The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate

by James Rosen

  19. BFBI; Itinerary for Mrs. John N. Mitchell, May 2–6, 1972, RG 460 WSPF, U.S. Attorney File, Documentary Evidence, Martinez, Eugenio—Mitchell, John, Box 31, NARA.

  20. Baldwin, interviews August 19 and September 9, 1995 (Scotch); SSC memo of Interview with Alfred Baldwin by Bill Shure, [conducted] March 30, 1973, [filed] April 1, 1973 (reports, team), NARA.

  21. Memo by Alan Galbraith [lawyer for Williams and Connolly], [Subject:] Interview with “Al” [conducted] August 26, 1972, [filed] August 28, 1972, NARA. Questioned closely on this issue twenty-five years later—after rereading his previous accounts to the FBI, the Los Angeles Times, and the Senate Watergate committee—Baldwin reaffirmed that McCord’s surveillance of DNC began before the burglars’ first successful entry there. “There’s no doubt in my mind,” Baldwin said, “there was [sic] conversations being monitored…either on the night of the twenty-fifth or on the twenty-sixth” see Baldwin interview, September 9, 1995. Baldwin later repeated this under oath: “The Thursday, May 25th, the day I returned from Connecticut…that was the first conversation…. There had been an entry [into DNC] prior to my getting back from Connecticut” see DVS, Deposition of Alfred Baldwin, July 26, 1996.

  22. BLAT (we can talk).

  23. Walter Rugaber, “Watergate Trial Is Told G.O.P. Got Wiretap Data,” New York Times, January 20, 1973 (gag order).

  24. Lawrence F. O’Brien v. James W. McCord, et al., Civil Action No. 1233–72, Deposition of John N. Mitchell, September 5, 1972; SSC, IV: 1619–20.

  25. Liddy, Will, pp. 239–40. Reminded of the version in Liddy’s memoir, Mitchell, less than two months before his death, asked caustically: “What the hell has he got that in his book for? Is that a figment of his imagination, or what—that he put that envelope on my desk?” See CI, September 21, 1988.

  26. Magruder, An American Life, pp. 248–49; Glanzer notes (this idiot). Strachan denied seeing the wiretap data; see SSC, VI: 2451. However, on this specific point, the usually unpersuasive Magruder passed a polygraph test, and Strachan failed one; see HJCW, III: 102, and the previously unpublished WSPF memo to Files from Earl J. Silbert, Subject: Gordon Strachan, April 24, 1973, RG 460 WSPF—WGTF, Investigative Files, Defendant Files, Gordon Strachan, Box 124, NARA. John Dean testified that Strachan privately acknowledged having seen the logs; see SSC, II: 934 and SSC, III: 955. And Strachan’s boss, Haldeman, told Nixon in April 1973 that Strachan had confided: “I stopped reading the synopses, and they were—we had ’em here” see WHT, 382.

  27. Glanzer notes; Ehrlichman-Magruder tape; SSCEX, Magruder; SSC, II: 797; Frampton notes and memo; Magruder, An American Life, pp. 248–49; UVM, 4521–24, 4819–21. Magruder told Ehrlichman that Mitchell thought the wiretap data “so bad he picked up the phone and called Liddy and chewed him out” see WHT, 382. (emphasis added).

  28. SSC, IV: 1619.

  29. Ibid., VI: 2360 (Mardian); SSC, VI: 2304 (LaRue).

  30. Liddy, Will, pp. 236–37. Two decades later, Magruder confirmed Liddy’s account; see DVS, Magruder deposition.

  31. CI [John F. Rudy II], April 14, 1989, and April 28, 1989; DVS, Deposition of John F. Rudy II, April 11, 1996.

  32. DVS, Deposition of John F. Rudy II, June 19, 1996.

  33. WVL, I, Deposition of Alfred C. Baldwin III, July 28, 1997 (eight of ten); Baldwin interview, September 9, 1995 (sexual nature, arrangements). Baldwin, in 1995, also recalled McCord ordering him to patronize the Democratic lounge at Watergate and observe “senators leaving with any of the young girls.” Both Oliver and his secretary, Ida Wells, have repeatedly denied they had anything to do with prostitution. Oliver declined to be interviewed for this book. As the Watergate break-in trial approached, E. Howard Hunt, exhorting his fellow defendants to plead guilty, warned burglar Bernard Barker that “things like accusations about prostitutes would come out at trial” see WSPF memo to The File from G. Goldman, Subject: Interview of Bernard Barker, September 13, 1973, RG 460, NARA.

