Things I remember about G.Gordon Liddy, from his (possibly unintentionally) hilarious autobiography,
Will.
- Growing up in America, during Hitler's rise to power, his fondest childhood memories are of listening to the Fuhrer's speeches on shortwave radio with his young German nanny.
- Spends his adolescence and formative years performing exercises to develop his will, including eating a rat and culminating in later life in the ability to hold his arm over a candle flame until the flesh blackened.
- After an abortive career in the army, trained as a lawyer, then switched to a career as a G-Man, and finally back to law.
- Surveilled and arrested Dr. Timothy Leary, LSD evangelist.
- Became attached to the Nixon White House, and especially to CREEP, the Campaign to Re-Elect the President, unofficially as a security consultant.
- Devised a huge and expensive operation called Gemstone involving using 'honey trap' techniques for political espionage - this was apparently never implemented. The scaled-down version became the plumbers.
- As an inspiration to the Nixon campaign team, arranged a special showing, attended by Republican notables, of Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will, commenting: "that, gentlemen, is how to run an election campaign."
- Conducted, with Howard Hunt, the break-in at the offices of Lewis Fielding, psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the pentagon papers.
- Masterminded at the behest of either Jeb Magruder or John Dean the ill-fated burglary/bugging of the Democrat offices at the Watergate.
- As the coverup unravelled towards crisis, generously offered to be shot, saying (I think to Dean) "if you ever want me to stand on a street corner, you know, just say the word." (or something like that)
- In contempt of court, refused to testify in the Watergate trial.
- Claimed to be in touch with an organisation called Odessa, apparently some kind of overseas reunion club for exiled German officers from World War II.