I was 19-22 thereabouts years old or so during the Watergate era, experiencing the drip, drip, drip of news leaking out that eventually downed the sitting President. Goodbye Nixon! The subsequent “All the President’s Men” was a big book and a big movie. The mysterious Deep Throat wound up being FBI Mark Felt. But “following the money” plots ate up all the news oxygen back then and not so much was explored about those who ate the money! Howard Hunt, G. Gordon Liddy and the Cubans. They seemed a sideshow to big books, movies, and Nixon.
This May 2023, HBO released the White House Plumbers about the pair, Hunt and Liddy. The first 3 epidsodes were a bit of a comedy. The Hollywood Reporter said, “While White House Plumbers may get its facts largely correct, it opts for somewhat campy and over-the-top interpretations of Hunt and Liddy. This is not uncommon for political dramas. This is often what happens when members of one side of the political aisle make a movie about members of the other, especially those in government. Instead of taking their subjects seriously, the characters essentially become caricatures of the real people.”
And Liddy was often cartoonish in this mini-series. But when Hunt’s wife dies in the plane crash in the end of episode 3, the show got real serious. I guess if you were born after 1985 all this reads as abstract as the Revolutionary War. Worse, with the shape of our educational system, a boy-girl on the street quiz would think Liddy was a vegetable can.
Once out of prison, Liddy eventually was in TV shows and movies, had a long running national, radio show and was a frequent guest on talk shows. Liddy finally wrote the book “Will,” which Robert Conrad – star of the “Wild, Wild West” TV show fame – played Liddy. Good choice.
I was on the Liddy radio show several times, 1990s and early 2000s. He enjoyed my books, and the invite was always on to return with each new one. He was in the DC area, and I always flew up there to do the show and hang out with him. He was a totally unique hoot to get to know and he told me some great stories about the old FBI (he was an agent who at one time held the record for fast draws and he even caught a top ten fugitive) and some things about the Watergate times. We also had each other’s email and he would ask me questions and vice versa. He loved shooting, history and martial arts. In the past he was often quite pissed on how he’d been written up and portrayed in various books and shows.
So, I still I had to watch the new HBO show. And yes, Liddy’s portrayal went WAY overboard at times. There are some facts presented in the series that were totally forgotten and-or ignored. I am pretty sure this “White House Plumber” series would have made him shoot his TV for sure. He was still one of the most unique cats I’ve ever meet and got to know.
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