Another Presidential Valentine

Nixon: In His Own Words

LuLu: Why are you watching a documentary on Nixon? He was a cheater! 

Me: He was one of the greatest President's ever. Respect the man in the arena.

LuLu: So? He was cheater. He lied as President.

Me: You mean he got caught. That's the only difference.

The documentary we watched was "Nixon: In His Own Words," and it used audio from his tapes to narrate his Presidency. It was pretty neutral, but you see a bit of an anti-RN slant in some of the editing. In particular, they loved to contrast his actions with his vulgar rants about that subject behind the scenes.

But, like me, Nixon was known by his associates to vent his anger by going over-the-top in his grumbling, then going ahead and doing what needed doing anyway. If you aren't aware of that - and/or haven't read 100's of pages of the tape transcripts, you probably watch the flick and think "what a hypocritical nut."

His sins were great enough; there's no need to fictionalize alternatives.

The Final Days by Woodward and Bernstein

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Discuss

Would this hypothetical ticket (Nixon/Rockefeller) have gotten the job done for the GOP in '60? Feel free to discuss.

Btw, what a great button! I wish I owned it.

Woulda Look at That

On page 317 of "Six Crises", Nixon lists Congressman "Gerry Ford" as one of his finalists for the 1960 Republican VP slot. Huh. So much for Ford being a flippant, mindless choice for VP a decade later.

Note to Self

Note to self: Pages 158-161 of Nixon's "Six Crises" have a telling analysis of Eisenhower's mental processes and leadership style.