Posted on 08/05/2003 5:01:24 PM PDT by SamAdams76
Let me make one thing perfectly clear, the greatest president and leader the United States has seen since Franklin Delano Roosevelt is undoubtedly Richard M. Nixon.
A great man to be sure, Nixon is the ultimate tragic hero of American history, and like all great men and all tragic heroes, Nixon was fatally flawed. His flaw, and the driving force behind his entire life, was the quest for personal victory in an Arena where the ends always justified the means, and losers lost all.
American politics, though almost completely devoid of violence, is just as vicious as the politics of ancient Rome. Unfortunately, angels are first to be eaten.
Fortunately, Nixon was no angel. He was a fighter. As a young man in high school, he fought to support his poor family and he fought to be on the football team. He fought to get into an Ivy League law school and failed. Nixon became the president because of his vision, knowledge and character flaws which drove him so hard to win no matter what.
The belief that Watergate was only a political problem would take the White House away from Nixon. Watergate was a victory for the Constitution, but a defeat for America's view of the presidency.
For political insiders, Watergate was just business as usual, but for the American people it was unspeakeable corruption.
Kennedy used campaign fraud in Illinois, Texas and New Jersey to win the election of 1960, defeating Nixon. Kennedy used illegal bugging, as did Lyndon Baines Johnson, who actually bugged Nixon's airplane during the 1968 campaign.
We should judge Nixon along with his political rivals and not just single him out as the only president to disgrace the office. Nixon was not going to be an angel when faced with a "political" problem such as Watergate.
Kennedy and Johnson would have handled it in the same way. However, they would have burned the tapes. This does not mean that these men should not be honored for their leadership during the most troubled time for America in this century. They were not concerned with how they treated their opponents, but they all had vision and they all wanted a stronger and better America. For that I cannot condemn any of them.
Nixon corrected Johnson's mistakes in Vietnam and "did the right thing" by bombing the communists to the peace table. Nixon ended the draft, ended the Vietnam War and brought American troops back home. He accomplished peace with honor.
Nixon created the necessary arrangements with the Soviet Union during detente which abated conflict and let the totalitarian state rot from the inside. He isolated the Vietnamese communists and the U.S.S.R. by being the first American president to visit China. Nixon fully supported Israel in 1973 -- almost causing a nuclear war with the U.S.S.R. -- and kept another holocaust from happening. Nixon's diplomacy in the middle east created the framework under which the Egyptians and Israel came to a peace settlement. Nixon was a friend of both Israel and Sadat.
Nixon was a powerhouse on the domestic front using such brilliant thinkers as Patrick Moynihan. Nixon created the environmental protection agency and enacted environmental legislation which enraged many. Nixon even proposed extending the Alaskan oil pipeline. This would have prevented the Exxon Valdez disaster.
Nixon created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and made many of the same proposals for health care and welfare reform that are being debated today. Nixon created and put teeth into affirmative action programs breaking the already rusting chains of institutionalized racism. Nixon created revenue sharing for cities.
Nixon was the most intelligent president who also made the dumbest mistake. Nixon threw some cold water on many who still believed that the president could do no wrong. Nixon did not mean to spill this cold water of reality, but he did and therefore he is the hated one. Nixon was the only American leader and strategic thinker capable of staring down Kruschev, Brezhnev, Zhou Enlai and the Vietnamese communists. Only Nixon could have accomplished these great tasks. Only Nixon could destroy Nixon, and he did.
The comeback king is gone, but his spirit will live on in America, for he embodied the good and evil of a country determined to win. To the self-righteous liberals, who Hissed at Nixon because of his strong nationalist beliefs and his unrelenting determination, he was the antichrist.
To the far right Connecticut conservatives -- and the Dean of Conservatives George Will -- Nixon was a nightmare. Surely Richard Nixon died laughing at you pouting radicals. I know I do, and I know the silent majority does as well. One day they will be heard again.
Always give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty; always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself. -- Richard Nixon, Farewell Speech
Well, that's the point. He couldn't control his emotions and consequently destroyed himself. Of course his enemies helped ruin him, but it's hard to give the highest respect to a leader who contributed so much to his own (unnecessary) downfall.
He placed the abominable Harry Blackmun (sp?) on the Supreme Court, and for that he should be pilloried as much in death as in life.
One thing about Nixon though that held him in good stead was his absolutely loving and loyal family. His family was a piece of Americana not seen since in any administration.
I can still remember his final speech before boarding the plane that left the White House on the last day he served.
He conjured up images of his Mom and his Dad with language undoubtedly designed to shield them from any blame assoiciated with his disgraced departure. In effect, he was saying "I had good, decent parents. America please do not blame them, blame me." That speech almost fully redeemed him in my eyes.
He was smart, that's for sure. But not smart enough to tell the devil to go back to hell.
A lot of former Politburo members would, (and have), disagree with you.
Now, when your grandkids ask you what the USSR was, you just answer, "an evil place, whose leaders wanted to rule the world...until a brave & wise man named Ron came along brought them to their knees".
Bingo. And don't forget the "decent interval" travesty attributed to him and "Hank." The concept that losing slowly with continuing loss of life was somehow a better strategy is truly warped.
I voted for Nixon in '72 as a vote against McGovern... regretted it as soon as I thought about what I had done [not about voting against McGovern but about what voting for Nixon actualy meant] ... and have not changed my mind during the intervening years.
At some point in the future I may once again hold my nose and pull the lever, but I pray that the person who gets my vote isn't another Nixon.
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