James Walter McCord Jr. (January 26, 1924 – June 15, 2017) was an American CIA officer, later head of security for President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

's 1972 reelection campaign. He was involved as an electronics expert in the burglaries which precipitated the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...

Career

McCord was born in

Waurika, Oklahoma Waurika is the county seat of Jefferson County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,064 at the 2010 census, a 4.36 percent decrease from 2,158 at the 2000 census. An article from 1985 in ''The Oklahoman'' claimed that Waurika promoted ...

. This book is volume 1 of a two volume set. Both volumes share the same ISBN and Library of Congress call number, E859 .C62 1973 He served as a bombardier with the rank of

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

in the

Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He briefly attended

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...

before receiving a B.B.A. from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1949. In 1965, he received an M.S. in international affairs from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

. After beginning his career at the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI), McCord worked for the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

(CIA), ultimately ascending to the GS-15 directorship of 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 The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security ...

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 The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commis ...

Watergate scandal

Shortly after resigning from the CIA, McCord was interviewed and then hired by

Jack Caulfield John J. Caulfield (March 12, 1929 – June 17, 2012) was an American security operative and law enforcement officer. He was a member of the Richard Nixon administration around the time of the Watergate Scandal, though he avoided prosecution. ...

in January 1972 "for strict, solely defensive security work at the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in f ...

(RNC) and the

Committee to Re-Elect the President A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them mor ...

(CRP)." Some of the money from this contract came from the RNC, which was led by

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his ...

who was called "Nixon's Doberman pinscher" and a

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

fixer, and was used during the Watergate scandal. He and four other accomplices were arrested during the second break-in to the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well ...

's headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. The arrests led to the

and Nixon's resignation. McCord asserted that the White House knew of and approved the break ins, and proceeded to cover up the incident. Because of McCord's statements, the Watergate investigators pursued many more leads. McCord was one of the first men convicted in the Watergate criminal trial; on eight counts of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping. On March 21, 1973, three days before sentencing, McCord, after speaking to a probation officer and thus surmising that he might be facing a lengthy prison sentence, submitted a letter to the judge in the case,

John Sirica John Joseph Sirica (March 19, 1904 – August 14, 1992) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where he became famous for his role in the trials stemming from the Watergate scandal. ...

, in which he claimed that he and the other defendants had committed

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

in their trial and that there was pressure from higher up for them to have done so. On March 23, the day of the sentencing, Sirica sentenced the other defendants provisionally, citing a statute that allowed for maximum sentences of several decades as a means to "research" more information needed for the final sentencing. This was a means to pressure the defendants into revealing more information about the burglary. McCord's sentencing was postponed until June and then postponed again. Finally, in November 1973, McCord was sentenced to from one to five years and began serving his sentence in March 1975, but was released after only four months because of his cooperation in the Watergate investigation.

Post-Watergate

After serving four months in prison, McCord continued with McCord Associates, which was his own security firm located in Rockville, retiring later to Pennsylvania. McCord died at the age of 93 from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a mass. These cancerous cells have the ability to invade other parts of the body. A number of types of panc ...

on June 15, 2017, at his home in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. His death was not reported in local and national news outlets until 2019. McCord was portrayed in '' All the President's Men'', the 1976 film retelling the events of the Watergate scandal, by Richard Herd. McCord was portrayed in ''Gaslit'', the 2022 television adaptation of the podcast '' Slow Burn'' by

Chris Bauer Mark Christopher Bauer (born October 28, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his television work in ''The Wire'', '' Third Watch'', '' True Blood'', '' Survivor's Remorse,'' '' The Deuce and'' the Apple TV+ original science fiction ...

References

Bibliography

External links

James McCord testifying at the Watergate Hearings
WETA-TV Public Television, 1973 Watergate Hearings * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McCord, James W. Jr. 1924 births 2017 deaths People from Berks County, Pennsylvania People from Waurika, Oklahoma Military personnel from Oklahoma Writers from Oklahoma American perjurers American spies Baylor University alumni Elliott School of International Affairs alumni Members of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President Watergate Seven People convicted in the Watergate scandal CIA agents convicted of crimes Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in Pennsylvania Virginia Republicans Pennsylvania Republicans United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces officers United States Air Force colonels United States Air Force reservists