John Ehrlichman

John Daniel Ehrlichman (March 20, 1925 – February 14, 1999) was counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon and a key figure in the Watergate scandal. Born in Tacoma, Washington, Ehrlichman won the Distinguished Flying Cross as a lead navigator in the Eighth Air Force in World War II. After the war, he enrolled and graduated from UCLA in 1948, Stanford Law School. After schooling, 1951 he joined a Seattle law firm as a partner in until 1968 when he left for politics.

Political life

He worked on Nixon's 1960 presidential campaign, 1962 California gubernatorial campaign and was an advance man for Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign.

Related Topics:
1960 presidential campaign - 1962 - California - Gubernatorial - 1968 presidential campaign

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Following Nixon's victory, he became a member of the inner circle as one of the Nixon's closest advisors. He and close friend H. R. Haldeman, whom he met at UCLA, were referred to jointly as "The Berlin Wall" by White House staffers for their penchant to isolate Nixon from other advisors and command his attention. Ehrlichman created "The Plumbers", the group at the center of the Watergate scandal, and appointed his assistant Egil Krogh to oversee its covert operations to stop leaks of confidential information in response to the release of The Pentagon Papers in 1971.

Related Topics:
Inner circle - H. R. Haldeman - White House - The Plumbers - Egil Krogh - The Pentagon Papers - 1971

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After the start of the Watergate investigations Ehrlichman lobbied for the intentional delay of the embattled confirmation of L. Patrick Gray as Director of the F.B.I.. He posited the confirmation hearings were deflecting media attention from Watergate and that it would be better for Gray to be left "twisting, slowly, slowly in the wind." The quote served as the embodiment of Ehrlichman's function during his years in the White House, seek and destroy Nixon's enemies at virtually any cost, a function that would overshadow his domestic efforts in a White House consumed with foreign policy.

Related Topics:
L. Patrick Gray - F.B.I.

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White House Counsel John Dean cited the "Berlin Wall" of Erlichman and Haldeman as one of the reasons for his growing sense of alienation in the White House. This alienation led him to believe he was to become the Watergate scapegoat and then eventually cooperate with Watergate prosecutors. After Dean's testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee Nixon fired Dean and demanded the resignations of both Ehrlichman and Haldeman on April 30,1973. Both men complied.

Related Topics:
White House Counsel - John Dean - Scapegoat - Senate Watergate Committee - April 30 - 1973

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Ehrlichman was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury and other charges in 1975 (along with John N. Mitchell and Haldeman), for which he served 18 months in prison.

Related Topics:
Conspiracy - Obstruction of justice - Perjury - 1975 - John N. Mitchell

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