Special Bulletin. Remembering Len Garment
A few days ago, May 11, marked what would have been the ninetieth birthday of Leonard Garment, who died last year. The day should not have passed unremarked upon. Len was a brilliant lawyer, a distinguished public servant and an influential figure in the arts. The lengthy obituary in The New York Times on July 15, 2013 chronicled his life and many of his accomplishments.
When Richard Nixon joined a Wall Street law firm in 1963, Len Garment was head of the firm’s litigation department, and he persuaded Nixon to argue in the Supreme Court a case that Garment had successfully brought through the New York courts. That would lead to Garment becoming an early member of Nixon’s team for the 1968 election and later to a position on Nixon’s White House staff. Many will remember Garment primarily as counsel to Richard Nixon during the Watergate investigations. He was one of the few survivors of the Nixon White House to emerge with a reputation not only unblemished but enhanced. He served Nixon with loyalty and determination but without compromising his own integrity, not always an easy task. But if Watergate was the most dramatic chapter of Len’s life, it was not the only notable one.