The Fiske Report cites the words of VWF's commencement speech [192] to support its conclusion that VWF took his own life.
In a speech to the graduating University of Arkansas Law School class on May 8, 1993, VWF stated [360-363]:
Following the bar exam, your most difficult test will not be of what you know but what is your character. Some of you will fail.
The class of 1971 [VWF's class] had many distinguished members who also went on to achieve high public office. But it also had several who forfeited their license to practice law. Blinded by greed, some served time in prison.
I cannot make this point to you too strongly. There is no victory, no advantage, no fee no favor which is worth even a blemish on your reputation for intellect and integrity. . .
The conviction that you did the right thing will be the best salve and the best sleeping medicine.
Take time out for yourself. Have some fun, go fishing, every once in a while take a walk in the woods by yourself. Learn to relax, watch more sunsets. .
If you find yourself getting burned out or unfulfilled, unappreciated, or the profits become more important than your work, then have the courage to make a change.
In the author's opinion and in light of other information in the record analyzed below, the author believes it is quite reasonable to think that these are not the words of a man contemplating suicide, but rather the words of a man who shortly thereafter summoned the courage to "make a change" of his own and resign as Deputy White House Counsel, but died before he could do so. VWF told many among his family, friends, and associates that he was considering resigning (see Comment below).
In passing, it should be noted that VWF's belief that taking "a walk in the woods by yourself" is fun would be an unlikely attitude for a man who, officially at least, took a solo "walk in the woods" some ten weeks later and fatally shot himself.
This Speech Is A Good Way To Learn How To Understand VWF
According to Webster Hubbell's FBI interview, "Hubbell said if you really want to understand Foster, to take a look at his recent speech at the University of Arkansas [1479]." Sheila Anthony told the FBI that VWF had personally prepared this speech [1581].
Strangely Different Opinions About VWF's Delivery Of This Speech
Per the Fiske Report, one of VWF's sisters described VWF's delivery during the speech in the following way: "Sheila Anthony [Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs] recalls that during his address Foster's voice was unnaturally strained and tense, reminiscent of their father's voice when he was distraught during the period before his death in 1991 [192]." Lisa Foster told the FBI that VWF's delivery was "very stiff" [1636].
Sheila Anthony's remarks are a powerful specific description of VWF's strained and tense delivery, are they not? She even goes so far as to link the sound of VWF's voice during the speech to the distraught tone of voice used by their father shortly before his own death.
However, that is not the way two long-time friends and associates of VWF remember the speech. Phillip Carroll of the RLF, who had known well VWF for about twenty years and had been his mentor when VWF first joined the firm, told the FBI, in the words of his interview report "Carroll said at a commencement ceremony at the University of Arkansas Law School, Foster gave a splendid delivery with no stress showing during the speech [1726]."
Loraine Cline of the RLF who had been VWF's secretary for six years, also attended this speech. In the words of her FBI interview, she described VWF the day of the speech "He acted excited and 'up' and he looked good [1729]."
What is going on here? How can different adults listening to a speech delivered by someone they all know extremely well have such diametrically opposing views on its delivery? What is truth and what is "Pravda?" The speech was videotaped, but the author has not had access to it. A review of this tape ought to indicate who is right and who is wrong re the nature of VWF's delivery.
VWF's Security Clearance
According to the Fiske Report [196], VWF told his sister Sheila Anthony, that he hesitated to see a psychiatrist in connection with the problem she told the FBI was depressing him because he feared it would "jeopardize his White House Security clearance." This statement is also contained in Sheila Anthony's FBI interview [1576].
In light of the difficulties that many on the WH staff experienced when applying for and obtaining the legally-required high-level security clearances in early 1993, one might ask whether VWF was concerned that his temporary clearance (or his application for clearance) might be threatened or whether he was worried that his pre-existing "permanent" clearance would be jeopardized. If the latter, one might ask how his permanent clearance was obtained so quickly or if he had obtained a top secret security clearance that pre-dated his service to the Clinton Administration.
VWF was not described in the record as a person who had required a top-secret clearance prior to joining the Clinton Administration. For example, the only military service the record reveals was a short stint of some sort in the late 1960s when VWF served in the New Jersey National Guard [1571]. [No other association between VWF and the state of New Jersey is in the record.]
