The Tycoon Imprisoned by Wealth

By Dovid Zaklikowski for COLlive and Hasidic Archives

Howard Hughes was, among other things, a film producer, real estate mogul, business tycoon, aviator and aerospace engineer. He was one of the richest individuals in the world when he became an obsessive recluse.

He held business meetings in secret locations, and built a security system to protect his holdings and companies that, according to his biographer, was “more encompassing than that used by the [United States] Defense Department.”

The billionaire also sought to control the behavior of his employees: “Do not fraternize with persons outside the office,” he instructed aides. “Do not engage in long, unnecessary conversations with secretaries…. Tell your wife as little as possible.”

Losing a large contract for the U.S. government in 1947 intensified his paranoia. Though it did not significantly affect his wealth, the loss made a large dent in his ego and emotional psyche.

He had no friends, only aides. His wife had to make an appointment to see him; he had no children. “Had [he] had a friend in the world in 1958, that person would have encouraged or arranged psychiatric care for him before it was too late,” his biographer writes. “But always a loner, Hughes had no true friends and no close family ties, no one to say, ‘Howard, you need help.'”

His situation deteriorated slowly. He commanded those around him not to breathe on him, would balk if someone touched him accidentally, and used tissues to protect himself from imagined germs. On the property, he rented at a hotel, he designated an entire bungalow for boxes of Kleenex. He cut his nails only once a year, and never cut his hair. His teeth began to decay.

His doctor called Hughes neurotic, but not psychotic. “Howard Hughes may have had some fanciful ideas, but he was not out of touch with reality. He was rational until the day he died,” Dr. Wilbur Thain said in a 1979 interview.

On April 5, 1976, Hughes fell unconscious from dehydration in his Mexico hotel and was rushed on a private plane to Houston, Texas. He died en route.

Less than a week later, at a gathering marking his 74th birthday, the Rebbe spoke at length about Hughes and what it means to be free.

“There was an individual who had $2 billion,” the Rebbe said. “If he had wanted to, he could have gone anywhere…. However, his life was conducted out of fear of the unknown. All he worried about was who was looking at him, who wanted his money and secrets.”

Money did not give him freedom. He couldn’t eat what he wanted to, or go where he wanted to. He couldn’t do what his heart desired. “It could have been a psychological issue,” the Rebbe said, “or a real physical danger to his life. Whatever it was, the fact is that he was imprisoned because of his financial success.”

Freedom comes from within, the Rebbe explained. “It is how you feel and how you act. When you are controlled by your money, by your circumstances, by your desires… that is the opposite of freedom. Freedom is doing what is right, what G-d wants you to do.”

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