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Nixon Off the Record : His Candid Commentary on People and Politics
Nixon and I met for the first time on October 2, 1989, and he was exceedingly generous with the commodity that was the most precious to time.... And, surprisingly for a man who had been so often damaged by those he trusted, Nixon trusted me immediately. I became a member of his small circle of advisers. I listened as he confided his views on international affairs and world leaders, American politics and policy, Watergate, and his own personal career, and human nature.
--Monica Crowley
Nixon off the Record is the unique story of Richard Nixon's intense political life after he left the presidency--told by Monica Crowley, Nixon's foreign-policy assistant and political confidante during the last years of his life.
With fully reconstructed conversations based on extensive notes made at the time, Nixon off the Record puts the reader in the room with the thirty-seventh president, listening to his views on leadership, his opinions of White House predecessors and successors, his activities and thoughts during the 1992 presidential campaign and election, and his assessment of Bill Clinton's first year in office and his potential challengers in 1996. Nixon's views give voters uncommon criteria by which to measure presidential candidates--including Bob Dole--and their ability to exercise effective leadership.
Richard Nixon was one of the most controversial and indestructible presidents of the twentieth century. With her privileged perspective and unlimited access to Nixon, Crowley has written a perceptive and spirited memoir that shows not just what Nixon thought in the last years of his life but who he was. She offers an unprecedented behind-the-scenes view of Nixon's activities and opinions, giving the reader a front-row view of recent American political history.
Nixon's unparalleled experience placed him in a unique position to judge leaders who had come before and after. His assessments are candid, astonishing, and sometimes explosive. This book places those judgments in context and brings them alive for the last American presidential election of the twentieth century.
--Monica Crowley
Nixon off the Record is the unique story of Richard Nixon's intense political life after he left the presidency--told by Monica Crowley, Nixon's foreign-policy assistant and political confidante during the last years of his life.
With fully reconstructed conversations based on extensive notes made at the time, Nixon off the Record puts the reader in the room with the thirty-seventh president, listening to his views on leadership, his opinions of White House predecessors and successors, his activities and thoughts during the 1992 presidential campaign and election, and his assessment of Bill Clinton's first year in office and his potential challengers in 1996. Nixon's views give voters uncommon criteria by which to measure presidential candidates--including Bob Dole--and their ability to exercise effective leadership.
Richard Nixon was one of the most controversial and indestructible presidents of the twentieth century. With her privileged perspective and unlimited access to Nixon, Crowley has written a perceptive and spirited memoir that shows not just what Nixon thought in the last years of his life but who he was. She offers an unprecedented behind-the-scenes view of Nixon's activities and opinions, giving the reader a front-row view of recent American political history.
Nixon's unparalleled experience placed him in a unique position to judge leaders who had come before and after. His assessments are candid, astonishing, and sometimes explosive. This book places those judgments in context and brings them alive for the last American presidential election of the twentieth century.
231 pages, Hardcover
First published August 5, 1996
101 people want to read
About the author
Monica Crowley
7 books14 followersMonica Crowley is a conservative radio and television political commentator based in New York City. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Political Science from Colgate University and a doctorate in international relations from Columbia University. In 1990, she became Foreign Policy Assistant to former President Richard Nixon, a post she held from 1990 until his death in 1994. She was an editorial adviser and consultant on his last two books, Seize the Moment (1992) and Beyond Peace (1994). Crowley used this period to record her conversations and observations about Nixon (she kept a diary), and she published two subsequent books on the former President in his final years: Nixon Off the Record: His Candid Commentary on People (1996) and Nixon in Winter (1998).
In the mid-1990s Crowley wrote a column for the New York Post and was a commentator for National Public Radio's "Morning Edition". She has also written for The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times and the Baltimore Sun.
Since 2002, she has her own radio show on WABC Radio in New York called The Monica Crowley Show. She is also a regular commentator on The John Batchelor Show.