  34. “U.S. Hints Blackmail as Motive in Watergate Case,” New York Times, January 19, 1973. All known references to the conversations overheard on the DNC wiretaps aver to amorous or sexual content. Unsealed portions of the U.S. v. Liddy trial transcript show Judge Sirica was informed, in chambers on January 11, 1973, that Baldwin had overheard discussion of “Mr. Oliver sleeping with a woman in Greenville, Mississippi” see UVL 981-982. Meeting with John Ehrlichman in April 1973, Magruder said the wiretap had picked up Oliver “calling girls in Mississippi, saying, ‘Honey, I’ll be down for the weekend’” see author’s transcript of recorded conversation between John Ehrlichman and Jeb Magruder, April 14, 1973, NARA. During Magruder’s briefing, Ehrlichman scribbled: “Oliver—ph[one]…sex” see SSC VII/2940. Ehrlichman then reported to Nixon that “what they were getting was mostly this fellow Oliver phoning his girlfriends all over the country and lining up assignations” see WHT 382. Magruder told Watergate prosecutors the logs “dealt with Spencer Oliver’s extra-marital affairs,” specifically his relationship with a “Miss[issippi] girl” see Glanzer notes op. cit. Ida “Maxie” Wells hailed from Mississippi. Magruder told the Senate the GEMSTONE logs recounted “very personal” conversations in which one party told another she had “a date tonight” see SSCEX Magruder, op. cit. In his memoirs, H. R. Haldeman said he learned “the chatter about love” picked up on the GEMSTONE wiretap reflected “Maxie” and other DNC secretaries “calling boyfriends all over the country—and using vivid details” see Haldeman (1978), op. cit., p. 174.

  35. The mass of information purporting to link Maureen Dean to organized crime figures and prostitution is most exhaustively collected in DVS, Declaration of Leonard Colodny in Support of Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, [filed] December 16, 1996. This mammoth court filing runs some four thousand pages and features more than 700 exhibits: documents, photographs, interviews, depositions. Both John and Maureen Dean have denied that either had anything to do with prostitution activity. For the Deans’ lengthy response to these charges, see DVS, Dean deposition; DVS, Deposition of Maureen K. Dean, August 30, 1996; and DVS, “Plaintiffs John Dean’s and Maureen Dean’s Provisional Response to Defendant Leonard Colodny’s Motion For Partial Summary Judgment,” [filed] March 20, 1997. The Court never rules on the Motion because the case was resolved.

  36. John Dean interview with author, August 6, 1999 (even aware).

  37. SSC, IV: 1445 (disposition); Dean, Blind Ambition, pp. 30-35 (valued, upward, Hollander); SSCEX, Jack Caulfield, March 16, 1974; Tony Ulasewicz with Stuart A. McKeever, The President’s Private Eye (MAC SAM, 1990), pp. 246-63; Colodny and Gettlin, Silent Coup, pp. 106-7, 131; Kenneth Tapman interview with author, January 4, 2003. “As far as I was concerned,” Ulasewicz wrote, “Dean was up to his sleek cheeks in the whole Watergate affair—before and after the break-in.”

  38. WH memo for H. R. Haldeman from John Dean, Subject: Counter Actions (Watergate), September 12, 1972, at SSC, III: 1177-78; WHT, 67.

  39. Magruder, An American Life, pp. 117, 197–98; SSCEX, Magruder (countermanded); author’s transcript, NT, Nixon-Haldeman, Conversation No. 888-4, Oval Office, March 27, 1973, 9:47 a.m. to 10:55 a.m. (clarified). See also Common Cause, et al. v. Finance Committee to Re-Elect the President, et al., Civil Action No. 1780–72, Deposition of John W. Dean III, May 15, 1973.

