Richard Kleindinst, Nixon's attorney general, dead at 76

By Alisa Blackwood,
Associated Press writer

PHOENIX -- Richard Kleindienst, who served as U.S. attorney general during the Nixon administration and resigned during the Watergate scandal, died of lung cancer yesterday. He was 76.

Kleindienst died at his home in Prescott, Ariz., said his wife, Margaret Dunbar Kleindienst. He had been battling cancer for 4½ years.

"We're very proud of what he's done in life. Those things help us," said Mrs. Kleindienst. "We miss him already."

Kleindienst had assisted with Richard Nixon's presidential campaign in 1968, then stayed on as deputy attorney general, eventually replacing Attorney General John Mitchell, who left in 1972 to head the Committee to Re-elect the President -- the organization at the heart of Watergate.

Kleindienst was sworn in as attorney general in June 1972. Five days later came the break-in of Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, a botched bugging attempt that sent some top Nixon aides to prison. Nixon eventually resigned over the scandal.

Kleindienst remained an avid supporter of Nixon, but told The Arizona Republic in a 1997 interview that the president's feelings of bitterness might have contributed to the scandal.

"His desire for revenge and retribution was his great limitation," Kleindienst said.

Watergate changed Kleindienst's life. Amid allegations that White House staffers were trying to obstruct justice, he stepped down in April 1973 along with aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman and White House counsel John Dean.

Kleindienst never spoke to Nixon again. He had served less than a year in office.

He later pleaded guilty -- an act he said he regrets -- in 1974 to a misdemeanor charge for failing to fully testify at his Senate confirmation hearing about the so-called ITT affair, a major scandal that came shortly before the Watergate break-in.

The Justice Department had filed an antitrust suit against the International Telephone and Telegraph Co. in 1971. Kleindienst was charged with failing to tell the Senate that Nixon had ordered him to drop the suit against ITT. The president rescinded the order two days later, after Kleindienst threatened to resign.

It was settled out of court.

Kleindienst was sentenced to 30 days and a $100 fine, and both were suspended.

Kleindienst eventually relocated to Tucson to continue his law practice. He moved to Prescott in 1994, where he continued to practice law until his death, his wife said.

Kleindienst was born on Aug. 5, 1923, near Winslow. He attended the University of Arizona until his sophomore year when he was sent to Italy to serve in World War II. He finished at Harvard College, graduating with a B.A. degree in 1947.

In 1953, Kleindienst became the youngest member of the Arizona state House of Representatives. A member of a group of Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater's supporters known as the "Arizona Mafia," Kleindienst became national director of field operations of the Goldwater for President Committee.

After helping win Goldwater's nomination in 1964, Kleindienst resigned from the senator's staff to mount his own campaign for the governorship of Arizona but was defeated by Democrat Sam Goddard. He resumed his political activities in 1966, when he directed John R. Williams' successful bid for the governorship.

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