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Richard Nixon: The Life by John A. Farrell

caitastrophe's review against another edition

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5.0

With new writings from H.R. Haldeman, John Dean, and Alexander Haig, "Richard Nixon: The Life" fully justifies both its existence and its status as the definitive Nixon biography. John A. Farrell manages to humanize and empathize with his subject without absolving him, and the resulting psychological and political portraits are fascinating. I was especially interested in the newly uncovered information on Anna Chenault.

Farrell didn't know who would be president in 2017 when he published this biography, but the fact it's another media-bashing, self-pitying man who plays on populist resentment makes this interesting book even more relevant. I can't say enough positive things!

lauraellis's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.0

Very well-written, rational, evenhanded biography of a talented but troubled president who is frequently viewed as a traitor and who betrayed his oath and the Constitution through Watergate, but also accomplished some very good things during his Presidency, either affirmatively in foreign affairs, such as the original SALT treaty with the former USSR, his trip to China, and ending the Vietnam War (albeit for the same terms he could have achieved four years previously, thus being responsible for millions of lives, American and Southeast Asian) or more passively, such as civil rights and poverty-prevention programs.  According to historians, he was the one of two presidents who contributed the most to the desegregation of schools as he enforced the law against de jure segregation in the South.  But he did not publicize this, but very publicly demonstrated through coded language that he supported Northern and other whites fight not to bus children or take other measures to desegregate schools that were segregated due to practice, red-lining, or other practices.  He was not from the Conservative Goldwater-Reagan-Trump wing of his party, but he was an anti-semite, was prejudiced against many groups, and he was someone who was willing to lie or break the rules to obtain power right from his earliest contested elections, e.g., his first race, against Rep. Jerry Voorhis; his race against Helen Gahagan Douglas.  He was capable of great kindnesses, and in his earlier years he was admired by African-Americans such as Rev. Martin Luther King and Jackie Robinson, but over time, beginning with the election of 1960, he lost their respect and backing due to his refusal to publicly support African-Americans in their fight for civil rights.  Overall, while he did have some admirable accomplishments, I still believe that he was not a good man and he did many things that I believe were wrong in his career, including his foiling of Johnson’s attempts to resolve the Vietnam War, his prolongation of the Vietnam War, and, of course, Watergate and all that surrounded it.  Also, many of his principles and guiding beliefs were not ones I share.  

lkshedlin's review against another edition

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5.0

compulsively readable - fascinating

weejane's review against another edition

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4.0

This was an incredibly sympathetic biography of Nixon, but fair. It pointed out his flaws but also portrayed him as a tragic figure. Based on other reading I've done, I'm not sure he's as blameless for Watergate as the author makes it sounds.

valerieellen's review against another edition

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5.0

Absolutely fascinating look at a complicated man and presidency.

dennisdiehl's review against another edition

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4.0

Four and a half stars.

rhonaea's review against another edition

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5.0

The talent of a gifted biographer is not just interpreting the character and actions of their subject and adding the perspective of history but bestowing on the reader an effortless walk hand in hand through life and times. John A Farrell could hardly have a more divisive and intriguing subject than Richard Milhous Nixon and he ably charted HUAC, Hiss, Eisenhower, Vietnam, civil rights, peace rallies, corruption, Kennedy, SALT, Soviet, Middle East, Yom Kippur War, China and Watergate. An excellent read.

booksuperpower's review against another edition

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5.0

Nixon: The Life by John A. Farrell is a 2017 Doubleday publication.

There is no shortage of books written about Nixon, with Nixon himself having written several books, published as memoirs. So, with all that material floating around, why do we need another book about Nixon, and why now?


Well, first, I think having a Nixon biography published in one book, as opposed to, say, Stephen Ambrose’s chronicles of Nixon’s life, published in three volumes, makes this biography a terrific choice. It’s enormous, with nearly eight hundred pages, but it is a very polished publication, that can be enjoyed by anyone, whether you are a novice or an aficionado.



Secondly, this book is a very comprehensive biography that does not allow Watergate to define it, so it’s not a rehash of the same old material over one period in Nixon’s life, which has been analyzed to death already, although it is covered very succinctly here.

Third, this is a new release, which means material unavailable previously, like in Ambrose’s case, has now been released, which gives us a fresh perspective on Nixon’s life.

Last, but not least, is the timing of this book’s release and the parallels to our current political climate and the nation’s polarization, which is hard to ignore.


The author has done an amazing job with this book. It’s so well organized, with some incredibly powerful passages, and covers the entirety of Nixon’s life, and lays out his slow transformation over the years, showing how, when, where and why he became the type of person and the type of leader he was.

