Slow Burn (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Episode #1.1 - full transcript

Okay.

I'm gonna tell you a story
you probably haven't heard,

a subplot of a story
you might think you know.

The story I'm talking about
is Watergate,

the two-bit burglary gone wrong

and the series
of extraordinary events

that led to the undoingof an American president,

Richard Nixon.

- Out of Washington, D.C. is
the talk of the capitol today.

Five men were arrested
early Saturday

while trying to install
eavesdropping equipment



at the Democratic
National Committee.

- You see, a lot of people
went down in history

because of that burglary
in 1972,

many of them
the President's men.

But there's one significant
woman who was somehow

left out of the script.

- Martha, welcome.

It's so good to haveyou with us.

- The party's just beginning.
- That's right.

- Her name was
Martha Mitchell.

She was a fearless
and charismatic woman

who at that time was
a prominent presence

on the political scene.

- Bill, how are you?



- Martha's husband
was John Mitchell.

He was Nixon's presidential
campaign manager

and a former Attorney General
of the United States.

- I was more involved
than just being

the Attorney General's wife.

- Martha was not your typical
cabinet wife for the era.

She was a glamorous
and outspoken Southern belle

who had a reputation for
talking a little too much.

And in June of 1972,

on the weekend
of the Watergate break-in,

Martha found herself across
the country in California

in an unthinkable situation.

Afterwards, she had quite
the tale to tell

and no one to believe it.

- Some of these things
sound so incredible

and yet the things
you've said before...

- The whole thing
is incredible.

- Have come true.

- It's like reading
a James Bond novel.

You can't believe it.

I can't believe
what's happened to me.

- What led her there?

What did Martha know,
and when did she know it?

And why did no one listen
when she tried to ring

the alarm on Watergate,

long before anyone else
would be so bold?

- Oh, David, you've opened up
a kettle of worms.

To go through that
is utterly impossible.

Itit dates back
from the beginning.

- But you get a lot of

- Don't get me shot tonight,
David, please.

I'd like to live
another 24 hours.

- I have a hunch that
by looking closer

at Martha's story,

we can glean
a better understanding

of the whole Watergate affair,

because what we know
about the scandal

involving Nixon and his men
is only part of the story.

The rest is filled
with surprises

and the cast
of unsuspecting participants

just like Martha.

- It is my constitutional
responsibility

to defend this great office

against false charges.

- What was it like
to live through Watergate,

without knowing
how it was all going to end?

- ...is causing this nation
to neglect matters

of far greater importance.

- One way to find out
is to look at that moment

of American history...
- Over.

- As seen through the eyes
of the people who lived it

back when they had
no idea it was coming.

- If we learn the important
lessons of Watergate,

we can emerge
from this experience

a better and
a stronger nation.

I'm Leon Neyfakh.

This is "Slow Burn."

- My special guest today
is certainly one of the most

unusual women Washington
has ever met.

President Nixon
admires her spunk,

and her husband calls her
his unguided missile.

Please welcome the wife

of the United States
Attorney General,

Mrs. John Mitchell
Mrs. Martha Mitchell,

here today.

- Imagine it's 1971

and this is the way you've
come to know Martha Mitchell.

- These are hand-made.

- Way before
the Watergate scandal

rocked the country,
Martha was a household name.

- And when you're called on
in 15 minutes

to be at the White House
or something like that,

you have to be able to

- A constant fixture
on talk shows,

she became known in Washington
as the Mouth of the South.

- This is all teased
in the front.

- To understand how this
singular woman's story

came to intersect
so decisively

with President Nixon's,

there's no better place
to start

than the town she came from.

Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

- Pine Bluff literallyand I
can tell you without a doubt

this was the greatest place
to grow up as a kid.

We knew everybody because we
all went to Pine Bluff High,

which was the high school
in Pine Bluff.

So in the South,

everything revolves
around football,

and I was captain of what
we called the Zebra Girls,

and we're just like
the little pom squad.

Z-E-B-R-A-S!

Zebras, Zebras
are the best!

Let's go, Z's!
All right!

And Thursday night
of homecoming,

we have a big bonfire.

Thatthat night I actually had
my cheerleader uniform on

and then when it was time
to announce the queen,

umoh, my gosh.

I mean, this just makes me
want to tear up, I swear.

Ittheythey said,

"And your 1982
homecoming queen is,"

and then they did a drum roll,

and they said, "Mandy Abbott!"

And I literally jumped up
out of my seat.

My mouth is like thi

they have a picture
and it's in the yearbook.

My mouth is as big
as it could be.

I screamed.
I could not believe it.

I'm Mandy Abbott Ware.

I am a true Southern belle.

- Wait a second.
Where was this story going?

- Okay,
so my dad is Bob Abbott.

He's pretty much
a man about town.

He's a mover and shaker,
that's for sure.

- I'm Bob Abbott
and I own Abbott Enterprise.

- And we own
the Martha Mitchell House.

- Oh, that's right.
Martha Mitchell.

- This is the
Martha Mitchell home.

It was built
by her grandfather.