James Lyons' July 21st Trip to DC
The Wednesday or Thursday before his death on Tuesday, July 20, 1993, VWF called James Lyons, a trusted advisor, at Lyons' law firm in Denver and requested that he hold himself ready to travel to DC on short notice in order to meet with VWF [1682]. VWF called Lyons again the Sunday night before his death and confirmed that Lyons would be flying to DC to meet with VWF on Wednesday, July 21, 1993 [172,1682].
It is not clear from the record when the date of the July 21st meeting was originally decided upon [see also 195]. Perhaps the date was set in a phone call not documented in the record.
You contact a trusted friend to make sure he is available to fly across the country to see you on short notice, you re-contact that friend, set a date for a meeting, confirm the date three days in advance, and then commit suicide the day before the meeting? Such behavior would be unusual to say the least unless, conceivably, a snap decision to commit suicide was made after the meeting date was confirmed.
Did VWF make a snap decision to take his own life between late Sunday night and the Tuesday afternoon he died? As analyzed below, in the author's opinion, the record does not support the conclusion that VWF ever made a decision to commit suicide, and certainly does not support the conclusion that VWF made the decision to kill himself between Sunday night and Tuesday afternoon.
The conclusion that VWF made the decision to commit suicide between Sunday night and Tuesday afternoon might make some sense if there had been some evidence that VWF was in the depths of depression or manifested substantial out-of-the-ordinary behavior during the 36 hours before he was found dead at FMP.
However, the record, if anything, gives the opposite impression: while VWF may well have been troubled about some matter or other one to several weeks before his death, his mood had materially improved during at least the four days prior to his death.
If his mood only seemed better because he had finally made the extremely difficult decision to take his own life, why did VWF still call Lyons in Denver (not the other way 'round) and set up an appointment for the day after VWF knew he would be dead? Everything in the record about VWF's values as described in this report makes it clear that he would not play such a gratuitous and evil trick on a trusted friend, especially a deception that would in all likelihood impose a severe psychological burden on that friend after he learned of the suicide.
VWF's Knowledge of the Search of David Hale's LR Office A Factor?
The possibility that VWF killed himself because of records he knew would be found once a search warrant issued for the LR offices of Judge Hale was a concern of those investigating VWF's death.
Fletcher Jackson, AUSA for the Eastern District of Arkansas, reported to the FBI that VWF could have learned of the search of David Hale's office in the following manner (quoted from Jackson's FBI interview on May 16, 1994):
The only other avenue through which Vince Foster could possibly have known about the search was that the morning of the search [apparently not later than the morning of July 20, the day VWF died -- VWF obviously could not have found out about the search after his own death!] sometime between 9:00 and 9:30 AM agents went to Hale's office in Little Rock and Hale was not there but he was at a location six or seven miles away where he was fulfilling magistrate responsibilities. He found out that a search was being conducted of his office and he made a phone call that morning. Jackson advised that he does not know who that phone call was made to but that whoever it was may have been a possible conduit of Foster finding out about the search if indeed he did [177].
It is of course possible that the person who called Hale may have called VWF directly, that Hale called VWF directly, or that there was more than one intermediary That is, the assumption (of Fletcher's) in the FBI interview that another party would be necessarily interposed between VWF and the information about the search is not necessarily a valid one.
Was a search made of calls to the White House (whether or not placed through the switchboard) that morning to determine what individuals called the White House from AR and whether any calls (from AR or not) were to private lines to which VWF had access in the WH? Phone records could also be checked to determine whether any non-AR-source calls to such private lines received a call from AR shortly before the call to the private WH line was made.
This research would not be as laborious as it sounds. An impossible task? No. Why not?
The Fiske Report & The White House Phone System: VWF Calls A Psychiatrist
It is possible to determine the particular telephone instrument at the WH used in connection with a particular call. How does one know this?
According to the Fiske Report, WH telephone records were used to determine that the telephone located at VWF's desk was used to make two calls to a psychiatrist on Friday July 16th [197]: "At 12:41 p.m. and again at 1:24 p.m., Foster called the psychiatrist from the telephone in his office [sic], and charged the calls to his home phone."
The call was made to a psychiatrist who practices in Chevy Chase, Maryland [166,2135], but Chevy Chase is a local call from the WH. The calls from VWF's desk phone apparently connected (otherwise there presumably would have been no charges recorded on VWF's home phone number), reached the psychiatrist's voice mail [1663], and no message was left by the caller.
