G. Gordon Liddy and Family

By Bill Kleppel

The family attends the Dutchess County Fair every year. It’s 1969, and there are plenty of animals to see and lots of rides for the kids.

“…Dutchess County apples are the best in the world, and it doesn’t matter how you eat them,” explained Thomas, the second youngest boy in a family of seven.

This bucolic description of long ago summers in the Hudson Valley wasn’t brought to you by the Dutchess Tourism Board. It’s a remembrance from Thomas Liddy, son of G. Gordon Liddy. Liddy was the infamous mastermind behind the 1972 break in of the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.

It’s the crime that led to President Richard Milhous Nixon’s departure from the Oval Office in disgrace.

But hey! G. Gordon Liddy was married and raised his children right here in Poughkeepsie!

This past August 8^th marked the 50^th anniversary of the resignation of President Nixon. His downfall may never have come to pass if it weren’t for the bungled 1972 burglary attempt at Watergate, and its attempted cover-up by Nixon and his staff members.

Liddy was one of the leaders of the criminal gang known as the “White House Plumbers” (now an HBO mini-series!). The Plumbers were a secret cabal within Nixon’s administration that carried out illegal clandestine operations to combat perceived threats to the president, and to secretly aid in his re-election campaign.

George Gordon Battle Liddy was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 30, 1930, to Sylvester Liddy and Maria Abbaticchio.

He married Poughkeepsie native Frances Purcell on November 9, 1957, in Saint Mary’s Church at 231 Church Street. Purcell graduated from the College of New Rochelle and attended Boston University. She later earned a Master’s Degree in Education from SUNY New Paltz.

Liddy received a B.S. Degree from Fordham University, and continued his studies at Fordham Law School. In 1957, he was a special agent with the FBI. The wedding reception was held at the Poughkeepsie Tennis Club on South Hamilton Street.

The Liddy’s lived at 26 Loockerman Avenue in a house built by Frances’ father, Thomas Purcell, when she was a child. Frances and Gordon started a family that eventually included three sons and two daughters. They lived in their home from 1957 until Gordon was summoned to D.C. in 1971.

During the 1960’s, Liddy served as an Assistant District Attorney in Dutchess County. He gained a strong reputation as a crime fighter, and for his battle to eradicate illicit drug use in the area. One of his high profile arrests came in 1966 when he nabbed LSD guru Timothy Leary and others at the Hitchcock Estate in Millbrook, New York, in 1966.

In 1969, Liddy orchestrated a drug raid at Bard College. Two of the students corralled during this arrest were Walter Becker and Donald Fagan, who later became well known as the founders of the rock band Steely Dan. They wrote a song about their time at Bard called “My Old School.” Liddy is referenced in the lyrics as “Daddy Gee.”

While Gordon was honing his skills in law and politics, Frances Purcell Liddy took on a variety of jobs, along with raising their five children. After working for the Poughkeepsie Savings Bank, she became an economic analyst for Central Hudson Gas & Electric, as well as working for IBM.

Once she completed her degree at SUNY New Paltz, Frances taught in public schools in Poughkeepsie, and then in Washington, D.C., for the next 18 years.

The kids went to various schools, and enjoyed their years living in Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County. Tom Liddy recalls summers at the tennis club where he and his siblings were members of the swim team.

The success of Gordon’s anti-crime exploits convinced him to run for Dutchess County’s 28^th U.S. Congressional District seat in 1968. He lost the Republican primary to Hamilton Fish, Jr. The Fish political dynasty, along with other well connected New York Republicans, frowned upon Liddy running in the general election as an independent candidate. He succumbed to this pressure and discontinued his run.

His campaign did generate attention on the national stage, and piqued the interest of House Minority Leader (and future president) Gerald Ford. With Ford as a reference, Liddy received a position in Washington at the U.S. Department of Treasury. He was then sought after by Nixon’s Domestic Affairs Advisor, John Ehrlichman, and others to serve as general counsel within the administration.

Liddy wore many hats within the Nixon White House, and was delegated to do several jobs. His talents fit in nicely with the emergent “special investigations unit” housed within the Committee for the Re-election of the President (known to detractors as CREEP). Nixon was paranoid, and fearful of losing the 1972 election. He made it perfectly clear how important it was for this group of “White House Plumbers” to go on the offensive and root out any of his perceived enemies.

