WWII ace, Watergate figure dies

MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota businessman Kenneth Dahlberg, a World War II ace and an inadvertent figure in the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon’s presidency, has died at age 94, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Dahlberg died Tuesday at his Deephaven home of natural causes.

Even though Dahlberg did not commit any wrongdoing, he was swept into the Watergate scandal as Midwest finance chairman of Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign.

Dahlberg became linked to the scandal after a check he delivered to the Nixon campaign turned up in a Watergate burglar’s bank account. The contribution was legal, and a grand jury cleared Dahlberg.

“He never did anything wrong, and he knew that. So he never minded talking about it (Watergate),” said Warren Mack, an attorney and family friend who wrote Dahlberg’s biography.

Dahlberg also was a World War II flying ace who was shot down three times behind enemy lines, escaped twice and was a prisoner of war in Munich for the last few months of the war. He founded Miracle Ear Hearing Aid Co. and spearheaded other business ventures.