WEBVTT - 1. The Disappearance 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:08.079 Good evening. Search planes and fishing boats hunted along the 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:11.720 Alaska coast today for a small plane that disappeared yesterday 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:14.880 on a flight from Anchorage to Juneau. On that plane 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:17.360 four men, one of them the Democratic Leader of the 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:21.320 House of Representatives, hay O Boggs of Louisiana. The fifty 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:25.040 eight year old Louisiana congressman, was in Alaska campaigning for 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.760 the re election of that state's only Congressman, Nick Beggitt. 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:31.880 Boggs spoke Sunday night at a dinner for baggage at 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:35.080 an Anchorage hotel before leaving with him and others yesterday 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:37.080 morning on the flight to You know, it was a 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:42.160 warm reception, but then the next day trouble. Somewhere along 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.839 the five hundred and fifty mile planned flight path, the 0:00:44.880 --> 0:01:06.920 plane disappeared in a rain store. Close your eyes, picture Alaska. 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:16.280 What do you see? Mountains, snow, waves, Do you feel cold? Alone? 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.240 Somewhere in that expanse lies the wreckage of a missing 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:25.280 cessna and the bodies of four men, including two US Congressmen. 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:32.039 Their disappearance on October six two prompted the largest search 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.560 in American history, a search that spanned thirty nine days 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:39.600 and covered three and twenty five thousand square miles. Yet 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:42.200 no sign of the men or they're plane ever surfaced, 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:52.840 No oil slick, no wreckage, nothing. Ever. This story is 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:55.560 one of the great mysteries of American history. But you've 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.840 probably never heard of it, and that's okay. Even in 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.000 nineteen seventy two, it vanished from the headlines within weeks. 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:06.160 A nation consumed with Watergate and Vietnam quickly moved on. 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.360 For the families of the men of Congressman Hail Bogs 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:14.480 and Nick Beggett, pilot Don John's, and political aid Russ Brown, 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.400 it was a slower process without a wreck. There were 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:24.359 no definitive answers, no closure. Eleven children, including the journalist 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.680 Coke Roberts and future U. S. Senator Mark Begets, lost 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:36.240 their fathers. The weather that day in two was turbulent, 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:40.320 the skies a violent gray. The plane was last heard 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.640 from near a rugged mountain pass. It was presumed to 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.680 have iced up and crashed, perhaps crumpled into a glacier 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.919 or submerged in frigid water. That presumption that the plane 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:54.200 was felled by ice explains in part why so little 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.720 attention has been paid to this story during the past 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:02.720 fifty years. Alaska, bad weather, a small plane, nothing special. Sure, 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:06.360 there were two congressmen on board, so what right? But 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.440 the story that was never told, the story I uncovered 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:13.840 during a nine year investigation, is much more complex. My 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:17.160 name is John Wallzac. I'm an investigative journalist based in 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:21.240 New Orleans, and since I've obtained thousands of pages of 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:25.160 government documents, interviewed dozens of people, and traveled all over 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:29.400 the nation researching the disappearance. What I learned is bizarre 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:34.360 and until now largely untold. Nearly fifty years after the 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.720 plane vanished, people are dying and time is running out. 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.040 This mystery will be solved now or will likely never 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:47.760 be solved. And to be honest, I'm exhausted, but I'm 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:51.080 making one final push to solve this case. I'm not 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:57.960 giving up yet, but I need your help. One last thing. 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:00.880 I struggled with whether or not I should even tell 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:04.000 this story or just let it be publishing It will 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.800 hurt people, It will drag out allegations of affairs and murder. 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:12.960 A few people, including FBI agents, journalists, and politicians, end 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.279 up looking good at the end. If you're in Alaska, 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.240 and you're hearing this for the first time. Ask yourself why, 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.800 because well connected people in your state no significant parts 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.080 of this story and they're not telling it to you. 