PHOENIX — Richard Kleindienst, who was sworn in as U.S. attorney general five days before the Watergate break-in that eventually led to his resignation and that of President Nixon, has died of lung cancer at 76.
Kleindienst died Thursday at his home in Prescott after a 41/2-year battle with cancer.
"We're very proud of what he's done in life," said his wife, Margaret Dunbar Kleindienst. "Those things help us. He was a lot of fun in life and we miss him already."
Kleindienst assisted with Richard Nixon's presidential campaign in 1968 then stayed on as deputy attorney general, eventually replacing Attorney General John Mitchell, who left in 1972 to head the Committee to Re-elect the President — the organization at the heart of Watergate.
Kleindienst was sworn in, in June 1972, just before the incident at Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington.
Less than a year into his term, he resigned amid allegations that White House staffers were trying to obstruct justice in the investigation of the widening scandal. Kleindienst stepped down in April 1973, along with aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman and White House counsel John Dean. He never spoke to Nixon again.
"It just got so bad. I was just neutered," Kleindienst told The Arizona Republic in a 1997 interview.
Kleindienst was born on Aug. 5, 1923, near Winslow. He attended the University of Arizona until his sophomore year when he was sent to Italy to serve in World War II. He finished at Harvard College, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1947.
In 1953, Kleindienst became the youngest member of the Arizona state House of Representatives. A member of a group of Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater's supporters known as the "Arizona Mafia," Kleindienst became national director of field operations of the Goldwater for President Committee.
After helping win Goldwater's nomination in 1964, Kleindienst resigned from the senator's staff to mount his own campaign for the governorship of Arizona but was defeated by Democrat Sam Goddard. He resumed his political activities in 1966, when he directed John R. Williams' successful bid for the governorship.
Kleindienst was "a wonderful person and a tremendous lawyer," said his former partner, Harry Cavanagh.
"From the time he started to practice, he wanted to be a U.S. senator," Cavanagh said. "It's a shame he didn't stay with that plan. He would have made a fabulous senator."
Kleindienst pleaded guilty — an act he said he regretted — in 1974 to a misdemeanor charge for failing to fully testify at his Senate confirmation hearing about the so-called ITT affair, a major scandal that came shortly before the Watergate break-in.
The Justice Department had filed an antitrust lawsuit against the International Telephone and Telegraph Co. in 1971. Kleindienst was charged with failing to tell the Senate that Nixon had ordered him to drop the suit against ITT. The president rescinded the order two days later, after Kleindienst threatened to resign.
It was settled out of court. Kleindienst was sentenced to 30 days and a $100 fine, and both were suspended.
Kleindienst eventually relocated to Tucson to continue his law practice. He moved to Prescott in 1994, where he continued to practice law until his death, his wife said.
Besides his widow, Kleindienst is survived by four children: Alfred, Wallace, Anne and Carolyn.