The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate (80 page)

8. J. Robert Mitchell, interview, February 26, 1998.

9. Mitchell-Reed, interview, May 5, 1992.

10. J. Robert Mitchell, interview, February 9, 1998. Jill Mitchell-Reed claimed McMahon was somehow involved in Tammany Hall, but no authoritative accounts of the corrupt political machine that ruled New York City in the 1860s and 1870s mention his name, and her uncle Robert dismissed the notion as “hot air.”

11. Mitchell-Reed, interview, May 5, 1992; and J. Robert Mitchell, interview, August 8, 1998.

12. Ann Mitchell, “A Personal View of the Attorney General of the United States John N. Mitchell,” [undated; c. 1970]. The only known attempt at a Mitchell family history, this informal essay was written by Robert’s daughter, Ann, as a school project; although it contains some inaccuracies, it is still a valuable source of information on the Mitchells’ lineage and on the attorney general’s early life. Ann died in 1986; see letter to the author from Joseph C. Mitchell, August 25, 1994.

13. J. Robert Mitchell, interview, February 9, 1998.

14. Ibid. Though Joseph and Margaret Mitchell’s date of marriage is lost to history, the conventions of the era make it likely they wed before conceiving their first child, Joseph Charles (“Scranton”). Robert recalls Scranton was five years older than himself, and born on the Fourth of July; this places Scranton’s birth date as July 4, 1909. Thus Joseph and Margaret likely wed sometime in 1908.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid., February 26, 1998.

17. Ibid., February 9, 1998.

18. This photograph appeared on the front page of the
Long Island Advance
on July 19, 1973. Though no credit was given, the photograph was probably taken by a member of the neighboring Slechta family, which contributed two other contemporaneous photographs to the same edition.

19. Ibid.

20. Mitchell, “A Personal View” Robert B. Martin, “Att’y. Gen. John Mitchell Lived in Brookhaven Tn.,”
Long Island Advance
, July 19, 1973.

21. J. Robert Mitchell, interview, February 26, 1998.

22. Fawn M. Brodie,
Richard Nixon: The Shaping of His Character
(Harvard University Press, 1983), p. 45 (brutal); Delfiner and Rudy, “The John Mitchell Story” (drive).

23. Daily Calendar of the President’s Engagements, Saturday, February 11, 1928, in Papers of Irwin H. Hoover, chief usher at the White House, Library of Congress.

24. Malcolm Wilson, interview with author, May 12, 1993.

25. A partial transcript of Mitchell’s appearance on
The Dick Cavett Show
on September 10, 1970, along with Klein, HEW secretary Robert Finch, and Leonard Garment, appears in John J. Makay and William R. Brown, eds.,
The Rhetorical Dialogue: Contemporary Concepts and Cases
(Wm. C. Brown, 1972), pp. 37–57.

26. CI, May 21, 1988.

27. Jill Mitchell-Reed, interview with author, November 22, 2003.

28. Susie Morrison, interview with author, January 16, 1992.

29. Letter to Bette Shine “M.D.” from [John Mitchell], “Sunday” [post-marked August 12, 1937]; JMRC. Mitchell joked his letter would be “more damaging than a written proposal of marriage to a chorus girl.”

30. Thomas W. Evans, “A History of the Firm,”
Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon: Alumni Directory 1994
, p. 33. One account of Mitchell’s law career placed this moment after his graduation from law school, but before his admission to the bar. Yet Mitchell once said he was “the youngest lawyer in the firm” at the time, suggesting he had both graduated
and
been admitted to the bar; see Lyle Denniston, “He’s No ‘Gang-Buster’ Type,”
Washington Evening Star
, December 31, 1968, and James B. Stewart Jr., with Joan Kenyon, “Bond Counsel: New Race for the Riches,”
The American Lawyer
, November 1979.

31. Paul R. Lusignan, “Public Housing in the United States, 1933–1949,”
Cultural Resource Management
25, 1 (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2002).

32. Stewart and Kenyon, “Bond Counsel.” Elsewhere, Mitchell recalled the judge dismissing the program as “a New Deal dan-fangled idea” see Denniston, “He’s No ‘Gang-Buster.’”

33. Gilbert Hahn,
Notebook of an Amateur Politician: And How He Began the D.C. Subway
(Lexington Press, 2002), pp. 43–44 (passion); Mitchell-Reed, interview, May 5, 1992; J. Robert Mitchell, interview, February 26, 1998.

34. George J. Marlin and Joe Mysak,
The Guidebook to Municipal Bonds: The History, The Industry, The Mechanics
(American Banker/Bond Buyer, 1991), pp. 22–25 (sour); William A. Madison, interview with author, June 6, 1993.

35. Francis Maloney, interview with author, June 22, 1993.

36. Stewart and Kenyon, “Bond Counsel” Evans, “A History” Denniston, “He’s No ‘Gang-Buster’” Milton Viorst, “‘The Justice Department Is an Institution for Law Enforcement, Not Social Improvement,’”
New York Times Magazine
, August 10, 1969. Evans erroneously reported that Mitchell made partner in 1940.

