Kenneth H. Dahlberg (1917- ) is an American businessman and World War II fighter ace who became a figure involved in the Watergate scandal.[1]
Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Dahlberg grew up on a farm near Wilson, Wisconsin, and attended classes in a one-room schoolhouse for 11 years. During his senior year he moved back to Saint Paul to live with an aunt, in order to graduate from an accredited high school (Harding High School). After graduation in 1935, he worked in the hotel business, starting as a dishwasher and working his way up to food and beverage manager for a hotel chain.[2]
He was drafted into the army in 1941 and originally desired to become a cook.[citation needed] He eventually became an aviation cadet in the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), where one of his instructors was future Senator Barry Goldwater.[3] After training, Dahlberg flew the P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang with the USAAF 353rd Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group Ninth Air Force in Europe. As a fighter ace, Dahlberg was credited with 14½ aerial victories.[4] He received numerous awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Service Cross for leading a flight of 16 P-47 Thunderbolts (354th) against an attack of 70 German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters on December 19, 1944. Dahlberg shot down four enemy planes that day. Dahlberg was shot down three times, the last on February 14, 1945 near Bitburg, and became a Prisoner of War for the final three months of the war.[4] Continuing his military service after the war, Dahlberg served with the Minnesota Air National Guard until 1951.
Fully expecting to return to the hotel business after the war[citation needed], Dahlberg wound up working for Telex, a company that made hearing aids[2]. In 1948, Dahlberg founded Dahlberg Electronics, a subsidiary of which is the Miracle-Ear hearing aids manufacturer. His company is credited with the first use of the newly invented transistor in a consumer product.[citation needed] A national advertising campaign that Dahlberg, Inc ran from 1988 until mid-1993 was subject to charges of false advertising by the Federal Trade Commission, which were settled in 1995 when the company agreed to pay a $2.75 million civil penalty.[5] In the summer of 1993[5] Dahlberg sold his company to Bausch & Lomb for $139 million.[2]
In 1995, Dahlberg started the venture capital firm Carefree Capital , whose investments include the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant chain.[2]
During the Watergate investigation by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, chronicled in All the President's Men, Bernstein traveled to Miami to see Martin Dardis, the head investigator for Dade County District Attorney Richard E. Gerstein. Since most of the Watergate burglars were from Miami, the district attorney's office had launched an investigation. Dardis showed Bernstein a photostatic copy of a cashier's check for $25,000 that had been deposited into the bank account of a real estate firm owned by Bernard Barker, one of the Watergate burglars. The check was drawn on a Boca Raton, Florida, bank and was made out to Kenneth H. Dahlberg. Bernstein telephoned this information to Woodward who was back at the Post in Washington, D.C.
Woodward had a research librarian at the Post check the newspaper's files for any articles mentioning or pictures of Dahlberg. The librarian found a 1967 photograph of Dahlberg with then Vice President Hubert Humphrey, receiving an overdue military decoration.
The search for Dahlberg was narrowed to Minnesota and Woodward located Dahlberg's telephone number from information and called him[6] at home. At first, Dahlberg did not believe Woodward was actually a reporter. He later called Woodward back and explained that his neighbor, Virginia Piper, had been recently kidnapped[7] and it was an upsetting experience. Dahlberg told Woodward he had the check made out to himself while he was in Florida on business and did not want to carry that much cash around. Dahlberg could not explain how the check got into Barker's bank account but said it was either given to the Committee to Re-elect the President or to Maurice Stans.
Dahlberg was the midwest finance chairman for the Committee to Re-elect the President during President Richard M. Nixon's 1972 campaign. In 1968, Dahlberg was the finance chairman for Clark MacGregor's unsuccessful Senate campaign in Minnesota. MacGregor was later appointed the head of the Committee to Re-elect the President in 1972 after former attorney general John Mitchell had resigned.
It was later learned the $25,000 came from Dwayne Andreas, chief executive officer of Archer Daniels Midland, as an anonymous donation to the Nixon campaign.
Woodward later commented that finding Dahlberg's check was a turning point in their Watergate investigation because it led to the discovery of how the Watergate burglars were financed through a money-laundering scheme. It was later after Watergate that it was learned that Martin Dardis was one of five GIs who rescued Dahlberg as a POW after the Battle of the Bulge. It wasn't until 1991 that Dardis and the other four GIs were honored with Silver Stars for their heroism in rescuing Dahlberg.
Kenneth H. Dahlberg was never charged with any wrongdoing as a result of the Watergate scandal.[4]
In 1970, President Richard Nixon appointed Dahlberg to the board of visitors of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He also served as a trustee to Hamline University.
In 1996, Kenneth Dahlberg was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame at the Norsk Høstfest in Minot, North Dakota. Kenneth Dahlberg was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame in 1997. In July 2007, he was featured in the aviation series Dogfights on The History Channel, in the final segment of the episode on the P-47 Thunderbolt.
As of 2010, Dahlberg lived in Carefree, Arizona and still piloted a Cessna Citation jet.[4]
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