“Richard Milhous Nixon was an improbable president. He didn’t particularly like people. He lacked charm or humor or joy. Socially awkward and an introvert, he had few friends and was virtually incapable of small talk…He was also one of our most complex presidents: insecure, self-pitying, vindictive, suspicious—even literally paranoid—and filled with long-nursed anger and resentments, which burst forth from time to time” (Drew, p. 1).
So, unlike some of the other presidents that I’ve had to deal with, I can safely say that I already know a good deal about old Richard Nixon. Or at least I thought I did. When I really got down to thinking about the information I had on Nixon, it pretty much boiled down to snippets from my Vietnam class in college and sensationalized news sentiments, courtesy of Woodward and Bernstein. You see, I’ve read All the President’s Men and The Final Days and also seen the movie several times. I have to admit that I’ve never read or seen anything from Nixon’s point of view and I doubt that this biography about him counts either. Maybe I don’t know as much about him as I originally thought.
I’m excited that there are just tons of movies on Nixon, Watergate and those tumultuous times during the late ‘60s, early ‘70s. Narrowing down what I watch will be difficult but I’ve decided on Nixon (by Oliver Stone), Frost/Nixon (mainly because it’s new), and, for old time’s sake, All the President’s Men (in my opinion, this movie just doesn’t get old.) There were also tons of books on Nixon and per usual, I was in rather a bind trying to determine which book to read. Again, I was unwilling to read a book of more than 500-pages (which were most of them) so I settled on Richard M Nixon: American Presidents Series by Elizabeth Drew (New York: Times Books, 2007). I knew that I could count on this book being the requisite 200-pages or less but I also knew that because of the size of the Watergate scandal, the author would then need to sacrifice other “less important” aspects of Nixon’s life. What I mean is that the books in the American Presidents Series are all a definite number of pages and to fit into that page number, these authors must cleverly discern what to focus on from each president’s life. With Nixon, I was aware that inevitably there would be a major emphasis placed on Watergate and thus, also inevitably, there were be a dearth of, perhaps, Nixon biographic info. Ah well. This was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California to Quaker parents. They were quite poor and Richard’s dad could not keep any one job. Over time, the Nixons lost 2 of their 4 boys to tuberculosis and their deaths would leave a heavy mark on young Richard for the rest of his life. School-wise, he was extremely bright and moved quickly through the public school system. “He taught himself to read before he entered the first grade. He won oratorical contests, had a phenomenal memory, and was valedictorian of his eighth-grade class…Despite his social awkwardness, he was elected several times to leadership positions by his classmates, indicating an early knack for politics—and high ambitions” (p. 6).
He graduated from Whittier High School and ended up attending Whittier College because his father could not afford to send him elsewhere. After graduation in 1934, Nixon attended Duke Law School, though again he was not able to attend more prestigious institutions due to money restraints. “Nixon wasn’t happy in his law school years; he was hardworking, serious, and remote (he never had a date in those three years), and acquired the nickname ‘Gloomy Gus,’ though he did get elected to the presidency of the law school bar association his senior year” (p. 7).
After law school, Nixon returned to Whittier and immersed himself in law. He joined a local practice, working mostly on real estate and probate, and eventually was made partner. In 1938, he met Thelma (Pat) Ryan, a teacher of commercial classes at Whittier High School. They were married on June, 21, 1940 and soon had two daughters, Julie and Trisha.
Nixon soon realized that he preferred politics and the government to law so, in 1942, the whole family moved to Washington DC so that he could work at the Office of Price Administration. He worked there until the war when he volunteered in the Navy but never saw any actual combat. As soon as the war ended, Nixon got his first chance at real politics and he won! He returned to Washington as a junior congressman from California and was placed on the highly controversial HUAC or House Un-American Activities Committee. He gained national attention when he seized the issue that Alger Hiss was a communist spy as his own and he hauled Hiss in for questioning before the committee. Hiss was eventually convicted of perjury and Nixon’s congressional stock rose higher than ever. “The Hiss case made Nixon a national anticommunist star, and he campaigned on the issue across the country in 1948” (p. 10). It is not surprising; therefore, that Nixon became quite good friends with McCarthy.
“Nixon’s political career was one of triumph and failure, sweet victories and bitter loses, a long search for vindication” (p. 9). By 1950, he was ready for a change and entered the race for Senator from California and won that too. This multifaceted man seemed perfectly primed to accept the Republican vice presidential nomination in 1952 under Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. “They [the Repbulicans] were impressed with Nixon as
an up-and-coming politician, and with the electoral importance of California, and they dangled the slot of running m ate to Nixon two months before the nominating convention” (p. 13). Nixon did most of the campaigning and as was stated in the Eisenhower bio, got into trouble by having a secret fund. Nixon followed these accusations with the famous Checkers speech (where he admitted to being given a dog named Checkers that he refused to give back) and ultimately won an uneasy stalemate with Eisenhower.
