1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
On this day in 1975, three of the most powerful men in the nation during the Nixon Administration were sentenced to prison for their roles in the Watergate Scandal cover-up. Former Attorney General John Mitchell; H.R. Haldeman, Nixon’s chief of staff; and John D. Ehrlichman, Nixon’s chief domestic affairs adviser, were each sentenced to serve two-and-a-half to eight years in prison, by Judge John J. Sirica of Federal District Court. Robert Mardian, a former assistant attorney general, was also sentenced to 10 months to three years. The four men were convicted of conspiring to obstruct justice in the original Watergate investigation through such means as paying “hush money” to the Watergate burglars in return for their silence about the break‐in of the Democratic National, Committee, headquarters at the Watergate office and apartment complex on June 17, 1972. All but Mardian were also convicted of obstruction of justice, and in addition, of various counts of lying under oath. One defendant in the case was acquitted: Kenneth W. Parkinson, a former attorney for the Committee for the Re‐election of the President. Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Mardian were the highest former officials to be convicted in the scandal. Mitchell only served 19 months, while Haldeman and Ehrlichman each served only 18 months before all three were released on parole. According to The New York Times, Mitchell was the only one of the four to comment on the sentencing, telling reporters, “It could have been a hell of a lot worse. They could have sentenced me to spend the rest of my life with Martha,” his estranged wife.
(The New York Times/Wikipedia)
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