L. Patrick Gray
Encyclopedia
Louis Patrick Gray III was acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) from May 2, 1972 to April 27, 1973. During this time, the FBI was in charge of the initial investigation into the burglaries that sparked the Watergate scandal
, which eventually led to the resignation of President Nixon
. Gray was nominated as permanent Director by Nixon on February 15, 1973 but failed to win Senate confirmation. He resigned as FBI director on April 27, 1973, after he admitted to destroying documents received on June 28, 1972, 11 days after the Watergate burglary, that had come from convicted Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt's safe, given to him by White House counsel John Dean
.
By the time Gray had successfully defended himself against five federal grand juries and four committees of Congress
, he had been vilified by the press and denounced by the prosecutors who could not prove his guilt. Gray remained publicly silent about the Watergate scandal for 32 years, speaking to the press only once, at the end of his life and shortly after his second in command at the FBI, Mark Felt
, announced that he was the secret source to the Washington Post known as “Deep Throat
”.
, on July 18, 1916, the eldest son of a Texas railroad worker. He worked three jobs while attending schools in St. Louis and Houston, Texas
, graduating from St. Thomas High School in 1932, at the age of 16 (having skipped two grades). Gray initially attended Rice University
; however, his true goal was to be admitted to the United States Naval Academy
. He was finally admitted to the Naval Academy in 1936 and he immediately dropped out of Rice University in his senior year so he could attend.
At the time, however, Gray could not afford the bus or train fare to Annapolis, so he hired on as an apprentice seamen on a tramp steamer out of Galveston. During the journey to Philadelphia (the closest the steamer could get him to Maryland), Gray taught calculus to the ship's captain, a Bulgarian named Frank Solis, in return for basic lessons in navigation. Once in Philadelphia, Gray hitchhiked to Annapolis.
Once at the academy, Gray walked onto the football team as the starting quarterback, played varsity lacrosse and boxed as a light heavyweight. In 1940, Gray received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Academy.
, as which he would serve through five submarine
war patrols in the Pacific during World War II
. Gray suffered a ruptured appendix at the start of his sixth patrol and he was unable to get to a hospital for 17 days, an ordeal that should have killed him. His Academy class of 1940 would go on to suffer more wartime losses than any other class in US history.
In 1945, Gray visited Beatrice Kirk DeGarmo, the widow of his classmate at the Naval Academy, Ed DeGarmo. A year later, in 1946, he and "Bea" were married, and he would adopt her two sons, Alan and Ed. They would have two more of their own, Patrick and Stephen.
In 1949, while still serving in the navy, Gray received a J.D. degree
from George Washington University Law School where he edited the law review
and became a member of the Order of the Coif
. He was admitted to practice before the Washington D.C. Bar in 1949; later, he was admitted to practice law by the Connecticut State Bar, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
, the United States Court of Appeals
, the United States Court of Claims
, and the United States Supreme Court.
By 1960, Gray's achievements in the Navy included commanding three submarine war patrols during the Korean War
, earning the rank of captain
two years before he was legally allowed to be paid for it, and serving as congressional liaison officer for the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
, and the Chief of Naval Operations
. In that same year, when Gray indicated his desire to retire from the Navy, Arleigh Burke
, the Chief of Naval Operations, told Gray "If you stay, you'll have my job some day." Gray did not stay, and in 1961 joined a Connecticut law firm.
for the Civil Division in the Department of Justice
. In 1972, Gray was appointed Deputy Attorney General
but before he could be confirmed by the full United States Senate
, his nomination was withdrawn.
. Gray served in this position for less than a year. Day-to-day operational command of the Bureau remained with Associate Director Mark Felt.
headquarters at the Watergate hotel complex
in Washington, D.C.
. The culprits were caught in the act by Frank Wills, a security guard at the Watergate Complex.
Gray first learned of the Watergate break-ins on June 17 from Wes Grapp, the SAC of the Los Angeles field office. Gray immediately called Mark Felt, his second in command. At the time, Felt only had limited information, remaining unclear as to whether it was a burglary or bombing attempt.
Felt had more information the next day, when he informed Gray that the burglars had connections to the Committee to Re-elect the President
(CRP), that one burglar (McCord) was head of security for the committee, and that at least one listening device had been found. Gray recalled the conversation concluding with the exchange:
On the same day, Gray also met later-identified Watergate conspirator Fred Larue
in California on Sunday, June 18, 1972—the day after the five Watergate burglars were arrested. The two discussed Watergate, according to Larue, and made arrangements to meet again back in Washington D.C. In his own memoir, Gray relates the LaRue meeting as a chance encounter at a hotel swimming pool and quotes their entire Watergate-related conversation:
For the first six months of the investigation, Gray remained heavily involved. It was only when it became apparent that the White House was involved that Gray recused himself from the investigation and handed control over to Mark Felt.
and President Nixon held one of the infamous “smoking gun” conversations in which they conspired to use the CIA to block the FBI investigation into the money trail
leading from the Watergate burglars to the Committee to Re-elect the President, which would constitute hard evidence that Committee members were involved in the planning of the burglaries.
