Martha Beall Mitchell

Martha Beall Mitchell
Martha Mitchell (right) with Julie Nixon Eisenhower
Born	Martha Beall (1918-09-02)September 2, 1918 Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Died	May 31, 1976(1976-05-31) (aged 57) New York City
Cause of death	Multiple myeloma
Resting place	Bellwood Cemetery, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Monuments	Martha Beall Mitchell Home and Museum
Education	Pine Bluff High School Stephens College, Missouri University of Arkansas at Fayetteville University of Miami
Alma mater	University of Miami (BA History)
Known for	Watergate scandal The Martha Mitchell effect
Spouse(s)	Clyde Jennings, Jr. (m. 1946–57) John N. Mitchell (m. 1957–73)
Children	2

Martha Beall Mitchell (September 2, 1918 – May 31, 1976) was the wife of John N. Mitchell, United States Attorney General under President Richard Nixon. She gained notoriety in the press during the Nixon administration for her frequent phone calls to reporters and colorful comments on the state of the nation, becoming a household name, appearing on several high-profile magazine covers, and becoming a controversial figure in her own right. Her alcoholism and eccentric behavior led to a divorce from John Mitchell in 1973. She died of complications of multiple myeloma three years later.

Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to cotton broker George V. Beall and teacher Arie Beall (née Ferguson), Mitchell graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 1937, She attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Miami, from which she received a BA in history. She worked for about a year as a teacher in Mobile, Alabama, then returned to Pine Bluff in 1945. After World War II, she began work as a secretary at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, but was soon transferred (with her boss, Brigadier General Augustin Mitchell Prentiss) to Washington, D.C., where she met Clyde Jennings, Jr. whom she married on 5 October 1946, and with whom she moved to New York City. By Jennings, she had a son, Clyde Jay Jennings (b. 2 November 1947). The couple separated on 18 May 1956 and divorced on 1 August 1957.