KEY POINTS:
E. Howard Hunt, CIA officer, died aged 88.
E. Howard Hunt, who helped organise the Watergate break-in that led to the downfall of Richard Nixon's presidency, has died.
Hunt was many things: World War II soldier, CIA officer, organiser of both a Guatemalan coup and the botched Bay of Pigs invasion, and author of more than 80 books, many from the spy-tale genre.
Yet the bulk of his notoriety came from his role in the Watergate conspiracy.
While working for the CIA, Hunt recruited four of the five burglars - Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez, Rolando Eugenio Martinez and Frank Sturgis - who had worked for Hunt in the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
"According to street gossip both in Washington and Miami, Fidel Castro had been making substantial contributions to the McGovern campaign," Hunt told CNN in February 1992. "And the idea was ... that somewhere in the books of the Democratic National Committee those illicit funds would be found."
The idea was wrong, and the fallout escalated into a huge political scandal.
Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, and 25 men were sent to prison for their involvement in the botched plan.
