He was the first president I ever voted for. And years later was fortunate enough to tell him that in person. He was better than anyone we've had since, two possible exceptions.
In 1980, just six years after he was forced from office, a classmate at my grad school from Mexico was sitting with a bunch of us Americans. When someone mentioned Nixon she loudly said “Oh, he was the best president you ever had.” The group went silent, mouths dropped open. I smiled.
In July of 1980 the very liberal Maine Times, a weekly newspaper in Maine published my letter where I stated that Nixon would eventually be seen as a truly great president. I kept a copy on the wall of my (NY city) dorm room all through college, but later lost it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gl84ilI8Do&t=126s
Above is Nixon speaking to Oxford students in 1978. It gives about a 6 minute speech and then answers their questions for over an hour. Unbelievable how smart and a grasp on things he had. And funny actually. He predicts that an Oxford student would someday be president. (Clinton, who Nixon know doubt had his eyes on in his early days).
“He was the first president I ever voted for. And years later was fortunate enough to tell him that in person. He was better than anyone we’ve had since, two possible exceptions.”
I worked with a Chinese guy who loved Nixon. I couldn’t believe it. He explained his family was given a real rough time in the Cultural Revolution and Nixon helped them emigrate.