John Mitchell, in full John Newton Mitchell, (born Sept. 15, 1913, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—died Nov. 9, 1988, Washington, D.C.), U.S. attorney general during the Nixon administration who served 19 months in prison (1977–79) for his participation in the Watergate Scandal.
(67th Attorney General of the United States (1969-72)) John Newton Mitchell was the 67th Attorney General of the United States. He worked under President Richard Nixon. He became infamous for his involvement in the Watergate Scandal and is the only United States Attorney General to have served a prison sentence.
2 days ago · On January 21, 1969, John was appointed the 67th United States Attorney General, a position he served until 1972. In June 1972, journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke the reports of the...
In early 1972 Mitchell resigned as attorney general to become director of the Committee to Re-elect the President. It was the 1972 Nixon reelection …
Nov 10, 1988 · While still Attorney General in December 1971, Mr. Mitchell had approved the appointment of G. Gordon Liddy, then a White House ''plumber,'' as general counsel to Mr. Nixon's re-election committee.
Richard KleindienstPresidentRichard NixonPreceded byJohn MitchellSucceeded byElliot Richardson10th United States Deputy Attorney General21 more rows
Martha MitchellDiedMay 31, 1976 (aged 57) New York City, New York, U.S.EducationStephens College, Missouri University of Arkansas, Fayetteville University of Miami (BA)Known forWatergate scandal The Martha Mitchell effectSpouse(s)Clyde Jennings, Jr. ( m. 1946–1957) John N. Mitchell ( m. 1957–1973)3 more rows
Ehrlichman was a key figure in events leading to the Watergate break-in and the ensuing Watergate scandal, for which he was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury and served a year and a half in prison.
April 27, 1994Richard Nixon / Date of burial
Gaslit, a limited television series from Starz, tells the true story of Martha Mitchell (Roberts) and ex-US Attorney General John Mitchell (Penn), who at the time of the scandal was head of President Richard Nixon's re-election committee.Mar 16, 2022
Howard Hunt — CIA operative and leader of the White House Plumbers; convicted of burglary, conspiracy, and wiretapping; sentenced to 2½ to 8 years in prison; served 33 months in prison.
In October 1973, after Richardson had served 5 months as Attorney General, President Nixon ordered him to fire the top lawyer investigating the Watergate scandal, Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.
John Mitchell, in full John Newton Mitchell, (born Sept. 15, 1913, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—died Nov. 9, 1988, Washington, D.C.), U.S. attorney general during the Nixon administration who served 19 months in prison (1977–79) for his participation in the Watergate Scandal.
Appointed attorney general, Mitchell took office in January 1969 and remained there until March 1972, when he resigned to head Nixon’s reelection committee.
It was for his expertise in state and municipal bonds that Mitchell achieved fame while an attorney with a prominent New York law firm. He became acquainted with Richard M. Nixon early in 1967, when their respective law firms merged.
Mitchell began his career at Caldwell & Raymond, which specialized in municipal and state bond financing. As the United States joined the Second World War, he joined the US Navy, serving for three years as Lieutenant, Junior Grade, eventually commanding squadrons of torpedo boats. After the Second World War, he returned ...
Richard Nixon assumed the office of the President of the United States on January 20, 1969. Shortly thereafter, he appointed Mitchell as Attorney General of the United States. Mitchell took his office on 21 January 1969 and remained at the post till 1 March 1972.
On December 19, 1957, he married Martha Beall Jennings, with whom he had two children, Martha Elizabeth Mitchell and John Mitchell Jr. They divorced on May 31, 1976. The last years of his life were spent in the company of his longtime partner, Mary Gore Dean.
As Nixon was reelected in January 1973, it was agreed that it was best to let Mitchell take the full blame. Although he was not very willing, there was little he could do. His wife began ringing up various journalists to save him, putting the blame on Nixon; but was branded unstable.
John Newton Mitchell was the 67th Attorney General of the United States. He worked under President Richard Nixon. He became infamous for his involvement in the Watergate Scandal and is the only United States Attorney General to have served a prison sentence. Beginning his career in law at the age of 25, he eventually became a successful municipal ...
In December 1971, he appointed G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent, as White House undercover operative. Shortly, as Nixon’s popularity began to wane, he began to take a series of fateful measures, such as approving a budget of $50,000 for Liddy to take measures against prominent Democrats.
John N. Mitchell became Nixon’s campaign manager when Nixon stood for the presidential election in the 1969. After Nixon became President, he rewarded Mitchell with the post of US Attorney General. Three years later, Mitchell gave it up to head Nixon’s re-election committee and it was in this capacity that he sanctioned Watergate Complex break-in, ...
Mitchell was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up on Long Island in New York. He earned his law degree from Fordham University School of Law and was admitted to the New York bar in 1938. He served for three years as a naval officer ( Lieutenant, Junior Grade) during World War II where he was a PT boat commander.
Mitchell devised a type of revenue bond called a “moral obligation bond" while serving as bond counsel to New York’s Governor Nelson Rockefeller in the 1960s.
Mitchell is sworn in as Attorney General of the United States, January 22, 1969. Chief Justice Earl Warren administers the oath while President Richard Nixon looks on.
Around 5:00 PM on November 9, 1988, Mitchell collapsed from a heart attack on the sidewalk in front of 2812 N St., N.W., Georgetown, Washington, D.C.. That evening, he died at George Washington University Hospital.
