On April 5, 1976, the richest man in the world died of medical neglect on board a jet bound for Houston. At the time of his death, Howard Hughes had not been seen in public for nearly twenty years. With a massive fortune that enabled his worsening mental disorders, Hughes, once famous the world over, receded from the public eye, and for the last decades of his life, ruled a vast and often unsuccessful business empire confined entirely to his bed. In time the expansive and opaque system that Hughes engineered to ensure his own isolation grew out of his own control, and as he sat in his penthouse, seeing only seven people in fifteen years, an army of self serving executives made decisions on his affairs entirely without his knowledge. While Hughes seemed to lose money on every transaction, he made a lot of his employees and their friends very wealthy. This story is a tragedy- the tale of a man who was both created and destroyed thanks to his proximity to great wealth, culminating in his own death in conditions so deplorable his corpse had to be identified via fingerprint by the FBI. In his 70 years, Howard Hughes can certainly be said to have left a colorful mark on American history. This is that story.

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Sources and Further Reading

Books

Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness: Link

Howard, the Amazing Mr. Hughes: Link

Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters: Link

Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia, and Palace Intrigue, Revised and Expanded: Link

Websites

Howard Hughes Lives: Link

A Peek Into the Mind of Howard Hughes: Link

This Day in Aviation History, April 17, 1944: Link

Howard Hughes Memo Disclosed In Controversy Over Gift to Nixon: Link

The Secret Memos of Howard Hughes: Link

Thomas Quits Post As Chief of T.W.A.; Charles S. Thomas Resigns Post As Trans-World Airlines Chief: Link

Hughes’ Neighbor Fed Up, Leaves Hotel in London: Link

Hughes and 4 Associates Indicted in Air West Case: Link

Hughes Estate Agrees to Pay Airline's Stockholders $30 Million: Link

Prize-Winning 'Muckraker' Jack Anderson Dies: Link

SUSPECT GIVES UP IN HUGHES THEFT: Link

Howard Hughes at the End: Contradictions in Accounts: Link

Jury Divvies Howard Hughes' Fortune After an Heir Raid in Texas Court: Link

Music

Howard Hughes’ Blues, performed by John Hartford: Link