who leaked the
Pentagon Papers, broken into by Liddy and others in 1971, on display in the
Smithsonian National Museum of American History After serving in several mid-level law enforcement and domestic policy roles in the
Nixon administration, Liddy was moved to Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign in 1971 order to extend the scope and reach of the
White House Plumbers "special investigations unit", which had been created in response to damaging leaks of information to the press. Liddy's own name for the group was ODESSA, a reference to
escape plans made by the Nazis. At CRP, Liddy concocted several plots in early 1972, collectively known under the title "
Operation Gemstone". Some of these were far-fetched, intended to embarrass the
Democratic opposition. These included kidnapping
anti-war protest organizers and transporting them to Mexico during the
Republican National Convention (which at the time was planned for
San Diego), as well as luring mid-level Democratic campaign officials to a house boat in Miami, where they would be secretly photographed in compromising positions with prostitutes. Most of Liddy's ideas were rejected by
Attorney General John N. Mitchell (who became campaign manager in March 1972), but a few were approved by Nixon administration officials, including the 1971 break-in at
Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office in Los Angeles. Ellsberg had leaked the
Pentagon Papers to
The New York Times.
Watergate burglaries Liddy was the Nixon administration liaison and leader of the group of five men who broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Complex. At least two separate entries were made in May and June 1972; the burglars were apprehended on June 17. The purposes of the break-in were never conclusively established. The burglars sought to place wiretaps and planned to photograph documents. Their first attempt had led to improperly-functioning recording devices being installed. Liddy and Hunt masterminded the break-in from the Watergate Hotel Room 214, where they could look right into the DNC office, but Liddy claimed he did not actually enter the Watergate Complex at the time of the burglaries; rather, he admitted to supervising the second break-in which he coordinated with
E. Howard Hunt, from room 723 in the adjacent
Howard Johnson Hotel. Liddy was convicted of
conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping. Liddy was sentenced to a 20-year prison term and was ordered to pay $40,000 in fines. He began serving the sentence on January 30, 1973. He claimed that on arrival he sang the
Horst Wessel Song, the Nazi Party anthem. Carter's commutation made Liddy eligible for parole as of July 9, 1977. Liddy was released on September 7, 1977, after serving a total of four and a half years of incarceration. Liddy was charged with two counts of
contempt of Congress in March 1974, on the same day that he and the three Cuban burglars were charged with the Watergate-related crimes. Following a
bench trial on May 10, 1974, Liddy was convicted of contempt for his refusal to answer questions of the Special Subcommittee of Intelligence of the House Armed Services Committee, which was investigating the CIA's links to the break-in of the offices of Dr. Lewis Fielding, the psychiatrist to Daniel Ellsberg. Liddy was found guilty and was handed a suspended jail sentence and probation; the judge stated that the sentence was lenient because Liddy was already sentenced to prison on the Watergate charges. Liddy became one of very few people in American history to be convicted of criminal contempt of Congress. ==After prison==