I have been the caretaker
of this house

for the last 40 years,

and I have the responsibility

to make sure
it doesn't disappear.

- Bob Abbott bought
the Martha Mitchell House

in 1975,
just a year before she died.

- Martha was special.

During her funeral,

every major newsperson
everABC, NBC

they even had people from
from England

writing a story about it.

And I knew that from that day
that this old house

was a historical house
after that

because if she hadn't
have been historical,

they wouldn't have
showed up here.

Martha Mitchell was born up
there in the bedroom

right up over us.

Across the hall upstairs,

we have Martha's bedroom
when she was a teenager.

This painting that's hanging
on the wall here

was commissioned
for the inaugural ball.

You can look at that and she's
a Southern belle, isn't she?

No, she's
a Southern lady there.

- So a Southern belle would
definitely be very demure.

We have a genuine
graciousness to us

and, um, just want to make
people feel at home

or part of the family.

It's usually uh, a little bit
upper middle class

to, you know,
uppermiddle class.

- When Martha was young,

the most famous version
of a Southern belle

was a character in one
of the most popular movies

of the time,
"Gone With the Wind."

The character's name
was Scarlett O'Hara,

and in addition to her beauty,

she was known
for her willfulness

and her departure
from social norms

for women of her era.

Scarlett was bold
and uncompromising.

Martha Mitchell would grow up
to become the real thing.

- I have to say today I've had
a lot of people calling

and talking about
the Martha Mitchell house

andand they also talk about
what's happening inin D.C.,

and some
of the ladies will say,

"I wish she was around now.

I'll bet you she'd
give them her tongue."

And, uh, they just seem
to think that

that Martha saved the world
at one time

and they need somebody like her
up there again.

- In 1946, Martha married a
salesman named Clyde Jennings,

and the couple moved
to an apartment

in New York City.

A friend picked up on hints
of unhappiness in her marriage

and set her up on a blind date

with a successful Wall Street
lawyer named John Mitchell.

- John Mitchell,
he was a prince of a guy.

Always had a pipe.

Kinda easy-going,

but Martha was a character.

She was very talkative.

- John and Martha
started seeing more

and more of each other,

spending evenings sharing
Chinese food in the Village.

Soon Martha left
her first husband

and officially became
Martha Mitchell.

- John Mitchell
was a decent man.

He was an investment bond
lawyer up there in New York

and probably was minding
his own business and never

never intended to get involved
with politics.

- There's one thing
for certain about New York.

There's only one
direction to go,

and that's up.

- In 1967, Mitchell's law firm
merged with that

of another very successful
young lawyer,

a man named Richard Nixon.

- The two grew fond
of each other.

Mitchell advised Nixon

regarding his
political aspirations,

and in the run-up
to the 1968 election,

Mitchell helped
spearhead Nixon's

first successful
presidential campaign.

- All right,
thank you very much.

- Nixon eked out
a slim victory

that election year
against Hubert Humphrey,

just enough to install him

in the highest office
in the country.

In 1969,

Nixon thanked
his friend Mitchell

by offering him an extremely
high-profile job.

- And I will
bear truth, faith,

and allegiance to the same.

- Attorney General
of the United States.

And Martha was right there
next to him.

While John Mitchell
busied himself

with the affairs
of the president,

his wife found ways
to amuse herself.

- What's your life like
in Washington?

- It's just so different,

that one cannot tell you,

because even when I tell my
own friends what life is like,

and they look
at my long schedule,

they don't believe me.

- Of course, a political life
isn't like a normal person

that can do and say
what they please.

- Right.
- But I do say what I please.

- Yeah.

I've been called everything
in this town, girl.

It don't make any difference.

- Martha's transition from
small town Southern belle

to media-savvy D.C. socialite
was remarkably smooth.

Over the course of Nixon's
first term as President,

she became
a bona fide celebrity.

- Over time she gradually
developed this persona

of this public figure
an image of herself, um,

as flamboyant.

She liked the attention.

- How are my boyfriends?

- Has he confided
anything in you?

- Well, I understand that
that rumor was started

because somebody made
a telephone call

and said it was
Martha Mitchell.

- Martha Mitchell
liked to talk,

and she particularly liked
to talk to reporters,

and she particularly liked to
talk to reporters between about

like, 1:00 a.m.
and 3:00 a.m.

- Oh, ladies and gentlemen!

- To tell them all the gossip
that she heard

and just share her opinions
more broadly,

which was really unusual

for cabinet members' wives
in the era.

- Please excuse me.

- Martha's late night calls
were legendary,

and a red rotary telephone
became an iconic symbol

associated with her.

- If you don't call me,
I will call you.

- But you're a woman whose
husband is, uh,

powerful in the country.

I mean, has anybody
ever tried to stop you

from talking out loud?

You know, 'cause see,
I'm sure youyou realize

that could be dangerous
for a political party.

A wife speaking out.

I mean, that's always
been like, ugh.

I would think they
would try to say,

"Uh, gee, Mrs. Mitchell,

maybe you shouldn't
make those statements."

