Customer Reviews

Blind Ambition: The White House Years

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4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is a well-written book, giving unparalleled glimpses into the Nixon White house and the character of its denizens. Dean, a controversial and not very admirable character, reveals many truths in this book, some really hair-raising to a naive believer in the virtues of government. He also provides many fascinating details, such as the constant rearrangement of offices and furniture in the White House to reflect internal political standings. Though surprisingly candid about his own personal flaws, he does paint himself in a more sympathetic light than is merited. Nevertheless, the overall candor and truth of his reports stands in contrast to those of other eyewitnesses. The controversial and revealing nature of his narrative is marked by the remarkable divergence of opinion seen in reviews of this book; a hard core of Nixon ideologues will hate Dean forever.

In 1970 John Dean was interviewed as the next counsel to the President; a little over four years later he was in jail. He rose, and fell, by being a willing servant. Dean's office was the center of Nixon's intelligence operation (lawyers have client confidentiality). His story was recreated from documents and taped conversations. Dean was working for the Justice Dept. when he was asked about working at the White House by Bud Krogh. John Mitchell advised him that the WH "was not a healthy place" (p.12). (Was this relatively young lawyer recruited to be a future fall guy?) The expenses for the San Clemente complex had been safely buried in inconspicuous budgets (p.16). Dean joined the WH, and soon learned "to keep my mouth shut" (p.23). Dean learned how interior decorating kept political scores (pp.29-30)! He also learned how to move upwards in influence by traveling downward through power plays, corruption, and outright crimes (p.30). Just as he made it to the top, he actually touched bottom.

Dean's education began when he read the "Huston Plan", which removed most legal restraints on wiretaps, mail intercepts, and burglaries. J. Edgar hoover vetoed the plan - the risk was greater than the reward (or turf protection?). More mundane matters are listed on pages 39-40. Page 45 tells of his first liability over a burglary. Page 51 tells how Erlichman won his power struggle against Mitchell. The Dita Beard letter is discussed on pages 53-59. J. Edgar Hoover said it was genuine, another action that infuriated the Nixon WH. The next liability was hiding the Town House Operation (pp.59-62). By May 1972 the ITT scandal ended and Kleindienst was confirmed; it looked like the end of the problems. Chapter 3 tells of the Howard Hughes affair. No mention of the Wallace shooting at all; Wallace's removal from the campaign allowed Nixon to win in a landslide. Dean tells the details of political intelligence for Nixon.

Chapter 4 begins with the burglary at the Watergate. Dean was called for advice, and told to investigate the "plumbers". The most important thing in all this is the friction and conflict among Nixon's men (pp.94-95). When Dean met Liddy they went for a walk outside; was this to avoid bugs (p.96)? If Strachan knew, Haldeman knew, and so did Nixon (p.98). It went up to the top of the chain. Next Strachan came to confess to Dean that he purged Haldeman's files (p.100). Then Sloan called to confess giving "large bundles of cash" to Liddy. Colson disavowed any knowledge or responsibility for Hunt. But Hunt was still on the WH payroll and had an office there (p.103). Page 121 summarizes the problems in defending the Administration, and how Dean hid evidence by turning it over to the FBI (p.122). He then crossed the line into criminal culpability. Dean's personal rapport allowed him access to the warring factions (p.125); but this sucked him into the conspiracy.

Chapter 5 tells of his new powers: one of the top people, meeting many new women (p.127). The Press ignored the scandal. Dean was "stunned" by Nixon's "bold lies" at a press conference (p.128). Dean was dazed by Nixon's claims (p.129). Later he began to suspect being set up as a fall guy (p.131). Note how a few pawns were sacrificed to save the king (p.133). Page 136 tells about assigning a case to an Nixon appointed judge! Dean's description of Nixon on page 138 suggests a personal problem. Page 143 explains Nixon's concern for civil liberties, and campaign contributions. Page 148 tells of the massive purge planned by Nixon; "he'll regret this" (p.149). Did this plan amount to a power grab? Stans explained his fund raising: wealthy targets owed a fixed percentage of their income (p.158). When Dean looks up "obstruction of justice" he realizes they're all guilty (p.168)! Hunt's missing notebooks were destroyed by Pat Gray (p.171). Then they hear from McCord: "it will be a scorched desert" (p.177). Dean destroyed evidence (p.182). Do you see where this is heading? Dean wrote a very readable book.

Dean's book is hard to put down. I've read it twice and enjoyed it both times. What makes it so fascinating is the way in which it is so easy to see how a young ambitious lawyer could find himself in such a situation. Dean implicates himself as well as many others and provides a real feeling for what it must have been like in the White House during those years.

This book is a "classic." Aside from being a very intelligent and honest individual, John W. Dean excels at writing and he has fashioned this very informative book into one of the most interesting that I have read. Dean is very well informed regarding government and the ways of Washington; therefore, this book will survive the ages as the authoritative work on Watergage and other government misdeeds.

This story is quite interesting. When I first read it, during the 1970s, I bought Mr. Dean's version of events hook, line and sinker -- and boy did he suck me in. He postured himself as someone involved way over his head who ended up being, in effect, a victim. I have concluded that some of the presented details are true, and some are not. The presentation, however, is uniformly riveting.

Read additional Watergate material for a broader view and better picture. The lesson here is that you can't always believe the story which appears, at first glance, to be the most convincing.

this was a long awaited volume that I really wanted to read for a very long time. I finally got around to buying it from a bookseller outside of the Amazon "family" since it was no longer available from Amazon. They got it to me quite fast and the read was fantastic. I enjoyed every page and every minute that I was surrounded by the "mystic of Watergate".
It was well worth the effort to buy it.

... it took me nearly 1 year to finish reading this book ... not because I am bored with Watergate ... the book just had sections that just dragged on and on and on and on ... There are a few bits that were very interesting though like how a young person can & did one day find himself the lawyer of the President of the United States. I, too, would prefer to be Lucky than Good.

This book is more fictional than a Tom Clancy novel. Read SILENT COUP to learn that John Dean was the orchestrator of the Watergate break-in (rather than a victim of it). John Dean said Gordon Liddy was lying about Dean's role in the break-in. Liddy (as he relates in the introduction of a recent edition of his autobiography WILL) told Dean to sue. Dean sued. And that was just what Liddy wanted. Because in a courtroom, Liddy could force Dean to admit that BLIND AMBITION was filled with lies and falsehoods. Dean did admit it, but blamed the lies in BLIND AMBITION on his ghost writer! That's the type man Dean is. Read SILENT COUP for the full story on Dean's involvement in Watergate.

I've never learned so much about the unseen world of politics as I have in this one book. George Stephanopolous' book pales in comparison to the amount of insight this book reveals. It's something we've known all along about government - just put into straightforward terms that everyone can understand. None of that NewSpeak politics that we hear about in the mainstream press, that limit our range of thought.

Anyone who gives this book a bad ranking is a government operative, seeking to hide information from the populace.

*A*

What a terrible display of dishonesty. John Dean wants to be a TV Star or Circus Showman but he is not aProphet of the Truth. This book is a Novella of pump and padded pages and thus a cheat within itself. This is a venture into the world of the fast buck and certainly is not a concern of mine. I prefer Gordon Liddy's version of events and in truth Liddy has been proven right based on recent facts. John Dean has been proven to defend a lying President cited for Contempt for lying under oath by a Federal Judge as he did Clinton. Consequently, he was a very poor Lawyer back in the 1970's and thank god he can no longer represent people. He is without principles or backbone and knows it and tries to cover it up with this book.