The Mysterious Life and Death of James McCord

[Gene Kelly]

Interesting that McCord died in Douglasville PA.  I live and work about 8 miles away.  This is a rural town, outside of King of Prussia and on the way to Reading and Pottstown.   Lots of farms and Mennonite communities.   Only about 45 minutes from Philadelphia.  Living to 93 (in a quiet and low key manner) after all he did is quite an accomplishment.   Imagine the stories that he could relate ... 

Gene

PS.  Jim, I hope you're taking care of yourself, and feeling better. 

 

[Joe Bauer]

10 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

OMG, the NY Times, the W Post must have mentioned us.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/obituaries/james-mccord-watergate-dead.html

Again, thanks to Rob and Stephanie, Steve Jones and Jerry Policoff.

Congratulations Jim. 

Nice to see the New York Times citing your K&K work.

[Joe Bauer]

On 4/19/2019 at 7:33 AM, Gene Kelly said:

Interesting that McCord died in Douglasville PA.  I live and work about 8 miles away.  This is a rural town, outside of King of Prussia and on the way to Reading and Pottstown.   Lots of farms and Mennonite communities.   Only about 45 minutes from Philadelphia.  Living to 93 (in a quiet and low key manner) after all he did is quite an accomplishment.  

...."Imagine the stories that he could relate" ... 

Gene

PS.  Jim, I hope you're taking care of yourself, and feeling better. 

 

I have wondered why so many former Agency people who were involved in some of the highest and deepest level covert work ( and for sure sometimes illegal ) like McCord, E.Howard Hunt, Sturgis, etc.,  never revealed in their lifetimes anything close to the entirety of their doings and their parts in them.

Was this silence born out of simple company loyalty, or was it just as much because they feared not just losing their pensions...but their life?

In one of the postings here McCord is quoted as saying his "family feared for his life" at some point in the Watergate hearings for opening up and not covering for Nixon and his team.

Wonder who McCord believed could or would do such a thing to him...and why? Was it people in our own country's power apparatus?

When someone like McCord who was so highly involved with the Agency ( and who received a distinguished service award from them ) publicly states he is fearing for his life in testifying and telling the truth...obviously this again begs the question of who doesn't want this truth exposed and is so powerful even these highest rung agency agents truly do fear them and this threat?

Fearing for one's life was obviously a true reality scenario in that world and time period of covert activity that McCord and these others were so involved in.

I think Hunt clearly also kept this scenario in the back of his mind.

Says a lot about the dark nature of the business McCord, Hunt, Sturgis, G. Gordon Liddy and others like them chose to be a part of.

 

 

Edited April 21, 2019 by Joe Bauer

[Rob Couteau]

Ha! You did it, Jim - Both the Times and the W Post included a link to Kennedysandking ! That is super!!!  

 

Edited April 19, 2019 by Rob Couteau

[Douglas Caddy]

1 hour ago, Joe Bauer said:

I have wondered how many former Agency people who were involved in some of the highest and deepest level covert work ( and for sure sometimes illegal ) like McCord, E.Howard Hunt, Sturgis, etc.,  never revealed in their entire lifetimes these doings and their parts in them ... out of simple company loyalty, or was it just as much because they feared losing their pensions...or even their life?

In one of the postings here McCord is quoted as saying his "family feared for his life" at some point in the Watergate hearings which was one of the reasons he gave for opening up and not covering for Nixon and his team.

Wonder who McCord believed could or would do such a thing to him...and why?

When someone like McCord who was so highly involved with the Agency ( and who received a distinguished service award from them ) publicly states he is fearing for his life in testifying and telling the truth...obviously, the fearing for one's life is a true reality scenario in this world of covert activity that McCord was such a part of..

I think Hunt also kept this scenario in the back of his mind.

This threat is clearly part of that world.

Says a lot about the dark nature of the business McCord, Hunt, Sturgis, G. Gordon Liddy and others like them chose to be a part of.

 

 

In November 1972, after Nixon had been reelected, Hunt told Chuck Colson in no uncertain terms that the "hush" money for the defendants and their attorneys had better be forthcoming pronto or else. Colson recorded this spellbinding telephone conversation that can be listened to on YouTube.

