Richard Kleindienst

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Richard Kleindienst

Richard Gordon Kleindienst (August 5, 1923 – February 3, 2000) was an American lawyer and politician.

Born in Winslow, Arizona, he served in the United States Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1946, attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School, graduating from the latter in 1950.

From 1953 to 1954 he served in the Arizona House of Representatives and then went into private practice, which he continued until 1969. In 1964, he was the Republican candidate for Governor of Arizona, but lost to Sam Goddard, 53%-47%.

He was a deputy Attorney General of the United States from 1969 until 1972 and was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Richard Nixon on June 12, 1972.

The day after the 1972 Watergate break-in, Attorney General Kleindienst was told by Gordon Liddy that the operation had originated in the White House and that he, Kleindienst, should effect the release of the burglars. Kleindienst refused to free the men, but failed to report Liddy's confession, which would have broken the whole case open immediately. He resigned on April 30, 1973 in the midst of the Watergate scandal and returned to private practice. Kleindienst resigned the same day John Dean was fired and H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman quit. He was convicted of a misdemeanor for perjury during his testimony in the Senate during his confirmation hearings. He was fined and given a suspended jail sentence.

Kleindienst was a close confidant of William H. Rehnquist. Kleindienst and Rehnquist were active in the Arizona Republican Party and were appointed to serve under Mitchell as deputy Attorney Generals in 1969. Rehnquist was nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1971 and later elevated to Chief Justice in 1986. It was the close association with Kleindienst that led Rehnquist to disqualify himself from the Watergate tapes case (United States v. Nixon), which directed Nixon to comply with the subpoena issued by Judge John J. Sirica to turn over his tapes. The 8-0 opinion was handed down July 24, 1974, and Nixon resigned the presidency 15 days later.

Kleindienst died of lung cancer in 2000.

[edit] His last TV interview

In what would be his last television interview, on August 10, 1999 Richard Kleindienst was asked by Full Disclosure Network's host Leslie Dutton, if President Richard Nixon had imposed his own will over the Rule of Law. He said, ".... I think some of those things were in violations of the law." [1]