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:30.520 But first some background. Let's flash back to October fift 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:44.640 n two. The only thing I remember was dead. My 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:51.760 husband tell me we were reception and expecting I don't 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:56.840 know people or something. That's Susan Millish. She and her 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.920 husband Donald, hosted a cocktail fundraiser for the congressman in 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:04.000 Anchorage the night before they disappeared. Donald remembers that Boggs, 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:06.279 who had just flown in from d C, was jet 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:08.760 lagged but jovial as he spoke to a small crowd 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.559 in front of a fireplace, was having a good time, 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:16.040 and they talked about their trip, and you know, Bobs 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:20.159 was excited about going down to southeast and country. And 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:25.240 that's about it. After the reception, the Congressman drove to 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.200 a dinner fundraiser in a packed hotel ballroom. Their final 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:32.120 public event. Alan Dodds Frank was a young reporter who 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:41.480 covered it for the Anchorage Daily News. Energetic, thoughtful speaker 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:48.160 who pumped up the crowd. He's got everybody is on 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.120 their feet and more important he was he was a 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.640 big attraction to raise money for Vegas and draw a 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.320 big crap box. Was indeed a v I p His 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:00.520 visit to Alaska was a big deal. He been friends 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:03.320 with the presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Was 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:05.560 expected to be elected the next Speaker of the House, 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:08.440 and in the nineteen sixties, during a pivotal moment in 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:12.839 American history, he had supported civil rights legislation, something which 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:16.400 almost cost him his seat in nine because I come 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:21.800 from a deep ship, but I have consistently believed in 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:28.560 the Bill of Rights, and I have voted for civil rights, 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:36.000 and I have voted for voting rights. Des I didn't 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:41.640 think the people of the territory of Alaska shouldn't be 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:46.840 second class citizens. I didn't think that the people who 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.240 have had a color of skin that was open from mine, 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.480 who lived in my community community, shouldn't be second class. 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:59.240 So I voted that boy. But perhaps what Boggs is 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:01.960 best known for war is his service on the Warrant Commission, 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:06.880 which investigated JFK's assassination. Inevitably, when people here I'm working 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:09.240 on this story, they ask whether or not I think 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.280 the congressman's disappearance had anything to do with Kennedy's death. 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:18.160 My answer is emphatically no. In private letters and public remarks, 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:22.120 Box expressed confidence in the commission's findings. The Warrant Commission 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:32.040 took testimony from many, many witnesses, well over a thousands uh. 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:39.040 The testimony runs in twenty six bound volumes and many, 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:45.040 many millions of words. It had its disposal, the complete 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:50.080 resources of the FBI, the Secret Service, c i A, 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.960 the Intelligence of the Army, Navy, Air Force, the State Department. 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:58.880 The only admonition we had was to find the truth, 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:04.440 and we sought the truth, and I my own conviction 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.200 is that we found it. I have my my own 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.360 conviction is it. There's no doubt about it. Even though 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.760 I found nothing indicating Box's disappearance had anything to do 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:17.880 with the Kennedy assassination, I did uncover serious allegations of 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:21.119 a different conspiracy. I'll get to that in due time. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:24.160 For now, though, let me say this, it's amazing what 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:26.200 you can dig up with the Freedom of Information Act 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.320 request or a deep dive in an archive. Here are 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:34.400 two quick examples. One, on the night of July nineteen seventy, 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.719 someone in a late model Lincoln Continental forced Bogs off 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.000 the road in d C near the intersection of Woodley 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.160 Road and thirty fourth Street. Boggs gave chase and took 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:46.080 down a license plate number. Beyond that, I don't know 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.920 much the incident, which picture it a congressional car chase, 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:52.920 was only documented on a single sheet I obtained from 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:57.599 the FBI. Two. While digging through documents at Tulane University, 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:01.640 I found a letter dated December nineteen sixty three indicating 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:03.800 Bogg's plan to keep a diary while serving on the 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:07.920 Warrant Commission. That diary, if it existed, would obviously be 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:12.040 of immense interest to historians and conspiracy buffs alike behind 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:16.520 the scenes account of the investigation into the Kennedy assassination. Sadly, 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.360 though I found no proof Bogs followed through and actually 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.120 kept one, a member of his family told me they 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:33.640 were unaware of the existence of any diary. If Bogs 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.400 wasn't murdered because of his service on the Warren Commission, 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:39.240 some people say maybe he was killed because of his 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:43.920 feud with j Edgar Hoover, the infamous FBI director. I 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:47.480 don't buy it, but the feud was real. In April, 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:51.240 Bogs had taken to the floor of Congress to slam 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:55.160 Hoover and the FBI, which he compared to the Gestapo. 