Saint John Hunt is the eldest son of "super-spy" E. Howard Hunt, CIA agent best known for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. He joined host Richard Syrett to discuss the work of this father and the strange tale of his mother, Dorothy Hunt, another CIA agent, who rose in the intelligence field after World War II, warred against Richard Nixon, and may have been killed by the CIA in the crash of United Air Lines Flight 553 in 1972.
Saint John speculated on the possible whereabouts of his father during the assassination of JFK, noting there is no way to disconnect him from being in Dallas that day. "There is one photograph of a guy in Dealey Plaza... in a trench coat with a hat that looks exactly like my father," he said. Saint John suggested Hunt was likely there in the role of 'benchwarmer' to oversee and ensure the safety of the assassination team.
Saint John provided some background on how his father came to meet and work for Nixon. In 1959 Hunt was sent on a mission to assess the possibility of overthrowing the Cuban government, he explained. Hunt's recommendation was to eliminate Fidel and Raúl Castro, Che Guevara, and others. Out of this mission Operation 40 was established to assassinate anyone the CIA thought a threat to national security, he noted.
Saint John spoke about Hunt's work in the Nixon White House and role in Watergate, and how it was a source of conflict between he and Dorothy. She did not think Nixon could be trusted, he said. Saint John described his mother's work as a courier of various types of payoffs. She was carrying evidence that could directly link Nixon to the financing of Watergate and other illegal activities when she boarded Flight 553, he disclosed. "[CBS correspondent Michele Clark] and my mother had agreed to call a press conference where my mother was going to blow the lid off Watergate and bring Nixon effectively to the end of his career... and that's why that plane had to go down," Saint John revealed.
Time Travel & John Lennon
In the first hour, author Donovan Day spoke about his book, Get Back: Imagine...Saving John Lennon. Day said the novel was inspired by a dream in which he found himself at Abbey Road Studios jamming with The Beatles. They knew I was from the future and John wanted to know what happened to him, he explained. In the book, the character Lenny gets struck on the head and is able to time travel while listening to music on an old iPod, Day continued. Lenny learns how time travel works, and how to control it and take people with him, he added. "At one point in the book, John [Lennon] does live to be an old man... you see sort of what happens to him," Day revealed, noting Lennon and McCartney reunite to write songs again.