Word: nixon
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...NIXON: THE TRIUMPH OF A POLITICIAN...
RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON: THE RISE OF AN AMERICAN POLITICIAN...
...obese volumes by heavyweight authors on Richard Nixon are upon us this fall, each an installment of a trilogy. Promised for 1990 are two more Nixon books by other serious writers, columnist Tom Wicker and political scientist Herbert Parmet. Despite the wide shelf of literature by and about the 37th President, the urge to discover him anew remains strong. It is not only because Nixon made headlines and history for three decades or that he was the sole President ejected between elections. He also continues to fascinate because it is difficult to come to terms with a leader who debased...
Long before Watergate confirmed the worst fears of his enemies, Nixon was a perfect model for caricature. Foes saw him as a rootless mutant, sui generis, combining McCarthy's feral atavism with Machiavelli's cunning intellect. Friends perceived him as a courageous champion of basic American values. They remain united in the belief that he suffered a martyr's fate at the hands of the liberal aristocracy whose reign he challenged. For years, Watergate gave the bashers the better of the argument...
...passage of time permits deeper reflection. These two books, though treating different phases of Nixon's career and offering contrasting styles of - biography, point toward a fresh view. All the familiar sins and successes are rehearsed, along with the inner torment that destroyed Nixon's judgment. But he also begins to appear as much more a product of his time and place than many care to admit. If he frequently exploited the country's most base instincts, he also reflected legitimate resentments. The silent majority he mobilized survived him, eventually evolving into the right-wing populist movement that anointed Ronald...