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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Richard Nixon: On Richard Nixon, September 5, 2001
In this autobiographical account of his career, former President Richard M. Nixon narrates his career from its earliest beginning in Yorba Linda, Ca. thru his election and ultimate resignation as President in 1974. In a literary format reminiscent of Franklin D. Roosevelt's' "Fireside Chats," the author narrates the behind the scenes actions in some of this nations' most critical decisions. Key sections include his coming to national prominence during the trial of Alger Hiss, and the elections of 1952, 1960, 1968 and 1972. The most critical period is his six year stint as President between '68 and '74 when he and National Security Advisor, later Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, successfully exploited the Sino-Soviet rift making an end to the war in Vietnam possible, the 1973 Arab-Israeli War ending with Americas' brokering a peace treaty between the seemingly intractable foes, and the success of détente over the objections of liberal and conservative critics. Despite these monumental successes in foreign policy a malignant cancer was steadily growing on the Nixon presidency; it was called, "Watergate." The author chronicles the events surrounding Watergate in painstaking detail. Throughout he contends that he never authorized the break-in at Democratic Headquarters and had no knowledge of it in advance. He states flatly his principal accuser, John Dean, was lying when he stated otherwise. He also says he was effectively tried by a hostile press based on leaks of "secret" material from "informed sources" whose objectivity and integrity was highly suspect. Is his story true? This is the only format in which his story is told completely, devoid of the hype that surrounded the first ever resignation of a U.S. President. You owe it to yourself to read his account before you make up your mind. This book is a first-person account from a key player in some of the most momentous events in the history of this nation. As is true of any autobiography, it is somewhat suspect. No author can be completely free of bias. However the tragic and untimely end of his career cannot and does not negate his undeniable successes. I strongly recommend this book to any serious student of history, political science, and/or international relations. I am much better informed for having read it. You will be as well.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still impressed with the book, June 23, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: RN : The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (Hardcover)
I first read this memoir 20 years ago. I was in my early twenties but even then it caught my interest and held it throughout the whole book. I have recently looked through it again. It's a lengthy tome, but well-written, with good characterization, and details that enlivens events for the reader. It was the first of its genre to turn me onto other presidential memoirs but none I read afterwards ever matched the depth of his. The book not only describes his personal and family life but key players and world events at the time, a good study in political history now. There was plenty going on during his presidential years, a war abroad and civil unrest at home. He did not end the war as soon as he should have - the memoirs could not dodge this, as well they should not. That fact alone, and the loss of life entailed by it, mattered more to me than Watergate ever did. But I liked and respected Nixon, even during the Watergate years. And in his memoirs, he was candid about his actions of those days and accepting of the consequences. Whatever else history may say about him, Richard Nixon had been a major political figure for many years of his life, served his country and cared deeply about it.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
In his own words, May 7, 2003
For anyone fascinated by the only president in history to resign from office, Richard Nixon in his own words provides the first-hand account of the reasons for the events that triggered a national civil and presidential history crisis. "I saw Watergate as politics pure and simple," Nixon writes, adding he'd "play it tough" because his "enemies" would. But Nixon's downfall is put a part of this extensively written memoir, focusing also on the ex-president's incredible achievements as a peacemaker and his rise to national recognition as a fervent anti-Communist and his about-face in reaching out to the world's two most powerful communist countries (China and the former Soviet Union) once in office. Much of Nixon's own memories have been written in other publications, but this one adds (to a very limited degree) some reasons for the abstracts that were Richard Nixon. He tells us the night of his first presidential race loss to John F. Kennedy was the longest of his life, hinting that the election embittered him the rest of his public life. Yet, 12 years later, in 1972, when he was overwhelmingly endorsed by the American public in one of history's most lopsided presidential races, Nixon admittedly was unable to savor the mandate of the nation's choice, instead caught in some inexplicable dark mood caused by, Nixon profers, the looming storm of Watergate, his party's failure to wrest the House and Senate from the Democrats, or whatever else was at the core of the very man himself. Nixon, in his own words, is a mandatory addition to any Nixon library, and its historical value is apparent even if the reader disagrees with the man's explanation for some of the petty characteristics that brought down what may well have been one of the most productive presidential administrations in history.
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