JOHN DEAN

John Wesley Dean III was born on October 14, 1938 in Akron, Ohio. After graduating from the Staunton Military Academy in Virginia he went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree at The College of Wooster in Ohio in 1961. He then attended Georgetown University Law Center and received his Juris Doctor in 1965. He obtained a junior associate position at the Washington law firm of Welch & Morgan upon his graduation from Georgetown. Dean served as chief minority council for the Judiciary Committee in the United States House of Representatives from 1966 to 1967. He then spent the next two years as Associate Director of the National Commission on Reform of Federal Criminal Laws before working as an Associate Deputy Attorney, General Office of Criminal Justice, and Department of Justice, between 1969 and 1970. On July 9, 1970, Dean became Counsel to President Richard Nixon until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal and his subsequent testimony to Congress as a witness. His guilty plea to a single felony in exchange for becoming a key witness for the prosecution ultimately resulted in a reduced sentence. Barred from practicing law due to his conspiracy conviction, Dean worked as an investment banker, lecturer, author, and political commentator.