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Blind Ambition: The White House Years by [John W. Dean]

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John W. Dean

Blind Ambition: The White House Years Kindle Edition

by John W. Dean (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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A six-month New York Times bestseller: “Not only the best Watergate book, but a very good book indeed” (The Sunday Times).

As White House counsel to Richard Nixon, a young John W. Dean was one of the primary players in the Watergate scandal—and ultimately became the government’s key witness in the investigations that ended the Nixon presidency. After the scandal subsided, Dean rebuilt his career, first in business and then as a bestselling author and lecturer. But while the events were still fresh in his mind, he wrote this remarkable memoir about the operations of the Nixon White House and the crisis that led to the president’s resignation.

Called “fascinating” by Commentary, which noted that “there can be little doubt of [Dean's] memory or his candor,” Blind Ambition offers an insider’s view of the deceptions and machinations that brought down an administration and changed the American people’s view of politics and power. It also contains Dean’s own unsparing reflections on the personal demons that drove him to participate in the sordid affair. Upon its original publication, Kirkus Reviews hailed it “the flip side of All the President’s Men—a document, a minefield, and prime entertainment.”

Today, Dean is a respected and outspoken advocate for transparency and ethics in government, and the bestselling author of such books as The Nixon Defense, Worse Than Watergate, and Conservatives Without Conscience. Here, in Blind Ambition, he “paints a candid picture of the sickening moral bankruptcy which permeated the White House and to which he contributed. His memory of who said what and to whom is astounding” (Foreign Affairs).

Print length

540 pages
Language

English
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Publisher

Open Road Media
Publication date

December 20, 2016
File size

3603 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Before you know it, you are turning the pages of Mr. Dean’s book as if you are reading about Watergate for the first time. And by the time you have finished, you are convinced that no previous book about the scandal—not even those by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein—has begun to tell the inside story as this one does.” —The New York Times

“A lively chronicle of megalomania and deception . . . Eminently readable . . . Dean is particularly good at reading the intricate network of White House power relationships, which he once climbed so surely.” —The New York Times Book Review

“The best and most enduring book written from inside the Nixon White House . . . A classic of lost illusions.” —Sidney Blumenthal, New York Times–bestselling author of The Clinton Wars

“Rare indeed is a memoir so utterly lacking in self-righteousness, false piety, and special pleading. It is a sobering reminder of the perils of ambition.” —Stanley Kutler, author of The Wars of Watergate

About the Author

John W. Dean (b. 1938) served as White House counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1970 to 1973. During the Watergate scandal, his Senate testimony helped lead to Nixon’s resignation. Dean has written about Watergate in his New York Times bestsellers Blind Ambition and The Nixon Defense. Among his fourteen other books are the national bestsellers Worse Than Watergate, Conservatives Without Conscience, and Broken Government. A retired investment banker, Dean is now a columnist, commentator, and teacher in a continuing legal education program for attorneys, the Watergate CLE. Most recently, Dean held the Barry Goldwater Chair of American Institutions at Arizona State University. He is currently consulting on a Watergate television series under development for ABC Entertainment.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01MF5Y4EB
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media; Reprint edition (December 20, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 20, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3603 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 540 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #178,584 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #56 in Corruption & Misconduct in Politics
- #114 in Lawyer & Judge Biographies
- #128 in Political History (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 688 ratings

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John W. Dean

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John Dean served as Counsel to the President of the United States from July 1970 to April 1973. Before becoming White House counsel at age thirty-one, he was the chief minority counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives, and an associate deputy attorney general at the US Department of Justice. His undergraduate studies were at Colgate University and the College of Wooster, with majors in English Literature and Political Science; then a graduate fellowship at American University to study government and the presidency before entering Georgetown University Law Center, where he received his JD with honors in 1965.

John recounted his days at the Nixon White House and Watergate in three books: Blind Ambition (Open Road 2016), Lost Honor (1982) and The Nixon Defense (2014). After retiring from a business career as a private investment banker doing middle-market mergers and acquisitions, he returned to full-time writing and lecturing, including as a columnist for FindLaw's Writ (from 2000 to 2010) and Justia’s Verdict (since 2010). Donald Trump’s election and presidency resulted in John’s 12th book by return to American authoritarianism, which he examined earlier New York Times best-sellers Conservatives Without Conscience (2006), because authoritarianism is on the ballot in 2020. Thus his study with Bob Altemeyer, Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers.

John held the Barry Goldwater Chair of American Institutions at Arizona State University (academic years 2015-16), and for the past decade and a half he has been a visiting scholar and lecturer at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communications. John is a CNN News contributor and analyst, and teaches continuing legal education (CLE) programs examining the impact of the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct on select historic events from Watergate and the Trump presidency with surprising results – see www.WatergateCLE.com

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

688 global ratings

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4 star		27%
3 star		8%
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Jellycat

I Love This Book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 1, 2021

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Blind Ambition is a satisfying tale of wrong put to right. It also is a dark coming of age story. Dean was 32 when he was hired as White House Counsel - counsel to the President. Lofty stuff! He drove a Porsche, had a dream job, and appeared to be a Golden Boy with a lustrous career ahead of him. Except.

Except that his boss, President Nixon, was a crook and had hired two talented thugs Haldeman and Ehrlichman to be his right hand men. It became clear to Dean from his first assignment - to dog down the Democratic opposition in some petty fashion - that the Dream Job was going to be, despite the trappings of the White House, a sordid one.

Very quickly, Dean got caught up in not just borderline, sordid, petty political machinations, but illegal ones that added up to the Watergate scandal. To the outside world, Dean was a huge winner. In reality, he was sweating bullets, fearing jail, and hitting the bottle hard to cope with the extreme stress and anxiety of his “dream job.” Nixon, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman, it turned out, utilized a loathsome pair of criminals - G. Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt, to carry out illegal acts that Nixon believed would ensure his re-election and help him crush his political opponents.

