Word: nixon
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...funding for Afghanistan. Today's antiwar movement doesn't raise a middle finger at the Pentagon. In fact, Democratic leaders say they're defending an American military ravaged by too many deployments and too little funding. And if today's Democrats aren't McGovern, today's Republicans aren't Nixon. George W. Bush isn't winding the Iraq war down; he's ratcheting it up, and the G.O.P. presidential front runners are following along. In 1972, polls showed that more Americans thought Nixon rather than McGovern would end the war. It's virtually impossible to imagine voters saying something similar...
...true that in 1972, antiwar crusader George McGovern suffered one of the biggest political wallopings in American history, losing 49 states to Richard Nixon. Surely then, Democrats suffered for opposing Vietnam? Actually, no. People forget that in 1972 Nixon ran on a peace platform too. In his convention speech, he boasted that he had ended the draft, withdrawn American troops from ground combat, pursued a negotiated settlement with North Vietnam and reduced U.S. casualties 98%. The fall was marked by feverish diplomacy between Washington and Hanoi, culminating in Henry Kissinger's declaration, less than two weeks before the election, that...
That's not to say Nixon and McGovern held identical views. While Nixon promised to end the war in Vietnam, McGovern promised to end the cold war itself. He called for cutting the defense budget 37% and withdrawing troops not only from South Vietnam but also from South Korea. "The war against communism is over," he declared. "We have to settle down and live with them." That allowed Nixon to turn the 1972 race into a choice between isolationism and peace with honor. Seizing upon McGovern's support for amnesty for draft dodgers and his comments comparing America...
...right to withhold certain information from Congress, the courts and most anyone else, even in the face of a subpoena. It's a conditional privilege, meaning it can be overridden in some circumstances, such as when the President is the target of a criminal investigation. That's why President Nixon famously lost his 1974 struggle in the U.S. Supreme Court to keep the Watergate tapes private. But the courts are typically deferential to the privilege, presuming that it holds unless someone can prove an overwhelming interest in obtaining the information...
...running in the Administration's favor is the uncertain context of Congress' demand for testimony. When Nixon and Clinton invoked the privilege, they had to argue against the strong interests of special prosecutors in obtaining information for a criminal investigation. "Here, we're talking about a congressional committee asking for testimony," says Rozell. "It's a lot murkier...