William G. Hundley, one of Mitchell's lawyers, said, "John never really wanted to come to Washington, never really wanted be attorney general or head Nixon's {1968 presidential} campaign. He was content to be a successful bond lawyer in New York . . . . But he obviously had great loyalty, admiration and respect for Nixon.
In early 1972 Mitchell resigned as attorney general to become director of the Committee to Re-elect the President. It was the 1972 Nixon reelection campaign that led to Mitchell's disgrace, and the ultimate toppling, in August 1974, of the Nixon administration.
Although Mitchell, according to testimony, turned down that proposal, he eventually approved giving Liddy and his coconspirators $250,000 for another project: the break-in and bugging of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Office Building in Washington.
Mitchell's public downfall began in September 1972 when The Washington Post quoted sources involved in the Watergate investigation as saying that Mitchell, while attorney general, had "personally controlled a secret Republican fund used to gather information about the Democrats.".
Mitchell and Nixon Finance Committee Chairman Maurice H. Stans were indicted in May 1973 on federal charges of obstructing an investigation of Vesco after he made a $200,000 contribution to the Nixon campaign. In April 1974 both men were acquitted in a New York federal court.
The only defendant acquitted was Kenneth W. Parkinson, a Washington lawyer who had been hired by the reelection committee to represent it after the Watergate break-in. . Mitchell's death prompted a broad array of reaction. "I'm saddened.
Mitchell, however, was indicted, stood trial and was convicted along with three other defendants in the Watergate cover-up trial.
Mitchell, President Nixon's Attorney General who was jailed for his role in the Watergate scandals, died this evening at George Washington University Hospital after suffering a heart attack on a sidewalk in Georgetown. He was 75 years old.
He was 75 years old. Mr. Mitchell, the nation's only Attorney General to be imprisoned, was the last of 25 Watergate defendants to go to prison, serving 19 months for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and lying under oath. He left prison in 1979 and was disbarred. The scandal forced President Nixon to resign in 1974.
On July 1, Mr. Mitchell resigned from the re-election committee, citing the need to choose between his family and politics. He himself later acknowledged that his fear of a Nixon defeat led him to withhold information about the payment of secret campaign funds to the Watergate burglars.
Mitchell that it would report that he controlled the secret funds that had been paid Mr. Liddy before Watergate. It said he replied, ''Jeeeesus!'' and then warned that its publisher would be ''caught in a big fat wringer if that's published.''.
In one of the earliest of Martha Mitchell's famous interviews, in 1969, she said: ''As my husband has said many times some of the liberals in this country, he'd like to take them and change them for Russian Communists.'' .
Cool and tough to the end, he saw his marriage and his career destroyed, and went to prison for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury.
Mr. Mitchell took up very quickly with another future President, however, when his law firm merged with Mr. Nixon's on Jan. 1, 1967, to become Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander & Mitchell. Late that year, Mr. Nixon persuaded his new partner to become his campaign manager.
Martha Mitchell brought to [the Nixon Administration] a welcome touch of zaniness and genuine good humor. Seizing on a rare good thing, the press tended to exploit her. What originally had been innocent japes became media events. During the Watergate furor, her abortive TV career proved to be another and finally pitiable example of the capacity of the media to exploit and consume the vulnerable.
Nixon was later to tell interviewer David Frost in 1977 that Martha was a distraction to John Mitchell, such that no one was minding the store, and "If it hadn't been for Martha Mitchell, there'd have been no Watergate.".
Although their status as friends is debated, when Nixon was elected president in 1968, he appointed John Mitchell as his Attorney General. The position necessitated that the family move to Washington DC, and their home in the "fashionable" Watergate complex, at the time, was estimated to be worth US$140,000. Mitchell first came to national attention after she remarked to a television reporter that Washington DC peace demonstrations held in November 1969 reminded her husband of a Russian revolution. The statement, widely viewed as indiscreet, increased her notoriety and coverage in the media. She had the custom of having an evening drink, and then calling reporters with political gossip or information she had gleaned while rifling through her husband's papers or eavesdropping on his conversations. During this time, Mitchell's renown as an outspoken socialite grew, and she made regular appearances on talk shows and variety shows, such as Laugh-In. By the following year, in November 1970, a Gallup poll indicated that 76 percent of Americans recognized who she was, and she made the cover of Time in an issue about the most influential women of Washington. Her reputation for frank and uncensored talk, generally in support of Republican issues, led to her being nicknamed "Martha the Mouth" or "The Mouth of the South".
Early education and family life. Martha Elizabeth Beall Jennings Mitchell was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on September 2, 1918. She grew up the only child of cotton broker George V. Beall and drama teacher Arie Beall ( née Ferguson). Living in a rural area, Mitchell's friends lived far away, and she recalled in a Saturday Evening Post interview ...
They enrolled their daughter in Stone Ridge Country Day School in Bethesda, Maryland, despite not being Roman Catholics, because of Mitchell's belief that "the Roman Catholic schools are about the only ones that have discipline.".
Three years after her death, Washington newswoman and Mitchell-collaborator Winzola McLendon released a book called Martha. The birthplace and childhood home of Martha Beall Mitchell, now the Martha Beall Mitchell Home and Museum, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in January 1978.
A week before the 1972 burglary of the DNC headquarters in the Watergate office building, the Mitchells had traveled to Newport Beach, California to attend a series of fundraising events. While there, John received a phone call about the incident and immediately held a press conference denying any CRP involvement.