But nobody ever does?
- Oh, heavens, no.

They laugh at me.

- Iis this the partyto whom I am speaking?

- Yes, this is Martha Mitchell.

- Tell me, Mrs. Mitchell,

do you have any time at allleft over for hobbies?

- Yes, I like to read
the funny papers.

- The funny papers.

Wwhich onesare your favorites?

- The "New York Times"
and the "Washington Post."

- Oh, Mrs. Mitchell,you know its gems like that

that make me understandwhy they call

Washington, D.C."Martha's Vineyard."

Hhello?Hello?

- With her fondness
for gossip

and her cozy relationship
to the press,

Martha walked the line of
getting on Nixon's bad side.

On one occasion,

he told his chief
of staff in a meeting,

"We have to turn off Martha."

One might wonder why a man
as powerful as the president

would be bothered by
the day-to-day musings

of a cabinet member's wife,

but Martha was not
merely a talker.

She also listened closely

to her husband's
conversations,

to his meetings with staff,

to late night phone calls
between their apartment

and the White House.

But here we should take a step
back from Martha for a moment.

To understand how she
got herself mixed up

in this in the first place,

it helps to know a little bit
about how her husband's boss

conducted himself in office,

because whatever concerns

Nixon may have expressed
about Martha,

it could have
only been heightened

by a major obsession of his...

Leaks.

- An FBI report that
leaked out yesterday said

- To find the sources
of unauthorized leaks

to newsmen
- Expressed some unhappiness

over the leaks on the talks
in Washington.

- There are leaks to the press

because somebody wants
to show off.

They have more power
than they do

or that they actually
have the power.

There are leaks to get back
at someone.

Vengeance leaks.

There are all kinds of reasons
that people leak.

- Nixon hated leaks.

He hated when
classified information

and even just
private information

from the White House

would make it out
into the newspapers.

- I think it is time
in this country

to quit making national heroes
out of those

who steal secrets and publish
them in the newspapers.

- And if you're Richard Nixon
gearing up for re-election,

trying to fix those leaks,
who do you call?

- In 1971,

this so-called plumbers unit
is created.

The head of the unit was
a guy named Howard Hunt,

a former CIA operative
who also wrote spy novels.

One of the people he hired
was G. Gordon Liddy,

by far and away
the most zealous,

over-the-top enthusiast.

He was former FBI.

Bud Krogh who had been active
in Nixon's drug policy.

There was David Young,
who was a Kissinger aide.

There was a whole kind
of cluster

of these shady figures,

some with some
government experience

or police experience.

The plumbers' job,
as the name suggests,

was to plug the leaks.

- All of it was done
behind closed doors.

It could only be effective

if you didn't know
what was going on.

- They would do
almost anything

on the president's behalf,

because to stop leaks
in the White House

is like trying to stop
Niagara Falls

with a squeegee.

- With his team
of plumbers occupied,

Nixon focused on winning
a second term

in the White House.

He quietly set up
campaign offices

one block up
Pennsylvania Avenue,

a stone's throw
from the White House,

and in 1972,
he officially formed

the Committee
to Re-Elect the President.

- Committee for
the Re-Election the President.

May I help you?

- Which critics referred
to by the acronym "CREEP."

- The Committee to Re-Elect
was unlike

any political campaign
I had been in

before or after.

My name is Roger Stone.

In 1972,

I was the youngest member

of the Committee
to Re-Elect the President.

Ran like a corporate
headquarters.

Burnt orange carpets,

ring tone phones,

no posters on the wall,

no campaign paraphernalia
anywhere in sight.

It really ran like
a button-down

IBM-type corporation.

- The committee was initially
headed by a Nixon aide

named Jeb Magruder,

though it was generally
agreed upon

that he was just keeping the
chair warm for John Mitchell.

- Jeb Magruder,

I remember I was impressed
at how highly-polished

his shoes were and how
letter-perfect he looked.

He looked like a Ken doll.

- In addition to high-level
operatives like Magruder

and fresh new political
workers like Stone,

somehow many of the former
plumbers made their way

on to the CREEP staff.

One of these was
a man named James McCord,

a former CIA officer with zero
prior experience in politics.

- Jim McCord was
the director of security.

He sat at a desk right near
the front door,

uh, and I knew him to say
good morning to,

and I hadhad to go him
to get my photo ID

to get into the office
after hours.

I thought he was kind of
a spooky character,

to tell you the truth.

- But first, the Attorney
General on the campaign...

- Confirming
the public speculation,

John Mitchell eventually
resigned his role

as Attorney General to head up
Nixon's re-election campaign.

- This had been expected.

Mitchell said
that he could most benefit

the American people by helping

to keep Mr. Nixon
in the White House.

- Together with the band
of former plumbers

and the president himself,

Mitchell strategized
about how to keep Nixon

in the Oval Office
for a second term.

Martha, on the other hand,

looked at it
a little differently.

- Martha didn't like this move
from being Attorney General

because she regarded that
as a demotion

and she decided that if her
husband was gonna be head

of the Committee to Re-Elect
the President,

that she herself
was also going to work.

