by John W. Dean
When I spoke with Bledsoe he told me that his handwritten notes were different from the memorandum he recalled dictating to his secretary on just his conversation with Ehrlichman. I have shared this information with others, who requested that the FBI historian see if he could find that memo. So far, it has not turned up.
16 “5 Held in Plot to Bug Democrats’ Office Here,” The Washington Post, June 18, 1972, A-1.
17 “Intruders Foiled by Security Guard,” The Washington Post, June 19, 1972, A-23.
18 Ehrlichman grand jury testimony, WSPF, May 3, 1973, 55–60.
19 Haldeman, Diaries, 471; and June 18, 1972, H. R. Haldeman notes, NARA.
20 Magruder Senate testimony, 2 SSC 815–16.
21 Ehrlichman Senate testimony, 6 SSC 2581. See also Haldeman testimony, U.S. v. Mitchell et al., November 29, 1974, Transcript, 8439–41
22 Haldeman, Diaries, 472.
23 Ibid.
24 Nixon, RN, 625–26.
25 Colson impeachment inquiry testimony, Testimony of Witnesses, Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, Book III, 259. Colson made his own testimony hearsay, claiming he could only testify to what he told his aide, Desmond Barker, who later reminded him.
26 Haldeman, Diaries, 472.
27 This account is distilled from Dean Senate testimony, 3 SSC 993; Dean testimony, U.S. v. Mitchell et al., October 16, 1972, 2649–51; Dean, Blind Ambition; and G. Gordon Liddy, Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), 257. Until reading Liddy’s account I had forgotten that he had told me he and Hunt had used Bernard Barker and Eugenio Martinez for the Ellsberg break-in in California; Jack Caulfield gave me the same information in broader terms.
28 Dean Senate testimony, 3 SSC 929–31.
29 When I took over Butterfield’s responsibilities liaising with the Secret Service, and I had to sort out problems such as Bebe Rebozo driving the president when they were together, I once had a discussion with the head of the protective detail about what the president and Rebozo did on their periodic boat rides on Bebe’s houseboat. The agent in charge told me that he was once curious himself, because he was posted in the back of the boat on the roof, and on one trip, when he heard no activity for a long time, he took off his shoes, went down the ladder and peeked in the window to see what was going on. He said Rebozo and the president were stretched out on separate chairs simply reading and not saying a word to each other. The agent also told me that frequently, on their long walks, they would never exchange so much as a single word. He had concluded, based on conversations with other agents, that the president simply enjoyed Rebozo’s company, so much of the time spent together was in silence.
30 June 19, 1972, PDD, and Nixon, RN, 627–28.
31 Nixon, RN, 627–28.
32 Jack Anderson, “Secret Memo Bares Mitchell-ITT Move,” The Washington Post, February 29, 1972, B-11.
33 The Watergate special prosecutor’s investigation of ITT found that an ITT commitment was raised and discussed for the first time on May 11 or 12, 1971. Richard J. Davis, “Report of ITT Task Force,” Memorandum to Special Prosecutor Henry S. Ruth, August 15, 1975, 16.
34 For example, in February 1972, Jack Anderson legman Brit Hume interviewed Dita Beard, and she boasted about her memo, saying, “Of course I wrote it.” Mark Feldstein, Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson, and the Rise of Washington’s Scandal Culture (New York: Picador, 2010), 228–29. Yet on March 27, 1972, Beard testified under oath from a hospital room in Denver that she never wrote the memo. Sandford J. Ungar, “Senators Hear Dita Beard Deny Writing Memo,” The Washington Post, March 27, 1972, A-1.
35 Both the Watergate special prosecutor and the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry investigated the ITT settlement and found no quid pro quo. But in the process it was discovered that President Nixon had called Kleindienst on April 19, 1971, to demand the ITT case be settled, a recorded conversation that put the lie to both Mitchell’s and Kleindienst’s testimony in March 1972 before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Because Kleindienst later volunteered this information to the Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski agreed Kleindienst could plead to a misdemeanor, over the protest of his key staff working on ITT (who resigned). The fact that President Nixon allowed Kleindienst to become attorney general knowing that he had committed perjury during his second-round confirmation proceeding became a charge in the bill of impeachment against Nixon that was approved by the House Judiciary Committee. Statement of Information, Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, Book V-Part I, Department of Justice/ITT Litigation-Richard Kleindienst Nomination Hearings; and Richard J. Davis, Memorandum to Henry S. Ruth, Special Prosecutor, “Report of the ITT Task Force,” August 25, 1975. NARA, Files of the Watergate Special Prosecutor. Mitchell was never charged.
