-Sam Ervin
Not only was he the chairman of the Senate Watergate committee, but he is also the cousin of one of this site's webmasters. Which puts us two and three degrees from Nixon, respectively, which we think is pretty damn cool.
Of course, the other webmaster is Richard Nixon's 5th cousin 3 times removed, which is nothing to sneeze at.
We recently read "Quotations from Chairman Sam; the wit and wisdom of Senator Sam Ervin ", and found the Watergate chapter to be far too brief. We were also disappointed in his frequent arguments that tobacco use is good for you and doesn't cause lung cancer at all, but then, he is from North Carolina.
His major regret in the Watergate case was that Congress did not do more to restrict the president's executive privelege.