Richard Nixon was the first president I was aware of - he was elected for his first term when I was four, and his second when I was 8. I remember hearing about Watergate on "In the News" a 30-second or 1 minute news brief played during cartoons on the weekend. I was fully an "impeach the bum" at 8, but was very sad when he resigned (I remember watching the wave from the helicopter on his last day in the White House on Ford's inauguration day. I later (when I was early 20's) read RN and a few of Nixon's other books ("Leaders" sticks with me, as he had met, in person, many influential world leaders, showing what his presidency could have been remembered for had events played differently).
"Nixon and Kissinger" provided me with a new perspective on Richard Nixon. I had always assumed (probably because he maintained it through his post-presidency writings) that RN was able to keep the domestic Watergate investigation away from decisions on other events. Using that as a lens, he did remarkable work by opening China and meeting with the Soviets. however, "Nixon and Kissenger" puts on a different lens, where world-altering events were used as a distraction, a way to keep the president in power until Watergate blew over - a much less noble, and much scarier version of history.
I suppose it might be naive to think that it is possible to believe you are being constantly attacked, and be able to "turn it off" and focus on other things. Clinton, apparently had that type of attention control, but lacked impulse control, derailing a historical potential of his administration. I was also shocked by how inactive RN seemed by the end of 73 and into '74, with Kissinger taking on a much larger role that would be considered ethical or reasonable, given the structure of the US governmental system.
I'd still recommend RN, for Richard Nixon's perspective, add in "Leaders" to show "what might have been", along wtih "Nixon and Kissinger" to get a feel for what the "real-time" experience was like.
No comments:
Post a Comment