2011-2012 Speakers
John dean
President Nixon's White House lawyer and central figure in Watergate
October 4, 2011
7 p.m.
Tilson Auditorium
Before becoming Counsel to the President of the United States in July 1970 at the age of 31, John Dean was Chief Minority Counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, the Associate Director of the National Commission on Reform of the Federal Criminal Laws, and the Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States. He served as Richard Nixon's White House lawyer for a thousand days.
He recounted his days in the Nixon White House and Watergate in two books, Blind Ambition and Lost Honor. After a successful career in private investment banking, Dean retired to write and lecture, and has addressed the law, government, and politics a string of best-sellers including The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court; Warren G. Harding; Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush; Conservatives Without Conscience; Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches, and Pure Goldwater. Dean has recently reissued Blind Ambition with a substantial new afterword to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Watergate.
Dean is currently working on his eleventh book, while also regularly providing television and radio commentary.