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This digital document is an article from Presidential Studies Quarterly, published by Center for the Study of the Presidency on March 22, 1998. The length of the article is 8825 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: "Predicting the Outcomes of Presidential Commissions: Evidence from the Johnson and Nixon Years." Daniel A. Smith, Kevin M. Leyden, and Stephen A. Borrelli examine how periodically, and for various reasons, presidents have used commissions to aid analysis and implementation of preferred policies. Smith, Leyden, and Borrelli explore whether or not there is a pattern to the political success of presidential commissions. They contend that a relatively high level of presidential interest in the subject addressed by the commission is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the implementation of its findings or proposals. A second predictor of success is a high reliance on executive agency input rather than information obtained from outside. Using Wolanin's data gleaned from all presidential commissions during the Nixon and Johnson administrations, they test these hypotheses and further distinguish between political commissions and advisory commissions. Both political and advisory commissions deal with subjects of high interest to the president, as opposed to the responsibilities of other types of commissions. Political commissions tend to use inside information, while advisory commissions rely more heavily on exogenous input. They conclude that the failure of the Hillary Rodham Clinton Task Force on Health Care to have its suggestions implemented was predictable. While concerned with a topic of high interest to Clinton, the commission appeared more advisory than political and relied heavily on outsiders.

Citation Details
Title: Predicting the outcomes of presidential commissions: evidence from the Johnson and Nixon years. (US presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon)
Author: Daniel A. Smith
Publication: Presidential Studies Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1998
Publisher: Center for the Study of the Presidency
Volume: v28Issue: n2Page: p269(17)

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This digital document is an article from Russian Life, published by Russian Information Services, Inc. on July 1, 2009. The length of the article is 720 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: First person: July 24, 1959.(postscript)(meeting between U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev at the 1959 US-Russia Exhibit)
Author: John Jacobs
Publication: Russian Life (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2009
Publisher: Russian Information Services, Inc.
Volume: 52Issue: 4Page: 64(1)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

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From his seemingly "poor boy makes good" childhood to his college years, this piercing, perceptive examination of the people, places, and events that shaped the character of Richard Nixon gives the reader a rare and a fair glimpse of the forces that shaped him.


From the Trade Paperback edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A Fair and Humane Portrait
I became interested in Tom Wicker's career as a journalist and used one of his journalism books in teaching journalism class after reading this book, preparatory to writing my first novel.I read SO many Nixon biographies or historical books, and all contained errors, either between each other, or stating impossibilities, or contradicting in a later chapter something that was written in an earlier chapter.Bibliographies and indexes were a mess - and people's sloppy, careless writing and personal issues made nearly all of them a waste of time.I was recommended this book by a political insider at th time (1999) and I got it, and was enthralled because it had the ring of truth.It is not entirely favorable toward President Nixon.It is very well-written and humane, and especially tries to capture the early years of Nixon's upbringing and family.Now, I have the more recent biography by Conrad Black that covers so much in depth (and is highly favorable and full of personal detail).But I think this book shows American journalism at its best.It shows that there were real values, talent and integrity among real journalists, and talented writers like Tom Wicker.This book won't please diehard Nixon fans, and it won't please the angry hippie crew out there looking to hate on Nixon.However, it will please the average reader, especially one looking to learn more about a unique, highly complex man and his times.

RN: One of us; "the silent majority."
Richard Nixon. The mere mention of the name is enough to inspire some of the most mean-spirited, gut reactions. On the other hand, as Mr. Wicker quotes a Nixon associate in his book "you get back out of life what you plow into it." For all of his dark, quirky, idiosyncracies, RN, was in many ways "One of Us."

Tom Wicker paints about as sympathetic and generous portrait of the late 37th president as you are going to get from a liberal New York Times reporter. The book is not without its snide and petty moments. Wicker, for whatever personal or professional reasons, has a field day down-playing the communist infiltration of the government in the Truman administration and describing, rather underwhelmingly, the high drama of the Alger Hiss case.

The key quote, a quote in which the entire premise of the book rests upon, comes from none other than Henry A. Kissinger who poignantly asks "What would he (RN)have been like had somebody loved him?" At this point in the book, it all comes together: Here was an enormously gifted man who, because of his inner doubts and insecurities, destroyed himself from within. Missing, unfortunately, was RN's remarkable comeback to respectability. This book retains a slight flavor of the animous that "establishment liberals" had for the man who came from a decidely lower-middle class/working-poor background; a man who was a self-made man in every sense of the word.

