G. Gordon Liddy

George Gordon Battle Liddy (born November 30, 1930) was the chief operative for President Richard Nixon's White House Plumbers unit when they broke into the Watergate complex, which at the time was the headquarters of the Democratic National Convention, in 1972. The cover-up of Watergate led to Nixon's resignation in 1974. Liddy later became an American radio talk show host, actor and political strategist. Liddy's radio talk show is now syndicated in 160 markets and on both Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio stations in the United States.

Biography

Liddy was born in Hoboken, New Jersey and educated at Fordham University. He graduated in 1952 and joined the United States Army, serving for two years as an artillery officer during the Korean War. He returned home in 1954 to study law at Fordham. Graduating in 1957, he went to work for the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover. That same year he married Frances Ann Purcell. Liddy tells a story of an unusual encounter he had with Hoover: while paying the director a courtesy call, the purpose to which Hoover had only briefly alluded, the latter launched into a bizarre 45 minute tirade against Eleanor Roosevelt. In this tirade he said that the former First Lady was an enemy of the Bureau and a subversive. Liddy later said, "Despite the irrelevence, I found this fascinating." He joked that afterwards another young agent approached him saying he was also going to have a meeting with the legendary director and wanted to know how to make a good impression. Liddy put on his best poker face and told his colleague to just let Mister Hoover know how much he loved and admired Eleanor Roosevelt.

Related Topics:
Hoboken, New Jersey - Fordham University - United States Army - Artillery - Korean War - Law - FBI - J. Edgar Hoover

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Liddy left the FBI in 1962 and worked as a lawyer in New York City and Dutchess County, New York. In 1966, he organized the arrest and unsuccessful trial of Timothy Leary. He ran unsuccessfully for the post of District Attorney and then for the House of Representatives in 1968, but used his political profile to run the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon in the 28th district of New York.

Related Topics:
New York City - Dutchess County, New York - Timothy Leary - House of Representatives - Richard Nixon

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In 1971, after serving in several positions in the Nixon administration, Liddy was moved to Nixon's 1972 campaign, the Committee to Re-elect the President, (officially known as CRP but to opponents known as CREEP), in order to extend the scope and reach of the White House "Plumbers" unit, which had been created in response to various damaging "leaks" of information to the press. At CRP, Liddy concocted several far-fetched plots intended to embarrass the Democratic opposition. Most were rejected, but one caught the eye of Nixon operatives in the White House, and Liddy organized the ill-conceived break-in of the Democratic National Campaign headquarters in the Watergate complex. Liddy and E. Howard Hunt also broke into Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office as Ellsberg had leaked the Pentagon Papers and the Plumbers were hoping to find information they could use to discredit him.

Related Topics:
Committee to Re-elect the President - CRP - E. Howard Hunt - Daniel Ellsberg - Pentagon Papers

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For his role in Watergate, which he coordinated with Hunt, Liddy was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping, for which he received a 20 year sentence. He served four and a half years in prison before his sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.

Related Topics:
Watergate - Jimmy Carter

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In 1982, Liddy published an autobiography, titled Will, which sold more than a million copies and was made into a television movie. In it he states that he once made plans with Hunt to kill journalist Jack Anderson. He also wrote two novels: "Out Of Control" and "The Monkey Handlers."

Related Topics:
1982 - Will - Jack Anderson - Out Of Control - The Monkey Handlers

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Liddy joined the talk circuit and then became host of a syndicated radio program espousing extremely conservative views, which was characterized by his highly provocative style.

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The made-for-TV movie, The Highwayman marked Liddy's acting debut. He also appeared on the TV series Miami Vice. Movie credits include: When Nature Calls (1985), Super Force (1990), Street Asylum (1990) and Adventures in Spying (1992).

Related Topics:
Miami Vice - When Nature Calls - 1985 - Super Force - 1990 - Street Asylum - Adventures in Spying - 1992

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Liddy describes himself as having been sickly as a child, and possessed of many irrational fears. To confront and overcome these fears, Liddy devised various tests of his own will-power. Examples include catching, cooking and eating a rat in order to overcome an aversion to the creatures, and climbing a tree during lightning storms, yelling "kill me, kill me."

Related Topics:
Rat - Lightning storms

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One of Liddy's feats of will-power was to hold his hand on a candle flame until the flesh of his hand was burnt. According to the book "All The President's Men," he did this once at a dinner party. Afterwards someone asked: "What's the trick?" He replied: "The trick is not minding."

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For many years Liddy was an outspoken atheist, but is now a Roman Catholic.

Related Topics:
Atheist - Roman Catholic

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