Un partisan review of a interesting President.

books:

	• Richard M. Nixon: The American Presidents Series: The 37th President, 1969-1974 (The American Presidents) Elizabeth Drew Times Books, 2007 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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Un partisan review of a interesting President.

This book represents the life and times of Richard M. Nixon in a un-biased manner. It takes the good and bad aspects of his time and presents them in a way that lets the reader decide their own view of his legacy.

A brilliant shade of crazy

Great, short book on Tricky Dick. He was a nut. A brilliant nut. But a nut nonetheless.

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Biography of a tortured president

Elizabeth Drew's biography of President Richard M. Nixon is yet one more entry in Arthur Schlesinger, Jr's "The American Presidents" series. One interesting wrinkle. Other volumes in this series have suggested that the incessant critique of certain presidents may have missed other aspects of their work that is not so negative. The works on Warren Harding and Ulysses Grant come to mind. One may well disagree with the authors, but they provide sympathetic--albeit realistic--evaluations of their subjects.

Elizabeth Drew is pretty hard-nosed in her biography of Nixon. The final line is very different than other ill-regarded presidents (Page 151): "[His actions] leave the historic question of whether this otherwise smart, talented man, but most peculiar and haunted of presidents, was fit to occupy the most powerful office in the nation--and large room for doubt that he was."

The biography begins with an equation of Nixon with a Shakespearean figure (Pages 1-2): ". . .he brought us into his tragedy and made us go through it with him." And the story begins with a childhood that was hard, including a hard to please father and a distant mother. He worked hard, and his native intelligence served him well. But he was himself a remote person, and many of his peers didn't fully understand him. After rather routine military service during World War II, he began his political career soon after war's end. He began with a victory in a House of Representatives race and then for one of California's Senate seats. His campaign style was hard-nosed and brought him the nickname of "Tricky Dick."

Through a series of circumstances, he was named as Ike's Vice-Presidential running mate in 1952. There follows the story of his career as VEEP, his defeat by John Kennedy in 1960, and his subsequent defeat when he ran for governor of California in 1962. His political career seemed over (Nixon himself said in a press conference, when he famously mentioned that [page 18] ""You don't have Nixon to kick around anymore."). But he began his rise to president shortly thereafter, as he worked tirelessly for the Republican Party and its candidates. In 1968, he was rewarded with the party's nomination and his subsequent election.

Then, his presidency. Drew related his domestic successes and failures, as well as his foreign policy successes and failures. And how his tortured persona affected him (including excessive drinking). There are occasions that I think Drew too harsh. For instance, Nixon may not himself have been serious about his Family Assistance Plan, but this was an innovative effort to attack poverty that still intrigues today. His trip to China and his negotiations with the Soviet Union and the development of the concept of detente were important (whatever one thinks of the wisdom of such decisions, they do represent major achievements). And then, the loss of everything with Watergate. But the road to Watergate was presaged by many other actions. . . .

So, an interesting read of Richard Nixon. Sometimes, I think it quite harsh. On the other hand, history has not redeemed his presidency and he still stands as an example of how personal demons can affect a presidency. A useful biography of Richard Nixon, in short, and one that will provoke reflection of this complex person.

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Honest & Straightforward

Candid and revealing book about this controversial president. I enjoyed reading about Richard M. Nixon.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The complex man at the center of America?s most self-destructive presidency In this provocative and revelatory assessment of the only president ever forced out of office, the legendary Washington journalist Elizabeth Drew explains how Richard M. Nixon?s troubled inner life offers the key to understanding his presidency. She shows how Nixon was surprisingly indecisive on domestic issues and often wasn?t interested in them. Turning to international affairs, she reveals the inner workings of Nixon?s complex relationship with Henry Kissinger, and their mutual rivalry and distrust. The Watergate scandal that ended his presidency was at once an overreach of executive power and the inevitable result of his paranoia and passion for vengeance.
Even Nixon?s post-presidential rehabilitation was motivated by a consuming desire for respectability, and he succeeded through his remarkable resilience. Through this book we finally understand this complicated man. While giving him credit for his achievements, Drew questions whether such a man?beleaguered, suspicious, and motivated by resentment and paranoia?was fit to hold America?s highest office, and raises large doubts that he was.

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