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G. Gordon Liddy, the political agent who oversaw the Watergate robbery, which brought down President Richard Nixon, died on Tuesday, his family said. He was 90 years old.
Liddy’s family said in a statement that he died Tuesday morning at his daughter’s home in Mount Vernon, Virginia. This did not give a cause of death. His son, James, said the cause was unrelated to Covid-19 and that he had struggled with Parkinson’s disease.
Liddy was one of the organizers of the 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the office building with the name that would forever be linked to one of the biggest political scandals in American history.
The five burglars were arrested. The money and other links would lead burglars to others, including Liddy, a former FBI agent, and to the White House.
Nixon resigned in 1974 facing an almost certain indictment and conviction.
Liddy was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in 1973 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Years later he said, “I would do it again for my president.”
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter commuted his sentence to eight years in what he said was in the interests of fairness, which made Liddy eligible for parole that year.
Liddy remained unrepentant. In 1980, he published an autobiography, “Will”, which served as the basis for an NBC TV movie, and he also became a controversial radio figure as the host of “The G. Gordon Liddy Show”.
“I’m proud of the fact that I’m the one who didn’t speak,” Liddy said.
Liddy and another man, E. Howard Hunt, kept in touch with the Watergate burglars by radio from a room in the adjacent Watergate hotel.
Twenty-five people went to jail as a result of the botched break-in, including Hunt. Hunt, a former CIA officer, died in 2007.
Nixon was re-elected by a landslide in 1972, months after the break-in. But scandal devoured his presidency, and in 1973 the Senate established a committee and televised hearings were held.
During the hearings, the existence of an automated registration system was revealed. The Supreme Court in 1974 ordered the White House to forgo the tapes, which have been called a “smoking gun” of cover-up.
Liddy, who refused to testify before the Senate committee, did not plead guilty in the criminal case and was sentenced.
While in prison, Liddy spent more than 100 days in solitary confinement.
In 1971, the year before the Watergate robbery, Liddy was part of an underground White House group known as “Plumbers,” whose job it was to patch up leaks in the Nixon administration.
That same year, Liddy was part of a heist targeting Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, the analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers, in an attempt to discredit Ellsberg. Liddy was also convicted of conspiracy in this case.
In addition to his autobiography, Liddy wrote other books and was an actor who appeared in several shows, including “Miami Vice” in the 1980s.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in November 1930, served in the military, and graduated from Fordham University Law School before joining the FBI.
In an interview with WHYY’s “Fresh Air” in 1980 following the publication of his autobiography, Liddy described unusual ways of overcoming fears in his childhood, including rats.
He went to the water’s edge to confront the rats, but they swam away. When his sister’s cat killed a rat, he decided to eat it. “And so I cooked and ate some of the rat. And then I wasn’t afraid of the rats anymore,” Liddy said.
Liddy’s wife, Frances Purcell Liddy, died in 2010. He is survived by a sister and five children, according to his family.
Son Thomas Liddy said Tuesday night his family are very grateful that Liddy has had a long and interesting life, including the chance to serve his country.
The Associated Press contributed.
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