Richard Nixon

[Mister Moose]

I was young when Watergate happened, and most of my impression of Nixon was his caricature face, the unbelievably lame final walk on the White house lawn flashing double victory signs at the peak of his disgrace. He made some terribly bad decisions, but he seems to have aged well. He, along with Kissinger, stayed active post administration, writing books and taking interviews. Few ex presidents remained as interactive as Nixon post presidency.

Here's a clip of Nixon commenting on US Israel relations, and after 40 years, he's still on the money. He seems more presidential here than either Trump or Biden.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GUm74GXbN28

[easyrider16]

Nixon was a very intelligent and effective leader. What he lacked was character. He is a good example of why character should matter - even the most effective politician is not a good choice if they are willing to abuse the power of the office. So while I agree that his perspective on this seems pretty on point and he appears to understand the situation well, that doesn't mean I'd want him at the helm again.

I agree that he certainly he seems way more presidential in this clip than either of our choices today. We're living in different times. Back then if a politician acted like either Joe or Don, their career would be DOA.

[Bubba]

Nixon, like Reagan, couldn't get elected in today's Republican Party. Nixon was, by today's standards, a moderate to liberal Republican who, along with Kissinger, focused more on foreign policy than domestic. His opening to China to blunt Russian influence would be pilloried today by the GOP. (He took plenty of criticism for it even in the early 1970s.) He established the EPA, tried welfare reform with a minimum income level and tried to reform Medicaid with a national employer insurance mandate. On foreign policy, he along with Kissinger, were Cold War "warriors" with a world view derived from WW II experience. Kissinger was famous for saying that nations did not have friends, they had interests, and he followed that philosophy until his death. I heard Kissinger speak as the keynoter at an energy conference once and it was one of the most interesting such speeches I'd ever listened to.

As for character, Kissinger was almost as much of a sleaze as Bill Clinton and DJT. He said more than once that power was the great aphrodisiac and he lived up to that statement well into his old age. Nixon, on the other hand, was a deeply flawed individual who was really not a natural politician. There's a biography of Nixon I read years ago (the name and author escape me at the moment) that starts off with the author watching Nixon walking through the Capital rotunda deep in thought, ignoring the people around the area, very unlike the normal pol who would be gladhanding everyone in sight. The flaws became obvious many times but culminated with Watergate. Still, he was able to resurrect himself later and was a valuable member of the "Presidents Club", providing input to successors when asked for advice.