According to Gray, this plan was first put into action when he had a meeting with Vernon Walters
, then deputy directory of the CIA, in which he quotes Walters as falsely saying, “If the investigation gets pushed further south of the border… it could trespass onto some of our covert projects. Since you’ve got these five men under arrest, it will be best to taper the matter off here.” This conversation implicitly stated that the FBI should not interview Manuel Ogarrio and Kenneth Dahlberg, individuals connected with the money used to fund the Watergate burglars.
This would later be backed up by the Director of the CIA, Richard Helms
, when he specifically told Gray that Karl Wagner and John Caswell should also not be interviewed, as they were, he stated, active CIA agents at the time.
The basis for such a request came from a long-standing understanding between the CIA and the FBI that they would not reveal each other’s informants. This effort by the White House and the CIA succeeded in delaying the interviews of both Ogarrio and Dahlberg for a little more than one week, at which point Gray and his senior FBI staff, including Mark Felt, Charlie Bates, and Bob Kunkel, decided that, due the increasing importance of these individuals in the investigation, they needed a written request from the CIA not to interview them, which would have to state in greater detail the reasons for not interviewing these individuals. Once the decision was made, Gray called Vernon Walters and demanded that written request the next morning, or he would order the interviews to go forth.
The next morning, Vernon Walters arrived and delivered a three-page memorandum, marked “SECRET” that did not ask the FBI to hold-off on the interviews. The meeting concluded with Walters suggesting to Gray that he should warn the President that some members of the White House staff were hindering the FBI’s investigation. After the conversation, Gray ordered the interviews to proceed immediately.
Ultimately, the CIA cover-up succeeded in little more than delaying the FBI investigation no more than two weeks.
While not active in any Watergate activities per se, Gray was aware through his dealings with John Dean
that the White House was concerned about what might be discovered from a full-field FBI investigation and explored what he could do to limit the investigation or shift it away from the Bureau’s jurisdiction. As Dean wrote in his Watergate memoir “Blind Ambition,” he used Gray as a shill knowing that “we could count on Pat Gray to keep the Hunt material from becoming public, and he did not disappoint us.” In fact, even though he thought of this as a political not criminal situation and that he was ultimately serving the President as the “nation’s chief law enforcement officer,” Gray would come dangerously close to collusion because he chose to be useful to the White House without asking the hard questions. Dean goes on to say, “I met Pat Gray secretly at his home in southwest Washington. We were both apprehensive about the meeting as we walked to a park and sat down on a bench overlooking the Potomac, discussing my request to obtain FBI 302s and AirTels on the Watergate investigation."
Later, when the missing Hunt material came to light, Gray reportedly said to Dean, “Goddammit John. You have got to hang tight. Who else knows about it?” By early July 1972 however, Gray had an alarming picture of the apparent conspiracy as conveyed to him by Vernon Walters and he changed tack. Although he arguably should have made it his business to know before helping Dean in any way, once he did know for certain that the White House was somehow involved he was no longer a predictable and reliable ally they could count on.
reveal that Bob Haldeman told Nixon that Felt was the source of leaks of confidential information contained in the FBI’s investigation to various members of the press, including Bob Woodward
of the Washington Post. Gray claimed that he resisted five separate demands from the White House to fire Felt, stating that he believed Felt's assurances that he was not the source. Eventually, Gray demanded to know who was claiming Felt to be leaking. Attorney general Richard Kleindienst
told Gray that Roswell Gilpatric
, former deputy secretary of defense under John F. Kennedy
and now outside general counsel to Time
, had told John Mitchell
that Felt was leaking to Sandy Smith of Time magazine.
After Felt admitted in the May 2005 Vanity Fair
article that he lied to Gray about leaking to the press, Gray claimed that Felt's bitterness at being passed over was the cause of his decision to leak to Time
, the Washington Post, and others.
During the confirmation hearing, Gray defended his bureau's investigation. During questioning, he volunteered that he had provided copies of some of the files on the investigation to White House Counsel
John Dean, who had told Gray he was conducting an investigation for the President. Gray testified that before turning over the files to Dean, he had been advised by the FBI's own legal counsel that he was required by law to comply with Dean's order. He confirmed that the investigation supported claims made by the Washington Post and other sources of dirty tricks committed and funded by the Committee to Re-Elect the President, notably activities of questionable legality committed by Donald Segretti
. The White House had for months steadfastly denied any involvement in such activities.
During the hearings, Gray testified that Dean had "probably lied" to the FBI, increasing the suspicions of many of a cover-up. The Nixon administration was so angered by this statement that John Ehrlichman
told John Dean that Gray should be left to "twist slowly, slowly in the wind."
. Dean instructed Gray, in the presence of John Ehrlichman, that the documents were “national security documents. These should never see the light of day." Dean further repeatedly told Gray that the documents were not Watergate related.
Six months later, Gray said he finally looked at the papers as he burned them in a Connecticut fireplace. "The first set of papers in there were false top-secret cables indicating that the Kennedy administration had much to do with the assassination of the Vietnamese president (Diem)
," Gray said. "The second set of papers in there were letters purportedly written by Senator Kennedy involving some of his peccadilloes, if you will."
After learning from Ehrlichman that John Dean was cooperating with the U.S. attorney and would be revealing to him what happened on June 21, Gray told his staunchest congressional supporter, Senator Lowell Weicker
, so that he might be prepared for that revelation. As a result, Senator Weicker leaked this revelation to some chosen reporters.
Following this revelation, Gray resigned from the FBI on April 27, 1973.
On October 7, 1975, the Watergate Special Prosecutor informed Gray that the last Watergate-related investigation of him had been formally closed. Gray was never indicted in relation to Watergate but the scandal dogged him afterwards.
In 1978, Gray was indicted along with Mark Felt and Assistant Director Edward Miller for allegedly having approved illegal break-ins during the Nixon administration. Gray vehemently denied the charges and they were dropped in 1980. Felt and Miller, who had approved the illegal break-ins during the tenures of four separate FBI directors, including J. Edgar Hoover, Gray, William Ruckelshaus
, and Clarence Kelley, were convicted and later pardoned by President Ronald Reagan
. Exonerated by the Department of Justice after a two-year investigation, Gray returned to his law practice in Connecticut.
and Carl Bernstein
.
On June 26, 2005, mere days before his death from pancreatic cancer
, Gray spoke about the Watergate scandal for the first time in 32 years. When asked about Mark Felt's claim to being Deep Throat, Gray told ABC
's This Week that he was in "total shock, total disbelief," noting, "It was like I was hit with a tremendous sledgehammer."
Gray died on July 6, 2005, and was survived by his wife, four children, fourteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Before his death, Gray, using his extensive and never-released personal Watergate files, began working on his memoirs with his son, Ed Gray, who finished them. The book, entitled In Nixon's Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate was published on March 4, 2008 by Times Books, a division of Henry Holt and Company
.
Gray's posthumously-published Watergate book disputes the claim that Mark Felt is Deep Throat, citing Woodward's own notes and other evidence as proof that Deep Throat was a fictional composite made up of several Woodward sources, only one of whom was Felt.
In August 1972, Gray and Smith had lunch. According to Smith, during this lunch Gray mentioned details of Donald Segretti
and John Mitchell
's involvement in the Watergate burglaries. Smith quotes Gray:
After the lunch, Smith reportedly rushed to his editor, Phelps, with the story, but it amounted to nothing. Smith left his job the next day for Yale Law School, and Phelps lost track of the story while covering the 1972 Republican Convention.
However, while only Gray and Smith knew exactly what was said at that lunch, Gray's son, Edward, denies that his father could have implicated either the Attorney General or the President, stating:
Gray goes on to point out that at the time of this lunch the Attorney General was Richard Kleindienst
, who was never implicated in any of the Watergate scandals. Even if Smith meant that he was talking about John Mitchell
, the former Attorney General, Gray further points out that no one (outside of the conspirators) knew of Mitchell's involvement until the following April, when John Dean
admitted as much to special prosecutors.
This archive has become what is undoubtedly the "most complete set of Watergate investigative records outside the government." The Gray family intends one day to make these records available to the public, although it remains in private hands at the moment and subject to very limited access.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) from May 2, 1972 to April 27, 1973. During this time, the FBI was in charge of the initial investigation into the burglaries that sparked the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
, which eventually led to the resignation of President Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
. Gray was nominated as permanent Director by Nixon on February 15, 1973 but failed to win Senate confirmation. He resigned as FBI director on April 27, 1973, after he admitted to destroying documents received on June 28, 1972, 11 days after the Watergate burglary, that had come from convicted Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt's safe, given to him by White House counsel John Dean
John Dean
John Wesley Dean III is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel to United States President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. In this position, he became deeply involved in events leading up to the Watergate burglaries and the subsequent Watergate scandal cover-up...