And so she campaigned
for Richard Nixon very hard.

- She was very politically
conservative,

and although she didn't agree
with Nixon on everything,

she believed that he was
the right man for the country.

- Hello, everybody.

Isn't this a great,great day?

I'm having so much fun.

- While the Committee
to Re-Elect the President

was the official engine
of Nixon's campaign...

There remained
an undeniable connection

between its offices and
staffers at the White House.

- My office at the start
of the president's

re-election campaign
was doing a lot of the work.

My name is John Dean.

I was White House Counsel,

otherwise known as
Counsel of the President.

The campaign wasn't
really our job,

but, uh, we found ourself
just taking on

these responsibilities
so they got done.

- Bill, how are you?

- At this point, Mitchell
was still Attorney General.

- Committee for the
Re-Election of the President.

- And the Committee
to Re-Elect

was just getting its bearings.

- And the re-election
committee

didn't have aa lawyer,

so Bud Krogh said,
"Do you know Gordon Liddy?"

I said, "No, I don't.
I don't know him at all."

He said, "Well,
he's a former FBI agent,

"he's a good lawyer,

and Erlichman thinks he, uh,
would be ideal over there."

- Ehrlichman was one
of Nixon's closest advisors

and at his suggestion,

CREEP hired Gordon Liddy,
one of the Plumbers,

as general counsel
for the campaign.

- One day my secretary said,

"Gordon Liddy wants to see you
in his office right away."

I thought that was strange,

so I knocked on the door.

He said, "Come in."

I walked in.
He said, "Shut the door."

I shut the door.
He was looking down at a paper.

He looked up to me and he said,

"Get a fucking haircut.

"You represent the President
of the United States.

Now get the hell out of here."

Then he looked back down.

There was this tremendous
desire among Nixon's people

to show how tough you were.

This was meant
to impress the boss.

- As the committee
soon found out,

there was a lot
to Liddy's background

that was left out
of the introduction.

- I realize today that they
were trying to get Liddy

out of the White House.

They think he's a loser,
he's trouble,

he's a loose cannon,

so they pawn him off on myself
and John Mitchell.

I had been told to tell him
that one of his assignments

would be to gather
political intelligence,

that Mitchell clearly
wanted that to be part

of the general counsel's
responsibility.

The problem is nobody
had any idea that Liddy

would flip that upside down.

Jeb Magruder,

the number two man
at the re-election committee,

calls me and said,

"Liddy has developed his
intelligence gathering plans

"for the campaign,

"and he wants to present them
to Mitchell.

"Would you attend?

Because I just think you
should be there."

At this meeting,
Liddy has charts

on an easel
that I later learned

he had had the CIA prepare.

And he uses a series
of gemstones as the keys.

There's crystal,
there's ruby,

there are all these
different plans.

It's craziness, though.

He says to Mitchell,

"General, what we're going
to do to deal

"with the anti-war
demonstrators

"is we're gonna kidnap
their leaders

and drug them and take them
below the border..."

"And keep them out
of commission

during the campaign."

And Mitchell kind of puffs
on his pipe and says,

"Well, Gordon, II don't
know if that's necessary."

He had other things like
he was going to intercept

ground-to-air communications

of the president's
opponent's airplane

by having a chase plane.

He went on and on with these
different plans...

And I was dumbfounded.

At one point I look over
at Mitchell, uh,

who's puffing his pipe
and he kinda winks at me.

Like, he's just hearing
this out.

He doesn't wanna cause
a ruckus over it

and throw Liddy
out the window,

which is what
he should have done.

I kept my mouth shut
for a long time

until Liddy finally said,

"We also have a plan, General,

to crack the inner circles
of the Democratic party."

- Will the 36th
annual convention

of the Democratic Party
please come to order?

- Liddy says, uh,

"Down in Miami near
the convention center

"we are leasing a house boat
that'll be on a canal

"and it's got
a two-way mirror on it,

"and we will record the
Democratic Party officials

who we'll lure to these house
boats with hookers."

"We will get them to confess up
some of the inner secrets

of the Democratic Party."

And at that point I said,
"Gordon,"

I said, "You gotta be kidding."

And he shoots daggers
in his looks at me

when I interrupt
his presentation

and he turns to Mitchell
and he says,

"General, I want to assure you,

"these are the finest girls
from Baltimore.

They're very competent."

But when Liddy says, uh,
that he can do all this

for a million dollars,
Mitchell very clearly says,

"Gordon, that's far more money
than wewe're gonna spend

"on something like this.

"Why don't you go back
to the drawing board

for something more realistic?

- John Mitchell seems
to think that while some

of Liddy's stuff is either
too expensive

or too ridiculous,

um, that other elements
are perfectly fine.

- And so what I said is, uh,

"The things you all
are discussing

"should never be discussed
in the office

of the Attorney General."

I just thought it was insane

and was giving everybody
a way to end this thing,

and II didn't know
if that would end it

or what would end it.

- Dean's warnings
didn't seem to stick,

and Liddy did not get
kicked out of the office.

