L. Patrick Gray

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Louis Patrick Gray III (July 18, 1916 – July 6, 2005) was acting director of the FBI from 1972-73. Gray was nominated as permanent director by Richard Nixon in 1973 but his nomination was withdrawn after he admitted to destroying documents given to him by White House counsel, John Dean. His deputy director W. Mark Felt confessed in 2005 to being Deep Throat, the famous source of leaks to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

1 Early career
2 Nixon Administration 1968-1973
3 Aftermath 1973-2005
4 Internet references
5 Further reading

[edit]

Early career

Gray was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 18, 1916. He attended schools in St. Louis and Houston, Texas. After attending Rice University for a period, he enrolled at the United States Naval Academy and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1940. The Navy commissioned Gray as a line officer and he served throughout World War II and the Korean War.

In 1949, between his two tours of duty, Gray received a J.D. degree from George Washington University Law School. He was admitted to practice before the Washington D.C. Bar in 1949; later he was admitted to practice law by the Connecticut State Bar, the United States Military Court of Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals, the United States Court of Claims, and the United States Supreme Court. After retiring from the Navy in 1960 with the rank of captain, Gray served as Military Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1961, he entered private practice.

[edit]

Nixon Administration 1968-1973

In the late 1960s, Gray returned to the federal government and worked in the Nixon administration in several different positions. In 1970, President Nixon appointed him as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division in the Department of Justice. In 1972, Gray was appointed Deputy Attorney General but before he could be confirmed by the full Senate, his nomination was withdrawn. Instead, President Nixon designated him as Acting Director of the FBI after the death of J. Edgar Hoover. Gray served in this position for less than a year. Day-to-day operational command of the Bureau remained with Associate Director W. Mark Felt.

Felt was responsible for heading the FBI investigation of the Watergate break-in and started leaking information about the investigation to Woodward. The White House tapes reveal that Nixon suspected that Felt was the source of the leaks. Gray claimed that he resisted five separate demands from the White House to fire Felt stating that he believed Felt's assurances that he was not the source until Felt admitted that he was in May, 2005. Gray claimed that Felt's bitterness at being passed over was the cause of his decision to leak to the Washington Post.

In 1973, Gray was nominated as Hoover's permanent successor as head of the FBI. This action by President Nixon confounded many, coming at a time when revelations of involvement by Nixon administration officials in the Watergate Scandal were coming to the forefront. Under his direction, the FBI had been accused to mishanding the investigation into the break-in, doing a cursory job and refusing to investigate the possible involvement of administration officials. Gray's Senate confirmation hearing was to become the Senate's first opportunity to ask pertinent questions about Watergate.

During the confirmation hearing, Gray defended his agency's investigation, however, during questioning he let it be known that he had handed over the files on the investigation to White House Counsel John Dean, in spite of the fact that people with strong links to the White House were being investigated. He confirmed that the investigation supported claims made by the Washington Post and other sources of dirty tricks and "ratfucking" committed and funded by the Committee to Re-Elect the President, notably activities of questionable legality committed by Donald Segretti. The White House had for months steadfastly denied any involvement in such activities. By the end of the hearing, the ineptitude of the FBI's investigation of Watergate was publicly made clear, increasing the suspicions of many of a cover-up.

It was also publicly revealed that while being Acting FBI Director, Gray had destroyed Watergate evidence after White House Counsel John Dean had instructed him "This should never see the light of day." Given this revelation, Gray withdrew his name from consideration to be permanent FBI Director and he resigned from the FBI on April 27, 1973. The Nixon administration was so angered by his admission that John D. Ehrlichman stated that he would be left to "twist slowly, slowly in the wind".

[edit]

Aftermath 1973-2005

In 1978, Gray was indicted for having approved illegal break-ins during the Nixon administration. Charges were dropped in 1980 and Gray was later pardoned by President Reagan. He was never formally indicted in relation to Watergate but the scandal dogged him afterwards.

On June 26, 2005, mere days before his death from pancreatic cancer, Gray spoke about the Watergate scandal for the first time in 32 years, after his former deputy W. Mark Felt, was revealed to be the secret informant Deep Throat. Gray told ABC's This Week that he was in "total shock, total disbelief," noting, "It was like I was hit with a tremendous sledgehammer."

Gray died of pancreatic cancer in July 2005. Before his death, he collected his Watergate files with his family planning to issue a book after his death.