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 Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

Committee to Re-elect the President A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

during the early 1970s. Segretti served four and a half months in prison after investigations related to the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...

revealed his leading role in extensive political sabotage efforts (" ratfucking") against the Democrats.

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 Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic Fraternities and sororities, fraternity with approximately 74 List of Phi Sigma Kappa chapters#Chapters, active chapters and provisional chapters in North Am ...

fraternity. He also was a member of Trojans for Representative Government with future

participants

Dwight L. Chapin Dwight Lee Chapin (born December 2, 1940) is an American political organizer, businessman and retired public servant. He was Deputy Assistant to President of the United States Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Chapin was convicted of ly ...

, Tim Elbourne, Gordon C. Strachan, Herbert Porter, and Ron Ziegler.

Watergate

Segretti was hired by his friend

to run a campaign of dirty tricks – which Segretti referred to as " ratfucking" – 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

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.

Overview of "dirty tricks" against Democrats

Segretti's involvement in the " Canuck letter" 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. 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 A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...

counts of distributing illegal campaign literature (including the forgeries described above) and was sentenced to six months in prison. Segretti served four months.

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. Segretti is currently shown as an active member in good standing of the

State Bar of California The State Bar of California is an administrative division of the Supreme Court of California which licenses attorneys and regulates the practice of law in California. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law ...

Unsuccessful bid for Orange County judgeship

In 1995, Segretti ran for a local judgeship in

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

. He quickly withdrew from the race when his campaign sparked lingering anger over memories of his involvement in the Watergate scandal.

Orange County co-chair of McCain 2000 primary campaign

In 2000, Segretti served as co-chair of

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

's presidential campaign in Orange County, California.

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

External links

* " " (pg. 116 in PDF format)
Donald Segretti
at Spartacus Educational {{DEFAULTSORT:Segretti, Donald 1941 births Living people American prosecutors Marshall School of Business alumni American people of Italian descent People from San Marino, California California lawyers Members of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President UC Berkeley School of Law alumni American people convicted of fraud California Republicans People convicted in the Watergate scandal