With orders to trim
his budget,

he got to work,

and Mitchell turned
his attention

to another aspect of
campaign life: the parties.

It was here
in Southern California

where the fate
of the Mitchells

would ultimately unravel.

Richard Nixon was
a California native

and throughout the years,

he would return
to his home state

in search of support
for his political campaigns.

- In June of 1972,

my husband and I hosted
a Hollywood Nixon soirée.

My name is Caryl Carothers,
Mrs. A.J. Carothers.

In the '70s we were living
in Brentwood

and also in Pacific Palisades.

We did have a lovely large
circle of friends.

A lot of them were
in show business,

were in film and television.

Mary Ann Mobley
and Gary Collins

were very dear friends
of ours

and, uh, they wanted
to host a fundraiser

for the Republican Party.

So they asked if they
could use our house,

because we had a larger house

and we lived on
the Palisades Cliffs

overlooking the ocean,
so it was a nice setting,

and so Iwe said,
"Sure, of course."

- During the '72 campaign,

the Committee to Re-Elect
the President

went west many times

and the glamorous Hollywood
soirée was a common event.

These parties were held
at lavish beachfront homes

like Caryl's,

and they were meant
to attract donors

as well as high-society
interest,

to get a sense
of what it felt like

to be immersed in Nixon-land
in the summer of 1972.

- It was a light-hearted
affair.

A very nice gathering.

It was a lovely day
and full of glamorous people.

Some politicians
who were there as well.

Statesmen, I should say.

John and Martha Mitchell
were the main attraction.

There was a lot
of press outside

in the front of the house
and they were all waiting

for John and Martha Mitchell
to come.

- She loved
the campaign trail,

and she was a big draw
by this time.

They knew that
if they invited Martha,

the event would be sold out,
packed to the gills

if she was gonna be there

because she was such
a media sensation.

- You're really in demand,
aren't you?

- Well, I don't knowabout that.

- But do you likedo you like
show business or politics?

- Well, they're very similar.

- Now, I don't know

- Martha loved celebrities,

and there were plenty of them.

Here we see Charlton Heston,
Clint Eastwood,

and John Wayne.

- One of The Monkees
was there,

and it was Micky Dolenz,

and that was kind of exciting
for the boys.

- The one that stands out
the most

was one of The Monkees.

I was eight years old
in 1972.

One of the things that
I remember most clearly

about that day
was walking around the house

and in particular walking
around in the front yard,

because the party
was going on in the back,

so my brothers
and I were kinda

hanging around
in the front yard,

and at one point we found
grown men in suits

hiding in the bushes.

We found out later that they
were Secret Service men,

but at the time,

we didn't even know what
a Secret Service man was,

so it was confusing
and surprising

andand we thought
it was hysterical,

so my brothers
and I kept going up to them.

You know, right up to them
and saying, "Hi.

What are you doing here?
Why are you in the bushes?"

- It was no wonder
the Secret Service

was swarming the place.

First Lady Patricia Nixon,

someone who always held Martha
at a cool distance,

was also in attendance.

- There was two such totally
different women.

Martha was up and vivacious
and very celebrity conscious,

and I think Patricia
was always uncomfortable

in that circumstance.

Patricia was very low-key
andand not flashy at all

and I think she thought
that Martha was sort of

aa flighty kind of person.

So I don't think that they
were close friends.

- But aside from the tension

between the two
political wives,

the party was a great success,

bringing in thousands
of dollars

for the Nixon campaign.

At the same time,

there were hints of other
pressing business in the air.

- There were some Secret
Service men who came in

looking rather, uh,
agitated and said,

could they useuse a phone
someplace that was private?

And so they went upstairs
to my office.

And I heard someone talking
to Jeb Magruder.

Then Mary Ann told me
very quietly

there had been a break-in,

and that's what they were
concerned about,

but she said,
"Don't tell anybody,"

so of course I didn't.

- There was a break-in at the
Democratic Party headquarters.

Everybody thought
it was nothing more

than just a local
Washington, D.C. B&E,

as they called it
breaking and entering.

I'm Lesley Stahl,
correspondent at "60 Minutes."

When it happened,

CBS thought they
should send someone

because it was the Democratic
Party headquarters.

Uh, so they sent the new kid.

They didn't think this
was important at all.

I didn't have a camera.

I was just sent to cover

the arraignment
of the burglars.

So I walked in
with very little hope

that I was gonna have
a real story.

According to police,

five men were caught
with bugging equipment

inside the Democratic National
Committee Headquarters

at the Watergate.

- While trying to install
eavesdropping equipment

- The burglars broke thorough
a fire escape door

- By the time the first news
of the burglary

was trickling in over
the airwaves,

John Mitchell would
have been fully aware

of the situation,

and in looking at images
of that day,

you begin to see them
in a new light.

What was going on
behind the scenes,

and how concerned was
Mitchell in this moment?

- At one point,
uh, during the afternoon,

John Mitchell walked out
to the edge of our property

which overlooked the ocean
and down, uh,

to the Pacific Coast Highway
down the cliffs.

