In August 1971, during President Richard Nixon's first term in office, White House Counsel John Dean drafted a memo titled "Dealing with our Political Enemies."
"This memorandum addresses the matter of how we can maximize the fact of our incumbency in dealing with persons known to be active in their opposition to this Administration," Dean wrote. "Stated a bit more bluntly—how we can use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies."
The existence of a presidential "enemies list" was revealed amid hearings into the Watergate break-in; Nixon would ultimately resign in disgrace as Congress considered articles of impeachment.
