Nixon is a mixed bag. Great on foreign policy, anti-Communist to his core. But his biggest flaw was that he thought he would be "liked" by liberals for giving them EVERYTHING they wanted domestically. EPA, quotas, affirmative action, price controls, taking us off the gold standard, the floating dollar, etc. He (Like GW Bush) thought it would win him "love" by going left on certain issues. Instead, it enraged his base. And eventually he had almost NO supporters of either party. Compare with Reagan. He didn't give a hoot about being liked by people who would never support him anyway. He just did what he thought was best for America. And he was right.
BTW, the taping system Nixon used that was so "horrible" was installed by...LBJ. And rumor has it that JFK used a similar system. Nixon knew he was a historical figure and wanted to get the transcript "correct". Stupidly it ended up costing him the Presidency. Imagine if Clinton used a similar taping system. History would NOT be kind. And Clinton knew it.
It's true that Nixon was a social person, and Reagan was more secure in his individuality.
I would point out that even so, Reagan was taken in on amnesty because of the same fault Nixon had, he made the mistake of believing he was dealing with honorable men.
The American Rat left is like the left elsewhere, they are criminals without honor.