Slow Burn – Watergate | 1. Martha (Slate Podcasts)

Release Date: November 28, 2017
Host: Leon Neyfak

Episode Overview

Theme/Purpose:
The inaugural episode of Slow Burn’s first season revisits Watergate through the lens of Martha Mitchell—an outspoken, flamboyant, and ultimately tragic figure overshadowed by her proximity to the scandal. Leon Neyfak investigates how Martha, once a Washington celebrity, was marginalized and discredited when she tried to blow the whistle on the Nixon administration’s crimes, and how her story embodies the tension, secrecy, and confusion of Watergate as it unfolded.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing Martha Mitchell (00:31–04:00)

• Who was Martha Mitchell?
  • Wife of John Mitchell (Nixon’s former Attorney General and head of the Committee to Re-Elect the President, aka CREEP).
  • Notorious for her southern charm, flamboyant personality, and tendency to gossip with journalists.
  • “She was glamorous and outspoken … A high energy southern belle from Arkansas … The most talked about, talkative woman in Washington.” – [Leon Neyfak, 02:14]
  • Nicknamed “the Mouth of the South.”
• Not a Typical Political Spouse:
  • Routinely eavesdropped on her husband’s dealings.
  • Directly called senators’ wives, meddled in politics, and became a constant headache for the Nixon administration.
  • “We have to turn off Martha.” – Richard Nixon, quoted by Leon Neyfak [03:16]

2. The Watergate Break-In and Martha’s Ordeal (04:00–11:30)

• Immediate Fallout After the Break-In:
  • Five burglars, including James McCord (former CIA and Martha’s daughter’s driver), were caught at DNC headquarters.
  • “She was kept against her will in a California hotel for days. Then she was forcibly tranquilized while being held down in her bed.” – [Leon Neyfak, 01:37]
  • John Mitchell leaves Martha in California, instructs bodyguard Steve King to keep her isolated from news of the break-in.
• Martha's Attempt to Warn the Press:
  • Upon learning McCord's role, Martha desperately tries to reach her husband and, failing that, calls trusted journalist Helen Thomas.
  • She is physically restrained and forcibly sedated after making contact—a move Martha later described on David Frost’s BBC show:
    • “That was the beginning of my being held a prisoner.” – [Martha Mitchell, 01:22]
• Cover-up and Smear Campaign:
  • Martha publicly recounts being held and silenced; the Nixon White House works to portray her as hysterical and alcoholic.
  • “They said she was crazy. And to be fair, she must have seemed crazy. But it turned out that she was onto something. Something very big.” – [Leon Neyfak, 01:54]
  • “Martha Mitchell today identified the bodyguard she said tore a telephone out of her wall, threw her to the floor, and kicked her.” – [Archive audio, 11:17]

3. Personal Cost and Marginalization (11:30–15:00)

• John & Martha’s Downfall:
  • John resigns to “spend more time with his family,” but their relationship collapses.
  • Martha becomes ostracized, depicted as unstable, and falls out of public favor even as she continues to try and expose the conspiracy.
  • “While there were newspaper stories about Martha's confinement, they mostly ran in the so called women's pages.” – [Leon Neyfak, 11:59]
  • The couple separates; Martha destroyst John’s portrait in their apartment as her defiance culminates.
• Unheeded Whistleblower:
  • Despite early warnings and attempts to stop her husband, Martha is never taken seriously in real time.
  • “She told her biographer about the last conversation she had with her husband before the fallout from the break in took over their lives. ‘Those were the last decent words we ever had together,’ she said.” – [Leon Neyfak, 20:54]

4. Forgotten Players & Historical Amnesia (15:00–19:45)

• How Stories Fade:
  • Neyfak notes Martha’s marginalization is part of a larger phenomenon: major scandals create a “cast of dozens,” many of whom drop from public memory.
  • Modern parallel drawn to Anthony Scaramucci—like Martha, a media fixation, now largely forgotten.
  • “If historians 45 years from now want to understand the Trump administration, they could do a lot worse than taking a long, hard look at the Scaramucci era, brief as it was.” – [Leon Neyfak, 14:35]
  • The Watergate era was both thrilling and chaotic, with public addicted to daily news updates.
• The ‘Watergate Junkies’ Experience:
  • “There are Watergate junkies all over the place, people who just … It's become such an important part of people's lives.” – [Dick Cavett, 19:13]

5. Enduring Lessons and the Martha Mitchell Effect (19:45–22:08)

• Martha’s Legacy and Nixon’s Blame:
  • Martha dies in 1976; her hometown honors her, yet popular history forgets her role.
  • “At her funeral, somebody held up an arrangement of white chrysanthemums spelling out the words ‘Martha was right.’” – [Leon Neyfak, 20:41]
  • Nixon blames Martha in a 1977 interview:
    • “If it hadn’t been for Martha … it would have been no Watergate.” – [Richard Nixon, 21:17]
• Martha Mitchell Effect:
  • Psychological term for when someone’s true but implausible-sounding claims are dismissed as delusional—named in her honor.

6. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I played into their hands beautifully, because when I got back, instead of going out and seeing people, I stayed in the apartment. And all the while, these White House rumors are persisting: ‘Martha Mitchell’s crazy. Martha Mitchell’s an alcoholic.’ … And it added to the beautiful little story.” – Martha Mitchell, [12:44]
• “She was a kind of a dippy saint, a dizzy yet right on the target woman to whom freedom and honesty meant more than protocol and appropriate behavior.” – Local letter-writer, [20:28]
• “If we were living through the next Watergate, would we know it?” – Leon Neyfak, [18:24]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:31 – 04:00: Martha Mitchell’s personality and public image
• 04:00 – 11:30: The Watergate break-in, Martha’s confinement and forced sedation
• 11:30 – 15:00: Attempted whistleblowing, personal marginalization, and John & Martha’s collapse
• 15:00 – 19:45: Martha’s erasure from history, Watergate as lived experience, parallels to modern scandals
• 19:45 – 22:08: Martha’s vindication and legacy, Nixon’s blame, introduction of “Martha Mitchell Effect”
• 22:08 – 23:02: Psychological legacy and closing thoughts

Tone and Style

• The episode blends journalistic rigor with a sharp, almost cinematic narrative style, mixing humor, pathos, and vivid sketches of character.
• Audio archive and personal interviews add immediacy and authenticity to Martha’s experience and public perception.

Summary

The first episode of Slow Burn’s Watergate season re-centers Martha Mitchell as a cautionary tale about power, gender, and the cost of speaking inconvenient truths. Once a press darling, she was locked away, sedated, and discredited by those closest to power—all while warning of the crimes unfolding around her. While her attempts to reveal the conspiracy did little to stop it in real time, her story resonates with both the personal trauma of whistleblowers and the historical ease with which bold voices are forgotten.

Notable Ending Reflection

• “Most people have forgotten about Martha Mitchell by now, but there is one context in which her name still comes up... Psychologists talk about a phenomenon in which someone gets diagnosed as delusional or paranoid because they're saying things that seem totally crazy ... but then it turns out that they're not crazy after all, and that what they're saying is true. They call that phenomenon the Martha Mitchell Effect.” – [Leon Neyfak, 22:08]

For listeners and non-listeners alike, this episode is an engrossing account of Watergate’s overlooked casualties and why their stories matter to how we remember political scandal and dissent.