John N. Mitchell: Difference between revisions

| education = [[Fordham University]] ([[BachelorSchool of ArtsLaw|BAFordham University]], ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])

| rank = [[Lieutenant (junior grade)|Lieutenant junior grade]]

After his tenure as U.S. Attorney General, he served as chairman of Nixon's 1972 presidential campaign. Due to multiple crimes he committed in the Watergate affair, Mitchell was sentenced to prison in 1977 and served 19 months. As Attorney General, he was noted for personifying the "[[Law and order (politics)|law-and-order]]" positions of the [[Nixon administration]], amid several high-profile [[anti-Vietnam War]] demonstrations; this generated irony when he became one of very few Cabinet members ever convicted of a crime.

Mitchell was born in Detroit to Margaret (McMahon) and Joseph C. Mitchell. He grew up in the New York City borough of [[Queens]].<ref>{{cite census | url = https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RCX-J3Q?i=7&cc=1810731 | title = United States Census 1930 | year = 1930 | location = Queens, New York | page = 4b | line = 51 | enumdist = 41-325 }}</ref><ref>{{cite census | url = https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89MB-SZGK?i=8&cc=2000219 | title = United States Census 1940 | year = 1940| location = Queens, New York | page = 5a | line = 28| enumdist = 41-1147a }}</ref> He attended [[Fordham University]] from 1932 to 1934, and earned his law degree from [[Fordham University School of Law]] in 1938.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Joint Committee On Printing, U.S. Congress |date=1971 |title=Department of Justice: Biography, John N. Mitchell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6SDjajvoxwIC&pg=PA500 |magazine=Odfficial Congressional Directory of the 92nd Congress |location=Washington, DC |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=500 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Mitchell carried out postgraduate study at [[St. John's University Law School]] in 1938 and 1939.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/ag/bio/mitchell-john-newton |title=John N. Mitchell biography |publisher=Department of Justice|access-date=January 21, 2017|date=October 24, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/10/obituaries/john-n-mitchell-dies-at-75-major-figure-in-watergate.html|title=John N. Mitchell Dies at 75; Major Figure in Watergate |newspaper=New York Times|date=November 10, 1988|access-date=January 21, 2017}}</ref> 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.

During [[World War II]], Mitchell served for three years in the [[United States Navy]] and attained the rank of [[lieutenant (junior grade)]] as a [[PT boat]] commander. Stories Mitchell told about his naval service were later debunked, including having received the [[Silver Star]] and [[Purple Heart]], served as [[John F. Kennedy]]'s commanding officer, and saved the life of [[Pappy Boyington]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Karl |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Karl |date=May 24, 2008 |title=Reconsidering John Mitchell |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121158799673718969 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |location=New York, NY}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Rosen |first=James |author-link=James Rosen (journalist) |date=2008 |title=The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHIGQTGemnAC&pg=PA15 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Doubleday Broadway Publishing |pages=15–16 |isbn=978-0-385-50864-3 |via=[[Google Books]] |ref={{sfnRef|Rosen}}}}</ref> Except for his period of military service, Mitchell practiced law in New York City from 1938 until 1969 with the firm of [[Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon|Rose, Guthrie, Alexander and Mitchell]] and earned a reputation as a successful [[municipal bond]] lawyer. Richard Nixon was a partner in the firm from 1963 to 1968.

Mitchell expressed a reluctance to involve the Justice Department in some [[civil rights]] issues. "The Department of Justice is a law enforcement agency," he told reporters. "It is not the place to carry on a program aimed at curing the ills of society." However, he also told activists, "You will be better advised to watch what we do, not what we say."{{sfn|Rosen|page=136}}<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/14/opinion/essay-watch-what-we-do.html|title=Watch What We Do|first=William|last=Safire|date=November 14, 1988|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=July 22, 2017|author-link=William Safire}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=91IFAYFhtOMC&pg=PA4|title=Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations|first=James H.|last=Billington|date=2010|publisher=Courier Corporation|location=Chelmsford, Massachusetts|isbn=9780486472881|access-date=July 22, 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=POhHuoGILNYC&pg=PA253|title=Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past|first=Bruce|last=Bartlett|date=January 8, 2008|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York City|isbn=9780230611382|access-date=July 22, 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNrMbvyHhrIC&pg=PA267|title=We Have No Leaders: African Americans in the Post-Civil Rights Era|first=Robert Charles|last=Smith|date=July 22, 1996|publisher=[[SUNY Press]]|location=New York City|isbn=9780791431351|access-date=July 22, 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHIGQTGemnAC&pg=PA136|title=The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate|first=James|last=Rosen|date=May 20, 2008|publisher=[[Knopf Doubleday]]|location=New York City|isbn=9780385525466|access-date=July 22, 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=whg05Z4Nwo0C&pg=PA4|title=The Oxford Dictionary of American Quotations|first1=Hugh|last1=Rawson|first2=Margaret|last2=Miner|date=2006|publisher=[[Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press USA]]|location=New York City|isbn=9780195168235|access-date=July 22, 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref>

