Dorothy Hunt (April 1, 1920 - December 8, 1972) was a central figure in the 1972 Watergate coverup, known posthumously as the "Watergate paymistress".
During the 1940s, she was employed in Europe and China by the US Treasury and State departments, potentially as a cover for intelligence work. She lived and worked in Latin America along with her husband, CIA agent E. Howard Hunt. In 1972, after her husband and his co-conspirators were arrested, she negotiated for "hush money" and delivered it to the burglars.
Dorothy Hunt was killed in a plane crash while carrying over $10,000 in cash, revealing publicly her role in the coverup. Official reports and modern consensus concluded the crash was accidental, while conspiracy theories speculate she might have been murdered for attempting to blackmail the president or the CIA.
Journalist Garrett M. Graff has argued Dorothy Hunt's death was pivotal to the unravelling of the Watergate coverup. Dorothy Hunt was prominently featured as a character in a 2023 HBO miniseries.
Early life Dorothy Louise Wetzel was born on April 1, 1920, in Dayton, Ohio to Albert C. Wetzel (1891-1954) and wife Jeannette Adams Wetzel (1891-1961). Family lore held that Dorothy was one-eighth Sioux, and some reports suggest she sometimes claimed to be 'full-blooded American Indian'.Women of Watergate p. 28
Dorothy's parents had a brief marriage beginning in 1918.Hunt (2015) p.5 In 1922, her mother was hospitalized for an operation. In 1923, her mother sued for divorce. Szulc reports Dorothy was raised by an uncle after her parents' divorce at age 3,Szulc p.64 while a family source (Hunt, 2015) argues she travelled with her mother to California before later returning to Ohio; Dorothy and her mother appear in San Francisco in the 1930 census. Hunt (2015) p.6: "A 1930 census bureau file shows Jeanette and Dorothy Wetzel living in an apartment in the heart of downtown San Francisco."
Dorothy attended a Cleveland high school before going on to Bowling Green State University.Hunt (2015) p.7 One source reports a Dorothy Wetzel left school by February 1939. She was fluent in French and Spanish.
Early career Bern In 1945, Wetzel joined the Treasury Department's Hidden Asset Division and began working in Bern, Switzerland. She served as an assistant to James Speyer Kronthal. Hunt (2015) speculates she was linked to Operation Safehaven (1944–1948) to prevent the Axis powers from hiding assets in neutral nations. Originally a joint project of State and Treasury, Safe Haven later came under the leadership of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of the CIA. Hunt (2015) reports his mother recalled having met OSS chief and future CIA head Allen Dulles during her time in Bern.Hunt (2015) p.13
Shanghai After the Japanese surrender, Wetzel traveled to Shanghai, China to set up the Treasury office there. Sometime in 1946-7, she married Peter de Goutiere, a pilot who had grown up on a family estate in India. Hunt (2015) relays tales of his mother accusing her spouse of alcoholism, abusiveness, and womanizing; She soon left her husband and returned to Shanghai. Hunt (2015) recalls that she later fled the Communist takeover of Shanghai, leaving on one of the last trains able to freely exit the city. She returned the US. Hunt (2015) p. 15 Author Jeremy Kuzmarov and others report she served as a technical advisor on the 1948 film To the Ends of the Earth which is set, in part, in Shanghai. Paris In 1948, she applied for a position with the CIA, but accepted a position with the Economic Cooperation Administration. In 1949, she worked in Paris where she served as secretary to W. Averell Harriman in Paris during the Marshall Plan. A 1972 CIA assessment of Dorothy in this era labelled her "an amoral and dangerous woman".https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/104-10103-10057.pdf "Subject's wife, Dorothy Louise Goutiere Hunt, was investigated for Agency employment in 1948. Неr former husband was described as a habitual drunkard, and Subject's wife was described as slightly unstable and not inclined to remain in one place for any length of time. She did not enter on duty, having accepted a position with the Economic Cooperation Administration in Paris. Our Paris sources later reported that Subject's wife was formerly his mistress and was openly flouted as such for several months. She was then described as an amoral and dangerous individual who underhandedly attacked those persons who incurred her enmity." Hunt's son, St. John, would later adapt the quote into the title of his book Dorothy, “An Amoral and Dangerous Woman” In 1974, author Tad Szulc described her role as "secretary for the CIA station in Paris, also working under a State Department cover".
