On November 17, 2004, the Society put on an exciting program, “Reflections on Watergate.” Nearly 30 years after the jury returned its verdict finding President Nixon’s closest advisors guilty of obstruction of justice, the key participants in that historic trial came together for the first time since the trial to discuss its historic significance and the lessons learned.
Lead prosecutor, James F. Neal; Attorney General John Mitchell’s counsel, Plato Cacheris; the lead government witness, former Counsel to the President John Dean; and Judge John Sirica’s law clerk, D. Todd Christofferson, gave their unique perspectives on the events that led to President Nixon’s resignation and the subsequent cover-up trial.
Former NBC News Correspondent Carl Stern moderated the panel discussion.
Some highlights of the program included details of how taped conversations made in the Oval Office, together with John Dean’s testimony, identified those who participated in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in; how Dean spent hours in the basement of the Courthouse painstakingly reviewing each tape prior to the trial; and how the White House became, in James Neal’s words, a place where “anything goes.”
Both James Neal and John Dean expressed the view that President Nixon did not know beforehand of the plans for the break-in.
The panel shed new light on this important event in history and provided anecdotal information about the trial and the participants that fascinated the audience of judges, attorneys, law clerks, and others.
Plato Cacheris is a 1956 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. He served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps from 1951 to 1953, and then began his legal career at the U.S. Department of Justice. Subsequently, he established himself as one of the nation’s preeminent criminal defense lawyers.
Former law clerk for Judge John Sirica, D. Todd Christofferson graduated from Brigham Young University where he was an Edwin S. Hinckley scholar, member of the Blue Key National Honor Fraternity, and student body Academics Vice President. He received his law degree from Duke University in 1972 where he was a member of the editorial board of the Duke Law Journal and of the school’s national Moot Court team.
John Dean was Legal Counsel to U.S. President Richard Nixon during Watergate. Mr. Dean started his legal career in Washington in the late 1960s as the Chief Minority Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee. He then served as an Associate Deputy in the Attorney General’s Office before being appointed as White House Counsel.
James F. Neal is a graduate of the University of Wyoming, the Vanderbilt University School of Law and Georgetown University School of Law (Master’s Degree.) At Vanderbilt, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Vanderbilt University Law Review and recipient of the Founders Medal given to the student who maintained the highest grade point average throughout law school. Mr. Neal was a member of the United States Marine Corps from 1952 until 1954.