Alfred C. Baldwin III, the “shadow man” of the Watergate burglaries who later helped end Richard Nixon’s presidency by agreeing to testify against his co-conspirators, has died. Though Baldwin died on Jan. 15, 2020, at a New York care center, his death was not publicly reported until this week, with the re-publication of an updated version of the book The Watergate Burglars, which hit shelves Tuesday. The Washington Post confirmed Baldwin’s death with his longtime attorney, who said Baldwin had been battling cancer. Baldwin, a “husky ex-Marine,” as he once asked a Los Angeles Times journalist to characterize him, was the only member of the Watergate team not to be charged with a crime, despite playing lookout from across the street during the June 1972 break-in. His subsequent testimony was “critical” to indicting the rest of the group, according to prosecutor Earl J. Silbert. But it wasn’t until Baldwin sat down exclusively with the Los Angeles Times for an Oct. 1972 interview that his story “brought Watergate to the very door of the White House,” making it “tangible” for Americans, according to writer David Halberstam.
