James W. McCord Jr.


James Walter McCord Jr. was an American CIA officer, later involved as an electronics expert in the burglaries which precipitated the Watergate scandal.

Career

McCord was born in Waurika, Oklahoma. He served as a bombardier with the rank of second lieutenant in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He briefly attended Baylor University before receiving a B.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1949. In 1965, he received an M.S. in international affairs from George Washington University. After beginning his career at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, McCord worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, ultimately ascending to a GS-15 position in the Agency's Office of Security.
For a period of time, he was in charge of physical security at the Agency's Langley headquarters. According to Russ Baker, then-Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles once introduced McCord to an Air Force colonel as "the best man we have".
In 1961, under his direction, a counter-intelligence program was launched against the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. He also held the rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve.

Watergate

Shortly after resigning from the CIA, McCord was interviewed and then hired by Jack Caulfield in January 1972 "for strict, solely defensive security work at the Republican National Committee and the Committee to Re-Elect the President ". He and four other accomplices were arrested during the second break-in to the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. The arrests led to the Watergate scandal and resignation of President Nixon.
McCord was one of the first men convicted in the Watergate criminal trial; on eight counts of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping, for which McCord received a sentence of 25 years in federal prison. In a later letter, written to U.S. District Judge John Sirica, McCord stated that his plea and testimony, some of which he claimed was perjured, were compelled by pressure from White House counsel John Dean and former Attorney General John N. Mitchell.
The letter implicated senior individuals in the Richard Nixon administration of covering up the conspiracy that led to the burglary. As a result of the letter, McCord flipped and became a cooperating witness and was released for time served. His letter and subsequent cooperation is said to have broken the Watergate case "wide open".

Post-Watergate

After serving four months in prison, McCord set up his own security firm, retiring later to Pennsylvania.
McCord died at the age of 93 from pancreatic cancer on June 15, 2017, at his home in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. His death was not reported in local and national news outlets until 2019.