The Nixon Presidency: An Oral History of the Era

by Deborah Hart Strober, Gerald S. Strober

The Nixon Presidency covers the entire period of one of the most controversial administrations, not just Watergate and Nixon's resignation. The book analyzes both his domestic programs during his first term and partial second term and his conduct of foreign affairs, including his surprising opening to the communist Chinese. It also explores his highly controversial handling of the Vietnam War. The authors' recent update takes advantage of temporal distance from the days of Watergate to put the legacy of Nixon's presidency into its proper historical context.

584 pages, Paperback

First published May 16, 2003

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm of two minds about this book - on one hand, it's certainly a rich history of Nixon's political life from a variety of people that were around. Predominantly it is from Nixon insiders, which is certainly appropriate for the most insight. There are some "outsiders", e.g., Ben Bradlee, Daniel Ellsberg, where one can see the context they provide of the events - but I don't know how much value, per se, they bring to personal insight into Nixon. On the other hand, it is quite a jumble of both chronological presentation (not that there's anything wrong with thematic presentation) and presentation without wider context. In the latter aspect, in simpler terms - who should we believe? The nature of an oral history, without larger context, is one just gets presented with everyone's points of view, and it is up to the reader to figure out who's right and who's wrong (or just mistaken).

I think this is an interesting reference for folks who are just learning about Nixonland, but I don't know if it's as valuable for more advanced Nixon reading (though, in the end, who am I to say?). As someone who is well read (not an expert) in Nixon, when I read some of the contributions from those interviewed, I think, "I don't believe a word out of their mouth." But those are my biases.

There were some minor factual errors by the editors in the beginning, but I strike those up to typos more than intended errors (e.g., listing Ford as majority leader at one point instead of House minority leader). I did enjoy this literary documentary - its value is hearing from so many voices (who don't usually give interviews), its detraction is that each contribution is treated equally. So, I think it's more valuable to know the players going in versus just absorbing all this information without context. But that's my two cents, your mileage may vary of course. I won't be keeping this in my Nixon library, but I'm glad I read it.