American Spy Post #3

Through out his life, E. Howard Hunt was forced to make many decisions about what was the right thing to do. In his work, he chose his job and president over his own code of ethics. This choice would eventually land him in jail for his major part in the Watergate scandal. Even though Watergate was the culminating event of his career, while he worked in the White House, he was involved in many other similar ventures. For example, when the white house and CIA were having problems with a man, John Ehrlichman, leaking classified information to the press, he is called in to find dirt on him to damage his image. Hunt and his partner, Libby took this to an extreme when they donned disguises and broke into the office of Ehrlichman's phychiatrist. They even go through the cabinets and make it look like the work of a drug addict. When the police discover the break in, another man is blamed. Hunt writes, "The office break-in was discovered on Monday. Police arrested a local drug addict, who conveniently confessed to our crime in return for a suspended sentence. Otherwise, the operation remained secret until disclosed by John Dean in April 1973" (189). Hunt shows very little remorse for the fact that another man received the sentence for their actions. In fact, Hunt does not appear to have any remorse at all for what he has done.

The idea of breakins to obtain classified information, over time, eventually rose to a culmination: Watergate. The staff of the White House eventually began to see these breakins as an easy way to solve a problem. The emotional effect that their actions cause becomes less and less. Hunt even describes this journey in relation to a drug addiction or alchoholism. He writes, "The road to Watergate was traveled in such small, incremental steps that by the time the situation arose, the break-in would seem a natural thing to do. Aren't all vices the same? The alcoholic, (...) has to have his first sip at some thime; the drug user, (...) has her first taste of bliss; (...) every criminal commits his first, usually small, crime" (191). At the time, E. Howard Hunt did not see the eventual cause of his actions; in prison, when he wrote the book, he is able to look back and see the obvious path that it took him on.