Marriage to Hunt and life abroad On September 7, 1949, having become pregnant, she married E. Howard Hunt. His family objected to his marrying a catholic divorcee. Hunt joined the CIA and the pair moved to Georgetown. Dorothy suffered a miscarriage.Hunt (2015) p.31
On February 17, 1950, the CIA Office of Security contacted Hunt to inform him that his new wife had "left-wing attitudes regarding certain minority groups". Hunt acknowledged his wife's views and promised to take steps to minimize further complaints. The unidentified memo author concludes "I was very favorably impressed by Mr. HUNT'S attitude concerning my admonitions, and I respect him for his forthright denouncement and evaluation of his wife's shortcomings. I am firm in my belief that Mr. HUNT is thoroughly patriotic, completely anti-Communist, and that there will be no repetition of past complaints. I sincerely recommend that we close the book on this issue, and start over with a clean slate".Hunt (2015) p.32
Hunt was named CIA station chief in Mexico City and potentially tasked with planning Operation PBSuccess, the upcoming coup of Guatemala. The couple relocated to Mexico City, and their first child, Lisa was born in March 1950. A second daughter, Kevan, was born in 1952. Dorothy suffered another miscarriage in 1953, but gave birth to the coupe's first son, St. John, in March 1954. Hunt (2015) p.36
In June 1954, the CIA successfully overthrew the government of Guatemala, and Hunt was promoted and transferred to Tokyo, Japan. Hunt (2015) points to Norman Mailer's 1991 novel Harlot's Ghost in which a fictionalized version of Dorothy Hunt is reported responsible for theft of an Argentine codebook while in Tokyo.p.45
In January 1957, the family moved to Montevideo, Uruguay where Hunt became station chief. While in Montevideo, the couple met sitting President Eisenhower during an embassy visit. Hunt (2015) p.45
In 1960, the family left Uruguay and relocated to Washington D.C. where Dorothy worked at the Spanish embassy. William Buckley Jr served as Godfather to Hunt's older children and executor of her estate. Bay of Pigs leader Manuel Artime was Godfather to the Hunts' youngest child, David.Hunt (2015) p.137 In 1964, the family relocated to Madrid, Spain. The couple had a fourth child, David. In 1966, they moved to Potomac, Maryland, residing at a property that Dorothy named 'Witches Island'. She purchased an Arabian horse for herself and several quarter horses for the children. In 1968, her daughters Lisa and Kevan were in a car accident -- Lisa suffered amnesia and a suicide attempt and was hospitalized for a year at the Shepard Pratt Mental Institution. Kevan suffered broken bones. Hunt (2015) p.59
During Christmas vacation 1969, Dorothy's son St. John confessed to having been molested by a teacher at his Hagerstown, Maryland boarding school. Dorothy shared the admission with her husband and the offender fled the school.Hunt (2015) p.60
In 1971, Dorothy's husband Howard was recruited to the White House Special Investigations Unit by Chuck Colson, Special Counsel to President Nixon. Hunt (2015) recalls Dorothy disliked her husband's co-conspirator G. Gordon Liddy, regarding him as extremist and a racist. Hunt (2015) reports his mother confided in him that her husband had been having an affair with a woman named Tricia Flores and that she was planning to divorce.Hunt (2015) p.67
Watergate 'paymistress'
Dorothy Hunt was in London on June 17, 1972, when the Watergate burglars were arrested.Hunt 2015 p.76 She returned shortly thereafter. On June 27, she was interviewed by the FBI, denied any knowledge of the Watergate burglary. She told agents she was unaware of her husband's location, having last spoken to him over telephone on June 21. The Women of Watergate records that "Dorothy, alone among the Watergate wives, became an active partner in the cover-up, acting as courier to transmit huge sums in cash from the White House to other defendants".Women of Watergate,p.30
She reportedly contacted Douglas Caddy, her husband's former attorney, and was rebuffed. Unable to contact Liddy, Dorothy Hunt visited Paul O'Brien, general counsel for the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). On July 2, Dorothy was reunited with her husband who had returned to Maryland. On July 4, she was quoted in press dismissing claims that her husband had fled to Europe. According to Howard's autobiography, on July 7, his attorney relayed having received $25,000 to cover his fees, along with a call from a "Mr. Rivers" who said he wanted to talk to "the writer's wife". Dorothy concluded the caller was a response to her visit to O'Brien.Hunt (2015) p. 90
Dorothy began communicating with "Mr. Rivers", later identified as Tony Ulasewicz, via payphone to avoid wiretaps. "Rivers" provided hush money to the defendants. Ulasewicz later recalled "I began to have a series of long tortuous conversations with the 'writer's wife,' Dorothy Hunt. On July 11, Kalmbach had called me to give me Dorothy Hunt's telephone number, instructing me to deal with her from now on. I don't know who put her in charge of arranging delivery of the rest of the money, but as soon as I spoke with her, the pattern and mood of the calls changed dramatically. She acted like a gambling casino pit boss, directing the dealer, counting the chips, figuring the odds, making sure her cut was secure. She didn't want to listen to the strictures binding my position as courier of the money. She also raised the ante each time I spoke with her."
On one occasion, Ulasewicz instructed Dorothy to retrieve locker key from a specific location at National Airport (later Dulles). Inside the locker, she would find a bag and envelope containing cash. Hunt (2015) report the first such envelope contained $40,000. She would ultimately receive at least $150,000 over four payments.Hunt (2015) p. 106
Hunt lost her job at the Spanish Embassy due to publicity surrounding Watergate.p. 99 She reportedly told friends "Howard is being made a scape goat", and defending her husband by saying "They ordered him to do this and it is wrong for them to prosecute him."The women of Watergate. p 28
Dorothy Hunt reportedly felt unease in her dealings with Jim McChord.Hunt (2015), quoting Howard: "my wife told me that her dealings with McCord made her feel uneasy. There was something 'wrong' about him, she said repeatedly, and the less she had to do with him, the better, as far as she was concerned."
In October 1972, Dorothy attempted to directly communicate with Chuck Colson. On October 22, she reportedly contacted Colson's secretary Joan Hall. Colson declined to communicate with her, but later admitted she was "upset at the interruption of payment" from the White House to the Watergate defendants. Jim McChord would later recall a conversation with Dorothy where she related the Hunts having threatened "to blow the White House out of the water."Hunt (2015) p.106 On November 14,1972, Dorothy and Howard composed a memo warning that "half measures will be unacceptable" and demanding "1. Financial Support. 2. Legal Defense Fees. 3. Pardons. 4. Rehabilitation." The memo led to another payout, received in January.