the Subject
Martha Beale Mitchell was born on September 2, 1918, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She lived in a large, Victorian house with her wealthy parents. Outgoing and vivacious, she was a popular girl with many friends. She was well known for her "gift of gab". When she graduated from Pine Bluff High school in 1938, she wrote in her yearbook:

"I love its gentle warble
I love its gentle flow
I love to wind my tongue up
And I love to let it go."

She attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. Like many women during World War II, she went to work, but she was an old-fashioned Southern Belle who believed that women should work only in times of dire need.

The Mitchells were a popular Washington couple who were always entertaining or being entertained. Martha was the picture of Southern femininity in her ruffled dresses, bows, big hair, and hats. John Mitchell adored his wife and was amused by her love of gossip. When he was chosen by Richard Nixon to run his 1968 presidential campaign, Mitchell warned Nixon that Martha was vociferous and had a tendency to over-dramatize, but Nixon told him not to worry about it. After the election, John Mitchell became Nixon's attorney general, and Martha became a national figure, with her quick wit and flamboyant sense of style.

Things began to fall apart for Martha when the Watergate scandal exploded in October, 1972. The Washington Post reported that her husband, John, had authorized $250,000 to pay for bail and to hush up the Watergate burglars. Martha was apoplectic, believing the White house was using her husband as a scapegoat to protect Richard Nixon. Martha called Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two young reporters at the Post, to make her case that John was nothing but a puppet being manipulated by Nixon. Then she began to call other reporters, sometimes in the middle of the night. John Mitchell knew of his wife's actions, and at first defended her, accusing the press of exploiting a naïve Southern girl. Soon Nixon was on his case, however,
and John reportedly went so far as to lock Martha in a closet to keep her from phoning the press.

White House tapes reveal that Nixon, while angry at Martha, didn't feel there was much he could do to control her. The White House did, however, leak information on Martha's alleged drinking problem. A strain had been put on the Mitchell marriage, and by 1973, John Mitchell had had it with his unstable wife. He walked out of their Washington apartment, refusing to speak to Martha except through his lawyer. The breakup was exceedingly bitter; when Mitchell was sentenced for his Watergate crimes in February 1975, he said, "It could have been worse. They could have sentenced me to spend the rest of my life with Martha Mitchell."