In 1947, Howard Hughes was called to testify before Congress. Though he encountered skepticism and even hostility from the committee, Hughes remained unruffled.Hughes had proved the critics wrong, but the justification for continued spending on the project was gone. Congress killed the Spruce Goose, which never flew again. It was carefully maintained in flying condition until Hughes’s death in 1976.
“The hearings were the most important thing,” DiCaprio says. “A public persona. Hearing Hughes, this voracious bulldog attack against the Senate. A man who was his own boss, anti-government control, taking on the system, taking on corporate monopoly with Pan Am, fighting tooth and nail, actually turning the tables, saying I’m afforded the same rights. A man gutsy enough, powerful enough,saying I have enough resources on my own, let me cross-examine you.”
“There’s this thing about Howard Hughes,” DiCaprio says. “As many different conflicting reports as there are. Some people think he’s a homosexual. Some think he’s a megalomaniac. Some think he’s this shy, coy billionaire. No one really knows, though some know more than others. But in trying to define the man, one thing is consistent, from all the people I talked to — Jane Russell, his mechanics — they all loved him and thought he was such a kind man.”
Download Hughes Testifying (27 secs) from authentichistory.com
Interview excerpts from
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7810-2004Dec17.html
