Howard Hughes Jr was born in Houston, Texas, in 1905.
Hughes father was an oil wildcatter.
His father had invented and patented a rotary drill bit that changed the oil drilling business worldwide.
When Howard Hughes, father died in 1924, he inhereted a massive fortune for that time of estate which included 75% of the Hughes Tool Company.
In 1925, Hughes moved to Los Angeles.
By this time, he was already an enourmously wealthy man.
Hughes produced and directed the movie Hell's Angels.
The film became the most expensive ever made at that point in time costing $3.8 million.
It tool Hughes 3 years to make.
It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.
Huhges had a strong interest in aviation.
Howard held a number of world records as an aviator.
During the War, Hughes Aircraft produced armaments as part of the War effort.
In 1944, and 1958, Howard Hughes suffered mental breakdowns.
In 1957, under assumed names, Hughes marries the actress Jean Peters at the L&L Motel in Tonopah, Nevada.
In 1966, Hughes moved into the Desert Inn Hotel in Las Vegas which he eventually bought for $13.6 million.
Hughes also went on to buy the Silver Slipper, Castaways, Sands, Frontier Hotel, and Landmark hotels.
The Mafia until this point had control of much of Vegas, but Hughes started buying them out.
It`s interesting to note that at this same time, Law Enforcement also started a crackdown in Vegas on the Mob.
Other major corporations then followed Howard Hughes to do business in Vegas.
Hughes started to become a "hermit".
Hughes eventually left Las Vegas to move to the Bahamas.
Then, he moved again, this time to Mexico.
By 1972, Howard Hughes was living in Managua, Nicaragua.
During this time, an earthquake leveled the city, killing around 5,000 people.
In 1973, Hughes fractured his hip and remained bedridden til his eventual death.
Howard Hughes died in 1976.
Hughes had not been seen publicly or photographed in 20 years.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington had Hughes fingerprints lifted to confirm his identity.
Howard Hughes had four Freams in his life:
the worlds greatest aviator, be the worlds richest man, the worlds most respected movie producer, and the best Golfer in the World.
By the time of his death, Howard Hughes had conquered three of these dreams.
In 1997, documents released by the DOE indicated that Howard Hughes had once complained to Vice President Hubert Humphrey about underground atomic bomb tests.
These tests were only 70 miles from his Las Vegas casinos.
The Atomic Energy Commission promised Hughes he would receive bomb blueprints for his engineers.
However, it seems this promise to Hughes was never kept.
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