This book offered more to me than the standard fare of Nixon biographies. Which mostly means it discusses the corruption of the Nixon administration, and Nixon in general, outside of Watergate.

Richard Nixon was a legitimately terrifying human being. Triply so because he was president. I never figured him for a super great guy, but the Nixon depicted in this book is clinically paranoid, petty and far more vindictive than he has any right to be. You need a little background for this book, which is the only reason I left off a star - it's an accounting of the secrets that have come out of Nixon's presidency only in this millennium as the secret tapes and documents have been made public.

In a weird way, Nixon was right: It's far better for the United States that the things he did, said and thought were kept from people. However, the ultimate tragedy (for Nixon, sure, but for the rest of us as well) is that it's only true because Nixon was given power - if he weren't so awful, we wouldn't have needed the secrecy. ( )

I'm just not feeling the narrative structure and overall tone of this one. Maybe I'll try again later, when I don't have a hundred other library books to read and I can be more patient.

The life of Richard Nixon is a subject about which historians never tire of finding something say, and ONE MAN AGAINST THE WORLD: THE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD NIXON, by Tim Weiner, is one of the better recent ones. This is not a “life and times” full out biography of the 37th President’s life and career chronicling the rise and fall, then rise and even greater fall again, but a hard look at the crimes that surrounded and led to the Watergate scandal. Weiner’s book is a relatively short – 300 pages and change – account of the man’s crimes and mendacity while in the White House, based on documents and tapes released in the 21st Century. The writing is tight; the chapters are of manageable length, broken down further into subsections that focus on particular illuminating events. Whenever possible Weiner lets Nixon’s own words make the case against him.

It is quite a case indeed, starting with an account of how the Nixon campaign sabotaged LBJ’s effort to achieve a cease fire in the Vietnam War on the eve of the 1968 election; this amounted to rank treason, a crime that stained the new administration at its conception. Duplicity, especially when it came to Vietnam, was practiced from day one; so too a desire to thwart and destroy the endless enemies in Congress, the media, higher education and the streets that the Nixon White House saw on all sides. Weiner shows how the President governed with only a small circle of like minded aides in the Oval Office, ignoring most of his cabinet, while plotting secret bombing campaigns, black bag jobs, illegal wire taps, raising slush funds, and to use the IRS and the FBI for their political ends. The Houston Plan, Operation Gemstone, the Ellsburg break-in, and the burglary at the Democratic HQ at the Watergate Complex are recounted in damning detail; making it clear that all of it was done with the President’s tacit approval. One revelation that caught my attention was how the secret bombing of Cambodia was covered up by falsifying the flight records of B-52s used on the bombing runs; hardly the foundation for “Peace with Honor.” Nixon believed the Kennedys had stolen the Presidency from him in 1960, and had spied on his campaign for Governor of California in 1962, so he was justified in his actions – a self serving rationalization if there ever was one. Then there were Nixon’s minions that were in it up to their necks: John Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, John Erlichman, John Dean, Charles Colson, Jeb Magruder, Howard Hunt, G. Gordon Liddy, and the rest. The picture of Henry Kissinger that emerges in these pages is far different than the one of esteemed elder statesman.

But the most damning portrait that emerges is of Nixon himself. On the public stage, the man was the very portrait of pious rectitude, the defender of the Silent Majority’s traditional American values, standing firm against the long hairs and elitists who supported the Viet Cong abroad, and sympathized with drug dealing criminals at home. Weiner shows us the foul mouthed, prejudiced, corrupt, over bearing man who came out behind closed doors when no one was listening but his palace guard, and the tape recorder that preserved his damning words for the ages. Weiner also touches on Nixon’s excessive drinking, and confirms that he was passed out in the White House family quarters and took no part in an October 1973 NSC meeting where American armed forces were put on a worldwide alert because the Soviets were shipping nuclear warheads to Egypt during the Yom Kippur War. Nixon was a capable statesman, one who recognized the futility of the Cold War, and tried to do something about it, but one cannot help but come to the conclusion that his corruption tainted everything.

This book is best read by those already familiar with the details of Nixon’s life and Presidency, as Weiner does spend much time on back story and background. I would recommend Rick Perlstein’s NIXONLAND and THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE for the uninitiated, as it covers much of the same period and subject, but with a wealth more of detail.

Tim Weiner’s book is truly informative, and makes the case against Richard Nixon in full. It was a tragedy, for the man, and for the country, but sadly, for anyone who has lived through the last half of the second decade of the 21st Century, we must say that we have now seen worse. ( )

I know I’m dating myself, but I was born while Richard Nixon was president. Going forward, Richard Nixon was someone who was rarely discussed, particularly in light of the Watergate scandal. Most of the bits and pieces of information that I heard about him were negative. With the declassification of government information relating to Nixon’s presidency in the last few years, several related titles have been published in recent months, I figured that it was a good time for me to learn more about this controversial figure in United States history.

While Weiner does give a brief outline Nixon’s political career up to his presidency, he puts most of the focus on Nixon’s time in the White House, specifically detailing his handling of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. Weiner expresses very little sympathy for Nixon, painting him as a power-hungry control freak who was willing to resort to illegal activities to ensure his election to a second term as President. He does an excellent job documenting the flawed thought process that would ultimately lead to Nixon’s downfall as president and ultimate loss of respect by the American people for both him personally and the office of the President. I highly recommend this read.
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