Customer Reviews

Nixon, Vol. 1: The Education of a Politician 1913-1962

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the dedication page of this book, Ambrose lets the reader know that his two brothers ensured that there was always a two-to-one Nixon vote among the Ambrose boys. A clever way of letting the reader know that he favored Kennedy over Nixon. However, Ambrose is scrupulously objective in this biography of the oft-maligned Richard Nixon. In fact Ambrose's objectivity in this biography apporaches sublime detachment, in striking contrast to the author's later work on Meriwether Lewis,Undaunted Courage. Nixon's legendary persistence is revealed in every stage of his life- Whittier College, law school at Duke University,a young congressman, then Senator, and Vice-President. Ambrose neither demonizes nor sanctifies Nixon. He merely recounts each stage of his life thoroughly, methodically. Ambrose does not insult the reader with new age psycho babble when he probes the possible impact on Nixon of the death of his two brother's from youthful, tragic illnesses. As for Nixon's aloof personality, perhaps Nixon's own mother characterized his personality best when she remarked that he always seemed to be a child whom you would call Richard. Some interesting things about Nixon are revealed, or better said, are reminded to us by Ambrose. Ambrose dismisses the popular notion that Nixon was evil politics incarnate when he made Helen Douglas out to be weak on communism during Nixon's successful run for the Senate in 1950. Ambrose concludes that Nixon was simply playing to win and that Helen Douglas was hardly the paragon of virtue hailed by the press. Ambrose reveals the delicious irony that one Senator Jack Kennedy held Helen Douglas in very low regard and gave Nixon $1,000 from old man Joseph Kennedy for his campaign against her. Nixon was a staunch, but unheralded supporter of civil rights. Ambrose points out that Martin Luther King voted Republican in the 1956 presidential campaign and was circumspect of Kennedy's commitment to civil rights legislation. Politically astute and ambitious he certainly was, but Nixon did not play racial politics in order to gain votes in the South during the 1960 presidential campaign. And looking back on the closest presidential election in this century, one can argue persuasively that Nixon's unwillingness to exploit the racial issue in the South easily denied him this heavily protestant region that was very uneasy with the catholic Kennedy. Allowing that election fraud was highly probable in both Texas and Illinois, Ambrose does not dodge the matter of the 1960 election being stolen from Nixon and praises Nixon for his wisdom in not contesting the results. The reader is never tempted to love Richard Nixon, but one develops an earnest respect for this very complex character who refuses to give in. I gave this book four stars because Ambrose seems unable to strike a resonant chord with his subject. That probably is not be fair because it just might be that Nixon the man makes it impossible for even an historian as gifted as Ambrose, or anyone else for that matter, to crack open his soul for inspection.

