Mitchell Sentenced: Watergate's First Prisoners

Three men who had run the most powerful office in the world received prison sentences for their roles in the Watergate cover-up on February 21, 1975. Former Attorney General John Mitchell, former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, and former domestic policy advisor John Ehrlichman were each sentenced to 2.5 to 8 years for conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. Mitchell, as Attorney General, had authorized the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in June 1972. Haldeman and Ehrlichman, as President Nixon's two closest advisors, orchestrated the subsequent cover-up, directing the CIA to obstruct the FBI's investigation, approving hush money payments to the burglars, and coordinating the destruction of evidence. Their trial, which ran from October 1974 to January 1975, produced over 12,000 pages of testimony and included the playing of the secret White House tape recordings that had been the key evidence in Nixon's downfall. All three were convicted on all counts. The sentences, however, were served in minimum-security facilities. Mitchell served 19 months at the Federal Prison Camp in Montgomery, Alabama. Haldeman served 18 months at the Federal Prison Camp in Lompoc, California. Ehrlichman served 18 months at the Federal Correctional Institution in Safford, Arizona. The burglars who actually broke into the Watergate, the men at the bottom of the conspiracy, received longer initial sentences than the men who had ordered and concealed the operation. The sentencing completed the legal reckoning for the most senior officials involved in Watergate, though Nixon himself was never charged, having received a blanket pardon from President Ford on September 8, 1974.