The Other Legacy of Watergate: Nicknames

The Plumbers are about to get their own show. But there was also Le Grand Fromage and the German Shepherds.

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A handcuffed G. Gordon Liddy, a member of the White House "Plumbers,” arrives at Los Angeles Count jail to await arraignment on charges of conspiracy and burglary stemming from the 1971 break-in at the office of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg. (Photograph from the Bettmann Collection/Getty Images)

HBO is about to launch a miniseries on The Plumbers—Richard Nixon’s dirty tricks squad caught in the midst of the Watergate burglary. Judging from the commercials and comments from cast members such as Woody Harrelson, it looks like the series will be played for laughs. White House Plumbers is timed for the 50th anniversary of when the American people learned about the existence of The Plumbers and their nickname, from a court memo in one of the Watergate burglary trials that emerged in April 1973.

Nicknames have a long and amusing history in politics, dating back at least as far as the Roman Empire. But nicknames took off in American presidential politics before Donald Trump came on the scene and started giving out demeaning handles to his political opponents. (And even before George W. Bush, who was famous for doling out more affectionate monikers.) 

The Plumbers owed their nickname to the fact that they were first employed to plug leaks. Nixon was obsessed with stopping leaks and catching leakers, especially after the disclosure of what became known as the “Pentagon Papers.” Nixon instructed his team to make sure that there would be no leaks and ordered wiretapping operations, and, oddly, a firebombing and break-in to the headquarters of the Brookings Institution as part of these efforts. The Brookings break-in never happened, but obviously the Watergate one did.

The members of The Plumbers were former law enforcement types and “spooks” (former spies). It’s not clear that these bumblers were ready for prime time, although a prime-time comedy series seems fitting. One of them, Tony Ulasewicz, had to go to the library to look up what the Brookings Institution even was before planning out the Nixon-ordered assault that never came.

Watergate was such a sprawling and bizarre scandal that it spurred many other nicknames beyond just “The Plumbers.” The most famous of them all may have been Deep Throat, the name the Washington Post editorial team assigned to the secret source who was feeding information to journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein about the inner workings of the Nixon administration. Collectively, the two reporters had their own nickname: “Woodstein.” 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Bill Nelson

    “… our system held together through a challenging crisis.”
    There was never a danger of the system falling apart. Our systems always hold together quite well.

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  2. Avatar photo
    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    What I remember about the nicknames is that Mark Felt's was seen as a very contemptuous one. It meant the leaker did it to curry favor. So I wasn't surprised when Felt was eventually named.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Connie

    Haldeman and Ehrlichman were also known as, “Hans and Fritz.”

    I was 11 years old when my mom tuned into the Senate Watergate Hearings, which were broadcast every day that summer of 1973. It was my introduction to our federal government. Woodstein’s book, “All the President’s Men,” came out the summer of 1974. I remember getting the paperback and reading it over and over, trying to wrap my young mind around the scandal of Lernaean Hydra proportions. A few years after that, the movie of the same name came out, and I have been a Watergate buff ever since.

    There are a lot of angles here that are ripe for a fresh take. Last year, it was Martha Mitchell’s turn in, “Gaslit,” on STARZ. This year, The Plumbers on HBO. I hope the latter is as good as the former. I also hope the future brings more Watergate stories to the small screen.

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  4. Brian Kelley

    IIRC per his memoir, G. Gordon Liddy introduced himself to people as "Gordon" except when he met J. Edgar Hoover. He didn't want to be seen as aping the big man.

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  5. Jimlafferty1993

    Loved this article. I am a fan of all things Watergate. So many weird characters and funny anecdotes.

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  6. Avatar photo
    Wilhelm

    In their song "My Old School," the band Steely Dan added one more nickname for Plumber G. Gordon Liddy -- Daddy Gee.

    Fun read, Mr. Troy. Brings back memories.

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