A Century of Nixon

Wednesday 9^th January 2013 marked the centennial of Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37^th President of the United States. He is the only candidate to have run for the Presidency five times being successful in four (two terms as Vice President). Hundreds of books and scholarly articles have been written about him, perhaps, still not enough to decipher the real significance of what he meant for American and international politics. But almost two decades after his demise, students of politics and international relations still refer back to his persona, his decisions, and his era, to discern the complexities of political behaviour.  

Richard Nixon represents the quintessential candidate that thrives and survives the political game. Spectacular wins, drama, defeat and comebacks. When talking to David Frost, Nixon recalled his meeting with Mao Zedong wherein the Chairman notified him that he had read his book Six Crises. According to Nixon, Chairman Mao admired the comebacks more than the triumphs. Nixon’s life is the story of a man with modest origins, plagued by poverty and disease, who laboured the political circuit without family connections, climbed the ladder, held the most prestigious office in the world and then relinquished it in what became a national tragedy. In his poignant speech on the last day at the White House, he gave his vision of greatness and philosophy of life – ‘only if you've been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.’

Hailing from the farming town of Yorba Linda, Nixon grew up crippled by the death of his two brothers, wrestling the notion of rejection by joining student organizations and running for any post within reach. An excellent debater from a young age, he studied law, served in the Pacific as a Lieutenant in the Navy, and captured the attention of the Republican Party who wanted to field a candidate for Congress in 1946. Young, smart and tenacious, Richard Nixon campaigned hard beating Jerry Voorhis for Congress and Helen Gahagan Douglas for the Senate in 1950. The latter would coin him the nickname ‘Tricky Dick’, accusing him of resorting to bogus issues (Nixon called her ‘pink right to her underwear’ for her left sympathies) to demolish his adversaries.

After two successive tenures as Vice President to Dwight Eisenhower, Nixon ran for President in 1960 against John F. Kennedy. The Vice Presidency was more than an apprenticeship for Nixon. It heralded him as a prominent leader on the world stage visiting countries and leaders tirelessly, with highs and lows. In Caracas his car was pelted with stones whilst in Moscow he staged the famous ‘kitchen debate’ with Nikita Khrushchev. The race with Kennedy was fiercely fought and the TV debate, apart from being the first in Presidential history, brought to light the importance of appearance. Nixon appeared pale (after refusing make-up) and withdrawn as opposed to an energetic and vibrant Kennedy. He suffered a narrow defeat. From then on, candidates had to factor in the impact of TV and subsequently, campaigning changed forever. Following the California gubernatorial defeat in 1962, his political career seemed over. It was not.    

  

Nixon played a marginal role in politics dispensing advice and supporting his party through various guest speeches. He muscled for Barry Goldwater in 1964 and regained nomination in 1968 campaigning for Law and Order. The assassinations of the Kennedy brothers, the quagmire in Vietnam and the protests in 1968 descended the country into chaos and discontent. The verdict against Humphrey was a narrow one again, but this time he prevailed. In his inaugural address, he coined what would later be his epitaph: ‘the greatest honour history can bestow is the title of peacemaker.’ Nixon would take office, appeal to the ‘great silent majority’ to quell protests, expand the war in Vietnam by attacking sanctuaries in Cambodia, create the Environmental Protection Agency, dismantle racial subjugation in Southern schools, launch programmes to fight cancer and initiate various domestic reforms. But he would mostly be remembered for his foreign policy conquests. As Biographer Roger Morris argued, Nixon (together with Kissinger) shaped history. In trying to diffuse the Cold War, he acted ahead of his time.

Nixon, after a series of secret talks (triangulating with Pakistan) made a visit to China in 1972 opening diplomatic relations for the first time. The China connection served to bring the Soviet Union to the table and sign the first Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Détente was initiated and tension between the two superpowers relaxed. Nixon was living up to his ideals by becoming an architect of world peace. His landslide in 1972 against McGovern could only be savoured for a few months. Nixon’s failure to shut down ‘the plumbers’ operation led to what became known as the Watergate scandal. Nixon, convinced he would have the upper hand once again, was compromised by the very taping system he installed to monitor potential leaks from the White House. Leaks in fact became an obsession ever since Daniel Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times.

After the House Judiciary Committee voted in favour of Articles of Impeachment, Nixon resigned the Presidency on 9 August 1973. Resignation is ‘abhorrent to every instinct in my body’ he claimed, but it was the only option left. He would be pardoned by Gerald Ford and would advice successors, write books and act as an elder statesman until he passed away on 22 April 1994. His book In the Arena is probably one of the best for would-be politicians. As hardships descend on political leaders, and new challenges loom, many still ask ‘What would Nixon do?’ And his legacy lives on.