[Deathwatch] Ron Ziegler, former Nixon press secretary, 63

[Deathwatch Central]

Nixon's press secretary Ziegler dies
Monday, February 10, 2003 Posted: 10:56 PM EST (0356 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/02/10/ziegler.obit.ap/index.html

SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- Ron Ziegler, the former press secretary
to President Nixon who famously called the Watergate break-in a
"third-rate burglary," died Monday of a heart attack, his wife said. He
was 63. 

Ziegler died at his home in Coronado, a suburb of San Diego, his wife,
Nancy, told The Associated Press. 

"Certain elements may try to stretch this beyond what it is," Ziegler
said of the June 17, 1972, burglary of the Democratic National
Committee headquarters that would eventually lead to Nixon's
resignation. 

As Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein tied the
scandal to top officials in the Nixon administration, Ziegler routinely
dismissed their reports as inaccurate. But the press secretary publicly
apologized to them and their newspaper the day after the April 30,
1973, resignations of White House counsel John Dean and Nixon aides
John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman. 

"I would apologize to the Post, and I would apologize to Mr. Woodward
and Mr. Bernstein. ... We would all have to say that mistakes were made
in terms of comments. I was overenthusiastic in my comments about the
Post, particularly if you look at them in the context of developments
that have taken place," he said at the time. "When we are wrong, we are
wrong, as we were in that case." 

He started to add, "But... ," and was cut off by a reporter who said,
"Don't take it back, Ron." 

Dean, who helped expose the scandal, said in an e-book published last
year on Salon.com that Ziegler, despite his complaints about Woodward
and Bernstein's reporting, was one of four people who may have been
Deep Throat, the mysterious, chain-smoking source who gave Woodward
crucial information in secret late-night meetings. 

Woodward has said he will not reveal Deep Throat's identity until that
person's death. As recently as last year, he said Deep Throat was still
alive. 

As spokesman for an administration that was falling apart under the
weight of the scandal that drove Nixon from office, Ziegler was often
unpopular with the public and the press in the early 1970s. His friends
indicated he was tarnished unfairly because of his loyalty to his boss,
Richard Nixon. 

"Deep down he was a wonderful person," Gerald Warren, a former deputy
press secretary under Presidents Nixon and Ford said Monday night. "I
think he was placed in an awkward position as a young man. ... It
wasn't easy for him, but he did his best and he was very loyal. 

"I don't think he ever showed the great promise that he had," Warren
said. "I wish that he had been able to tell his story to the world." 

Another friend, New York journalist David Pinto, said Ziegler "never
stopped thinking well of Nixon." 

"He once said to me that Richard Nixon was the most impressive person
he'd ever known," Pinto said. 

"After Nixon died I think his position on Nixon became more grounded in
reality," Pinto added. "He saw the shortcomings of the man as well as
the strengths." 

Ronald Louis Ziegler was born May 12, 1939, in Covington, Kentucky,
and, like several members of the Nixon administration, was educated at
the University of Southern California, which later awarded him an
honorary doctorate. 

He worked for the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency for several
years in the 1960s, and was also and a press aide with Nixon's
unsuccessful campaign for governor of California in 1962. 

After Nixon became president in 1969 he became his press secretary,
holding that title until 1974 when he was named an assistant to the
president. 

After leaving government service, he held a number of executive
positions with private enterprise, most recently as chief executive of
National Association of Chain Drug Stores from 1987 until retiring in
1998.