Eisenhower and the Republicans went on to win the election but Eisenhower did not trust or even like Nixon. Therefore, he mainly kept his vice president out of the everyday business of the presidency and sent him on numerous foreign trips in his name. Despite the fact that most of Eisenhower’s aides wanted Nixon dropped from the ticket in 1956, things remained as is and they won again. As the 1960 election drew near, Nixon’s name was at the top of the list and he won the Republican nomination with nary a problem. The problem came later when he found out that he would be running against his friend, John F Kennedy of Massachusetts, who was young, charismatic but also Catholic. Nixon did not show well during the first televised debates and he would lose the election by the merest squeak.
“A great many of Nixon’s opponents assumed that his loss in 1960 was the end of his political career, but this was another underestimation of the man’s remarkable resilience and grit” (p. 18). The Nixons promptly moved back to California where Richard picked up his law practice again and spent time writing his political memoirs, entitled Six Crises. But Nixon was not done with politics…not by a long shot. In ’62, he ran for governor of California and lost and then went on a verbal rampage against the media in his concession speech. “The most famous moment of the race came after it was over, in what Nixon called his ‘last press conference.’ Tired and angry, he told the press, ‘You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.’” (p. 18). I wondered how any politician could succeed by throwing the fourth estate under the bus, so to speak, but Nixon was determined. He packed up the family again and moved to New York, joining another law firm, so he could be in the thick of things.
Nixon finally saw his chance with the incipient 1968 election. He was nominated as the Republican candidate again and this time paired with Spiro Agnew (a seriously shady character). He ran against a Democratic ticket of Hubert Humphreys, Johnson’s VP, and Muskie, along with a third party candidate named George Wallace. “The election was fought against the backdrop of the most turbulent years of the 1960s—marked by violent urban riots, apparent setbacks for US forces in Vietnam, the rise of the largest antiwar movement in the nation’s history, increasingly angry protests by civil rights groups, campus uproar, and social upheavals” (p. 18). And against all odds, Nixon won it.
As the new 37th President of the United States, Nixon began by haphazardly choosing a cabinet (not to worry—he would purge some members in 1970). For someone who had spent years coveting the highest office in the land, he was a bit at sea once the time came to be prepared. As a true loner, Nixon decided that he didn’t like dealing with so many people so he promoted John Erlichmann, H.R. Haldemann, and Henry Kissinger as extremely powerful aides. All things had to go through these men and then Nixon would issue his orders through them. Nixon also had a terrible temper and would issue wild orders which were not obeyed (correction: they were not all obeyed.) He drank a lot, slurring his speech and he took Dilatin, an anti-anxiety drug. Nixon defined his presidency as the New Federalism, meaning that he wanted to decentralize government, but he also had a Democratic congress to consider.
Almost immediately upon moving into the White House, Nixon had to deal with severe antiwar protests, especially on the east coast. “The thuggish side of the Nixon White House was on display in the first few months of the administration, as the Nixon command cynically strove to ensure the support of blue-collar workers by attacking antiwar protesters and showering praise on construction workers after they beat up antiwar demonstrators on Wall Street on May 8, 1969” (p. 38).
In 1969, Nixon took a trip to Europe and these trips would characterize his presidency as being very foreign-leaning. It was no secret to those surrounding Nixon though that he preferred foreign affairs over domestic. He also tended to vacation quite a bit both in Key West, where he stayed with his friend, Bebe Rebozo, at Camp David, and at his new house in San Clemente, CA. Although Nixon did prefer foreign policy, he knew that he would be reelected or not over his record domestically so he immediately put the Environmental Act, plus other conservation legislation (including the Clean Air/Clean Water Act) through Congress. He also dealt with welfare law reform and Family Assistance planning. “It offered cash payments to the poor, national criteria for determining eligibility, and replacing intrusive welfare workers with the impartial and more automatic Social Security Administration” (p. 54). Nixon also created OSHA and established the Office of Consumer Affairs. “Several other expansions of federal activities and numerous innovation occurred under Nixon, whatever their origins or Nixon’s motivations: establishing the first Office of Consumer Affairs in the White House and a new law, the Consumer Protection Act; the funding of Amtrak; the constitutional amendment granting eighteen-year-olds the right to vote; the end of the draft; and the large increases in federal funds to support the arts” (p. 58).
Let’s talk about Vietnam. In his presidential campaign, Nixon promised to end the war but only ended by dragging his feet instead. He continued the bombing of Cambodia, and when this policy provoked America’s continued protests and damaging journalistic sentiment, he began wiretapping certain journalists. In 1970, the peace talks began but were offset by more Cambodian raids and increased rioting on college campuses (for example, Kent State). Also Nixon was himself attacked when he was stumping for the 1970 mid-term elections and antiwar protesters threw rocks and other handy items at him. On June 13, 1971 the infamous Pentagon Papers, which was a detailed history of US military involvement in Vietnam, were leaked to the press by Daniel Ellsberg. Nixon was furious and vowed to stop all leaks out of the White House. The wiretappings were increased (including Kissinger’s staff) and a group of dubious individuals were hired as “plumbers.” In 1972, Nixon, obsessed with the idea of “peace with honor” decided to bomb the North Vietnamese over Christmas to make sure that they brought their best efforts to the peace talks and by 1973, there was a general ceasefire and Nixon had stopped the draft and had brought home the last troops. He, personally, would not be around to see the actual end of the war himself however.
