Being There: Eye Witness To History

June 17, 1972. Five men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Headquarters. One of the ringleaders contacts Douglas Caddy and apprises him of the situation. Caddy responds, and soon his life spins out of control as he is at the center of the investigation. Was this random, or had his conservative and anti-Communist background led to this? Douglas Caddy was a young Conservative Republican who had associations with personalities from columnist William F. Buckley to CIA agent Howard Hunt to FBI agent Guy Bannister. His association with the Watergate burglars and their bosses led to his persecution at the hands of Judge John Sirica. Caddy witnessed the machinations of lawyer John Dean long before Watergate-revisionist authors questioned Dean’s “heroics”. Caddy narrates his own trials juxtaposed with the story of informant Robert Merritt, whose travel through the muck and mire of covert government seems almost too good to be true. Caddy’s career would later see further controversies in Texas when representing the Moody Foundation and Billie Sol Estes and his associations along with power broker Tongsun Park and political dirty trickster Roger Stone.

Being There is a brief overview of an eventful life. Douglas Caddy has borne witness to the good, bad, and ugly of politics. He has emerged bruised and battered but still standing. An excellent autobiography tackling alternative history.