.
By the time Gray had successfully defended himself against five federal grand juries and four committees of Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, he had been vilified by the press and denounced by the prosecutors who could not prove his guilt. Gray remained publicly silent about the Watergate scandal for 32 years, speaking to the press only once, at the end of his life and shortly after his second in command at the FBI, Mark Felt
W. Mark Felt
William Mark Felt, Sr. was an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , who retired in 1973 as the Bureau's Associate Director...
, announced that he was the secret source to the Washington Post known as “Deep Throat
Deep Throat
Deep Throat is the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in 1972 about the involvement of United States President Richard Nixon's administration in what came to be known as the Watergate scandal...
”.
Early life and education
Gray was born in St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, on July 18, 1916, the eldest son of a Texas railroad worker. He worked three jobs while attending schools in St. Louis and Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, graduating from St. Thomas High School in 1932, at the age of 16 (having skipped two grades). Gray initially attended Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
; however, his true goal was to be admitted to the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
. He was finally admitted to the Naval Academy in 1936 and he immediately dropped out of Rice University in his senior year so he could attend.
At the time, however, Gray could not afford the bus or train fare to Annapolis, so he hired on as an apprentice seamen on a tramp steamer out of Galveston. During the journey to Philadelphia (the closest the steamer could get him to Maryland), Gray taught calculus to the ship's captain, a Bulgarian named Frank Solis, in return for basic lessons in navigation. Once in Philadelphia, Gray hitchhiked to Annapolis.
Once at the academy, Gray walked onto the football team as the starting quarterback, played varsity lacrosse and boxed as a light heavyweight. In 1940, Gray received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Academy.
Naval career
The US Navy commissioned Gray as a line officerLine officer
In the United States armed forces, the term line officer or officer of the line refers to an officer who is trained for command — that is, to be the commanding officer of a warship, ground combat unit, combat aviation unit, or combat support unit....
, as which he would serve through five submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
war patrols in the Pacific during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Gray suffered a ruptured appendix at the start of his sixth patrol and he was unable to get to a hospital for 17 days, an ordeal that should have killed him. His Academy class of 1940 would go on to suffer more wartime losses than any other class in US history.
In 1945, Gray visited Beatrice Kirk DeGarmo, the widow of his classmate at the Naval Academy, Ed DeGarmo. A year later, in 1946, he and "Bea" were married, and he would adopt her two sons, Alan and Ed. They would have two more of their own, Patrick and Stephen.
In 1949, while still serving in the navy, Gray received a J.D. degree
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from George Washington University Law School where he edited the law review
Law review
A law review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, normally published by an organization of students at a law school or through a bar association...
and became a member of the Order of the Coif
Order of the Coif
The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. A student at an American law school who earns a Juris Doctor degree and graduates in the top 10 percent of his or her class is eligible for membership if the student's law school has a chapter of the...
. He was admitted to practice before the Washington D.C. Bar in 1949; later, he was admitted to practice law by the Connecticut State Bar, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
The United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces or CAAF is an Article I court that exercises worldwide appellate jurisdiction over members of the United States armed forces on active duty and other persons subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice...
, the United States Court of Appeals
United States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
, the United States Court of Claims
United States Court of Claims
The Court of Claims was a federal court that heard claims against the United States government. It was established in 1855 as the Court of Claims, renamed in 1948 to the United States Court of Claims , and abolished in 1982....
, and the United States Supreme Court.
By 1960, Gray's achievements in the Navy included commanding three submarine war patrols during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, earning the rank of captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
two years before he was legally allowed to be paid for it, and serving as congressional liaison officer for the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is by law the highest ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces, and is the principal military adviser to the President of the United States, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council and the Secretary of Defense...
, and the Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...
. In that same year, when Gray indicated his desire to retire from the Navy, Arleigh Burke
Arleigh Burke
Admiral Arleigh Albert '31-knot' Burke was an admiral of the United States Navy who distinguished himself during World War II and the Korean War, and who served as Chief of Naval Operations during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations.-Early life and naval career:Burke was born in Boulder,...
, the Chief of Naval Operations, told Gray "If you stay, you'll have my job some day." Gray did not stay, and in 1961 joined a Connecticut law firm.
Department of Justice
In 1969, Gray returned to the federal government and worked under the Nixon administration in several different positions. In 1970, President Nixon appointed him as Assistant Attorney GeneralUnited States Assistant Attorney General
Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an Assistant Attorney General.The President of the United States appoints individuals to the position of Assistant Attorney General with the advice and consent of the Senate...
for the Civil Division in the Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
. In 1972, Gray was appointed Deputy Attorney General
United States Deputy Attorney General
United States Deputy Attorney General is the second-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. In the United States federal government, the Deputy Attorney General oversees the day-to-day operation of the Department of Justice, and may act as Attorney General during the...
but before he could be confirmed by the full United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
, his nomination was withdrawn.