Here are few of my musings, quotes and impressions, in no particular order:

“This Administration is going to turn away from… offbeat art, music, and literature. (Sounds eerily familiar, no?)

It wasn’t ALL Bad:

Nixon saw that an equal amount of funding went into women’s athletics.

He ended the draft, approved the lowering of the voting age, and had a surprising health care plan, which also looked pretty darned familiar and included mandated coverage and augmented public subsidies.

He did some important things for the environment- up to a point- by signing legislation to regulate pesticides and to police oceans and protect marine mammals, just to name a few.


Nixon was known for small acts of kindness, which were rarely remarked upon.
Yet, there were moments like these which reminds you of how the dark side seemed to take over completely after a time.

‘Fretting as he waited for the rain to lift and give Tricia the outdoor wedding, she hoped for, Nixon had raged, sequentially, about his enemies. It was a list that included ‘long-haired, dirty looking’ protesters; the eastern establishment, feminists; teachers’ unions; Jews, African Americans, and the ‘softies’ of the Ivy league; the ass kissers and butter uppers in the bureaucracy; and the lousy dirty… cowardly bastards in the press.’

Nixon encouraged Haldeman- the White House Chief of Staff- to enlist thugs from the Teamsters Union to beat up protesters.

‘They’ve got guys who’ll go in and knock their heads off,’ Nixon said.

“Sure. Murderers,” said Haldeman.


‘This is the time men have to be strong, Nixon told his aides. ‘I don’t have contempt for strong men that disagree with me- like the communists. I respect them.

I have utter contempt for the so-called… intellectuals who put themselves on a high moral plane and are just weak.

‘Weak, selfish, and cowardly, Kissinger chimed in.

‘Clowns, dilettante intellectuals…. Who bite us like sand flies.



In Nixon’s attempts to block the press-

“It was the duty of a free press ‘to prevent… the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die,’ wrote Justice Hugo Black.


“Washington is a jaundiced town. Nixon was welcomed back to the Capitol for Hubert Humphrey’s funeral in 1978, and to a state dinner honoring Deng at the Carter White House in 1979. He was visibly proud to join Ford and Carter in 1981 and represent the United States at the rites for the assassinated Anwar Sadat. The trinity inspired Senator Bob Dole’s arch description, at a Gridiron dinner, of the three former presidents as: ‘See no evil. Hear no evil. And Evil.


Overall, this was an incredibly insightful biography, very well researched and outlined. Nixon will never paint a sympathetic figure in my mind, and this book does nothing to expel that image of him. In fact, my opinion of him is still steeped in contempt, but I did get a much clearer picture of him as a man, a human being, a husband, a father, and as a politician.

I enjoyed reading about Nixon’s early political career, how the author builds Nixon’s burgeoning personality, the many ways he changed over the years, his insecurities, and sensitivities to slights which made him work harder to prove himself, yet led to his ultimate downfall.

‘What did the President know and when did he know it” - He knew it all, and he knew it all along.

This book covers several decades of politics, with many interesting tidbits I'd never heard about, leading up to the resignation of Nixon, with a short look at his life outside of politics.

After reading this book, I sat back and wondered how on earth we survived it all.

In the seventies, I was just a kid, concerned more about playground politics than Washington politics, holed up in my room applying copious amounts of blue eye shadow and strawberry lip gloss, dancing around to Casey Kasem’s top forty countdown on the FM dial. I was pretty much oblivious to most of the details back then, and had forgotten many of the details I had learned, but this seemed like a perfect time to take a measured look back at the events that shaped a nation and the man behind one of the darkest, coldest, and most corrupt administrations we experienced…. So far.

I was thankful for the author’s approach, steering clear from adding his own slant or political opinion to the book. He neither attempted to evoke a sympathetic view of Nixon, in an attempt to soften our viewpoint, nor did he ruthlessly crucify him with a disdainful tone. He didn’t attempt to take one side over the other, but presented the book as a biography should be presented- with as neutral in tone as possible. Let the facts speak for themselves and back up your information with credible sources and you will done the subject justice.

Nixon, like so many other world leaders had many, many sides to his personality. ‘Tricky Dick’ turned out to be far more interesting than I ever could have imagined and this book has left a big impression on me.

This book is perfectly presented and is a riveting, absorbing read, something that is rarely the case when reading non-fiction politics or history.




5 stars

grs909's review against another edition

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4.0

Tricky Dicky - whether you liked him, hated him, remember him or not, this is a good book about him. And a long one, too.

rhonag's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

5.0