The following is from the "60 Minutes" anniversary show which aired last Sunday. I wonder what ever became of Mr. Sinclair? MORLEY SAFER, co-host: When someone once asked me why so many crooks and con men are willing to come on 60 MINUTES, I said, 'A crook doesn't believe he's made it as a crook until he's been on 60 MINUTES.' (Excerpt from previous 60 MINUTES broadcast, 1978) Mr. ERNEST SINCLAIR: Hey, 60 MINUTES is in here. Can you believe it? MIKE WALLACE: How are you? Mr. SINCLAIR: 60 MINUTES in here. Hold the phone. WALLACE: Nice to see you. Mr. SINCLAIR: I'm trying to tell you his name. Let's see, there's Dan. No, this--hey, this is my favorite. Gosh, what's your--what's your last name? WALLACE: Wallace. Mike Wallace. Mr. SINCLAIR: Mike Wallace. (Footage from previous 60 MINUTES broadcast, 1978; diploma) SAFER: (Voiceover) Ernest Sinclair, head of California Pacifica University, where anyone could buy a degree for $2,150, a diploma mill with a brochure as impressive as any in the Ivy League. (Excerpt from previous 60 MINUTES broadcast, 1978) WALLACE: Now here, there's a picture of California Pacifica University campus, and actually, you're not in that building, because that's the a--the big Equitable Building. And you're here in a much smaller building... Mr. SINCLAIR: Yeah. Exactly. WALLACE: ...above a wig shop. (Footage of faculty photos from brochure) SAFER: (Voiceover) Also in the brochure, an impressive looking display of faculty members beginning with Mario Ugarte, dean of the College of Education. (Excerpt from previous 60 MINUTES broadcast, 1978) WALLACE: Is he here now? Mr. SINCLAIR: He's not here. WALLACE: Rosalba Riano, the administrative assistant. Mr. SINCLAIR: Right. We did make communication with her by telephone and she is alive and well and she's in New York in the Garment District. WALLACE: Terrill Harvey. Is he still dean of your College of Law? Mr. SINCLAIR: I could s--I could probably say yes. I could probably say no. SAFER: Mike has never met a diploma he didn't like. Sometimes it's on the wall of a... (Footage of diploma) SAFER: (Voiceover) ...bogus health clinic. (Excerpt from previous 60 MINUTES broadcast, 1978) Mr. RANDOLPH RUDD: I have a PhD. WALLACE: In? Mr. RUDD: In economics and one in philosophy. My two PhDs, one came from the Tennessee University, and from a... WALLACE: The University of Tennessee? Mr. RUDD: No, the Christian Tennessee University. And I got one from Florida, t--Tennessee--let's see, Trinity Christian College in Florida. WALLACE: Where is that? Mr. RUDD: It's in--I believe that now they're present in go--I believe it's in Ft. Lauderdale. WALLACE: Well, it says here it was signed and sealed at Brownsville, Texas, back in 1973. Mr. RUDD: OK. That was a branch of that operation, you see.
Thanks for posting that, David. Did anyone, by any chance, tape that program. I consulted with them, and recommended that they use California Pacifica, but I've never seen the program. I'd be glad to pay costs to make and send a copy or trade a book or something. Ernest Sinclair was sentenced to Terminal Island Federal Prison. While there, he started another diploma mill ("university behind walls," I called it at the time), Hollywood Southern University. Then he signed up for a furlough vocational training program, where he was to be let out once a week to attend a cake-decorating school. They let him out, and to the best of my knowledge, he was never heard from again. But I'm afraid you'll have to wait for my posthumous edition to learn which now-quite-respectable university he was involved in helping start around the same time, including 'awarding' doctorates from his earlier phony, Atlanta Southern University, to the owner.
What was broadcast last week was approximately two minutes of what was likely a 15 minute report when it was originally broadcast.
See the thread from the start; it's about Mike Wallace, who "has never met a diploma he didn't like." He died yesterday at 93.