The 1970’s, when all this was transpiring, were times of greater moral clarity for the American public and their elected representatives. As Nixon’s wrongdoing came to light, the vast majority of the public and the leaders of his own party, as well as of the Democratic party, of course, called for his resignation. Nixon was forced to resign.

In subsequent years, as more and more evidence came to light, it became crystal clear how toxic Nixon and his crew were. Dean’s book, written so soon after the events, remains a testament to an America capable of self-correction and renewal, a process that played out in Dean’s life as well. The book is a treasure, and so is Mr. Dean. I wish him well.

9 people found this helpful

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Trainmaster

Blind Ambition by John Dean

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 21, 2012

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It may seem strange that just after ordering a new copy of "Blind Ambition" by John Dean, today, that I am writing a review.

Actually, I have the paperback edition and have read it several times. I wanted the hardback for the larger print size.

This is an excellent book, not just for taking the reader behind the scenes of Watergate, but for displaying the true personality of Richard Nixon.
The description that Dean gives of Nixon throughout the book corroborates the statements by Bob Haldeman and John Erlichman.

Blind Ambition is a tale of a President obsessed with only one goal - to make sure he got re-elected.
Richard Nixon was a man of insecurity and self-doubt, and these traits were strongly reinforced when Nixon lost the 1962 California governorship to incumbent Edmund G. "Pat" Brown.

It was Lawrence O'Brien, who was responsible for leaking about the Howard Hughes loan to Nixon's brother, Donald, that played a part in the 1962 loss of election to Governor.

Now, O'Brien was National Chairman of the Democratic National Party. Nixon worried about what "goods" O'Brien had on him now. Thus, the DNC Headquarters at the Watergate Complex were broken into; a third-rate burglary was turned into a major cover-up along with other crimes and White House horrors.

The discouraging remark to add to the above is, after you read this excellent book, you should try to see the TV-made movie, based on the book. The movie was well done, with Rip Torn playing Nixon, and doing the best job of anyone I have seen.

Unfortunately, no commercial version of the movie was released. It was a 4-part miniseries. Once-and-awhile,
the channels of STARZ shows it. You should record it, if it is shown again, as it is a very good presentation, faithful to the book, and almost non-existant.

Two other outstanding Watergate books, in addition to "Blind Ambition" highly recommened are "Watergate-the corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon" by Fred Emery (a mini-series was also done on that) and "784 Days That Changed America" by Barry Sussman (with another rare television production shown only once by Nancy Dickenson and Television Broadcasting Corp.

31 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

A very good telling of the Watergate scandal.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 4, 2022

Verified Purchase

I remember Watergate from when it happened. I did not know a lot about it except what I read back then. This is great narrative of all the events that happened. It was very readable and interesting. John Dean writes in a style that keeps your attention. I enjoyed the book.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

Blind Ambition is the most interesting and well written book I have read in a long time. Mr. Dean made me feel like I was a witness to one of the most horrible period of history. I am so glad he and his wife were able to be reunited and move on with their life.

One person found this helpful

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shelley

Good

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 29, 2022

Interesting

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 29, 2015

Verified Purchase

Assuming you take the portrayal at face value, allowing for a small admixture of self-service and exageration, this book is a must-read. You will learn a ton about the workings of the Nixon White House in general; and in particular, the cover up in response to the Warergate scandal. There's nothing like an insider's perspective to portray the (not very attractive) human element in such large historical processes.

After I stumbled across a claim that Dean testified that most of the book is grossly inaccurate, I read a few other hostile critiques. Most of them are written by people with an axe to grind. My common sense tells me that the book is mostly plausible. I mean, Dean sets out to draw himself as a weakling, lacking in integrity and a sycophantic coward. Not sure why he would take this angle unless he just wanted to make a clean breast of things. He'd already been convicted of obstruction of justice and sent to prison. What would he have to gain by distorting events at such a late date?

Anyways read it and decide for yourself.

36 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Ian James

Readable Book From A Watergate Criminal

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is an engrossing account of John Dean's central role in Watergate, how he was involved through his intelligence role as Counsel to the President before the break-in and afterwards covering the crime up. It's insightful, dramatic and less self-serving as other Watergate accounts. It's an engrossing and easy read.

2 people found this helpful

Dave Sheldon

If you're interested in Watergate. Read It !!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 3, 2018

Verified Purchase

Fantastic Inside Account Of What Really Happened. But not why, andb not revealed till Halderman's diary was publshed after his death.

John Eric Pollabauer

The John W. Dean Watergate Story

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

The incredible inside story of the actors involved in the Watergate Cover-Up fiasco, and how the lives of the winners and the losers changed as a result of the struggles to get and keep the powers that only the very select few people in the White House could ever possibly experience leaving the rest to only dream what the White House experience would be like. After reading the book, you will feel like you were involved in the drama and have a much better understanding of what working for the President of the USA in the White House Administration must really be like and leave you wondering if you would be up to all the challenges

Robert G McPherson

A True Inside Story!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 17, 2020

Verified Purchase

There was much that should have been learned from Watergate that wasn't. John Dean's account has much to say about an out of control White House. Memories should be refreshed and this is a good place to start.

Donna

Relevant today!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

Given the current state of affairs in the White House, I was inspired to read John Dean's account of the Watergate era, when I was a young adult. The atmosphere of anxiety and paranoia that Mr. Dean describes as being present in the WH in the Nixon years makes me guess that the current WH must surely be worse, by comparison. Highly recommended!

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