Richard Kleindienst: Difference between revisions

{{short description|United States Attorney General (1972 to 1973)}}

|birth_name = Richard Gordon Kleindienst

|education = [[Harvard University]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])}}

'''Richard Gordon Kleindienst''' /kline-DEENST/ (August 5, 1923 – February 3, 2000) was an American lawyer, politician, and a [[U.S. Attorney General]] during the early stages of [[Watergate scandal|Watergate political scandal]].

Kleindienst was born August 5, 1923, in [[Winslow, Arizona]], the son of Gladys (Love) and Alfred R. Kleindienst.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://anb.org/articles/07/07-00730.html |title=Kleindienst, Richard G. |first=Ann T. |last=Keene |date=January 2001 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |via=American Council of Learned Societies }}</ref> He servedattended the University of Arizona before serving in the [[United States Army Air CorpsForces]] from 1943 to 1946. Following his military service, andhe attended [[Harvard College]] and [[Harvard Law School]], graduating from the latter in 1950.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://millercenter.org/president/nixon/essays/kleindienst-1972-attorney-general|title=Richard G. Kleindienst (1972–1973)|work=Miller Center|access-date=2017-08-29|language=en-US}}</ref>

KleindienstAfter suspended[[Richard hisNixon]] privatewon practicethe in[[1968 1969United States presidential election|1968 presidential election]], [[John N. Mitchell]] agreed to acceptserve as [[United States Attorney General]] on the postcondition ofthat Kleindienst serve as [[United States Deputy Attorney General|Deputy Attorney General]].<ref>{{Cite ofbook |last=Graff |first=Garrett M. |url= |title=Watergate: A New History |date=2022 |publisher=Avid Reader Press |isbn=978-1-9821-3916-2 |edition=1 |location=New York |pages=42 |oclc=1260107112}}</ref> Kleindienst suspended his private practice in 1969 to accept the Unitedpost States]]of Deputy Attorney General offered him by President [[Richard Nixon]]. This gave him responsibilities relating to the government's [[ITT Corporation#Harold Geneen appointment|suit]] against ITT]]the International Telephone & Telegraph Corporation. <!-- Anti-trust? They had a couple of anti-trust issues in the preceding years -->Nixon and his aide [[John Ehrlichman]] told him to drop the case, which created an impression that they were violating their ethical obligations in favor of ITT, and that, as an attorney himself, Kleindienst was now obligated to report these ethical lapses to the [[state bar]]s in the jurisdictions involved. But in his official role as Deputy Attorney General, he also repeatedly told Congress ''that no one'' had interfered with his department's handling of the case, notfailing mentioningto mention either Nixon andor Ehrlichman.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1969ittlawsuit#a1969ittlawsuit|title=Context of '1969: ITT Negotiates with Nixon Aides to Avoid Antitrust Lawsuit'|website=www.historycommons.org|access-date=2017-08-29}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com] | MAYMay 17, 1974 | Kleindienst Admits Misdemeanor Guilt | ANTHONYAnthony RIPLEYRipley | [https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/17/archives/kleindienst-admits-misdemeanor-guilt-accused-of-keeping-data-from.html]</ref>

On February 15, 1972, USAttorney Atty. Gen. [[John N.General Mitchell]] (R) resigned effective March 1 in order to work inon the Nixon re-election campaign and [[President of the1972 United States presidential election|PresidentNixon re-election campaign]], [[Richardwith President Nixon]] nominatednominating Kleindienst to succeedserve Mitchellas his successor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://obits.arizonagravestones.org/view.php?id=53813|title=Richard Gordon Kleindienst -– Arizona Obituary Directory|website=obits.arizonagravestones.org|access-date=2017-08-29}}</ref> <!-- one might hope ITT would have arisen again, in Senate confirmation hearings that would produce but I just don't know --> After having served as Acting Attorney General for a little under three and a half months, his appointment was approved by the Senate on June 12 after an attempt to block the nomination by [[Ted Kennedy]] on the grounds of his involvement with ITT, failed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=New York Times |title=Senate Backs Kleindienst In Attorney General Post |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/09/archives/senate-backs-kleindienst-in-attorney-general-post-senate-votes-64.html |accessdateaccess-date=23 July 2018 |date=9 June 1972}}</ref>

