Charles W. Colson, Watergate mastermind turned Evangelical leader, died of a brain hemorrhage on Saturday at the age of 80. Mr. Colson, an attorney who joined the Nixon Administration as special counsel, had a close relationship with the dark, brooding President. Colson hired former CIA operative E. Howard Hunt and together the two plotted to bring down the Democratic National Committee and other leftists in what became the Watergate affair. Yet after serving just seven months in prison for obstruction of justice, the post-Watergate Colson emerged a born-again Christian, promising to devote his life to religious activities. And though he may be remembered most for his role in Watergate, Tim Weiner, journalist and author of “Enemies: A History of the FBI,” believes that Colson’s true legacy might be his role in forging alliances between Evangelical Protestants and Catholics to create the religious wing of the Republican Party.
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