Blind Ambition: The End of the Story by John W. Dean Read Free Book Online

wrote my first memorandum to the President, explaining the hazards of a lawsuit and the wisdom of waiting to see what an FBI investigation produced. I thought the affair had been put to rest. Not so. Back came another action memorandum from the staff secretary. The President agreed with my conclusions, but he wasn’t yet content. “It was requested,” said the memorandum, “that as part of this inquiry you should have the Internal Revenue Service conduct a field investigation on the tax front.”
    This was the “old Nixon” at work, heavy-handed, after somebody. I began to fret. How could anything be at once so troubling and so absurd? The President was asking me to do something I thought was dangerous, unnecessary, and wrong. I did nothing for several days, but the deadline was hard upon me. I couldn’t simply respond, “Dean opposes this request because it is wrong and possibly illegal.” I had to find some practical reason for doing the right thing or I would be gone. I called Bud Krogh several times, but he was out. Then I thought of my recent acquaintance, Murray Chotiner, and arranged to meet him.
    “I need some counsel, Murray.”
    “You’re the lawyer. You’re the one who is supposed to give counsel around here,” he said with a chuckle.
    “I’m still trying to find the water fountains in this place,” I said. “Murray, seriously, I need some advice. The President wants me to turn the IRS loose on a shit-ass magazine called Scanlan’s Monthly because it printed a bogus memo from the Vice-President’s office about canceling the ‘seventy-two election and repealing the Bill of Rights.”
    Murray laughed. “Hell, Agnew’s got a great idea. I hope he has a good plan worked out. It would save us a lot of trouble if we dispensed with the ‘seventy-two campaign.” Murray wasn’t taking my visit as seriously as I was. We joked about Agnew for a few minutes before I could get him to focus on my problem, and he had the answer. “If the President wants you to turn the IRS loose, then you turn the IRS loose. It’s that simple, John.”
    “I really don’t think it’s necessary, Murray. The President’s already got Mitchell investigating it. The FBI, I guess.” 1 *
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    1 * Years later I would learn that Mitchell did nothing, and there was no FBI investigation.
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    “I’ll tell you this, if Richard Nixon thinks it’s necessary you’d better think it’s necessary. If you don’t, he’ll find someone who does.”
    I was not convinced and said so, but nicely. “Okay, but let me ask you this, Murray. You’re a lawyer. Isn’t it illegal and therefore crazy to use the IRS to attack someone the President doesn’t like?”
    “Not so,” he snorted. He stopped and retrieved the calm he rarely lost. “John, the President is the head of the executive branch of this damn government. If he wants his tax collectors to check into the affairs of anyone, it’s his prerogative. I don’t see anything illegal about it. It’s the way the game is played. Do you think for a second that Lyndon Johnson was above using the IRS to harass those guys who were giving him a hard time on the war? No sir. Nor was Lyndon above using the IRS against some good Republicans like Richard Nixon. I’ll tell you he damn near ruined a few.”
    Murray was testy, or maybe defensive—I couldn’t decide. It was clear that he didn’t want to discuss the matter further. I thanked him and left. If I was going to play ball in Richard Nixon’s league, I would have to get over my squeamishness. I am not sure what I would have done if John J. Caulfield had not walked into my office.
    Jack Caulfield could easily have been born in the mind of Damon Runyon instead of in New York City. He had moved up the ranks of the New York police force, from a street beat to detective, arriving at the White House after an assignment as candidate Nixon’s personal bodyguard in 1968. Bob Haldeman had assigned him to me without telling me why.