Above: A mild flirtation.

April, 1968. Central Intelligence Director Richard Helms and Secretary of State Dean Rusk warn President Johnson that Nash is getting too close to blowing the lid off of MKULTRA. Helms recommends termination. Nash flees his office in Washington D.C. and establishes several bases of operation in covert locations -- a number of motel rooms in rural areas and an exquisitely designed apartment in Vienna with floor-to-ceiling windows and several expensive modern art paintings of questionable authorship.


Above: One of Nash's (probably fake) Jackson Pollock pieces.

While in the U.S., Nash works through a list of contacts, coming across Andy Sturdevant, a secretary to Richard W. Held in the Los Angeles FBI office. Nash is initially reluctant; no one seems sure what side of the current COINTELPRO operation Sturdevant is on; (if any -- Sturdevant is known simply as an addict to covert operations of any sort).


Above left: Sturdevant minutes before strangling an informant whose fashion accessory choice had been dreadful.
Above right: Sturdevant hunts communists in Virginia's inaccurately named Red Park. Note the impeccable style, even though the action yeilded no positive results.

Intrigued, Nash agrees to meet with the unpredictable Sturdevant and learns of the so-called Sturdevant Effect, which is widely regarded as the main cause of the death of Frank Olson during MKULTRA LSD testing.



(Sturdevant had been responsible for uncovering some of the more hidden properties LSD, including powerful effect on mammalian uterine contractions.) While it was assumed that Olson had leapt from his window, Sturdevant notes inconsistencies in the autopsy findings.




Nash and Sturdevant quickly begin work to uncover the truth behind the CIA's efforts to control the human mind. Sturdevant enlists the help of Dr. Pierre Fink --who had gained notoriety by assisting two other doctors in the JFK autopsy-- to determine whether or not Olson has been assassinated by elements within the government. Rusk and Helms discover Sturdevant's complicity in Nash's rogue activity, as well as the medical undertaking of his own in the Olson case. Sturdevant flees for a safehouse in Berlin and composes a coded Telex to Nash's base of operations in a roadside motel outside Savannah, Georgia.


Above: Room "zero four" in the motel was used by Nash for many years and for many purposes.


The "Sturdevant Telex" has since been destroyed, but is widely believed to have been primarily composed of catty, rambling complaints about Richard Helms' handsome Italian suits. Nash generally attributes the cryptic content of the document to after-effects of LSD and petty sartorial jealousy.


Above: One of Helms' handsome Italian suits.

At the Sleep Rite Motel in Pritchardville GA, Nash becomes paranoid. He is convinced that his room is bugged, and that undercover operatives have laced his free ice with sodium penathol. The constant presence of Dean Rusk's baby pictures flashing on the television set does not assuage his fears.


Above: the alarming televised baby pictures in question.

Meanwhile, in Berlin, Sturdevant is asked to judge the 3rd Annual Miss Black Ops Pageant. He and a panel of judges consisting of Bobby Darin, Sid Caesar and Special Assistant for National Security Affairs Walt W. Rostow choose Miss Operation Paperclip as the winner.


Above: the pageant in Berlin.