Dark Victory
ISBN 13: 9780140104783
Dark Victory is a well-researched book. The subtitle reads Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob, which one would think would narrow the scope significantly. The outcome, however, is that Ronald Reagan really does not feature all that much. It would be more accurate to call this book Sidney Korshak, MCA, and the Mob. Mr. Korshak is nearly omnipresent in this work. Reagan, though, is more like a background fixture.
The modus operandi for this book coming out in 1986 must have been, on some level, to try to link the Republican Party to the mob via the means of Reagan. It may well be that it was published then to try to sway the 1988 elections toward the Democratic Party. There are many names in this book that tie to the mafia, the underworld, Hollywood, and politics. The connections are clear although keeping track of who is doing what is quite difficult and would probably require a corkboard, some red string and a large wall. What is quite evident, though, is that MCA or the Music Corporation of America managed to move from the realm of radio where it dominated the motion picture business. Reagan was a part of this time and place as he worked with MCA in myriad ways from entertainment to the presidency.
What is made clear from the text is that MCA was about the only show in town. It died a little during the Justice Department’s prosecution of it under Kennedy, but then it grew back like some weed in a garden. It was able to do the things it did in part by holding two differing roles–that of production and talent agency–and eventually got big enough it could push the smaller players around into accepting movies and bands that they really did not want to accept. The punishment was that if they did not make these deals, they would not get access to the bigger stars that would make their venue money.
When it comes to the post-World War II labor unions, it seems that history makes it hard to distinguish labor unions from organized crime. The Teamsters, for instance, represent truckers but are immersed in unsavory connections. MCA is connected to the mob, communists, and labor unions exerting pressure and breaking strikes. A host of other three-lettered movie agencies are involved who are most often opposed to MCA and the things it does since usually it is to their unique disadvantage. Reagan is represented by MCA after his talent agency is bought out by them, and he goes to work for the Screen Actors Guild as the president of that establishment. MCA helps Reagan out at times, and in other moments Reagan is helping MCA or defending it. From the standpoint of labor unions and being an actor, it makes sense that one is going to naturally back the places that are putting food on the table and providing work. Indeed, Reagan seems to see it this way as does most any other labor union.
When pressed under hard questioning, Reagan uses the “I don’t recall” standby. Of course, in hindsight, he did have Alzheimer’s later, so it may well have been that his memory wasn’t that great with which to start. What he did do, after criticizing Kennedy no less for doing something of the same, was that he turned on the mob during his presidency. Sure, there were people he could not or would not go after. On the other hand, with any operation that goes after entrenched crime, there are going to be those who one cannot “get to” at that point. It is simply the nature of organized power that this is so. The narrative actually increases one’s understanding of what Reagan and Kennedy were up against and therefore one better understands the difficulty inherent in the situation.
An unintended consequence is to add additional levels of understanding to the murders of Hoffa and Kennedy through all these connections that Moldea traces. Still, another story that is periphery concerns the format wars between these companies where recording television programs were involved. None of them especially wanted people to be able to record anything on TV, but none of them wanted to be left out of the technology to do so knowing that people would naturally want this ability.
While the main thesis appears to be “look at all these people Reagan is rubbing shoulders with especially mob FRANK SINATRA”, the reality is that to do business in the world and to become president, it would have been almost impossible for Reagan to have encountered only saints on such a path. One does get the feeling he turned a blind eye some of the time. He did help MCA out in several ways. He also says during his presidency that he was tired of labor being invaded by mafia-esque forces and had seen it take place. He does not name any names, but one gets the feeling the implication concerns those with whom his career had flourished.
Whatever else this book was trying to do, it succeeds in making the case against Sidney Korshak. There seems to be literally nothing in here that the man hasn’t touched, and whatever he touches he appears to have enough powerful friends to be able to avoid any unpleasant consequences. The idea that Moldea seems to have is that if he can hook Reagan up with these “dirty people” then that means Reagan isn’t clean. Of course, in another standard, God said that Noah was blameless in his generation, not that he was blameless. This, of course, is not to suggest Reagan IS NOAH or somehow in the same company. It is to point out that one can be surrounded by nasty people and still be right in their spirit. The thesis Moldea is pushing just doesn’t work as perhaps he intended it to as far as Reagan is concerned.
The work of course is dated, and history has other issues that might make a stronger case against Reagan. This piece, however, sits as a who’s who from the fifties to the eighties, however, and allows one a very clear sense of the connections involved and the power brokering that took place. For that alone, Dan Moldea’s work stands out in a way that Joyce’s Ulysses stands out–like a snapshot in time of a city and its people. In this case, however, the city is a nation.
author’s note: Joe Biden makes some appearances within the work as well concerning Reagan’s initiative against organized crime. He is not, as far as the book reads exactly for it, but neither does he seem to be outright against it. He is probably best described as skeptical.
