Republican Hero - President Richard Nixon

[LegalEagle 22]

Did anyone see the excellent History Channel presentation on Richard Nixon? It was on a couple of times this weekend. I didn't catch all of it myself, but it reminded me why I wouldn't let myself vote for one election after he quit. I voted for that idiot!

I never knew that his loss of George Wallace's support caused his decision to resign! Wow! No Boll Weevils, no Nixon.

When the news came out about Wallace being shot, Nixon suggested that they plant McGovern campain materials in Bremer's apartment. But the FBI had it sealed, so they couldn't.

We made a deal w/ N. Vietnam, but we couldn't get S. Vietnam to sign! So, we carpet bombed N. Vietnam to force them back to the table - made some minor changes and the South signed. It didn't say how many Americans died during that period.

Every American should watch that show to see political corruption and power at its lowest moment. Sadly, it was its lowest moment only because they got caught!

If anyone has that 18 1/2 minutes of missing audio, I'd like to hear it.

[otterinbham 0]

Well, the other disastrous aspect of Nixon was his complete surrender to Keynsian economics. Essentially, he inherited Lyndon Johnson's terrible policies and made them even worse with stupidity such as price controls.

On the other hand, Nixon was a master of geopolitics, turning China, and beginning the engagement policies that would eventually result in the collapse of the Soviet Union twenty years later. So his presidency was not a complete failure.

[CCTAU 3,349]

From what I can gather, Nixon is one of those president's you either loved or hated. As with all presidents, he made good and bad decisions. Watergate is his public legacy, but many in the political world give him more credit than the media or the public due to what he did do for the country instead of all the negative.

Some say China was a mistake, other say genius. Very polarized presidency.

I don't feel he was a horrible man, any more so than any other president. He came along at an unforgiving time. Hell, he gave us Ford and we didn't want him either. At that time, America was not sure what to do.It took many years to recover from that era ('65 to '75).

[otterinbham 0]

From what I can gather, Nixon is one of those president's you either loved or hated. As with all presidents, he made good and bad decisions. Watergate is his public legacy, but many in the political world give him more credit than the media or the public due to what he did do for the country instead of all the negative.

Some say China was a mistake, other say genius. Very polarized presidency.

I don't feel he was a horrible man, any more so than any other president. He came along at an unforgiving time. Hell, he gave us Ford and we didn't want him either. At that time, America was not sure what to do.It took many years to recover from that era ('65 to '75).

Paul Johnson, the great historian, refers to that era as "America's Suicide Attempt."

[Jenny AU-92 0]

I thought one guy hit the nail on the head - he said Nixon should have been a college proff - he had new, well thought out, progressive, forward thinking ideas about how to fix the country - but his paranoia and his inability to let go of grudges and personal feelings about people got in the way. He had the intellectual capacity but not the... well, for lack of a better term, "social skills" (meaning rising above the personal stuff) to be president. His corruption stemmed from the personal side, not the policy side - he thought everyone was out to get him, so he decided to misuse the powers of his office to get them first.

[AUloggerhead 2,253]

Could Richard Nixon's chosen profession have caused him to be so manipulative & dishonest? He was an attorney before he got into politics.

[otterinbham 0]

I thought one guy hit the nail on the head - he said Nixon should have been a college proff - he had new, well thought out, progressive, forward thinking ideas about how to fix the country - but his paranoia and his inability to let go of grudges and personal feelings about people got in the way. He had the intellectual capacity but not the... well, for lack of a better term, "social skills" (meaning rising above the personal stuff) to be president. His corruption stemmed from the personal side, not the policy side - he thought everyone was out to get him, so he decided to misuse the powers of his office to get them first.

Well, different people have different strength.

He was great at international politics.

From an economic viewpoint, the guy was a disaster. He was actually worse than Jimmy Carter, if that can be believed.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

From what I can gather, Nixon is one of those president's you either loved or hated. As with all presidents, he made good and bad decisions. Watergate is his public legacy, but many in the political world give him more credit than the media or the public due to what he did do for the country instead of all the negative.

Some say China was a mistake, other say genius. Very polarized presidency.

I don't feel he was a horrible man, any more so than any other president. He came along at an unforgiving time. Hell, he gave us Ford and we didn't want him either. At that time, America was not sure what to do.It took many years to recover from that era ('65 to '75).

Paul Johnson, the great historian, refers to that era as "America's Suicide Attempt."

Indeed, and we are still feeling its effects today. Given the "greatest generation" label rightfully awarded to the WWII era population, one could arguably name the baby boomer crowd America's worst. They have done more to harm this country than any other in our nations history.