At times Wicker's attempt at amateur psychologist is agonizing. How can he possibly know what he knows re: RN's motivations, thoughts, desires, secrets, fears, etc. But to be fair, The Old Man was so uncomfortable with himself, so quirky and ill-at-ease "an introvert in an extrovert's" world, as he described himself, perhaps the only way to get your head around the man is to put him on the couch. I think that Fawn Brodie, who wrote a pscyo-babble biography of RN and Thomas Jefferson was hardly a source to be consulted. Notwithstanding, comments from Nixon relatives Lucille Parsons, Jessamyn and Merle West are highly insightful. It is, however, very unfortunate that Wicker is not more generous in his treatment of RN's parents, particularly his Quaker mother and the influence he had on her life. Father Frank Nixon is made to look like nothing more than a loud-mouth lout; Hannah is portrayed as this taciturn, cold, unfeeling mother who could not find it in her heart to express emotion. In short, I think Wicker has been watching too much Oprah, because not everyone feels the need to show their soul bare-naked to the world. Especially those of RN's generation and ethnic/religous group. Outward signs of affection were not the norm. Yet Wicker, instead of appreciating the diversity of the human condition, chooses to pathologize Mrs. Nixon's behavior (he does a good job on Pat in this regard as well).

Jonathan Aitken's biography Nixon: A Life gives a fuller, more balanced and nuanced portrait of the impact pacifist Hannah Nixon had on her precocious son, as well as a better balanced account of who Frank Nixon was and why he was the way he was. Wicker's analyses of Nixon's parents, and of Nixon himself, are too simplistic and, at times, just plain mean.

a tough book to rate
Over the last few years I've read 35 presidential biographies, usually using Amazon readers as my guide to picking the best available choice. It's difficult to find a balanced Nixon biography, and I eventually chose Wicker's One of Us, but rating this book is difficult too. First, it's more of a political biography than a retelling of Nixon's life, but Nixon was so driven by politics that this decision doesn't seem to leave much out.Second, Wicker is more interested in describing who Nixon was than he is in telling a straight narrative. Once, he has given the reader the complete picture of Nixon'spsyche, Wicker just stops writing.He leaves out Watergate and the last year and a half of Nixon's presidency. I don't know if Wicker felt too close to Watergate or if he just got tired of writing. Third, there have to be more editorial oversights in this book than just about any serious biography I've read. Towards the end of the book, I had the feeling thatWicker or the editor just turned on the spell checker but didn't bother to make sure the correct words were used.

Despite these major criticisms there is a great deal of merit to One of Us.Although there is a fair amount of psycho-babble, Nixon is certainly in the top 5 presidents as far as needing to be explained from a psychological perspective. And Wicker absolutely nails Nixon's personality. The reader gets the absolutely driven, intelligent, paranoia, manipulative Nixon who has a realpolitik approach to ethics and values.

Nixon was the first president who I really grew up in terms of a broad awareness of the issues of the times.Wicker does a great job of capturing America's concerns.We were obsessed with finding communists under every rock.Civil rights and race rights led to code words like law and order, Students got divided into good kids or rock throwers with little in between. With each of these issues Nixon found a way to play to his constituency, "the silent majority", in an often manipulative way that played more to television sound bites than solutions.

Finally, for the Nixon skeptics out there, this book deals well with Nixon's supposed skills at international relations.It shows how the team of Nixon and Kissinger working together while ignoring the advice and consent of the Congress, State Department, or even the CIA led to serious long-term problems in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Cambodia, with missile reduction treaties,and on and on. Wicker's analysis is difficult to dispute, and it is a powerful argument against the sort of power diplomacy used by Nixon and his ilk.

Now really. . .
One of us??? Well, I guess -- if you consider yourself part of a group of square, sex-hating, self-deluded, egomaniacal bores who refer to themselves in the third-person. Actually, that would be unfair to all the self-deluded, sex-hating squares in our midst. 'Cause Richard Nixon was part of nothing other than the squalor of his own mind. When he looked out at the world, what he saw was the inside of his own eyeballs.