Like other controversial American politicians such as Bill Clinton and Franklin D. Roosevelt, there was little middle ground concerning how the public felt about Richard M. Nixon. To some Americans, Nixon was the most sleazy and two-faced man in American politics, and they despised him. As Adlai Stevenson, the two-time Democratic presidential candidate said in the fifties, Nixon was the kind of man who "would cut down a redwood tree, then climb on the stump and make a speech for tree conservation". But to other Americans, Nixon was a gutsy fighter from a poor family who had, through sheer hard work and intelligence, climbed up the ladder of success, only to be reviled by the wealthy "limousine liberals" whose success had come because of their family connections, not because they deserved to succeed, as Nixon had done. Not surprisingly, perhaps, books written about Nixon also tend to fall into one of these two categories - the "hatchet jobs" written by historians who obviously dislike Nixon and print every negative thing they can find about him; and the mostly admiring books written by his former aides and supporters who defend his actions and attack his enemies as "hypocrites" who did the same things as Nixon, but just never got caught (partly because they were protected by a liberal news media). Stephen Ambrose, one of America's most prominent historians and a former Nixon critic, nonetheless provides what is probably still the most balanced and fair-minded account of Nixon's dramatic life and career with this book. Published in 1987, "Nixon: The Education of a Politician" follows Nixon from his bleak and rather sad childhood to his two bitter defeats for political office - first to John Kennedy in the 1960 presidential race (a campaign which was so close that Nixon believed until the day he died that Kennedy had "stolen" the election from him) and his devastating loss to Democrat Pat Brown in the 1962 California governor's race - a defeat which led many experts to write off Nixon as a political "dead duck" and has-been. Unlike many of Nixon's previous biographers, Ambrose manages to keep his feelings about Nixon to himself and instead he concentrates on telling a well-written, well-researched account of Nixon's life. As Ambrose writes, Nixon had good reason to be somewhat bitter about his life - his father was one of life's "losers" who seemed to fail at almost everything he did, despite years of backbreaking work. The Nixons were a hard-luck family - oil was discovered on land the Nixons had once owned but sold just before drilling began; two of Nixon's beloved brothers died from tuberculosis while young, causing his mother to put enormous pressure on Richard to be successful in life and make up for the family's loss. By the time Nixon entered college he was a very bright and energetic, but also cold and aloof, young man who had a hard time making friends and having fun - he was always so "serious" and grim-looking, his mother remembered. At Duke University Law School he graduated third in his class, but made almost no friends and was called "gloomy gus" by his classmates for his overly serious and stuffy manner. Nixon would repeat this pattern into his political career - working longer and harder than everyone else, maintaining an intense, serious, and rather cold personality, but also lashing out at his political opponents, even when he didn't have to, thus making many powerful enemies in the press and Democratic Party. After this excellent biography, Ambrose went on to write two more volumes to conclude his study of Nixon's career. However, in my opinion neither of the two succeeding volumes can match this one for writing style, interest, and drama. If you want to read an engrossing account of one of this century's major political leaders, then "Nixon: The Education of a Politician" is still your best choice nearly fifteen years after it was published.

Although I remember the Watergate scandal and Nixon's impeachment, I was too young to appreciate what was happening. In subsequent years I just assumed that Nixon was a dirty underhanded SOB who clawed his way to power by whatever means necessary. Stephen Ambrose, in a Booknotes session on CSpan, indicated that he was reluctant to embark on a biography of Nixon because of his visceral dislike of the man. After doing his homework and uncovering the facts about Nixon, a much different picture emerged than that which most of us associate with him. He was out in front in the 1950s, as Vice President, lobbying for Civil Rights when it was seen as a guaranteed political loser. Stephen Ambrose concluded Nixon was extraordinarily complex, and I can see why. He's capable of such principled integrity, yet cursed with a competetive nature that drives him to the depths of the gutter in pursuit of political victory. On the whole I came away from this book with a lot of admiration for Nixon. I doubt he would have been much fun to drink with, a feeling Eisenhower seemed to share. Eisenhower's ambivalent feelings about Nixon the man seemed to make him reluctant to give his whole-hearted support to Nixon's presidential campaign. Given the slim margin by which he lost to JFK, one can understand that Nixon might be embittered as a result. As usual, Mr. Ambrose has written a hugely informative and entertaining book.

Its easy to hate Richard Nixon, and not only because of Watergate. Democrats despised him because of the Vietnam War and the confrontational stance he took towards anti-War protestors. Many Republicans, when asked to give their honest opinion, denounce those many aspects of his 6 years in office that were far from either conservative principles or mainstream Republican ideas, whether its the disaster of wage-and-price controls or what some saw as capitulation to a murderous regime in China. Its harder to understand Richard Nixon, both his spectacular successes and his similarly spectacular, and in the end irrational, failures. Stephen Ambrose, by no means a Nixon partisan, goes along way toward some kind of understanding in this first of a three volume biography.

Contrary to some reviews, I don't find Ambrose to be overly sympathetic in his portrayal of Nixon during these early years (or, as some might call it, Nixon: Act One). If anything, by focusing on the sometimes pitiful aspects of Nixon's early life, Ambrose seems to provide some clues into the development of the man whose character flaws would ultimately destroy him. When combined with the story that Ambrose unfolds in Volumes Two and Three of this series, one begins to the understand the reasons that Nixon was Nixon, and one wonders if he could have turned out any different.