There was not a fence

and he was awfully close
to the edge,

and so I just pulled him back
and said,

"I think you should step back
a little bit."

And he just said,
"Thank you very much,"

and commented on what
a pretty view it was

and, uh,
then went back inside,

but I know what he was thinking
as he looked out,

uh, over that vast, uh, ocean
to what was gonna come next.

- When John Mitchell
learns about this,

he is very eager to get
on a flight

back to Washington, D.C.
to handle things,

but he can't show that this
bothers him at all,

because he's not even supposed
to know about this burglary.

- And he didn't say a word
about any of this to Martha.

Because the last thing
that he wants

is to have his very nosy,
very gossipy wife,

Martha Mitchell,
sniffing around.

So he decides to keep Martha
back in California.

- Martha, unaware of
the trouble back in D.C.,

was looking forward
to spending the weekend

unwinding by the pool.

By the next morning,

the Mitchells had arrived
at their usual vacation spot.

- Further south toward
Newport Beach,

there are six lovely miles
of sun-warmed sand

for those who care.

And who doesn't?

- Newport Beach is one hour
south of Los Angeles.

A modern hotel
has long since replaced

the Newporter Inn,

which operated on these
grounds in 1972.

Back then, the Newporter Inn
was a favorite

of the Mitchell family
and it was a comfortable place

for John to leave Martha
while he went back east.

- John just told her
that he needed to go back

to Washington
but that everything was fine

and she could stay
on the west coast

and enjoy the sun
and the beach

and not worry about anything
going on back in Washington.

- John Mitchell quietly
got his staff together

and flew back to D.C.

- They left me in California.

And I knew something was wrong,

but I didn't know exactly
what it was.

- The first day, John Mitchell
kinda keeps her busy

with pool parties

and meeting with people,
things like that.

But then he has to kinda
just make sure

that she's in lockdown.

- Most of the offices
have been checked

for electronic bugs,
and none has been found.

- This Democratic National
Committee break-in

is going to be a story.

It's going to be a story
in "The New York Times"

and "The Washington Post"
and "The Los Angeles Times."

- One of the suspects,
James McCord,

operates his own security
company in Washington...

- And he knows
that if she hears

about the Watergate break-in,
the jig is up,

because one of the burglars
is a man named James McCord.

- This is a police photograph
of James W. McCord.

He is one of five persons
surprised and arrested

yesterday inside the...

- James McCord was somebody
who Martha Mitchell knew

because he had worked
as kind of a bodyguard

for John Mitchell,
and he was somebody

who had been driving her kids
back and forth to school.

So Martha Mitchell knew
that he was somebody

connected to John Mitchell

and the Committee
to Re-Elect the President,

and so she would know

that he was connected
to the administration

and that the administration
was involved.

- Well, thank you very much.

- So he's got to keep her
away from the television,

away from the radio,
away from the newspapers.

- McCord is
a former CIA employee.

- It cleans and shines.

- So he has
some of his people,

including a bodyguard
named Steve King,

keep her huddled away
in a room.

- But the quarantine
did not last long.

Despite King's best efforts,

within the first days
after the break-in

Martha got her hands
on a copy of "The L.A. Times."

- She sees
James McCord's picture,

and predictably flips out.

- I call it
the shock treatment.

I didn't know
anything was going on.

Why did they let me
go all this time

without knowing about
the break-in at Watergate?

Why did they
leave me out here?

Why did they suggest
that I stay in California?

- In the article, Martha's
husband was quoted saying

that McCord
wasn't really a member

of the Committee to Re-Elect
the President.

- Former Attorney General
John Mitchell

said McCord and the others
were neither acting

on behalf of
the campaign committee,

nor with its consent.

- All McCord
had done for CREEP,

according to
Mitchell's statement,

was help install
their security system

months before the burglary.

- Mitchell said he was
surprised and dismayed

at the reports.

- Martha knew that
her husband was lying,

but she didn't know why.

- And so she does what
Martha Mitchell does best.

She sneaks away,
finds a telephone,

and she calls Helen Thomas,

who covers the White House
for UPI.

- She was in California
and she sounded unhappy,

and she sounded, I thought,
low and a bit lonely.

- John Mitchell and
Richard Nixon's worst fears

were about to come true.

The Mouth of the South
herself, Martha Mitchell,

knew that something
was going on,

and she was going
to talk about it.

- And I've never
talked to her yet

but what I haven't
gotten a good news story,

and the Democratic
headquarters

alleged bugging incident
had broken out,

and that was
my immediate question.

"Well, what do you think
about that?"

And this really set her off.

- She doesn't say,

"Listen, I've got
the dirt on James McCord."

That would have made
all of this a lot easier.

Instead what she says
is that her husband

needs to get out

of the Committee
to Re-Elect the President,

that she will leave him
if he doesn't leave politics.

- And she said, "I've given
John an ultimatum,"

and pretty soon, I mean,
we're into a conversation.

