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“Like his idol, Lincoln, he studied the law late at night, became a lawyer, a Congressman, a debater, a President, had a general for a friend and fought an unpopular war—however, unlike Lincoln, he never got a tunnel named after him, although there is a movement going now to do just that by those who are convinced he is taking the country down the tube.” (Will the Real Richard M. Nixon Please Stand Up? Lane Associates, 1972). “One would have to go back to Harding, at least, to find an administration so devoid of intellectuals as that of Nixon . . . As for intellectual content . . . [the administration] is headed by a man whose taste in music runs to country-western and Lawrence Welk; who put comic opera uniforms on the White House Police; and who could think of nothing more discerning to say to a student war protester from the University of Syracuse than to ask them about the Orangemen.” (Tom Braden (political columnist), The National Observer, November 4, 1972, p. 13). “Nixon has turned the government into a monarchy. In a sense, Kennedy and Johnson were monarchists, but Nixon has violated the Bill of Rights . . . he shows a total disregard for the Constitution.” (Barbara Tuchman. W, September 21, 1973, p. 16). “Nixon is probably the most political president who ever sat in the White House, but he is congenitally devious. When you talk to Nixon, you have no idea if his words actually reflect what’s in his mind. It’s something like kissing a girl through a handkerchief.” (Emmanuel Cellar (Former U.S. Representative, D-New York), Plainview (Texas) Daily Herald, March 13, 1973, p. 4). “Events of the last several days prove the dangerous emotional instability of the President of the United States . . . The President has so destroyed the people’s confidence in the government that . . . he should resign or be impeached . . .” (George Meany (President, American Federation of Labor) in the L.A. Times, October 25, 1973, p. 20). “All of us, Mr. President, whether we’re in politics or not, have weaknesses. For some, it’s drinking. For others, it’s gambling. For still others, it’s women . . . Your weakness is credibility . . .” (Senator Robert Packwood (R-Oregon). New York Times, 11/17/73, p. 19). “The administration, masquerading as conservative, has taken the most radical steps toward dismembering the spirit of our Revolution and the protections of the Constitution . . . They administer the nation’s business through men hidden in the White House . . . They have transformed the public institutions into instruments of intimidation and control-turning to their own benefits not only agencies of intelligence and law enforcement, but an immense mechanism of economic sanction and rewards . . .” (Senator Edward Kennedy, L.A. Times, 7/5/73, p. 25). “To all appearances, Nixon cannot be himself, because he has no authentic or identifiable self. Psychologically, he seems to fall within the definition of the “as if” person . . . This is the real tragedy of Richard Nixon and the people he was elected to serve. He cannot communicate who he is; for like all “as if” persons, he simply does not know.” (Bernard C. Myer (Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York). W, 5/17/74, p. 70). “Watergate riveted
attention on personal immorality, rather than institutional social
immorality. People think
Nixon is a crook and Henry Kissinger is honest.
To me, both of them shared an evil vision whereby the world would
be ruled by American power and a few other powerful nations, plus some
Multinational Corporations . . .” (William Sloane Coffin (Chaplain, Yale University), People,
5/5/75, p. 44). “His [Nixon’s] political career has often seemed to show charity toward none and malice for all . . .” (JFK in his acceptance speech at the Los Angeles Democratic Convention). Quotes compiled by Sushila Nayak. Thanks to Andy Plenge for his transcription help. |
RICHARD
MILHOUS NIXON It is said that a nation's leaders are a reflection of its people. And surely that is the purpose of election -- to bring to power leaders who best mirror the hopes, aspirations and interests of the citizenry. To make such a statement, however, may damn a people to a purgatory which they do not deserve. In 1974, two years after Richard Nixon won re-election by an overwhelming number, millions of Americans believed that they did not deserve Richard Milhous Nixon. Indeed, they saw him as their problem, not their mirror. Nixon first won the presidency in 1968 against Vice president Hubert Humphrey and a deeply divided Democratic party and George Wallace of Alabama, a breakaway Democrat who found support among the white working class. Nixon won the popular vote by approximately 500,000. The electoral vote was Nixon-301, Humphrey- 191 and Wallace-46. Richard Nixon was an extraordinary man of stunning ambition with enormous drive and intelligence, though his political stance demanded that he appear ordinary. In reality he was both less than and more than the average man. He was more than the ordinary man in that he had taken on certain Dostoievskian insights about power. To kill one person is a crime, but