This psychiatrist indicated to the FBI that a third party (name redacted) called him on Friday, July 16th, to ask whether he would speak with a Sheila Foster Anthony about a relative of hers who was "in a crisis situation" [1662] because he was "dealing on a daily basis with Top Secret matters" that were causing his "depression." He agreed to take the call and Sheila Foster Anthony called him later on Friday concerning her brother, VWF (time of day not provided in the FBI interview report). Sheila told the psychiatrist that VWF would be in contact with him later that day [1663] but, according to the psychiatrist, VWF never reached him.
What a phone system! It is a wonder everyone in the WH was not paranoid about using the phones! Mr. Fiske did not find it too difficult to search diligently for two telephonic attempts made using the telephone on VWF's desk to reach the Chevy Chase psychiatrist, so the additional telephonic record-checking proposed here should not be too difficult for others to accomplish.
VWF Was An Amazingly Punctilious Public Servant
It should be noted in passing that VWF must have certainly been a punctilious public servant indeed to have charged what were toll-free calls to his home phone number. . . One might also wonder whether this was a counter-intuitive step for a person who the record states was concerned to prevent any contacts with psychiatrists from being discovered by WH security [see above under the Comment, "VWF's Security Clearance"].
Indeed, it is almost as if VWF were acting to preserve a record that he did call a psychiatrist from his WH office during the work day around the lunch hour. . . Why might VWF wish to do this?
The list of psychiatrists (provided VWF at his request by his sister, Sheila Anthony, Assistant US Attorney General for Legislative Affairs) was found in VWF's wallet in his Honda at the FMP parking lot [197, 211], or possibly the list was not inside his wallet, merely inside the Honda itself [481,1603].
Based upon USPP Investigator Rolla's July 27, 1993, report [2135], the list of psychiatrists (apparently in VWF's own handwriting) was actually found in VWF's wallet the night of July 20th at FMP, waiting to be discovered, as it were. As it happens, the torn note found by Stephen Neuwirth, also officially in VWF's own handwriting, was found on July 26th [188], though its existence was not disclosed to the USPP for some thirty hours.
A student of coincidences might ask why Rolla's written report describing the list of psychiatrists was not drafted until July 27th, even though the listing of psychiatrists was officially discovered in VWF's wallet the night of the 20th and Rolla's report gives no reason for the delay in his documenting the existence of the list of psychiatrists, nor any intervening event that occurred between July 20th and July 27th that triggered his written report on July 27th.
What About Communications To And From VWF Not Via The WH Phone System?
Strangely enough, there was no effort made (at least by the USPP) to determine what email messages VWF sent or received in the several weeks before his death, nor any attempt to obtain records relating to calls to and from VWF's home phones [850-851] or family cell-phones, if any. If these records were eventually obtained, the information therein has not been made public.
VWF was carrying a WHCA Motorola Bravo pager clipped to the right side of his waist when found at FMP [438].
The quote from the May 16, 1994, FBI interview with AUSA Jackson (long after the interviewee would have known the date of VWF's death) commented upon above is particularly important in light of FBI testimony [77] that the warrant was "issued" on July 20th, but [the search itself was?] not "effected" until July 21st [see also 194].
In short, there is an apparent conflict in the official record [194 vs. 177]: Did the search in question actually take place the morning of the 20th or the morning of the 21st? The possibility that VWF learned of the issuance of the warrant prior to the scheduled search should also be pursued to a firmer conclusion in light of the Jackson FBI interview [177] (of which the FBI agent testifying before the committee might have been unaware).
A letter to the Senate Whitewater Committee from an FBI agent [374-375] on August 3, 1994, states that the FBI "found no evidence" that VWF had any information about the search or the issuance of the search warrant, includes a reference, inter alia, to the interview the AUSA Jackson quoted above that describes the existence of a first link in the chain to VWF.
Given the rapid and aggressive recovery of the pager by the WH (see the Comment on the pager below), is it impossible that the pager contained evidence that VWF was contacted regarding either the issuance of the Hale search warrant or (if the search was conducted while VWF was still alive, as implied by AUSA Fletcher) the start of the search itself?
