Richard M. Nixon: The American Presidents Series: The 37th President, 1969-1974 (The American Presidents) by Elizabeth Drew Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.01 You Save: $16.99 (77%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.00 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Richard M. Nixon: The American Presidents Series: The 37th President, 1969-1974 (The American Presidents)
Book Review: Un partisan review of a interesting President.
Summary: 4 Stars
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. Book Review: Honest & Straightforward
Summary: 3 Stars
Candid and revealing book about this controversial president. I enjoyed reading about Richard M. Nixon.Book Review: Not objective on this president.
Summary: 2 Stars
Even thirty years after his presidency and fourteen after his death, Richard Nixon is still a controversial leader. Drew who lived through Watergate can't seem to get past the anger she feels toward Nixon. Nixon's presidency was one of brillance and stupidity. Brilliance in his pragmatic handling of domestice issues and his careful handling of foreign policy, and stupidity in creating a wall around himself with bad advisors and then committing crimes. Give credit where credit is due, but Drew states that Nixon, although smart, was not really a good politician. One comment is very telling. Nixon's first cabinet did not have stellar quality, because there were no good quality people there. Then Drew goes on to tell the Eastern establishment was not represented in this cabinet. Maybe, just maybe Nixon was right when he talked of the elitist Eastern establishment because it is obvious Drew is from this group, being a former writer for the New Yorker.
Another telling comment is the drug charge brought up in The Arrogance of Power. She then tells how Nixon probably took drugs, along with being drunk on most nights. Again, I have issues with both the objectivity of the drug charges. With other writers, it is obvious Nixon was under tremendous strains and used drink as an escape clause during this time. However, I don't think he was an alcholic. I guess Drew just wanted to rip down this man once more and the American President series let her.
This series is fine. I learned a lot about the American Presidents. It was sad that Drew had to write on Nixon. She proved Nixon's theory that the Left took the sword and twisted it. Unfortunately Nixon is dead. He had brillant moments in foreign policy. He also did stupid and criminal things that resulted in his resignation from the American presidency. Drew is not an objective author.
Book Review: A brilliant shade of crazy
Summary: 4 Stars
Great, short book on Tricky Dick. He was a nut. A brilliant nut. But a nut nonetheless.
Book Review: Biography of a tortured president
Summary: 4 Stars
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.