A month later, in December 1972, Dorothy Hunt was killed in a commercial plane crash in Chicago that is still controversial as to how it occurred. She was carrying a sum of money. Upon learning of her death Colson exclaimed that "now they have killed Dorothy." I attended Dorothy's funeral at which Hunt walked across the parking lot and embraced me with tears flowing down his cheeks. I cried too.

The first Watergate trial was scheduled for January 1973, the next month. Prior to the trial Hunt called his four children together and told them that he was going to plead guilty because if he did not he feared that they would be killed next to keep him quiet. Hunt did plead guilty and the four Cuban-American defendants loyally followed his lead. Liddy and McCord stood trial and were found guilty.

I believe that McCord had reason to fear for his life. Maybe Liddy did too and this could have been a motivating factor in his making the decision of remaining quiet and not speaking out publicly until released from prison years later.

 

 

 

 

[Steve Thomas]

On 4/10/2019 at 4:33 PM, Michael Clark said:

@Paul Jolliffe

here is that Oxcart/U2 connection.

1. As a result of the recent assignment of
on indefinite TDY to NSA, this Office has decided on a realignment of
responsibilities relative to OSI participation in Projects AQUATONE

 

Michael,

PROJECT AQUATONE - OPERATIONAL CONCEPT

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp62b00844r000200080051-9

Document Type: 

CREST

Collection: 

General CIA Records

Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 

CIA-RDP62B00844R000200080051-9

 

Publication Date: 

February 5, 1958

Content Type: 

SUMMARY

File: 

Attachment	Size
CIA-RDP62B00844R000200080051-9.pdf	119.43 KB

Body: 

PROJECT AQUATONE - OPERATIONAL CONCEPT
1. Objectives:
a. Primary objective of the proposed operations is to obtain coverage
of 23 extremely high priority targets in the USSR. For operational planning
purposes these targets have been grouped into some 13 areas each having
homogeneous weather. Three areas have been determined to have higher
priority than the other ten.

Document Type: 

CREST

Collection: 

General CIA Records

Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 

CIA-RDP62B00844R000200260063-6

Publication Date: 

January 26, 1956

 

Attachment	Size
CIA-RDP62B00844R000200260063-6.pdf	79.84 KB

Body: 

ApproO F It @VY63/01/24: CIA-RDP62B00844ROO4200260063-6
26 January 1956
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT Project AQUATONE
1. Project AQUA TONE in its procurement phase consists of
the production and delivery of planes and equipment designed particularly
for intelligence purposes. Since, therefore, it is of joint interest to the
Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency, the procurement has been
joint, with the Central Intelligence Agency entering into all major contracts

 

http://area51specialprojects.com/sp_u2.html

Declassified Legacy of the Secret Heroes of the CIA and Air Force U-2 ...

area51specialprojects.com/sp_u2.html

Only the declassified activities of the CIA participation in U-2 Project Aquatone and Air Force Project Idealist are posted herein. 6 131,815 35 149. This page was ...

 

Steve Thomas

 

 

Edited April 19, 2019 by Steve Thomas

[Gene Kelly]

While we tend to vilify these individuals, I'd put forward (assuming it wont be popular) that James Mc Cord was a patriot, and did many things for the country and CIA that deserve a measure of respect.  It seems that - with Watergate unfolding and Richard Helms out of the loop and no longer able to protect these guys -  McCord did what he had to do.  It's not clear who "they" are ... but its a dangerous game they were playing ... William Colby experienced a suspicious end in 1996, 20 years after Watergate and the Rockefeller Commission.  Mc Cord succumbed to pancreatic cancer and had a notable record.  An Army Air Force bombardier in WWII, FBI special agent, MS in International Relations from George Washington University.   More than 20 years with CIA in very sensitive roles (with a Distinguished Service Award).  We may not like his politics or roles, but he was a warrior, and deserves respect.  

[Douglas Caddy]

Washington Metropolitan Police Detective, who was a Military Intelligence Agent assigned from the Pentagon to the Police Department, wanted me killed in the early day of Watergate for several reasons, one being he feared that I knew too much because of Howard Hunt might have told me about the Kennedy assassination.

