Frederick Cheney LaRue , 75 , the shadowy Nixon White House aide and "bagman" who delivered more than $300 , 000 in payoffs to Watergate conspirators , died of coronary artery disease in a Biloxi , Miss . , motel room , where he lived .
Frederick Cheney LaRue
frederick cheney larue 75 shadowy nixon white house aide "bagman" deliver $300 000 payoff watergate conspirator die coronary artery disease biloxi miss motel room he live
<m> Frederick Cheney LaRue </m> , 75 , the shadowy Nixon White House aide and "bagman" who delivered more than $300 , 000 in payoffs to Watergate conspirators , died of coronary artery disease in a Biloxi , Miss . , motel room , where he lived .
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Watergate 'Bagman' Fred LaRue , 75 , Dies
Published : July 29 , 2004
<m> Frederick Cheney LaRue </m> , 75 , the shadowy Nixon White House aide and "bagman" who delivered more than $300 , 000 in payoffs to Watergate conspirators , died of coronary artery disease in a Biloxi , Miss . , motel room , where he lived .
His body was found by a motel maid July 27 , but Harrison County , Miss . , coroner Gary Hargrove said he believed the death occurred July 24 .
Mr . LaRue had a history of heart problems , Hargrove said .
Considered one of the most mysterious men in the Nixon administration , Mr . LaRue served as a presidential aide without title , salary or mention in the White House directory .
Yet he was so close to the center of power that he was one of the few present at a March 30 , 1972 , meeting at Nixon's vacation home on Key Biscayne , Fla . , at which former attorney general John Mitchell discussed the planned break - in and bugging of the Democratic National Committee headquarters office in the Watergate building .
The money for the operation came from Nixon's reelection campaign funds , as did "hush money" paid to the Watergate burglars and their attorneys , Mr . LaRue later testified to the Senate Watergate investigative committee .
He was the first administration official to plead guilty to charges in the Watergate coverup and was the last to be sentenced .
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and was sentenced to one to three years , with all but six months suspended .
He served 136 days .
Mr . LaRue came to Washington in 1969 as an experienced political hand and was described in a 1972 Washington Post profile as a squinting , mumbling "Faulknerian character , an insignificant - looking man who . . . passionately sought anonymity throughout his wheeler - dealer days . "
He was considered the liaison between Mitchell and Mississippi Sen . James O . Eastland ( D ) , who was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and who supported Nixon's judicial appointments .
Mr . LaRue's role during Nixon's 1968 election campaign was to woo Southern voters .
Born in Athens , Tex . , Mr . LaRue was nicknamed "Bubba" in his family and graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor's degree in geology in 1951 .
His father , Ike Parsons LaRue , went to jail on crimes involving banking law , and upon his release , struck it rich in the oil and gas business .
The son sold one of their Mississippi oil fields for a reported $30 million in 1957 , using his family's newfound wealth to become a political financier .
Later that year , Mr . LaRue shot and killed his father in a duck - hunting accident in Canada .
Mr . LaRue became active in state Republican politics and served on the Republican National Committee from 1963 to 1968 .
He donated to Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign and was an early donor to Nixon's 1968 campaign .
He was very close to Mitchell , and after the attorney general resigned in 1972 to become campaign director of the Committee to Re - Elect the President ( CREEP ) , Mr . LaRue went with him .
After the Watergate break - in , Mr . LaRue and another aide , Robert C . Mardian , were put in charge of the coverup , supervising the shredding of documents and destruction of financial records .
Hugh W . Sloan Jr . , former treasurer of the CREEP Finance Committee , said under oath that Mr . LaRue and deputy campaign manager Jeb Stuart Magruder told him he might have to commit perjury to protect the Watergate conspiracy .
They tried to get him to agree to testify that he gave Watergate burglar G . Gordon Liddy much less than the campaign's financial records showed .
After Mr . LaRue pleaded guilty and served his sentence in 1973 , he returned to Mississippi , where he worked in the family oil and real estate development business , his nephew William T . LaRue said .
The family money had dwindled by the early 1970s , after the LaRues lost money in the Castaways , a Las Vegas gambling casino they bought in 1963 .
Mr . LaRue said in 1971 , "I'm no millionaire . "
He was one of many Nixon - era figures rumored over the years to be "Deep Throat , " the undercover source of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein .
Mr . LaRue denied that he was Deep Throat , and Woodward said he will not reveal the source's name until after Deep Throat dies .
Survivors include his wife , Joyce LaRue of Jackson , Miss . ; five children ; and several grandchildren .