The Watergate break-in happened this week in 1972. It always gets a lot of coverage from reporters every year. It's becomes a day for liberal morality rants. Nixon this and Nixon that!
To be honest, President Nixon made mistakes, from defending his staff to participating in a cover-up. He admitted many of these mistakes in his memoirs published in 1978.
Let me add that RN is a great history book going back to Nixon's first campaign in 1946, his close relationship with fellow House member John F Kennedy, the Alger Hiss case, his run for the U.S. Senate, getting selected by President Eisenhower, the Checkers speech, the vice presidency, his loss to the aforementioned JFK, his comeback in 1968 and the almost two term presidency. It reads like a postwar history class!
Over the years, I've recommended one book for those hoping to learn about Nixon. I am not saying that you are going to fall in love with Richard Nixon. At the same time, you will learn that he was not some kind of a monster.
The book is Tom Wicker's One of Us. This is one of the best books about Mr Nixon because Wicker was a liberal journalist. Mr. Wicker related that Nixon was a mainstream type of politician.
His presidency was not some right-wing movement. Nixon signed the executive orders that gave us affirmative action and the EPA. It was Nixon's pen that signed Title IX, which opened up college sports for women.
Indeed, thousands of young blacks got into elite schools because of Nixon's affirmative action executive order. Robert J. Brown, Chairman and CEO of B&C Associates and former Special Assistant to President Nixon, wrote that he was very proud of President Nixon's commitment to civil rights.
Wicker also reviewed Nixon's foreign policy. He found that he had a lot in common with JFK, Humphrey and LBJ. In fact, Nixon, JFK, Humphrey and LBJ would find Howard Dean and Bernie Sanders as weird as I do.
Wicker reminded us that Nixon went to China, perhaps one of the boldest foreign policy visits in history. Only a conservative like Nixon had the domestic credibility to make that trip.
Let me repeat it. June 17th has turned into a day to hear morality rants from the liberals. However, there was a lot more to Nixon than Watergate!
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