The White House Plumbers

July 4, 2022
In this breezy memoir, the basis for a forthcoming HBO series, Egil “Bud” Krogh, who died in 2020, recounts his role as head of the Nixon administration’s Special Investigations Unit, whose members later committed the Watergate break-in. Writing with his son, Matthew, a climate change activist, Krogh recalls vetting cabinet nominees as a member of Nixon’s transition team in 1968, “long before I understood the seriousness of the many responsibilities I would be given.” After defense contractor Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971, Krogh’s mentor and “surrogate father” John Ehrlichmann tasked him with directing a team, later known as “the Plumbers,” to investigate “who was part of the conspiracy.” Krogh admits to orchestrating the theft of Ellsberg’s psychiatric files, but notes that he was kicked off the Special Investigations Unit before Watergate for refusing to authorize a warrantless wiretap. Ultimately, Krogh suggests that former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy bears much of the responsibility for the break-in. Krogh is an amiable narrator, but he covers well-trod ground here and takes pains to highlight his own naivete. This Watergate history is best suited to completists.