By cultivating a close relationship with the press, Martha Mitchell signaled that she was not content to simply play Washington hostess and sit in the background while her husband, John Mitchell, President Richard Nixon’s attorney general, made the news. Flamboyant and boldly outspoken, she was as revered by reporters as she was feared by the Nixon administration, who saw her candid commentary as a liability. These tensions reached a breaking point in 1972, in the aftermath of the Watergate burglary, when the prospect of Mitchell revealing the truth threatened to upend the Oval Office—she was actually detained by campaign officials to keep her quiet. Composed entirely of archival footage, The Martha Mitchell Effect lays bare a blistering account of political gaslighting to give voice to a woman who refused to remain silent.  ER 

Filmmaker Q&A available

Closed captioning available

This film is only available to viewers in the United States