We're Ready for Martha Mitchell in the Watergate Series 'Gaslit' — Is It a True Story?

Apr. 22 2022, Published 3:36 p.m. ET

Martha Mitchell was once in all probability not rather affectionately (although we disagree) referred to as the "Mouth of the South" throughout her time in Washington, D.C.

Her husband, John Mitchell, met Richard Nixon in 1966 when their respective regulation companies merged. In 1968 when Nixon was once elected president, he appointed his excellent friend John as United States Attorney General. The best catch was once, his circle of relatives would have to move from Arkansas to the District.

John's spouse Martha Mitchell was a persona. According to Time, the blurb beneath Martha's senior high school photograph used to be "love its gentle warble, I love its gentle flow, I love to wind my tongue up, And I love to let it go" — and boy did she ever. Martha liked to gossip and, as such, she was once the literal talk of town.

Gaslit, a new Starz series, tells the story of Martha Mitchell's wild, from time to time harrowing involvement in the Watergate Scandal, but is it based on a true story? Let's discuss it.

Is 'Gaslit' based on a true story?

Gaslit is based on a true story, though Martha (performed through Julia Roberts) herself is so delightfully out of this international, it is onerous to consider that such an airy human will have ever existed on the earth of politics.

The series is born from Season 1 of Slate's Slow Burn podcast which brilliantly covered Watergate, with deep dives into people like Martha who we up to now were not as conversant in.

Almost right away upon arriving in Washington, it was once clear Martha would not be capable to stay her critiques to herself. In a December 1969 interview with Time correspondent Dean Fischer, she likened protesting to "catering to revolutions," concept that guy needed more regulation and order, and of course despised drug use until it came by way of a prescription.

When they moved to Washington, Martha and John (portrayed through Sean Penn within the series) lived in the Watergate complex. Martha was once a socialite who regularly complained about how she and John took a financial step down when they relocated to D.C. However she temporarily left her mark in the political scene based completely on her gusto for gossip.

On an almost nightly basis, Martha would have a few beverages after which call local journalists to let them in on what she heard that day. She would also pop onto "evening talk shows to joke about antiwar protesters and Supreme Court justices she didn’t like," according to The Washington Post.

Her penchant for dirt-dishing took a dark flip when the Watergate scandal broke.

How used to be Martha Mitchell involved in the Watergate scandal?

In 1972 Nixon was once running for re-election and John stepped down as legal professional normal to be his marketing campaign manager. That June, John and Martha had been in California for a string of marketing campaign events when information broke that arrests had been made on the Watergate Hotel. As wild as this will sound, John's first thought used to be making sure Martha did not find out she knew one of the vital males concerned within the break-in. If she figured that out, there used to be definitely in John's mind that Martha would tell newshounds, which would connect Nixon to the crime.

While John headed again to Washington, D.C., to do injury control, he advised safety guards who were additionally working for the marketing campaign that Martha was not allowed to make any calls. Because Martha is Martha, she came upon what John was once looking to conceal from her and in an instant known as Helen Thomas (played by Beth Hall in Gaslit), a reporter for UPI. Martha used to be able to ship John an ultimatum: her or Nixon. As she was once speaking, Helen heard what appeared like the telephone being ripped from Martha's hands.

What happened subsequent has been disputed by way of many, however Martha said she was "kept in the hotel room for days ... where the guard held her down as a doctor injected her with sedatives, her young daughter watching the whole time," as reported by The Washington Post.

Here's the place the gaslighting section is available in. Team Nixon worked quickly to spread rumors that Martha used to be mentally ill and had a consuming and drug downside. Still, once she was able, Martha continued to talk to Helen.

John would sooner or later surrender, claiming he sought after to place his spouse and daughter first, regardless that the next yr he "remained loyal to Nixon in his Senate testimony," as The Washington Post reported. Martha and John separated in 1975, and he or she used to be left mostly penniless. Martha died of most cancers in 1976 at the age of 57. She used to be incredibly ill and had no one via her aspect at the time of her demise.

Although Nixon attempted guilty Martha for the entirety that came about, claiming that without her "Watergate wouldn't have happened," he does not know what we know. Martha was once a whistleblower of types, and what Nixon thought of as an insult was once actually a praise. We'll say it again with this figuring out: Without Martha, Watergate shouldn't have took place.

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