The CIA lined up an actress for a date with Jordan’s King Hussein bin Talal during his state visit to the United States in 1959, newly released documents reveal.
The recently-declassified documents – from the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy – show the agency enlisted the help of a powerful aide to tycoon Howard Hughes to arrange a meeting with actress Susan Cabot for when King Hussein visited Los Angeles in April that year, USA Today reports.
That encounter is thought to have led to a relationship that produced Cabot’s son – who beat her to death in 1986.
A CIA memo, released on December 15, showed private investigator and former FBI agent Robert Maheu – described as a ‘cleared [CIA] Office of Security contact’ – was asked to find ‘female companionship’ during the ‘official State visit of a foreign Head of State’ in April 1959.
The CIA lined up actress Susan Cabot (pictured, in the 1950s) for a date with Jordan’s King Hussein bin Talal (left, in 1992) during his state visit to the United States in 1959, a CIA memo reveals
The document redacts King Hussein’s name, but USA Today reports the memo’s timeline coincides with times the 23-year-old monarch was in the country.
‘The foreign official was especially desirous if female companionship during his Los Angeles visit and it was requested that appropriate arrangements be made through a controlled source of the Office in order to assure a satisfied visit,’ the memo states.
The agency tasked Maheu with this job – who then contacted a ‘prominent Los Angeles attorney and Hollywood figure’ whose name is redacted.
Mr Maheu was asked to arrange a party for King Hussein on April 3, 1959, the report states – and it was during this party that he was introduced to a woman.
A story published in the Los Angeles Times a few days later said King Hussein and Cabot met at a party at California oilman Edwin Pauley.
The pair became ‘intimate friends’ after meeting in Los Angeles, the memo states, and the King was so enamored with her that he ‘wished to meet with her during his stay in New York’ between April 14 and 18, 1959.
The CIA memo showed King Hussein (above, with President Eisenhower in 1959) wanted ‘female companionship’ during his visit
King Hussein (pictured during a visit to Sandhurst in 1952) ruled Jordan until his death in 1999
The CIA then rented a house in Long Beach on Long Island for the time King Hussein was in New York while Cabot stayed at the Hotel Barclay in Manhattan under ‘an assumed name,’ the memo adds.
During her stay in Long Beach, Cabot spoke of the publicity surrounding her relationship with King Hussein, the memo says.
She ‘discussed the publicity in the case at some length with the Security representatives,’ the memo said.
Press reports had discussed whether her Jewish background – she was born Harriet Shapiro – would be a concern for the Muslim monarch.
King Hussein was so enamored with Susan Cabot (above, in 1953’s Gunsmoke) that he wanted her to meet with him in New York after he left Los Angeles
King Hussein (pictured in 1995) ruled Jordan until his death in 1999 from cancer. His son Abdullah succeeded him to the throne
‘She speculated about the possible sources of certain personal information that she felt had been leaked to the press,’ the memo said.
‘Additionally, she spoke of her deep feeling for the foreign official.’
She also mentioned that she had been unclear about the role she had to play when asked to attend the party, but had been told: ‘We want you to go to bed with him.’
Cabot said she had rejected the proposal, but had decided to go to the party and ended up being ‘quite taken’ with the kind, who she described as ‘most charming.’
King Hussein ruled Jordan until his death in 1999 from cancer.
He married four times, with his son Abdullah – from his second marriage – succeeding him to the throne.
Cabot, who starred in a series of films in the 1950s including Machine-Gun Kelly and The Wasp Woman, was beaten to death in her Los Angeles home in December 1986 and her son Timothy Scott Roman was charged with murder.
He was convicted of involuntary murder.
His 1989 trial heard that his mother received $1,500 a month from the Keeper of the King’s Purse in Jordan.
But the Jordanian government refused to comment on his paternity at the time.