In 1962, he dropped out of American University to enroll in Georgetown Law School, from which he graduated in 1965.Instead, he enrolled in American University in Washington, DC, doing graduate work in political science. He graduated in the lower third of his class in 1961 (144/204), but did not go to law school. In his Senior Year, Dean married Karla Hennings, daughter of Senator Thomas Hennings of Missouri.Things did not go well for him at Colgate and he again switched schools in the middle of his Sophomore Year-returning to Ohio to attend tiny Wooster College, where his activities centered on the Pre-Law Club. Instead, he enrolled at Colgate University in New York, intending to major in English. He graduated from Staunton in 1957, but did not go into the military.It is not clear what happened at Baker High, but in that era you got sent away to military school only if you came from a military family or there was trouble on the home front. Dean grew up in Marion, Ohio and first attended Eber Baker High School-switching to Staunton Military Academy in Virginia early in his Sophomore year.One might believe that his story was one of a natural progression from Wooster College to Georgetown Law School to the House Judiciary Committee, the Department of Justice and then to the Nixon White House-but this would overlook the astonishing number of fits and restarts in his early career: You will read his books and search the Internet in vain if you are looking for any detail in John Dean’s rise to power. The actual story, however, is not nearly so benevolent to Dean or his actions: He is the arch-villain of Watergate-playing central roles in bringing the problem about, making it far worse through an inept cover-up, and then changing sides and his story in an effort to avoid punishment for his misdeeds. No doubt Dean will be described as the former Counsel to President Nixon who got caught up in all the wrongdoing, but repented in time to become the lead government witness against his former colleagues in the Watergate Cover-up trial. The book launch is planned for June 17 th at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. Senator Sam Ervin, Democrat-North Carolina, chairman of the committee administers the oath.īlind Ambition, John Dean’s 1976 book about Watergate, is being released in a paperback version -with a new After word by the author. Dean III, the fired White House Counsel, is sworn in 6/25 as the Senate Watergate Committee resumes its investigation of the Watergate affair. Original caption from Bettman/Corbis: John W. Editor’s note: John Dean will be giving a lecture entitled Watergate: The Final Chapter from 7pm to 9pm (pst) at Chapman University in Orange, California.

The Nixon Defense by John W. Dean