White House Plumbers

The White House Plumbers or simply The Plumbers is the popular name given to the covert Nixon White House Special Investigations Unit established July 24, 1971. Its job was to stop the leaking of confidential information (hence the "Plumbers" title) to the media during the Nixon administration. Its members branched into more nefarious projects working for the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP, or the more derogatory CREEP) including the Watergate break-ins.

History

The group was formed in an almost direct response to the release of The Pentagon Papers in the New York Times beginning June 13, 1971. The papers contained documents detailing America's involvement in Vietnam. Initially White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman downplayed the event to Nixon, stating the information mainly made the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations look bad. However, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and special counsel Charles Colson advocated a severe response to the act{{fn|1}} in the form of publicly discrediting the leaker of the papers, former State Department and Defense Department employee Daniel Ellsberg.

Related Topics:
The Pentagon Papers - New York Times - June 13 - Vietnam - H.R. Haldeman - Kennedy - Johnson - Henry Kissinger - Charles Colson - State Department - Defense Department - Daniel Ellsberg

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On July 1, David Young joined the White House and together with Egil Krogh penned a memorandum to Nixon advisors Haldeman and John Ehrlichman advocating the formation of a White House Special Investigations Unit.{{fn|2}} Haldeman and Ehrlichman agreed to the plan and obtained the approval of Nixon. Young was put in charge of the unit and reported to Krogh. The nickname the "Plumbers" came to being when Young posted his name on his office door which read "David R. Young/Plumber".{{fn|3}}

Related Topics:
July 1 - David Young - Egil Krogh - John Ehrlichman

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