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.760 Hail Boggs, the Democratic leader of the House, insists that 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.680 his telephone has been tapped, that the FBI has spying 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.800 on his personal life, and, as he puts it, we 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:10.760 are living in a police state today. The FBI said 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:14.120 the charge was, in its words, absolutely and utterly false, 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.960 but Boggs was insistent. He said j Edgar Hoover was 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:22.040 incompetent and should resign. And he asked the question, if 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:24.440 this can happen to the majority leader of the House 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.319 of Representatives, what do you think could happen to an 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:31.640 ordinary citizen. The Nixon administration was piste off, and it 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:36.360 pushed back. Attorney General John Mitchell accused Boggs of quote 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:41.040 tap anoia. At the White House. President Nixon was ironically 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.680 caught on tape discussing Bogs with then Congressman Gerald Ford, 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:50.560 who didn't know he was being recorded. Good morning, the surprise, Jerry, 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.960 are you what's the matter with your opposite number? He's 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:57.760 not my god. I when I read the spar last night, 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:02.040 and incidentally, I thought you made fine comment it I uh, 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:05.880 I said Jesus Key right. Did you know that the 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:09.000 FBI has not had a tip I don't knowing, not 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:12.439 only on no congressman or no old senator, but not 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:14.719 even any place anybody that is ever the moment that 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:19.160 crossed into that capital for did you know that? I 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:21.800 didn't know that. But I mean, oh, Hoover has got 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.640 the record. I mean, this is the most ridiculous stamping. 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.560 And but the fellow is uh, it's he's on the sauce, 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.439 isn't it it? Well, I I'm afraid that's right now. 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:34.160 Is crazy. I mean he's either drinking too much or 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:39.000 he's taking some pills that that are upsetting him mentally. 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.880 Last Thursday when we were getting the program for the week, 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:50.400 he was mumbling. He was almost incoherent. It was very 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:54.600 embarrassing to Carl and to everybody who was on the floor. Yeah, 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:58.640 Bogs like to drink, sure, but Nickson like to slander people. 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:02.280 And I have no idea of any of this is true. Regardless, 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:05.720 as NBC's David Brinkley pointed out, their Bad Blood did 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:09.480 highlight bitter tensions in the body politic. As Bog said, 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.880 numerous members of Congress believe at least that their phones 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:16.600 are tapped and they're being spied on, or both. Even 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:19.120 if they believe this wrongly, the fact they believe it 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.680 at all tells a great deal about the mood and 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:26.720 temper in Washington these days. Ultimately, there's no evidence Hoover 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:30.280 had anything to do with Box's disappearance. In fact, Hoover 0:12:30.440 --> 0:13:01.760 himself died in May, five months before Bog's vanished. When 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:06.640 Boggs landed in Alaska on October, he found a state 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:11.360 undergoing a rapid transformation. Only four years earlier, Alaskans had 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.800 discovered they were sitting on a sea of gold, black gold. 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:20.240 That's the camp on the first oil well struck on 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.640 the North Slope in Alaska. This country's biggest oil strike 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:28.000 in a generation, bigger than Texas. This is the shore 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.720 of Prudeo Bay. But it's hard to tell where the 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:33.640 shore stops in the bay starts, because the so called 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:37.000 land in summer is two thirds water and one third 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:41.000 mud tundra it's called In the winter, it's all frozen. 