Word: nixons
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Many of the cover portraits of the '70s already seemed frozen in the hard-edged past: Henry Kissinger (Feb. 7, 1972) at the height of his power under Richard Nixon; Liza Minnelli...
...description of the Vietnam conflict that the reader is most cheated. Not because Nixon misses any details, or fails to deem it important and emotional. Nixon even provides an anecdote on Kent State that succeeds in making even the great villain of those days somewhat human, stating his sympathy for the parents and students who died "protesting a decision they felt was wrong...
...just that Nixon's methodical presentation of diplomatic cables, congressional battles and Vietnamese invasions is so utterly vacant of the gut feel of that era. For those who cut their political teeth on venomous demonstrations against the war and Nixon as its perpetuator, there will be little satisfaction in the excerpts' Ziegleresque newspeak. Nixon does not say he was wrong. Neither does he launch into a wild defensive screed of self-justification. Again, he seems to be trying to make everything he did seem ordinary, and even to make the context of his decisions similarly mundane. The mobilization of America...
...supposes that these excerpts could have been a lot worse, that Nixon could have distorted the facts, slandered his opponents, exalted his role. Maybe it is beneficial that he is so deliberately terse, giving us what he concludes are "just the facts, ma'am." He seems to believe that in time the import of the major accomplishments and crises of his presidency will become fully realized, and the personal feelings he aroused and felt will dwindle. If he is right, his book will be a basic text. But it will not help the historian conjure...
...from beneath helicopters on the retreat from Laos the way we did, watch G.I. s smoking dope in the barrels of M-16 s. He'll need to see the expressions on the children's faces as the cops in riot gear bash their friends. And to understand Richard Nixon, he'll have to study that damned upper lip and hear him say, "We could pull out--but that would be the easy way." Good night, Dick...