  40. Jeb Stuart Magruder, From Power to Peace (Word Books, 1978), pp. 13–15; CI [Magruder], February 8 and August 7, 1990.

  41. DVS, Magruder deposition.

  42. CI, August 31, 1988 (protecting Dean); CI [Magruder], February 8, 1990 (pocket), August 7, 1990 (involved).

  43. CI, June 15, 1987. Presented with the rudimentary outlines of the call-girl theory in 1986, Mitchell found it “startling” but ultimately judged it “a scam,” probably because the outline presented to him implicated his former personal assistant, Kristen Forsberg, in the Columbia Plaza scheme. Forsberg has denied any connection to prostitution activity; see CI, April 28, 1986 (startling); Proposal for an Investigation by Phil Stanford, March 1,
1986; letter to Len Colodny from Jerris Leonard, November 10, 1988 (scam); and Kristen Forsberg, interview with author, April 23, 1995.

  44. WSPF Box 31. McLendon, Martha, pp. 2–4; UVM, 8351; SSC, VI: 2285, 2311.

  THE NEEDLE

  1. WHT, 214.

  2. Magruder, An American Life, pp. 250–53; DVSCM Exhibit 494 (several, drunk).

  3. Glanzer notes.

  4. Magruder, An American Life, pp. 252–55 (emphases added).

  5. UVM, 4534–35 (emphasis added).

  6. UVM, 6826 (9:00, ten to fifteen); SSC memo of Interview with Frederick [sic] Cheney LaRue by Hamilton, Silverstein, Sanders, [conducted] May 9, 1973, [filed] May 14, 1973, RG 460 WSPF Investigative Files, U.S. v. Mitchell (Jencks Material), Box 72, NARA (go back into); SSC, VI: 2285–2315, 2330–31. LaRue’s grand jury testimony of April 18, 1973, was read in open court; see UVM, 6831–33.

  7. Arnold Rochvarg, Watergate Victory: Mardian’s Appeal (University Press of America, 1995).

  8. CI, September 14, 1988 (ridiculous); O’Brien v. McCord, Mitchell deposition; and UVM, 8175–76.

  9. Liddy, Will, p. 251; Rochvarg, Watergate Victory, pp. 22–23.

  10. Liddy, Will, pp. 251–53; Kleindienst, Justice, pp. 145–46; SSC, VI: 2353; SSC, IX: 3561; UVM, 5973–74. In his memoir, Kleindienst made no mention of Liddy’s confession that the arrested men had been working under him, and recalled telling Liddy: “John Mitchell knows how to find me. I don’t believe he gave you any such instructions.” Moore claimed it was he who interjected that Liddy’s instructions had come from Magruder; he recalled Kleindienst replying: “You get hold of Mr. Mitchell and tell him if he wants to talk to me about this matter that he can reach me here at Burning Tree.” See UVM, 5904–9.

  11. SSC, VI: 2353 (amazed); Magruder, An American Life, p. 258; McLendon, Martha, pp. 2–4; Steve King, interview with author, February 8, 1992.

  12. HJCW, I: 195; Dean, Blind Ambition, pp. 101–2; McLendon, Martha, pp. 6–7 (Gulfstream, rest, brothers); FBI memo to Mr. Kinley from J. E. Herington, Subject: Maxine Cheshire/ Syndicated Columnist/“The Washington Post,” April 26, 1973, FBIM (Disneyland).

  13. FBI report of interview of Stephen B. King by Special Agent Charles W. Harvey, [conducted] May 1, 1973, [filed] May 3, 1973, FBIM; Donnie Radcliffe, “Martha Mitchell: Two Long Years After Watergate,” Washington Post, June 16, 1974 (Jesus Christ, lightning); McLendon, Martha, pp. 8–9.

