---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
  - Person
  - RichardKleindienst
  - DepartmentOfJustice
  - Watergate
  - ITT
  - Arizona
  - HuntFamily
alias:
  - Richard G. Kleindienst
summary: "Deputy attorney general and then attorney general under Nixon, sworn in five days before the Watergate break-in, who pleaded guilty in 1974 to not answering the Senate fully about the ITT antitrust settlement."
born: 1923-08-05
died: 2000-02-03
location: "Prescott, Arizona"
created: 2026-09-21
updated: 2026-09-21
---

Richard Kleindienst was born at [[Winslow, Arizona]], on August 5, 1923, attended the [[University of Arizona]], and was an early supporter of [[Barry Goldwater]]. He ran for governor of [[Arizona]] in 1964 against Sam Goddard. After [[Richard Nixon]]'s election he became deputy attorney general under [[John Mitchell]], and attorney general five days before the [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]] break-in of June 1972.[^1]

### ITT

At his confirmation hearings in 1972 the Senate asked him about the settlement of the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s antitrust cases against the [[ITT Corporation|International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation]]. "In 1974, Kleindienst pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge after he was accused by the Watergate special prosecutor of failing to fully testify at his Senate confirmation hearing." He said: "I was wrong in not having been more candid with the committee and I sincerely regret it."[^1]

### The Hunts

"Nelson Bunker and his father met President Nixon at the celebrated barbecue at [[John Connally]]'s Floresville ranch in the autumn of 1972. Soon after, [[Nelson Bunker Hunt|Nelson Bunker]] huddled with Richard Kleindienst, then the new boss of the Justice Department, at the plantation of Mississippi Senator [[James Eastland]]." The [[Hunt brothers]] were indicted for wiretapping their father's employees "only after a curiously long time lag," and a Dallas grand jury later investigated the three-year delay. The account of the meeting came from Hunt sources.[^2]

### Arizona

In Tucson "he was accused and acquitted of lying under oath during an investigation by the State Bar of Arizona for his role in a 1976 scam to siphon money from the Teamsters Union Health and Welfare Fund. The Arizona Supreme Court later suspended him from practicing law for one year." He died at [[Prescott, Arizona|Prescott]] on February 3, 2000.[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Volante, Enric. "Kleindienst, Watergate figure, dies at 76," *Arizona Daily Star,* February 2000.
[^2]: Porterfield, Bill. "H.L. Hunt's Long Goodbye," *Texas Monthly,* March 1975.