The Point’s most famous jail inmate

This month is the 50th anniversary of the most famous person ever held in the Point Roberts jail. On August 9, 1973, John Meier, the man who some credit with bringing down the president of the United States, Richard Nixon, was briefly detained in the Point Roberts jail on South Beach Road.

John Meier was a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate for New Mexico in 1972 and known as being the number two person in Howard Hughes’ organization at the pinnacle of Hughes’ status as the wealthiest man in the world. Meier had witnessed a $1 million bribe in March 1969 paid by the head of Howard Hughes’ charity to a friend of Richard Nixon to fast-track Hughes’ acquisition of Air West. This exchange would go on to hang over the Nixon presidency. Many believe the Watergate burglars were looking for plans on how the Democratic National Committee might use knowledge of this bribe in the 1972 election.

Nixon and the CIA put considerable political pressure on Meier, who was also very active in opposing nuclear testing by the Atomic Energy Commission, to reveal his files and what he knew and who he had told about the bribe. Meier was living in Tsawwassen, but in the summer of 1973, his family regularly visited Point Roberts for crabbing and beach fun.

Despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence, Nixon had the IRS, secret service agents, and the CIA monitor Meier’s whereabouts, and a visit to the Point on August 9, 1973, gave these operatives a chance to nab Meier on U.S. soil. After seeing government agents at Ben’s Store, Meier drove back toward the border, but he was arrested at gunpoint on Tyee Drive near the customs station. Meier was held in the Point Roberts jail where he refused to agree to hand over his documents. From Point Roberts, he was transported with his feet shackled and his hands in cuffs to a boat which took him to the mainland with guards having their guns drawn on him the entire time.

Meier was held on a $1 million bond; until then, only Patty Hearst had faced such a high amoun. His friend Mike Gravel, a 2008 U.S. presidential candidate, said Meier had faced federal persecution for being “the man who knew too much about too many bad people.” Meier passed away on June 23 and there are plans to make his fascinating life into a motion picture. The bestselling biography written about Meier, Age of Secrets: The Conspiracy that Toppled Richard Nixon and the Hidden Death of Howard Hughes, details what happened in Point Roberts and the CIA’s affidavit regarding it, which is now forever preserved at the U.S. National Archives. Ageofsecrets.com has more information.

Many persons of interest and outright fugitives have made their way through Point Roberts. Learn about the Point’s fascinating history at the Point Roberts History Center in the Community Center on Gulf Road. It’s open Fridays and Saturdays this summer.