  14. FBI memo to ADIC from SA [redacted], Subject: Visit of Mitchell Family/Newporter Inn, June 18, 1972, [filed] April 25, 1973, FBIM; Clare Crawford, “Martha’s Charges Flare Again,” Washington Evening Star and Daily News, September 12, 1972; “Mrs. Mitchell Fears Plot to Tie Watergate to Husband,” New York Times, March 28, 1973; Jack Anderson, “Martha: Night of the Needle,” New York Post, June 5, 1973; McLendon, Martha, pp. 6–22; Ken and Peggy Ebbitt interview. Another Mitchell aide lamented that Marty had a “horrible childhood” see Landau interview.

  15. Helen Thomas, “Martha’s Ultimatum,” Washington Post, June 24, 1972, and “Martha Is ‘Leaving’ Mitchell,” Washington Post, June 26, 1972; Steve Brown, “John Smuggles Martha Out of Sight,” Daily News, June 29, 1972 (helicopter); “Exeunt the Mitchells,” New York Times, June 29, 1972; Jack Anderson, “Martha’s Latest Telephone Escapade,” Washington Post, July 1, 1972 (talked-about); McLendon, Martha, p. 21.

  16. Marcia Kramer and William McFadden, “Martha Sobs: ‘I’m Prisoner,’” Daily News, June 26, 1972; Tom Donnelly, “If She’s the Answer, What’s the Question?” Washington Post, May 11, 1973 (heroine); Helen Thomas, “Long after Watergate,” Long Island Press, May 27, 1973 (spectrum), and Dateline: White House (Macmillan, 1975), p. 242 (patriotism, bucking); Charlotte Curtis, “Martha Mitchell Testifies in Civil Suit,” New York Times, May 4, 1973 (Watergate case); William Reel and Henry Lee, “Martha Tells It Like It Is to Lawyers,” Daily News, May 4, 1973; Shana Alexander in Donald W. Harward, ed., Crisis in Confidence: The Impact of Watergate (Little, Brown, 1974), p. 42.

  17. CBS Morning News, August 29, 1973 (Quinn); author’s transcript, NT, Nixon-Haig-Ziegler, Conversation No. 945-5, Oval Office, June 19, 1973, 11:04 a.m. to 11:17 a.m. (poor sick); Thomas, Dateline (class, no friend); and Thomas, Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times (Scribner, 1999), pp. 215–16 (she knows, God almighty).

  18. Dean, Blind Ambition, p. 99 (note). Mitchell said the meeting in his apartment was “set up by Magruder” see CI, March 29, 1988. Some have argued Dean misled investigators about the timing of his return from the Philippines, and his activities immediately prior; see Colodny and Gettlin, Silent Coup, pp. 168–71.

  19. Liddy, Will, pp. 255–57; SSC, V: 1852. Dean denied making such promises; see UVM, 3893–901; DVS, JDD.

  20. Glanzer notes; Magruder, An American Life, p. 268; Hougan, Secret Agenda, pp. 188–89 (shag rug).

  21. SSCEX, Magruder; SSC, II: 799–800 (emphases added); Magruder, An American Life, p. 267.

  22. UVM, 4549–50 (stuck, detail), 4824–36 (office interview, grand jury, incriminating).

  23. UVM, 8052–53; HJCW, II: 155; WHT, 685; Dean, Blind Ambition, pp. 99–102.

  24. LaRue and Mardian clashed over the date of their interview of Liddy—LaRue claimed it was June 20, Mardian, June 21—and over who initiated the interview; see SSC, VI: 2286–87, 2357–58.

  25. UVM, 8056–58, 8196–97; SSC, VI: 2363 (shocked). Mitchell told the House he was “quite certain” this discussion took place June 22; see HJCW, II: 176. LaRue was silent on whether Liddy’s request for bail money was conveyed to Mitchell; see SSC, VI: 2288–89. Asked how Mitchell reacted to Liddy’s litany of horrors, LaRue testified: “I don’t recall any specific reaction…. Mr. Mitchellis not a person who demonstrates a great deal of emotion about anything.”

