G. Gordon Liddy, Watergate mastermind, dead at 90

WASHINGTON (AP) – G. Gordon Liddy, a mastermind of the Watergate burglary and a radio talk show host after emerging from prison, died Tuesday at age 90. His son, Thomas Liddy, confirmed the death but did reveal the cause, other than to say it was not related to COVID-19. Liddy, a former FBI agent and Army veteran, was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping for his role in the Watergate burglary, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. He spent four years and four months in prison, including more than 100 days in solitary confinement. ‘œI’d do it again for my president,’� he said years later. After his release, Liddy became a popular, often provocative radio talk show host. He also worked as a security consultant, writer and actor. Liddy was outspoken and controversial, both as a political operative under Nixon and as a radio personality. Liddy recommended assassinating political enemies, bombing a left-leaning think tank and kidnapping war protesters. His White House colleagues ignored such suggestions. One of his ventures – the break-in at Democratic headquarters at the Watergate building in June 1972 – was approved. The burglary went awry, which led to an investigation, a cover-up and Nixon’s resignation in 1974. Liddy, a former FBI agent and Army veteran, was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping for his role in the Watergate burglary. He also was convicted of conspiracy in the September 1971 burglary of defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, who leaked the secret history of the Vietnam War known as the Pentagon Papers. Liddy spent four years and four months in prison, including more than 100 days in solitary confinement. ‘œI’d do it again for my president,’� he said years later. After his release, Liddy – with his piercing dark eyes, bushy moustache and shaved head – became a popular, provocative and controversial radio talk show host. He also worked as a security consultant, writer and actor. On air, he offered tips on how to kill federal firearms agents, rode around with car tags saying ‘œH20GATE’� (Watergate) and scorned people who cooperated with prosecutors. Born in Hoboken, N.J., George Gordon Battle Liddy was a frail boy who grew up in a neighborhood populated mostly by German-Americans. From friends and a maid who was a German national, Liddy developed a curiosity about German leader Adolf Hitler and was inspired by listening to Hitler’s radio speeches in the 1930s. ‘œIf an entire nation could be changed, lifted out of weakness to extraordinary strength, so could one person,’� Liddy wrote in ‘œWill,’� his autobiography. Liddy decided it was critical to face his fears and overcome them. At age 11, Liddy roasted a rat and ate it to overcome his fear of rats. ‘œFrom now on, rats could fear me as they feared cats,’� he wrote. After attending Fordham University and serving a stint in the Army, Liddy graduated from the Fordham University Law School and then joined the FBI. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress from New York in 1968 and helped organize Nixon’s presidential campaign in the state. When Nixon took office, Liddy was named a special assistant to Treasury and served under Treasury Secretary David M. Kennedy. Liddy later moved to the White House, then to Nixon’s reelection campaign, where his official title was general counsel. Liddy was head of a team of Republican operatives known as ‘œthe plumbers,’� whose mission was to find leakers of information embarrassing to the Nixon administration. Among Liddy’s specialties were gathering political intelligence and organizing activities to disrupt or discredit Nixon’s Democratic opponents.