Similar to The Plumbers, the "Dirty Tricks Team" was set up in the Nixon White House for the purpose of damaging and embarrassing key Democratic party members. Their activities ranged from ordering pizzas delivered to the Democratic campaign offices to forging letters that were used to discredit and embarrass Democratic leaders such as Senator Edmund Muskie and Henry (Scoop) Jackson.

Headed up by the likes of E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordan Liddy, the Dirty Tricks Team forged cables that implied that President John Kennedy ordered the toppling and assassination of Vietnam's Prime Minister Diem in 1963. They then tried, unsuccessfully, to plant these cables with major news organizations.

They were also responsible for the formation of an "enemies list". This was a collection of opposition politicians, entertainers, newsman and other prominent public figures that were deemed disloyal to the White House. The list was used to target people that the White House wanted to "screw" via the use of various selected federal agencies such as the IRS and FBI. Such names such as Jane Fonda, Bill Cosby and CBS newsman/reporter Daniel Schorr had the distinction of making the list.

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