Standing Up, Stepping Forward, and Speaking Out: The Political Courage to take a Principled Stand

John Dean, William Weld, and Edward Widmer

Watergate was a sea change in American politics.  But even as a presidential scandal gripped the nation, there were remarkable displays of political courage, as Republicans and Democrats found ways to work together for the good of the nation, and wrote new rules to ensure transparency and integrity. What can we learn from Watergate? Specifically, what can we learn from the people who stood up, stepped forward and spoke out against wrongs that they saw within their own party and among their friends? How can this help us understand the role of collaborationists in the past and today and the need for political courage. Join us for a conversation between John Dean, former White House Counsel to President Richard Nixon who was implicated in the Watergate scandal but later testified against Nixon; William Weld, former Massachusetts Governor and US presidential candidate, who began his legal career as a counsel on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry staff for the impeachment process against Richard Nixon in 1974; and historian Edward Widmer.