Together with Volumes Two and Three of this series, this book qualifies as one of the best Presidential biographies in American history. As Ambrose demonstrates, whether you love Richard Nixon or hate him, his importance in the history of America during the last half of the 20th Century cannot be denied.

NIXON is an exhaustive and in-depth look at the early years of one of America's most notorious politicians -- Stephen Ambrose has really done his homework.

More than the cold hard facts, though, the reader gets up-close and personal with Nixon -- you really understand what makes him tick, which is probably why you decided to pick up the book in the first place. Afterall, who doesn't want to know more about this complex figure? He was so frequently regarded as "uncharismatic," and "untrustworthy," that even the casual observer of history has to wonder how such a person became President.

I was not only compelled to learn how such an unlikely man gained the presidency, but how this man took such a gift, and betrayed it to his flaws. I knew the answer was, simply, in what made him tick as a human being. I found those answers here.

Surprisingly, one also gains in reading this book a broad education in not only Nixon the man, but his era. This is the great thing about a well-written biography; it can be a wonderful cross-section of not only biographical information but historical as well. In reading Ambrose's account, you will learn a thing or two about how our government works, and will walk away with a historical perspective that will help you to understand today's complex and heated political climate all the better.

The one area where NIXON is lacking, however, is in the exploration (or lack thereof) of Nixon's family life. We are constantly reminded that Nixon was "never there," and that despite his absence, his family "loved him" very much, particularly his girls (who adored him, apparently), but why? We don't get many details on Nixon's relationship with his girls, which I thought would have provided an even clearer window into the subject's complicated psyche. I've heard that whatever his public persona, he was a very loving father. In my opinion, the book suffers for not exploring this deeper.

Though Stephen Ambrose, by his own admission, is no Nixon fan, he is to be applauded for his objective effort in analyzing our former President. While he doesn't let him off the hook (no doubt about it, Nixon played political hardball almost unscrupulously), you will --through reading this book-- come to sympathize and perhaps even find respect for Nixon. Believe it or not, he was in many ways a principled man, and had a deep-rooted code of ethics which governed his direction in life (I mean, look at Watergate -- for the terrible deed it was, at least he wasn't trying to line his own pockets or anything). Unfortunately, as you will learn, he was also too ambitious and too insecure, and these flaws would prove to be his undoing, as they sometimes blinded his morals.

NIXON show us that these flaws would, even early in life, lay the foundations for the subject's eventual downfall. However, this book also teaches us something: we all have flaws, and we are all just as capable as giving in to them as he was.

The life of Richard M. Nixon, is, more than anything else, a cautionary tale.

As the fictional President in Oliver Stone's film NIXON comments whilst gazing at a portrait of JFK; "When they looked at you, they saw what they wanted to be...

When they look at ME, they see what they ARE."

I admit it. I went into this book with a biased view against the late Richard M. Nixon. I was born after the Watergate Scandal broke and everything I had learned about the guy through media accounts, magazine articles, and immediate family members was generally negative. I discovered that Nixon was a liar (i.e. "Tricky Dick"), a thief, and a general blowhard. Surprisingly, I came out of this book with an entirely different impression of the man. I liked him! Stephen E. Ambrose has produced a three-part biography that provides us with two entirely opposite sides of Nixon -- the early spiritual Quaker Nixon and the later untrusting political Nixon. Beautifally written, this book accomplishes an amazing feat. It humanizes Nixon and shows why he made the decisions he made. From boyhood to resignation, it covers major events in his life cover-to-cover. Anyone accustomed to the Ambrose style knows this simple fact, Steve does his research and presents the unbiased facts in an enjoyable fashion. In no way does Ambrose (or myself for that matter) excuse Richard M. Nixon for his actions that led to his fall, but Ambrose also provides us with the answer to why Nixon ended up doing the things that he did. Tremendous work... Great read

I was 400 pages into this book when I realized there was no way that Ambrose was going to get through the Nixon Presidency and Watergate in the next 200 pages.

Why is that relevant?

