Thread by @jimrobenalt

March 21, 1973. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of one of the most important conferences in the Oval Office between a president and White House Counsel. 1/8

On that day, 34-year-old John W. Dean told Richard Nixon that there was a "cancer growing on his presidency." 2/8

He told him that he, Dean, and other would likely have to go to jail to protect the presidency. Nixon instructed him to create a false report to give to Congress and investigators.
Dean had seen enough. 3/8

That weekend at Camp David, where he had been sent to write his bogus report, he had an epiphany--the cover-up had to end. He did not do a end-run around the administration--he told them up front he was consulting a lawyer. This "standing up to power" took enormous courage. 4/8

Dean could have gone along with everyone else and not only maintained his law license but probably looked forward to a reward, like a federal judgeship.
And when I say courage, remember--he had no idea he was being taped, let alone that the tapes would fully corroborate... 5/8

his testimony.
During the Trump years everyone kept expecting a "John Dean" to emerge with the courage to stop the corruption. Some like Michael Cohen showed backbone, but he did not bring the kind of firepower Bill Barr or others within the administration could have provided.6/8

There was no John Dean because there are so few people like him. He stands out singularly in American history--ready to pay the price for his own wrongdoing and support the truth wherever it led.
Today he is 83. 7/8

We will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in with John and Jill Wine-Banks at Thompson Hine's new Chicago office this June.
I am proud to have produced the Watergate CLE with John since June 2011, when our first programs were delivered in Chicago. 8/8

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