Egil Krogh obit

Egil Krogh: Seattle lawyer, leader of Nixon 'plumbers' dies at 80

He was not on the list.



Egil "Bud" Krogh used to greet inauguration of each new President with a Christian Science Reading

Krogh was the straight-arrow Seattle lawyer who followed his boss John Ehrlichman into the Nixon administration, and ended up doing time for his role with the so-called "White House Plumbers." The unit was assigned to track down which White House aides were leaking news stories to journalists. (They never managed to catch Henry Kissinger.)

The Plumbers, led by future Watergate defendants E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy and with Krogh's authorization, broke into the office of Dr. Lewis Fielding, psychiatrist for Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsburg.

Krogh would later write the book "Integrity: Good People, Bad Choices and Life Lessons from the White House." He would apologize to Dr. Fielding. "Later, Ellsburg and my dad became friends and had some dinners in Seattle," son Matt Krogh recalled. The two men even did joint speaking appearances.

Krogh, 80, passed away on Friday night.

Krogh took life lessons and colorful stories out of his work for the 37th President. He worked at the White House as liaison with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drug. Hence, Krogh gained fodder for another book, "The Day Elvis Met Nixon."

The King showed up unannounced at the White House gate on Dec. 21, 1970, with a letter for Nixon. Presley wanted to enlist in the War on Drugs. Krogh was given the job of figuring out what to do, exchanging memos with incredulous White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman. Eventually, Presley
Room lecture in Seattle, using personal experience to advise young White House aides to remain true to their principles and stay out of jail.

Krogh graduated with the highest honors from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois in 1961. After service in the U.S. Navy as a communications officer aboard USS Yorktown (1962–1965), he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Washington School of Law in 1968.

Krogh was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Josephine (Woolling) and Egil Einar Krogh, a Norwegian immigrant and a businessman. His mother was a homemaker while his father was an executive with the Marshall Field's chain of department stores. His father's frequent relocation had the family living in Chicago, Portland, Oregon, St. Louis, and eventually Seattle.

Krogh was employed by Hullin, Ehrlichman, Roberts, and Hodge, the Seattle law firm of family friend John Ehrlichman, and joined Ehrlichman in the counsel's office of Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign. After Nixon was elected, Krogh helped with the arrangements for the inauguration. He joined the Nixon White House as an advisor on the District of Columbia and later served as liaison to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. It was there that he met G. Gordon Liddy.