Acting Director FBI
Instead, President Nixon designated him as Acting Director of the FBI after the death of J. Edgar HooverJ. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
. Gray served in this position for less than a year. Day-to-day operational command of the Bureau remained with Associate Director Mark Felt.
Watergate and the FBI’s investigation
On June 17, 1972, just six weeks after Gray took office at the FBI, five men broke into the Democratic National CommitteeDemocratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
headquarters at the Watergate hotel complex
Watergate complex
The Watergate complex is a group of five buildings next to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. in the United States. The site contains an office building, three apartment buildings, and a hotel-office building...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. The culprits were caught in the act by Frank Wills, a security guard at the Watergate Complex.
Gray first learned of the Watergate break-ins on June 17 from Wes Grapp, the SAC of the Los Angeles field office. Gray immediately called Mark Felt, his second in command. At the time, Felt only had limited information, remaining unclear as to whether it was a burglary or bombing attempt.
Felt had more information the next day, when he informed Gray that the burglars had connections to the Committee to Re-elect the President
Committee to Re-elect the President
The Committee for the Re-Election of the President, abbreviated CRP but often mocked by the acronym CREEP, was a fundraising organization of United States President Richard Nixon's administration...
(CRP), that one burglar (McCord) was head of security for the committee, and that at least one listening device had been found. Gray recalled the conversation concluding with the exchange:
“Are you absolutely certain that we have jurisdiction?” I asked.
“I’m sure of it,” he [Felt] answered.
“Just check it and be absolutely certain,” I ordered. “And then investigate it to the hilt with no holds barred.”
On the same day, Gray also met later-identified Watergate conspirator Fred Larue
Fred LaRue
Frederick Cheney "Fred" LaRue was a presidential aide of the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon who served time in prison for his role in events resulting the Watergate first break-in and the subsequent Watergate scandal and cover-up...
in California on Sunday, June 18, 1972—the day after the five Watergate burglars were arrested. The two discussed Watergate, according to Larue, and made arrangements to meet again back in Washington D.C. In his own memoir, Gray relates the LaRue meeting as a chance encounter at a hotel swimming pool and quotes their entire Watergate-related conversation:
“The Watergate thing is a hell of a thing,” he said.
“You bet it is, Fred,” I answered. “We're going to investigate the hell out of it.”
That was all either of us said about it.
For the first six months of the investigation, Gray remained heavily involved. It was only when it became apparent that the White House was involved that Gray recused himself from the investigation and handed control over to Mark Felt.
Cover-up
On June 23, 1972, White House Chief of Staff Bob HaldemanH. R. Haldeman
Harry Robbins "Bob" Haldeman was an American political aide and businessman, best known for his service as White House Chief of Staff to President Richard Nixon and for his role in events leading to the Watergate burglaries and the Watergate scandal – for which he was found guilty of conspiracy...
and President Nixon held one of the infamous “smoking gun” conversations in which they conspired to use the CIA to block the FBI investigation into the money trail
Money trail
The phrase "money trail" is a catch phrase, used to describe the source of funding for a politician or interest group. Such funding sources are not always obvious and is often only discovered through investigation by journalists, government agencies, or opposition groups...
leading from the Watergate burglars to the Committee to Re-elect the President, which would constitute hard evidence that Committee members were involved in the planning of the burglaries.
According to Gray, this plan was first put into action when he had a meeting with Vernon Walters
Vernon A. Walters
Vernon A. Walters was a United States Army officer and a diplomat. Most notably, he served from 1972 to 1976 as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, from 1985 to 1989 as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations and from 1989 to 1991 as Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany...
, then deputy directory of the CIA, in which he quotes Walters as falsely saying, “If the investigation gets pushed further south of the border… it could trespass onto some of our covert projects. Since you’ve got these five men under arrest, it will be best to taper the matter off here.” This conversation implicitly stated that the FBI should not interview Manuel Ogarrio and Kenneth Dahlberg, individuals connected with the money used to fund the Watergate burglars.
This would later be backed up by the Director of the CIA, Richard Helms
Richard Helms
Richard McGarrah Helms was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1966 to 1973. He was the only director to have been convicted of lying to the United States Congress over Central Intelligence Agency undercover activities. In 1977, he was sentenced to the maximum fine and received a suspended...
, when he specifically told Gray that Karl Wagner and John Caswell should also not be interviewed, as they were, he stated, active CIA agents at the time.
