I am sure that you know that the one person most responsible for the resignation of Richard Nixon was John Dean.
I barely, if at all, knew John Dean but I had an experience with him that will remain with me all the days I am alive on this planet.
I had gone to the Executive Office Building (the old Army and Navy Building right next to the White House) to meet with Leonard Garment at about 10 o'clock in the morning. The year was 1973 after the elections but before the Watergate hearings, but don't ask me the date.
Leonard and I had a long discussion and he then invited me to lunch in the White House mess (appropriately called). We walked from the Executive Office building to the White House (they are right across from each other) even though it was drizzling (I understand there is a tunnel which connects the two but we did not use it).
After we had washed up we went to the Mess. It is down a few steps and is below the corridor level. If memory serves me correctly there are about 4 steps down to the White House Mess from the corridor. Leonard Garment was leading the way.He went down the steps into the Mess and asked for a table. It was filled so we had a few moments wait. I was standing on the second or third step . At that moment a man walked by me. Leonard spoke up and said "Pierre, you have never met John Dean, have you? With that the man walking up the steps stopped and put his hand out.
For some reason I could not shake hands with him. My immediate reaction was revulsion and distaste. He finally took his hand down and left. Leonard Garment then scolded me (properly so) for not shaking the hand of John Dean. I explained to him that, for some reason I could not fathom, I could not touch John Dean. I could not explain it nor did I try. It was just beyond me.
ASIDE. This was not the first time in my life nor was it the last time when this happened to me.END OF ASIDE.
That's not the end of the story. Years later I was in Cleveland to give an annual speech and was invited to appear on the Dorothy Fuldheim show (she is now deceased). When I got to the studio there was John Dean waiting to be interviewed by Dorothy. When I crept in he turned around and came over to me. He looked me straight in the eye and this is what he said "I remember you, you refused to shake my hand when you were in the White House with Leonard Garment"
You may or may not know that it was the testimony of John Dean before the Congress of the United States that really brought down Richard Nixon and helped solidify the case for possible impeachment of Richard Nixon. Dean, of course, had been on the Nixon staff so he has to go down in history as a whistleblower.
Was he right to do what he did? Would I have blown the whistle?
I really do not know. All I know is that every time (actually quite a few times) I blew the whistle I was the one who ended up in trouble!
These are the backgrounds of prominent people I have known. The backgrounds may be incomplete or they may be wrong. I am working from memory and the backgrounds I give you are from my personal (not book) knowledge. This is their backgrounds as I knew them. I have not checked out the details and the backgrounds are incomplete but they do jell with my knowledge of them and my experiences with them.