to order the killing of thousands makes the person a hero and leader. And so he extended the war in Vietnam several years beyond the time it could have been settled on the eventual diplomatic terms. The result was the death of countless thousands including the death of over 22,000 American soldiers. He and his advisor, Henry Kissinger, carried out this policy in the vain hope that by increasing bombing, the North Vietnamese and National Liberation Front would cry "uncle." But Nixon's bombing antics were for another reason. Nixon sought to bring what he called the structure of peace into international relations. He pursued a policy of diplomatic recognition with China and signed a limited arms control accord on strategic missiles with the Soviets (SALT ONE). There were ironies to this strategy for Nixon, arguably, had been the leading cold warrior and anti-communist in the United States. It was he, more than any other politician, who played a crucial role in keeping the Cold War going -- until he became president. As vice president in 1954 Nixon had urged Eisenhower to intervene at Dien Bien Phu with air strikes and the possible use of nuclear weapons to save the French position in Indo China. At 39, Nixon had risen to become President Eisenhower's vice president as a concession to the Rightists in the Republican party who had favored Senator Joseph McCarthy and his tactics for patriotic purification. Yet, as vice president, Nixon served as Eisenhower's emissary to the Republicans in the Senate, saying that Eisenhower wanted McCarthy censured. It is be too easy to say that Nixon was a paranoid who carried with him uncontrolled feelings of anger against those who slighted or crossed him, for to say this would be to intimate that he was a dysfunctional man without purpose satisfied with mere ravings. But this was not the case. He did have a consistent view of what he was trying to do as president, and he had an insightful, albeit slightly weird, view about the realities of American politics. It was in his attempt to organize this consistency that Nixon proved himself to be less than the ordinary man. He sought to turn his paranoia into a piece of the state apparatus. Thus, in his second term he formed within the White House a unit called the Plumbers who were charged with the responsibility of stopping leaks to the press about Nixon's policies and organizing attacks on political and personal enemies. An enemies list, which represented all segments of American life, was prepared; extensive wire tapping and break-ins were ordered. Tax audits were initiated by the White House against opponents. "Dirty tricks," as they were called, were played on political adversaries such as Senator Ed Muskie, and government agencies such as the FBI and the CIA were employed as if they were President Nixon personal police force. (Dirty tricks were not new to American presidential politics. However, Nixon took these shady activities to a level which ultimately destroyed his administration.) Nixon's undoing began with a break-in of the Democratic party headquarters, ordered in 1972 by "higher-ups" in the White House to gain "intelligence" about the Democrats. When the culprits were arrested, a massive cover-up began and hush money was given to those involved. The cover-up and payment were undertaken with the express permission of Nixon. This led to the unraveling of the Nixon presidency, which many liberals and others in the federal government were pleased to facilitate. After his overwhelming re-election victory against George McGovern in 1972, Nixon ordered a political purge of government officials in the hopes of replacing them with appointees totally loyal to him. Those who were to be replaced later leaked documents about Nixon, his tax returns, and other damning information to the press and to a committee of the US Senate, the so-called Ervin committee, named after a North Carolina senator. The entire White House staff found itself caught in a tissue of lies and a web of investigation conducted by a special prosecutor, a Federal Judge, and the Senate. Nixon's White House counsel, John Dean testified before the Senate committee and claimed that Nixon had ordered the cover up; this was later verified in tapes which Nixon made of all conversations in the Oval office. Nixon had initially refused to turn over the tapes to the special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. He then demanded that his attorney general, Elliott Richardson, fire Cox. Richardson refused and resigned. His deputy, William Ruckelshaus, also refused and resigned. This left Robert Bork, the solicitor general, to carry out the order to fire Cox. (Bork's action enraged liberals. And they took vengeance later when Bork was nominated by President Reagan to the Supreme court. Senator Kennedy, a friend of Cox, led the attack on the Judge Bork. The turnabout continued later, this time on President Clinton and Hillary Clinton during the Whitewater investigations. Ms. Clinton had been a junior counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during Nixon's impeachment hearings.) Nixon's White House advisors pleaded guilty to perjury