Leonard Garment passed away this week. He was President Nixon’s special legal counsel as Watergate became more than just headlines. Garment and Nixon were close friends in the New York law firm of Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander. Nixon joined after serving as Eisenhower’s Vice President.
President Nixon appointed Garment to replace John Dean who was fired by Nixon the same day John Ehrlichman and Bob Haldeman resigned due to mounting evidence that crimes regarding Watergate were committed within the White House by members of CREEP.
With the amazing impact the White House taping system had on the Watergate investigation it was Garment who successfully urged Nixon not to destroy the recorded tapes. This was the critical issue regarding Congress’ power to investigate Nixon.
Garment would actually outlast all of Nixon’s advisors and stay to serve President Ford immediately following Nixon’s resignation. As a liberal Democrat he was really swimming upstream against Nixon’s conservative inner circle.
Garment eventually left but thrived as a Washington DC attorney more many years representing many future Republicans caught in legal cases – even as a close friend to fellow law partner Scooter Libby. He was also very influential in the New York jazz community.
Maybe most impressive was Garment’s music ability that led him to play in a jazz band with Alan Greenspan before entering law school. Yes, that Alan Greenspan. Small world back then in Brooklyn.