Meet the real men in the infamous team of 'White House Plumbers'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The shape of American politics was transformed when President Richard Nixon had to step down from the Presidency after he was found guilty of bugging the offices of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to gain mileage and get himself re-elected as President of the United States. This unfortunate scandal sent shockwaves through the American public, and since then, the ‘Watergate’ scandal, which saw five of Nixon’s men break into the DNC’s office, has become the most outrageous transgression in the history of modern politics.
‘All the President’s Men' and ‘The Post’ have extensively dealt with the subjects of Watergate and the Pentagon Papers, but HBO’s new show, ‘White House Plumbers’ takes a nosedive into the fixers appointed by Nixon to find the leaks from the White House to the media and end them once and for all. The Plumbers, as the team members were called, went on to attempt a burglary at the offices of the DNC, which changed the course of political history in America. But who were these men appointed by President Nixon to stop the classified stories from leaking to the press from the White House?
RELATED ARTICLES
'White House Plumbers' on HBO: Release date and how to watch Watergate drama
When will 'Love & Death' Episode 4 premiere on HBO Max?
Who were the real ‘White House Plumbers?’
The show was created by Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck of ‘Veep’ fame. The creators have taken a comedy-satirical approach to a serious subject and aim to inform and entertain audiences with this tactic. The White House became active after the leak of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, and it was then that John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s counsel and assistant in domestic affairs, supervised Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s assistant David Young and his assistant Egil Krogh—the two creators of the White House plumbers as they rushed to form a team.
The two crucial members of the Plumbers were G Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent, and E Howard Hunt, a former CIA agent. John Paisley, a liaison to the CIA, was also assigned to the Plumbers. John Ehrlichman, Egil Krogh, and David Young worked closely with the White House Plumbers regarding their operations.
What was the primary job of the 'White House Plumbers'?
The first assignment of the ‘White House Plumbers’ was to break into the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, the man responsible for leaking the Pentagon Papers to the press, which exposed Nixon’s and the previous administration’s lies to continue the Vietnam War. Nixon wanted to discredit Ellsberg anyway and send the plumbers to do the job. The Plumbers failed in their pursuit but were later given a bigger task — break into the offices of the Democrats and find evidence that could help Nixon in his re-election campaign.
However, on the eventful night of June 17, 1972, the plumbers were caught breaking into the Watergate complex, where the DNC’s offices were located, and thus messing up the presidency that they vowed to protect.
Who’s starring in 'White House Plumbers'?
Woody Harrelson stars as E Howard Hunt and Justin Theroux as G Gordon Liddy. Dorothy Hunt will be played by ‘Game of Thrones’ actress Lena Headey, while Fran Liddy, Gordon’s wife, is portrayed by star Judy Greer. Domhnall Gleeson of ‘Ex Machina' stars as John Dean, the White House Counsel under President Nixon.
White House Plumbers airs on HBO Max on May 1, 2023.
