Former White House Counsel John Dean is the keynote speaker at the free and open Constitution Day events at Moorpark College on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
Dean, a prolific author, lecturer and columnist for FindLaw.com, addresses the community in the Performing Arts Center at 12:30 pm, with a Q&A session to follow. Doors to the PA Center open at noon.
A free-speech forum with tables from area political groups and voter registration will open at 10 a.m. in front of the Performing Arts Center. Pizza and soft drinks will be provided at 11:30.
There are no tickets or RSVPs, and seats in the 400-capacity Performing Arts Center will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The Moorpark College community, area high school students and the Ventura County community are invited and encouraged to attend and participate in the free speech forum.
Constitution Day kicks off the Year of Democracy at Moorpark College, a series of democracy-themed events scheduled throughout the year. A calendar of events is available at www.moorparkcollege.edu/yearof.
The first semester focuses on the American Democratic process, with speakers, poetry readings, book-signings, panel discussions and debates culminating after the November elections. In the spring, the focus shifts to a global perspective, examining governments around the world.
The Year of Democracy is the third in an ongoing series of themed Year Of at Moorpark College. The first, Year of Science and Religion, debuted in 2006. Last year was the year of the Environment. Next year’s theme has not yet been chosen.
Dean, whose testimony before Congress in 1972 helped lead to the opening of impeachment hearings against Pres. Richard Nixon, is the author of several books, including Blind Ambition in 1976 and his most recent, “Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches” in 2007.
For more information on Year of Democracy at Moorpark College,
contact
Jeanne Marie Brown, jmbrown@vcccd.edu; OR
Political Science Professor Dr. Lee Ballestero, Co-Chair: LBallestero@vcccd.edu; OR
Journalism Professor Joanna Miller, Co-Chair: JoannaMiller@vcccd.edu
This brief biography of John Dean was excerpted from FindLaw.com, a forum for commentary on current politics and legal issues:
Before becoming Counsel to the President of the United States in July 1970 at age thirty-one, John Dean was Chief Minority Counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, the Associate Director of a law reform commission, and Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States. He served as Richard Nixon's White House lawyer for a thousand days.
He did his undergraduate studies at Colgate University and the College of Wooster, with majors in English Literature and Political Science. He received a graduate fellowship from American University to study government and the presidency, before entering Georgetown University Law Center, where he received his JD in 1965.
In 2001 he published The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court; in early 2004, Warren G. Harding, followed by Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush. In 2006, John publihsed Conservatives Without Conscience. |
