What are people's views on the 36th US President, Richard milhous Nixon?

Will he only ever be remembered for Watergate or will history treat him more kindly?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon

Have other Presidents commited a criminal act while in the Whitehouse, probably, have any other Presidents been habitual criminals ? I doubt it.

If the bloke interests you Sid can I recommend The US vs John Lennon which is currently on at Cineworld and is an excellent documentary showing the absolute paranoia that was flowing through his administration.

He Will Also Be Remembered For Carpet Bombing Vietnam and Cambodia

Nixon was a victim of lynch mob liberalism at its worst. He had much the same effect on leftists and liberals in the US as Thatcher did in the UK - i.e. he was the object of almost visceral hatred.

He was certainly one of the most intelligent of US Presidents and had some notable achievements to his credit, in particular in relation to detente with both the Soviet Union and China. Some of his domestic policies were equally enlightened.

So what was the great crime which forced his resignation? Well, he covered up a break in (which he neither ordered nor knew about, as far as we can tell); he then lied about it; and swore profusely on tapes which were never meant for the public domain). Nobody died as a result of Watergate, but to read the liberal hysteria and (in my view largely feigned) moral outrage of Nixon's enemies at the time, anyone would think that it was the crime of the century.

As for his role in the Vietnam war, well, he was not responsible for the US involvement in this (blame two Democrat presidents for the US intervention) and he also played the key role in bringing this involvement to an end. In other words, he was left to pick up the pieces left by others. Moreover, as for the policy of carpet bombing, this was started by the Democrat Johnson - Nixon pursued it more vigorously in order to bring the war to a speedy end.

Before he became President, I remember, as a child, seeing him at the Blackpool Tower playing the organ.

Sorry, I have just been reminded that that was Reginald Dixon, I wondered how he managed to do both jobs at once. :confused:

Will he only ever be remembered for Watergate or will history treat him more kindly?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon

Watergate:confused: .... you mean Watergate gate. right?

Watergate:confused: .... you mean Watergate gate. right?

No, he means Watergate :thumbsup:

As a President, he was good. Arguably one of the best, given his foreign policy achievements.

But as a politician, he was awful. What sort of idiot tapes evidence of his criminal involvement? And as for his sense of damage control - well, we're still looking for that.

The stench of Watergate will fade - it has already started to fade, in some areas. But, just as with Thatcher, so many people hated him so thoroughly that it'll be a long long time before he can be judged objectively as the success that he was.

Richard Nixon is a fascinating character, he was the ultimate sales man. He won his first Presidential election on the promise to pull out of Vietnam, to which he never did. He then fought and won the next Presidential election with the promise to pull out of Vietnam.

Richard Nixon is a fascinating character, he was the ultimate sales man. He won his first Presidential election on the promise to pull out of Vietnam, to which he never did. He then fought and won the next Presidential election with the promise to pull out of Vietnam.

I thought he was elected on his "Secret plan" to end the war, which turned out to be the idea of carpet bombing Cambodia !:huh: :loopy:

hes not a crook.
thats all i know.