Alternatively, persons as yet unknown may have thought it possible that VWF had been contacted regarding the warrant or the search itself [or some other matter as yet unknown] and arranged the rapid release of the pager from the USPP to ensure its contents, if any, would be protected from disclosure in any case. Could VWF's WHCA pager be paged only by the WH, or could anyone with his pager number page him? Better safe than sorry?
The Blind Trust(s)
VWF was the WH liaison for the execution of the legally required blind trust(s) for the Clinton Family (for HRC, for WJC, and possibly separate trust(s) for CVC) [179,1822] that were drafted by Brantley Buck of the RLF. [See the Comment below concerning the "unusual" "CHB" sheet found in VWF's wallet at FMP.]
For reasons unknown, it had apparently been previously decided that HRC would execute the required blind trust documents when she was in LR (she arrived there about 2026 [EDT] on July 20th [2104], according to publicly available records), but that the equivalent documents for WJC's signature would be signed by him at the WH (even though he stopped over in LR himself during the weekend of July 17th-18th).
Given Buck described VWF's duties in connection with the blind trust(s) as being merely "ministerial" [177,1735], one might wonder that he called VWF regarding the trust arrangements on the 19th, again at 1217 EDT on the 20th, and also tried to reach VWF at about 1300 EDT on the 20th (apparently just missing VWF who had left his office at the WH, never to return, at that time or possibly a couple of minutes later).
Perhaps one can be forgiven for believing Mr. Buck was doing a lot of telephoning in connection with the merely ministerial function VWF was performing in connection with the blind trusts.
William Kennedy of the WH OLC indicated in his FBI interview that VWF had had a habit for years of "doing personal things for [the Clintons] and assisting them as needed such as with tax returns [1613]."
One matter that might have concerned VWF involves the ethical duty of an attorney professionally associated with the creation and funding of blind trusts to ensure that all the assets required are properly marshaled and placed in trust. Might VWF have had some concerns along these lines? The record does not pursue this question.
It is the author's opinion, VWF reached a decision, a week or two before he died, if not more, not to commit suicide, but to begin what VWF felt would ultimately be a successful disengagement process from the Administration. In one way or another, the author believes that VWF was finding the "heat too hot to take," so he "got out of the kitchen" (or tried to, anyway).
In the author's opinion (considering the analysis below) that neither the Travel Office Matter, the Wall Street Journal Editorials cited in the Fiske Report [189], or the other concerns cited therein were the decisive factor(s) in VWF's desire to resign his position, let alone his alleged decision to kill himself.
VWF's Workload In The Weeks Prior To His Death
There seems to be some official confusion on this point. According to page 10 of the Fiske Report [186] "During the particularly busy period of late June and July, however, Foster was virtually uninvolved." This, despite the following statement [186]:
Foster's position at the White House generally demanded that he work from between 7:30-8:30 in the morning until 9:30 or later at night, either six or seven days a week. He took no vacations or weekends off until the weekend immediately prior to his death [His trip to AR to give the commencement speech on May 8th apparently did not count as a vacation]. The demands of the Counsel's office were severe, and Bernard Nussbaum heavily relied upon Foster to assist him in accomplishing a wide range of tasks.
One might wonder whether VWF was, during the period from late June until the "weekend immediately prior to his death," 1) "virtually uninvolved" in the work of the WH OLC or 2) working 80+ hours a week.
Until there is a confirmed sighting of a "married bachelor," it seems safe to assume that 1) and 2) cannot both be true in the 4-5 weeks prior to July 20!
Why was VWF uninvolved? Was he assigned no work to do by his superiors? Did he refuse to undertake duties given to him by White House Counsel Nussbaum? Nussbaum was not asked, and did not comment upon, these questions in the record. If VWF was refusing to perform his assigned duties, what were those duties?
Deborah Gorham, VWF's Executive Assistant, told the FBI VWF sometimes had "lulls" in his work of a couple of hours [1446]. Such short lulls can be expected from time-to-time even if one were working 80+ hour weeks. However, beginning the week of the 12th [195], VWF spent much of the day writing a lot of personal "thank-you" letters. Gorham further noted that VWF had a "major and uncharacteristic lull" in his work on Monday, the 19th (see under that heading below).
The Fiske Report States That VWF's Weight Loss Was "Obvious To Many"
The Fiske Report paints a picture of a man under heavy stress, so much so that he was apparently forgetting to eat properly. According to the Fiske Report "Although no one noticed a loss of appetite [why not?], it was obvious to many that he had lost weight [186]."
