“Nixon had to sign off on Glomar explorer.”
Absolutely.
But I don’t think that was “skullduggery.” It was a significant intelligence coup, and Nixon would have been derelict had he opposed the mission.
It’s no different from a crashed military aircraft that had classified material or components on board: Adversaries or potential adversaries would be beating feet to that crash site to recover the secrets. We do it; Russia does it; China does it; pretty much EVERYONE does it. And, from their viewpoint, it is fully justified. That’s just how the game is played.
And the cover story covered up how successful the operation was.
Absolutely, it was extremely important for the balance of power.
I'm saying that the President is presented with all kinds of situations where he almost snaps his fingers and incredible things get done, things that turn pipe dreams into reality.
Perhaps the idea of "doing the impossible" went to Nixon's head. Perhaps he really was morally weak. Perhaps he made a spur-of-the-moment decision that he soon regretted, but couldn't walk back. I don't know which.
The media absolutely hated him, as much as they hated Reagan or Trump. They were more reserved about showing it, but the hatred was just as strong. Not that it matters.
As KC_Conspirator said, Obama's bugging of the Trump campaign was worse, and had no consequences at all.