After I turned down the overture from Kalmbach and Dean during the July 4, 1972,  holiday weekend to pass "hush" money to the defendants , I have reason to believe that assassination was re-considered but passed upon.

--------------------------------

 

AFFADAVIT

1972 CONSPIRACY TO ASSASSINATE DOUGLAS CADDY,

Original Attorney for the Watergate Seven

I, Robert Merritt, attest to the following facts regarding my

involvement with the Watergate attorney Douglas Caddy, who

represented the burglars known as the Watergate Seven. On

Saturday, June 17, 1972, five burglars broke into the Democratic

National Committee offices in Watergate and were arrested at 2:30

Watergate Exposed

6

A. M. by Washington, D.C. Police Officer Carl Shoffler. At the time

the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department employed

me as a Confidential Informant and assigned me to work directly

with Officer Shoffler. Two weeks before the arrests at Watergate

I provided information to Shoffler about the planned break-in of

the DNC that I had obtained as a Confidential Informant from a

highly unusual source. By using this advance information, Shoffler

developed a successful triangulation strategy that in effect set the

burglars up in a form of entrapment. The Watergate scandal thus

began and ultimately forced the resignation of President Nixon.

Shoffler came to my apartment in Washington, D.C. late in

the morning of the day of the events at Watergate and exulted

in having made the arrests. He told me that he had secretly

telephoned the Washington Post soon after the arrests to tip

the newspaper off to what had occurred. He then demanded his

special birthday present from me, which I was only too happy to

perform.

(First meeting) Three days later, on June 20, 1972, Shoffler

showed up at my apartment with his supervisor, Police Sgt.

Paul Leeper. They asked me if I knew someone by the name of

Douglas Caddy, who lived at the Georgetown House, a high-rise

apartment, at 2121 P St., N. W., which was directly across the

street from my apartment. They told me Douglas Caddy was

an attorney who was representing the Watergate burglars and

that Douglas Caddy was a communist and pro-Cuban and was a

leader of the Young Americans for Freedom.

They wanted me to establish a sexual relationship with Douglas

Caddy to find out how Douglas Caddy knew to show up for the

arraignment of the burglars after their arrest. They asserted that

Douglas Caddy had to be in on the conspiracy with the burglars

and that in the past he had been shadowed when he frequented a

leather-Levi gay bar in Greenwich Village in Manhattan.

Shoffler and Leeper related that Douglas Caddy had been

working as a White House attorney in a sensitive position. They

claimed that I was butch enough to entice Douglas Caddy, a

masculine gay guy, into a sexual affair to obtain the information

they wanted. They told me that this was the most important thing

that I could do for my country and that I would be well-paid if I

undertook the assignment. Their initial offer was $10,000.

I asked Shoffler about who it was that so desperately wanted

this information from Douglas Caddy and he said that it was

Prologue

7

from very high up sources in the Department of Justice and the

U. S. Attorney’s office.

I did not commit to doing the assignment.

Two days later, on June 22, 1972, which was my birthday, Shoffler

came to my apartment to give me my birthday present. He spent

the entire day with me. Afterwards, when we were relaxing in bed,

he gently tried to persuade me to cooperate with him and Leeper

regarding the Douglas Caddy assignment. I emphatically told him

“No.” I didn’t know Douglas Caddy and I didn’t know how to get

to know him and I was bothered that undertaking the assignment

could lead to the destruction of another gay person who apparently

was still in the closet and merely attempting to represent his clients.

We talked about the break-in and Shoffler told me straight out

that the burglars were hired indirectly by one of the 100 families

of America, which Shoffler named as the Kennedy Family.

Shoffler said, “The intention of the Watergate break-in was

to destroy the Nixon presidency. President Nixon was guilty of

nothing in its planning.”

Shoffler said that there were hidden motivations involved,

such as the fear of law enforcement agencies that their turf would

be reduced by President Nixon through a scheme known as the

Houston Plan, the CIA’s concern that President Nixon planned to

reorganize the intelligence agencies and their operations, and the

Defense Department’s opposition to Nixon’s new China policy.

I asked Shoffler if he was angry at me for refusing to take the Caddy

assignment and he smiled at me and said he was glad that I didn’t.

