From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I. Irving Davidson was an American arms dealer, political middleman and lobbyist.
Davidson was registered under FARA as a lobbyist for the Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle.[1] Over the duration of 1955-1960 he was paid over $500,000 by Somoza.[2] In 1963 he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his lobbying for Nicaragua.[3] After Dominican President Joaquín Balaguer was exiled from the country in 1962, the US Department of State kept in touch with the former president with Davidson functioning as a liaison.[4] Davidson was a lobbyist for the Haitian dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalier.[5]
Davidson was a close associate of Jimmy Hoffa. During 1961 and 1962, he received a $7 million loan from the Teamster Pension Fund.[6] He served as an intermediatory between Hoffa and then-Vice President Richard Nixon‘s representative Allan Oakley Hunter. He introduced Hoffa to Texas Governor John B. Connally at a Democratic Party event in Los Angeles, 1960.[7] He also had ties to New Orleans crime boss Carlos Marcello, who Davidson boasted that he was a “door opener and arranger” for.[8] In 1981 Marcello and Davidson were put on trial for attempting to obtain public insurance contracts via bribery and kickbacks. Marcello was convicted but Davidson was found not guilty.[9] The FBI had wiretapped Davidson’s phone and recorded his conversations.[10] Davidson claimed that the FBI had offered not to charge him if he agreed to provide them with information on Marcello.[11]
Another client of Davidson’s, was the Texan oilman Clint Murchison Sr.[12] He was a contact of the journalists Jack Anderson and Drew Pearson, serving as a source of information for their reporting. Anderson rented office space to Davidson.[13] On 2 November 1978 Davidson was interviewed by the House Select Committee on Assassinations about his dealings in Haiti and his suspected ties to George de Mohrenschildt.[14]
- ^ Howe, Russell Warren (1977). The Power Peddlers: How Lobbyists Mold American’s Foreign Policy. Doubleday. p. 150.
- ^ Louis, J.C. (1980). The Cola Wars. Everest House. p. 300.
- ^ Sheehan, Susan (13 August 1972). “The Anderson strategy: We hit you‐pow! Then you issue a denial, and‐bami‐we really let you have it”. The New York Times.
- ^ Pilisuk, Marc (1984). “The Dominican Counterexample to Cuba: The American Path to Development”. International Journal of Health Services. 14 (2): 217–235.
- ^ Debs Heinl Jr., Robert (November 1967). “Haiti–Next Mess in the Caribbean?”. The Atlantic.
- ^ Louis, J.C. (1980). The Cola Wars. Everest House. p. 124.
- ^ Parmet, Herbert S. (1990). Richard Nixon and his America. Little, Brown & Company. pp. 418–9.
- ^ Moldea, Dan. Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football. Open Road. p. 96.
- ^ “Brilab Jury Convicts Carlos Marcello and Former Louisiana Official”. The New York Times. 4 August 1981.
- ^ L. Sear, Morey (1982). “How to Try a Tape Case”. Litigation. 9 (1): 28–30.
- ^ DeMers, John (8 July 1981). “A Washington lobbyist said in federal court today FBI…” UPI.
- ^ “Billy Relates Request by Murchison For Help in Collecting Libyan Debt”. The Washington Post.
- ^ Chaplin, Gordon (2 April 1980). “Behind The Schemes”. The Washington Post.
- ^ Appendix to Hearings Before Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives Ninety-Fifth Congress Second Session, Volume XII. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1979. p. 57.