- And at this point, maybe she
would have spilled the beans,

but according to Helen Thomas,
the thing that happened next

is that she hears
Martha yelling

that somebody is taking
the phone away from her.

And then the line goes dead.

- And that was the beginning
of my behind held a prisoner.

I am up calling Helen Thomas,

and this bodyguard rushes in

and jerked out the telephone.

- Mitchell then tries
to escape,

and in the kind of
wrestling back and forth

with the bodyguard,
Steve King,

she somehow puts her hand
through a plate glass door.

There's blood everywhere.
It's an absolute mess.

They also call in
a psychiatrist.

She recalls being
held down on the bed

while someone injects her

with some kind of
psychotropic drug.

- Meanwhile,
back in Washington,

Helen Thomas had heard enough
to know something was up.

- I heard her saying,
"Get away, get away,"

and I didn't know
what was happening,

and then there was
a phone disconnect.

She was just
launching into something,

and it was very clear

that somebody didn't
want her to talk.

So then I tried very hard

to get in touch
with John Mitchell

and finally
got him on the phone,

and he was not too perturbed,

and he said,
"I love that little girl."

And he said,
"There, there,

I've promised her that I am
going to leave politics.

So it seemed that everything
was going to be all right.

- But everything was not
going to be all right.

In fact, things were
about to get very ugly.

After getting
her hand stitched up

at a local hospital,

Martha flew back east,

but she remained
furious at her husband

and deeply shaken
by her experience.

- No, no, no, no,
when I got back to New York...

- Well, how did you
- I had both arms in bandages.

- Was it the bodyguard,
Steve King,

who did that to you?
- Right.

- And how could he dare
to do that to the wife

of the former Attorney General
and now head of CREEP?

- And why could they keep me

in one room for so long,
David?

- I don't know.

- Because I was the greatest
challenge they had.

I can answer your question.

- Earlier this week in one
of her celebrated phone calls,

Martha Mitchell threatened
to leave her husband, John,

unless he quit politics.

She also claimed
she had been manhandled

by security agents working
for President Nixon's

re-election committee.

- Martha started to blow
the whistle on Watergate.

- Hey, get off
of my !

- And the Republicans
began to portray her as crazy

so that we wouldn't
believe her.

- The Nixon Administration
was putting out the line,

a line that was put forward
by John Mitchell, her husband,

as well saying, "Poor Martha,
she's just gone a little crazy.

"Poor Martha, she had to go
to a mental institution.

"Poor Martha,
she's an alcoholic.

She needs to go dry out."

- These White House rumors
are persistent.

"Martha Mitchell's crazy.

"Martha Mitchell's
an alcoholic.

Martha Mitchell's this,
Martha Mitchell that."

- And putting out
those stories,

especially in a time
when women

weren't taken that seriously,

it was a pretty easy way
to discredit her,

by saying that she was
hysterical,

and that's exactly what
the Nixon Administration did.

- You did say, Mrs. Mitchell

- Some people feelthat perhaps Martha

is imbibing a bit or maybeshe's a little bit high

when she makessome of these calls.

What do you think?

- You brought up the rumor
that is going around

that Martha Mitchell
drinks a lot.

- Yes.
- Do you do that?

- I drink as much as
anybody else does.

- You said, "Barbara,
a lot of people say

that I drink,
that I'm an alcoholic."

- This is the normal thing

that the White House
has put out about people

they want to discourage
and get rid of.

- The White House
tried to have you

- I can document it
and I have.

- Do you drink, Martha?

Do you drink when you make
those phone calls?

- I amwhen I make
phone calls?

- Phone calls.

- To be fair,
Martha did like to drink.

Johnnie Walker Black
on the rocks to be precise.

And she took pills.

She lived
an indulgent lifestyle

that to an outsider
could very well appear to be,

well, crazy.

- And if you think about it,
her story sounds insane.

- Martha, are you still
in control of yourself,

of your mind?

- Well, I feel I am.

- Like, nobody held you hostage

and threw you through
a plate glass door

and then held you down
and injected you with drugs.

- Is it possible that
you are a paranoid person?

- I mean, this sounds crazy.

- Let me ask you
the obvious question.

- What is obvious?
- Are you crazy?

- Yeah.

- So maybe she was crazy.

The question is,
does that mean she was wrong?

- Even I fell under
the sway of this campaign

to make her seem
like she was nuts.

- The smear campaign worked.

Over the next few months,

the story of the break-in
would drift away,

but the unflattering
portrayals of Martha

would linger.

As she had requested,
John resigned from CREEP.

- The former Attorney General
said he was quitting

in order to be able
to devote more time

to his wife and family.

- And the Eastern, Midwestern
and Southern states

indicate that if this...

- And in November, Nixon
would win re-election handily.

- President Nixon will be
re-elected in a landslide,

and it may, may surpass
the record popular vote...

- Despite his resignation,

the scrutiny of John Mitchell

and his role in
the Watergate affair remained.

And over the course
of the following year,

things would get worse
for the Mitchells.

- When did you first hear
of bugging plans?

- On June 17th.

