Roughly 20 people served prison time in connection with Watergate, out of 48 convictions and 69 indictments. The Watergate defendants who went to jail ranged from the five burglars caught inside Democratic National Committee headquarters on June 17, 1972, to a sitting Attorney General, a White House Chief of Staff, and the President’s top domestic policy advisor. Actual time served ran from about four months for cooperating witnesses to roughly four and a half years for G. Gordon Liddy, who refused to talk.
The Burglars and Planners
Five men were arrested inside the DNC offices at the Watergate complex: James McCord, security director for Nixon’s re-election committee and a former CIA officer; Frank Sturgis; Bernard Barker; Virgilio González; and Eugenio Martínez.1U.S. Senate. Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities Two more men who planned the operation from outside were quickly identified: G. Gordon Liddy, general counsel to the Committee to Re-elect the President, and E. Howard Hunt, a former CIA operative working as a White House consultant. All seven were indicted in September 1972, and by January 1973 all had either pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.
Their time behind bars varied enormously:
- G. Gordon Liddy served approximately four and a half years, the longest term of any Watergate defendant. His original 20-year sentence for conspiracy, burglary, and wiretapping was later commuted by President Carter.2FBI. Watergate
- E. Howard Hunt served 33 months.2FBI. Watergate
- Eugenio Martínez served approximately 15 months.2FBI. Watergate
- Bernard Barker served approximately one year.
- Virgilio González served approximately one year.2FBI. Watergate
- James McCord served roughly four months after his sentence was cut for cooperation.
- Frank Sturgis was sentenced to one to four years and was released in January 1974 after several months.
The Senior Nixon Officials Who Went to Prison
The cover-up trial reached deep into the top ranks of the Nixon administration. Three of the President’s closest aides were convicted together of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury.
John N. Mitchell, the former Attorney General who later ran Nixon’s re-election campaign, was sentenced to two and a half to eight years. He entered federal prison in 1977 and was paroled in 1979 after serving 19 months.3Britannica. John Mitchell Attorney General of United States He remains the only U.S. Attorney General to serve time in prison.
H.R. Haldeman, the White House Chief of Staff, served 18 months.2FBI. Watergate
John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s Domestic Affairs Advisor, served 18 months.2FBI. Watergate He carried a second conviction tied to the White House “Plumbers” break-in at the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist.
Charles Colson, Special Counsel to the President, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, was fined $5,000, and served seven months.2FBI. Watergate
The Cooperators Who Served Short Sentences
A second tier of defendants pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, and their sentences reflected it.
- John Dean, the White House Counsel who had helped coordinate hush-money payments and later testified against his former colleagues, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice on October 19, 1973. His one-to-four-year sentence was reduced to time served, and he spent four months in custody.4Nixon Presidential Library. John W. Dean, III White House Special Files
- Jeb Stuart Magruder, deputy director of the Committee to Re-elect the President, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and served seven months.2FBI. Watergate
- Herbert W. Kalmbach, Nixon’s personal attorney, was convicted of illegal campaign activities and served 191 days.2FBI. Watergate
- Frederick C. LaRue, an advisor to Mitchell, was convicted of obstruction of justice for distributing hush money and served four and a half months.2FBI. Watergate
- Egil Krogh, co-director of the White House Plumbers, pleaded guilty for his role in the Ellsberg psychiatrist break-in. He was sentenced to two to six years, with the judge imposing a six-month prison term and probation; he served four and a half months.
- Donald Segretti, a political operative who disrupted the 1972 Democratic presidential primaries, was sentenced to six months and served about four.
Why the Sentences Varied So Much
The gap between Liddy’s four and a half years and Dean’s four months was not an accident. Chief Judge John Sirica of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia was openly skeptical that the burglars had acted alone, and he used sentencing itself as investigative leverage. He deferred McCord’s sentence and handed the other original defendants harsh provisional sentences of up to 40 years, telling them that final punishment would depend on “full cooperation with the grand jury and the Senate Select Committee.”5TIME. Judge John J. Sirica
The tactic worked. McCord wrote to Sirica in March 1973 alleging political pressure to plead guilty, perjury at trial, and involvement by higher-ups. That letter cracked the cover-up open. When later asked whether using sentencing this way was proper, Sirica said, “I’m glad I did it. If I had to do it over, I would do the same—and that’s the end of that.”5TIME. Judge John J. Sirica
From that point on, cooperation bought enormous reductions. Dean went from a potential four-year term to four months. McCord served only a fraction of his provisional sentence. Liddy, who refused to cooperate at any point, served the longest.
Charged but Not Jailed
A few figures central to the investigation avoided prison. Kenneth Parkinson, a lawyer hired to represent the re-election committee in civil suits after the break-in, was found not guilty by the jury in the cover-up trial.6Justia Case Law. United States of America v. Robert C. Mardian, 546 F.2d 973 (D.C. Cir. 1976) Robert Mardian, a former assistant attorney general, was convicted of conspiracy in that same trial, but the D.C. Circuit reversed the conviction, holding that his case should have been severed after his lead attorney fell ill mid-trial.7The Guardian. Robert Mardian Gordon Strachan, a Haldeman aide, had his case severed and the charges eventually dismissed.
Richard Kleindienst, who succeeded Mitchell as Attorney General, was convicted of misleading Congress about White House interference in an antitrust case. Both his 30-day sentence and $100 fine were suspended, so he served no time.
Richard Nixon himself was never charged. He resigned on August 9, 1974, after the “smoking gun” tape destroyed his support among Senate Republicans, and one month later President Gerald Ford issued a full pardon covering any federal crimes Nixon might have committed in office.8National Archives Museum. A President Resigns – 50 Years Later
For the lawyers among the convicted, prison was not the end of the punishment. John Dean, John Ehrlichman, and Charles Colson were disbarred. Nixon surrendered his New York bar membership in 1976 rather than face formal proceedings.