Paranoid, Petty, Vindictive, Sneaky and Underhanded

As bad as I thought Nixon was–worse. He was paranoid, petty, vindictive, sneaky and underhanded. He was an awful man and simultaneously the world’s most powerful man.

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nixon-zieglerI was around for Richard Nixon’s presidency. Not a fan.

I just watched the amazing HBO documentary “Nixon by Nixon: In His Own Words.”

From 1971 to 1973, Richard Nixon secretly recorded his private conversations in the White House. This film chronicles the content of those tapes, which include Nixon’s conversations on the war in Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers leak, his Supreme Court appointments, and more–while also exposing shocking statements he made about women, people of color, Jews, and the media.

nixon-haldemanAs bad as I thought Nixon was–worse. He was paranoid, petty, vindictive, sneaky and underhanded. He was an awful man and simultaneously the world’s most powerful man.

Forty plus years later it’s still difficult to listen to Nixon himself speak. There is no guilt or remorse. No second thoughts.

Highly recommended, especially if you were around.

2 thoughts on “Paranoid, Petty, Vindictive, Sneaky and Underhanded”

  1. Comic Rich Little had Nixon impersonation down PAT – lock stock & barrel – TOO BAD – we at time didn’t have Nixon’s wage & price controls down lock stock & barrel – CAUSE – if he had back yhem – today would be – in essence – a completely different HEALTHY ECONOMIC world order.

  2. Whenever I hear people rant about how Obama or Clinton of whomever is the ‘WORST PRESIDENT EVER!!!!’ I wonder what they’d say if they’d been confronted with the Nixon era. Nixon was definitely the worst in the current era. I remember (and extensively studied )Watergate and all the people involved. It was scary. It was a time when we had one man in power whose ambition, personal paranoia and lack of morals equalled some of the worst Roman emperors. The hit list of personal enemies (including members of the press), his ‘inner circle’ of bag men ready to do whatever he wanted (G Gordon Liddy STILL scares the hell out of me. He’d feed his grandmother to the lions if it suited the purpose). He was a monster. He did some good things (like opening China to the West) but that’s about it.
    We need to remember Nixon and who he really was to put our times into perspective.

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