Martha Mitchell (1918–1976), wife of Attorney General John Mitchell and a frequent late-night caller to reporters. In June 1972, days after the Watergate arrests, she told the press she had been held in California, beaten and sedated to keep her quiet. Mae took her at her word from the start. No. 51 is built around her: Phil opens with "Martha Mitchell on the brain."
Across the broadcasts
Arrives as the summer's political prisoner, the one witness Mae thinks saw the missing men
July 1, 1972
Mae turns the week's gossip item into a case of detention, and frames everything after it as evidence for that reading.
"I'm going to talk about Martha Mitchell because she's the newest political prisoner"Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 1 (1 Jul 1972), 6:20
Mae reads the ultimatum to her husband as knowledge of the break-in rather than temperament.
"the panic that she expressed in just those few words indicated that she knew something about what was happening at the Watergate Hotel."Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 1 (1 Jul 1972), 9:55
Mae answers the committee's portrait of an unreliable wife by resting her case on a number Martha gave.
"Martha can count to five"Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 1 (1 Jul 1972), 17:12
Mae closes the hour by naming the reason for the detention: Martha had seen the four guests who were never caught.
"She is a political prisoner because she saw those four men"Mae Brussell, Mae Brussell Research Center, Broadcast 1 (1 Jul 1972), 55:30
Connections
She demanded that he leave politics in the week after the arrests.