As most of the President’s men who served Nixon have released their own accounts of their roles in Wategate, Howard Hunt’s book American Spy: My Secret History in the CIA, Watergate and Beyond is no different. Hunt spent his career in the CIA from the end of WWII to Watergate. I must admit Hunt lived quite a life. He was also a respected writer having published over 45 books.
He will always be known for his role in the Bay of Pigs and his reported involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy however his book’s focus is Watergate.
I cannot honestly believe how stupid the Republicans were in dealing with Hunt’s team from Miami. G. Gordon Liddy was the mastermind of Operation Gemstone and directed the overall planning with the White House while Hunt ran the team. Its amusing to see the amount of detail Hunt provided regarding the planning to break into DNC offices in the Watergate building.
Many believe the break-in was a one time event. In the last twenty years it has become accepted that Liddy directed four break-ins at the Watergate.
Why? A member of Hunt’s Miami team, Virgilio Gonzàlez the lock picker actually forgot to bring the correct tools to break into the DNC office. Hunt’s team had to cancel the operation while Gonzàlez actually fly back to Miami over a weekend to located a correct set of tools to successfully pick the lock.
This just proves how stupid Hunt and Liddy were regarding this group of clowns….the guy who is in charge of picking the lock to get you inside the DNC forgets to bring his lock picking tools?
Another reason for a second break-in was CIA security specialist James W. McCord who participated in the first break-in but had to return to fix a faulty bug placed inside a telephone in the DNC offices. Clearly the GOP has learned much from this total failure…you have to be very professional when planning political espionage.
I cannot help but think today the FBI bugged the White House. Hunt’s revelation that two FBI officers arrived at his home the morning following the Watergate break in was somewhat surprising. Hunt only other recollection played out on-screen was the phone call from Bob Woodward the following morning as well. He also had the benefit of writing his memoir following the disclosure of Mark Felt as Deep Throat.
Maybe it was surprising to see Hunt completely forget (or better yet) ignore a 1971 White House meeting regarding the Pentagon Papers and Nixon’s wish to bug those responsible. Egil Krogh in his Watergate memoir Integrity: Good People, Bad Choices, and Life Lessons from the White House admits to attending this meeting with Hunt and Mark Felt representing the FBI. How ironic is that? Hunt was actually in the same room as Deep Throat?
Outside of his Watergate nightmare he continued to deny being in Dallas on November 22nd….
Tags: American Spy, E. Howard Hunt, Watergate, political espionage, Nixon, scandal, G. Gordon Liddy, CIA, reading