School segregation had been struck down as unconstitutional by a unanimous Supreme Court decision in 1954 (''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''), but in 1955, the Court ruled that desegregation needed to be accomplished only with "[[all deliberate speed]]," <ref>Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U.S. 294 (1955)</ref> which many Southern states interpreted as an invitation to delay. It was not until 1969 that the Supreme Court renounced the "all deliberate speed" rule and declared that further delay in accomplishing desegregation was no longer permissible.<ref>See, e.g., Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education, 396 U.S. 19 (1969)</ref> As a result, some 70% of black children were still attending segregated schools in 1968 when Nixon became president.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121158799673718969|title=Reconsidering John Mitchell|first=Jonathan|last=Karl|date=May 24, 2008|access-date=July 22, 2017|work=[[Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref> By 1972, as a result of President Nixon's policy this percentage had decreased to 8%, a greater decrease than in any of the previous three presidents. Enrollment of black children in desegregated schools rose from 186,000 in 1969 to 3 million in 1970.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://humanevents.com/2008/05/09/reviewing-the-strong-man-john-mitchell-and-the-secrets-of-watergate/|title=Reviewing The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate|first=George|last=Marlin|date=May 9, 2008|work=[[Human Events]]|access-date=July 22, 2017|archive-date=August 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828094816/http://humanevents.com/2008/05/09/reviewing-the-strong-man-john-mitchell-and-the-secrets-of-watergate/|url-status=dead}}</ref>|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/05/a-surprise-but-not-a-success/302488/|title=A Surprise, but not a Success|first=Tamar|last=Jacoby|date=May 2002|work=[[Atlantic]]|access-date=May 2, 2023}}</ref>

In the days immediately after the Watergate break-in of June 17, 1972, Mitchell enlisted former FBI agent [[Steve King (ambassador)|Steve King]] to prevent his wife [[Martha Mitchell|Martha]] from learning about the break-in or contacting reporters. While she was on a phone call with journalist [[Helen Thomas]] about the break-in, King pulled the phone cord from the wall. Mrs. Mitchell was held against her will in a California hotel room and forcibly sedated by a psychiatrist after a physical struggle with five men that left her needing stitches.<ref>{{cite book|last=Reeves|first=Richard|title=President Nixon : alone in the White House|url=https://archive.org/details/presidentnixon00rich|url-access=registration|year=2002|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=0-7432-2719-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/presidentnixon00rich/page/511 511]|edition=1st Touchstone ed. 2002.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=McLendon|first=Winzola|title=Martha: The Life of Martha Mitchell| url=https://archive.org/details/marthalifeofmart00mcle| url-access=registration|year=1979|publisher=Random House |isbn=9780394411248}}</ref> Nixon aides, in an effort to discredit her, told the press that she had a "drinking problem".<ref>{{cite book|first=Keith|last=Olson|title=Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780700612512|url-access=registration|year=2003}}</ref> 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."

On January 1, 1975, Mitchell, who was represented by the criminal defense attorney [[William G. Hundley]], was found guilty of [[conspiracy (crime)|conspiracy]], [[obstruction of justice]], and [[perjury]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/10/obituaries/john-n-mitchell-dies-at-75-major-figure-in-watergate.html |title=John N. Mitchell Dies at 75; Major Figure in Watergate| work=[[The New York Times]] | date=November 10, 1988 | access-date=September 4, 2021}}</ref> Mitchell was sentenced on February 21 to two-and-a-half to eight years in prison for his role in the Watergate break-in and cover-up, which he dubbed the "[[White House horrors]]".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/02/22/archives/mitchell-haldeman-ehrlichman-are-sentenced-to-2-to-8-years-mardian.html |title=Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman are sentenced to 2½ to 8 years, Mardian to 10 months to 3 years| work=[[The New York Times]] | date=February 22, 1975 | access-date=September 4, 2021}}</ref> As a result of the conviction, Mitchell was disbarred from the practice of law in New York.<ref>See Mitchell v. Association of the Bar, 40 N.Y.2d 153, 351 N.E.2d 743, 386 N.Y.S.2d 95 (1976)</ref> The sentence was later reduced to one-to-four years by [[United States District Court]] Judge [[John J. Sirica]]. Mitchell served only 19 months of his sentence at [[Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery]] (in [[Maxwell Air Force Base]]) in Montgomery, Alabama, a minimum-security prison, before being released on parole for medical reasons.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/stories/mitchobit.htm |title=John N. Mitchell, Principal in Watergate, Dies at 75| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=December 4, 1997 | access-date=May 7, 2010}}</ref>

* Randolph portrayed Mitchell again, this time in a credited role, in "''[[Blind Ambition (miniseries)|Blind Ambition]]"''

* He was portrayed by [[John Carroll Lynch]] in the 2023 miniseries ''[[White House Plumbers (miniseries)|White House Plumbers]]''.

[[Category:PeopleAmerican people convicted of obstruction of justice]]

[[Category:RecipientsAmerican ofpeople theconvicted Silverof Starperjury]]

[[Category:United States Assistantattorneys Attorneys Generalgeneral]]