37. Mitchell-Reed, interview, May 5, 1992; Clyde Jay Jennings, interview with author, August 1, 2002.

38. Denniston, “He’s No ‘Gang-Buster’” MACT 252; Brenton Harries, interview with author, November 3, 1994; Robert Shogan,
A Question of Judgment: The Fortas Case and the Struggle for the Supreme Court
(Bobbs-Merrill, 1972), pp. 16–17 (archangels).

MORAL OBLIGATIONS

1. Helen Dudar, “Man in the News: John Mitchell Indicted,”
New York Post
, May 12, 1973.

2. Moore later served, from August 1989 to September 1992, as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland.

3. Richard Reeves, “Nixon’s Men Are Smart but No Swingers,”
New York Times Magazine,
September 29, 1968; Don Bertrand, “Two County Men May Be in Nixon Cabinet,”
New York Daily News,
November 17, 1968; Milton Viorst, “‘The Justice Department Is an Institution for Law Enforcement, Not Social Improvement,’”
New York Times Magazine,
August 10, 1969. See also the family history written by Mitchell’s niece; Dan Rather and Gary Paul Gates,
The Palace Guard
(Warner Books, 1975), p. 250; and Theodore H. White,
Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon
(Dell, 1975), p. 115.

4. Letter to the author from Alyce N. Guthrie, April 18, 1995. Another account claimed Kennedy reported to Mitchell “during training,” but Kennedy’s training long preceded Mitchell’s; see Evans, “A History of the Firm.”

5. William Safire, “Watch What We Do,”
New York Times
, November 14, 1988.

6. Author’s transcript of
The Robert K. Dornan Show
, [aired] October 17, 1971, UCLA Film and Television Archive (combat role); CI [Hunt], January 16, 1991; E. Howard Hunt, interview with author, January 26, 2003.

7. Log Book[s] of the USS PT 536, 5 June 1944–30 September 1944 (in Mitchell’s hand); 1 October 1944–31 December 1944 (Mitchell’s hand); 1 January 1945–31 May 1945 (in Mitchell’s hand until April 18); Log Book[s] of the USS PT 541, 1 April 1945–31 July 1945; 1 August 1945–4 December 1945; Memorandum from Commander Clark W. Faulkner to Commander in Chief, United States FLEET, May 10, 1945, Subj.: War Diary—June 1944 to December 1944 (Inclusive)-Forwarding of; Office of Naval Records and Library; and Memorandum from Commander Clark W. Faulkner to Commander in Chief, UNITED STATES Fleet, July 2, 1945, Subj.: War Diary—Month of June 1945–Forwarding of; Office of Naval Records and Library, National Archives.

8. Letter to the author from Russell Addeo, September 27, 1994; Russell Addeo, interview with author, January 10, 1995; John Bonham, interview with author, September 6, 1995; Thomas Wardell, interview with author, September 6, 1995; Adam Mancino, interview with author, September 10, 1995; John Duersteler, interview with author, July 19, 2003; Emery Lewis, interview with author, July 19, 2003; E. C. “Duke” House Jr., “Ron 37 PT Boaters Harvey and Mitchell,”
The PT Boater
53, 1 (Spring 1998); Barry C. Weaver, ed.,
Awards and Casualties of the United States PT Boat Service in World War II
(Orders and Medals Society of America, 2000), which contained no entries for Mitchell; and the Guthrie letter, April 18, 1995, which stated flatly: “Mitchell did not receive any medal or award for PT service.”

9. Madison interview.

10. MACT, 252.

11. Letter to Glen Moore from Francis X. Maloney [cc’d to the author], April 27, 1999 (peer); Joe Alex Morris,
Nelson Rockefeller: A Biography
, (Harper, 1960), pp. 284–88; Peter Collier and David Horowitz,
The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty
(Holt, Rinehart, 1976), pp. 270–73.

12. Cary Reich,
The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller: Worlds to Conquer 1908–1958
(Doubleday, 1996), pp. 534–36, 833.

13. Ibid; WCHC (earnings).

14. The $2 million figure first appeared in Stewart and Kenyon, “Bond Counsel.” It was repeated in David Harrop,
Paychecks: Who Makes What?
(Harper, 1980), p. 119.

15. Ashman and Engelmayer, p. 32; Morrison interview; Ken and Peggy Ebbitt, interview with author, October 11, 1993; Mitchell-Reed, interview, November 22, 2003; McLendon,
Martha
, p. 60; Rod Nordland, ed.,
The Watergate File
(Flash Books, 1973), p. 16 (amicable). The final agreement also required Mitchell to maintain a six-figure insurance policy with Bette as its beneficiary. Immediately after the divorce, Mitchell paid $25,000 in alimony, a figure that grew the following year to $53,000. By 1972, Mitchell had paid at least $386,542 to his ex-wife; see
Elizabeth S. Suyker v. John N. Mitchell
, New York State Supreme Court (Nassau County), [filed] April 12, 1967, WCHC.

