The book represents the experience of the author in the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton Administrations. In this abstract I a focusing on the first two sections, Nixon and Ford. The book opens new insights into well known events like Watergate and the disarray of the early months of the Clinton Administration.
The book begins with the Nixon Administration. As the author sates, Nixon was a man of paradoxes, as his Administration would be. What the public saw in Nixon or heard Nixon say did not tell the whole story because there was a side of Nixon that only a few saw. The tapes that have been released over the years reinforce the image of Nixon that the public has accepted. The remarks about the Supreme Court and the anti-Semitism remarks certainly do not do anyone proud but, as the author points out, Nixon staffers who were Jewish were often the first to rise in his defense. Nixon is similar to Clinton in that he has been judged mostly on his works.
It should be noted that Nixon in the years before he won the presidency, was seen as a forceful leader by the voting public and he did win two elections by large margins. The author of the book points out that Time put Richard Nixon on its cover no less than fifty-six times. Richard Nixon is the only individual to be nominated by his party five times for a national office, three times as the Republican nominee for president, twice for vice-president. That a person can dominate the political stage for half a century and rise to great heights and fall so hard is the lesson to be learned when looking at the Nixon record. As the author points out, he was just beginning and did not know all the details but he saw enough to absorb some useful knowledge about how a presidency can come undone. The author notes the dual personality of Nixon and how difficult he could be at times to get to know. He also chronicles the continuing battle Nixon had with the press. Nixon set high standards but failed to live up to many of them. In the 1968 election Nixon ran on a platform of law and order yet his administration used secrecy and dirty tricks on a vast scale. The line from Vietnam to Watergate is evident because as the critics of the war became more vocal in the press and on the streets, the Nixon White House felt that its enemies would not give the administration a fair shake. Nixon?s rocky relations with the leadership class and press, the fear that permeated the administration and a White House that didn?t observe the rules and resorted to dirty deeds were the major factors of Nixon?s downfall.
The chapter on Gerald Ford is the shortest and of all recent president?s, he is the least remembered. The revaluation of the Ford presidency in recent years demonstrates that the actions of a president can enhance or undermine the president?s historical record over time. From the section on Ford, the reader can derive two main themes.
The first theme is that the actions of a president can have an impact throughout an administration. The first action that crippled the Ford Administration was the pardon of Nixon. The way the pardon was announced and presented to the American people was the critical factor. The author points out that there was no preparation to acquaint the American p
Ford will never be regarded as one of the great presidents and his record is mixed. Ford bought honesty to the Oval Office and healed some of the wounds from Vietnam and Watergate. One of Fords traits was his ability to build friendships across the political spectrum and being comfortable with his own abilities and intelligence, thus having no problem bringing in people smarter than he was. The role of Betty Ford, who was more controversial than Ford was himself, at times, is also discussed. The restoration of trust between the government and the American people was probably Fords greatest contribution and that is one reason his stature grows. 