Donald Segretti
{{Short description|American attorney}}
{{BLP sources|date=June 2022}}
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Donald Henry Segretti (born September 17, 1941, in San Marino, California) is an attorney best known for working as a political operative with then-U.S. President Richard Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President during the early 1970s. Segretti served four and a half months in prison after investigations related to the Watergate scandal revealed his leading role in extensive political sabotage efforts ("ratfucking") against the Democrats.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/donaldsegretti.html|title=Watergate Scandal and Deep Throat Update, Donald Segretti |newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2018-01-15}}
Early life
He holds a Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Southern California (1963) and a Juris Doctor from UC Berkeley School of Law (1966). While at USC, he was a member of the Trojan Knights and initiated into Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. He also was a member of Trojans for Representative Government with future Watergate scandal participants Dwight L. Chapin, Tim Elbourne, Gordon C. Strachan, Herbert Porter, and Ron Ziegler.
Watergate
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | video1 = [http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip_512-k93125r708 1973 Watergate Hearings; 1973-10-03; Part 1 of 5], 1:04:56, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (WGBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC{{cite web | title =1973 Watergate Hearings; 1973-10-03; Part 1 of 5 | publisher =Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (WGBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC | date = October 3, 1973| url =http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip_512-k93125r708 | accessdate =January 16, 2018 }} }}
Segretti was hired by his friend Dwight L. Chapin to run a campaign of dirty tricks – which Segretti referred to as "ratfucking"{{cite news |title=News of the Weak in Review |magazine=The Nation |date=October 2, 2000}} – against the Democrats, with his work being paid for by Herb Kalmbach, Nixon's lawyer, from presidential campaign re-election funds gathered before an April 7, 1972 law required that contributors be identified. Segretti's actions were part of the larger Watergate scandal and were important indicators for the few members of the press investigating the Watergate burglary in the early stages that what became known as the Watergate scandal involved far more than just a burglary.{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/101072-1.htm|title=FBI Finds Nixon Aides Sabotaged Democrats |last1=Bernstein |first1=Carl|last2=Woodward |first2=Bob |date=10 October 1972 |newspaper=The Washington Post |accessdate=14 May 2014}}
=Overview of "dirty tricks" against Democrats=
Segretti's involvement in the "Canuck letter"{{Cite book |title=Mudslingers: the top 25 negative political campaigns of all time: countdown from no. 25 to no. 1 |first=Kerwin C. |last=Swint |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2006 |page=135 |isbn=9780275985103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R4YUTlDOPxkC&pg=PA135}} typifies the tactics Segretti and others working with him used; in this case, they forged a letter ascribed to Senator Edmund Muskie that maligned the people, language, and culture of French Canada and French Canadians, causing that Democratic presidential candidate considerable headaches by having to deny writing the letter and to continue dealing with that recurring issue. Many historians have indicated, over the years, that Muskie's subsequent withdrawal from the presidential primaries was at least partly the result of Segretti and some of the other "ratfuckers" having created so much confusion and so many false accusations that Muskie simply could not respond in any meaningful way.
Another notable example of Segretti's wrongdoing was a letter he faked, on Edmund Muskie's letterhead, falsely alleging that U.S. Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a fellow Democrat, had an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old. The "Muskie letters" also accused Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of sexual misconduct.{{cite news|author=The New York Times Press Service|title=Watergate jogs memory: Democrats recall strange election incidents|work=The Dallas Morning News|date= May 13, 1973| page= 14A}}
After testimony regarding the Muskie letters emerged, Democrats in Florida noted the similarity between those sabotage incidents and others that involved stationery stolen from Humphrey's offices after Muskie dropped out of the race. For example, a false news release on Humphrey's letterhead accused Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) of being "mentally unbalanced", and a mailing with an unidentified source mischaracterized Humphrey as supporting a controversial environmental measure that he actually opposed.
Segretti appeared as a witness before the Senate Watergate Committee in October 1973.
=Imprisoned following Watergate conviction=
In 1974, Segretti pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of distributing illegal campaign literature (including the forgeries described above) and was sentenced to six months in prison. Segretti served four months.{{cite news
| title = washingtonpost.com - watergate scandal and deep throat update, donald…
| newspaper = The Washington Post
| url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/donaldsegretti.html
| date = 2013-04-28
| archiveurl = https://archive.today/20130428122652/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/donaldsegretti.html
| archivedate = 2013-04-28 }}
Later activities
Segretti was a lawyer who served as a prosecutor for the U.S. Army and later as a civilian. However, his license was suspended on February 27, 1976.{{cite web|url=http://members.calbar.ca.gov/fal/Licensee/Detail/39856|title=Donald Henry Segretti #39856 - Attorney Search|website=members.calbar.ca.gov}} Segretti is currently shown as an active member in good standing of the State Bar of California.
=Unsuccessful bid for Orange County judgeship=
In 1995, Segretti ran for a local judgeship in Orange County, California. He quickly withdrew from the race when his campaign sparked lingering anger over memories of his involvement in the Watergate scandal.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-12-12-mn-13184-story.html|title=Ex-Nixon Trickster Segretti Won't Seek O.C. Judgeship : Politics: The convicted Watergate figure quits campaign, citing negative publicity about his candidacy.|first=DEXTER|last=FILKINS|date=12 December 1995|publisher=|via=LA Times}}
=Orange County co-chair of McCain 2000 primary campaign=
In 2000, Segretti served as co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign in Orange County, California.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}
In popular culture
In the 1976 film All the President's Men, Segretti was portrayed by Robert Walden. The character downplayed the dirty tricks he had undertaken as "Nickel-and-dime stuff. Stuff. Stuff with a little 'wit' attached to it."
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- "{{cite web|url= http://foia.fbi.gov/watergat/watergat1.pdf |title=Watergate file, pg. 102 }} {{small|(4.84 MiB)}}" (pg. 116 in PDF format)
- [http://www.spartacus-educational.com/JFKsegretti.htm Donald Segretti] at Spartacus Educational
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Category:Marshall School of Business alumni
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:People from San Marino, California
Category:Members of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President
Category:UC Berkeley School of Law alumni
Category:American people convicted of fraud