| Gordon C. Strachan | |
|---|---|
Strachan in 2007 |
|
| Born | July 24, 1943 Berkeley, California |
| Charge(s) | Conspiracy, Obstruction of Justice, Making false statements to a Grand Jury |
| Penalty | 15 years in prison and $20,000 in fines |
| Status | Dropped |
| Occupation | Attorney, US Ski and Snowboard Association Board Member, Utah Board of Alcohol and Beverage Control Board Member |
Gordon Creighton Strachan (born July 24, 1943 in Berkeley, California) was an aide to H.R. Haldeman, Chief of Staff for U.S. President Richard Nixon and a figure in the Watergate scandal.
Strachan graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in International Relations in 1965. He obtained his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law in 1968. From 1968 until 1970 he worked for the New York City law firm of Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander, the same firm Nixon worked for before he ran for the presidency again in 1968.
Strachan, who was recruited by Dwight L. Chapin, came to the White House in 1970 and initially worked as a staff assistant to Herbert G. Klein but was assigned to be H.R. Haldeman's liaison to the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP) when it was formed in March 1971. CRP would become the center of the Watergate scandal. His duties at CRP focused on areas that he had previous experience with; as an advance man during 1970 mid-term election campaigns, he oversaw political operations. He testified as such before the Senate Watergate Committee and stated that John Dean oversaw all political intelligence-gathering, including the Watergate break-in, at CRP.
However, G. Gordon Liddy has claimed in his book Will, and in a sworn deposition1, that Strachan was aware of political intelligence-gathering that Liddy was undertaking, including the Watergate break-in. Liddy claims that Strachan discussed the poor quality of the intelligence gathered from the first successful Watergate break-in, and that Liddy told him they were "going back in" to correct the technical problems with the monitoring devices. Dean withheld this information from Haldeman and John Ehrlichman2, which led to the White House adopting the erroneous position that no one in the White House had involvement, and that it was all contained within CRP. In a 1997 interview with Tom Clancy for the video Eye of the Storm, John Ehrlichman stated Strachan "knows a lot, that he's not telling."
Strachan was indicted along with other White House staffers on March 1, 1974, but all charges against him were dropped on June 10, 1975.
He moved to Utah in 1975, and served as a clerk for Berman & Giauque in Salt Lake City. In 1977 his license to practice law was restored in Utah, and he was elevated to a lawyer at the firm, until he left for a partnership at Prince, Yeates & Geldzahler. He now is the principal at his own law firm, Strachan Strachan & Simon P.C., in Park City, Utah. His practice is mainly focused on antitrust litigation in the ski industry. He served on the Olympic Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Games, and is also general counsel to the United States Ski and Snowboard Association. He is the author of several articles on law.