Harry Hurt III’s “Silver Finger” ran in Australian Playboy in September 1980, months after Silver Thursday. It follows Bunker and Herbert Hunt’s silver trades, the Paris announcement of silver-backed bonds on March 26, and the scramble for cash after prices collapsed the following day. The gallery has the full article in reading order, including the continuation pages at the back of the issue. Credit to Admirable_Cry_3795 for locating the article.
One part of the story led me to a separate paper trail. In June 1979, Rep. Larry McDonald introduced H.R. 4665, a $513 million proposal to buy silver for the strategic stockpile. His campaign’s original FEC filing records $1,000 each from Herbert and Nancy Hunt that January. Silver broker Scott Dial had already worked with McDonald on the stockpile issue in 1977 and went on to testify in support of the bill. William Silber cites a May 18, 1979 letter in the Minpeco court records in which Herbert acknowledges receiving a talk from Dial. I’m still looking for that talk and any draft or correspondence showing who discussed the bill before June 28.
Has anyone come across a program, transcript, or trade press account of a Scott D. Dial talk from spring 1979?
Original magazine scan
FEC filing, Schedule A
1979 Dallas Petroleum Club directory, p. 62
1977 stockpile correspondence, pp. 77–79
H.R. 4665 introduction
H.R. 4665 hearings
May 18 letter citation, chapter 18, note 15
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