36 The author has personal knowledge that Ehrlichman had a direct link to the IRS through Roger Barth, a special assistant to the commissioner, who regularly advised him of information relating to IRS activities with political figures. In early 1972, the IRS was investigating Howard Hughes’s organizations and operations and learned that substantial amounts of money had been paid to Larry O’Brien. See also Statement of Information, Internal Revenue Service, Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, Book VIII, 23, 218–19.
37 H. R. Haldeman, with Joseph DiMona, The Ends of Power (New York: Times Books, 1978), 155.
38 March 4, 1970, Haldeman, Diaries, 134.
39 Haldeman, Ends of Power, 154.
40 Statement of Information, Internal Revenue Service, Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, Book VIII, 23, 218–35.
41 Haldeman’s aide Gordon Strachan testified before the Senate Watergate committee (and most of his testimony is supported by contemporaneous notes from meetings with Haldeman and Jeb Magruder) that he followed the creation of the political intelligence-gathering operation at the CRP. It began with an April 22, 1971, memo from Haldeman reporting his meeting with John Mitchell and the president on April 21, 1971. The third paragraph of Haldeman’s memo read: “It was obvious in some of the points he [Mitchell] was reporting that we need to do a better job of coordinating infiltration activities, polling, intelligence, etc.” A year later, on March 30, 1972, Magruder called Strachan to give him a list of decisions that John Mitchell had made when they visited in Key Biscayne. Included in those decisions was approval of G. Gordon Liddy’s political intelligence-gathering operation. Strachan wrote a memo to Haldeman that included this information, which was later returned to him with a check mark indicating that Haldeman had read the paragraph. Strachan Senate testimony, 6 SSC, 2489–90. The Nixon library located Strachan’s handwritten notes, long believed destroyed, dated April 4, 1972, which state: “17) Liddy—appr w/ 2 opers not 4,” a shorthand note reporting that Magruder had advised him that Mitchell had approved Liddy for two operations. (See www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtual library/documents/donated/040472_stra chan.pdf.) On a date in April 1972 that Strachan could not recall (but most likely shortly after McGovern won the Wisconsin primary, based on April 5, 1972, Haldeman, Diaries), it appears that Haldeman instructed Strachan to contact Liddy to tell him to transfer his intelligence capabilities from Muskie to McGovern, with particular interest in discovering any connection between McGovern and Senator Kennedy. Strachan, in turn, called Liddy to his office—who reached over and turned on the radio to prevent any bugs from picking up the conversation—and Strachan passed along Haldeman’s instruction. Strachan Senate testimony, 6 SSC, 2455. Although Haldeman instructed me to have nothing to do with Liddy’s illegal intelligence operation, and I did not, he clearly did, and fully understood the implications of his actions after the arrests at the Watergate.
42 Liddy, Will, 237, 241.
43 Final Report, SSC, 27–28. See Strachan handwritten note, April 14, 1972, Nixon library, NARA (“Liddy—Switch Musk to McG”) at www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/documents/donated/040472_strachan.pdf.
> The following exchange transpired between the president and Haldeman on April 5, 1972, in National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Tape Subject Log Conversation No. 330-13:
PRESIDENT: One thing you must do is plant somebody in the McGovern crowd, you know. Can we do that? [That is the question.] We had one, as I recall, in the Muskie crowd.
HALDEMAN: That’s what I’ve been doing [unclear].
PRESIDENT: Ah, the reason for having one at McGovern is to know how close the Kennedy alliance is. But we really want to see [is] what McGovern’s doing.
Part I
June 20, 1972
1 It appears I was there because Haldeman’s top office assistant, Larry Higby, gave him a note as he headed out to the morning staff meeting that read: “Reminder—Dean should be included in your 9:00 A.M. meeting. Somebody should keep track of all the elements of this thing and Dean is probably the best man to do this.”
