Editing H. R. Haldeman (section)

===Role in Watergate===
[[File:Nixon Oval Office meeting with H.R. Haldeman "Smoking Gun" Conversation June 23, 1972.wav|thumb|Nixon Oval Office meeting with H.R. Haldeman: the "Smoking Gun" conversation of June 23, 1972 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20230421234834/https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/forresearchers/find/tapes/watergate/trial/exhibit_01.pdf full transcript])]]

Haldeman was one of the various key figures in the Watergate scandal.

The [[Watergate tapes|"Smoking Gun" tape]] revealed that Nixon instructed Haldeman to have the [[CIA]] pressure the [[FBI]] into dropping its Watergate investigation.<ref name="Dean"/> Nixon instructed him to tell the CIA that the investigation would "open up the whole [[Bay of Pigs]] thing again".<ref name="Dean"/><ref name="Hamburg"/> In his book, Haldeman later wrote: "It seems that in all those references to the Bay of Pigs, he was actually referring to the [[John F. Kennedy assassination|Kennedy assassination]]."<ref name="Dean"/><ref name="Hamburg"/> He also said that Nixon might have been reminding CIA Director [[Richard Helms]] that the CIA [[assassination attempts on Fidel Castro]] may have triggered the assassination of Kennedy.<ref name="Hamburg"/>

The unexplained {{frac|18|1|2}} minute gap in Nixon's [[Nixon White House tapes|Oval Office recordings]] occurred during a discussion that included the President and Haldeman on June 20, 1972.

Nixon requested the resignations of Haldeman and Ehrlichman in what has been described as a long and emotional meeting at [[Camp David]]. Haldeman complied, and his resignation was announced on April 30, 1973 along with those of Ehrlichman and US Attorney General [[Richard Kleindienst]]. In a telephone conversation shortly after the resignations, Nixon told Haldeman that he loved him like his brother.<ref>{{cite web
| title = YouTube – Nixon Tapes: Nixon Drunk over Watergate (Haldeman)
| website =[[YouTube]]
| date =July 29, 2008
| access-date =July 8, 2009
| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm5FIs9V0VA
}}
</ref> On the eve of Nixon's own resignation that August, Haldeman requested a full pardon for himself along with a full pardon for [[Vietnam War]] [[draft resister]]s, arguing that pardoning the latter would take some of the heat off of him. Nixon refused.

On January 1, 1975, Haldeman was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and three counts of perjury. He was sentenced to serve {{frac|2|1|2}} to 8 years, subsequently commuted to 1 to 4 years. In [[United States Penitentiary, Lompoc|Lompoc Federal Prison]], Haldeman worked in a facility testing sewage. On December 20, 1978, after serving 18 months, Haldeman was released on parole.

[[File:Haldeman and Ehrlichman discuss policy, 1973.png|thumb|upright|right|"The Berlin Wall" of Ehrlichman and Haldeman on April 27, 1973, three days before they were asked to resign.]]