files of john and martha mitchell. mitchells when they -- when they came to washington in 1969 were the first cabinet officer and wife to receive round-the-clock f.b.i. protection. because of the death threats that were made against john mitchell at that time. j. edgar hoover being j. edgar hoover used this as an opportunity to basically spy on the mitchells and everything that john mitchell said that the f.b.i. driver who took him to the justice department every morning or to the -- everything that martha mitchell said to the f.b.i. men that surrounded her was beautifully typed up and sent up the chain to j. edgar hoover. we know this because hoover would actually write in the margins and initial it & unfortunately, martha mitchell was a sick lady. in the spring of 1970 to be alive and to be an american citizen was to be inundated with news and gossip, as you said, about martha mitchell. in a very short time period, she went from complete anonymity, if you will, to being one of the 10 most reported on women around the

unfortunately, martha mitchell was a sick lady. in the spring of 1970 ooh's, to be alive is to be inundated in a very short time period she went from complete anonymity to being one of the 10 most reporters around the woorled. a list that included the first lady mixson. should have won the top 10 lists. he was on the cover of look, life, times. he was on 60 minutes. he had a hen den si -- tendency. while they're water would be sleeping in their direction. she would drink whiskey and get on the phone on their bathroom right off their master bedroom and she would call the u.p.i. and just let rip the kinds of things one says when once had a few pops. he should be crucified for the vote over the certain nominee. and she -- on top of being a bit unstable or having a drinking problem. also had severe emotional difficulties. should could be var charming lady but she could be a nightmare on the phone to reporters. an she compounded her husband's problems. you'll find a lot more on "the strong man." host: another account with another viewer

he has these conversation with mitchell who martha his wife is pushing to get him a woman on the court, and they have these conversations together saying, you know, mitchell -- or nixon saying, you know, john, i got -- i don't have any women in my cabinet, thank god, but then my cabinet is so awful, it couldn't get any worse, you but can you imagine putting a woman on a court? you know how small those chambers are up there? i mean, it would be like putting women in a capsule in a spaceship with men, but then again, on the other hand, warren burger gets wind that he is thinking about a woman, sends a note down through mitchell that if he puts a woman on the court, burger will resign. what's nixon's reaction? tell him to send his resignation down. so he is on both sides of these issues. >> all this month on american history tv, we're featuring programs on the 40th anniversary of the watergate break-in. including panel discussions and oral history interviews recently released by the richard nixon presidential library. for more information on these programs and to see our complete schedule

kind of one woman which in a book which was a function on originally thought i might give to martha mitchellif anybody remembers the watergate days remembers mrs. mitchell was a very flamboyant character, southerner, again very unfiltered, would say pretty much anything. but finally a sadder figure than mrs. longworth. i may, this is mitchell had a tremendous drinking problem, and mitchell's, they leave washington for new york fairly early on in the scandal so she just wasn't on the scene. and she just wasn't sharp enough. one of the things about alice that was very unusual from the days when washington was a very hard drinking town, days that probably persisted hours into the '70s, she -- >> much different now. >> she did not like drinkers. she liked the conversation to be sharp, and she was very impatient with people who have had too much. that she was, sometimes you just know this when you're writing a character. .. >> richardson was tremendously ambitious, and no one recognizes about more than richard nixon. you can listen to the tapes on youtube. he talks to richardson just after he has