President Nixon: Alone in the White House

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Look at a Fascinating and Enigmatic Man
Review: "President Nixon: Alone in the White House" is one of those rare biographies that manages to capture the very essence of its subject. Mr. Reeves, who had access not only to President Nixon himself but to most of Nixon's key advisors and confidantes, has written a book that reveals Richard Nixon's motivations and thus goes a long way toward explaining some of the strange things Nixon did as President. What we see in the book is a man who assumes that all men approach life the way he does--and his approach is quintessentially Machiavellian. Nixon truly believes that all men cheat, lie and are out to get him. All is fair in politics. By assuming the worst in others, Nixon guarantees the worst in himself.

And yet one catches glimpses of Nixon the man where one feels a certain amount of compassion. Nixon was a melancholy and lonely individual, distrustful of those around him. He was a politician who had an aversion to people. He feels awkward in any social situation, to the point where his interactions are meticulously scripted beforehand on one of his handy yellow legal pads. In one hilarious sequence, Nixon is up all night writing and memorizing a script for an "off the cuff" speech he is planning to give the next day. What is amazing is that he does not see how ridiculous it is to be scripting an unscripted speech. Nixon also spends hours writing memos to himself about how he wants to be perceived. Each one of the memos drips with irony, for he sees in himself all the things that he is not. One cannot help but feel compassion for a man so out of touch with who he is.

Reeves argues that Nixon is at his best when looking at the bigger picture, in "connecting the dots" of major policy decisions and their historical precedents as well as the possible outcomes. This is the Nixon who takes the bold steps to open up Communist China and to bring a much-needed thaw to the festering Cold War with Russia. Reeves also shows a Nixon who realizes the disaster of Vietnam but doesn't know how to remove the U.S. and preserve the honor and dignity of the nation. One must admire Nixon for his foreign policy successes and for his broad thinking in this area. The book also paints an interesting portrait of Henry Kissinger, showing him to be brilliant but incredibly vain and condescending. Kissinger spends a great deal of time making sure Secretary of State Rogers is out of the loop on every major foreign policy decision.

Domestically, however, we see in this book a Nixon who is all politician and zero statesman. He waffles on integration, does little to help Blacks because they vote 90% Democrat, and panders in the worst way to groups he believes he must win over in order to win reelection in 1972. Nixon tells his dynamic duo, Haldeman and Erlichman, not to bog him down with policy details, then buries himself in such details as replacement shower heads for the White House or the clownish design for the White House security force. We also see Nixon the bigot, saving his cruelest cuts for the Jews. In these glimpses we see just how shallow and ignorant Nixon could be, despite his moments of greatness. The last section of the book deals with Watergate and the events that brought Richard Nixon to disgrace. It is not a pretty sight, and just goes to show how thoroughly Nixon was involved in the cover-up and how much he enjoyed the dirty tricks attributed to his campaign. At one point, after George Wallace is shot, Nixon laments the fact that Nixon's men didn't think to go into the would-be assasin's apartment and plant McGovern literature to discredit his opponent.

Upon finishing this book, I immediately wondered if Reeves began working on a sequel, following Nixon from his resignation through his period of exile and disgrace to the era of his partial rehabilitation near the end of his life. I certainly hope Reeves follows up, for the story of Nixon the private citizen in the years after his fall from power would be fascinating and remains largely untold.

This is a good book, and I believe that both fans and detractors of our former President would enjoy it. Reeves has not written it to discredit the man, but to try to explain him. After finishing the book, I felt I knew the real Richard Nixon somewhat better, and that had Richard Nixon had a different take on the motivations of his fellow man, he may have gone down as one of our better Presidents.

Rating:
Summary: Paints a good picture of the man but lacks depth
Review: Although this book does cover the major policy issues of the Nixon era, this book really focuses on the idiosyncrasies of the man and his general mistrust of the people around him.

This book largely just focuses on the presidential side of Nixon (which sounds like that would please Nixon greatly since it somewhat implies he didn't do anything else) and as a result you only see his interactions with his inner circle, although inevitably there's more to it. Clearly, however as the title of the book indicates, interaction outside that circle is disproprtionately smaller.