Because the book was so interesting that I never even stopped to realize that it wasn't a single-volume biography. I picked it up used at a local book store and just assumed it was a one-volume bio... shame on me. But, the book was so well written that it just flowed and kept my attention. I didn't even notice I was running out of room.

When I did realize I was running out of space and needed volumes II and III, I went online and ordered the second quickly so my journey into the Nixon presidency would go on without a beat. Volumes II and III are pretty pricy by the way. I bought the second and checked out the third. I'd suggest your local library for all 3.

Of the three, I would say I liked the first the most because it talks about a Nixon that was a good guy. He handled himself with dignity under the worst of circumstances... for instance his VP trip to South America. You like Nixon in the first book. Ambrose paints a portrait of a nerdy guy that just happens to be an extremely gifted politician and is willing to play the cards necessary to make it in Washington.

I liked all 3 volumes, but by far the first of the three in the series is the best. If you want to read all 3 though... brace yourself it adds up to more than 1900 pages on what I would consider one of the most interesting people in American history.

Great job Ambrose... or at least great job to what had to have been a small army of researchers.

Ambrose has done a great job of examining Nixon's first fifty years in great detail while linking the information to later events in Nixon's life. Ambrose does not sugarcoat Nixon's many failings, particularly his difficulty moving beyond campaigns and his massive vicious streak in political campaigns. However, nor does Ambrose appear to have an axe to grind. He points out Nixon's virtues as well, such as his early and principled support of civil rights. The reader, if willing to begin the book with an open mind, is left with mixed feelings regarding Nixon. On the one hand, it is easy to wonder how much good the man might have done if he could have overcome a relative few character flaws. On the other hand, it is equally easy to wonder how such an evidently intelligent man could mislead even himself with his chronic hyperbole and dissembling. Overall, the book does an excellent job of showing who Nixon was and how he came to be that way, without trying to lead the reader to a conclusion about the man himself. Anyone interested in learning about Nixon would do well to read this work, although readers who have already made up their mind about Nixon will not walk away changed: there is plenty here for those who despise Nixon and those who revere him.

This is the first volume of Ambrose's three volume work detailing the life of Richard Nixon. From childhood to law school to Congress to the Vice-Presidency, the author explores Nixon's character and personality as well as the influences and experiences that made Nixon the complicated and contradictory individual that he was. While the seeds of his destructive personality are clearly present, the reader is struck by the many positive qualities of Nixon.

Ambrose paints the portrait of a budding and able politician whose ultimate demise could be foreseen, but need not have happened. This lack of inevitability is explored further in the second volume.

This first volume can be found at a reasonable price. It should be noted, however, that the second and third volumes are quite rare and expensive.

It is always interesting to understand what really
motivates people. Normally it takes a good deal of
psychoanalyzing, historical background, family history etc.
But some people seem to elude even this.
Nixon is obviously one of those people, who is really
difficult to figure out. But when all is said and done he
is also a very interesting character. And after reading
Stephen Ambroses book I think we are a little closer to
the real Nixon: Saint, villain, crook, statesman etc.

His brothers Arthur and Harold died when Nixon was young.
Which made he determined to have success for three sons.
In his book "six crisis" he describes leadership as it was
part of the quaker religious experience: "In a crisis tension
builds. Breathing gets quicker and the stomach turns,
but it is through these hardships of the soul that
true leaders are found." Quake and hear the voice of God?

But besides all of this psychoanalyzing there is of course
the fascinating story of Richard M. Nixons rise and fall.
Starting with his campaign against Jerry Voorhis.
Followed by his "pink" smear campaign against Helen Douglas.
His Checkers TV-speech. The lost campaign against JFK.
His lost campaign against Pat Brown for governor
of California in 1962, which he ended by saying
"that reporters wouldn't have Nixon to kick around anymore".
His "biggest return since Lazarus" to become president
in 1968.
And then finally - Watergate.

Perhaps it was all there in his psyche when he entered
politics in the first campaign against Voorhis, just waiting
for the world to see.

A brilliant book.

-Simon