NIXON VOLUME I

Rating:
Summary: Not a Demon After All?
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Fair, Balanced Look at a Controversial Figure
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Richard M. Nixon -- Actually (Gasp!) Likable?
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: Interesting account
Review: I found this a compelling account of Richard Nixon's life from his early days to his defeat in the election for the Governorship of California in 1962. Ambrose charts Nixon's meteoric rise through Congress and the Senate to the Vice Presidency and narrow defeat at the hands of JFK in the Presidential election.

This is a very readable account and the author attempts to be fair to Nixon throughout, despite the fact that Nixon seemed to stimulate extreme reactions in people: either you loved him or hated him. I thought that the best parts of the book were those that dealt with Nixon's years as Eisenhower's Vice President - the difficulties of holding the office for such an ambitious politician, the problems in defining a role for himself and his often difficult relationship with the President are all examined skillfully.

I should have perhaps wanted a fuller account of Nixon's early political development - what was his political credo, and upon what was it based? What was the basis of his success as a Congressman, for example? I felt that after reading this volume, Nixon seemd driven primarily by his own massive ambition. But you could say that of a lot of politicians - for example Robert A Caro's analysis of Lyndon Johnson is based on the importance of ambition over principle.

But I felt that although ambition was obviously very important, there might have been more to Nixon than that, more even than his (self-perceived) role as a major anti-Communist crusader. If the author felt that those indeed were the main things that made Nixon tick, then fine, but I hoped that some such analysis would have been included.

In all, I thought this was a good read - interesting, honest, and shedding light upon one of the most controversial politicians of the last century.

Rating:
Summary: The real Nixon!
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: Nixon Finally Gets A Fair Hearing from History...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Riveting but overly sympathetic
Review: Stephen Ambrose is a masterful historian and storyteller. His two-volume look at Dick Nixon is the best of the many Nixon biographies, but the problem is that Ambrose's Nixon remains elusive. Ambrose is magnificent when he delves into RN's political life, and the minutiae of his Vice Presidential years is particularly strong. But he is weaker when examining Nixon's private relationships, particularly his sterile, tortured relationship with wife Pat.

Ambrose inexplicably ignores the abundance of evidence that the Nixon marriage was dismal and increasingly distant after 1960. He insists they were "close" when you would be hard pressed to locate one Nixon loyalist who would agree. Ambrose is no Nixon apologist, his reviews of the Nixon Library (the epitome of hagiography) have been scathing and Ambrose's political views are hardly right-wing. But he seems to have been charmed by the Nixon persona and succumbs to some apologist views here, which is a shame.

His examination of the Ike-Nixon relationship is fascinating and complete. Poor Ike just couldn't get rid of the clinging vine Nixon. He tried to dump him from the ticket in 1956, but Nixon cleverly outwitted Eisenhower and remained entrenched as Veep. Ambrose's description of the 1960 campaign is similarly riveting.

Despite the flaws, Ambrose is an able, diligent researcher. His footnotes are always dependable and informative, his information factual and complete. This is a first-rate biography of a second-rate man.

Rating:
Summary: Great start to the three volume biography
Review: 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.