  26. SSC, V: 1827–34. Mitchell testified he coined the term “White House horrors” prior to June 1972. Elsewhere, he called them “the other little gems” see UVM, 8197; SSC, IV: 1622. Asked once to define the White House horrors, he took evident glee in recounting them, the better to demonstrate his distance from them: “Well, let me see if I can recall all of them at this late stage. Certainly there was the Ellsberg psychiatrist break-in, there was the Dita Beard episode, there were the Diem cables and there was the Brookings Institute [sic] situation. Oh, yes, I believe that there…had been wiretapping undertaken outside of the normal channels of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and some miscellaneous investigations of Chappaquiddick, and I think that covers the basic elements of it” see HJCW, II: 133.

  27. Author’s transcript, NT, Nixon-Haldeman, Conversation No. 344-6, EOB Office, June 20, 1972, 4:35 to 5:25 p.m. In a meeting that same day with Charles Colson, Nixon expressed skepticism about the motives of the arrested men, saying: “It doesn’t sound like a skillful job…. If we didn’t know better, [we] would have thought it was deliberately botched.” As for the strategy to be pursued, Nixon told Colson: “At times, uh, I just stonewall it” see Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong, “Nixon Knew of ‘Hush Money’ Before Dean Meeting,” Washington Post, May 1, 1977.

  28. HJC transcript of Nixon’s DictaBelt recording of June 20, 1972, at HJC, II: 310.

  29. “White House Transcripts of 3 Nixon-Haldeman Conversations on June 23, 1972,” New York Times, August 6, 1974. The White House transcript is more reliable than the special prosecutors’, which omitted, for example, Haldeman’s statement: “That’s not an unusual development, and ah, that would take care of it” see Hamburg, Nixon, pp. 405–10. On Dean’s conception of the CIA plan discussed on the smoking-gun tape, and his false claim that Mitchell endorsed it, see Colodny and Gettlin, pp. 195–205; and CI [Haldeman] March 1989. “I don’t know how [Dean] can deny that he fabricated the Mitchell involvement in his conversation with me on the morning of the twenty-third,” Haldeman said.

  30. Magruder, An American Life, pp. 265–75 (tough); SSC, IV: 1660 (knock-down, pretty low).

  31. SSCEX, Dean; SSC, III: 945–46. Testifying before the House, Dean said he lef
t the June 24 meeting with “the plan that had been given to me over at the re-election committee with Mr. Mardian and Mr. Mitchell, to check the CIA because they [sic] were competent to handle this” see HJCW, II: 303.

  32. CIA memcons by Vernon A. Walters, [no subjects], June 28, 1972 and June 29, 1972 [I and II], at HJC, II: 437–41 (glum); SSC, III: 946–48; Inquiry Into the Alleged Involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Watergate and Ellsberg Matters: Report of the Special Subcommittee on Intelligence of the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, Ninety-third Congress, First Session, October 23, 1973 (U.S. Government Printing office, 1973), pp. 18–19 (pressing, pleadingly, not clear). Mitchell later remarked bitterly on the way Dean had been “over there nosing around” with Walters: “I don’t know whether he was representing John Dean, the CIA, or the White House or whom” see CI, March 25, 1988.

  33. SSCEX, Dean.

  34. Schoenebaum, Profiles of an Era, pp. 336–37.

  35. SSC, III: 950.

  36. SSC, VI: 2566–67 (strongly, attorneys’ fees, back me up); WH transcript of Ehrlichman-Kalmbach conversation, April 19, 1973, 4:50 p.m., at SSC, V: 2215. Ehrlichman on one occasion recalled Dean seeking permission to use Kalmbach and not mentioning Mitchell; see WHT, 399. Haldeman recalled how Dean, in March 1973, shortly before defecting to the prosecutors, began claiming that “at some point in 1972, he, at Mitchell’s suggestion, had asked me if it would be okay for him to contact Herb Kalmbach to ask him to raise some such defense funds…. I do not recall such a request…. Dean has said that he checked with both Ehrlichman and me on this point, and at other times he has said only that he checked with Ehrlichman” see SSC, VII: 2885.