and obstruction of justice. Twenty five members of the Nixon administration or campaign re-election committee served prison time. One Nixon operative who maintained his code of silence about Watergate was Gordon Liddy, now a radio columnist, who at the time worked for the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP). He was convicted of a break in and burglary. Nixon forced his two closest aides, Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, to resign as a way of saving himself. Nixon was faced with another problem in 1973. His vice president, Spiro Agnew, continued to receive bribes for favors he had performed as County Executive in Baltimore and as Governor of Maryland. He was forced to resign and was replaced by Gerald Ford. At the end of July,1974, the House Judiciary committee voted to impeach President Nixon. Nixon had lost the support of senior Republicans in Congress, such as Barry Goldwater. Nixon's chief of staff, General Alexander Haig, negotiated his resignation. Nixon's Secretary of Defense, James Schlesinger, had ordered that no use of the military could be undertaken without express orders from him. Nixon had lost control of the government. After his re-election in 1972, Nixon had told his advisors that the East Coast establishment had lost its will to govern. But on August 9,1974, rather than face an impeachment by the House, Nixon resigned. Nixon found that the Establishment that he had simultaneously courted and hated helped to destroy him through media accounts and legal proceedings. On his last day as president Nixon left sharing what he had learned from his political experience. "Always remember others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself." He had lost the will to govern and fight. Richard Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California, in January 9,1913. His parents were poor, at times working as lemon growers and at other times as store keepers. The family moved to Whittier, California, which Nixon identified with throughout his life. His parents were Quakers, which, perhaps spoke to a side of him that sincerely wanted to find the key to peace without endangering America's preeminent position. Tragedy was never far from the Nixon household as Nixon grew up. Two of his brothers died in childhood. As a boy and young man, Richard Nixon identified with his version of the American dream -- to work hard and find the means to be rewarded. He was a very good student in high school and was admitted to Harvard college, but his parents could not afford to send him. Instead he attended Whittier college and then Duke University Law School, where he ranked as a fine scholar. Nixon came back to practice law in California in 1937. In 1940 he married Thelma "Pat" Ryan, whose father was a copper miner. Pat Nixon's parents were no better off than Richard Nixon's parents. Pat worked her way through college and became a typing teacher. From time to time she appeared in films as a walk-on or extra. Before Nixon entered the Navy, he joined the Office of Price Administration. It is said that from this negative experience he learned to hate bureaucracy and interference with the market. It is likely that the reverse is true; Nixon's interest was in having control over bureaucracy and not in getting rid of it. When he was president, for a two year period he reinstated price and wage controls. Nixon served in the Navy for close to four years, until March, 1946. Upon his return to civilian life he was chosen by local businessmen to run against a liberal New Deal congressman, Jerry Voorhis. Nixon's campaign was run by Murray Chotiner, who helped Nixon throughout his career. He taught Nixon the hardball aspects of politics and the idea that the primary purpose of elections was to win -- at virtually any cost. Nixon won his seat in Congress because he was a veteran and because he painted Voorhis as a Red. In Congress, Nixon joined the House Un-American Activities Committee and soon was locked in battle with Alger Hiss, who was accused of being a communist by a former communist and senior Time magazine editor, Whittaker Chambers. For Nixon, Hiss represented the East-Coast establishment, which he had come to admire and despise. Hiss had been the acting Secretary-General of the United Nations, and had become the head of the Carnegie Endowment for World Peace. Hiss denied knowing Chambers, or acting as a communist agent, which led to perjury charges once Chambers produced innocuous State Department documents from a hollowed out pumpkin which Chambers claimed had been stolen by Hiss when he was in the State Department. After two trials, Hiss was convicted and Nixon was vindicated. As a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, Nixon was involved in drafting the Taft-Hartley law, which excluded communists and anyone else from being officers of unions unless they signed a loyalty pledge. In 1950, Richard Nixon ran for the Senate against another leading liberal of the time, Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas. He claimed that she voted on most issues the same way as Vito Marcantonio of New York, a left wing congressman who