Topic: John Ehrlichman

John Daniel Ehrlichman (March 20, 1925 – February 14, 1999) was counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon. He was a key figure in events leading to the Watergate first break-in and the ensuing Watergate scandal, for which he was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury. He served a year and a half in prison for his crimes.

Ehrlichman was born in Tacoma, Washington, the son of Lillian Catherine (née Danielson) and Rudolph Irwin Ehrlichman. His family practiced Christian Science (his father was born Jewish and converted). He was an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. In World War II, Ehrlichman won the Distinguished Flying Cross as a lead B-17 navigator in the Eighth Air Force. (In the same war, his father served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and was killed in a crash in Torbay, Canada, on May 6, 1942.) Taking advantage of the G.I. Bill after the war, Ehrlichman attended the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating in 1948 with a B.A. in political science. After graduating from Stanford Law School in 1951, he joined a Seattle law firm, becoming a partner, where he remained until 1969 when he entered politics full-time.

Ehrlichman worked on Nixon's unsuccessful 1960 presidential campaign, and his unsuccessful 1962 California gubernatorial campaign. He was an advance man for Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign.