My latest read – Nixon: Triumph of a Politician, 62-72

Just finished noted historian Stephen E. Ambrose second volume on Nixon: Nixon: The Triumph of a Politician, 1962-1972 (Ambrose, Stephen E//Nixon) and it’s quite a task. Ambrose as at his best walking the reader from Nixon’s failed run in the California gubernatorial campaign where he famously stated to the press “Your not going to have Nixon to kick around anymore” to his landslide re-election in 1972 with Watergate just beginning to explode.

The details of Nixon’s inherited war in Vietnam are the most revealing. Vietnam cast such a long shadow on Nixon’s Presidency. However all things begin equal he could not escape the shadow of Johnson’s role escalating the war in Vietnam. Nixon himself destroyed the “Imperial Presidency” he so hungered to achieve.He grew the role of the Vice President under Eisenhower in dramatic steps including his Kitchen debate with Khrushchev. Ambrose showed Nixon was a victim of the political game (which seems to pale in comparison to today) he played. When he finally achieved his goal — he turned his stored up frustration and hate against his enemies into the ugly, moral decay that became Watergate.

Knowing how corrupt Agnew was in Maryland it was enjoyable to see how Spiro became Nixon’s choice as VP and was often left hung out to dry by Nixon…but that was, as Ambrose pointed out he didn’t help himself when speaking publicly. Wow, talk about bad timing when in front of a microphone. My knowledge of Agnew is still limited but here Ambrose is able to bring Agnew a step closer in understanding Nixon’s strategy in pulling in an east coast governor onto the 1968 ticket.

Ambrose lead me to believe he was surprised Nixon did not dump Agnew for John Connelly in 1972 and even spoke about his trust in Connolly and a future run as the GOP’s choice in 1976. Watergate broke that opportunity.

I’m also somewhat impressed Ambrose is able to convey the type of “grunt reaction” Nixon delivered on a daily basis to his staff in reaction to media reports about his Presidency. Nixon was so glued to media reports that it surly drove his hatred of the press deeper and deeper everyday.

So did Vietnam get in his way of a more global position for America? I guess Vietnam confused Kennedy and blocked LBJ’s goal for The Great Society. Ambrose confirms for many that as far back as Truman taping systems in the White House were gathering conversations…Nixon was caught. His reputation as Tricky Dick did not help him in the media. At the same time Ambrose didn’t need to detail the taping by Kennedy and Johnson because we have access today.

For Nixon ultimately this book is about his struggle with Vietnam, the role of China and the Soviet Union and his lack of attention to domestic opportunities that could have left him far above Johnson’s Great Society. Clearly Nixon did not want the war in Vietnam and even supported Johnson before the 1968 election hoping the issue could be taken off the campaign trail. Vietnam was going to get a lot worse for America leading up to 1968. Tet, the assassinations of both MLK and RFK shook America. Nixon grappled with his role in both funerals.

The Vietnam peace agreement finally worked out by Nixon (delivered by Kissinger) just before the 1972 election was really no different than the original Nixon agreement first put forward in 1969. To some extent Ambrose shows Nixon as powerless as Johnson. When LBJ halted the bombing to pursue peace, that failure lead to the collapse of his re-election thoughts in 1968. To no surprise he just bowed out leaving Nixon the opportunity to gain the office denied him in 1960.

The insight Ambrose shares help a bit in shaping what we now understand about Nixon. He was an isolated man surrounded by a group that protected him to the very end, with the exception of John Dean. They believed what they were doing was right and the dirty tricks lead by Donald Segretti are just part of the political game — although the vast scale showed how CREEP was really making this a larger than life. And where would we be without Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.

Ambrose does share the tough lessons learned (and earned) by Nixon in his role as Vice President. I was reminded about Bob Dole’s words at Nixon’s funeral “the last half of the twentieth century will be remembered as the age of Nixon.” Ambrose brought to my attention the lack of respect Nixon has for his own Republican party in 1972. He really went alone (correctly) telling fellow republicans that his landslide victory would be great coattails for them to grab onto and change power back to the GOP as it was when he was Vice President.

Simply put Ambrose leaves me wanting to dig into this third volume Nixon: Ruin and Recovery, 1973-1990 as soon as I can find it at bookstore. Thirteen books along the road to Nixon’s resignation because of Watergate…I’m still hooked on this series of events.

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