In his second term and although under the onus of Watergate, Nixon was still all up in the nation’s business. Per usual, he paid special attention to foreign policy and shocked the world by visiting China (persona non grata since the 40s). “Nixon had reason to celebrate; the opening of China was perhaps the most imaginative, constructive act of his presidency” (p. 89). While there, he became extremely chummy with Mao Zedong and I can’t help but notice certain similarities between them. In May, 1972, he visited Moscow for a SALT II (arms limitation talks) summit and a year later, Brezhnez returned the visit by staying with Nixon at San Clemente. “But despite the parlous political condition Nixon was in, no matter the doubts on the right and left about his conduct of foreign policy, and even though his successor as president was less enthusiastic about it, Nixon’s policy of détente with the Soviet Union, flawed as it might have been, had a long-lasting beneficial impact on world history” (p. 87).
Finally Henry Kissinger became Nixon’s Secretary of State only to have a hand in several shady foreign policy ideas. First of all, the Six Day War (when Israel took over some land that used to belong to Egypt) severely pissed off Anwar Sadat, Egypt’s new president. Sadat asked for the US’s help in mediation but Nixon decided that he was too weak to speak to the Jewish community. “They [Nixon and Kissinger] failed to take seriously Sadat’s warnings in 1972-73 that if the Israelis didn’t withdraw from all the Arab land it had occupied since 1967, he would take unilateral military action, and that there would be an embargo on selling oil to the United States” (p. 92). Do you remember hearing about the horrendous oil shortage of the 70’s? Here’s why it happened. Also Nixon allowed the Shah of Iran to buy weapons from us but the Shah was a brutal ruler and used these weapons against his own people. In 1979, the Iranians would overthrow the Shah and force him into exile but do you know what else they did? They took the entire American embassy as hostages because of our complicity in the whole affair.
Also in 1973, Spiro Agnew, the vice president, was forced to resign because the State of Maryland was about to bring him to court for tax evasion and other crimes that occurred when he was governor. Nixon had to fill his place with Gerald Ford, the House minority leader.
Let’s talk about Watergate. With 1972 fast approaching, Nixon realized that it was time to think about reelection and so organized the Committee to Re-elect the President or CRP (known later as CREEP). Although the war was unpopular and Nixon hadn’t done much to end it, he was still the only candidate worth voting for. Also it helped that the Democrats couldn’t seem to get their act together and they finally just settled for George McGovern. On June 17, 1972, five men broke into the Watergate building and were caught with cameras and wiretapping equipment in the Democratic National Headquarters. These men were found to be linked to the White House not only through certain personnel (E Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy) but also
through funds from CRP. It was only after the elections results came out in November that more damaging information, via Woodward and Bernstein, further implicated the highest echelons of the executive branch. After the court ordered that Nixon produce his tapes, it was obvious (even with the 18 minute erasure) that he was complicit in the Watergate break-in and much, much more. In 1973, Haldemann and Erlichmann resigned (they would also face prison sentences) but through the tapes and John Dean’s testimony (he was Nixon’s counsel and switched sides for leniency), it was clear to the majority of Americans that Nixon was guilty. The House of Representatives voted on the articles of impeachment on July 27, 1974 and by August 8th, Nixon resigned.But did Nixon merely glide out of sight never to be heard of again? Not he! In 1977, he had several interviews with a British talk show host, David Frost. He then published his memoirs and engaged in plenty of speaking tours. “Above all, Nixon wanted to be seen as an elder statesman, the high priest of foreign policy, and he set out to speak, travel, and write to establish his expertise” (p. 139). He returned on several trips to China, to England, to France. In 1980, he moved back to NYC to be closer to power and events. “And then this far from gregarious man began a salon in his new brownstone in New York City, systematically entertaining celebrities, businessmen, politicians, policy makers, and occasionally journalists, in mostly stag dinners (among other reasons because of the blue language used at these events), off-the-record, and often in the manner of seminars on a particular topic—finance, the economy, or even Shakespeare, many times with a visiting scholar as a featured guest” (p. 141).
There was an uproar when he sold his San Clemente home instead of handing it over the government (as promised). He wrote articles for the New York Times and Foreign Affairs and he published 8 books between 1980-1992. “The books were mostly turgid and not very revealing, and though there were interesting passages, he shaped the past as it suited him” (p. 143). He attended the funerals of the Shah of Iran and Anwar Sadat, went again to China, and then moved the family out to Saddle River, New Jersey. “He was a frenzy of activity: traveling to Europe, taking another trip to China, giving interviews, sending papers on his foreign policy views (particularly on US-Soviet policy) to opinion leaders, publishing books, attending a strange reunion of his former aides in Washington on the tenth anniversary of his reelection, where he was lionized” (p. 146). By 1990, Nixon opened his presidential library in Yorba Linda, CA. In 1993, Pat died and Richard did not long outlive her. Only one year later he died of a severe stroke.
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