There once was a woman who instilled fear in the hearts of the most powerful men in D.C. from the president on down and her name was Martha Mitchell. Those who were not familiar with the “Mouth of the South,” may have gotten some terrific insight as to who the woman was via Julia Roberts’ portrayal of her in Starz Gaslight. However, Netflix went deeper and premiered The Martha Mitchell Effect documentary on Friday, June 17, which also happens to be the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in. The title of the short is derived from a phrase coined by a psychologist and is synonymous with gaslighting – treating someone, who sees things perfectly clearly, like they’re the crazy ones. In other words, you can’t trust your lying eyes.
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Arguably one of the most memorable characters from the Watergate-era, Martha Mitchell was not a politician, but the wife of one - President Nixon’s former U.S. Attorney General-turned-Nixon re-election campaign chairman, John Mitchell. History would record that Martha Mitchell fearlessly told the truth despite powerful men having tried to shut her up, including her own husband.
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Martha Mitchell was an Effervescent Media Darling
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Described as stylish, charming and the life of the party, Mitchell was more in demand for magazine covers and talk show appearances than first lady Pat Nixon. The outspoken Arkansas native was a steady fixture on DC local news stations back in the day, who developed a proclivity for telephoning reporters on a whim and made frequent appearances on talk shows and television programs to vehemently sound the alarm on the dirty dealings within the Nixon administration. And for this, she was drugged, muzzled, held prisoner at an inn in Newport Beach, Calif., labeled as an unhinged alcoholic who didn’t know what she was talking about, and faced extreme gaslighting, all with the blessings of her husband.
Not long after the Watergate scandal, John and Martha separated. One day, after claims of her husband walking out on her and leaving her with only $945, Martha called Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, inviting him to have a look at her estranged husband’s office. Concerned about entering a man’s private office, Woodward first consulted the Post’s famed attorney, Edward Bennett Williams. When Woodward and Bernstein arrived, Mitchell greeted them with martini in hand and soon pointed down a long hallway leading towards John Mitchell’s office.
She then ordered in Chinese food. Woodward remembered thinking Martha was an angry wife, but a reliable one. The two renowned reporters spent four hours in the apartment combing through boxes, binders, and bank folders before leaving with some scoop-worthy information that landed on the front page of the Washington Post in June 1974. The Post story about Elmer Bobst writing a letter to then-U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell, promising that a friend would donate $100, 000 to Nixon’s campaign in return for help on a case pending before the Federal Trade Commission caught the attention of John Mitchell’s attorney, Bill Hunley. Angry and figuring out that Martha was behind the news report, Hunley told Woodward he knew that [expletive] gave the papers to him.
“Have at it, boys. Please nail him. I hope you get the bast*rd.”
John Mitchell served 19 months in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal. James McCord, one of the five men arrested for the Watergate break-in, would confirm that the White House tried to discredit the beleaguered whistleblower because “they were extremely jealous of her popularity and feared her because she was very candid.”
