Oh bother, it’s the brothers!
Are Hillary Clinton’s brothers nut farmers?
ThErE’s a long tradition of troublesome siblings in U.s. politics. in the run-up to the 1960 presidential campaign, it was revealed that in 1957 the brother of richard Nixon, Donald, had accepted a $200,000 loan from billionaire howard hughes in a futile effort to rescue a chain of southern California restaurants.
The loan was viewed as an attempt to seek influence with richard, then vicepresident, and it was an issue in Nixon losing the campaign to Kennedy.
To President Jimmy Carter’s embarrassment in 1977, his brother Billy promoted Billy Beer to cash in on his image as a ‘good ol’ boy’.
in late 1978/early 1979, Billy visited Libya three times, registered as a foreign agent of the Libyan government and received a $220,000 loan, leading to a senate hearing on alleged influence-peddling, which the press named Billygate.
in 1999, hillary’s brothers, lawyer hugh Edwin ‘hughie’ rodham (b. 1950), and business consultant Anthony ‘Tony’ Dean rodham (b. 1954), took part in a $118million venture in the republic of Georgia to grow and export hazelnuts. Their business partner was Batumi-based businessman Aslan Abashidze.
The U.s. state Department and National security Adviser sandy Berger were furious because Aslan was a political opponent of Georgian president Eduard shevardnadze, then a U.s. regional ally.
Moreover, Tony flew to rome to become godfather to Abashidze’s grandson. Berger and the Clintons eventually prevailed upon the brothers to drop the deal.
Clinton staff used to refer to Tony and hugh as ‘the Brothers rodham’. A former White house official famously told the New York Times in 2001 that when it came to hugh and Tony rodham ‘you never wanted to hear their name come up in any context other than playing golf’.
The Brothers rodham were criticised for helping secure executive pardons from Bill Clinton when he left office in 2001. hugh received around $400,000 for legal services helping businessman Glenn Braswell who had been convicted of fraud, and the sentence commutation of drug trafficker Carlos Vignali. he had done nothing illegal, but was persuaded to return the money.
in March 2001, Tony helped gain a presidential pardon for Edgar Allen Gregory Jr and his wife Vonna Jo, a Tennessee couple in the carnival business who’d been convicted of bank fraud. The pardon was granted over the objections of the U.s. Justice Department.
Richard Latimer, Nottingham.
What is the history of the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect of Islam?
ThE Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at (community) was a 19th-century islamic revivalist movement that originated in the indian Punjab. in 1889, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) proclaimed himself the long-awaited messiah or Mahdi (‘guided one’) and Mujaddid (‘reformer of the age’) of the Muslim community.
he based his conviction on the belief that islam and society had deteriorated to the point where divinely inspired reforms were needed. Ahmad felt there was no challenge to Muhammad’s place as the Khatam an-Nabiyyin, or ‘seal of the prophets’, meaning Muhammad was the final law-bearing prophet of islam. But many Muslim leaders found his claims heretical, and increasing intolerance in Pakistan of the movement during the 20th century, climaxing with discriminatory laws in 1984, led the Ahmadiyya Khalifa (religious leader) to move to Britain. Despite this, the community has continued to thrive, with mosques across the globe and many conversions, serving more than ten million followers. Ahmadis reject the idea of armed jihad and stress non-violence and tolerance of other faiths. This is why the murder in Glasgow of Ahmadi shopkeeper Asad shah by a Bradford Muslim, Tanveer Ahmed, for ‘disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad’, risks raising the ugly spectre of Muslim sectarian violence in Britain.
M. Matin, Luton, Beds.
Are the Dukes of St Albans directly related to Charles II’s mistress Nell Gwynne?
FUrThEr to the earlier answer, the current Duke is Murray de Vere Beauclerk. he is the 14th Duke and descended from Charles Beauclerk, illegitimate son of Charles ii and one of his favourite mistresses, Eleanor ‘Nell’ Gwynne.
he was born in 1670 and was created Duke of st Albans in 1684. he died in 1726. Charles and Nell had a second son, James Beauclerk, who died aged nine.
in the foreword to the biography, Nell Gwynne — A Passionate Life, by Graham hopkins (published in 2003), the Duke writes that he is the ‘proud great-greatgreat-great-great-great grandson.’
Nell outlived the King by six years and died, aged 45, in 1687.
Betty Hughes, Swansea. ÷ Is there a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6DB. You can also fax them to 0141 331 4739 or you can e-mail them to charles. legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.