Virginia owes a personal debt to Martha Mitchell.
Just after Gov. Linwood Holton — father to former Virginia education secretary Anne Holton and father-in-law to Sen. Tim Kaine — was sworn in as governor on Jan. 17, 1970, a few friends and dignitaries were invited to the Executive Mansion for a light lunch.
Mitchell flew from room to room, finally saying to First Lady Virginia “Jinks” Holton, “Well Jinks, it’s just beautiful, but where in the hell are the antiques?” Though well appointed, the 1813 building was filled with modern and reproduction furniture.
Embarrassed by their new home’s lack of grandeur, the Holtons established a citizens’ advisory committee to provide historical oversight and update the Executive Mansion’s furnishings.
The event is a minor one in the life of Martha Mitchell, a famously outspoken socialite and Watergate whistleblower known for calling up reporters late at night to dish on Washington’s latest palace intrigue.
As the wife of President Richard Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell, the “Mouth of the South” had plenty to talk about, often rifling through her husband’s papers or eavesdropping on his conversations to get her scoops. Nixon himself once said, “If it hadn’t been for Martha Mitchell, there’d have been no Watergate.”
In Virginia Rep’s “Martha Mitchell Calling,” local actress Debra Wagoner fills Martha’s slippers with aplomb, telling tales of Tricky Dicky, Pat Nixon and the whole Watergate mishigas. Decked out in a pink silk...
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