# G. Gordon Liddy-Hero or Criminal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 19, 2007, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716 "2007-09-19T05:51:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/61 "2007-10-01T13:53:43Z")
[QUOTE=suncrafter] I can’t believe he got out of prison after just 4 1/2 years! [/QUOTE] First offense burglary, with nothing taken and no one injured. I’m surprised he GOT four years. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/62 "2007-10-01T14:02:05Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] First offense burglary, with nothing taken and no one injured. I’m surprised he GOT four years. [/QUOTE] I agree. It’s also surprising that he served any significant portion of his sentence. What did Carter say at the time he let Liddy out? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2007, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/63 "2007-10-01T14:41:32Z")
Looking at the news coverage of the commutation and the commutation text, it seems that Liddy’s sentence was wildly larger than that of other Watergate figures, and that this was solely because he refused to talk. The scandal being pretty much over, it didn’t make much sense to punish him for that, so Carter commuted the term. Let’s remember that the term sentenced was twenty years. Twenty. Now if anyone can defend that sentence on the face of it, I’d love to hear it. But it seems like a politically imposed sentence to me. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/64 "2007-10-02T20:22:08Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] I agree. It’s also surprising that he served any significant portion of his sentence. What did Carter say at the time he let Liddy out? [/QUOTE] Purely on 20-ish years-ago recollection, the sentence was commuted “in the interests of justice.” Not sure if therte was any more detailed explanation offered… ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/65 "2007-10-04T08:06:41Z")
Liddy was involved in two crimes we know about, perhaps three. All were failures. Among the things I don’t feel comfortable is the implied assertion that the man was an incompetent criminal. It doesn’t fit. He was the “go to” fixer for one of the biggest crooks in our history, and it seems more likely to me that he committed many crimes, and got caught twice. I see nothing heroic in his life. Sociopath, yeah, maybe. He has strong principles, though. Evil ones, but Sociopaths generally don’t have principles at all. I think mostly he was a talented thug, with experience and connections. His connections included some of the most ruthlessly unprincipled people in the world, who were running the country. They threw him out the window when it got convenient, and I don’t really think he deserved any better. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/66 "2007-10-04T14:47:56Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] They threw him out the window when it got convenient, and I don’t really think he deserved any better. [/QUOTE] Right. I’ll put you in the list of ones voting criminal. Still, I’d like your opinion of the disparity of his sentence. As I noted above, he originally got twenty years. Do you think President Carter did the right thing by commuting the sentence? Remember, this was a commutation only. Liddy remains a convicted felon, which has limited some activities that he previously was fond of. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/67 "2007-10-04T15:40:07Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Do you think President Carter did the right thing by commuting the sentence? Remember, this was a commutation only. Liddy remains a convicted felon, which has limited some activities that he previously was fond of. [/QUOTE] While I would not have done it, myself, had I that power, I cannot find fault with the decision, given the wrist slaps everyone else got. I personally think Nixon should have been Banished, as was done to national leaders in antiquity, and John Mitchell should have received the maximum penalty that the Justice Department ever gave anyone, since he was the Top Cop, and a blatant Criminal at the same time. Liddy was, and is a testosterone addict, and a public clown. But that doesn’t make what he did legal. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/68 "2007-10-04T15:53:38Z")
I’ll have to go with both of Tris’s posts on this. By they way, what were the three? 1. Elsberg’s psychiatrist’s office. 2. DNC HQ in the Watergate 3. … How do we compare Segretti’s Ratfuckers? They seemed exhibit a rather cavalier attitude towards the democratic process. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/69 "2007-10-04T16:02:06Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] By they way, what were the three? 1. Elsberg’s psychiatrist’s office. 2. DNC HQ in the Watergate 3. … [/QUOTE] At the time, there were accusations by others that another break in had been done at Democratic Party Offices. That one went nowhere, though, and with the fallout from the Watergate fiasco, it faded into obscurity. At the time I was a bit nonplussed that the existence of a burglary squad was not a red flag. Do you have a burglary squad at your workplace? Perhaps Liddy was just an incompetent thug, who got caught every time he broke the law. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Let’s remember him that way. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/70 "2007-10-04T16:03:56Z")
**G. Gordon Liddy-Hero or Criminal?** Why can’t he be both, like the late Earl Warren? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/71 "2007-10-04T16:57:16Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Why can’t he be both, like the late Earl Warren? [/QUOTE] I must admit, this one made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/72 "2007-10-09T23:59:11Z")
I hate to bump this up, but I wanted to ask if the OP has bothered to read _All the President’s Men_? Having just finished the book, I would reccomend it. Then come back and tell us that Liddy is a “hero”. Try Mark Felt, or Hugh Sloan. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/73 "2007-10-10T01:14:59Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Then come back and tell us that Liddy is a “hero”. Try Mark Felt, or Hugh Sloan. [/QUOTE] I can answer this, I guess, especially since I responded above that Liddy was no hero. Mark Felt wasn’t much of a hero either - he was a frustrated FBI careerist who took his frustrations out by becoming a snitch instead of utilizing his proper chain of command. Now, I’m sure we can argue all day about whether his results were good ones or bad ones - but let’s keep in mind that this kind of thinking gave us Liddy in the first place. Hugh Sloan was an honest guy, by all accounts, and as he had resigned his post (which wasn’t a government one in any case) there was nothing preventing him from talking to the press. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/74 "2007-10-10T21:08:04Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Can’t shoot at people who bust into your house and start shooting up the place, or can’t advice on how to kill ATF people? [/QUOTE] Can’t shoot at cops, period. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/75 "2021-03-31T01:44:27Z")
Updating this thread: > **[G. Gordon Liddy, Watergate mastermind, dead at 90](https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/ct-aud-nw-g-gordon-libby-dead-20210331-hpz7y4tqojgwjal62hffdvahx4-story.html)** > > G. Gordon Liddy, a mastermind of the Watergate burglary, died Tuesday at age 90. He was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping for his role in Watergate. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/76 "2021-03-31T01:56:58Z")
I’ll miss him just as much as the last zit I popped on my butt. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716/77 "2021-03-31T05:38:34Z")
I mean even if you don’t recognize Watergate as a huge crime and degradation of the American political process. How does taking part in it qualify him for “hero” status. He broke into a hotel, got caught, went to prison. Which bit of that is heroic? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-gordon-liddy-hero-or-criminal/419716.md?page=3)