John Dean on what Nixon knew about Watergate
I would have preferred to carry through to the finish. I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is finished is abhorrent to every instinct in my body.Richard Nixon, resigning the office of the presidency on August 9, 1974
Nixon did something that remains unique in American politics. He announced his decision to resign the presidency.
The scandal he couldn't out-run was a third rate burglary that blossomed into a constitutional crisis for Americans. It saw some of Nixon's closest aides go to prison.
John Dean in the mid-1970s (Getty Images/Denver Post/Jodi Cobb)
To me, there is no unanswered question about Watergate.John Dean, White House Counsel to Richard Nixon
Mr. Dean was White House Counsel to Richard Nixon during the Watergate coverup, as well as a key witness for the prosecution. He says he tried to warn the president, but Nixon just couldn't - or wouldn't - see the danger.
John Dean is the author of a new book, The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It.
If Nixon had just been a cardboard, moustache-twirling villain, I don't think I would have been much interested in him...This was a very complicated, intelligent, talented man, with tremendous darkness in him - and tremendous rage.Historical novelist Thomas Mallon
Watergate has a cast of characters that would make any fiction writer drool. A complex, paranoid president, a secret criminal intelligence unit operating out of the White House, and a cast of yes men who put power above principle.
Thomas Mallon is one of America's most acclaimed historical novelists. We spoke with him about his latest book, Watergate: A Novel.
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This segment was produced by The Current's Sarah Grant.