The basis for such a request came from a long-standing understanding between the CIA and the FBI that they would not reveal each other’s informants. This effort by the White House and the CIA succeeded in delaying the interviews of both Ogarrio and Dahlberg for a little more than one week, at which point Gray and his senior FBI staff, including Mark Felt, Charlie Bates, and Bob Kunkel, decided that, due the increasing importance of these individuals in the investigation, they needed a written request from the CIA not to interview them, which would have to state in greater detail the reasons for not interviewing these individuals. Once the decision was made, Gray called Vernon Walters and demanded that written request the next morning, or he would order the interviews to go forth.
The next morning, Vernon Walters arrived and delivered a three-page memorandum, marked “SECRET” that did not ask the FBI to hold-off on the interviews. The meeting concluded with Walters suggesting to Gray that he should warn the President that some members of the White House staff were hindering the FBI’s investigation. After the conversation, Gray ordered the interviews to proceed immediately.
Ultimately, the CIA cover-up succeeded in little more than delaying the FBI investigation no more than two weeks.
While not active in any Watergate activities per se, Gray was aware through his dealings with John Dean
John Dean
John Wesley Dean III is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel to United States President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. In this position, he became deeply involved in events leading up to the Watergate burglaries and the subsequent Watergate scandal cover-up...
that the White House was concerned about what might be discovered from a full-field FBI investigation and explored what he could do to limit the investigation or shift it away from the Bureau’s jurisdiction. As Dean wrote in his Watergate memoir “Blind Ambition,” he used Gray as a shill knowing that “we could count on Pat Gray to keep the Hunt material from becoming public, and he did not disappoint us.” In fact, even though he thought of this as a political not criminal situation and that he was ultimately serving the President as the “nation’s chief law enforcement officer,” Gray would come dangerously close to collusion because he chose to be useful to the White House without asking the hard questions. Dean goes on to say, “I met Pat Gray secretly at his home in southwest Washington. We were both apprehensive about the meeting as we walked to a park and sat down on a bench overlooking the Potomac, discussing my request to obtain FBI 302s and AirTels on the Watergate investigation."
Later, when the missing Hunt material came to light, Gray reportedly said to Dean, “Goddammit John. You have got to hang tight. Who else knows about it?” By early July 1972 however, Gray had an alarming picture of the apparent conspiracy as conveyed to him by Vernon Walters and he changed tack. Although he arguably should have made it his business to know before helping Dean in any way, once he did know for certain that the White House was somehow involved he was no longer a predictable and reliable ally they could count on.
Felt and the search for the source
The White House tapesWatergate tapes
The Watergate tapes, a subset of the Nixon tapes, are a collection of recordings of conversations between Richard Nixon and his fellow conspirators plotting a break in to the Watergate Hotel. U.S. President Richard Nixon and various White House staff started communicating on February 1971 and...
reveal that Bob Haldeman told Nixon that Felt was the source of leaks of confidential information contained in the FBI’s investigation to various members of the press, including Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....
of the Washington Post. Gray claimed that he resisted five separate demands from the White House to fire Felt, stating that he believed Felt's assurances that he was not the source. Eventually, Gray demanded to know who was claiming Felt to be leaking. Attorney general Richard Kleindienst
Richard Kleindienst
Richard Gordon Kleindienst was an American lawyer and politician.Born in Winslow, Arizona, he served in the United States Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1946...
told Gray that Roswell Gilpatric
Roswell Gilpatric
Roswell Leavitt Gilpatric was a prominent New York City corporate attorney and government official who served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1961–64, when he played a pivotal role in the high-stake strategies of the Cuban Missile Crisis, advising President John F...
, former deputy secretary of defense under John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and now outside general counsel to Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, had told John Mitchell
John N. Mitchell
John Newton Mitchell was the Attorney General of the United States from 1969 to 1972 under President Richard Nixon...
that Felt was leaking to Sandy Smith of Time magazine.
After Felt admitted in the May 2005 Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
article that he lied to Gray about leaking to the press, Gray claimed that Felt's bitterness at being passed over was the cause of his decision to leak to Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, the Washington Post, and others.
Confirmation hearings
In 1973, Gray was nominated as Hoover's permanent successor as head of the FBI. This action by President Nixon confounded many, coming at a time when revelations of involvement by Nixon administration officials in the Watergate Scandal were coming to the forefront. Under his direction, the FBI had been accused of mishandling the investigation into the break-in, doing a cursory job and refusing to investigate the possible involvement of administration officials. Gray's Senate confirmation hearing was to become the Senate's first opportunity to ask pertinent questions about the Watergate investigation.During the confirmation hearing, Gray defended his bureau's investigation. During questioning, he volunteered that he had provided copies of some of the files on the investigation to White House Counsel
White House Counsel
The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States.-Role:The Counsel's role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and the White House...