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:44.200 Since we're well inside the Arctic Circle up toward the 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:48.000 North Pole. It's so cold here in the winter, sixty 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:52.280 below zero with the wind blowing. Even the Esquimos left 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:55.719 a long time ago, and until now the Caribou had 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:59.640 it all to themselves. But now with the oil strike, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.920 the oil companies are moving in and drooling and building 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.240 camps for their workers. It's about as rough as in 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.040 the Alaska gold rush of the eighteen nineties, and the 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:13.000 man are just as tough. But before Alaska could reap 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.200 the benefits of that oil, a pipeline needed to be constructed. 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.520 And before a pipeline could be constructed, there were legal 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:23.920 and political obstacles to overcome, including demands from Alaska Natives 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.880 that they'd be compensated for their land across which part 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.720 of the pipeline would be built. This is how Nick 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.640 Beggett got a chance to make a massive, lasting impact 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.560 on the state and the nation. In his first and 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:38.920 only term in Congress, Beggatt's helped pass the Alaska Native 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.960 Claims Settlement Act, or ANKSA, which President Nixon signed into law. 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.960 ANKSA gave Alaska Natives forty four million acres of land 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.400 and nearly one billion dollars, paving the way for pipeline 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:55.240 construction to eventually begin. Beggatt's raw political talent driven by 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.760 an earnest nerdy charm and infectious laugh and a hard 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.360 charging work ethic through the attention of leaders like hell Bogs. 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.840 By this time I've gotten very fund of him, and 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.280 also admit his wife and I liked it. But if 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:15.560 any ways, This is the final recording of Bogs, taken 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:19.000 the night before he disappeared. In it, he discusses the 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:24.880 turbulent political moment and fears of creeping authoritarianism, but ultimately 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:33.640 I took chalitarian phone government comes along. Of course, the 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:38.160 idea of any such thing occurring of necessary in this 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:44.120 country is ridiculous. The idea that we should have twenty 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:49.200 five percent of the industrial capacity of the United States 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:57.760 lying on today, when every city needs rebuilding, when project 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:03.240 after project after project, cry is out, you're shopping that. 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:08.240 I reject off that. After Bogs finished speaking, Begette took 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.840 the podium. Though he was expected to easily win re election, 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:14.920 he didn't want to take victory for granted, that wasn't 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:18.240 his style. He had a busy few weeks planned, will 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:20.720 be in the state the next approximate twenty one days 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:24.040 through the end of making approximately two appearances from now on, 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:29.680 and we want you to know that Hale says, where 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:31.480 do you get the energy when you get people turned 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:33.680 out like this? For you, you you get the energy and return. 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:35.680 It's spontaneous with me and I sort of lived off 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.640 the match, off the galls of crowds. Anything more than 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:43.640 two gets me going tonight. We got quite a few tunes, 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:50.880 so okay, not sleep tonight. This tape rediscovered in fades 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:54.360 in and out to Carol and Carol, Lonnie and Barbara 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:57.400 and doctor and mus Lay and A Cram and all 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:00.400 of you made this affair such a success tonight. This 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:03.040 is one time I was not too closely associated with 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.520 the event as I have in the past. That too 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:13.600 many things along the last two the recent and with 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:26.600 that the video cuts out. Eight days earlier, on October seventh, 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.879 Beggae had given his final recorded interview to Tom Duncan 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:32.959 of k u a C, a radio station in Fairbanks. 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:36.160 Congressman Baggage, I'd like to shift the scene from Alaska 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.520 to Washington. Do you feel that the Watergate affair will 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:44.640 have any influence on President Nixon's campaign for re election? Oh? Shared, well, 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:46.680 I think all of these things. In fact, I call 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:51.520 that I'm sure you've heard of mission impossible. I call 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:56.000 that mission incredible, the most incredible thing I've ever imagined. 