Reeves recounts many conversations that take place in the various places Nixon spent time which makes the book a difficult one to put down and it clearly paints Nixon as a paranoid loner who had trouble fitting into the position he'd spend his life trying to lend into.

Surprisingly, the watergate era is covered very little, presumably because diary entries and tapes of conversations were not available, but that works out well as this isn't a book about Watergate.

This book does nt give an in depth analysis of the Nixon years and the reader isn't likely to come out with a great understanding of what happened. However, given familiarity with the era, the book lays out the complex personalities beyond the events that's likely to be very useful in understanding why events transpired as well they did.

Rating:
Summary: chilling and thorough picture of nixon
Review: always hated him and now i know why. it wasn't our fault, it was his. what a compelling look at what must have been the darkest character ever to live in the white house.

Rating:
Summary: Scholarly, informative, well-written.
Review: An astounding amount of research went into producing this very informative book. Richard Reeves has given us a detailed view of the Nixon presidency starting with the first inauguration in January, 1969. Oddly, except for a very brief epilogue, the book ends in April, 1973 with the resignations of Haldeman and Erlichman. This despite the fact that Nixon would remain in office more than 15 additional months before resigning himself.
President Nixon: Alone in the White House consists of a chronological compilation of events occuring during Nixon's tumultuous tenure.
The well documented facts presented in this book leave the reader with the following impressions:
On the positive side. Nixon was an extremely knowledgeable politician with a very sophisticated understanding of geopolitics. He had a clearly defined vision of America's place in the world and was not afraid to take bold steps to enhance the country's position of power on the world stage.
On the negative side. Nixon, the individual, was petty, vindictive, distrustful and self delusional. He was very much a loner who spent an inordinate amount of time by himself. As chief of staff, Haldeman's primary function was to prevent Congressional leaders, Cabinet members and White House staff from getting in to see Nixon. It appears that the only adviser who had unfettered access was Henry Kissinger. Furthermore, in the Nixon White House, there was no need for the likes of Karl Rove or Karen Hughes. When it came to public relations and building up the President's image, Nixon handled all of that himself, in microscopic detail. And we find in Nixon a man whose moral compass was more than slightly askew. The Watergate break-in, which ultimately led to his downfall, was only one of a number of illegal or unethical acts sanctioned by Nixon to gain advantage over his political adversaries.
President Nixon: Alone in the White House is a valuable resource for understanding the Nixon presidency. Anyone reading this book, no matter what their level of knowledge about Nixon might be, will be guaranteed to learn new things about this fascinating, enigmatic figure.

Rating:
Summary: Scholarly, informative, well-written.
Review: An astounding amount of research went into producing this very informative book. Richard Reeves has given us a detailed view of the Nixon presidency starting with the first inauguration in January, 1969. Oddly, except for a very brief epilogue, the book ends in April, 1973 with the resignations of Haldeman and Erlichman. This despite the fact that Nixon would remain in office more than 15 additional months before resigning himself.
President Nixon: Alone in the White House consists of a chronological compilations of events occuring during Nixon's tumultuous tenure.
The well documented facts presented in this book leave the reader with the following impressions:
On the positive side. Nixon was an extremely knowledgeable politician with a very sophisticated understanding of geopolitics. He had a clearly defined vision of America's place in the world and was not afraid to take bold steps to enhance the country's position of power on the world stage.
On the negative side. Nixon, the individual, was petty, vindictive, distrustful and self delusional. He was very much a loner who spent an inordinate amount of time by himself. As chief of staff, Haldeman's primary function was to prevent Congressional leaders, Cabinet members and White House staff from getting in to see Nixon. It appears that the only adviser who had unfettered access was Henry Kissinger. Furthermore, in the Nixon White House, there was no need for the likes of Karl Rove or Karen Hughes. When it came to public relations and building up the President's image, Nixon handled all of that himself, in microscopic detail. And we find in Nixon a man whose moral compass was more than slightly askew. The Watergate break-in, which ultimately led to his downfall, was only one of a number of illegal or unethical acts sanctioned by Nixon to gain advantage over his political enemies.
President Nixon: Alone in the White House is a valuable resource for understanding the Nixon presidency. Anyone reading this book, no matter what their level of knowledge about Nixon might be, will be guaranteed to learn new things about this fascinating, enigmatic figure.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not memorable
Review: As a newcomer to Richard Nixon, having seen the Oliver Stone film and wanting to know more, I decided to start with the most recent. I enjoyed Reeves' Kennedy biography, and expected the same this one. And in a way, I was not disappointed. No details of the Nixon presidency were spared. Everything was meticulously documented, with a great further reading guide in the afterword. But the story seemed to have no direction. Worth reading, but I understand Ambrose does a more readable life of Nixon.

Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: Even after watching the NIXON movie and hearding many stories from many different people, I still didn't know who Dick Nixon really was. That is, untill I read this book. I found out who the man really was and what he wanted and did accomplish in his presidency. I learned about his paranoia and how his gruffness to everyone. At the same time, I learned that there was a sweeter, younger side to him that he rarly shared with anyone. If I could talk to Nixon now, I don't think that I would learn anything about him that I didn't learn in this book. I highly recomend this book.

Rating:
Summary: fascinating portrayal of a greek tragedy
Review: I am half thru this book and love it. As a life-long nixon hater...I thought anybody my dad voted for must be good) I was surprised by the intelligence and complexity of the man, his driven-ness. Combined with his depression, his paranoia, and the complexity of the times he faced (just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean they're not out to get you!) I felt I got a good portrait of the man - More positive than I'd have expected, but darker too.

Rating:
Summary: The fight of a man against himself
Review: I find Reeves' book to be objective and extraordinarily accurate. Simplistic views about Richard Nixon and easy comments about his faults (typical of Bob Woodward, from the Washington Post) are to be disregard when analyzing the former President. Nixon, the one who never knew who himself was, but spent most of his life searching, reinventing himself in different ways; the one who taught America what not to do in certain cases, but also the one who showed how to get back from defeat, how to fight (and maybe lose, but fighting) inner tendencies we all have towards self-destruction; and the one who, at the end without any doubt redeemed himself, dying as an elder statesman, and must-have point of reference in foreign policy for every President among those who came after him.
Nixon had an evil side? Yes, so do you, so do I. I do invite readers to approach the former President through Reeves book, but I would also strongly recommend reading it together with Nixon's own Memoirs

Rating:
Summary: They Don't Make Richard Nixons Anymore
Review: I first met Richard Reeves 28 years ago when he had a crush on a cute blonde from Lima Ohio who worked in my office. I was in awe of him then, as he had already written the wonderful novel Convention; and I was an impressionable teenager at the time. His writing skills, moving from fiction to non-fiction, are undiminished though I guess you can't go far wrong with a subject who is a)endlessly fascinating; and 2)who recorded every word he spoke during his Presidency. There is so much of topical relevance to be gleaned from this book. RNs fascination was foreign affairs and since his departure, we seem to have had Presidents who have emphasized domestic politics. One can make an argument that our current woeful status in the international affairs arena is a direct result of our subsequent neglect. Here is a Nixon juggling the Middle East, the Russians, the Chinese, Allende, war between India and Pakistan seemingly all at the same moment; while at the same time his lieutenants, Rogers, Laird and Kissinger are all at war inside the White House with spies and counterspies on each other and palace intrigues which seemed to delight our supreme leader no end. One cant help but be struck by how much autotomy and power we give a president, as nixon and kissinger almost singlehandedly reshaped the world with as little imput as possible from annoying members of congress or anybody else, and especially not from pariah Secretary of State Rogers. One final point, before you rush to relive the 1970s, in the Huston plan for domestic intelligence which in part led to the Watrergate excesses, you may note a similarity to the anti terrorism bill just passed by Congress. Great period; important lessons for today, and well reported, mostly from the tapes.