South Bend, February 21, 1975
The Final Closure of Watergate
Federal Judge John J. Sirica sentenced John M. Mitchel, H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman to several years in prison. This sentence brings the Watergate affair to a final closure. The court acted impartially without regard for the high social standing of the defendants. What a tragic turn in the personal lives of these individuals, who not long ago held positions of power in the White House! That of all people, John Mitchel as former Attorney General [U.S. Attorney General from January, 1969 to February, 1972] has to serve a prison term, underscores the grotesque spectacle, which has played out on the American political arena.