Watergate Hearings: John Dean's Opening Statement (1973)

June 25, 1973 - John Dean summarizes his 245-page opening statement. Watch more from the hearings: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/09/united-states-senate-watergate-he...

John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) was White House Counsel to United States President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. As White House Counsel, he became deeply involved in events leading up to the Watergate burglaries and the subsequent Watergate scandal cover up, even referred to as "master manipulator of the cover up" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was convicted of multiple felonies as a result of Watergate, and went on to become a key witness for the prosecution, resulting in a reduction of his time in prison.

Dean is currently an author, columnist, and commentator on contemporary politics, strongly critical of conservatism and the Republican Party, and a registered Independent who supported impeachment of President George W. Bush.

Dean, then White House Counsel, met with Jeb Magruder (Deputy Director of CRP) and John N. Mitchell (Attorney General of the United States, and Director of CRP) for a presentation by G. Gordon Liddy on January 27, 1972. At that time, Liddy presented a preliminary plan for intelligence gathering operations during the campaign year 1972. Liddy presented a revised plan to the same group on February 4, which was, however, left unapproved at that stage. A scaled-down plan would be approved by late March of that year. This would lead eventually to attempts to eavesdrop on the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C., and to the Watergate scandal.

On February 28, 1973, Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding his nomination to replace J. Edgar Hoover as Director of the FBI. Armed with newspaper articles indicating the White House had possession of FBI Watergate files, the committee chairman, Sam Ervin, questioned Gray as to what he knew about the White House obtaining the files. Gray stated he had given reports to Dean, and had discussed the FBI investigation with Dean on many occasions. Gray's nomination failed, and now Dean was directly linked to the Watergate cover-up.

On March 23, the Watergate burglars were sentenced with stiff fines and prison time; Dean hired an attorney and began his cooperation with Watergate investigators on April 6, while continuing to work as Nixon's Chief White House Counsel, never disclosing this obvious conflict to Nixon. On April 22, Nixon requested Dean put together a report with everything he knew about the Watergate matter and even invited him to take a retreat to Camp David to do so.

Coupled with his sense of distance from Nixon's inner circle, "The Berlin Wall" of advisors H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, Dean sensed he was going to become the Watergate scapegoat, and despite going to Camp David, he returned to Washington without having completed his report. Nixon fired Dean on April 30, the same date he also announced the resignations of Haldeman and Ehrlichman.

On June 25, Dean began his testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee, in which he implicated administration officials, including Nixon fundraiser and former Attorney General John Mitchell, Nixon and himself. He was the first administration official to accuse Nixon of direct involvement with Watergate and the resulting cover-up in press interviews. Such testimony against Nixon, while damaging to the president's credibility, had little impact legally, as it was merely his word against Nixon's. Nixon vigorously denied all accusations against him that he authorized a cover-up, and Dean had no proof beyond various notes he had taken in his meetings with the president. It was not until secret White House tape recordings were made public and analyzed that Dean's accusations were substantiated.

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[cookieman38111]

@gotch09 Read the book Silent Coup and you won't be suprised at all.

[gotch09]

@meushubris Done that a time or two myself. Wow,though, I'm really surprised they're still together. She didn't strike me as the stick around time.

[meushubris]

@gotch09 Sorry, I put another post up there answering it, but I guess it didnt go through. They are still married I believe. Sorry about that

[gotch09]

@meushubris That was[n't quite my question. My question was:did the Dean marriage survive.

[meushubris]

@gotch09 The Radford-Moore affair. This was military espionage brought about by high up military leaders and directed against the National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger and against US President Richard Nixon.

This is the heart of the WaterGate matter, along with the Dallas issues surrounding Kennedy and E Howard Hunt.

[meushubris]

@gotch09 Still married I believe. She was a prostitute, but people still debate this. Personally I believe she was more a madam than a common street hooker like I previously stated. I think she may have started out hooking in school, but later ran the ops due to her marriage connections and standing in society at the time in the DC area. Sadly, this whole WaterGate affair and the rumors of prostitution and pimping I think were a ruse to throw the law and the public at large off the real scandal

[gotch09]

@meushubris I've heard the rumor that Maureen Dean was at one point, a prostitute. Don't know if it's true or not. BTW, can you answer a question for me? Are the Deans still married? After the hearings Maureen seemed like she just dropped entirely off the radar. At least I never heard anything more about her.

[annajeehee]

He's an ass

[meushubris]

@88maverick1 You should read his book, along with the 40 others I have on the subject, Dean lied, period. His wife and another woman were running a whore shop for the elite of Washington. Why not look into the Radford-Moore affair, which is explained in depth in the book 'Secret Agenda'. Learn to research. And no, Nixon was not a petty crook. He was a treasonous antiAmerican elitist, just like the ones he damned for decades. Learn history bud.

[meushubris]

Dean was a liar

His wife was a common street hooker