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As for his former bosses, Ehrlichman and Haldeman, Dean said he thought "they have convinced themselves that they are innocent. It appears they will devote the rest of their lives to trying to prove it. I hope for the best for them, but I wish there were some vehicle for them to tell the judge what happened, instead of just continuing to deny the overwhelming evidence." Dean argued that Haldeman's attorney, John J. Wilson, was wrong in referring to Dean and other young witnesses as "pretending to be cleansed." Said Dean: "I hope Wilson doesn't really believe that about 'pretending.' Telling the truth is an extremely cleansing, happy way to live." As to what kind of sentences the newly convicted conspirators should get, Dean declared that "no one is less qualified than I am to say."
Wiser Men. But why had the Nixon men become so corrupt? "No individual" was to blame, said Dean. "No particular atmosphere." Instead, he blamed "power," explaining: "Ever since F.D.R., presidential power had been expanding. We took the next step. Wiser men in the ways of Washington might not have let this power go to their heads, including young men such as myself. We were corrupted in taking advantage of power. I know some people think I'm too charitable in taking this view."
Dean said that he intends to lay out fully his own experience in an upcoming book. He will "hold back nothing," he added. "There will be chapters my mother will not enjoy reading. My son may be surprised at my admitting certain things. I was capable of doing wrong, and I did wrong. I can only try to right the wrong. I certainly cannot be proud of the actions that brought me into Judge Sirica's courtroom. I have done my best to serve the processes of justice in the only way I knew how."
Dean objected to Watergate Burglar G. Gordon Liddy's comparing him to Judas in a CBS-TV interview. "Judas did not forewarn Christ," Dean noted. "But if I am Judas, I don't regret turning from the religion I turned from."
But what about Nixon? "Only the worst Nixon-hater would want to see him in jail. People say he went scot free. He didn't go scot free. I would hope to have an opportunity to talk to him about this some day. I can't say he would see me, but I'd tell him what, as a young man, I've experienced. For one thing, how I've become immune to attacks. Magruder, Segretti, Krogh and others, we've done wrong. We've admitted it. We're no longer burdened by it. Nixon can achieve the same. If so, in a relatively few years the ugly side of the Nixon Administration will begin to roll back. If not, the good will be obscured. The feeling of retribution will linger."