Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush

John Dean knows what happens behind closed doors at the White House. As counsel to President Richard Nixon, he witnessed the malignant influence of excessive secrecy and its corruption of good intentions. Pundits and partisans can point fingers. Only Dean can reveal with true insider knowledge the dangers of a presidency that has crossed the line.

In Worse than Watergate, Dean presents a stunning indictment of George W. Bush's administration. He assembles overwhelming evidence of its obsessive secrecy and the dire and dangerous consequences resulting from a return to Nixonian governing. Worse than Watergate connects the dots, explaining the hidden agenda of a White House shrouded in secrecy and a presidency that seeks to remain unaccountable. Dean lays out a blistering case against President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, revealing, among other facts, even criminal offenses:

• How the Bush administration has shamelessly exploited the 9/11 tragedy, while secretly working to scuttle all efforts to discover why America was so unprepared, and covering up the fact that President Clinton and his advisers privately warned of the serious problem.
• How Bush's deeply flawed secret decision making is costing American blood and well-being abroad and the loss of civil rights and liberties at home, while only making Americans more vulnerable to terrorism.
• How Bush's and Cheney's blatant and unchecked uses of Nixonian stonewalling, obfuscation, and deceit have concealed government business that the public has a right to know.
• How Bush and Cheney have taken a Nixonian approach to any and all efforts of Congress and the news media to check their uses and abuses of power.

Worse than Watergate brilliantly reveals the serious dangers of a president who, like Nixon, is a gambler and believes he is above the law. John Dean lays out an irrefutable case that the tactics of the Bush administration are, in intent and reach, the most potentially dangerous threat to American life in recent political history. Shocking and revelatory, Worse than Watergate is the book the Bush team doesn't want you read.

"This title's accusation bears particular weight coming from the man who warned the super-secretive Richard Nixon that there was a cancer on his presidency, and Dean, who was Nixon's White House counsel, makes a strong argument that the secrecy of what he dubs the 'Bush-Cheney presidency' is 'not merely unjustified and excessive but obsessive,' and consequently 'frighteningly dangerous.' Some of the subjects he touches on have been covered in detail elsewhere, and his chapter on the administration's stonewalling of the September 11 commission isn't fully up to date. But few critics have as effectively put the disparate pieces together, linking them to what Dean says is a broader pattern of secrecy from an administration that does its best to control the flow of information on every subject — even the vice president's health — and uses executive privilege to circumvent congressional scrutiny. Dean's probe extends back to Bush's pre-presidential activities, such as his attempt to withhold his gubernatorial papers from public view, and Dean's background as an investment banker adds welcome perspective on Bush's business career (as well as Cheney's). Dean ultimately identifies 11 issues (such as the secrecy around the forming of a national energy policy and what Dean calls Bush's misleading of Congress about war with Iraq) on which the White House's stance could lead to scandal, and warns that allowing the administration to continue its policy of secrecy may lead to a weakening of democracy. Despite occasional comments about Bush's intelligence that will rankle presidential supporters, Dean (Blind Ambition) is generally levelheaded; his role in Watergate and the seriousness of his charge in the national media that Bush has committed impeachable offenses has popped this onto bestseller lists." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"[F]ew critics have as effectively put the disparate pieces together, linking them to what Dean says is a broader pattern of secrecy from an administration that does its best to control the flow of information on every subject." Publishers Weekly

"[Dean] paints a convincingly grim picture of the administration's culture of secrecy." Franklin Foer, The New York Times Book Review

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.

Worse Than Watergate will be published in the heat of primary season, when all eyes begin to focus on the November presidential election. John W. Dean's profile remains incredibly high, with regular appearances on national TV and radio shows, and his widely read online column. No author or commentator possesses such unique knowledge of Bush's presidential ploys and their striking comparisons to Nixon's, an irresistible hook for the media in an election year that coincides with the 30th anniversary of Nixon's resignation. He is the author of five books, including the New York Times bestseller Blind Ambition.

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

Widely known for his role in the Nixon administration and his classic, bestselling account of those years, Blind Ambition, John W. Dean has written numerous other books, including The Rehnquist Choice and most recently a biography of former president Warren G. Harding. Dean, who recently retired from his successful career as a private investment banker, now writes and lectures full-time. He lives in California.