The 'Committee to Re-elect the President', often abbreviated to 'CRP' or 'CREEP', was a
Nixon White House fundraising organization. This organization was found to have employed money laundering and
slush funds. It was also involved in the
Watergate Scandal.
Members
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John N. Mitchell - Campaign Director
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Jeb Stuart Magruder - Campaign Manager
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G. Gordon Liddy - Campaign member
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E. Howard Hunt - Campaign member
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Maurice Stans - Campaign Finance Chairman
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Kenneth H. Dahlberg - Campaign Midwest Finance Chairman
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Hugh W. Sloan, Jr. - Campaign Treasurer
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James W. McCord - Campaign Security Coordinator
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Donald Segretti - Campaign Political Operative
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Fred LaRue - Campaign Political Operative
More information about members
John N. Mitchell had previously served as
United States Attorney General.
G. Gordon Liddy and
E. Howard Hunt planned the details of the
Watergate first break-in (
May 28,
1972) that led to the ensuing
Watergate scandal.
James W. McCord was one of the five burglars.
E. Howard Hunt's name was found in McCord's address book when McCord was arrested.
CRP funds, a sum of $500,000
U.S. dollars, were used to pay legal expenses for the five Watergate burglars after their indictment in September
1972. The link of the break-in back to the
White House and the President's campaign fundraising committee turned the burglary into an explosive political scandal. The burglars, as well as Liddy, Hunt, and Mitchell, went to prison over the break-in and their efforts to cover it up, along with other members of the Nixon Administration. One illegal action that CREEP committed was breaking into the office of the psychiatrist of
Pentagon Papers leaker
Daniel Ellsberg in an attempt to find material to discredit Ellsberg. The leak of the Pentagon Papers, military records about the
Vietnam War, helped sway American sentiment towards opposing the war.
Donald Segretti performed the
dirty tricks (political sabotage) program. Segretti detailed it to
Bob Woodward and
Carl Bernstein, who described it in their
Pulitzer Prize winning book, ''
All The President's Men''.