College of William and Mary - Colonial Echo Yearbook (Williamsburg, VA)

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plained that he had in- l curred severe legal debts due to Watergate and that this was one ofthe few ways he had of raising money. lf the fee - problem does become an issue, Dean said, l will without hesitation cancel it fthe touri-a statement he had made at each of his previous lectures. The atmosphere re- mained somewhat light- hearted as Dean delivered an opening joke, l'm f 1 E. Howard Hunt in a John Dean disguise. And he made a supposed quote from H. R. Haldeman, Do you fellas know how a Polish President would have handled this? Just like Nixon did. Even the questioning was lighthearted as one stu- dent Aasked, l tooxam a criminal, havingbeen convicted on numerous drug abuse charges. Can you please advise me as to how to profit mone- tarily from it? T Dean made an effort lto stay on -the good side Former White House Counsel John Dean answers questions in front of almost 5,000 students and visitors. Commanding a fee of S3,500, Dean opens his speech with an apology for the money which he must charge. of the students stating, One thing I will spend a lot of time on is ju- dicial and penal reform. Dean added that he be- lieved it was not fair for someone to serve time for the possession of one ounce of rnari- juana with convicted criminals. Although it brought a round of ap- plause from most students. an answer Dean gave to a later question was to become one of the most talked about topics of the evening. The question con- cerned some of Dean's alledged activities while attending Worchester ln- stitute of Technology in Massachusetts. Dean re- sponded, Yes, I used to write papers for other students, He stated that he charged S5 for a guaranteed C and S2 for each grade above that. lt was this one remark coupled with the exor- bitant fees he commanded which caused many stu- dents to question his sincerity. Replying to critics who thought he was capitalizing on his activities, he said, l thought I would carry the scarlet letter of Water- gate the rest of my life. Others felt that by virtue of his speech he was making an effort to rectify his past mistakes. Dean stated, l was ex- tremely ambitious . . . I wanted to please my su- periors. He termed VVatergate, the most maturing experience of my Iife. Regardless of the listeners' opinions of Dean, mostfelt that the most important statement of the evening was his closing remark, lVlay his- tory never, ever repeat itself. JOHN DEAN 27

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SA President Sharon Pandak ad- dresses the crowd before intro- ducing speaker John Dean. mcg historg neve r, eve r, I repeat itself uesday. February 4, 1975, saw 5,000 students and visitors file into William and Mary Hall to hear the man whom S.A. President Sharon Pandak termed the one speaker l won't have to introduce, for- mer White House Counsel John W. Dean, Ill. For most, Dean was re- membered as one of the key figures in exposing the Watergate cover-up, and revealing the possible existence of the Water- gate tapes. Because of his cooperation during the Watergate trials, Dean was given a lighter sentence of from one to four years. In the fall of 1974, after having served only five months of his sentence, Water- gate Judge John Sirica released Dean. 26 JOHN DEAN It was at this time that Dean was approached concerning the possibili- ty of a lecture tour of college campuses. Han- dled by the American Program Bureau of Massa- chusetts, Dean began a tour which would net him over 375,000 Dean toured several Virginia schools in- cluding U.Va. and O.D.U., commanding a sizeable fee at each. Not to be outdone, William and Mary paid Dean 33,500 for his hour-and-a-half appearance, one of the highest fees he received. lt was this fee which made many professors and students take sudden no- tice of his tour. For a time, it looked as if William and Mary might again see a portion of the college community stage a protest charac- teristic of the late 1960's. But of all the talk preceding Dean's arrival, little action materialized. Nine pro- fessors wrote a letter of protest to Pandak complaining about the high fee being paid to a former criminal. At first this attitude seemed to pervade the campus, with students echoing the sentiments of their professors. But by the night of the speech, attitudes seemed to have softened con- siderably. Only six people braved the rain and cold long enough to carry such slogans as, Who said crime doesn't pay? Others simply ex- pressed their anti-Dean sentiment by what they termed a boycott. Whatever the reasons for attending or missing the lecture, Dean's speech remained one of the most talked about events of the year. While reaction had been strong against Dean at other campuses on the tour, the audience re- mained calm during the lecture, even laughing at some points. Dean set the stage for this atmosphere by making an apology for the fees he was to receive on his tour. ln his opening remarks, he said, l truly wish I could speak on campuses for free . . . l find it a very rewarding experience. He ex-

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