G. Gordon Liddy is most famous for his role as mastermind of the 1972 Watergate break-in, which led to President Richard Nixon鈥檚 resignation. But Liddy wound up having a colorful life following his conviction in the scandal, from his time as a jailhouse lawyer to a wildly successful career as a right-wing radio talk show host.
Liddy, a former FBI agent, was loyal to Nixon, the Republican president who resigned in 1974, refusing to cooperate with prosecutors or congressional investigators. 鈥淢y father didn't raise a snitch or a rat,鈥 he told the L.A. Times in 2001. He once even told John Dean, counsel to the president, 鈥淚f someone wants to shoot me, just tell me what corner to stand on, and I will be there.鈥
The feelings didn鈥檛 appear to be mutual. Just a week after the break-in, Nixon asked his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, on a: 鈥淚s it Liddy? Is that the fellow? He must be a little nuts.鈥
鈥淗e is,鈥 Haldeman replied.
鈥淚 mean, he just isn't well screwed on is he?鈥 Nixon said. 鈥淚sn't that the problem?鈥
Jailhouse Legal Aide
Federal District Judge John J. Sirica in 1973 sentenced Liddy to up to 20 years in prison, and added 18 months for refusing to cooperate with prosecutors and a Senate committee. While in prison, Liddy helped inmates with their legal appeals. In a for Connecticut Magazine, he wrote about providing legal advice to fellow prisoners, whom he said were ill served by their lawyers.
鈥淚 have found the quality of the legal services accorded to the poor to be disgraceful,鈥 he wrote.
In Will The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy, he also wrote about Black prisoners hurling racial epithets his way. In response, he sang 鈥淗orst Wessel Lied,鈥 an anthem of Germany. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe there was a man there who understood one word of what I sang. But they got the message,鈥 he wrote. Paradoxically, he also typed up kosher menus for Jewish inmates, after they won a court order allowing them to have a kosher kitchen and to prepare their own food.
鈥淭he kosher menu was more limited than the non-kosher, so I did my best to make up attractive adjectives for them,鈥 he wrote. 鈥淲hen I substituted for 鈥榯omatoes鈥 鈥楧elicious Kosher Tomato Surprise,鈥 the kosher cook came over to me and said, 鈥淕oddam Liddy, what the (hell) is that? I never heard of it!鈥
Carter Pardons Liddy
Liddy asked President Gerald Ford, who famously pardoned Nixon, to commute his sentence, but Ford didn鈥檛 act on it, so the request carried over to Ford鈥檚 successor, Democrat Jimmy Carter. On April 12, 1977鈥攍ess than three months into Carter's term鈥攖he White House announced that the president was commuting the sentence 鈥渋n the interest of equity and fairness, based on a comparison of Mr. Liddy's sentence with those of all others convicted in Watergate鈥恟elated prosecutions.鈥
Liddy was released in September 1977 of that year鈥攖he last of the original seven Watergate burglary defendants to be freed. He walked out of prison in Danbury Connecticut with a hand truck of three cartons, and refused to answer reporters鈥 questions about Watergate. He told them he was heading 鈥淓ast of the sun and west of the moon.鈥 When a reporter asked, 鈥淲ell, Mr. Liddy, here's an easy one for you: How do you feel?鈥 he replied in German a quote from Nietzsche: 鈥淲hat does not destroy me makes me stronger.鈥
Liddy Takes Up Writing, Acting
After his release, he started writing books, including a 1979 spy thriller Out of Control. He followed the next year with his autobiography, in which he wrote that as a child, he killed and ate a rat to overcome his fear of the creatures; the book became a best-seller and was turned into a TV movie.
Liddy, who as a prosecutor in Poughkeepsie, New York, had helped arrest countercultural icon Timothy Leary in a 1960s drug bust, teamed up with his former target in college campus debates in the 1980s. Those debates became the basis for a documentary movie, Return Engagement.
Liddy鈥檚 reach into pop culture exploded in 1992 when he launched the G. Gordon Liddy Show, which was carried by hundreds of radio stations. He made some inflammatory comments, especially when it came to guns, such as that he used drawings of then-President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton for target practice. When callers asked how he was doing, he would reply, 鈥淰irile, vigorous and potent.鈥
Liddy also acted in several TV shows, including Miami Vice. As he told Playboy magazine in 1995, 鈥淚 played only villains, and that way, as Mrs. Liddy says, I don鈥檛 have to act. I just go there and play myself.鈥
The trim, bald Liddy, who had a signature bushy mustache, stayed active by playing the piano, making parachute jumps, and taking motorcycle trips. And he never shrunk from his role in the Watergate scandal. In fact, he leaned into it鈥攈is Volvo鈥檚 personalized license plate read, 鈥淗2OGATE.鈥
Liddy died on March 30, 2021 at age 90.