| Richard Nixon - A New Respect |
| I have a newfound respect for the late, former President Richard Millhouse Nixon. He was a man embroiled in controversy and scandal, surrounded by militant pacifists and a war that wouldnt die. But he survived. He opened the began our discourse with the Great Dragon, with the Mighty Bear, but Americans of my and my parents and their parents generation will always remember him as one of our most controversial presidents. I saw a 1990 interview of him conducted by Larry king on CNN tonight, Feb. 5, 2001, and realized that the man was not of scandal, was not the s.o.b. that many portray him as. He reminded me of a friendly grandparent, an old timer in every sense of the description that couldnt escape his past and didnt care. History will focus on the positive, more than the negative. He did accomplish a great deal as president, and he very well might have been one of the greatest we had despite Vietnam, Watergate and the getting-no-where relations with the Communists. His administration started a new chapter in geopolitics, with Henry Kissinger, the monotone secretary of state leading the charge. Kissinger voice, no matter how oddly it sounded, helped propel and shape American foreign policy to the state it is in today. And without Nixon and his views, no matter how much the two differed on tactic, the overall strategy of his administration pointed the United States towards the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a new world. On the topic of speech, many people today make fun of and one might say criticize the nature of Nixons ability to speak and convey his message, but he is surprisingly clear. While not the Great Communicator Reagan was, he was definitely the Very Good Communicator. In the archive footage of speeches, both campaign and presidential, he spoke with eloquence, used his hands and purveyed a sense of This is how it is with every point. There was no wishy-washy I feel your pain present in the Clintonian Era, not a great deal of theatrics (the lasting image of Nixon boarding a plane, arms held high and fingers giving the peace V serves as one of only a few grand gestures he made. In his early 1990s interviews, he is almost casual, raising his eyebrows for emphasis, not his hands). While he seemed stiff and unimaginable that he could smile, he did, on many occasions. The vilification of him, portraying him as the ultimate evil that concocted the war in Vietnam and kept it going, that took place in the 1970s to today by, frankly, leftist historians and activists proves only that one can be too successful, sparking jealousy in his rivals. The truth of the matter is Nixon was very successful in his job, made perhaps some ill decisions towards what would be the end of his presidency, but did more good for the country than many could imagine. Bob Dole, during his eulogy for Richard M. Nixon, called him a great man, which truly summarizes the oft-chaotic, yet ever-moving life of one of Americas greatest sons. As he neared the end of his life, he still looked toward the future, always thinking of the overall, the strategy and not of the past. I like to think of him that way, as someone with a vision too impossible to be contained to one man, to great to let go. And as Bob Dole wept at the 37th Presidents funeral, we can see another, which is also too great to let go. I dont live in the past. One of the problems old people have is they reminisce about the past; you use the past only to the extent that it points to the future. -Richard M. Nixon, Jan. 8, 1992 |