accepted communist support. This campaign marked Nixon in the minds of liberals as a dangerous demagogue. He soon came to be known as "Tricky Dick." In the Senate, he identified with the most conservative members. He favored a wider war with the Chinese and North Koreans, including "unleashing" Chiang Kai Shek against Mao's China. As a 39 year old, Nixon was accepted by Eisenhower as his running mate. Nixon almost lost his place on the ticket when a newspaper released the fact that he had a slush fund which California businessmen paid into for his "walk around" expenses. Nixon saved himself politically with a powerful and maudlin speech which featured his wife Pat's good Republican cloth coat and his children's dog, Checkers. Thousands of telegrams flooded the Republican National Committee and Eisenhower embraced Nixon anew. Eisenhower was not overly fond of Nixon. At one press conference, he was asked by a reporter what Nixon had done as vice president; he responded that he would think about it for a week and give an answer at the next press conference. Nixon did perform as acting president twice -- when Eisenhower was ill with a heart attack and also when he was struck down with ileitis. Nixon also traveled to South America and the Soviet Union. In Venezuela he was literally stoned and spat upon. In the Soviet Union, he engaged Khrushchev in a "kitchen debate" at the American exhibition of consumer goods which helped to identify Nixon as an international political figure. As vice president, Nixon also interested himself in Cuba and was the White House action officer on Cuba after Castro took over. As the Republican presidential candidate in 1960, Nixon was a victim of bad luck. There was a recession that year that was blamed on the Eisenhower administration. Nixon was taxed with the recession. Kennedy appeared to be more anti-communist and anti-Castro than Nixon, who, in fact, was helping to plan the CIA-backed expedition into Cuba. And Nixon, who was ill for the first televised debate, did not televise well. After his loss to Kennedy, Nixon went back to California and ran for Governor against Pat Brown. He lost, and it seemed that Nixon was retired for good from public life. Nixon re-established himself as a lawyer and plotted his return to national politics. He traveled throughout the world and began campaigning for Republican candidates in virtually every state. By 1968 he was ready, and he received the Republican nomination over feckless bids by Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan. Although Nixon did not have the charisma or joy of life of Theodore Roosevelt , it would not be absurd to compare the two in domestic programs. Like Roosevelt, Nixon might have been described as a "progressive conservative." As president, Nixon accepted the idea of environmental protection, including the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the Product Safety commission. Nixon's program sought to capture the whirlwind of regulatory protection which Ralph Nader had demanded on consumer issues. Furthermore, the voting age was lowered to 18 as a constitutional amendment in 1971. Nixon's appointee to the Supreme court, Harry Blackmun, wrote the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, which has been a target of the right and the Catholic Church since 1973. Nixon favored, through his adviser Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a welfare guarantee program which would have been considered radical by the standards of both the Democratic and Republican parties of 2000. On national security matters, through his Secretary of Defense, Melvin Laird, the Vietnamization program, first authored by the Democrats, was continued. Its logic led to American withdrawal. Nixon also changed the American war plans and therefore defense requirements so that the military would only have to fight and be prepared for one and a half wars simultaneously rather than the two and a half war number which had been the case since the Korean war. Nixon supported two treaties which lowered the temperature on weapons of mass destruction. Besides SALT ONE, his administration negotiated treaties to ban nuclear weapons from the sea bed and he agreed to the destruction by treaty of chemical weapons with the Soviet Union. When Nixon left the White House, the assumption of East European and Soviet leaders was that Nixon was pushed out of power because he favored detente with the Soviets. They and other national leaders abroad could not see Nixon's fatal flaws and the corrosive effects they had on the nation. Yet all the living presidents appeared at Richard Nixon's funeral in 1994, and President Clinton spoke at it as well. Nixon lived 20 years after leaving the White House. His time was spent in California and New York refurbishing his image as a world statesman. He did this through a number of books and television appearances. The Nixons had two daughters, Patricia Nixon, married to a lawyer,and Julie Eisenhower,a writer and editor married to David Eisenhower, author and grandson of President Eisenhower and son of General John Eisenhower.
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