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John Patrick Sears (July 3, 1940 – March 26, 2020) was an American attorney, and a Republican political strategist. He served as Deputy Counsel to President
Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
from 1969–70, and assisted both Nixon and Ronald Reagan in their presidential campaigns.


Early life and education

Sears was born in July 1940 near
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. At the 2020 census, the city's ...
, the son of James L. Sears and Helen M. Fitzgerald. Sears attended Christian Brothers Academy in suburban Syracuse, a private Catholic preparatory academy. He earned his undergraduate degree at the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
(B.S.,1960), and completed law school at Georgetown University (L.L.B., J.D., 1963); both universities are among the most prominent Catholic colleges in the United States.


Early career


Public sector

Sears worked as a
law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...
for the
New York State Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by ...
from 1963-65.


Private sector

He then became a member of the New York City law firm of Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Alexander, Guthrie & Mitchell for two years. He met
Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
as a colleague at this firm; at the time Nixon was a former congressman, senator, and vice-president, and unsuccessful presidential and gubernatorial candidate, working as a lawyer in private practice.


Political adviser, assists with 1968 nomination

He then joined Nixon's political staff, as Nixon was preparing a bid for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination. Sears played a pivotal role at the
1968 Republican National Convention The 1968 Republican National Convention was held at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Dade County, Florida, from August 5 to August 8, 1968, to select the party's nominee in the general election. It nominated former Vice Preside ...
, in securing Nixon's nomination for the presidency. He was only 28 at the time and was subsequently shut out of the Nixon campaign operation by John Mitchell (a partner from his law firm), who considered him overly ambitious. Mitchell, who became
U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
during the first Nixon term, was subsequently caught up as a central figure in the
Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
, from 1972 to 1974.


Deputy Counsel to President Nixon

Sears served as Deputy Counsel to the President from 1969-70.


Returns to private sector

Sears then left the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800 ...
, to join the law firm of Gadsby & Hannah, in
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
, where he worked from 1970-76. He has been a partner in the Washington law firm of Baskin and Sears since 1977.


Political adviser: manages Reagan's nomination bids

Sears managed Ronald Reagan's 1976 presidential bid, when Reagan ran in the Republican primaries against incumbent President
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
, and almost won the nomination. He again managed Reagan's presidential bid in 1980 but was fired and replaced by
William Casey William Joseph Casey (March 13, 1913 – May 6, 1987) was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1981 to 1987. In this capacity he oversaw the entire United States Intelligence Community and personally directed the Central Intelligence Agency ...
on the day Reagan won the
New Hampshire primary The New Hampshire presidential primary is the first in a series of nationwide party primary elections and the second party contest (the first being the Iowa caucuses) held in the United States every four years as part of the process of choosi ...
. Sears had run the national operation out of Washington and was a rival of
Edwin Meese Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in official capacities within the Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan pres ...
,
Michael Deaver Michael Keith Deaver (April 11, 1938 – August 18, 2007) was a member of President Ronald Reagan's White House staff serving as White House Deputy Chief of Staff under James Baker III and Donald Regan from January 1981 until May 1985. Early ...
, and
Lyn Nofziger Franklyn Curran "Lyn" Nofziger (June 8, 1924 – March 27, 2006) was an American journalist, conservative Republican political consultant and author. He served as press secretary in Ronald Reagan's administration as Governor of California, ...
in California. They did not trust Sears and believed he was trying to consolidate power at the expense of many longtime Reagan friends and backers. Reagan told journalist and presidential scholar Theodore White that "There was a feeling that I was just kind of a spokesman for John Sears." Sears had been attempting to consolidate power in the Reagan campaign in 1980. He overstepped his bounds, leading to his firing.
William Casey William Joseph Casey (March 13, 1913 – May 6, 1987) was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1981 to 1987. In this capacity he oversaw the entire United States Intelligence Community and personally directed the Central Intelligence Agency ...
was hired to take his place. Casey (later appointed to head the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
by President Reagan) demanded administrative control of the campaign, but had no desire to control policy and by extension the personnel choices of the Reagan campaign; this was something John Sears was boldly attempting to control. Sears told author
Craig Shirley Craig Paul Shirley (born September 24, 1956) is a conservative American political consultant and author of the 2011 New York Times bestseller "December 1941", as well as four books on Ronald Reagan. Life and career Youth and education Shirley ...
in 2006 that after being fired from the 1980 Reagan campaign, he never spoke with either Ronald or
Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in Ne ...
again.


Lobbyist for South African apartheid regime

In the 1980s, Sears was "the highest paid" American lobbyist for
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
's
apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid wa ...
regime, "commanding an annual fee of $500,000."


Incorrectly identified as ''Deep Throat''

In 2000 Leonard Garment incorrectly identified Sears as Deep Throat in his book ''In Search of Deep Throat''. Sears then requested that
Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor. While a young reporter for ''The Washingt ...
and
Carl Bernstein Carl Milton Bernstein ( ; born February 14, 1944) is an American investigative journalist and author. While a young reporter for ''The Washington Post'' in 1972, Bernstein was teamed up with Bob Woodward, and the two did much of the original new ...
(who unmasked
Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
with the help of Deep Throat) publicly deny it was him, and Bernstein complied. (Later it was revealed by Woodward that
W. Mark Felt William Mark Felt Sr. (August 17, 1913 – December 18, 2008) was an American law enforcement officer who worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1942 to 1973 and was known for his role in the Watergate scandal. Felt wa ...
, former Deputy FBI Director was "Deep Throat".) Sears served as a political analyst for '' NBC Today'', the popular
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...
broadcast, from 1984-85. He resided in
McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxim ...
. Sears died in Miami on March 26, 2020, from a heart attack.


References

* ''Who's Who in American Politics'', 1985-6, p. 1530 * ''Biography and Genealogy Master Index'', 2nd ed, Gale Research, , p140; WhoAm 74,-76,-78, WhoAmL 78,-79, WhoAmP 79, WhoS&SW 73 * Theodore H. White, ''America in Search of Itself'', 1982.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sears, John 1940 births 2020 deaths American political consultants American Catholics Georgetown University Law Center alumni New York (state) lawyers New York (state) Republicans Lawyers from Syracuse, New York United States presidential advisors University of Notre Dame alumni Virginia Republicans White House Counsels