3 ms·
Nixon may be up for a re-assessment... but not because of Watergate. If anything, what (partially) redeems Nixon is his foreign policy accomplishments. He wound
by quanticle 12y ago
Nixon may be up for a re-assessment... but not because of Watergate. If anything, what (partially) redeems Nixon is his foreign policy accomplishments. He wound down the Vietnam War and he successfully pursued a rapprochement with China that served to split the PRC/Soviet Union alliance. Both were important things that needed to be done, and arguably, Nixon was one of the few American politicians who could do those things without instantly being accused of being a communist sympathizer.
But in terms of domestic policy, Nixon was a disaster. He served over the worst of the economic "malaise" that would be later characterized as "stagflation". He started the "war on drugs", and for that reason he is in no small part responsible for the deaths and incarceration of millions of poor, minority men. His attitudes on civil liberties and legitimate dissent continue to infect the military and intelligence agencies, who, to this day, see their job as protecting the American state from the American people. It was under Nixon that the Executive branch began to see itself as superior to the Legislative and Judicial branches. This is what people were referring to when they said that Nixon began the tradition of the "imperial" presidency. While blame can be laid at the feet of Nixon's successors for not reversing the harms that Nixon did, the blame for setting a bad precedent rests squarely on Nixon's shoulders. No amount of historical revision can or should erase that.
- yzzxy 12y agoCommon consensus today appears to paint Kissinger as the driving force and genius behind the Nixon administration's foreign policy success. I think Thompson expresses this quite well: > Kissinger is a slippery little devil, a world-class hustler with a thick German accent and a very keen eye for weak spots at the top of the power structure. Nixon was one of those, and Super K exploited him mercilessly, all the way to the end. Whether this is an accurate depiction I have no idea. But if it is, then Nixon seems to deserve credit mainly for getting out of the way.
- redthrowaway 12y ago>He wound down the Vietnam War After getting Kissinger to prolong it by getting the South Vietnamese to torpedo the peace talks, causing the deaths of tens of thousands, simply in order to get elected.[1] >a rapprochement with China that served to split the PRC/Soviet Union alliance. The relationship was broken long before rapprochement. Nixon/Kissinger took advantage of the split; they didn't cause it. As an aside, I'm currently reading Kissinger's World Order. It's a fascinating read by a man who was undeniably a giant of a statesman, despite his many flaws. [1] http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nixon-prolonged-vietnam-war-for-political-gainand-johnson-knew-about-it-newly-unclassified-tapes-suggest-3595441/?no-ist http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nixon-prolonged-vie...
- mc32 12y agoSomething few people (on the right or left would imagine today) it was the Nixon administration which started the earned income tax credit for the poor[1]. So, he wasn't totally a classist/ideologue as people night think. Seems more pragmatist than people might think. I think it's fascinating that a conservative admi'n would consider negative taxes. Something society, I think will need to consider more seriously in the future as people's jobs are obsoleted. [1]http://www.nber.org/digest/aug06/w11729.html http://www.nber.org/digest/aug06/w11729.html