Man at centre of Watergate scandal dies

RON ZIEGLER, the press secretary who famously called the Watergate break-in a third-rate burglary and was the voice of the Nixon administration during the biggest political scandal in American history, has died of a heart attack. He was 63.

Ziegler died on Monday at his home in Coronado, a suburb of San Diego, his wife, Nancy, said.

Ziegler spoke for the White House on such historic events as the opening of relations with China and the Vietnam war, but his name is most commonly associated with the Watergate scandal.