“Well this report is good but the fact that we are hearing about it is not good.”
According to Jordan Peterson, during a crisis with the Soviet Union Nixon told his negotiators, “You tell them that I’m a total nut case and I want to go to DEFCON III.” The negotiators were able to resolve the crisis. You can bet that much of what you see in the news about Trump’s willingness to knock heads is planted there because he wants it there. It is better to bluster and win by intimidation than to remain stoic and have to win by killing a bunch of people.
Incidentally, if previous presidents wanted a paper to run a story they could have had somebody call and ask. Now, I’m sure this administration will have to find somebody to act like they’re selling them out to get a story published. The media has changed in the last forth years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gl84ilI8Do
Above is a GREAT, GREAT!!! talk by Nixon to the Oxford Student Union. The entire thing is wonderful (done after he left office). He gives a ten minute speech, then answers questions for over an hour freehand.
At the 47 minute mark he talks about how important it is that the leaders know each other. At 49 minutes he talks about how Brezhnev told him that he was sending in two divisions to Israel, and that Nixon would need to do the same. Nixon replied no - he would not.
Later - Nixon raised the alert level. Brezhnev backed down. “Now - if Brezhnev didn’t know me - we would talk on the phone often. But if he didn’t know me - he might have thought that I was bluffing. He made the right decision to back down.”
The entire event is really good. Quite a bit of humor from Nixon. “Brezhnev didn’t want a war. He wants the world - but he doesn’t want a war.” That got a good laugh.
Most of the time during the event there are protestors shouting. The kids asking questions would get rattled - but Nixon never did.
Some kid, while asking a question, stopped as the yelling got much louder. Nixon told him “It’s okay, go on. The acoustics here are really bad. If you all throw a fundraiser to fix it, I’ll chip in 20 bucks.”
At the beginning of the event he thanks the organizers for such a warm welcome. “And the folks outside (loud chanting in the background) - they are making me feel right at home!”
I need to look when Bill Clinton was there. I think it was after the speech. But Nixon said, while praising Oxford University, something like “You know, I don’t think it will be too long before an American President comes along that has been to Oxford.”