Sounds pretty incontrovertible, doesn't it? There is a problem with this statement, however. According to VWF's doctor [1674-1677] (in his FBI interview, during which he is clearly consulting VWF's medical records), VWF weighed 194 pounds on December 31, 1992. VWF's weight at the autopsy [364] is given as 197 pounds. Thus, relying only on medical records, VWF actually had a net weight gain (3 pounds) during the months in 1993 when the Fiske Report states that he was under heavy stress and his weight loss was "obvious to many." Who are these "many" and why did they think VWF's weight loss was "obvious?"
Dr. Watkins gives VWF's weight in August 1990 as 204 pounds, so VWF lost weight during the 30 months or so prior to working for the Administration at the WH (10 pounds) and gained weight, net, during the last 6-1/2 months of his life while working for the administration (3 pounds). Why does the Fiske Report have it backwards? Why did "many" people have it backwards? The weight data provided by Dr. Watkins (194 pounds on December 31, 1992) was available to Fiske on May 16, 1994, some six weeks before the Fiske Report was released with the above quotation [186]. The autopsy results (weight 197 pounds) had been available to Fiske for roughly 11 months before the Fiske Report was released. Note that Lisa Foster's FBI interview report[1633] agrees with Dr. Watkins: "She believed that most of the weight that Foster had lost by that time [June 5, 1993] had been lost prior to his arrival in Washington, D.C." Why did the Fiske Report say what it did about an obvious [but nonexistent] weight loss between VWF's arrival in Washington and his death?
A bit of lagniappe: The Fiske Report also refers to the "large pool of blood" on the ground under VWF at Fort Marcy Park from the "large exit wound [211]." However much blood VWF lost before the autopsy, it is clear that the official position is that a substantial amount of blood was involved. [More will be said about the blood loss and the large exit wound later.] If it is assumed that VWF lost about a quart of blood (twice what a blood donor provides in one sitting) and, given whole blood weighs roughly the same as water, then the 197 pound autopsy weight, corrected upward for the lost blood, would mean an actual weight of 199 pounds. Two quarts of blood lost would mean a date-of-death weight of 201 pounds, and so on.
Furthermore, VWF probably did not strip down fully for Dr. Watkins' nurse to weigh him on December 31, 1992. However, the author assumes that the weight of a body in an autopsy report is just that, the body's weight. It would be technically unsound to include the weight of an arbitrary amount of clothing with the body's weight in an autopsy report. It thus seems eminently reasonable to assume that the 194 pound weight, corrected downward to a fully-stripped weight, would be 193 or 192 pounds. Bottom line: it seems reasonable to conclude that, net, VWF gained around six pounds during the period the Fiske Report says his weight loss "was obvious to many."
The author concedes that it is possible that VWF gained a little weight over a brief period, say while staying with the his sister and brother-in-law, the Beryl Anthonys, for a couple of months prior to moving into his Georgetown rental [1579]. After all, he was without his family in a new city until after his youngest son's junior year of high school ended in AR, was probably eating out more than usual, and doubtless consuming too much "junk food" during the day (cheeseburgers, after all, were VWF's favorite food [1448]). Even so, the author believes that 5-6 pounds up or down is not a weight loss "obvious to many" for someone weighing around 200 pounds.
Why did the Fiske Report claim that VWF had obviously lost weight during this period? Whether to make an issue of VWF's weight change was a "judgment call" made by the authors of the Fiske Report. Given the Fiske Report introduces weight loss as another evidence of stress (just as it did Assistant Attorney General Sheila Anthony's impressions of VWF's delivery at the commencement speech on May 8th, blatantly contradicted by the impressions of others who also heard the speech), it was somewhat "scary" to this report writer when he discovered that the data in the government investigators' own witness interviews explicitly contradict the findings of the Fiske Report.
Sheila Foster Anthony also supported the Fiske statement about VWF's weight loss. Per her FBI interview: "Foster began to lose weight during the last six weeks prior to his death and weighed much less than he had weighed in January 1993." Per Dr. Watkins, VWF weighed 194 pounds on December 31, 1992, and the autopsy report indicated VWF weighed (not adjusting for the weight of blood lost) 197 on the day he died, so Ms. Anthony's assertion seems a bit dicey. VWF weighed "much less?" Did Mr. Fiske transmogrify Ms. Anthony, turning her into the "many?" Bill Kennedy, a member of the WH OLC life VWF, make a generic statement to the FBI that VWF had lost weight after he came to Washington [1612] as did Denver Attorney Jim Lyons, author of the now discredited Lyons Report that supported long-standing WH claims that WJC and HRC last lost $68,900 on their Whitewater investment. [171].
