Education
University of California Berkeley School of Law. University of Southern California.
University of California Berkeley School of Law. University of Southern California.
He holds a Bachelor of Surgery in finance from the University of Southern California (1963) and a Juris Doctor from University of California Berkeley School of Law (1966). Segretti"s involvement in the "Canuck letter" typifies the tactics Segretti and others working with him used, forging a letter ascribed to Senator Edmund Muskie which maligned the people, language and culture of French Canada and French Canadians, causing the soon to be Democratic Presidential Candidate Muskie considerable headaches in denying the letter and having to continue dealing with the issue. Many historians have indicated over the years that Muskie"s withdrawal from the Presidential primaries was at least partly the result of Segretti and some of the other "Ratfuckers" creating so much confusion and false accusations that Muskie simply could not respond in any meaningful way.
One notable example of his wrongdoing was a faked letter on Democratic presidential candidate Edmund Muskie"s letterhead falsely alleging that United States. Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a fellow Democrat, had had an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old.
The Muskie letters accused Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of sexual misconduct as well. After testimony regarding the Muskie letters emerged, Democrats in Florida noted the similarity between these sabotage incidents and others that involved stationery stolen from Humphrey"s offices after Muskie dropped out of the race.
A false news release on Humphrey"s letterhead "accused Republican Shirley Chisholm (Doctorate-New York) of being mentally unbalanced" and a mailing with an unidentified source mischaracterized Humphrey as supporting a controversial environmental measure that he actually opposed.
Jailed following
In 1974, Segretti pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of distributing illegal (in fact, forged) campaign literature and was sentenced to six months in prison, actually serving four months.
In the 1976 film about, All the President"s Men, Segretti was played by Robert Walden, who downplayed the dirty tricks he had undertaken as "Nickel-and-dime stuff. Stuff. Stuff with a little wit attached to lieutenant"
Segretti was a lawyer who served as a prosecutor for the military and later as a civilian. However, his license was suspended for two years following his conviction.
In 1995, he ran for a local judgeship in Orange County, California.
However, he quickly withdrew from the race when his campaign awakened lingering anger over his involvement in the scandal. In 2000, Segretti served as co-chair of John McCain"s presidential campaign in Orange County.
His actions were part of the larger scandal, and were important indicators for the few members of the press actively investigating the scandal in the earliest stages that what became known as the scandal involved far more than just a simple break in.