to accompany her husband to Washington, stating at trial that she remained because her children were in California schools.

In March 1971, Murray Chotiner resigned from his White House job and returned to the private practice of law.

Murray Chotiner represented former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa, who had been informally promised early parole from his jury tampering sentence.

Murray Chotiner wrote to Haldeman in November 1971, noting that no action on Hoffa's release seemed to be taking place, and President Nixon granted Hoffa clemency later that month.

When Murray Chotiner's role became public in 1973, he stated that he was proud of his actions on behalf of Hoffa.

Murray Chotiner lobbied the White House on behalf of milk producers, who were seeking increased United States Department of Agriculture price supports and who were major contributors to the Republican Party.

Friedin sent reports back to Murray Chotiner, who edited them, had them typed by his secretary, and forwarded them to Mitchell and Haldeman.

When Friedin secured other employment in August 1972, Murray Chotiner replaced him with Lucianne Goldberg, who remained in that capacity for the remainder of the presidential campaign.

Murray Chotiner stated that there was "nothing underhanded or illegal" about the arrangement, and Watergate prosecutors later chose not to prosecute CRP officials concerning the payments, deciding they could not prove criminal intent.

Murray Chotiner responded by bringing suit for libel against the Union Leader and its lead investigator.

In December 1973, the parties reached a settlement by which Murray Chotiner received an undisclosed, but substantial, sum of money and the newspaper printed a front-page apology and retraction of its accusations in its December 31,1973 edition.

Murray Chotiner described Watergate in January 1973 as "a stupid, useless, inane experiment by people who have seen too many TV shows and especially too many productions of Mission Impossible".

At the suggestion that Murray Chotiner could defend him, Nixon worried that the attorney might not be willing to do so.

On January 23,1974, Chotiner was involved in an automobile accident on Virginia State Route 123 in McLean, Virginia, by the home of Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward M Kennedy, who heard the collision and called for an ambulance.

Murray Chotiner had suffered a broken leg, and appeared to be recovering.

The President attended his funeral, and emotionally told Nancy Murray Chotiner that her husband was a "great guy".

Murray Chotiner is buried at National Memorial Park in Falls Church, Virginia.

The adage known as "Murray Chotiner's Law" is named for the former Nixon adviser.

Murray Chotiner's Law has held true in every presidential election since his death.

Murray Chotiner was in many ways the most interesting personality in Nixon's political camp: aggressive, egocentric, a professional among amateurs, brilliant, overbearing, ruthless, engaging, habitually guilty of overkill, constantly enlarging his area of operation.