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.
foreign policy good, domestic policy bad.
But, that said, when I look back at the Nixon years now and see how liberal his policies were and how liberal the country had become by the seventies, I'm amazed.
Balance that against his approach to China, which I think may have re-cooled the Cold War at just the right time. But the press never forgave him HUAC, which is pretty rich for the employers of Walter Duranty. Overall, a man whose flaws were as great as his virtues, but quite unworthy of the hatred he still elicits from those who enjoy indulging in that sort of thing.
If you get a chance read Washington's essays. A man of his character, strength, and ideals comes once in a millenium. We were so blessed.
As well, Washington made very wise choices as president and put the best people in his administration, even though some of them were political enemies (e.g. Jefferson/Hamilton). Washington's conduct as president set the example for all presidents to follow and his gracious exit from the scene (when John Adams took the oath of office) set the stage for the continous string of peaceful transfers of power we enjoy to this day.
Lincoln is certainly second because he kept the Union together during a time when we could easily have turned into a place like Yugoslavia.
But as much as I like Reagan, I must place Nixon slightly ahead of him. Nixon got us out of the Vietnam War that the liberals bungled us into. Nixon reduced tensions with the Soviet Union, preventing any premature conflict and allowing Reagan to later finish the job (by letting the USSR bankrupt themselves trying to keep up with us militarily). Nixon opened the doors to China which was no small feat.
Sure, one can nitpick at Nixon's domestic policies. But remember that Nixon inherited the nation after Lyndon Johnson's disasterous "Great Society" was allowed to take hold. Like Reagan, Nixon was hamstrung by a Democrat controlled Congress. Nixon also had to face a genuine energy crisis and real economic problems that don't even compare to the ones we are dealing with today.
I liked Richard Nixon. His fault in Watergate was trying to coverup some silly election-year shenanigans and the liberals (who hated every cell in his body) roasted him for it. What Nixon's "plumbers" did in Watergate pales in comparison to the dirty deeds of the Clinton crime family. Nixon never framed innocent people so he could get them fired (Travelgate). Nixon never ripped off elderly people in a real-estate scam (Whitewater). Nixon never engaged in any sleazy "cattle trade" scams. Nixon never had his interns giving him oral sex in the Oval Office. Nixon never molested or sexually assaulted other women. Nixon didn't need a "bimbo eruption" squad. And when Nixon was about to get impeached, he resigned gracefully so as to spare the nation the experience. Unlike Clinton - who DID get impeached - Nixon didn't twist the arms of senators and bribe them in order to save his own political skin.
I can go on and on. But despite his obvious flaws, Richard Nixon was deep down inside a decent and honorable man and he served his country well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.