John N. Mitchell was the attorney general under president Nixon. Before that, he was a respected bond lawyer, and he also directed Nixon's political campaign's in 1968, and 1972.
Mitchell was born Detroit Michigan, and grew up in Long Island. He served in the navy for three years during WWII. He served as a municipal bond lawyer from 1938 until 1968 (with the exception of his time spent in the military). Mitchell was married twice, and his second wife became quite famous, in her own right, for pronouncing Mitchell's innocence in the Watergate scandal. The marriage eventually broke up, do to her alcoholism, and "erratic" behavior.
Mitchell was appointed attorney general in January of 1969 by president Nixon, and president Nixon made a strange request to J. Edgar Hoover (director of the FBI) that no background check be run on Mitchell. Mitchell resigned from the post in 1972 to run Nixon's re-election campaign.
Mitchell was a firm believer in the fact that the government needed to enforce "law and order" to protect the citizens of the united states, and that this was more important that a person's civil liberties.
It is believed that his belief in "law and order" are what led him to help organize Watergate. In fact Mitchell is best known for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, in which he was a key player. He evaluated the results of the first Watergate burglary, and also ordered five men to return to fix wire taps, and photograph more documents. Tapes from the oval office, and testimony by those involved established that he was tantamount in planning the break in.
Watergate was a hotel where assorted democratic representatives were meeting to discuss there upcoming campaign. The Watergate scandal, however, was the actions by Richard Nixon, and assorted high ranking republican's to discover what the democrats were planning, and how best to counter their political movements. The Watergate scandal involved wire-taps by the CIA (on the president's orders) and a number of burglaries, to steal democrat information. The Watergate scandal took place in June of 1972.
During the summer of 1973 the United States senate led an investigation into Watergate, and whether or not the burglaries were "illegal, improper, or unethical," and whether they were actually connected to President Nixon. The hearing ranged from discovering if he knew anything about the break-in's, or the cover ups, to Alexander Butterfield announcing there were tapes to prove it. The entire affair ended with Nixon's resignation from the presidential office, in 1974; although John Mitchell was sentenced to prison, and fined $42,000 in 1975.
Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_N._Mitchell
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall06/Weiner/pages/People/mitchell.htm
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/05/a-look-back-at-the-senate-watergate-hearings.html