What Projects Was VWF Working On In The Five Weeks Prior To His Death?
Whatever these projects were, "Lisa Foster said that Foster received no joy from his work during that time [186]." Deborah Gorham, VWF's Executive Assistant, told the FBI she did not remember what VWF was working on during the last few weeks he was alive [1447], even though she typed all his correspondence and memos from Dictaphone tapes that he gave her. It is known that VWF completed the filing of three years of delinquent Whitewater Development Corporation income tax returns and also did some work in connection with the Clintons' blind trust(s) shortly before he died [63; also see the Comment, "The Blind Trusts" above].
VWF And The Travel Office Matter
VWF was said to be concerned that Congress would hold hearings into the Travel Office Matter and that he would be called to testify about his role therein [189]. According to the Fiske Report, the Travel Office Matter was one of the primary reasons VWF was over-stressed and depressed.
Per White House Counsel Nussbaum, VWF urged him to hire outside counsel [private attorneys] to represent the WH OLC attorneys involved in the Travel Office decisions (principally VWF and Bill Kennedy), even though James Lyons, the Denver attorney whose firm issued a report confirming the Clintons' Whitewater losses at $68,900 (a figure subsequently discredited), had read the WH report on the Travel Office on VWF's behalf and did not see a conflict of interest for VWF between his actions in the Travel Office matter and his objectivity in advising the Clintons [188].
One might wonder why VWF would be concerned in the summer of 1993, when the Democratic Party controlled both Houses of Congress, that hearings on the Travel Office matter would come to pass and that he would be required to testify before a somehow hostile committee controlled by fellow-Democrats. Surely his brother-in-law, Beryl Anthony, a former member of Congress, would have advised VWF that Congressional Hearings into the Travel Office matter were highly unlikely, given the Democratic Party's control of Congress (whatever the experts' predictions were at the time, hearings have yet to be held on the Travel Office Matter). Apparently, Mr. Anthony did not do so [195], although he was never questioned in the record regarding his opinion of the likelihood of Travel Office hearings.
The Eastern Shore of Maryland -- VWF's Final Weekend
The Fiske Report describes as "coincidence" that VWF and his wife, Lisa, spent the weekend on the eastern shore of Maryland at the same time the Webster Hubbells were in the same area staying with the Michael Cardozas, also friends of the Fosters [197]. Although the Fiske Report does not establish exactly how the connection was made [Hubbell apparently knew exactly where the Fosters were staying], the three couples linked up and spent Saturday evening and Sunday together [198].
Mr. Cardoza had been Deputy White House Counsel in the Carter Administration [1480], coincidentally the same position VWF held at the time of his death. He also had spent four months at the DOJ during the early days of the Clinton Administration [1481], involved with some of the same matters that concerned VWF, such as the failed Zše Baird nomination.
Coincidentally, Hubbell apparently knew precisely where the Fosters were staying since he (not the Fosters' ostensible hosts, the Cardozas) called the Fosters up and invited them over to the Cardozas' home where Hubbell and his spouse were staying near Easton, Maryland, on Saturday the 17th [1481]. Felicitously, it happened that the Fosters were only fifteen minutes away. Hubbell and VWF ended up spending Saturday and Sunday at the Cardozas.
This was officially advertised by the Fiske Report to be the first big weekend in many months for VWF to "get away from it all." Did he?
Strangely, the Cardozas were not interviewed by the USPP, the Fiske OIC, or the Senate Whitewater Committee regarding anything they might contribute to an understanding of VWF's mental state the weekend before he died, notwithstanding the great interest in the outcome of the weekend later expressed by VWF's close Administration associates (if there were such interviews with the Cardozas, they were redacted from the official record for reasons unknown).
The record does not say if other political persons of note were at the Cardozas' that weekend beyond these three men, nor was anyone ever asked if there were other personages in attendance from the WH or if there were senior civil servants from the Executive Branch about.
In response to numerous inquiries, VWF told his associates that the trip to the eastern shore of Maryland the weekend of July 17th and 18th, had gone well [199].
