Civic leaders who were highly connected, both politically and socially, always ran the Boys Clubs of Boston. Seated far right is Louis A. Coolidge. In April of 1808, he became private secretary to Henry Cabot Lodge, who then appointed him Clerk of the House Committee on the election of the President. Later, in 1908, he became Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury.
One of the biggest attractions to being on the board of directors of the Boys Clubs of Boston was being part of a very rewarding network of connected people. And that is still the major attraction today. The Club benefits in two ways: it gets a lot of money from just a few individuals, and connections in every major function of society, including newspapers and the police, protect them, so I allege, and sometimes absolutely, by law.
Charles Hayden, one of New York’s wealthiest bankers and most generous benefactors to the Boys Clubs of Boston and numerous other educational institutions around Boston, shown driving in a gold-plated rivet on construction of the new Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York on March 24, 1930.
If you were connected inside the board of directors at the Boys Club, you could expect to do well, if you went along with the board. If you didn’t go along with the board, exclusion from the board was not the fullest option; the fullest option was getting thrown out of the city.
Ed Ansin and his brother were senior board members who gave generously to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston. In fact, the Jordan Gym was renamed for Ed Ansin.
Of all the board members who became aware of my plight early on, only Ed Ansin showed me any support. In an anonymous message, I believe he told me to be patient. I believe Ed Ansin was a very decent man whose conscience caused him to suffer because of me, which is not a good thing.
Ed Ansin and his brother no longer appear as board members after the year 2000.
Nearly twenty years later, Ed Ansin and his Sunshine TV company lost their NBC affiliation here in Boston. No matter how you look at it, that loss was catastrophic. And that is the typical “catastrophic” destruction that Bill Bain used on Ernest Saunders. Bill Bain had a reputation for not knowing “when to stop.” What happened to Ed Ansin in Boston, in my opinion, reeks of Bill Bain, but I am only speculating, allegedly.
The other board member whom I liked and respected was Gerald W. Blakeley. Mr. Blakeley actually tried to initiate an anonymous settlement with me, but I couldn’t accept anonymity as his conditional. Later, I thought about that decision many, many times. I still don’t know if I made a mistake. But I thought Mr. Blakeley was a good man.
He graduated from Bowdoin College, which was founded by fellow board member Helen Bowdoin Spaulding’s Brahmin ancestors.
I actually met him once. I was working room service at the Ritz Carlton hotel in 1983. He was selling the Ritz Carlton Hotel after being involved with it for 28 years. Coffee and tea was called to a first floor sitting room where Mr. Blakeley sat with his associates, and I served it. He was a very polite and friendly man.
