Nixon official Richard Kleindienst dies

PHOENIX - Richard Kleindienst, who served as U.S. attorney general during the Nixon administration and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in a case related to the Watergate scandal, died today. He was 76.

Mr. Kleindienst died about 1:30 a.m., said Fred Wakelin, owner of the Arizona Ruffner Wakelin Funeral Home in Prescott, Ariz., where Mr. Kleindienst had lived.

Mr. Kleindienst's wife, Margaret Dunbar Kleindienst, said he died of lung cancer at his home. He battled the disease for 4 1/2 years.

"We're very proud of what he's done in life. Those things help us," Mrs. Kleindienst said.

Mr. Kleindienst assisted Richard Nixon's presidential campaign in 1968, then stayed on as deputy attorney general, eventually replacing John Mitchell, who left in 1972 to head the Committee to Re-elect the President, the organization at the heart of Watergate.

Nixon once described Mr. Kleindienst as "a man strong in character who is at his best when the going is toughest."

Mr. Kleindienst was sworn in as attorney general five days before the June 1972 break-in of Democratic headquarters at the Watergate hotel in Washington, a botched bugging attempt that sent some top Nixon aides to prison. Nixon eventually resigned over the scandal.

Watergate changed Mr. Kleindienst's life. Amid allegations that White House staffers were trying to obstruct justice, he stepped down in April 1973.

Mr. Kleindienst pleaded guilty 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 Watergate.

The Justice Department had filed an antitrust suit against the International Telephone and Telegraph in 1971.

Mr. Kleindienst was sentenced to 30 days and a $100 fine, and both were suspended.