Tom Wicker -- the quintessent(is that a word?) liberal panty-waste gets two stars here because of the unintentional humor of the tome. (It is almost 800 pages of tome.) But the humor is more than off-set by the outrage of the book. For it is a historical lie. All the so-called "progressive" achievements of Nixon's time (the EPA, expansion of voting rights and other minority protections, worker safety rules, etc) were accomplished IN SPITE of Dick Nixon, not because of him. They were gifts of that time because of the Congress, the media, and mostly -- oh how far we've come -- because the American people were then in much better touch with their own interests. Nixon, to quote Ed Harris as E.Howard Hunt -- was the darkness reaching out to the darkness, and our own very dark time is still haunted by the vicious hatred of all democratic values unleased by the Whittier Vampire. George W. Bush is much more the child of Nixon, than of his own father.

An excellent and concise account of Nixon's Vietnam War
Chapter 14, pp 569-614 of "One of Us" is probably the best account of Richard Nixon's Vietnam War policy that I have read.Most Vietnam books tend to skimp on the latter years of the war, when it was winding down.In general this book is very even-handed and at times surprisingly sympathetic.However, Wicker is also honestly frank in his criticisms of Nixon's Vietnam policy and other aspects of his foreign policy.
The reviewer is the author of "Killed In Action: The life and times of SP4 Stephen H. Warner, draftee, journalist and anti-war activist" ... Read more

Product Description
Who was Richard Nixon? The most amazing thing about the man was not what he did as president, but that he became president. In President Nixon, Richard Reeves has used thousands of new interviews and recently discovered or declassified documents and tapes -- including Nixon's tortured memos to himself and unpublished sections of H. R. Haldeman's diaries -- to offer a nuanced and surprising portrait of the brilliant and contradictory man alone in the White House.

President Nixon is a startling narrative of a desperately introverted man who dreamed of becoming the architect of his times. Late at night, he sat upstairs in the White House writing notes to himself on his yellow pads, struggling to define himself and his goals: "Compassionate, Bold, New, Courageous...Zest for the job (not lonely but awesome). Goals -- reorganized govt...Each day a chance to do something memorable for someone. Need to be good to do good...Need for joy, serenity, confidence, inspiration."

But downstairs he was building a house of deception. He could trust no one because in his isolation he thought other people were like him. He governed by secret orders and false records, memorizing scripts for public appearances and even for one-on-one meetings with his own staff and cabinet. His principal assistants, Haldeman and Henry Kissinger, spied on him as he spied on them, while cabinet members, generals, and admirals spied on all of them -- rifling briefcases and desks, tapping each other's phones in a house where no one knew what was true anymore.

Nixon's first aim was to restore order in an America at war with itself over Vietnam. But in fact he prolonged the fighting there, lying systematically about what was happening both in the field and in the peace negotiations. He startled the world by going to communist China and seeking détente with the Soviet Union -- and then secretly persuaded Mao and Brezhnev to lie for him to protect petty White House secrets. Still, he was a man of vision, imagining a new world order, trying to stall the deadly race war he believed was inevitable between the West, including Russia, and Asia, led by China and Japan. At home, he promised welfare reform, revenue sharing, drug programs, and environmental protection, and he presided, reluctantly, over the desegregation of public schools -- all the while declaring that domestic governance was just building outhouses in Peoria.

Reeves shows a presidency doomed from the start. It begins with Nixon and Kissinger using the CIA to cover up a 1969 murder by American soldiers in Vietnam that led to the theft and publication of the Pentagon Papers, then to secret counterintelligence units in the White House and finally to the burglaries and cover-up that came to be known as Watergate.

Richard Reeves's President Nixon will stand as the authoritative account of Nixon in the White House. It is an astonishing story.Amazon.com Review
Drawing on thousands of pages of archival material and on interviews with surviving associates, presidential biographer Reeves paints a complex, sometimes disturbing portrait of the man forever enshrined as Tricky Dick.

"I have decided my major role is moral leadership," Nixon wrote in 1972 in one of his myriad memos to himself. (As Reeves writes, "Whatever else he accomplished, Richard Nixon produced more paper and tape than any president before or since.") That resolution quickly collapsed; instead, as the Vietnam War shaded into defeat and protests at home mounted, Nixon sank into a siege mentality, seeing himself as a lone crusader at war with the rest of the world. Reeves examines the cat-and-mouse quality of Nixon's relations with his inner circle and family, as well as the excruciating collapse of national leadership in the wake of missteps, miscalculations, and sheer crimes. Rigorous and thoughtful, Reeves's book adds much to our understanding of Nixon's troubled presidency--and of his troubled soul. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

Balanced introduction to the Nixon presidency
I found the way this book was organized very useful. The author leads us chronologically through the noteworthy events of the Nixon Presidency. The use of extensive sources and interviews provides the reader with eyewitness descriptions of what transpired.

The documentation records of the Nixon presidency are staggering. I am not referring to the tapes, which are still not fully released, but the written record. We are told that when a meeting was held in the White House everyone in attendance had to submit a report of their observations and reactions. Anyone delinquent with his report would receive a reminder in the form of a terse memo from Halderman. In addition Halderman kept a detailed diary and Nixon was an obsessive note taker. The author uses these sources to intersperse the text with relevant quotes from Nixon and his associates. This could by sleep inducing but Mr. Reeves interjects an odd personal observation or quirky comment from one of the meeting participants to keep the narrative crisp and interesting.

Mr. Reeves does not appear to have an ax to grind. The written records of the Nixon presidency speak volumes concerning the opinions of the decision makers. Certainly political considerations were critical components of all discussions and are presented, for the most part, without editorializing. Ultimately the President set the tone and the direction for his administration. Nixon's political scheming and personal behavioral quirksare facts and blaming the honest historians for 'distortions or bias" is just self-delusional.

Students of American history, and in particular the presidency, should avail themselves of several of the other excellent books concerning the Nixon Era. I would recommend "Nixonland" by Rick Perlstein the two volumes Nixon biography by Stephan Ambrose. In addition Nixon authored several book concerning his political experiences. I have only read "In The Arena" and although self-serving does offer some relevant insights and astute comments on the presidency.

Nixon Reconsidered
Richard Reeves is a fair author. Having read his previous book on President Kennedy, I was interested in his take on Nixon. This book is not a bio, nor is it a political history per se. Rather this book, like the Kennedy and Reagan books, weaves a path through the first four years of Nixon's presidency. The age old question will always remain: how a guy as smart as Richard Nixon, and he was smart, got caught up in a bevy of intrigue, black ops, and paranoia.

Functional History.
This is a solid work of Presidential scholarship. I appreciated its "worm's eye" view because it allows for the presentation of a great many primary source materials and documents that are invaluable for summing up the bizarre man who was President Richard Nixon. Reeves reveals a fair amount of personal bias and dislike for his subject here, but, fortunately, the intrusions of his point-of-view are not ubiquitous. Reeves seems to unquestionably believe that busing was good for blacks and it appears that he has an affinity for most government programs; a stance that is totally unwarranted. That being said, the work remains well-organized, clear and valuable. Reeves is a biographer and journalist so, unlike some of the other reviewers, I was glad that he did not share with us his psychological observations of the President. In all likelihood, they would have been ungrounded. Alone in the White House is a good, but not great, book.

Man-in-the-center look at one of the compelling political figures of our time.
Mr. Reeves look at the Nixon presidency from the vantage point of the President himself provides the reader with a fascinating look at one of the most compelling political figures of our time.

To paraphrase Bob Dole, it was a miracle that Nixon ever made it to the pinnacle of political power. From the very first day in office, we are given the picture of a man who is both elated that he has reached his destiny, but at the same time is unable to savor the moment. Although the book does not deal with RN's life, Reeves does a masterful job at painting a portrait of a man embittered by the cut and thrust of politics. We see a man who has his eye on his enemies, real and imagined, and who is bound and determined to triumph over him.

Reeves does indeed show us the "who, what, when, where..." of the Nixon presidency, yet resists the temptation of playing amateur psychologist and does not address the "why" of Richard Nixon.

Instead we are treated to a story of a man who was truly "alone in the White House." However, this title is misleading, for Nixon's penchant for solitude, and secrecy are only part of the story. A better title for this book would have been "President Nixon: The Remaking of the Presidency," because that is exactly what he set out to do.

Reeves presents a balanced look at RN. We see him at his best; statesmen, "architect" of foreign policy, strategic thinker, and visionary for a stable world order.

