At a relatively early age, John Dean began working in the Nixon White
House as one of the
president’s advisers. As
the investigation into
Watergate progressed, he at first participation in the attempt to cover
up any connection between the White House and the Watergate burglars.
As persistent investigators began to zero in on those closest to the
president, in their search for answers to questions about what had
actually happened, those closest to the president began to look for a
scapegoat. Upon realizing that he was in their sights to
fulfill such a role, John Dean decided to cooperate with investigators
and reveal what he knew about the dirty tricks played by the Nixon
White House. He presents his side of the story in this book, Blind
Ambition.The title refers to his desire to be close to the
president, showing him how skilled a lawyer and adviser he was.
However, as he later came to find out, being so close to power had its
costs. In this case, Dean ultimately had to spend time in jail, in
punishment for his activities in the Nixon cover-up.In this
book, he opens himself to
public scrutiny as few public officials ever
do. The books complements In an extraordinary way the image the public
gained of Dean, as he testified before the Senate hearings, chaired by
Sam Ervin, about his role in the Watergate cover-up.