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.400 When Mr Nixon way back in those days, way way 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.400 ahead points totals, and to get connected with this kind 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.840 of thing and just it was well, it was insulting 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:12.120 to the American system, a fair play. Americans react to that, 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.359 and I could see why he's trying to disavow any 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:18.600 association with that affair. I would if I were in 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.199 his position too, because the most incredible that you'd have 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:25.280 it tied to the higher ischela that's being tied right now, 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.320 and there's been some real revelations the last couple of days. Baggage, 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:34.639 a clean, scandal free politician, denounced Nixon's behavior but recognized 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:38.680 that the president remained popular. He predicted Nixon's Democratic opponent, 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.840 Senator George McGovern, who was down in the polls, would 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:45.040 come out swinging, and said the race was still unpredictable, 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:49.000 so it might be an interesting campaign. Yet, don't underestimate 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:53.040 the American public this year. Nobody can come count what's 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:58.000 gonna happen. Strange year. Indeed, whoever thought the year ago 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:01.080 the McGovern would be the cadidate? I didn't be very 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:03.960 honest about it. Neither did my government. Maybe with six 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.760 percent of the vote. You know, back in Florida, look 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:12.960 what happened, Congressman beg thank you very much as Begat 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:17.000 and Bogg's campaign an anchorage. On October, Don John's, a 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.080 thirty eight year old blonde haired, blue eyed bush pilot 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:23.119 in Fairbanks, three d and sixty miles to the north, 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:27.159 got an unexpected call. His friend Tom Cora Mettis was 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.320 with him when the phone rang. And I went over 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:35.520 to Don's place and gave that call, and Don says, Tom, 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:37.720 let's go. I said, where are we going? He said, 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:40.680 I got to go to Anchor supply. This guy too 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:45.080 Beggage and this guy to Juno. I said, I can. 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:48.879 I left Sandra over at Barry's place. Sandra was Tom's wife, 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:52.680 and he said, okay, I've got to go, and that's 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.359 when he backed up and took off. But before he 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.280 drove to the airport, John's called one of his mechanics, 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:02.360 Phil Hugh, who had just finished a hundred hour maintenance 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:05.200 inspection on the plane. John's wanted to take the anchorage, 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.600 and he called me in the evening about six o'clock 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:14.120 and nice says, it's sitting in the hangar warm. He says, well, 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:17.359 could you roll it out? I need that aircraft and 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:21.840 roll it out and feel it up for me. I says, okay. Well, 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:25.800 when he got there, the airplane was sitting outside, fueled up, 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.320 ready to go, and I met him. He says he 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:32.680 was going to anchor each with it and spend spending 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:36.440 the night. Do you remember the last thing he said 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:44.399 to you? Goodbye? I will you know? Yeah. He walked 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:49.359 around the air plane, done a pre flight check, and 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:53.480 I did most of the talking. I told him about 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:57.480 the airplane. Everything was button up, everything looked good. It 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:03.919 was fixed, fueled oils fine, spark plugs are clean. This 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:06.840 would be the first flight out of it. And he 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:09.760 went and got an airplane and closed the door, and 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:12.119 before he did, I said, they have a good flight. 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:15.679 Fired up the engine. He waved to me out the 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:20.520 cockpit window and start taxing out and then get kind 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.119 of windy standing in the back of the props. And 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:27.040 so I turned around and walked to the truck. When 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:30.800 I walked back to the hangar, which was real close, 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:34.359 shut the lights out, closed the door, and went home. 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:46.160 At M John's landed an Anchorage fifty minutes later, as 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:49.800 Bogs and Beggett spoke only a few miles away, Cheryl James, 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:53.359 then Cheryl Mitchell met him at the airport. John's and 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:56.119 James had dated for about a year. I picked him 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:58.119 up the airport. We went out and we had dinner 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.080 new Um. He wouldn't drink. I think he had one drink, 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:04.320 and that's it. Because he was flying, he really restricted 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:08.520 his alcohol intake. I remember during the night he woke 0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:12.800 up like two times and checked the weather forecast because 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:16.560 he was really concerned about weather, and that back then 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:21.200 was a matter of picking up a phone landline phone 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:23.639 and calling. And then I took him to the airport 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:27.320 the next day. That morning, John's and James arrived at 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:30.439 the airport sometime before eight am. We went to the 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:35.040 airport and we had breakfast, and then after breakfast, and 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:38.080 I think that may have been where he called John's 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:40.600 who was divorced, placed a brief call to his ten 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:43.919 year old son, Aaron, and then we um went to 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:47.639 the aircraft. It was parked below the tower, got in 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:51.080 the aircraft and we taxied over and got gas, Um 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:55.000 filled up the plane and then we taxied back That 0:22:55.160 --> 0:23:02.040 probably took maybe half an hour, I'm guessing. When we 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:04.880 got back there were three men standing there waiting for us, 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:09.600 and uh, he parked the plane and we both got out. 