Associated Press reports that Bernard Leon Barker has died in Florida, aged 92. Barker was a Cuban-born CIA operative who became of the burglars arrested at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972.
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The Rev. Robert F. Drinan, the man who first filed an impeachment resolution against President Richard Nixon, has died in Washington. Drinan served as a member of the House Judiciary Committee that voted in favour of the Watergate articles of impeachment in 1974.
Former President Gerald Ford died on December 26, 2006. The Los Angeles Times gave his death front page treatment.
The former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, W. Mark Felt, has been identified as Deep Throat by Vanity Fair magazine. The revelation has been confirmed by Bob Woodward in the Washington Post.
Rose Mary Woods, Nixon's personal secretary during Watergate, has died, aged 87. Woods was supposedly responsible for the famous missing 18 and a half minutes from a White House tape recording.
Stephen Ambrose, the man who authored a three-volume biography of Richard Nixon, has died, aged 66.
Ambrose once said that he was a historian who was “fascinated by leadership”.
A report in the New York Times says:
Stephen E. Ambrose, the military historian and biographer whose books recounting the combat feats of American soldiers and airmen fueled a national fascination with the generation that fought World War II, died yesterday at a hospital in Bay St. Louis, Miss. Mr. Ambrose, who lived in Bay St. Louis and Helena, Mont., was 66.
The cause was lung cancer, which was diagnosed last April, his son Barry said.
Archibald Cox, the Watergate Special Prosecutor sacked by President Richard Nixon in the famous "Saturday Night Massacre" of 1973, has been awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton.
The journalist believed to be the subject of Richard Nixon's famous 1962 comment "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore", Richard Bergholz, has died. Bergholz was a political reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He had a stroke and died on December 26, aged 83.
Charles Ruff, former Watergate Prosecutor, has died, aged 61. Ruff is best known for the leading role he played in the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999. During Watergate, Ruff prosecuted some of Richard Nixon's fundraisers over taking illegal contributions. He became the Watergate prosecutor in 1975.
Frank Wills, the man who discovered the Watergate burglary, has died in the United States, aged 52. Wills was the security attendant who discovered taped locks in the Watergate office and apartment complex on June 17, 1972.
Elliot Richardson, the Attorney-General who refused to comply with Richard Nixon's order to sack the Watergate Special Prosecutor, Archibald Cox, triggering a constitutional crisis known as the "Saturday Night Massacre", has died in Boston, Massachusetts, aged 79.
John D. Ehrlichman, jailed for his role in the Watergate scandal, has died, aged 73. Ehrlichman was President Richard Nixon's Domestic Affairs Advisor from the start of Nixon's term in 1969. Together with H. R. Haldeman, who died some years ago, Ehrlichman formed part of the "Berlin Wall" that protected Nixon.
Senator Bob Dole, Republican Minority Leader, spoke at Richard Nixon’s funeral in California.
Remarks by Senator Bob Dole at Richard Nixon’s funeral.
I believe the second half of the 20th Century will be known as the age of Nixon. Why was he the most durable public figure of our time? Not because he gave the most eloquent speeches, but because he provided the most effective leadership. Not because he won every battle, but because he always embodied the deepest feelings of the people he led.
One of his biographers said that Richard Nixon was one of us. And so he was. He was a boy who heard the train whistle in the night and dreamed of all the distant places that lay at the end of the track. How American. He was a grocer’s son who got ahead by working harder and longer than everyone else. How American.
He was a student who met expenses by doing research at the law library for 35 cents an hour while sharing a run-down farmhouse without water or electricity. How American. He was the husband and father who said that the best memorial to his wife was her children. How American.
The Republican Governor of California, Pete Wilson, spoke at Richard Nixon’s funeral.
Text of remarks by Gov. Pete Wilson at Richard Nixon’s funeral.
Richard Nixon has a beautiful family, and he was devoted to them. Anyone who ever saw them together knew that his beloved Pat, and his girls, Tricia and Julie were everything to him. He was so proud of them, of his sons-in-law, Edward and David, and his grandchildren. But he also had a much larger extended family, a family of those who worked for him and with him — and I was and am very lucky to be a part of that family.
I was one of the many young men and women in whom he inspired the same fierce loyalty that he gave to us. From the first, I was struck by the quality of his personal generosity. When we met in 1962, he’d already debated Khrushchev and President Kennedy. He’d already run for President. He’d been a major political figure on the world stage. But, still, he had time to talk to and to help an eager young advance man who could offer him little but energy and enthusiasm.
Nixon’s former Secretary of State, Dr. Henry Kissinger, spoke at Nixon’s funeral.
Remarks by Dr. Henry Kissinger at Richard Nixon’s funeral.
During the final week of Richard Nixon’s life, I often imagined how he would have reacted to the tide of concern, respect, admiration and affection evoked by his last great battle. His gruff pose of never paying attention to media comment would have been contradicted by a warm glow and the ever-so-subtle hint that another recital of the commentary would not be unwelcome. And without quite saying so, he would have conveyed that it would mean a lot to him if Julie and Tricia, David and Ed were told of his friends’ pride in this culmination to an astonishing life.
Richard Nixon’s funeral was conducted by the Rev. Dr. Billy Graham.
Remarks by Dr. Billy Graham at Nixon funeral.
On behalf of the family of Richard Nixon, I welcome you who have gathered to join with them in paying final respects to the memory of Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States.
Today, in this service, we remember with gratitude his life, his accomplishments, and we give thanks to God for those things he did to make our world a better place.
Through this service, may our dedication to serving others be deepened, and may our eyes be lifted to that which is eternal. Let us hear the word of the Lord, our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and Earth. Our God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
President Bill Clinton spoke at Richard Nixon’s funeral at Yorba Linda.
Remarks by President Clinton at funeral of Richard Nixon.
President Nixon opened his memoirs with a simple sentence: “I was born in a house my father built.” Today, we can look back at this little house and still imagine a young boy sitting by the window of the attic he shared with his three brothers, looking out to a world he could then himself only imagine. From those humble roots, as from so many humble beginnings in this country, grew the force of a driving dream — a dream that led to the remarkable journey that ends here today where it all began. Beside the same tiny home, mail-ordered from back East, near this towering oak tree which, back then, was a mere seedling.
Following Nixon’s resignation, the Republicans suffered heavy losses in the 1974 mid-term congressional elections.
In 1975, the little known Democratic Governor of Georgia, James Earl Carter, announced that he was running for president.
Carter’s insurgent outsider’s campaign propelled him to victory at the 1976 presidential election, defeating Gerald Ford.
Listen to Carter (15m)
President James Earl (“Jimmy”) Carter’s Inaugural Address
January 20, 1977
For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.
In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: “We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.”