John W. Dean

The former White House counsel faults Republican mismanagement for the current state of the governmentJohn Dean has become one of the most trenchant and respected commentators on the current state of American politics and one of the most outspoken and perceptive critics of the administration of George W. Bush in his New York Times bestsellers Conservatives Without Conscience and Worse Than Watergate.In his eighth book, Dean takes the broadest and deepest view yet of the dysfunctional chaos and institutional damage that the Republican Party and its core conservatives have inflicted on the federal government. He assesses the state of all three branches of government, tracing their decline through the presidencies of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II. Unlike most political commentary, which is concerned with policy, Dean looks instead at process— making the case that the 2008 presidential race must confront these fundamental problems as well. Finally, he addresses the question that he is so often asked at his speaking engagements: What, if anything, can and should politically moderate citizens do to combat the extremism, authoritarianism, incompetence, and increasing focus on divisive wedge issues of so many of today's conservative politicians?With the Democrats now in control of both the House and Senate, the stakes for the 2008 presidential election have never been higher. This is a book for anyone who wants to return government to the spirit of the Constitution.

Former White House counsel and bestselling author John Dean reveals how the Bush White House has set America back decades--employing a worldview and tactics of deception that he claims will do more damage to the nation than Nixon at his worst.

John Dean takes a sobering look at how radical elements are destroying the Republican Party along with the very foundations of American democracyJohn Dean's last New York Times bestseller, Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush, offered the former White House insider's unique and telling perspective on George W. Bush's presidency. Once again, Dean employs his distinctive knowledge and understanding of Washington politics and process to examine the conservative movement's current inner circle of radical Republican leaders—from Capitol Hill to Pennsylvania Avenue to K Street and beyond. In Conservatives Without Conscience, Dean not only highlights specific right-wing-driven GOP policies but also probes the conservative mind-set, identifying recurring qualities such as the unbridled viciousness toward those daring to disagree with them, as well as the big business favoritism that costs taxpayers billions. Dean identifies specific examples of how court packing is seeking to form a judiciary that is activist by its very nature, how religious piety is producing politics run amok, and how concealed indifference to the founding principles of liberty and equality is pushing America further and further from its constitutional foundations.By the end, Dean paints a vivid picture of what's happening at the top levels of the Republican Party, a noble political party corrupted by its current leaders who cloak their actions in moral superiority while packaging their programs as blatant propaganda. Dean, certainly no alarmist, finds disturbing signs that current right-wing authoritarian thinking, when conflated with the dominating personalities of the conservative leadership could take the United States toward its own version of fascism.

Barry Goldwater was a defining figure in mid-20th-century American public life, a firebrand politician associated with an optimistic brand of conservatism. In an era in which American conservatism has lost its way, his legacy is more important than ever. For over 50 years, in those moments when he was away from the political fray, Senator Goldwater kept a private journal, recording his reflections on a rich political and personal life. Here bestselling author John Dean combines analysis with Goldwater's own words. With unprecedented access to his correspondence, interviews, and behind-the-scenes conversations, Dean sheds new light on this political figure. From the late Senator's honest thoughts on Richard Nixon to his growing discomfort with the rise of the extreme right, this book offers a revelatory look at an American icon--and reminds us of a more hopeful alternative to the dispiriting political landscape of today.--From publisher description.

How did America end up with a leader who acts so crudely and despotically, and counter to our democratic principles? Why do his followers stick with him, even when he acts against their own interests? To fully understand, John Dean, a man with a history of standing up to autocratic presidents, joined with Bob Altemeyer, a professor of psychology with a unique area of expertise: Authoritarianism. Relying on social science findings and psychological diagnostic tools (such as the "Power Mad Scale" and the "Con Man Scale"), as well as research and analysis from the Monmouth University Polling Institute (one of America's most respected public opinion research foundations), the authors provide us with an eye-opening understanding of the Trump phenomenon — and how we may be able to stop it.

John Dean's e-book is a thrilling Watergate detective story, with new evidence on the identity of history's most elusive news source

Ever since John W. Dean published his Conservatives Without Conscience in 2006, much interest has been vested in the research of Dr. Bob Altemeyer that was so prominently featured in the book. In CWC, Dean set out to learn why modern conservatives seemed to think and behave in ways diametrically opposite the righteous and moral values they so publicly espoused. What he discovered was an existing body of scientific research tracing back to the cinders of the Holocaust. This research focused on the Authoritarian Personality, which social scientists believe was the enabling element within German society that was so deftly exploited by Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich. Bob Altemeyer studied the authoritarian personality for over 40 years while a professor of psychology. His experiments drew high praise from other scientists, and won the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Prize for Behavioral Science Research. This book summarizes his many findings, and has been widely acclaimed for the relaxed, conversational way the author presents far-reaching and penetrating insights into American life today. -- source: Publisher In the nonfiction audiobook The Authoritarians, psychologist Bob Altemeyer shares his research on the aggressive and hostile nature of the authoritarian personality and the rise of the Right-Wing Authoritarian personality in the United States.... In a clear and direct voice, Altemeyer performs his own fascinating work. He details how authoritarianism is destroying traditional conservatism and what this means for the future of American politics and democracy. -- source: Audible

"Former White House Counsel John W. Dean, one of the last major surviving figures of Watergate, draws on his own transcripts of almost a thousand conversations, a wealth of Nixon's secretly recorded information, and more than 150,000 pages of documents in the National Archives and the Nixon Library to provide the definitive answer to the question: what did President Nixon know and when did he know it?"--Amazon.com.

"In the fall of 1971, when William Rehnquist was nominated to fill an associate justice seat on the Supreme Court, the Senate raised no major objections, and a little-known assistant attorney general suddenly found himself at the pinnacle of the judiciary. It seemed, at the time, a straightforward choice of a relatively young, academically outstanding, and politically seasoned lawyer who shared Richard Nixon's philosophy of "strict constructionism." In fact, as Nixon's White House counsel John Dean reveals here for the first time, the choice was anything but straightforward. The behind-the-scenes truth is that Rehnquist's nomination was the result of a dramatic and very Nixonian rollercoaster. Rehnquist was a last-minute substitution, an unlikely longshot who had once been dismissed by Nixon as a "clown." Only John Dean - who was Rehnquist's champion at the time - knows the full, improbable story."--BOOK JACKET.