Part: 12         Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536         Page 802803804805806807808809810811812813814815816817818819820821822823824825826827828829830831832833834835836837838839840841842843844845846847848849850851852853854855856857858859860861 of 1143

Yes.

Well, I contributed a lot to various Senators, and through various committees, to the Vice President and President I contributed $50,000. You see, you can give any one of them a check up to $3,000 made out to a state or national committee, and they can in turn get the committees to cash the checks or make use of the money in any way they want. But actually there's no legal way you can give them a large amount of money, except by making out checks to a variety of organized committees.

Well, forgive me for asking, but you did mention it earlier.

Yes. In addition to that I gave a great deal of money to individual Senators and Congressmen through their committees. And what Kennedy or Johnson did about retrieving the money to use in whatever way they wanted to, I really don't know, but they could have gotten the committee to cash the checks and give it to them to use for whatever expenses they had. It's really an extremely awkward way to have to contribute, but this is the way it's done. If anybody wants to give more than $3,000 he has to do it that way. It's ludicrously complicated because it can be gotten around so easily, and it's accepted by everyone as a way of life. Nobody is saying you mustn't do this; everyone accepts it. It's universally done this way. It's a way of getting around a limitation.