Abby Connolly
There are many stories of public figures who had downfalls, and the infamous Martha Mitchell was no exception.
You may have learned about her life in school while studying the Watergate scandal, or perhaps you’ve caught an episode of the recent limited series Gaslit where Julia Roberts portrays Martha.
If you don’t know much about Martha Mitchell, the woman whose world was turned upside down after Watergate, here is a rundown of her story.
Martha Mitchell was the wife of John Mitchell, who was President Richard Nixon’s attorney general in the early 1970s. John eventually stepped down from attorney general to run Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign, the Committee for the Re-election of the President (CRP).
Although she had no official political authority, Martha was one of the most popular figures in American politics during that time. Martha was outspoken and charming and loved expressing her honest opinions in a good interview. She had the hottest political gossip in Washington, D.C., and she made sure everyone knew that.
Martha had a reputation for sitting around with an evening cocktail and calling up various reporters to let them in on some juicy political secrets.
However, Martha’s love of talk and gossip suddenly led to her downfall after the famous Watergate break-in.
The night news of the burglary at Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate building in Washington, D.C broke, Martha and John were attending a Republican fundraising event.
The CRP security director, James McCord, was one of the five men arrested in the Watergate burglary. Martha and John personally knew James McCord because when John stepped down as attorney general and lost protection from the Secret Service, he hired John to be Martha’s bodyguard.
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