Earl Landgrebe

Who was Earl Landgrebe?

Earl Fredrick Landgrebe was a politician and businessman. He served as an Indiana state senator and United States representative for the 2nd district. Langrebe was from Valparaiso in Porter County, Indiana. He is remembered unfavorably for his famous line at the Watergate hearings: "Don’t confuse me with the facts." Landgrebe stuck with Richard Nixon until the bitter end.

Landgrebe was born in Valparaiso, Indiana in 1916, the son of Edward William Landgrebe and Benna Marie Landgrebe. He attended Wheeler High School of Valparaiso. He married Helen Lucille Field on July 12, 1936. He was elected to the state senate of Indiana in 1959 as a Republican and served there until 1968. In that year, he was elected to represent Indiana's 2nd district in the House of Representatives.

On August 5, 1974, Richard Nixon released certain documents revealing his orders to aides to hinder the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation of the Watergate break-in. When Landgrebe was asked on August 7 about the apparently unanimous support for impeachment of Nixon among his Republican colleagues following this disclosure, he said: "I'm going to stick with my President even if he and I have to be taken out of this building and shot." The next day, Richard Nixon announced his resignation. A few months later, Landgrebe was shown the door by his constituents. His re-election bid was derailed by Democrat Floyd Fithian.