(Third meeting) In the March 1973, nine months after the

initial overture and a month after the first Watergate trial ended, I

met with Shoffler and Leeper, FBI agents Terry O’Connor and Bill

Tucker and their FBI Agent-In-Charge, whose name escapes me.

Leeper did most of the talking. He again tried to persuade me to

take on the Douglas Caddy assignment, making an initial offer of

$25,000. I refused outright. The group then said that I could be

paid as much as $100,000 if I took the assignment but I still refused

without providing any explanation. Once it was understood that I

would not accept the offer, Leeper declared that the least I could do

was to spread the rumor around Washington, D. C. that Douglas

Caddy was gay in an effort to force him to come out of the closet.

Their intention was to defame Douglas Caddy. This was the last

attempt to persuade me to take the Douglas Caddy assignment.

The group departed angrily, with the exception Shoffler, who

secretly winked at me as he went out the door.

Watergate Exposed

8

DISCLOSURE OF SECOND MEETING

On June 17, 2009, 37 years after Watergate, I notified Douglas

Caddy, now an attorney in Houston, Texas, of a well kept secret

and informed him of a new Watergate revelation. (Previously I

had disclosed to Douglas Caddy that there had been two meetings

regarding the Caddy assignment as discussed above.)

I then informed Douglas Caddy that there had been a second

meeting about the Caddy assignment. It took place on June

28, 1972, with Shoffler and four others agents who were never

introduced to me. I am quite certain that these agents were from

either Military Intelligence or the CIA. I know that they were not

FBI agents from their manner and the special type of assignment

they asked me to do regarding Douglas Caddy.

Shoffler and these agents met with me in my apartment at 2122

P Street, N.W. Douglas Caddy did in fact live across the street

from me in the Georgetown House at 2121 P St., N.W.

One of the agents, whom I will never forget, had two plastic

bags, one containing two small blue pills and another that had

a laboratory test tube with a small gelatin substance that was

approximately ¼ inch in diameter. He referred to it as a suppository.

The assignment was to become intimately acquainted with

Douglas Caddy as quickly as possible.

The exact description of the assignment was to engage in oral sex

with Douglas Caddy and in doing so I was suppose to fondle his balls

and ass, and at the same time insert the small gelatin like suppository

into his rectum, which would have caused death within minutes.

If there were any delay in the lethal process that would prevent

me from leaving fast from his presence, then I was to take the

small blue pills, which would have caused me nausea, providing

me with an excuse to leave for home immediately.

The agents told me that Douglas Caddy had to be eliminated

without fail.

My first reaction was that they were “nuts.” But then Shoffler

pulled me aside and whispered that this was a very real and

serious situation and the decision was entirely up to me.

The agents were planning a pre-arranged way for me to meet

Douglas Caddy, which they did not disclose at the time.

I asked the agents what the reason was that they wanted for me

to go to this length and why they and the government were taking

such a risk. I was told that this matter involved a high national

security situation that they were not at liberty to disclose. The

Prologue

9

agents stated that their orders did not allow them to know the

answers and that they were only following orders from their

superiors who sometimes did not know the answers either and

merely implemented instructions from those above. However,

from the agents’ comments I inferred that because Douglas

Caddy was gay, that was reason enough.

The agents informed me that I would be well taken care of for

this assignment. They also said that I would never have to worry

about anything for the rest of my life.

I was totally repulsed by the entire assignment and proposition.

After I emphatically refused, the agents swore me to secrecy and left.

Only in July of 1986 when I was subpoenaed by Shoffler to

testify before the grand jury in the Lenny Bias case in Upper

Marlboro, Maryland did he ever discuss this subject again. At

that time he said, “Butch, I am glad that you did not go through

with that Douglas Caddy assignment because I found out that

those two little blue pills would have caused your instant death.”

I regret that I never disclosed these facts until now. I suppressed

this information out of fear for my life.

Some of the background information in this affidavit about

my relationship with Shoffler as a Confidential Informant was

disclosed by Jim Hougan in his 1984 best-selling book, Secret

Agenda: Watergate, Deep Throat and the CIA (see pages 320-323).

Some was also disclosed in the Watergate Special Prosecution

Force Memorandums of its two interviews of me and one of

Officer Carl Shoffler in 1973.

This sworn statement is the truth, the whole truth and nothing

but the truth, so help me God.

I, Robert Merritt, swear in this affidavit that the facts are true

to the best of my knowledge under the penalty of perjury.

Robert Merritt

Subscribed and sworn to before me on the 28th of July, 2009, to

certify which witness my hand and seal of office.

Notary Public in and for the State of New York

Ricardo S. Castro

Notary Public, State of New York

No. 01CA5041272

Qualified in Bronx County

Comm. Exp. 08/29/09

7/29/09

[James DiEugenio]

Gene, 

I beg to disagree with you about McCord.

I fail to see how a guy like that deserves a measure of respect.

I look at McCord as one of these extreme right-wingers who would do almost anything Helms wanted him to do.  No matter if it broke the law or not.

As I wrote in my obituary,  McCord even lied about his role with Phillips in the anti FPCC campaign, and this was just a few months before he died. To his own minister!

As one can see by reading Jim Hougan's  Secret Agenda, or my article, it is quite difficult to explain his behavior the night of the break in any benign way. And does anyone who is a security consultant not sterilize the hotel rooms, and then leaves the hotel keys with the burglars?

The strongest evidence of this I think is Angelo Lano's testimony for the Nixon Library interview. He goes even further and says that Schoffler, the cop, was tipped off.  I did not go into that but Jim Hougan has a fascinating appendix in his book on that issue.  

If you have not read Secret Agenda, then you really should.  

 

Edited April 20, 2019 by James DiEugenio

[Ron Bulman]

Damn Mr. Caddy, that's pretty deep.  If your posting this did Hunt tell you anything about the JFK assassination worth killing over?

[Stephanie Goldberg]

Jim - That's superb!  Glad to have been a tiny bit of help.  

Mr. Caddy - That must have been horrifying to hear.  Do you ever feel afraid about what you know?

 

[James DiEugenio]

This  is all over the media now.  

It made the LA Times, The Daily Beast and SF Chronicle today.

 

[Rob Couteau]

On 4/20/2019 at 1:04 AM, James DiEugenio said:

It made the LA Times, The Daily Beast and SF Chronicle today

This is fantastic. And so many of them are posting a direct link back to K&K!  Have you detected a big uptick in visitors to the site yet? I wonder if Tom Jackman had anything to do with this.

[Douglas Caddy]

14 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

Damn Mr. Caddy, that's pretty deep.  If your posting this did Hunt tell you anything about the JFK assassination worth killing over?

Prior to Watergate, almost any conversation that I had with Howard Hunt included his talking about the Bay of Pigs military debacle, which he is on record for blaming on JFK. Howard was consumed with bitterness at what had occurred as were his Cuban-American friends in Miami.

MPD Carl Shoffler knew that Howard and Dorothy were my closest friends in Washington and he feared at some point in time they would have told me too much. As I have recounted elsewhere, in April 1972 Howard introduced me to Lawrence Houston, the CIA General Counsel, at a meeting during which they tried to recruit me as a CIA agent. I demurred in giving them an answer. Watergate broke two months later and that changed everything.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2019 by Douglas Caddy

[Douglas Caddy]

12 hours ago, Stephanie Goldberg said:

Jim - That's superb!  Glad to have been a tiny bit of help.  

Mr. Caddy - That must have been horrifying to hear.  Do you ever feel afraid about what you know?

 

Stephanie:

No, I have never been afraid at what I know but maybe I should have been in past times. Right now I am being harassed frequently, including two entries into my residence when I have been away, by thugs stemming from my giving information to Special Counsel Mueller in 2017 about Roger Stone that Mueller undoubtedly explored during his investigation and which may or may not be in the redacted version of the Mueller Report released by AG Barr. The information may also be used by the prosecution when Stone faces his criminal trial in November. Also those who hired the thugs are upset about what I know about the history leading up to the two FISC (court) FISA warrants issued in 2017 that Barr is claiming are part of the "spying" on the Trump campaign. I plan to write about this in the EF in the near future.

Mueller Report Likely to Renew Scrutiny of Steele Dossier

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/us/politics/steele-dossier-mueller-report.html

Edited April 20, 2019 by Douglas Caddy