In the mid-1990s Crowley wrote a column for the New York Post and was a commentator for National Public Radio's "Morning Edition". She has also written for The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times and the Baltimore Sun.
Since 2002, she has her own radio show on WABC Radio in New York called The Monica Crowley Show. She is also a regular commentator on The John Batchelor Show.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 18, 2021
I always think of Greek tragedies and the hero with the fatal flaw when I think of Nixon. This book was written by his foreign policy assistant in the last four years of his life from her detailed notes and journals. You get a real sense of the knowledgeable politician, sometimes right, sometimes wrong, and always astute, on presidents, politics, and world history during the second half of the 20th century. It's an excellent follow-up to the impressive bio "Nixon: The Life" (John A. Farrell) which revealed the complex, multi-layered, brilliant, flawed, and all too human man.
September 23, 2013
One of Richard Nixon's last personal assistants jotted down his thoughts on many current events, political leaders, and ideas of leadership. Nixon's analysis is mostly right on the money.
July 12, 2017
Too dearly enamored with the man to be of much use to me personally.
March 2, 2022
During the summer before her senior year at college, Monica Crowley read Nixon's 1999: Victory Without War, and was inspired to write the former President a letter detailing what she agreed with and disagreed with and thanking him for writing the book as it sharpened her own foreign policy views. Nixon wrote her a handwritten note asking her to come visit him for a chat. The two hour conversion turned into a job as his assistant for the last four years of his life.
This is one of two books Crowley wrote about the last Nixon years. It shows that his gifts for political analysis hadn't dulled as they discussed the 1992 and 1996 elections (he predicted Dole would get the nomination). He very quickly pegged the type of people both Clintons are and how bad Whitewater was. He was galled by the early double-standard that the press didn't want to touch it, while they loved sinking their teeth into Watergate. He felt Whitewater was worse because it was abuse of power and financial gain, where nobody made money from Watergate.
The book is presented as notes from conversations, which gives it a fly on the wall feeling. Unfortunately, that leads to a feeling of occasional repetitiveness and disjointedness going from personalities to foreign policy to family matters. This hobbles some of the book's insights.
This is one of two books Crowley wrote about the last Nixon years. It shows that his gifts for political analysis hadn't dulled as they discussed the 1992 and 1996 elections (he predicted Dole would get the nomination). He very quickly pegged the type of people both Clintons are and how bad Whitewater was. He was galled by the early double-standard that the press didn't want to touch it, while they loved sinking their teeth into Watergate. He felt Whitewater was worse because it was abuse of power and financial gain, where nobody made money from Watergate.
The book is presented as notes from conversations, which gives it a fly on the wall feeling. Unfortunately, that leads to a feeling of occasional repetitiveness and disjointedness going from personalities to foreign policy to family matters. This hobbles some of the book's insights.
November 28, 2007
Richard M Nixon got a bad rap. His presidency was actually during a tumultuous time in US history. This book really brought home the facts that Nixon was a patriot, a man of the people, and not an evil dogmatist. He passed laws to improve the environment, establishing the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). He made the decision to remove the troops from Vietnam, a war that looked like it was never going to end, sound familiar. He passed laws for the disabled and the poor. By today's standards, many of the laws he helped write into being would be considered very liberal. His downfall was spying on the opposing candidates in his 1972 election. This cost him dearly and marred his image permanently. Monica Crowley presents a compelling picture of why he should be remembered for the good things he did rather than the mistakes he made. Her optimism for the future perceptions of Nixon bled into me and convinced me that I too like Richard Nixon, faults and all.
January 9, 2017
Read this years ago and remember enjoying it a lot.
July 12, 2017
Enjoyed this book, took the text with a grain of salt due to The author being a plagiarist.
July 16, 2019
Richard Nixon'un ısmarlama biyografisi...
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Franklin Roosevelt Ikinci Dünya Savaşı'nın sonlarında sağlık nedenleriyle öldü, yerine Truman geçti...John F. Kennedy'yi Dallas'ta arabasında vurdular yerine kovboy sapkalı Lyndon Johnson geçti... Richard Nixon'u rakiplerinin telefonlarını dinlediği için yargıladılar, sonunda istifa etti, yerine Başkan Yardımcısı Gerald Ford atandı.
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Vietnam savaşı ABD nin deniz aşırı ülkelerde kalkıştığı en kanlı savaş olarak bilinir. Sonunda da Güney Vietnam'daki yerli işbirlikçilerini satıp arkalarina bakmadan kaçmışlar, Amerika halkı da o basarısızlığın hıncını böyle çıkarmıştı koltukta oturan başkanlarından. Herşey yolunda gitseydi Nixon tarihe farklı bir şekilde geçerdi.
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ABD bu yenilginin ardından strateji değişikliğine gitti. Yine Dünyanın her köşesinde işine gelmeyen yönetimlerin ipini çekiyor ama bu işleri iç savaşlar çıkartarak, darbe kodlayarak, finans oyunlarıyla, satılık gazeteci ajanlar yetiştirerek beceriyor...
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Zira yeni secilen başkanlar Nixon'un başına gelenlerin kendi başlarına gelmesini istemiyor ve kendi derin devletinin dizginlerini salıvermiş dünyayı algı yönetimleriyle idare etmeyi tercih ediyor... .
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Ne de olsa askerleri ölünce kendi halkından tepki geliyor ama diğer ülkelerde kimin öldüğü kimsenin umurunda değil Amerikada ve geçmiste dünyayı iliklerie kadar sömürmüş olan Batı medeniyetlerinde... Ve de gücü eline geçirmis kim varsa, neredeyse... Deutschland Uber Alles doktrininin 21. yüzyılına uyarlanmıs hali böyle işte... Ve ABD nin "dünyaya demokrasi getiriyoruz" martavalına inananlar var oldukca bu devran döner gider bir süre daha.
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Bir gün gelecek bu strateji de ise yaramayacak gibi duruyor... zira ekonomik olarak Çin ve Hindistan ABD nin üzerine çıkmak için gün saymaya başladı...
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Franklin Roosevelt Ikinci Dünya Savaşı'nın sonlarında sağlık nedenleriyle öldü, yerine Truman geçti...John F. Kennedy'yi Dallas'ta arabasında vurdular yerine kovboy sapkalı Lyndon Johnson geçti... Richard Nixon'u rakiplerinin telefonlarını dinlediği için yargıladılar, sonunda istifa etti, yerine Başkan Yardımcısı Gerald Ford atandı.
.
Vietnam savaşı ABD nin deniz aşırı ülkelerde kalkıştığı en kanlı savaş olarak bilinir. Sonunda da Güney Vietnam'daki yerli işbirlikçilerini satıp arkalarina bakmadan kaçmışlar, Amerika halkı da o basarısızlığın hıncını böyle çıkarmıştı koltukta oturan başkanlarından. Herşey yolunda gitseydi Nixon tarihe farklı bir şekilde geçerdi.
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ABD bu yenilginin ardından strateji değişikliğine gitti. Yine Dünyanın her köşesinde işine gelmeyen yönetimlerin ipini çekiyor ama bu işleri iç savaşlar çıkartarak, darbe kodlayarak, finans oyunlarıyla, satılık gazeteci ajanlar yetiştirerek beceriyor...
.
Zira yeni secilen başkanlar Nixon'un başına gelenlerin kendi başlarına gelmesini istemiyor ve kendi derin devletinin dizginlerini salıvermiş dünyayı algı yönetimleriyle idare etmeyi tercih ediyor... .
