During the 1970s through the 1990s, “Watergate” triggered about the same thoughts in nearly everyone who heard the word—the plot to break into and “bug” the Democratic Party Headquarters in the Watergate Complex in June of 1972. The event was “bungled,” using the words of reporters, and led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. One man most took the blame for the bungling of the attempt to steal Democratic secrets, but refused to implicate any other participants, and was sentenced to prison for 20 years for the burglary and attempted wire-tapping.
And the name most associated with the event, besides that of President Nixon, was that of G. Gordon Liddy, who has been more than once described with the following: theatrical personality, a man whose “tenure” went up-anddown-and-sideways, radio talk-show host, actor, bestselling author, investments promotor, gold buying promoter, jailbird, FBI agent, congressional candidate, crook, brain, wise-cracking jokester, an overly caffeinated guy, and con-man.
President Jimmy Carter later commuted the rest of his sentence after Liddy had already “done a little over 4 years.”
Though he was apparently a very likeable man, President Nixon once said this about him: “He just isn’t well screwed-on, is he?”
Physically speaking, many thought he looked and talked like a movie “badguy,” and said he was good at “staring down” people.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1930, and was supposedly worth 3 million dollars at his death. His parents were Mary and Sylvester Liddy, and he had 5 children. His political party was Republican, and he was often seen on the Fox News Channel. He had graduated from The Fordham University School of Law and served in the Korean War; plus, he was employed by the FBI and was the youngest person to serve as Bureau Supervisor at the headquarters in Washington, D. C.
Liddy’s main occupation was “lawyer,” and a main associate was E. Howard Hunt, who was a chief helper in the burglary!
After having his sentence commuted, Liddy finally spoke of the event and his role in it and later said he was an “accident of history,” for whom things had been very good! And he never seemed too upset by the reputation he had gained, evidenced by his license plates, which read “H20GATE.” Plus, he hosted a radio talk show that reached an estimated more than 10,000,000 listeners!
Mr. G. Gordon Liddy, now most known as an actor, author, and talk show host, recently passed on in Virginia at the age of 90.
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