The Weekend: WJC Was Curious How VWF's Visit With Hubbell & Cardoza Had Gone
On the evening of Monday, July 19th [see an additional Comment below], WJC called VWF at home [200,1829]. One reason for the call: WJC wanted to ask VWF how the weekend in Maryland with Hubbell and Cardoza had transpired too. WJC had also heard that VWF was "down" about the Travel Officer Matter. WJC made an appointment to see VWF (not the other way 'round) for Wednesday, July 21st. The subject: unspecified "organizational changes" being contemplated at the WH [1830].
VWF Was Contemplating Resigning As Deputy White House Counsel
The record is clear that VWF was considering resigning his position as Deputy White House Counsel.
VWF told his wife, Lisa [1647], his sister Sheila Anthony, and his co-worker William H. Kennedy (an Associate White House Counsel) that he was thinking of resigning [188,195,1614,1647]. His predicament, whatever it was, was so serious that his sister Sheila Anthony told the FBI she had hoped that VWF would resign as Deputy White House Counsel [1578].
According to the Fiske Report, Deborah Gorham, VWF's Executive Assistant, VWF ". . . did little work during the week of July 12, and instead concentrated on 'cleaning up' matters that he had not been able to get to for some time, such as dictating thank-you and congratulatory notes [195]."
White House Counsel Nussbaum was never asked in the record what work VWF was supposed to have been doing during this time period. Was there no work to be done (apparently so, since VWF did little work from July 12th onward)? Or was VWF refusing to do his assigned work? Why? What work was that?
The piddling described by Ms. Gorham is at least as likely to be done by someone who has made a decision to quit his job as it is to be the action of someone planning to commit suicide, especially in light of VWF's statements to those he loved that he was thinking of resigning his position (after all, people quit their jobs far more often than they commit suicide over them). Did VWF submit his resignation sometime in the first half of July or sound out any Administration officials about leaving the Administration? Was he waiting for some sign from the Administration when he died?
Why take the time to write thank-you and congratulatory notes to friends before you commit suicide, but fail to prepare your family in any way for your death? In the author's lay opinion, a person might easily do neither or do both, but people who do the first also take care of the second.
Shouldn't VWF Have Been Accustomed To Long Hours In High Stress Environments?
One would think that VWF, the former Senior Litigator (and Chief Operating Officer) of the RLF, partner since 1973, and in the prime of his professional life, drawing almost $300,000 a year from the top AR law firm prior to joining the Administration, ought to be made of stronger stuff than the VWF depicted by the Fiske Report (something of a shrinking violet, however intelligent, stung to the point of suicide by newspaper editorials, the threat of Congressional Hearings that never occurred, and a Travel Office-related reprimand that he never received; a high-powered trial attorney somehow unaccustomed to working long-hours in a high-stress environment).
Although the Fiske Report characterizes much of the text of the torn note (see the Comment below) found in VWF's briefcase [192,353] as the opening argument for his defense in anticipated Congressional Hearings on the Travel Office matter, the note could at least as easily be interpreted as a list of bullet points for the first draft of his letter of resignation (or something else entirely).
VWF was nothing if not an orderly man who first thought through a problem and then acted accordingly. More than one friend used the word "meticulous" to describe VWF in the record. That is one reason why the lack of any preparations for (or warnings to) his family prior to his suicide seems particularly unusual. "Spontaneous" is not a word anyone in the record associated with VWF, though he clearly did care deeply for his wife, Lisa, and the children.
In the author's opinion, if VWF had decided to consult with a psychiatrist (see the two phone calls above that were cited by the Fiske Report), he would have had at least a session or two before deciding whether therapy was right for him. By all accounts, he was a man who parsed difficult problems carefully and, having decided to act (make the calls to the psychiatrist), would not have changed his mind on a whim or otherwise failed to follow through.
Although its importance should not be overstated, VWF's blood pressure when taken at the WH on Friday, July 16, 1993, was 132/84 [196]. Not bad at all for a man of 48 supposedly working 80+ hours a week in a high-stress environment and, as it came out in official statements made by his close friends in the Administration (commencing en masse a week or two after the fact), obviously in the throes of a profound depression. The blood pressure reading in itself is not an indication that VWF was over-stressed; if it means anything at all, it is some evidence supporting the opposite conclusion.