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Ne de olsa askerleri ölünce kendi halkından tepki geliyor ama diğer ülkelerde kimin öldüğü kimsenin umurunda değil Amerikada ve geçmiste dünyayı iliklerie kadar sömürmüş olan Batı medeniyetlerinde... Ve de gücü eline geçirmis kim varsa, neredeyse... Deutschland Uber Alles doktrininin 21. yüzyılına uyarlanmıs hali böyle işte... Ve ABD nin "dünyaya demokrasi getiriyoruz" martavalına inananlar var oldukca bu devran döner gider bir süre daha.
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Bir gün gelecek bu strateji de ise yaramayacak gibi duruyor... zira ekonomik olarak Çin ve Hindistan ABD nin üzerine çıkmak için gün saymaya başladı...
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December 29, 2025
Absolutely incredible read. I’m so interested in Richard Nixon now. The author of this book would write letters to Nixon on foreign policy at age 22 and debate him - he ended up inviting her to his office to meet and discuss…and then offered her a job! In this book, the author recounts her final conversations with Nixon up to his death - we hear his extensive thoughts on the 1992 presidential election, his bitching of both Bill Clinton and the first Bush, his praise of Mario Cuomo (!), and talk about his own presidential legacy which he was desperate to cultivate/improve. Fascinating guy. Another fun fact that I recently learned from my dad is that my grandpa was asked by Nixon to be his postmaster general but declined because he didn’t want to work in government and was in the midst of climbing the corporate ladder. I can’t believe my own grandfather had phone calls with and met Richard Nixon. Wow.
I feel Nixon is misunderstood. I learned much more about him after reading this book. Nixon’s final apologia! He’s deeply unpleasant but also, I can’t get enough. Lol. I also think it’s really cool how even post-Watergate, Nixon tried to advise presidents of both parties and spent so much time thinking about and trying to affect public policy. He didn’t just fade into the background like a lot of other former presidents who served their terms and lived quieter lives afterwards. Nixon also never tried to use his status as a former president to get rich and give $1M speeches…which literally every president post-Nixon has done. Which he also complains about in this book, as Ford was the first to do this. RIP Richard Nixon! Would love to hear what he thinks of our messy 21st century politics.
I feel Nixon is misunderstood. I learned much more about him after reading this book. Nixon’s final apologia! He’s deeply unpleasant but also, I can’t get enough. Lol. I also think it’s really cool how even post-Watergate, Nixon tried to advise presidents of both parties and spent so much time thinking about and trying to affect public policy. He didn’t just fade into the background like a lot of other former presidents who served their terms and lived quieter lives afterwards. Nixon also never tried to use his status as a former president to get rich and give $1M speeches…which literally every president post-Nixon has done. Which he also complains about in this book, as Ford was the first to do this. RIP Richard Nixon! Would love to hear what he thinks of our messy 21st century politics.
November 17, 2022
This is almost strictly a political analysis of the events and personalties of the last couple of years of Nixon's life put into a narrative form. It gives you good insights into Nixon's thinking and talent for observation and practicality.
Only two complaints: 1. It would have been a better read if some more personal and family events were interspersed within the political narrative. The author did a good job of avoiding redundancy and kept the flow smooth, but some better insight could have been gleaned from the political prose if we were more aware of some of Nixon's personal struggles or interests going on at the same time. 2. Some of the dialog as quoted by the author seems a little too polished at times. We know she is going off her extensive and detailed notes, but I'm not sure actual casual speech between friends is quite as refined as the author portrays. I'm sure nothing of substance was changed and all seems certainly accurate enough, but when quoting conversations perfection and eloquence is not always needed.
Overall, this is a great book for anyone wishing to understand the essential contributions Richard Nixon gave to our country, and the stamina he had right up to the end.