- Were discussions of bugging
ever held in your presence

with G. Gordon Liddy
Jeb Stuart Magruder?

- No such operations
were ever approved by me

at any time
under any circumstances.

- Mr. Mitchell

- Mr. Mitchell
has become the fall guy.

- You say
- Don't you agree with me?

- By the spring of 1973,

Martha began to fully
defend her husband

against the gathering storm
of Watergate.

- And you can place
all the blame

right on the White House,

and if you've got
any sense at all,

you'll go out and find out
where it is.

- What do you mean,"on the White House"?

- What do I mean,
"on the White House"?

- The blameon the White House.

- Well, where do you think
all this originated?

Do you think my husband's
that stupid?

And whom do you think
he's been protecting?

Whom?
- I have no idea. Who?

- The president and I
have never discussed

the Watergate aspects
and those details

except in so far as they
affected the campaign.

- Why not?

- Excuse me,
ladies and gentlemen.

- Why not, Mr. Mitchell?

- The noose was tightening
around John Mitchell.

- So you boys go out
and get some information.

That's what I'm asking you.
- Mrs. Mitchell

- Go out and get
some information.

- And Martha Mitchell was kind
of the canary in the coalmine.

She kept telling us,

"This is gonna unravel.
Something awful is happening."

- Isn't it horrible,
isn't it unbelievable

that John and I,
we go to Washington

and tried to do something
good for our country,

and what do we end up?

Isn't it horrible?

I'll tell 'em.
I'll tell 'em all.

And you know what
they're gonna do,

they'll probably
end up killing me,

but II depend on you,
the press, to protect me.

- Your wife has said or
at least been quoted as saying

she felt her life
was even in jeopardy.

- Well, I don't know
who quoted her as saying it,

but she looks pretty good time

and I think she's
in pretty good shape.

- Did she in fact say that?

- Behind the scenes,

a bitter divide was forming
in the Mitchell household.

Even has Martha
proclaimed John's innocence,

their marriage was
rapidly disintegrating.

- The man is not
John Mitchell that I knew,

not anywhere near
the man I knew.

He's another person.

Just a few months ago
he was still telling me

I was the most wonderful
woman on the Earth.

You just don't change
overnight like that

unless something happens.

- After her experience
in California,

Martha had made
one request of her husband.

It came down to
a question of loyalty.

He had to choose between her

and his old friend,
Richard Nixon.

Ultimately,
John chose the latter.

- The strain of the past
few weeks has been obvious.

He's a very angry man.

- Come on, fellas.
We gotta get to the plane.

- As far as John Mitchell's
concerned,

he's dead, absolutely dead.

He doesn't exist.

- Well, you know,you're separated now

and planning to get divorced,are you, at some point?

Will you ever marry again,do you think?

- No.

No, no.

- Why not?

- Well, I've lost my trust
in human nature.

- You've lost your trustin human nature

because you've seentoo much what?

- Because I have loved a man

to the hilt

and then all of a sudden

everything turns out
to be lies.

How could you take it?

How can you trust anybody?

How can you believe in anybody?

It's impossible.

- Here on more details
in the news,

and here is Lew Wood.
Good morning.

- Good morning, Barbara,
thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

As you have learned,
Martha Mitchell,

who was known for
her outspoken comments

at the time of Watergate

died this morning
in a New York hospital.

She had been under treatment

for some months
for bone cancer...

- Martha died in 1976,

estranged from her husband
and ravaged by bone cancer.

- Martha passed away
in a big New York hospital

all by herself and alone.

If she had been around here,

I'm certain without a doubt
she wouldn't have been alone.

So I guess that's
the price you pay

when you leave home, isn't it?

If she was around now,

no telling
what would be going on.

- After her funeral,

Pine Bluff erected
a bust in her honor.

On the bust's
granite pedestal,

there is an inscription.

"Ye shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free."

- She kept telling us,

"This is big.

The whole structure of our
system's gonna unravel."

She was a major figure.

Doesn't get enough credit
for her bravery.

- Psychologists talk
about a phenomenon

in which someone gets
diagnosed as delusional

'cause they're saying things
that seem totally crazy

and implausible,

but then it turns out
they're not crazy at all.

What they're saying is true.

They call that phenomenon
the Martha Mitchell Effect.

In the aftermath
of the break-in,

Martha was not
the only one raising hell

over crazy,
implausible things,

and as we will come to see,

there were plenty of those
to go around.

Wads of foreign currency in
the hands of CIA operatives.

- President Nixon
has pulled down

an iron curtain of secrecy.

- Death threats wielded
in Capitol Hill elevators.

- He's proved himself
to be a gutless coward.

- Recording devices
hidden in the Oval Office.

- That is cancer
be removed immediately.

- Anybody who'd be
in politics right now

would do the same thing
as Nixon is doing.

Impeach Nixon now!

Impeach Nixon now!

- It would all
unfold on television

in the living rooms
of millions of Americans,

who, like Richard Nixon,

had no idea how any of it
would turn out.

The story keeps
getting stranger,

and we're just
getting started.

- I actually realized
what had happened,