2 John W. Dean, Blind Ambition: The White House Years (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976), 108.
3 June 20, 1972, H. R. Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House (New York: G. P. Putnam’s, 1993), 473.
4 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Conversation No. 342-12. Note: This one was not transcribed; rather, I listened to the audio. It is found on Tape No. 342(b) in the Miller Center collection at the University of Virginia (http://web2.millercenter.org/rmn/audiovisual/whrecordings/) beginning at 35:40 and ending at 1:30, when the office door to his bathroom slams (the toilet can be heard flushing shortly). We know the discussion of Watergate ended at this point, because the president entered his bathroom, slamming the door behind him, and Ehrlichman left the office. The passing reference to Watergate occurs at 1:29:30 on this tape:
NIXON: The newspapers, the politicians, the rest, for crying out loud, the attempt to steal photographed documents [tape-whip sound], the Pentagon Papers and so forth—
EHRLICHMAN: Hum, hmm.
NIXON: Where were those voices when [Jack] Anderson [unclear]? They gave the sons of a bitch a Pulitzer Prize. Published the damn things. Now [unclear, as Ehrlichman and Nixon can be heard getting up], getting a Pulitzer Prize.
5 Conversation No. 342-13 (Nixon: “Chief, I’d like a little of that consommé, if I could have it please.” Waiter: “Yes, sir, sure.”); Conversation No. 342-14 (Nixon, on intercom to Haldeman: “You free to come over, I just finished with John.”); and Conversation No. 342-15 (Nixon to Secret Service agent: “Ah, Chief, I wanted to tell you . . .” regarding dictation equipment. He wants small machines rather than the large ones presently available). Also see http://nixon.archives.gov/virtuallibrary/tapeexcerpts/index.php; http://millercenter.org/president; http://web2.millercenter.org/rmn/audiovisual/whrecordings/.
6 Conversation No. 342-16. Note: The conversation with Haldeman begins at 1:34.22 on tape number 342(b) of the Miller Center collection. The Watergate portion of this conversation—and 18½ minutes of buzzing—begins at approximately 1:41.22.
7 NARA, June 20, 1972, Haldeman notes, EOB, 11:30 A.M., on page 2, read as follows:
be sure EOB office is thoroly ckd re bugs
at all times—etc.
what is our counter-attack?
PR offensive to top this
hit the opposition w/ their activities
pt. out libertarians have created public callous
do they justify this less than
stealing Pentagon papers, Anderson file, etc
we shld be on the attack—for diversion—
what is sched on SFR SALT hearings?
go to Calif on Fri—w/ PN
Julie come out later
PN not to the shower
8 Richard Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978), 632.
9 Ibid.
10 Haldeman, Diaries, 473.
11 Conversation No. 342-27.
12 Conversation No. 344-6.
13 Nixon, RN, 632.
14 NARA, June 20, 1972, Haldeman notes, EOB.
15 Conversation No. 344-7.
16 Nixon, RN, 634.
17 H. R. Haldeman, Ends of Power (New York: Times Books, 1978), 25–26. Both Haldeman’s and Ehrlichman’s calendars indicate they were together the next morning, as Haldeman writes.
18 Ibid., 24.
19 Nixon, RN, 635.
June 21, 1972
1 Tad Szulc, “Ex-G.O.P. Aide Rebuffs F.B.I. Queries on Break-In,” New York Times, June 21, 1972, 1.
2 Bart Barnes, “Cast of Characters Involved in Democratic Office Bugging Case,” The Washington Post, June 21, 1972, A-7.
3 Hunt Senate testimony, 9 SSC, 3688.
4 Alfred E. Lewis, “Espionage Possibility Probed in 2d Break-In at Watergate,” The Washington Post, June 21, 1972, A-9. Years later Liddy admitted his men tried unsuccessfully to remove the lock at the DNC headquarters on May 28 but in fact had successfully picked it on May 29, 1972, planting bugs in the DNC offices and taking pictures of documents. The April 28 date appears incorrect, for Liddy says his men were registered at the Watergate Hotel from May 26 to May 29, 1972. G. Gordon Liddy, Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), 229–33. Nor is there any indication of other break-ins at the Watergate complex by these men.
5 Presidential News Summary, “DNC Break-In,” National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), June 21, 1972, p. 15. Note: It is clear that Nixon was aware of this information, because he had made notes and underlined material on this page of his news summary.
