The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It – John Dean

John w. Dean presents a day-to-day record of the Nixon White House confronting the revelation of the break-in, strat­egizing its defense, and ultimately facing its downfall because of its lies. The Nixon Defense is not only a compelling and historic account of Watergate itself, but a stunning portrait of Nixon and his aides, along with the cynicism, paranoia, and vindictiveness that were so often the driving forces of the president and his inner circle.

Controver­sies still remain—from the notorious 18 ½-minute gap in the Nixon recordings to the fundamental question of what Nixon really knew and when he knew it. Surprisingly, the primary source material for the true story of Nixon’s role in Watergate—his secret record­ings—have never been fully examined. John Dean found over 600 conversations no one outside the National Archives had listened to, and he prepared his own transcripts of all the Watergate conversations (approximately 1,000) to reconstruct the full history of the scandal in a dramatic narrative, with dialogue drawn directly from all the recorded conversations.

John W. Dean was legal counsel to President Nixon during the Watergate scandal, and his Sen­ate testimony lead to Nixon’s resignation. In 2006, Dean testified before the Senate Judiciary Commit­tee investigating George W. Bush’s NSA warrant­less wiretap program. He teaches a continuing legal education program throughout the country, drawing on the lessons of Watergate, and his political/legal commentary at Justia.com is widely read. He is a New York Times bestselling author.