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37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books ever written by a former President..., May 12, 2002
By A Customer
Published in 1962, "Six Crises" by Richard Nixon is easily one of the best-written and most interesting books done by a US President. This book was a bestseller and even today it is regarded as a worthwhile read, largely because of its' insights into Nixon's mind and character. Fittingly, the book isn't an autobiography or a political memoir; instead it focuses upon what Nixon considered to be the six greatest moments of his political career up to 1961. The first crisis is the infamous "Hiss Case" in 1948, which elevated Nixon - then an unknown junior Congressman - into national prominence for the first time. The case started when Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist-turned-AntiCommunist magazine editor, accused Alger Hiss, a high-ranking member of the State Department, of being a Communist spy for Russia. The case made national headlines, and Nixon - a member of a congressional committee investigating Communism in the US - used the case as a springboard to the US Senate. The second crisis occurred during Nixon's first Vice-Presidential campaign in 1952, when he was accused by the press of being a crook who took bribes. Eisenhower considered forcing Nixon to resign as his running mate, but Nixon saved his career with the famous "Checkers" speech on national television (Nixon prefers to call it the "Fund" speech). The third crisis happened in 1955 when President Eisenhower had a serious heart attack, and until he recovered Vice-President Nixon had to be the "acting President" for a few weeks - a delicate task, but one Nixon performed quite well. In 1958 Vice-President Nixon and his wife Pat made a "goodwill" tour to South America, but were attacked and nearly killed by pro-Communist mobs in Venezuela - thus the fourth crisis. The fifth crisis came a year later when Nixon went to Moscow, where he engaged in a famous debate with Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev in a mock American "kitchen" that had been set up to show Russians how the ordinary American family lived. Although the debate was heated, most observers felt that Nixon had gotten the better of Krushchev. The most interesting part of the book for me was the last crisis - the legendary 1960 presidential campaign between Vice-President Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy. Nixon offers a well-written account of his view of the campaign. What really makes this book fascinating is what it reveals about Nixon the man - his emphasis on handling "crises", his obsession with maintaining his self-control during these crises, and the way in which he seems to place "events" above people - when talking about the mobs who attacked his limousine in Venezuela, he barely mentions his wife, who was also in grave danger - instead he focuses upon his own reaction to the attack and analyzes his own reaction to the mobs. In this book Nixon tries to present himself as a calm, cool, and rational man who always makes the best decisions - yet as his Presidency (and especially Watergate) would show, the "real" Nixon was often very different from the unemotional and logical figure presented in this work. Even so, this book is still a worthwhile read - it is very well-written and it examines several of the greatest events of a major politician's career from his personal perspective. Recommended!
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding book!, September 26, 2006
This review is from: SIX CRISES (Richard Nixon Library Editions) (Paperback)
Has there ever been anyone like Richard Nixon? For sheer resiliency,he stands alone in American history. No one won bigger than Richard Nixon. And no one lost bigger than Richard Nixon. And then won again. And then lost. And won again. He just kept punching and planning and working, to eventually become one of the dominant figures of the 20th Century. The author of 9 books, 8 of them best-sellers, this is his first,and covers six major crises of his political life to 1962. This is serious history, but so well-written that it reads like an exciting novel. In it, you can see the raw steel of the man emerging through his discipline, beginnig with his first crisis as a 35-year-old freshman congressman,the prosecution of Alger Hiss, the darling of east coast liberals and the state department, as a Soviet spy.. The other crises have been well-described by other reviewers, but all were thrilling examples of courage (backed by preparation) under fire. Highly-experienced Washington veteran David Gergen, who worked closely with four Presidents, in his excellent book "Eyewitness to History" described Richard Nixon as "the toughest man I ever knew". In this book, you can see why. Interestingly, his overwhelming love of country shines through as well. For example,the 1960 election was unbelievably close.A swing of only 11,000 votes properly distributed, and the election results would have been reversed. And there was verifiable vote fraud by the Democrats, especially in Texas and Illinois. Nixon was repeatedly urged to demand an investigation and recount. He refused. First,it would have greatly delayed the transference of responsiblity to a new administration. But secondly, as he wrote, "Then, too, the bitterness that would be engendered by such a maneuver on my part would,in my opinion, have done incalculable and lasting damage throughout the country." There speaks a Patriot. And a Man! Also recommnended."Nixon in Winter" by Monica Crowley.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
anti-communism, January 22, 2007
This review is from: SIX CRISES (Richard Nixon Library Editions) (Paperback)
Of course, I remember, as a young man, throwing tacos at the TV during Nixon's press conference in 1973 when he placed US atomic forces on alert during the Arab-Israeli war of that year. I also recall entering the US Embassey in Paris the morning after his resignation and demanding that the Marine guard take ole Tricky Dick's picture off the wall. But who am I to judge? After all, Nixon was right, and I was wrong on many points. Once said, it becomes easier to repeat, but most of us from that era are not politically honest enough to take a reconsideration. Watergate was a dark day, of course, but I knew CREEP was behind the burglary months before the 1972 election when it was first reported. Eventually, Richard Nixon did the right thing and resigned. Great shame was brought on the office of President. Even a generation hasn't erased it. Chairman Mao recommended this book to me. "Not a bad book," Mao comments on Six Crises during their meeting in Peking [Beijing] in February 1972. (This is according to the libretto of John Adams's opera NIXON IN CHINA.) I mean, Mao bears the legacy of the Great Leap Forward famine of 1958, and I wore black the day he died. No one died in Watergate -- if we exclude Mrs. E. Howard Hunt's death on a United 737 that crashed at Midway Airport. (Her purse was full of hush money, you may recall.) Mao and Nixon: what a pair! So, one looks at Vietnam today and must wonder: who won, and who lost that war? Did Nixon achieve Peace with Honor? Is it not true that his Secret Plan to End the War (announced during the 1968 election campaign) succeeded? After all, he did exploit differences between Russia and China and used that wedge to gain a Peace Treaty, less than a year after travelling to China. Even more, he opened the door to US-China Alliance, ushering in an era (with Mao and Chou) of peace between these two great nations, not to mention an era of unparalleled growth and prosperity for the Chinese people. Nixon wrote some awesome books. Six Crises is an awesome book. Nixon was right about Hiss. The Venona papers have proved that. Truman had a Soviet Spy in his Cabinet, a man (Harry Dexter White) who gave the printing plates to Stalin which allowed the Soviets to counterfeit the US Occupation currency in Germany. These are facts. (Read Norman Friedman's The Fifty Year War.) Of course, Truman wasn't a spy, but a patriot who fought Stalin hard. It was a tragic era. In Pop Culture (unfortunately) the only clear legacy of those days is Tricky Dick. Maybe, after another generation has passed, we can begin to get the entire Cold War in perspective, and (just maybe) Nixon can be seen for the man -- the statesman -- he truly was. My favorite crises are Hiss, Checkers, Caracas and Khruschev. But the entire book is great history. I give it six stars. Here, in these dark days of Iraq, you have to wonder: what would Nixon have done?
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