We also get a look at the man at his worst; the many "horrors" of Watergate, his pathological Jew-baiting, his thin-skinned reaction to the press, his obsession with being seen as a "man of the people," and on and on. In sum, there is much to dislike about Richard Nixon; there is also much to admire.

After reading a book like this, one has to wonder what would the Nixon legacy have been if he chose not to cover up Watergate and lanced the boil, dug deep, and plowed ahead to finish his second term. Reeves' book shows all too clearly, and poignantly, that "the Old Man" was incapable of doing anything but he did at the time, which is a shame. RN's legacy is that he left a stain on the body politic that has engendered a cynacism toward politics.

Reeves does it again!
Reeves delivers an exciting and wonderful book that chronicles Nixon's presidential years. This book begins with Nixon entering office and ends on the day he leaves office.It goes day by day through the presidency and gives you a good sense of what the Nixon administration was thinking and what was happening in the country at the same time. From foreign policy with China and Russia to domestic problems like Kent State this book covers everything you would want to know about the Nixon Administration. It is easily five stars.The book is very readable and is a great reference guide for those who just want to learn about Nixon or those who want to study his administration in depth. ... Read more

Product Description
Author/illustrator Mike Venezia has been introducing children to great artists and composers for more than 15 years. In his newest series, he brings to life the greatest historical figures of the United States 151 the U.S. presidents. Once again, Mr. Venezia has combined humor with history to make learning fun. Each book is a delightful mix of full-color historical reproductions and photos, hilarious cartoon-style illustrations, and simple, factual text describing each president s path toward the nation s highest office. Author: Mike Venezia Reading Level: Ages 9-12 Format: 32 pages, Paperback Publisher: Children s Press (CT) (March 2007) ISBN: 978-0531179499 ... Read more

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Every President of the United States gives an Inaugural Address once sworn into office. This book has compiled every Inaugural Address from every President in American History.

It is fascinating to read each Presidents perception of America's greatest strengths, weaknesses, trials, and joys in their speeches.

The entire American history can be chronicled through these speeches - everything from George Washingtons explanation of the monumental task of nation-building that lies before him, to Abraham Lincolns somber speech explaining the enormous challenge of maintaining a unified nation, to Franklin D. Roosevelts unprecedented four Inaugural Addresses, each detailing the Great Depression, World War II, and The New Deal. In more recent history, it is striking to read Bill Clinton's and George W. Bush's promises to the nation and compare their statements to how events and decisions have made (or not made) these promises reality. America's newest President, Barack Obama, delivers a monumental inauguration speech that is a milestone for not only the Civil Rights Movement, but for any American that believes in liberty and justice for all.

Women's Suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, various wars, presidential assasinations, economic situations, and various threats and treaties with other countries come to life within this presidential context.

Anyone who is interested in American History will find this book to be worth beyond measure. Through their own words, each American President's distinct character comes alive in these pages; even the most uninterested person will become completely engaged in this book, which will most certainly make a great addition to any collection.

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Customer Reviews (1)

Inagural Addresses, Return to Sender.
OK, at first I thought it would be interesting to read all the Inagural Addresses from Washington to Obama. Well I thought wrong. First, there is no Table, so you can not use the "joy" button to navagate to the next chapter. So if you are reading Lincoln's address & you want to go to JFK, you have to do a Search, then chose from the many Kennedy choices.
The chapters between the addresses run together so you may be reading Washington & all of a sudden you are reading Adam's address. They could have made the reading interesting, but most of the Inagural Addresses were very dull. the book it is mind numbing long, drawn out & reads like a Who's, Who of Who cares.
For a few dollars I still do not feel the the price is right. this book should not be in the Kindle book format, but maybe a small paperback where one can thumb through the chapters & pages. I would not recommend this in Kindle format. Get up off the couch, get a little fresh air, walk to the book store & buy the book. ... Read more

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1308 pages. ... Read more

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State of the Union Address by Richard M. Nixon

Here it is, the State of the Union Address. Every president makes them.

Kids need a quick and easy school report, trying reading these in class.

Need a quote to spruce up any report or presentation then this is for you.


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The Inaugural Speeches of the President - Richard Nixon ... Read more

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A photo history of President Nixon's blunders with Nixon's Transcriptions of Watergate Tapes in magazine-style format. Collector's Copy. ... Read more