Biographie
Le Matin of Paris, a prominent European newspaper, describes G. Gordon Liddy as "a man of remarkable intelligence and complexity." Privately educated by Benedictines and Jesuits, Liddy earned a B.S. from Fordham University and an Ll.D. from Fordham Law School, graduating as an editor of The Fordham Law Review. After serving two years as an Army artillery officer during the Korean War, he joined the FBI as a Special Agent, quickly receiving multiple commendations from J. Edgar Hoover. At 29, he became the youngest Bureau Supervisor at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, serving during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. Liddy left the FBI in 1962 to practice international law in Manhattan. He later worked as a prosecutor, ran unsuccessfully for Congress in New York’s 28th district, and managed Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign in that district. Under the Nixon administration, Liddy served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury, was appointed Enforcement Legislative Counsel, authored the Explosives Control Act, and in 1971 joined the White House as Staff Assistant to the President. There, he oversaw Treasury policies on firearms and explosives and wrote the memorandum that led to the establishment of the Drug Enforcement Administration. He was also a member of the secretive White House Special Investigations Group. Liddy resigned from the White House to become General Counsel and political intelligence director for the 1972 Republican presidential campaign and finance committee. Subsequently, he became infamous for his role in Watergate, refusing to testify against co-conspirators, and was sentenced to over 20 years in prison. He served nearly five years, including 106 days in solitary confinement, before President Jimmy Carter commuted his sentence "in the interests of justice." Recognized by the Treasury Department as a pistol expert, with an FBI-timed draw and hit at 60/100 of a second, Liddy was once assigned by the Secret Service to protect President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He is an FAA-licensed pilot and a life member of the Special Operations Association. Currently, he hosts "The G. Gordon Liddy Show," a radio program syndicated to over 600 markets and now in its 13th year. His books have appeared on the New York Times best-seller lists; he has written four book reviews for the newspaper, numerous magazine articles, and has lectured widely, from Berkeley to The Oxford Union. Liddy has acted in films and television, with guest roles on Miami Vice (1984), Airwolf (1984), MacGyver (1985), Feds (1997), several Perry Mason TV movies, and 18 Wheels of Justice (2000). He is a frequent guest on Fox Television's Hannity & Colmes (1996) and MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews (1994). In 1992, Liddy enrolled at the Israeli Defense Force Paratroop School in Tel Aviv, earned his wings, and has since re-qualified and jumped twice more. In January 2003, he led the stick on a jump with the elite IDF parachute regiment. In August 2003, he rode his Harley-Davidson motorcycle 1,846 miles from Washington, DC, to Sturgis, SD, for the 63rd Annual motorcycle festival. He has also ridden with the Los Angeles chapter of Hell's Angels and is a member of the New York City Police Department’s Honor Legion. Liddy and his wife have three sons and two daughters, four of whom have served as military officers. One son is a lawyer and two-war combat veteran reserve Lieutenant Colonel in the US Marine Corps, recently returned from Baghdad. Another is a career Commander in the US Navy SEALs, currently assigned to the Pentagon, holding a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins and pursuing a Ph.D. at Tulane. Liddy’s lecture audiences range from independent over-the-road truck drivers to the Oxford Union, and according to The Wall Street Journal, he is "one of the most sought-after speakers in the nation.