John Dean, who had told Gray he was conducting an investigation for the President. Gray testified that before turning over the files to Dean, he had been advised by the FBI's own legal counsel that he was required by law to comply with Dean's order. He confirmed that the investigation supported claims made by the Washington Post and other sources of dirty tricks committed and funded by the Committee to Re-Elect the President, notably activities of questionable legality committed by Donald Segretti
Donald Segretti
Donald Henry Segretti is a former political operative for the Committee to Re-elect the President during the early 1970s. Segretti was hired by friend Dwight L...
. The White House had for months steadfastly denied any involvement in such activities.
During the hearings, Gray testified that Dean had "probably lied" to the FBI, increasing the suspicions of many of a cover-up. The Nixon administration was so angered by this statement that John Ehrlichman
John Ehrlichman
John Daniel Ehrlichman was counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon. He was a key figure in events leading to the Watergate first break-in and the ensuing Watergate scandal, for which he was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury...
told John Dean that Gray should be left to "twist slowly, slowly in the wind."
Destruction of documents and resignation from the FBI
On June 21, 1972, Gray met with John Dean and John Ehrlichman in Ehrlichman’s office. During this meeting, Gray was handed several envelopes full of documents from the personal safe of E. Howard HuntE. Howard Hunt
Everette Howard Hunt, Jr. was an American intelligence officer and writer. Hunt served for many years as a CIA officer. Hunt, with G...
. Dean instructed Gray, in the presence of John Ehrlichman, that the documents were “national security documents. These should never see the light of day." Dean further repeatedly told Gray that the documents were not Watergate related.
Six months later, Gray said he finally looked at the papers as he burned them in a Connecticut fireplace. "The first set of papers in there were false top-secret cables indicating that the Kennedy administration had much to do with the assassination of the Vietnamese president (Diem)
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
," Gray said. "The second set of papers in there were letters purportedly written by Senator Kennedy involving some of his peccadilloes, if you will."
After learning from Ehrlichman that John Dean was cooperating with the U.S. attorney and would be revealing to him what happened on June 21, Gray told his staunchest congressional supporter, Senator Lowell Weicker
Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.
Lowell Palmer Weicker, Jr. is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the 85th Governor of Connecticut, and unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for President in 1980...
, so that he might be prepared for that revelation. As a result, Senator Weicker leaked this revelation to some chosen reporters.
Following this revelation, Gray resigned from the FBI on April 27, 1973.
Legal struggles
For the next eight years, Gray defended his actions as acting FBI director, testifying before five federal grand juries and four committees of Congress.On October 7, 1975, the Watergate Special Prosecutor informed Gray that the last Watergate-related investigation of him had been formally closed. Gray was never indicted in relation to Watergate but the scandal dogged him afterwards.
In 1978, Gray was indicted along with Mark Felt and Assistant Director Edward Miller for allegedly having approved illegal break-ins during the Nixon administration. Gray vehemently denied the charges and they were dropped in 1980. Felt and Miller, who had approved the illegal break-ins during the tenures of four separate FBI directors, including J. Edgar Hoover, Gray, William Ruckelshaus
William Ruckelshaus
William Doyle Ruckelshaus is an American attorney and, several times, U.S. government official. He served as the first head of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, was subsequently acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and then Deputy Attorney General of the United States...
, and Clarence Kelley, were convicted and later pardoned by President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Exonerated by the Department of Justice after a two-year investigation, Gray returned to his law practice in Connecticut.
Final years
In an article written in 2005 by the Felt family's attorney, deputy director Mark Felt, by then suffering from memory loss, claimed to be Deep Throat, the famous source of leaks to Bob WoodwardBob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....
and Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein is an American investigative journalist who, at The Washington Post, teamed up with Bob Woodward; the two did the majority of the most important news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations, the indictment of a vast number of...
.
On June 26, 2005, mere days before his death from pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
, Gray spoke about the Watergate scandal for the first time in 32 years. When asked about Mark Felt's claim to being Deep Throat, Gray told ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's This Week that he was in "total shock, total disbelief," noting, "It was like I was hit with a tremendous sledgehammer."
Gray died on July 6, 2005, and was survived by his wife, four children, fourteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Before his death, Gray, using his extensive and never-released personal Watergate files, began working on his memoirs with his son, Ed Gray, who finished them. The book, entitled In Nixon's Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate was published on March 4, 2008 by Times Books, a division of Henry Holt and Company
Henry Holt and Company
Henry Holt and Company is an American book publishing company. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt...
.
