G. Gordon Liddy
G. Gordon Liddy was a notable figure in American political history, born in 1930 in Hoboken, New Jersey. He is best known for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, where he played a key role as a member of the Nixon administration’s "Plumbers" unit, which sought to prevent leaks of information. Liddy’s early life included a military stint as an artillery officer during the Korean War, followed by a career in law, including work as an FBI agent and later a prosecutor. His controversial actions included orchestrating break-ins and other schemes aimed at discrediting political opponents.
In 1973, Liddy was convicted of multiple charges related to the Watergate break-in and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, although his sentence was later commuted after serving about four and a half years. Following his release, Liddy transitioned into a career as a talk show host, author, and public commentator, often stirring debate with his provocative views, particularly regarding government authority and individual rights. He remains a polarizing figure, admired by some for his steadfastness and criticized by others for his criminal actions and the implications they had for governmental power. Liddy’s complex legacy continues to evoke discussion on the political and cultural dynamics of the United States.
G. Gordon Liddy
- Born: November 30, 1930
- Birthplace: Hoboken, New Jersey
- Died: 2007
American former political operative
Also known as: George Gordon Battle Liddy (full name)
Major offenses: Burglary, illegal wiretapping, and conspiracy in connection with the 1972 Watergate break-in
Active: June 17, 1972
Locale: Washington, DC
Sentence: Twenty years in prison; served four and one-half years before his sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter
Early Life
George Gordon Battle Liddy (LIH-dee) was born in 1930 in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Sylvester and Maria Abbaticchio Liddy. In his autobiography Will (1980), Liddy described himself as a timid child who decided to use his will to confront his fears. This resolution led to some colorful stories about Liddy’s youth. For example, he reports climbing a tree to confront a raging thunder and lightning storm; in another anecdote, he killed, cooked, and ate a rat in order to defeat his fear of the animals.
Liddy attended a private Jesuit and Benedictine secondary school. He then enrolled at Fordham University, where he attained a BS in 1952. He served for two years in the US Army as an artillery officer during the Korean War. Liddy then returned to Fordham in 1954 to attend law school.
Law and Political Career
Liddy graduated in 1957 with an LL.D. and joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that year as a special agent. He rose to become the youngest bureau supervisor at FBI headquarters before resigning from the bureau in 1962.
He went to Manhattan to practice international law and later served as a prosecutor in Duchess County, New York. At this time he led a 1966 prosecution against famed counterculture guru Timothy Leary but was unable to secure a conviction. Liddy ran unsuccessfully for the office of district attorney and then for the House of Representatives. In 1968, Liddy managed the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon for the twenty-eighth congressional district.
Liddy went on to serve the Nixon administration as assistant to the treasury secretary and later became a member of the White House Special Investigations Group. This unit was also known as “the Plumbers” because of their efforts to prevent information from leaking to the media during Nixon’s reelection campaign. Liddy was also finance counsel for the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP, known also by Nixon detractors as CREEP), a fundraising organization headed by former US Attorney General John Mitchell.
Criminal Career
Liddy had devised some improbable schemes to attempt to embarrass, harass, or discredit the Democratic opposition, such as “Operation Gemstone,” which included hiring prostitutes to entertain Democratic officials in wiretapped houseboat bedrooms in an effort to gather incriminating or embarrassing information. Although Gemstone was not enacted, a caper that involved breaking into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters was later put into action.
This break-in was not Liddy’s first foray into burglary. In September, 1971, Liddy and E. Howard Hunt broke into the office of defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist in the hope of finding information that would discredit Ellsberg, whose release of the Pentagon Papers to the press severely eroded public support for the Vietnam War.
On June 17, 1972, several men hired by CRP were apprehended while breaking into the DNC headquarters located at the Watergate building in Washington, DC. The resulting investigation into the role of the Nixon operatives in the break-in resulted in several criminal charges against administration officials, including Liddy.
Legal Action and Outcome
On January 30, 1973, Liddy was convicted of conspiring to burglarize, wiretap, and electronically eavesdrop on the Democratic Party’s Watergate headquarters; burglarizing the Democratic headquarters with the intent to steal the property of another; burglarizing the Democratic headquarters with the intent to unlawfully wiretap and eavesdrop; and endeavoring to eavesdrop illegally. He faced a maximum of thirty-five years and was sentenced to twenty. However, his sentence was later commuted by President Jimmy Carter after approximately four and one-half years.
Impact
After his release from prison, G. Gordon Liddy became a popular author (his autobiography Will sold more than a million copies and was made into a television movie), talk show guest, actor, commentator, and syndicated radio talk show host. He remained a controversial and provocative presence. In 1994, for example, he was criticized for seeming to advocate the murder of federal officers (even though he was a former FBI agent himself) by advising his listeners on how to fire on agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms should they come to confiscate weapons. Liddy’s views were generally perceived as right-wing, with a deep streak of libertarianism.
Some people admired Liddy’s steadfast refusal to cooperate with the Watergate investigation or to implicate others to spare himself prison time. Others, however, maintain that Liddy’s criminal actions represent a chilling abuse of governmental power and unbridled sense of entitlement by the executive branch. Liddy continues to be remembered as a colorful, complex, and provocative figure in the political-entertainment mixture that makes up much of the United States’ cultural landscape.
Bibliography
Bernstein, Carl, and Bob Woodward. All the President’s Men. 2d ed. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994. Account of Watergate from the investigative reporters who first broke the story. Highlights the major players and provides an interesting historical look at the scandal.
Liddy, G. Gordon. When I Was a Kid, This Was a Free Country. Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2002. Liddy provides his position and commentary on a variety of social, political, and cultural issues.
Liddy, G. Gordon. Will. 3d ed. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996. Liddy’s autobiography covers his life history, formation of core beliefs, and view of the Watergate scandal.