Ehrlichman, John D.

(1925.03.20-1999.02.14)  Aide to President Richard Nixon, felon, author.

Imprisoned near Safford

President Richard M. Nixon is pictured with his domestic advisor John D. Ehrlichman.  When this photo was taken in February, 1973, the cover-up of the June 17, 1972  Watergate burglary was unraveling.  Nixon reluctantly fired Ehrichman the next month.  White House Photo Office Collection 02/12/1973.

The former domestic advisor to President Nixon entered the federal prison camp near Safford on October 28, 1976, to begin serving his 2-1/2 to 8-year sentence for his participation in the Watergate cover-up.

While in the Safford facility, which he described as "not physically difficult," he turned to writing.  He wrote to U.S. District Court Judge John Sirica who had sentenced him, pleading that his sentence be reduced.  He must have been persuasive since Sirica reduced the sentence of all three Watergate defendants (Ehrlichman, former White House Chief of Staff Bob Haldeman who served his time in Lompoc, California, and former Attorney General John Mitchell who served his time in Alabama) to 1 to 4 years. They were all were released after serving a year and a half.

The prison outside Safford has, like other federal correctional facilities, expanded greatly since the time that Ehrlichman was incarcerated.  You know you're getting close to the prison when you start seeing road signs warning "Do not pick up hitchhikers."  8-03.

Ehrlichman was also writing fiction during his stay in Safford, and eventually published three popular novels.  The first, titled The Company (1976), was a fictionalized account of his Washington experiences.  It sold well and was made into a television mini series, "Washington: Behind Closed Doors" (1977).  He wrote The Whole Truth (1979) while in Safford.

After release, he returned to Santa Fe, N.M. where he had taken up residence without his family before his sentencing.