Gray's posthumously-published Watergate book disputes the claim that Mark Felt is Deep Throat, citing Woodward's own notes and other evidence as proof that Deep Throat was a fictional composite made up of several Woodward sources, only one of whom was Felt.
Gray and the New York Times
In 2009, Bob Phelps, a former editor of the New York Times, and Robert M. Smith, a former reporter for the Times, claimed that they had received information from Gray that would have allowed the Times to break the Watergate story before the Washington Post, but they failed to act upon it.In August 1972, Gray and Smith had lunch. According to Smith, during this lunch Gray mentioned details of Donald Segretti
Donald Segretti
Donald Henry Segretti is a former political operative for the Committee to Re-elect the President during the early 1970s. Segretti was hired by friend Dwight L...
and John Mitchell
John N. Mitchell
John Newton Mitchell was the Attorney General of the United States from 1969 to 1972 under President Richard Nixon...
's involvement in the Watergate burglaries. Smith quotes Gray:
"[Gray] told me about a guy who burned his palmG. Gordon LiddyGeorge Gordon Liddy was the chief operative for the White House Plumbers unit that existed from July–September 1971, during Richard Nixon's presidency. Separately, along with E. Howard Hunt, Liddy organized and directed the Watergate burglaries of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in...
, and about Donald SegrettiDonald SegrettiDonald Henry Segretti is a former political operative for the Committee to Re-elect the President during the early 1970s. Segretti was hired by friend Dwight L...
(by name).
And when he intimated over the entrée that the wrongdoing went further, I leaned back against the wall on my inside banquette and looked at him in frank astonishment.
"The attorney general?" I asked.
He nodded.
I paused.
"The president?" I asked.
He looked me in the eye without denial – or any comment. In other words, confirmation."
After the lunch, Smith reportedly rushed to his editor, Phelps, with the story, but it amounted to nothing. Smith left his job the next day for Yale Law School, and Phelps lost track of the story while covering the 1972 Republican Convention.
However, while only Gray and Smith knew exactly what was said at that lunch, Gray's son, Edward, denies that his father could have implicated either the Attorney General or the President, stating:
"The truth is that at the time of this luncheon--as my father testified multiple times under oath--neither he nor anyone else in the FBI had any evidence whatsoever that the president was involved."
Gray goes on to point out that at the time of this lunch the Attorney General was Richard Kleindienst
Richard Kleindienst
Richard Gordon Kleindienst was an American lawyer and politician.Born in Winslow, Arizona, he served in the United States Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1946...
, who was never implicated in any of the Watergate scandals. Even if Smith meant that he was talking about John Mitchell
John N. Mitchell
John Newton Mitchell was the Attorney General of the United States from 1969 to 1972 under President Richard Nixon...
, the former Attorney General, Gray further points out that no one (outside of the conspirators) knew of Mitchell's involvement until the following April, when John Dean
John Dean
John Wesley Dean III is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel to United States President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. In this position, he became deeply involved in events leading up to the Watergate burglaries and the subsequent Watergate scandal cover-up...
admitted as much to special prosecutors.
Gray's documents
Gray was a meticulous record keeper, a fact most easily evidenced by the forty boxes of personal records he took with him from his year with the FBI. This archive would grow even after Gray left the FBI as a direct result of the legal proceedings in which he was forced to take part in the years to follow.This archive has become what is undoubtedly the "most complete set of Watergate investigative records outside the government." The Gray family intends one day to make these records available to the public, although it remains in private hands at the moment and subject to very limited access.
External links
- This article is based in part on the FBI-Biography
- L. Patrick Gray, Deep Throat's Boss at F.B.I., Dies at 88. New York Times, 6 July 2005.
- Ex-F.B.I. Chief Calls Deep Throat's Unmasking a Shock. New York Times, 27 June 2005.
- 'Deep Throat's' Ex-Boss Shocked by Revelation. ABC News This Week, 26 June 2005.
- Obituary. Seattle Times, 7 July 2005.
- White House Tapes relating to FBI. National Security Archives, 2 July 2008.
- entry. St. Thomas High SchoolSt. Thomas High SchoolSt. Thomas High School is a Roman Catholic university preparatory school for young men in Houston, Texas, United States. Founded in 1900, St. Thomas is the second oldest continuously operating private high school in Houston behind Incarnate Word Academy, which was founded in 1873. The school is...
Hall of Honor, 2 July 2008. - Ed Gray on "Morning Joe." MSNBC, 7 March 2008.
- Ex-F.B.I. Chief’s Book Revisits Watergate New York Times, 9 March 2008.
- In Nixon's Web: Watergate and the FBI
- Gray in Black and White. The American Spectator, June 2008.