16. Outside of the Watergate scandals, the question of how and when the Mitchells met occasioned more dispute than any other area of Mitchell’s life. Profiling Martha at the height of her fame, the
New York Times
placed the date in 1957, but switched it, after her death, to 1954; see Nan Robertson, “Martha Mitchell: Capital’s Most Talked-About,”
New York Times
, May 1, 1970, and John T. McQuiston, “Martha Mitchell, 57, Dies of Bone-Marrow Cancer,”
New York Times
, June 1, 1976.
Newsweek
reported the couple met “at a dinner party” during Martha’s separation from her first husband, which lasted from May 18, 1956, when Clyde Jennings moved out of his and Martha’s Stuyvesant Town apartment, to August 1, 1957, when a court in Dade County, Florida, granted their divorce; see “Washington’s Own Martha,”
Newsweek
, November 30, 1970; McLendon,
Martha
, p. 59; Agreement between Clyde Jennings Jr. and Martha B. Jennings, July 1, 1956; and Final Decree of Divorce and Custody,
Martha Beall Jennings v. Clyde Jennings, Jr.
, Circuit Court, 11th Judicial Circuit, Dade County, August 1, 1957.

Martha’s authorized biographer claimed a mutual friend, a television executive, arranged a blind date by telling Martha, who was still married, that his pal Mitchell was “terribly unhappy and needs some cheering up.” The TV man and his mistress supposedly accompanied John and Martha on their first date, at a French restaurant in Greenwich Village in 1956 (that same night, after spiriting Martha to his Park Avenue pied-à-terre for a nightcap, Mitchell reportedly told Martha he would marry her, adding, “Your problems are my problems”); McLendon,
Martha
, p. 57. Martha’s other biographers asserted, without elaboration, only that she met Mitchell “at a party in 1957” see Ashman and Engelmayer,
Martha
, p. 32.

Jill Mitchell-Reed thought it was not a mutual friend, but her father’s Wall Street chum, Roald Morton, who introduced him to Martha; see Mitchell-Reed, interview, February 23, 1992. Another intimate of Mitchell’s thought he met Martha when hiring her as his legal secretary, while two others independently recalled her being an airline stewardess Mitchell met on the road; see J. Robert Mitchell, interview, February 26, 1998 (secretary); and Marv Segal, interview with author, October 23, 1997, and Jerris Leonard, interview with author, October 14, 1999 (stewardess). Law partner Bill Madison was adamant that Mitchell “picked [Martha] up” when his commercial flight, bound for Memphis in “1953 or ’54,” was diverted to Little Rock; see Madison interview (asked to name Mitchell’s greatest mistake in life, Madison replied: “Taking that plane to Memphis that landed in Little Rock”). Martha’s cousin, Ray West, recalled meeting Mitchell for the first time in early May 1956, prior to the date Martha’s first husband vacated their apartment; see McLendon,
Martha
, p. 57.

Martha herself told
Time
in 1969, “I first met John in New York about 15 years ago,” leading the magazine to conclude, erroneously, that the two “met on a weekend in New York in the early ’50s and were married several months later” see “The Warbler of Watergate,”
Time
, December 5, 1969. The most reliable fact on the subject is the Mitchells’ verified date of marriage: December 19, 1957. That this came only eleven days after Mitchell’s divorce from Bette suggests strongly that his affair with Martha commenced while he was still married to his first wife.

17. McLendon,
Martha
, pp. 24–54; Ashman and Engelmayer, pp. 32–33; Clyde J. Jennings Jr., interview with author, July 23, 2002.

18. Brenton Harries interview.

19. Winzola McLendon, “The Amazing Martha Mitchell,”
Look
, July 28, 1970; Louis M. Kohlmeier, “A Velvet Glove,”
Wall Street Journal
, August 5, 1970; Sheila Moran, “Mitchell: Recluse on Central Park South,”
New York Post
, February 19, 1974; Thomas W. Evans, interview with author, April 23, 1992.

20. Robert H. Connery and Gerald Benjamin,
Rockefeller of New York: Executive Power in the Statehouse
(Cornell University Press, 1979), pp. 259–60.

21. MACT, 253–54; Delfiner and Rudy, “The John Mitchell Story.”

22. Ibid., 254, 299. Mitchell himself disliked the term “moral obligation.” “I don’t know whether that accurately describes it,” he said in 1975. “I think it could be described more as a legislative appropriation aspect of the obligation.” See also Gerald Benjamin and T. Norman Hurd, eds.,
Rockefeller in Retrospect: The Governor’s New York Legacy
(Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, 1984), p. 86. Also providing the state’s backing was the approval of the bond offering by the state comptroller, as mandated under the law that created HFA.