Unknown to Kleindienst, leaders of the [[Committee to Re-Elect the President]] (CREEPCRP) had tasked [[Gordon Liddy]] with arranging various covert operations, one of which was to be a burglary of the [[Democratic Party National HeadquartersCommittee]] headquarters at the [[Watergate complex]] in Washington, DC. Before dawn on a Saturday, June 17, 1973, five days after Kleindienst was sworn in,<ref>Richard G. Kleindienst, Figure in Watergate Era, Dies at 76, New York Times, by David Stout, Feb. 4, 2000</ref>, [[James W. McCord Jr.|James McCord]] and four other burglars operating on Liddy's instructions were arrested at [[the Watergate complex]]. Later in the morning Kleindienst was officially notified of the arrests. Liddy, after a phone consultation about the arrests with CREEPCRP Deputy Director [[Jeb Magruder]] (who had managed CREEPCRP up until March of that year, and had the most direct organizational authority over Liddy's activities), personally approached Kleindienst the same day at athe private[[Burning Tree Club]] golf club in [[Bethesda, Maryland]]. Liddy told him that the break-in had originated within CREEPCRP, and that Mitchell wanted Kleindienst shouldto arrange the release of the burglars, to reduce the risk of exposure of CREEPCRP's involvement. But Kleindienst refused and ordered that the Watergate burglary investigation proceed like any other case. The top law enforcement officer of the United States, Kleindienst did not share with FBI investigators or his department's prosecutor Liddy's confession of his own involvement or Liddy's claim that Mitchell was seeking to obstruct justice.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Emery |first=Fred |title=Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon |publisher=Times Books |year=1994 |isbn=0-8129-2383-9 |location=New York |pages=146-147}}</ref>

HeKleindienst ultimately resigned in the midst of the [[Watergate scandal]] nearly a year later, on April 30, 1973. This was the same day that [[John Dean]] was fired and [[H. R. Haldeman]] and [[John Ehrlichman]] quitresigned.<ref>{{cite news | publisherwork = washingtonpost.com | date = May 1, 1973 | title = 3 Top Nixon Aides, Kleindienst Out; President Accepts Full Responsibility; Richardson Will Conduct New Probe | author = Laurence Stern and Haynes Johnson, Washington Post Staff Writers | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/050173-1.htm}}</ref> In 1974, he pleaded guilty to [[contempt of Congress]] for his failing to testify fully to the Senate in a pre-Watergate investigation, involving alleged favoritism shown to ITT during his testimony as part of his Senate confirmation hearings.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://articles.latimes.com/2000/feb/04/news/mn-61045|title=Richard Kleindienst, Attorney General in Nixon Cabinet, Dies|first=Robert L.|last=Jackson|date=4 February 2000|work=[[Los Angeles Times]] }}</ref><ref name=CheneyGerstein>Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein, [https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/19/jan-6-commission-steve-bannon-criminal-contempt-516233 House hopes to defy history in criminal contempt case against Bannon], ''Politico'' (October 19, 2021).</ref> Kleindienst was one of very few people in modern U.S. history to be convicted of contempt of Congress; [[G. Gordon Liddy]], another figure in the Watergate scandal, also was convicted in the 1970s.<ref name=CheneyGerstein/>

In 19821981, Kleindienst was accusedcharged ofwith having perjured himself to the Arizona Bar[[perjury]] regarding how much he knew about a white-collar criminal he represented.; Hehe was clearedsubsequently of all criminal charges brought against himacquitted.<ref name=ANB>{{Cite web|url=http://www.anb.org/articles/07/07-00730.html|title=American National Biography Online: Kleindienst, Richard G. (05 August 1923–03 February 2000)|websitework=www.anb.orgAmerican National Biography|access-date=2017-08-29January 2001}}</ref>

* {{Cite book|last=Kleindienst|first=Richard|title=Justice: The Memoirs of Attorney General Richard Kleindienst|year=1985|location=Ottawa, Illinois|publisher=Jameson Books|isbn=0-915463-15-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/justicememoirsof0000klei}}

* For Kleindienst's limited role in Watergate, see Leon Jaworski, ''The Right and the Power'', and Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, ''All the President's Men'' {{ISBN?}}.

* {{C-SPAN|RichardKleindienst80619}}

{{s-ttl|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for <br> [[Governor of Arizona|Governor]] of [[List of Governors of Arizona|Arizona]]|years=[[1964 Arizona gubernatorial election, 1964|1964]]}}

[[Category:Arizona Republicanspoliticians convicted of crimes]]

[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in Arizona]]

[[Category:DeathsHarvard fromCollege lung canceralumni]]

[[Category:MembersRepublican Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives]]

[[Category:United States Army Air Forces soldierspersonnel of World War II]]