6 H. R. Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House (New York: G. P. Putnam’s, 1993), 473–74.
7 No one attending the meeting in Mitchell’s office at CRP—LaRue, Mardian or Mitchell—denies it took place, and there is little disagreement on the substance of the meeting. But there was some confusion about when it occurred. For example, see Mardian testimony, U.S. v. Mitchell et al. (December 16, 1974), U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 10, 748. Mardian testified: “My recollection when I was first questioned about the matter was on the 21st or 22nd. I wasn’t sure. I was told that it was on the 20 and I have no independent recollection honestly whether it was the 21st or 22nd and I previously testified if they said it was the 20th, it could’ve been the 20th.” When further pushed by his own attorney, Mardian testified: “I honestly can’t testify as to my own recollection.” LaRue testified that the meeting occurred on June 20, 1972. LaRue testimony, U.S. v. Mitchell et al. (November 13, 1974), 6598–99, 6601–5. Mitchell thought the meeting had occurred on June 21 or 22, 1972. Mitchell testimony, U.S. v. Mitchell et al. (November 26, 1974), 8055. But Liddy, who had been debriefed, had a clear memory that he had met with LaRue and Mardian on June 20, 1972. Liddy, Will, 262–64. And the dramatic change in Mitchell’s position on the morning of June 21, 1972, confirms that he had been briefed by LaRue and Mardian the preceding evening.
8 Mitchell Senate testimony, 4 Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities (SSC), 1653 (July 10, 1973).
9 The strain that had always existed between Ehrlichman and Mitchell, meanwhile, grew more pronounced, and I would soon hear Ehrlichman criticizing Mitchell for having allowed Liddy and Hunt’s Watergate burglary, while Mitchell disparaged Ehrlichman for having permitted Liddy and Hunt’s break-in at Dr. Fielding’s office. Each was leveraging against the other.
10 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Conversation No. 739-4.
11 Richard Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978), 636.
12 I knew Silbert before Watergate and Glanzer after. Neither were partisans and both were rather good federal prosecutors. Silbert would be appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia during the Ford administration, and his opponents on the Senate Judiciary Committee were only Democrats, Senators John Tunney (D-CA) and James Abourezk (D-SC). See Helen Dewar, “Senate Committee Backs Silbert for Confirmation, 10–2,” The Washington Post, October 1, 1975, A
-1.
13 Conversation No. 739-11.
14 See Maurice H. Stans, The Terrors of Justice: The Untold Side of Watergate (New York: Everest House, 1978), 202–4. Stans’s records as finance chairman of Nixon’s reelection committee show that playing by the rules was not enough.
15 Haldeman, Diaries, 429.
16 Conversation No. 343-27.
17 Nixon, RN, 637.
June 22, 1972
1 Walter Rugaber, “4 Being Hunted in Inquiry in Raid on Democrats,” New York Times, June 22, 1972, 1.
2 Telephone interview with author, July 16, 2010.
3 For example, the Post reported:
Hunt’s employer, Robert F. Bennett, the president of the Mullen & Company public relations firm, who had been a fund-raiser for the Nixon reelection committee, set up dummy committees for anonymous donors.
The DC Police and FBI were looking for the four men who had signed into the Watergate Hotel (unaware that they were aliases).
Larry O’Brien was claiming that Jack Anderson’s June 20, 1972, column about his travels and expenses had come from a missing file at the DNC’s Watergate office. (Remarkably, Anderson had run into the Miami burglary team at the airport when they arrived at Washington National Airport on June 16, 1972. Frank Sturgis was an old friend, so he said hello, and Sturgis introduced him to Virgilio Gonzalez, who was carrying a bag filled with lock-picking tools. Anderson asked what they were doing in town. Sturgis said they were visiting friends. Forty-eight hours later Anderson tried to bail Sturgis out of jail, smelling a gigantic story. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Earl Silbert objected, and the presiding judge agreed that giving Anderson custody of a Watergate burglar might not be a good idea.)
Woodward had “reliable sources” in the Nixon reelection committee saying that Mitchell had ordered “an independent private investigation” of the bugging incident.
In Miami, “federal sources” said the one-hundred-dollar bills found on the suspect had been traced to the Republic National Bank of Miami, which was in a Cuban neighborhood.