Overview

Donald Henry Segretti (born 1941) was a young attorney recruited by Nixon White House appointments secretary Dwight Chapin and personal attorney Herbert Kalmbach to conduct a campaign of political sabotage and "dirty tricks" against Democratic presidential candidates during the 1972 primary season. Segretti's operation, funded with Nixon campaign cash, involved forging letters, disrupting campaign events, planting false stories, and sowing discord among Democratic candidates. Segretti's most notorious dirty trick was the "Canuck letter," a forged letter published in the Manchester Union Leader in February 1972 that falsely attributed a slur against French-Canadians to Democratic frontrunner Edmund Muskie. The letter contributed to Muskie's emotional breakdown at a press conference outside the newspaper's offices, which effectively ended his presidential campaign. Segretti also distributed fake campaign literature, hired agents to infiltrate Democratic campaigns, and organized fake demonstrations. Segretti recruited approximately 28 operatives across 12 states for his dirty tricks campaign. He was paid approximately $45,000 from Nixon campaign funds channeled through Herbert Kalmbach. When the Watergate investigation expanded beyond the break-in itself, Segretti's sabotage operation was exposed by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. In October 1973, Segretti pleaded guilty to three counts of distributing illegal campaign literature and was sentenced to six months in federal prison, of which he served four and a half months. After his release, Segretti returned to private law practice in California.

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Related Investigations (1)

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Sources & Documentation

3 documented sources from official records, investigations, and reports