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| Leonard Garment obituary | Leonard Garment obituary |
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| Leonard Garment was an original: a Wall Street lawyer who played jazz professionally; a registered Democrat who voted for John F Kennedy in 1960 and became a loyal adviser in Richard Nixon's inner political circle; a Jew who worked for a president who was not above telling his cronies that "the Jews are all over the government" and "you can't trust the bastards, they turn on you". He has died aged 89. | Leonard Garment was an original: a Wall Street lawyer who played jazz professionally; a registered Democrat who voted for John F Kennedy in 1960 and became a loyal adviser in Richard Nixon's inner political circle; a Jew who worked for a president who was not above telling his cronies that "the Jews are all over the government" and "you can't trust the bastards, they turn on you". He has died aged 89. |
| Garment did not turn on Nixon. He remained loyal for as long as he could in the unravelling of the Watergate drama. It was he who advised Nixon that it would constitute obstruction of justice to destroy incriminating White House tape recordings, as Nixon had threatened to do. | Garment did not turn on Nixon. He remained loyal for as long as he could in the unravelling of the Watergate drama. It was he who advised Nixon that it would constitute obstruction of justice to destroy incriminating White House tape recordings, as Nixon had threatened to do. |
| In the end, after Nixon suggested faking a tape to cover the missing 18 minutes that had been erased from a crucial tape, Garment joined the group of advisers who travelled to Key Biscayne, Florida, to tell Nixon that, in effect, the game was up. | In the end, after Nixon suggested faking a tape to cover the missing 18 minutes that had been erased from a crucial tape, Garment joined the group of advisers who travelled to Key Biscayne, Florida, to tell Nixon that, in effect, the game was up. |
| After the fall, when the Watergate scandal was over and Nixon had retired to California, Garment maintained he was unaware of the extent of Nixon's antisemitism. With his habitual dexterity, he summed up the complexity of his feeling towards his political chief. They were, he said, "a tangle of familial echoes, affections and curiosities never satisfied". | After the fall, when the Watergate scandal was over and Nixon had retired to California, Garment maintained he was unaware of the extent of Nixon's antisemitism. With his habitual dexterity, he summed up the complexity of his feeling towards his political chief. They were, he said, "a tangle of familial echoes, affections and curiosities never satisfied". |
| Garment was the child of immigrants. His father came from Lithuania, and owned a dress factory; his mother came from Poland. He could remember the Brownsville neighbourhood of Brooklyn when Yiddish could be heard commonly in streets that were later to become an African-American ghetto. | Garment was the child of immigrants. His father came from Lithuania, and owned a dress factory; his mother came from Poland. He could remember the Brownsville neighbourhood of Brooklyn when Yiddish could be heard commonly in streets that were later to become an African-American ghetto. |
| He studied law at Brooklyn Law School and was bright enough to be hired by a Wall Street law firm, then Mudge, Stern, Baldwin & Todd. He had another life as a professional jazz musician who played clarinet and tenor saxophone in a succession of Woody Herman's bands, at about the same time as another ambitious Jewish boy from Brooklyn, Alan Greenspan, later chairman of the Federal Reserve, was also playing jazz professionally in New York. | |
| In 1963, the firm became Nixon, Mudge, Guthrie, Rose & Alexander, when the defeated Republican presidential candidate, having also failed to be elected governor of California, joined it. Garment became his mentor and his aide de camp. His reward was to be appointed a "special consultant" to President Nixon in the White House, where he was able to encourage the new administration's vestigial liberal instincts in such areas as race relations and the arts. | In 1963, the firm became Nixon, Mudge, Guthrie, Rose & Alexander, when the defeated Republican presidential candidate, having also failed to be elected governor of California, joined it. Garment became his mentor and his aide de camp. His reward was to be appointed a "special consultant" to President Nixon in the White House, where he was able to encourage the new administration's vestigial liberal instincts in such areas as race relations and the arts. |
| In the mid-1970s, he joined the staff of Daniel Patrick Moynihan at the United Nations. As US ambassador, Moynihan waged a doughty war of words against the attempt, by an alliance of Muslim and sub-Saharan Africa nations, with Soviet encouragement, to pass a resolution declaring Zionism to be a form of racism. | |
| Garment's first wife, Grace Albert, died in 1977. Three years later he married Suzanne Weaver, also on the ambassador's team. | Garment's first wife, Grace Albert, died in 1977. Three years later he married Suzanne Weaver, also on the ambassador's team. |
| He became an effective Washington attorney with international clients such as Fiat and Toshiba, and wrote two books. The first, Crazy Rhythm (1997), was a sprightly autobiography. The second, In Search of Deep Throat (2000), argued that the mysterious informant who steered Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein towards the exposure of the Watergate scandal was the Republican lawyer John Sears. It is possible that Garment wrote the book in part to deflect the suspicion that he himself was Deep Throat. In any case, in 2005 Mark Felt, who had retired as deputy director of the FBI, admitted having been the source. | He became an effective Washington attorney with international clients such as Fiat and Toshiba, and wrote two books. The first, Crazy Rhythm (1997), was a sprightly autobiography. The second, In Search of Deep Throat (2000), argued that the mysterious informant who steered Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein towards the exposure of the Watergate scandal was the Republican lawyer John Sears. It is possible that Garment wrote the book in part to deflect the suspicion that he himself was Deep Throat. In any case, in 2005 Mark Felt, who had retired as deputy director of the FBI, admitted having been the source. |
| Garment is survived by Suzanne, their daughter, Ann, a grandson, Joseph, and a brother, Martin. The two children of his first marriage predeceased him. | |
| • Leonard Garment, lawyer and political adviser, born 11 May 1924; died 13 July 2013 | • Leonard Garment, lawyer and political adviser, born 11 May 1924; died 13 July 2013 |
| • This article was amended on 25 July 2013. An incorrect reference to Daniel Patrick Moynihan as an ex-Democrat was deleted, and mention of Leonard Garment's grandson Joseph was added. | |
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