Customer Reviews

Leaders

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Richard M. Nixon with his "Leaders" not only master the understanding of leadership, but also writing in general. The book treats several leaders of the 20th century, Winston Churchill, Konrad Adenaur, Shigeru Yoshida, Charles de Gaulle, Nikita Khruschev and many more with granduer. What one should particularly pay attention in this book is that the author himself, has personally known every single leader in the book, which adds a great deal of invaluable personal reminiscences which at the same time analyse each person. The book is a must read for those interested in history, politics, biography, and of course leadership in general. The numerous personal advices which the author present as indispensable to great leader, pinpoints the weaknesses and qualities a leader has. At the same time, Richard Nixon, with his outstanding political career which spans over much of a lifetime, tells the reader what to do and what not to do as a leader, how and why leaders have failed in history and how and why they've reached the top. A magnificent piece of work, which will live in my memory for a long time.

I always believe Nixon is "misunderestimated" among the Americans. No matter what he had done in Watergate, he was still a great leader who changed the world overnight by shaking hands with Chou En-Lai and ended the Vietnam war.
He was also a great writer and political critique, as you can see in his books. "Leaders" is one of his best and you can learn a lot about leaders who ruled and shaped the post WWII era.

Excellent book/with a witty and intellectual view of the world and foreign policy. Say what you wish about Nixon-but as a statesman, he's very smart and very shrewd.

These reviews cover almost a 10 year period and yet there are still so few posts. That is a shame because this is one fine book for the person interested in either history or leadership. My reviews never get into nuts and bolts, I try more to indicate what kind of reader will and will not like a particular book. I agree with all comments expressed here. For me Nixon is one of my favorite authors, his has a wealth of world experiences. If you already have your mind made up about Nixon for other reasons, I suggest you don't buy the book. But if you have only the slightest interest in history, you will find this book fascinating.

Can anyone even remember now what Nixon did that was so terrible?

He ended the war in Vietnam,
brought home the POWs,
ended the war in the Mideast,
opened relations with China,
started the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty,
saved Eretz Israel's life,
started the Environmental Protection Administration.
fulfilled Pres. Kennedy's promise to be on the moon by the end of the decade.

Does anyone remember what he did that was bad?
Oh, now I remember. He lied. He was a politician who lied. How remarkable. He lied to protect his subordinates who were covering up a ridiculous burglary that no one to this date has any clue about its purpose. He lied so he could stay in office and keep his agenda of peace going. That was his crime. He was a peacemaker and he wanted to make a world where there was a generation of peace.
And he succeeded.

That is his legacy. He was a peacemaker. He was a lying, conniving, covering up peacemaker.
He was not a lying, conniving drug addict like JFK,
a lying, conniving war starter like LBJ,
a lying, conniving seducer like Clinton,
a lying, conniving peacemaker.

President Nixon not only reminisces about the important men he knew personally in the latter half of the 20th century but gives us insight into the motivation and character of each leader. The reader cannot help but to cull from this book what makes a great leader but what sort of person should not hold leadership positions.

The book is thought provoking: e.g., how Winston Churchill found irony in Great Britain's success in WWII (was it really a "win" or just "survival" since its hold on its colonies was slipping and Germany would be built anew as a modern industrial nation while the English would fix their old factories and make due with rationing into the 1950's). Inspirational discourse and discussion can result from reading this great book and sharing its contents.

Nixon was a very intelligent man - something he is not properly credited with - yet, he gives us a book that is approachable and enjoyable to read via personal anecdotes. This is not a case of the author boasting of the big names he knows, but, rather an accomplished man sharing a wealth of knowledge. Do yourself a favor: but this book - its ideas are still current.

Despite the fact that Richard Nixon is held in low esteem by many because of the Watergate scandal, much can be learned about history, politics, biography, government, and leadership by perusing his 1982 book, "Leaders: Profiles and Reminiscences of Men Who Have Shaped the Modern World." His knowledge of these leaders is impressive, and the writing of the book is lucid and interesting. Nixon was Vice-President of the United States for eight years under Eisenhower and President from 1969-1974, so he often had personal meetings with the leaders he depicts, and these conferences are detailed in the book.

Entire chapters of the volume are devoted to Churchill of England,de Gaulle of France, Adenaur of Germany, Khrushchev of Russia, and Enlai of China. Douglas MacArthur of America and Shigeru Yoshida of Japan share a chapter.

In chapter eight, which deals with new leaders in a time of change, Nixon features David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir of Israel, Gamal Abdul Nasser and Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt,Ibn Abdul-Aziz Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Alcide de Gasperi of Italy, Ramon Magsaysay of the Philippines, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Achmed Sukarno of Indonesia, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, and Mohammad Riza Pahlevi of Iran. The author refers to Robert Menzies of Australia and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore as "Big men on small stages."

The famous political expression "In the Arena," which is taken from a speech at the Sorbonne in 1919 by Theodore Roosevelt, is the title of Nixon's last chapter.

This book contains much information on the nature of leadership. Variables which relate to strong and weak leaders during wartime and peacetime are outlined.

There are a number of good pictures of the leaders in the book and Nixon appears in some of them. The author dedicates the book to the leaders of the future.

There is no reason, whatsoever, for any student of politics not to read these amazing insights from one of the greatest political minds in American history.

The book Leaders by Richard M. Nixon showes how to make you fit for your business as a leader. Is political leaders happy for their lives? Is it interesting to be a leader in the country? What are most important characters to you if you want to become a great guy? How to make you stand up once you failed? Richard Nixon told you all by his own experience and his study of many great people in other countries. It won't disappoint you, but satisfy you. Read it, learn it, study it, and then make you fit for the challenges!