Egil “Bud” Krogh tells great stories on himself – all with the punch line of hoping people will learn from his mistakes and lapses of integrity.  Krogh, a young Seattle attorney who was just 29 when he became a top official in the Nixon White House, became head of the notorious “plumbers” who used national security as their justification for breaking into Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office to look for damaging materials. Krogh eventually decided to stop using national security as a shield and pled guilty and went to the pokey.

Krogh, who has spent a lifetime of penitence and teaching about the need for integrity, told his story in engaging fashion at a “brown bag” lunch sponsored by Secretary of State Sam Reed on Friday. (Krogh donated his lecture fee and travel expenses.)  He talks about the corridors of power in the White House, the day Elvis met Nixon, summiting Mount Rainier and Mount Everest, and his thoughts on how groupthink and loyalty to an individual, rather than doing the right thing,  can cause good people to lose their way.

Enjoy: