Kleindienst suspended his private practice in 1969 to accept the post of Deputy Attorney General of the United States offered him by President Richard Nixon. This gave him responsibilities relating to the government's suit against ITT. Nixon and his aide John Ehrlichman told him to drop the case, which created an impression that they were violating their ethical obligations in favor of ITT, and that, as an attorney himself, Kleindienst was now obligated to report these ethical lapses to the state bars in the jurisdictions involved. But in his official role as Deputy Attorney General, he also repeatedly told Congress no one had interfered with his department's handling of the case, not mentioning Nixon and Ehrlichman. On February 15, 1972, US Atty. Gen. John N. Mitchell resigned effective March 1 to work in the Nixon re-election campaign and PresidentRichard Nixon nominated Kleindienst to succeed Mitchell. After having served as Acting Attorney General for a little under three and a half months, his appointment was approved by the Senate on June 12 after an attempt to block the nomination by Ted Kennedy on the grounds of his involvement with ITT, failed. Unknown to Kleindienst, leaders of the Committee to Re-Elect the President had tasked Gordon Liddy with arranging various covert operations, one of which was to be a burglary of the Democratic Party National Headquarters in Washington, DC. Before dawn on a Saturday, five days after Kleindienst was sworn in, James McCord and four other burglars operating on Liddy's instructions were arrested at Watergate complex. Later in the morning Kleindienst was officially notified of the arrests. Liddy, after a phone consultation about the arrests with CREEP Deputy Director Jeb Magruder, personally approached Kleindienst the same day at a private golf club in Bethesda, Maryland. Liddy told him that the break-in had originated within CRP, and that Kleindienst should arrange the release of the burglars, to reduce the risk of exposure of CRP's involvement. But Kleindienst refused and ordered that the Watergate burglary investigation proceed like any other case. He resigned in the midst of the Watergate scandal nearly a year later, on April 30, 1973. This was the same day that John Dean was fired and H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman quit. Kleindienst then returned to private practice. He joined Johnson & Dowdall, at the invitation of Richard. J. Dowdall, a long time friend, and for which he wrote in 1993, that he was "deeply appreciative" at such a "significant time." Kliendienst later moved to Prescott, Arizona, becoming an "of counsel" to Favour, Moore, WIlhelmsen and Schuyler, P.A. Additionally, in 1974, he pleaded guilty to failing to testify fully to the Senate in a pre-Watergate investigation, involving alleged favoritism shown to International Telephone & Telegraph Corp, during his testimony in his Senate confirmation hearings.
Later life
In 1982, Kleindienst was accused of having perjured himself to the Arizona Bar regarding how much he knew about a white-collar criminal he represented. He was cleared of all criminal charges brought against him. On July 15, 1993, Richard Kleindienst wrote a letter to his dear friend and colleague Richard James Dowdall for adding his name to his law firm. Mr. Kleindienst wrote...”you did so at a very significant time in my life. I shall always be mindful of and deeply appreciative for you having done so.” Mr. Dowdall included Richard Kleindienst in his law firm, as a friend helping a friend. He later moved to Prescott, Arizona where he joined Favour Moore Wilhelmsen & Schuyler, P.A. He died at the age of 76, of lung cancer, on February 3, 2000.