In 1971, the Plumbers broke into the office of Lewis Fielding, the psychiatrist of U.S. Military Analyst Daniel Ellsberg. Ellsberg, once an employee of the RAND Corporation, a non-profit in charge of documenting the secret history of the Vietnam War, leaked documents known as the “Pentagon Papers” to the New York Times.

Liddy coordinated this crime, and quite a few more, before the Watergate break-in.

The collapse of the Nixon presidency would be a story much too large to carry within this post. Suffice it to say, Nixon resigned. Liddy was convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping. He, along with many of his cohorts, was thrown in jail.

His son Tom received many letters from his father in jail. Not rainbows and unicorns drivel. They were more of the do your schoolwork, help out around the house; don’t shirk your job responsibilities type of letters. Gordon consistently sent letters like this to all of his children.

After serving over four years of what was to be a 20 year sentence in federal prison, G. Gordon Liddy’s time in jail was commuted by President Jimmy Carter in September of 1977.

Right: Frances Liddy arriving to meet Gordon on the same day of his release. (Poughkeepsie Journal Archives)

After his time in jail, Gordon became successful in the oil industry and other private business ventures.  His larger than life persona became even more legendary during his career as a talk radio host. He was also a popular draw for speaking engagements. He even went on a speaking-debate tour with counterculture icon and former nemesis, Timothy Leary, in 1983!

All five of the Liddy kids have led full lives of their own. Alexandra became a lieutenant in the U.S. Army (her father died at her home in Alexandria, Virginia, on March 30, 2021). Grace became an artist and technical writer. James served as a commander in the U.S. Navy. Raymond served as a Marine in Panama and in Iraq, and retired as a colonel. Tom Liddy also served in the Marine Corps, was a successful attorney, and has had political aspirations as well.

Frances Liddy Purcell died in 2010. Both Frances and Gordon are buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery in Poughkeepsie.

References

• Santistevan, Ryan. “G. Gordon Liddy in Poughkeepsie: Infamous Figure to Be Buried Here Raised Family, Visited Fair.” Poughkeepsie Journal, Poughkeepsie Journal, 7 Apr. 2021, poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2021/04/07/g-gordon-liddy-loved-time-poughkeepsie-his-family-seven/7105450002/.
• “FRANCES PURCELL MARRIED UPSTATE: Wed in Poughkeepsie Church to George G.B. Liddy, Fordham Law Graduate.” Pro Quest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times, 10 Nov. 1957, www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/113934198/E6CA741FC99C4097PQ/3?accountid=38287&sourcetype=Historical%20Newspapers.
• “Miss Purcell Becomes Bride Of George Liddy.” Poughkeepsie Journal, 10 Nov. 1957.
• “Leary Says, ‘I Am Innocent’, After Deputies Raid in Millbrook.” The Poughkeepsie Journal, 18 Apr. 1966.
• “Stop Violence, Vote Gordon Liddy.” Com, The Kingston Daily Freeman, 17 June 1968, newscomny.newspapers.com/image/85982326/?match=1&terms=Liddy&pqsid=K-DI_a_D6Nkl9q-pBA_gEw%3A181417%3A2090452409.
• Hertz, Larry. “What Was G. Gordon Liddy like When He Visited the Poughkeepsie Journal? The Man Had Style.” Poughkeepsie Journal, Poughkeepsie Journal, 31 Mar. 2021, www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2021/03/31/g-gordon-liddy-ex-dutchess-ada-visited-journal/4817218001/.

Originally published 8 Jun 1986

• “Mrs Frances Ann Purcell Liddy (1932-2010) - Find...” Find a Grave, www.findagrave.com/memorial/48520872/frances-ann-liddy. Accessed 8 July 2024.
• Epstein, Edward Jay. Agency of Fear: Opiates and Political Power in America. Verso, 1990. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/agencyoffearopia0000epst. Accessed 8 July 2024.
• Liddy, G. Gordon. Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy. St. Martin’s Press, 1980.