All the President's Men by Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein Read Free Book Online

above a typed notation: “Sr. Manuel Ogarrio D. 99-026-10.”
    But there was a fifth check, for $25,000. It was slightly wider than the others, and was dated April 10. Bernstein copied it, as he had the other four, just as if he were drawing a facsimile. It was a cashier’s check, drawn on the First Bank and Trust Co. of Boca Raton, Florida, No. 131138, payable to the order of Kenneth H. Dahlberg. Dardis returned to the room as Bernstein finished copying. The $25,000 had been deposited on April 20, along with the four Mexican checks, making a total deposit of $114,000. Four days later, Barker had withdrawn $25,000. The remaining $89,000 had been withdrawn separately.
    “We’re still trying to find out who this Dahlberg guy is,” said Dardis. “You ever hear of him?”
    Bernstein said he hadn’t.
    Dardis handed Bernstein the Xeroxed phone records and said, “Come back at nine tomorrow and we can talk. I’ve gotta run.”
    Thanks, said Bernstein, I really appreciate the help.
    Bernstein walked down the hallway, turned the corner and then charged for the elevator. It was seven o’clock. He called Woodward from a pay phone in the lobby, told him about the fifth check and dictated all the numbers and other details. Then he went back to his hotel to look for Kenneth H. Dahlberg.
    There was no answer at the bank in Boca Raton. The Boca Raton police department gave him the name and phone number of a bank officer who could be reached in emergencies. The banker had never heard of Dahlberg. The check was signed by an officer of the bank whose first name was Thomas; the last name was illegible. There were two officers at the bank named Thomas, but neither remembered the transaction. Bernstein asked the second for the name and phone number of the bank’s president.
    The president knew Dahlberg only slightly as the owner of a winter home in Boca Raton, and as a director of a bank in Fort Lauderdale. That bank’s president was James Collins.
    Yes, Collins said, Dahlberg was a director of the bank. As he was describing Dahlberg’s business interests, Collins paused and said, “I don’t know his exact title, but he headed the Midwestern campaign for President Nixon in 1968, that was my understanding.”
    Bernstein asked him to please repeat the last statement.
    It was nine o’clock when Bernstein called Woodward. Sussman answered the phone. Woodward was talking to Dahlberg, he said. For Chrissakes, Bernstein shouted, tell him Dahlberg was head of Nixon’s Midwest campaign in ‘68.
    “I think he knows something about it,” said Sussman. “I’ll call you right back.”
    In Washington, Woodward had checked Boca Raton information and found a listing for Dahlberg. The number was disconnected. He, too, had called the police and had been told that Dahlberg’s home was in a neighborhood which had its own gates and private security guardposts. Woodward called the guard on duty there, who would say nothing except that Dahlberg stayed there only in the winter.
    Woodward asked a Post librarian if there was anything on Dahlberg in the clipping files. There was not. Sussman asked for a check of the picture files. A few moments later, he dropped a faded newspaper picture on Woodward’s desk. It was a photograph of Senator HubertH. Humphrey standing next to a small man with a jubilant smile. The man was identified in the caption as Kenneth H. Dahlberg.
    Was Dahlberg a Democrat? The picture had no dateline. On a chance, Woodward called information for Minneapolis, the largest city in Humphrey’s home state, and got a number for a Kenneth H. Dahlberg. Not sure it was the right Dahlberg, Woodward dialed. When Dahlberg came on the phone, Woodward said he had tried him at his Florida home first. Was that a winter home?
    “Yes,” Dahlberg said.
    About the $25,000 check deposited in the bank account of one of the Watergate burglars  . . .
    Silence.
    The check which, as you know, has your name on it. . . .
    Silence.
    We’re writing a