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:16.000 We kind of introduced ourselves to each other, and um, 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:20.000 they got him ber the aircraft. Cheryld. James left shortly after. 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:24.640 She didn't see the plane take off. Is it surreal 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:30.560 to you that you played a small part in history, 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:34.080 that you were the very last person to see these 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:38.800 men alive? These men who had families and bogs, who 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:41.920 was a historic figure, who was on the Warrant Commission 0:23:42.080 --> 0:23:46.080 and played a role in passing civil rights legislation, and 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:48.440 you were the very last human being on the planet 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:55.360 to see them alive. I it's really hard to believe 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:57.479 that I was the last person. I mean, it just 0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:00.919 and I don't think of it in that. I just 0:24:01.240 --> 0:24:03.280 think of them all getting on board that airplane and 0:24:03.320 --> 0:24:10.720 that being the end um the last one. It's hard 0:24:10.760 --> 0:24:25.800 to believe. At John's requested permission to taxi down Runaway 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:35.680 twenty four, R found a drive that four minutes later 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:56.639 he lifted off. Melvin South, a controlled tower operator, was 0:24:56.680 --> 0:24:59.119 the last person to spot the plane, A white and 0:24:59.200 --> 0:25:04.560 orange cessa of three Tennessee, everything appeared normal. At nine 0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:07.560 o nine, John spoke with Robert Mahoney, an f A, 0:25:07.560 --> 0:25:11.719 a flight service specialist for years. I tried to locate 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:14.639 a tape of their conversation, but had no luck. The 0:25:14.720 --> 0:25:18.679 f A says it no longer exists. John's estimated the 0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:21.560 flight would take about three and a half hours. Mahoney 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:24.000 asked whether or not he had emergency gear and a 0:25:24.040 --> 0:25:29.720 locator beacon on board, and John's replied affirmative. Then silence. 0:25:57.080 --> 0:26:00.080 At one pm, forty five minutes after the plane was 0:26:00.119 --> 0:26:03.000 scheduled to land in Juno, word reached the US Air 0:26:03.000 --> 0:26:07.320 Force Rescue Coordination Center that the men were overdue. At three, 0:26:07.560 --> 0:26:10.600 when the plane still hadn't arrived and when it theoretically 0:26:10.600 --> 0:26:13.239 would have run out of fuel, concern ratchet it up. 0:26:13.680 --> 0:26:17.960 It affected everyone in town. It was like wildfire package box. 0:26:18.119 --> 0:26:22.639 The plane didn't arrives baggage, and the whole town was paralyzed. 0:26:22.640 --> 0:26:25.920 It was it was just frozen moment, and of course 0:26:25.960 --> 0:26:28.639 it always is with a plane crash. Um. We in 0:26:28.680 --> 0:26:32.120 the state of Alaska don't have many roads, so our 0:26:32.200 --> 0:26:36.879 means of transportation or airplanes, so it's nothing and we 0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:38.720 don't even think about it. I'm gonna just top the 0:26:38.760 --> 0:26:40.679 plane and go to Juno, go to Anchorage, go to 0:26:40.760 --> 0:26:44.840 non Contibute. It's our means and mode of travel. So 0:26:46.960 --> 0:26:49.879 it's always frightening when you hear the plane didn't derive. 0:26:51.280 --> 0:26:57.040 Ah missing late, and everyone has the same paralysis in 0:26:57.080 --> 0:27:00.840 their brain. Oh my god, where are they? TERSA Gergson 0:27:01.000 --> 0:27:03.960 was a Civil Air Patrol volunteer in Juno. She was 0:27:04.000 --> 0:27:06.000 working at a shoe store when the call came in 0:27:06.040 --> 0:27:10.160 that the plane was overdue. I just remember it was serious. 0:27:10.880 --> 0:27:15.040 It was you know, time stopped. It was very serious. 0:27:16.480 --> 0:27:21.760 People then were just hushed. Everyone was talking. The planet 0:27:21.760 --> 0:27:26.080 is messing out, you know. It was just because then 0:27:26.119 --> 0:27:30.680 people because then activity started happening in the little shoe store. 0:27:30.680 --> 0:27:33.640 People were in and out the door, and what would 0:27:33.680 --> 0:27:37.760 soon morph into a massive search operation began simply enough, 0:27:38.080 --> 0:27:41.119 with the help of fishing boats, volunteer pilots, and a 0:27:41.160 --> 0:27:45.439 few military planes. But there was only so much they 0:27:45.440 --> 0:27:48.359 could do. The weather was bad and it was getting 0:27:48.440 --> 0:27:55.359 dark across the country. And besides the Maryland Lyndy Boggs, 0:27:55.400 --> 0:27:58.719 Hale's wife was dozing off at her kitchen table with 0:27:58.840 --> 0:28:03.560 Rowan and Martin's laughing and blaring on the TV. Here 0:28:03.600 --> 0:28:08.600 she is recalling that moment. It was almost asleep. I 0:28:08.640 --> 0:28:11.720 was waiting for hal to come in from the airport 0:28:12.160 --> 0:28:18.240 in Washington, and I I had a telephone call that 0:28:18.480 --> 0:28:23.000 startled me just because I was half asleep, and completely 0:28:23.040 --> 0:28:28.680 startled my little dog. And the dog tried to get 0:28:28.720 --> 0:28:32.280 between me and the telephone. He jumped on to the 0:28:32.320 --> 0:28:34.960 table where the phone was, tried to knock the phone 0:28:35.000 --> 0:28:39.200 out of my hand. Yes, like he knew. And it 0:28:39.320 --> 0:28:42.440 was Carl Albert telling me that he didn't want me 0:28:42.600 --> 0:28:46.440 to hear the ten o'clock news. To the speak of 0:28:46.440 --> 0:28:51.000 the half, I really wanted to interview Lindy, but in July, 0:28:52.240 --> 0:28:55.040 only two weeks before I moved to New Orleans, she 0:28:55.200 --> 0:29:01.440