On The 40th Anniversary Of The Resignation Of One
Richard M. Nixon-Garry Wills' Nixon Agonistes
Markin comment on one Richard Milhous Noxious (oops-Nixon):
In politics, hard bourgeois politics,
one needs a very high degree of amnesia in order to survive the crooked deals,
the humiliating compromises, and the desperate need to trim around the edges of
political opponents because who knows who you might need for your own deals,
compromises and trimmings. History has been kinder to one Richard Milhous Nixon
than he ever desired, kinder due to the above characteristics of bourgeois
politics and its companion, revisionist history, by those who were old-time
opponents and those who are younger who knew not what a truly treacherous and
dangerous man he was, to friend and foe alike. That said, anybody who wants to
“rehabilitate” that man should consult the series of articles that the late
Hunter S. Thompson, “Doctor Gonzo,” wrote for Rolling Stone and which can be found in the compilation entitled The Great Shark Hunt before writing or
uttering word one on the subject. Of course for me, and others, at the time the
idea of impeachment for Nixon was not enough. What a number of us were calling
for in those days, those 1974 days when the man was going under by virtue of
his own hubris, was that he be tried by the victims of his massive bombings of
Vietnam and other places in Southeast Asia. That would have been real justice
and the right verdict of history on the man.
************
Short Book Clip
Nixon Agonistes, Garry Wills
The English poet and Cromwellian revolutionary John Milton had his Samson struggling against forces that he did not understand and that in the end he was unable to overcome. Professor Wills in his seminal contemporaneous study of the career through his successful run in 1968, up close and personal, of one Richard Milhous Nixon, former President of the United, common criminal and currently resident of one of Dante’s Circles of Hell tries to place the same spin on the vices and virtues of this modern “Everyman”. He takes us through the hard scrabble childhood, the formative Quaker background in sunny California, the post World War II start of Nixon’s rapidly advancing political career, his defeats for president in 1960 and for California governor in 1962 and his resurrection in 1968. And through his discourse, as is his habit, Professor Wills runs through every possible interpretation of his rise and what Nixon symbolized on the American political landscape. If one has a criticism of Wills it is exactly this overkill to make a point but make your own judgment on this one as you read through this tract.
However, as well written and well researched as this exposition is it will just not wash. Nixon knew what the score was at all times and in all places so that unlike old Samson there was no question of his not understanding. As Wills points out Nixon had an exceptional grasp of the ‘dark side’ of the American spirit in the middle third of the 20th century and he pumped that knowledge for all it was worth. Moreover, rather than cry over his self-imposed fate one should understand that he liked it that way. There is no victim of overwhelming and arbitrary circumstances clouding his fate. Enough said.
It is perhaps hard for those who were not around then, or older folks who have forgotten, just what Nixon meant as a villainous political target to those of us of the Generation of ‘68for all that was wrong with American political life (although one Lyndon Johnson gave him a run for his money as demon-in-chief). Robert Kennedy had it, as he did on many occasions, very eloquently right when he said that Richard Nixon represented the ‘dark side of the American spirit’. For those who believe that all political evil started with the current President George W. Bush, think again. Nixon was the‘godfather’ of the current ilk. Some have argued that in retrospect compared to today’s ravenous beasts that Nixon’s reign was benign. Believe that at your peril. Just to be on the safe side let’s put another stake through his heart. And read this book to get an idea of what a representative of a previous generation of political evil looked like.
Nixon Agonistes:
The Crisis of the Self-Made Man
From one of America's most distinguished historians comes this classic analysis of Richard Nixon. By considering some of the president's opinions, Wills comes to the controversial conclusion that Nixon was actually a liberal. Both entertaining and essential, Nixon Agonistes captures a troubled leader and a struggling nation mired in a foolish Asian war, forfeiting the loyalty of its youth, puzzled by its own power, and looking to its cautious president for confidence. In the end, Nixon Agonistes reaches far beyond its assessment of the thirty-seventh president to become an incisive and provocative analysis of the American political machine.
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