Charles N. Shaffer, Jr., did just about everything right in representing John W. Dean III, the onetime White House counsel whose riveting testimony before a Senate committee in 1973 directly implicated President Richard M. Nixon in the Watergate break-in and coverup, leading to Nixon’s resignation the following year. But Shaffer, who died at age 82 at his home in
THIRTY-ONE YEARS AGO, A SECRET SLUSH FUND nearly ended the public career of Richard M. Nixon. The fund — which contained $18,235 — had been spent to supplement Nixon’s Senate allowances and to advance his national political prospects. Nixon, of course, salvaged his spot as the 1952 Republican vice presidential nominee by making one of the most famous political