Only two complaints: 1. It would have been a better read if some more personal and family events were interspersed within the political narrative. The author did a good job of avoiding redundancy and kept the flow smooth, but some better insight could have been gleaned from the political prose if we were more aware of some of Nixon's personal struggles or interests going on at the same time. 2. Some of the dialog as quoted by the author seems a little too polished at times. We know she is going off her extensive and detailed notes, but I'm not sure actual casual speech between friends is quite as refined as the author portrays. I'm sure nothing of substance was changed and all seems certainly accurate enough, but when quoting conversations perfection and eloquence is not always needed.
Overall, this is a great book for anyone wishing to understand the essential contributions Richard Nixon gave to our country, and the stamina he had right up to the end.
May 27, 2022
A mixed bag. He is a Republican in the line of TR - Teddy Roosevelt. The book shows he really did want abortion legal, it was not a political ploy to stay ahead of the Democrats. He felt it was a good thing. He probably would have agreed with gay marriage and Kennedy for that matter (both were from No. Cal). Other political insights were pretty good -- bad to have one moderator at a presidential debate -- shown again in 2020 with Chris son of Mike Wallace as it favours the Democrats. The press always favours the Democrats. He does not say why.
He really did believe in opening up China in 1972. He has no regrets that I could see about mishandling Watergate, and he really does tape everything. And I mean everything. That's how he thinks and writes. He tapes and then has a secretary transcribe. But the biggest piece of information was he really thought Geo W Bush was unqualified for the Presidency and doomed to lose. He was right about that, and his idiot son.
He really did believe in opening up China in 1972. He has no regrets that I could see about mishandling Watergate, and he really does tape everything. And I mean everything. That's how he thinks and writes. He tapes and then has a secretary transcribe. But the biggest piece of information was he really thought Geo W Bush was unqualified for the Presidency and doomed to lose. He was right about that, and his idiot son.
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June 14, 2025First
June 3, 2024
I don't really like the author as a person, but the Taco Bell story changed my life.
March 27, 2013
A combination of very annoying qualities and redeeming points of interest. Not sure how intentional that was though on the part of Tricia--uh, Julie--uh, Monica. (Also her tendency to call him sir all the time started to sound like Marcia and Peppermint Patty.) He was rather clever about foreign policy--and surprisingly mellow on certain issues (gays, abortion). But it was an awful one-sided, self-serving worldview--with selective amnesia (repeating that he didn't hear about Watergate until 1973 when there was the 6/23/72 smoking-gun tape; or saying he never ever considered suicide when he told somebody like Haig toward the end: "You army guys have it easy--you just leave a loaded pistol in the room with someone and close the door"). Mostly he struck me as this Machiavellian Morlock scurrying around in his little mole tunnel trying to pull strings (or grab at them anyway). But the best parts of the book were the truly off-the-record Nixon: when she catches him feet up on the couch smiling at the Dick Van Dyke show--and he is mortified; or the bird that crashes into the window in mid-conversation ("My God, what was that?"). The time he hands her a cantaloupe because he's going off somewhere and he doesn't want it to go bad; and him calling her from Moscow ("I pictured him crouched over an antiquated Russian phone, praying that the numbers on the rotary matched the ones he was trying to dial"). And saying he was 80 years old--then: "80 years. Jiminy Cricket!" I'm not sure why Nixon carrying a cantaloupe is funny--you put it in Reagan's or Clinton's hands and it isn't. Maybe it's just that he's always talking about all these far-reaching abstract things--and then when something homey enters the picture it's a bit of a jar. Plus I always have a tendency to picture not the real Nixon but the Nixon caricature: ski-jump nose, beetling brows and shoulders up around his ears.
August 12, 2009
Monica Crowley is a really interesting political commentator. I enjoy her concise opinions on matters political. She does appear regularly on FOX News programs but I find that commentators who appear on that network are open minded, concise in their opinions and, for the most part, not pedantic. Crowley spent time as a young writer with Nixon and that, in and of itself, was some feat. Of course, I never met him but I did follow his career and read his personal memoir (RN). I've commented on that elsewhere.
July 16, 2012
A high school classmate wrote this book
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews