The Invincible Quest: The Life of Richard Milhous Nixon

by Conrad Black

The Invincible Quest is an authoritative biography of one of the most accomplished and controversial leaders of the twentieth century. Beginning with Richard Nixon€™s birth to Quaker parents in 1913 and ending with his death in 1994, Conrad Black traces Nixon€™s career, assessing both his achievements and the evolution of popular and historical thinking about him since his death.Drawing on recently opened tapes and documents, and on Black€™s personal interviews with many of the major players in Nixon€™s administration, The Invincible Quest reveals a new side of a man who didn€™t have the advantage of charisma but was surprisingly self-assured and effective; a man dogged by political scandal yet seemingly unstoppable. Opinionated, balanced, and perceptive, The Invincible Quest makes a significant contribution to re-evaluating the idiosyncratic president€™s entire, eventful career.From the Hardcover edition

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Presidents, Politics, American History, United States

1168 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 2007

About the author

Conrad Black is a Canadian-born British peer, and former publisher of the London Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Jerusalem Post, and founder of Canada's National Post.

He is a columnist and regular contributor to several publications, including National Review Online, The New Criterion, The National Interest, American Greatness, the New York Sun, and the National Post.

As an acclaimed author and biographer, Lord Black has published comprehensive histories of both Canada and the United States, as well as authoritative biographies of Maurice Duplessis, and presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Donald Trump.

Lord Black is also a television and radio commentator and a sporadic participant in the current affairs programming of CNN, Fox News, CTV, CBC, BBC, and Radio Canada.

Reviews

[Luffy Sempai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a colossal effort to summarise a president that was reviled for Watergate and whose record speaks for itself among the discordant cries of scandal. I loved this book and may consider it as one of my top 10 books ever. A reread would confirm or deny the book that place for me personally.

[Jeremy Perron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conrad Black's biography of President Richard Nixon is an incredible book. We tend to look at people, things, and events retroactively basing the past on the affairs and knowledge of the present. This is especially true with President Richard Nixon, the only president in U.S. History to have resigned his office and leave in absolute disgrace. Even presidents who are overwhelmingly voted out of office do not leave so tainted. Yet, Nixon was not incompetent; in fact, he was extremely intelligent and capable person. In many ways Nixon was very good president, he was extremely effective despite having an opposition Congress; his foreign policy achievements were amazing and has one of the best environmental records of any president. Then there is Watergate, the 'cancer' that doomed a presidency. After Watergate people's view on Nixon not only changed for the present but the past. The 'Checkers Speech' in 1952, went from Nixon successfully defending himself from a smear to one he 'got away' with. In the Nixon/Douglas 1950 Senate election, people remember Nixon's 'hateful' attacks on Helen Gahagan Douglas, but Douglas's attacks on Nixon are forgotten, including the fact that Douglas was the first one in that campaign to go dirty. Alger Hiss must have been innocent. If Nixon was revealed to have cheated on third-grade assignment, it might be said that particular cheating incident was sign of things to come. Black, however, chooses to show Nixon as someone who started out as an honest public servant and transformed into a man who would obstruct justice for political ends.

Black begins with Nixon's ancestry, which is typical with biographies, then going through his childhood growing up in California where he was heavily involved in his local Quaker community. He grew up in a strong Republican household, although he was a personal admirer of President Woodrow Wilson. Nixon would serve his country in the United States Navy in World War II, and he would also get married and start a family.

Nixon goes up like a rocket in his political career. He begins by defeating a popular incumbent named Jerry Voorhis to earn a seat in the United States House of Representatives. He would serve for two terms earning a reputation as a strong Anti-Communist, but not a crazy like Senator McCarthy. In 1950 he ran against Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas for the California Senate seat, in what was one of the most attack filled campaigns in history, and won.

Nixon would be crucial to securing the California delegation of the 1952 Republican Convention to Eisenhower. This would earn him a spot on the ticket. Nixon would redefine the vice presidency, making it a major office that would represent the United States on important assignments and fill in for the president when needed.

"Nixon's inestimable services in bringing the Republican Party out of isolationism and reaction and ending the McCarthy era, and the undoubted value of some of his foreign travel, have been recounted and have no precedent in the prior history of the vice presidency. He conducted most of the administration's reelection campaign of 1956, and he performed impeccably when Eisenhower's indispositions required him to be more or less an acting president. Nixon effectively succeeded Walter Bedell Smith as 'Ike's prat boy,' the designated assistant in charge of the dirty work. Nixon performed these odious and thankless tasks admirably, even when Eisenhower sawed off the limbs he had sent him out on, especially the more spirited attacks on Democrats. Eisenhower rewarded Nixon's loyalty, discretion, efficiency, and suppression of his own dissent with an uneven pattern of appreciation and aloofness." p.426

Black goes over the colossal errors in judgment that Nixon made over the election of 1960. Although, Black's analysis is good, I have to take issue with his claim that Nixon was at a disadvantage because of Kennedy's Catholicism. Kennedy was clearly at the disadvantage and Black's own critique of Nixon campaign even supports this more than undermines it. The years in which Nixon plotted his comeback are well covered by Black in the following chapters.

In the chaotic year of 1968, Richard Nixon would emerge as the Republican Nominee for the second time in his life. This time Nixon was facing Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who had also lost against Kennedy in 1960 in the Democratic primaries. It was the first time since 1800 that a sitting vice president ran for president against one of his predecessors*. Nixon would be the more aggressive and victorious candidate; he was able to position himself as the sensible alternative to both Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace, the Dixiecrat candidate. He was not going to turn the clock back to segregation but he was against some of the more unpopular ideas such as busing. Nixon would win the White House and take office on January 20, 1969, the same day he would left if all had went as planned in 1960.

Nixon would go on to have an incredible first term as president. Desegregation would increase dramatically in the South, the economy was in good shape, and there would be incredible achievements in foreign policy. Nixon would re-establish a diplomatic relationship with China and introduce triangle diplomacy in dealing with the great Communist powers. Although, there were sour points during the first term, such as the increase in the Vietnam War with its expansion into Cambodia**. I also have some issue with the way Black discusses the situation in Chile. Although he is right to point out that Salvadore Allenee was hardly hero of democracy, he does tend to sweep Pinochet's atrocities under a rug.

Nixon would go on to be triumphantly reelected in 1972 over Senator George McGovern. Senator McGovern would be humiliated in the election as Barry Goldwater was eight years prior, securing Nixon for a second term.

"Richard Nixon was now only the tenth person to win two consecutive contested elections to the presidency of the United States. He was a widely admired and even popular figure, and he had the satisfaction of knowing that he had, by any measurement, been a very effective president. He was a personally sensitive, and often generous man, and he understood the loyalty of the White House staff. But his somber and morose nature took possession of him, especially when it would have seemed that he had a right and a reason to celebrate. He cheered up in crises, was let down by victory, and the few things that excited him caused him childlike pleasure. His best friend was a man with whom he exchanged few words, and his love of solitude was extreme, especially for one of the most energetic and durable politicians in the country's history. All these factors made his achievements as a public man the more remarkable. Very strange things were about to happen, but Richard Nixon was already a very considerable president and statesman." p.845

Then his presidency came tumbling down, the Watergate conspiracy would change forever the way the nation viewed its government. The fact that Nixon was dumb enough to record everything helped assure his downfall. Black chronicles the tragedy that would be taught in every civics class for generations to come. The only drawback is the author of this work is currently in prison and he has a strong present bias against the judicial system and prosecutors in general. He constantly lets the reader know his personnel feelings about modern grand juries, prosecution practices, and deal-making for testimony.

"Of course the Democrats and some of the media were guilty of hypocrisy. Arthur Schlesinger and Henry Steele Commager, distinguished but partisan historians, revered the strong presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, and John F. Kennedy, but found Nixon, facing a hostile Congress, 'imperial.' As Nixon pointed out in a memo to Halderman, Kennedy had impounded more funds, installed more wiretaps, and engaged in more illegal surveillance than he had; and Truman had pushed the theory of executive privilege beyond anything he had done. Bobby Kennedy had bugged the Kennedy's own vice president, Lyndon Johnson, who duplicated that liberty with his vice president, Hubert Humphrey. But they had not meddled in criminal prosecutions as Nixon was doing, especially not prosecutions involving their own staff and campaign workers." p.874

Nixon infamously resigns his office and leaves the capital. Black covers the drama of the early Ford Administration that dealt with the pardon that President Ford gave Nixon. The rest of the book deals with Nixon's post-presidency, that would involve some more comebacks and a new legacy.

I highly recommend this book. It is a great and detailed look into the life of one of our most complicated presidents, Richard M. Nixon. Despite his personnel flaws, Conrad Black, is an extremely talented historian with a brilliant narrative.

*In 1800, Vice President Thomas Jefferson challenged his own president, John Adams. President Adams had served as vice president under George Washington.

** The expansion would be stopped, not by the President, but a resurgent Congress.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://bestpresidentialbios.com/2018...

Conrad Black’s “Richard Nixon: A Life in Full” was published in 2007 and is the longest one-volume Nixon biography in my library. Black is a former newspaper magnate and the author of “FDR: Champion of Freedom.” In 2007 he was convicted of obstruction of justice and mail fraud in connection with his Canadian media business.

This well-researched biography of Richard Nixon is comprehensive and extremely thorough. But with 1,059 pages of text it is not for the timid or faint of heart. And while it does cover Nixon’s entire life, the emphasis is clearly on his presidency. A mere thirty-three pages sweep Nixon from his birth to law school, but about 500 pages are devoted to Nixon’s 5+ years in the White House.

Black’s writing style is dense, erudite and serious…but never particularly colorful. This is not a lively or engaging “fly on the wall” view of Nixon’s life. Instead, it is a studious and often incredibly detailed history of Nixon and his times. Context is never lacking and this often seems more a political history book than a biography.

Much about “Richard Nixon: A Life in Full” is praiseworthy – particularly for serious students of history seeking broad and detailed exposure to Nixon and his era. This book is nothing short of encyclopedic and Black’s ability to weave an enormous amount of history into the narrative of Nixon’s life is impressive.

Black quickly proves an astute observer and a clever analyst. Rather than reviewing actions in isolation, nearly every important decision Nixon made is carefully examined within the framework of world events – excepting, of course, actions Nixon undertook simply as a result of his psychological neuroses.

There are many excellent individual moments as well. Black provides a superb review of Vice President Nixon’s Far East trip in 1953 and the description of his failed 1960 presidential campaign is well told. In addition, the examination of Nixon’s relationship with Henry Kissinger is both revealing and insightful. But the book’s best chapter is its last. Here the author follows Nixon from resignation to death – observing Nixon’s efforts to rescue his reputation and thoughtfully evaluating his evolving political legacy.

But for all its merits, Black’s biography possesses a number of significant weaknesses. Its length, due to an enormous volume of embedded context, will scare away many potential readers and wear down others who begin the book despite its heft. For all but the exceptionally enlightened, the author’s tendency to exhaustively describe events will obscure the “big picture.”

Perhaps more unfortunate is that Black almost never provides the reader an overview of where the narrative is headed. Rare are the moments when the text foreshadows future events, provides a glimpse at how the story will evolve or connects Nixon’s past to his future.

In addition, many readers will object to Black’s penchant for injecting opinion into the narrative. He frequently provides unsolicited advice to historical figures (Nixon most frequently) offering guidance on what should have been done differently in order to achieve some objective. This “wisdom” almost always feels gratuitous.

Finally, this biography often feels far too sympathetic toward its subject. While the book – taken as a whole – is reasonably well-balanced there are numerous individual moments when Black demonstrates his underlying affinity for Nixon. And while Black is quite critical of his subject’s most glaring failures, it is fair to note that he recently affirmed his view of Nixon as “one of the most successful presidents in the country’s history.”

Overall, Conrad Black’s “Richard Nixon: A Life in Full” is notable for its exhaustive coverage of Nixon and his era if not its fluid, colorful style. Most readers will walk away from this biography enlightened but without the sense of really knowing Nixon. In spite of the author’s fondness for his subject and the density of the narrative, this biography contains countless nuggets of wisdom and insight. It is unfortunate they require so much effort to uncover.

Overall rating: 3½ stars

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

For much of its length, Conrad Black's exhaustingly detailed biography of Richard Nixon exceeded my expectations. One wouldn't expect a nuanced political history from Black, the right-wing publisher and convicted felon, yet he does a good job tackling this monumentally flawed figure. Black shows admirable skill placing Nixon's career within the greater sweep of American politics, providing nuanced looks at Nixon's early career as a Red-baiter (pointing out that as savage as his congressional and senate campaigns were, he wasn't markedly worse than his opponents), separating rabid McCarthyites from responsible anti-Communists, delineating Nixon's testy relationship with Eisenhower and efforts to navigate the political wilderness after his losses to JFK and Pat Brown. Black's analysis, unsurprisingly, grows more suspect as he plunges into Nixon's presidency; sometimes he provides sharp analyses of Nixon's actions (he's quite good on the China opening and Nixon's domestic initiatives) and political rhetoric (noting how Nixon lumping moderate Democrats in with antiwar radicals led to irreparable divisions in the body politic). But he also levies bizarre opinions, claiming that Nixon should have unleashed Operation Duck Hook on Vietnam, that overthrowing Salvador Allende saved Chile for democracy, and especially in Watergate. He's torn between recognizing Nixon's wounds as self-inflicted while looking to blame his downfall on partisan enemies; his Monday morning quarterbacking on how Nixon should have handled the scandal grows tedious and exhausting. For all the worthy insights in Black's book, he seems to miss the paranoid nastiness that devoured Nixon from within, which prevents him from truly understanding why Nixon self-destructed and how his actions poisoned democracy. Too bad.

[Mikey B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling biography of Richard Nixon. Conrad Black’s overall thesis or summation is that Nixon paid too high a price for the Watergate fiasco and should be remembered as a President with many accomplishments. To some extent history is starting to mend the Presidency of Nixon. I also feel that Nixon was a scapegoat for Vietnam and the turmoil of the 1960’s. Watergate may have been more of an attack on the “Presidency” than just on Nixon himself. Also Conrad Black has pointed out (probably correctly) that the power of the Presidency was emasculated by Watergate.

However Nixon was far from perfect. He would let his emotions get the better of him, particularly with the press. During the McCarthy era Nixon was a very vocal part of the red-baiting process – neither Eisenhower nor Truman humiliated himself on this sordid issue.

As Mr. Black points out, Nixon made no attempt, when the initial Watergate burglary revelations came out, to remove from office those responsible – at this early stage it could have been done with little damage to the Presidency. But as the lies and deceptions mounted Nixon drew closer to the center of a web and lost whatever possibilities he had to extricate himself. He also lost his integrity. The press became relentless in its attacks. Unlike other Presidents (Roosevelt or Reagan) Nixon could never win the admiration of the media. The U.S. press can be flaky – note the over-emphasis it gives to several mundane issues – the O.J. Simpson trial, celebrities...

Also Mr. Black discusses the “Christian crusader complex” that surfaces embarrassingly in American society. This too played no insignificant part in the onslaught on the Presidency. Any word uttered by the President was now put under a microscope and blown up by pundits even if it had nothing to do with Watergate – anything became gist for the grinding mill.

Nevertheless Nixon was a flawed individual and not particularly admirable – he displayed a lack of sincerity. Also (unlike Mr. Black) I do have a difficult time seeing how Nixon assuaged racial tensions in the U.S. He could be divisive – his slogan “Silent Majority” excluded certain groups or types (liberals for instance and people of colour...). His intensified bombing of Vietnam and Cambodia merely prolonged a senseless war – killing and maiming more innocent people. This is also a part of the Nixon legacy.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't think I'd like the author, and was sceptical at first, but actually Conrad Black is a fantastic writer. This is one hell of a great biography. After 1070 pages, I really can't think of anything to constructively criticize. Maybe it wasn't long enough.
I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn about Nixon. Really, with Nixon, a book of less than 1000 pages cannot cover enough. There is just too much. In fact, the only problem that I had with Evan Thomas' Being Nixon (also a great book), is that at 750 pages, it glossed over too much stuff that I wanted to know more about. Probably Steven Ambrose had the right idea with his three volume biography, but I haven't read it yet.
Conrad Black did Nixon justice, without bias. And he made it extremely interesting. Still I haven't gotten my fill of, not just Nixon, but this INSANE period of time in American History. I'm looking forward to reading
Rick Perlstein's Nixonland in the near future.

[Jim Puskas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly readable, extremely well-researched account of the persona and career of one of the most controversial figures to appear on the world stage in the past half-century. Black provides a non-judgmental examination of events while pulling no punches. Surely Nixon's story is one of the great tragedies of modern times: a man of tremendous talent who overcame adversity to accomplish great things but in the end was destroyed by his own inner demons that drove him to desperate and disastrous acts.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard M. Nixon: A life in Full is a fine book by a fine scholar whose stretch in the stoney lonesome allows him to write about Richard Nixon with great compassion. All people who lived through the Nixon impeachment process need to read this fabulous biography which sets the record straight on a great American president. Nixon was a hard working and thoroughly researched every issue. He was god fearing, progressive and extremely careful in foreign affairs. The great tragedy as Black points out was that his employees sang like Canaries.

This book puts to rest several mythes about Nixon and the Republicans who have been branded as war mongers despite the fact that it was the Democrats not the Republicans who recklessly led America into a war that could not be won. Black describes how Nixon did a fact-finding tour in IndoChina while the French were still trying to suppress the Vietnamese rebels. He returned to Washington with the conclusion that the French still thought that they had a chance to win but believed that within months the war would be lost. Hence, America should intervene rapidly or not all. Eisenhower explained to Nixon that America's top priority was containing communism behind the Rhine River and concluded that America should stay out. This would suggest that Nixon would have been highly unlikely to escalate the war in Vietnam as Kennedy and Johnson did had he won the 1960 election. This goes against the preposterous notion that Kennedy would have kept America out had he not been assassinated. One can never know what might have happened had things been different, but clearly Nixon was more strongly predisposed against intervening in Vietnam than Kennedy ever was.

Black also points out that Nixon was strongly in favour of civil rights for Afro-Americans. Given that he had been brought up a Quaker it would have been highly surprising for him to have had any other position. It was essentially the Quakers in England and the US who carried the weight the abolitionist fight from the 1780s to the 1830s.

Black wants the Republicans to return to their tradition of being progressive. If they do not move back into centre he does not believe that they can be successful for any prolonged period. I hope that I am not alone in agreeing with him.

Many parts of Black's judgements will be easily accepted by the reader. His establishing diplomatic relations with China was a highly positive initiative. He did in fact extract United States from Vietnam and his government was centrist not rightist.

On the question of Watergate, some readers will be less easily persuaded by Black. He asserts that there is no reason to believe that Nixon knew about the Watergate burglary before hand. Most would agree that there is no evidence to link him to the event until after it happened. However, in the absence of proof some still suspect that Nixon was aware beforehand. I personally feel that Black is right to insist that Nixon knew nothing beforehand.

The question then becomes whether or not it was right to try to impeach Nixon for covering up rather than for ordering the burglary. Black thinks not. Irangate was a greater scandal but in that incident the participants chose to take the blame on themselves and made no effort to push it into the Oval Office. During Watergate however Nixon's staffers sang like canaries trying to save their own skins rather than thinking of the greater good. Black is unable to contain his disgust at such treachery.

I urge you to draw your own conclusions. Black deserves to be praised for this exhaustively researched work that largely rehabilitates a fine President.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This weighty biography by Lord Black suffers from Black's fondness for his subject. The reader often has to pause to consider the implications of what Black is telling. For example, in the book Nixon tells H.R. Haldeman that he wants to know to whom Nelson Rockefeller is talking and what they are talking about. He sends Haldeman out and the reader has to figure out that the only way that commission could be accomplished is if Haldeman bugged Rockefeller. This biography glosses over some of Nixon's grievously horrible actions as if they were unimportant. At the end it is pure hagiography and one expects Nixon to be bodily lifted into heaven. In fact, Lord Black has ethical issues so it is easy to see why he would defend Nixon.

If you read Black's biography of FDR, you will be disappointed by this less partial work. It is also kind of depressing to read about an historical figure whose paranoia framed his leadership from an author who defends it.

Still looking for a good Nixon biography.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really dragged on, so much so that I refused to finish it. I believe the author used large words just to use them.

[Clinton Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fair and balanced examination of Nixon's life and career.

[Huckleberry Bluedog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conrad Black
There was plenty of trepidation about reading a Nixon biography by Conrad Black; they both have an awful lot of baggage and the book is over 1,000 pages long. I'm glad that I hurdled my prejudice, however, and undertook one of the most enjoyable reads of the year. If presidential politics isn't of interest to you then this may be a struggle, but if you want an well written, clear and facinating understanding of an amazing man and a dramatic period of history then this is thoroughly recommended.

I don't know the full story of Black's fall from grace, but he dares to put opinion and wit into a biography and he writes as if he want to get information to the reader rather than show-off how much research he's done. This is a great book, a great read and, by the end of it I am convinced its subject was a great man.

[Adrian R · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book a solid 4.1 out of 5

SPOILERS AHEAD

TL;DR if you don't have time to read the whole review here is all you need to know about this book, the biggest strength of this book is it's length and the amount of detail.... At the same time the biggest weakness of this book is also its length and the amount of unnecessary detail. The biggest issue that I have with this book is that it is 1059 pages long whereas actually this book could have been at most approximately 850 pages long at most if you deleted all the detail that repeats itself. Not once but TWICE I had to set this book aside and pick up 2 other books and stop reading this one because it became so monotonous and made me hate reading because I thought that I was going in circles with some chapters especially I believe that it was the 2nd or the 3rd one the most. I will say that the fact that the author repeated the facts and what was previously stated in the chapter a lot unnecessarily and made the book ridiculously long, this is my biggest complaint that I have about this book but it is the only one, Other than that this book is phenomenal and I would recommend it to anyone that would want to read up on Richard M. Nixon's life as Conrad black did a phenomenal job with all the detail that he added.

Going into more detail about my experience reading this book I have to say that I have already pointed out the main negative of this book... and it's a big one but apart from that I have only good things to say about this book now. It is the only book that I have read this year where I didn't have any problems with the way the author has written it as he used excellent use of language to keep the writer hooked (until the length of this book tired you out) and hungry to read more about Richard Nixon's life. Although I complained a lot about the length of this book I do have to say that the amount of amazing detail captured in this book is mind-blowing, I adored the tiny stories that Conrad Black put it about Richard Nixon travelling such as the time when he visited Venezuela and a man spat on him and in return the police held onto the man whilst Nixon kicked him in the shin hahaha, these are the stories that made me burst out laughing whilst at the same time feeling great sympathy for Richard Nixon when reading about the fact that even Dwight Eisenhower to who he was vice president to turned against him at one point and was negative towards President Nixon when there was a controversy about where he got his funds from for his Vice Presidential Campaign or when his younger brother died when Richard Nixon was still a teenager. I have to say that if I was to divide the book into chunks of where it was great and where it started to fall apart I would have to say that the first 40% of the book is incredibly well written and has lots of interesting information that I can assure you a typical Richard Nixon biography wouldn't have such as talking about how Nixon solved the great communist scandal including Alger Hiss and Whitaker chambers and even talking about small things as the reason as why Nixon started Combing his hair backwards. After the strong beginning the book really starts to fall apart repeating itself and adding a lot of useless information and going in circles most likely to just extend the length of the book, this means that the next 35% of the book is pretty weak because of the amount of repetition but I still have to say that it is incredibly well written when bringing in new facts and stories especially when talking about how Richard Nixon tackled the Vietnam War which he inherited from Lyndon B. Johnson and the famous Watergate scandal that he was involved in which led to his resignation. Along the way Conrad Black does an phenomenal Job not only writing about Nixon and his time in office but the people that were closest to him such as Henry Kissinger who was his right hand man when it came to foreign policy, Spiro Agnew, his Vice President and the people that were involved in the Watergate scandal along him such as Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Rodgers. The Last 25% of the book gives off an extremely strong and satisfying ending talking about how Richard Nixon Resigned and how the rest of the world viewed him even after he was Pardoned by Gerald Ford. Another thing that I really like about this book is that it is a breathe of fresh air as when it comes to reading about someone like Richard Nixon you mostly hear Negatives and despite the fact that they are still in this book and rightfully so it was nice for Conrad Black to paint a different perspective of Richard Nixon than the usual image that we were always told of him and that is that he was a crook and a corrupt liar.

Closing comments: Despite the fact that this book has a huge negative to it, I don't want that to be a factor which affects the score that I gave it as every time I felt like giving this book below 4/5 I felt as that would be unjust given the amount of information there is in this book that you wouldn't know from watching a video on YouTube or learning about President Nixon in your History Class. Another thing that I have to point out is that I would have hated for this book to be incredibly short as I really enjoyed the way it was written and the Language Black used when writing about President Nixon. Therefore I decided to give this book a 4.1/5 because although it took me ages to read, it was a very enjoyable process which has granted me a lot of wisdom when it comes to knowing about the 37th President of the United States and his accomplishments. This book is highly recommended by me and I have to say that Conrad Black knows how to write a great biography as after reading this I can't wait to read the ones that he wrote about Donald Trump and Franklin Delano Roosevelt which are both on my shelf!

[Zach Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written during his own legal battle, Conrad Black's examination of the life of Nixon is enlightening and fair.
Now that we as a society have moved far enough away from Watergate, it seems as if a new era of Nixon scholarship is on the horizon. I think the time has come for a more objective and honest look at a man who was quite possibly one of the most underrated politicians of the last century, and who ended the war in Vietnam, opened trade relations with China, got SALT I with the Soviet Union and oversaw the implementation of national environmental standards.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like it more than I did. It's exhaustedly researched and detail oriented in may a way that adds to the allure of Nixon. The contrast of a fallen man, Conrad Black, writing a redemptive biopic of another fallen man on a grander scale, Nixon, makes for an interesting dichotomy. The book is so bloody long at times, and the flow of getting to the finish hit several walls, making it a true reading marathon.

[Jonathan Cantor · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book about a disgraced president by an actual felon. This book tries to downplay all of the horrible things Nixon did by comparing them to the horrible things his predecessors did. The book is basically a failure and should be avoided. An actual historian would do a better job of describing Nixon's life and his complexities. And would do so objectively.

[Theresa Leone Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a really good book - it was certainly fair to Nixon, not just vilifying him for what he did wrong but recognizing and applauding all that he did right. It took me weeks but I finished it, and I recommend it.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black is a bit of a Nixon apologist, but he delves much more deeply into the policy issues of the Nixon era than the many Watergate-obsessed authors that are out there. Relations with China and the Vietnam war both receive very substantive treatment.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting. Gives you a fuller profile of the man. The author likes to try to impress with big SAT words which is annoying, but overall I recommend it.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nixon's life

This book is well written and easy to read. There is a lot of background history along with Nixon's story.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) had a meteoric rise, a pair of stunning defeats that would have buried
almost anyone else and then the ultimate triumph and a fall that resembled a Greek tragedy. If a
run on sentence can describe a career I just did.

Conrad Black's thousand plus page epic is just that story. Nixon was born into a Quaker household
with a pious doting mother who saw two sons die before adulthood and a ne'er do well father who
an a general store He was a kid who may not have been the one with the highest IQ, but worked the
hardest and got the grades. The same Nixon went Whittier College and Duke University Law School.
In World War II he had honorable if not distinguished Naval service.

A group of Republican citizens sought him out as a candidate for Congress. In 1946 both parties were
seeking out articulate veterans as candidates and Nixon beat a ten year Democratic incumbent.

His committee assignment with the House Un-American Activities set the path for his career. With
a great deal of help from Alger Hiss himself, Nixon cast a pall on his reputation and by inference upon many in the foreign policy establishment. The Democrats never forgave him. Nixon moved
to the Senate in 1950 defeating fellow California Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas in a slash
and burn campaign.

By 1952 Nixon had positioned himself at the height of the Red Scare as a lighter more fact deriven
battler of subversion than Senator Joe McCarthy. He also within the California delegation was able
to be the available candidate to run with Ike Eisenhower as Vice President. Quite a rise in six years.

He did have trouble when it was discovered he had a fund set up by campaign contributors to defray
expenses. Nixon came back with his nationally televised Checkers speech talking about a cocker
spaniel puppy that was given his daughters. I remember reading a comment from another source
saying it was the first time the common man was a Republican. Maybe the only time.

His Vice Presidential years with Ike were a mixed bag. On the one hand he was the same go for the
gut Nixon partisan to the nth degree. On the other hand he got deserved high marks for his cool
handling of Ike's heart attack and stroke.. He also faced down demonstrators in Lime, Peru and
Caracas, Venezuela. But in a year with a dearth of alternatives he got the nomination for the
presidency in 2960.

It was close but Nixon lost to another World War II Naval veteran John F. Kennedy. In 1962 he made a big strategic blunder when he ran and lost for Governor of California. That should have
finished most men.

But in 1964 Nixon made the smartest move in his career. When the conservative Barry Goldwater
was the nominee Nixon instead of holding him in disdain as most of the liberal Republicans, went
out and campaigned for him. The conservatives who now held the party machinery never forgot
that. In 1966 Nixon who held no office so he had lots of free time campaigned across the country
for GOP candidates and compiled a ton of IOUs. Come 1968 he was the nominee again of the
Republican Party and was on the right side of the electoral and popular vote.

Nixon the great slash and burn partisan was never a man to unite anything especially during the
Vietnam War which he inherited. The off year elections of 1970 were no kind of mandate for his
administration.

His big achievement opening up dialog with the People's Republic of China got him good marks
with a bit of wry amusement when one recalled his strident comments 20 years earlier about that
government. Troops in Vietnam were being scaled down and when the Democrats went far left
with their nomination of George McGovern the great radical went for Nixon in 1972. Nixon got
huge majorities with the popular and electoral vote. It was a moment of triumph.

Which came to rack and ruin inside two years. The apprehension of burglars invading the National
Democratic Committee office led to a host of big and little scandals that came to be known under
the generic term Watergate. August 9, 1974 Nixon resigns.

Richard Nixon was one of the most complex figures to ever become president. Conrad Black does a
great job in weaving a tale of a man of many aspects. He can lay claim to writing the definitive
Nixon book.

[Chris Schaffer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read Conrad Black is an arrogant rich jerk and he writes with the same style. There is something extremely grating about his writing style in this book. I like Nixon and love reading about him but did not care for Black's constant contrasting of Nixon's issues with those of democrats such as Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, Kennedy and Johnson over and over and over again. And what the hell is with all the big words...I get it, you have a deep vocabulary, but enough already it takes away from your poorly written book. Interesting that a convicted felon is writing about a convicted felon with a great degree of sympathy towards how he might've avoided all his trouble. Perhaps he is somehow outwardly projecting. As is the classic case for books written from the pro-Nixon angle and this is certainly case people like Dean, Woodward & Bernstein, Sen. Ervin, etc. are all crapped on. The guy is not a historian although he says he is.

[Ptjerónimo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uma biografia bastante detalhada mas claramente facciosa. O A. não consegue esconder a simpatia que sente por Nixon e, muito particularmente, pelo Partido Conservador, em relação aos quais é invariavelmente elogioso ou complacente. A visão que transmite da cena política norte-americana durante os quase quarenta anos em que Nixon esteve activo e foi influente acaba por ser assaz distorcida. Por vezes, a leitura não é fácil para um leitor menos conhecedor das particularidades dos sistemas eleitoral e institucional dos EUA.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Canadian with limited coverage to US news during Watergate, who was friends with VietNam draft dodgers, but being someone who would have voted Republican if I were a US citizen, I did not like Nixon. From the first time I saw him on the news, I said "that man is a liar".

I have read many books and biographies about US politicians, especially presidents.

No book has so changed my viewpoint of a president as this book.

Deep in his heart, his love for his country and his loyalty to his party are revealed. I thought he had disappeared from politics after Watergate (he did seem to disappear from Canadian news but not from Time and Newsweek).

I am impressed by the remarkable ability of this man to perceive the political situation, give advice to Republicans, (even those who abandoned and condemned him), and restore the faith of the US population and political world in him. He was a man with great political insight and a man who never gave up.

Despite some very unfair treatment by his government (much lower payments for his transition to public life than most presidents, very likely unfair IRS treatment regarding capital gains on the sale of his home, a legal fight to retain the rights to his notes and tapes as president (which every other president was allowed to keep) and other situations, he kept fighting with determination... and won.

He still had respect for his government, refused Secret service protection for several years in order to save the government money, never accepting any honorarium for speeches given. Even his Presidential library was maintained financially without support from the federal government, as many Presidential libraries are.

Somehow, his deep values sustained him and brought him to victory, much more so than many other presidents whose lives turned to golf or fishing in Key West. I have a deeper respect for him, to see how the principles that he learned as a Quaker taught him how to fight by forgiving and turning the other cheek. He was remarkable in how he loved and forgave and worked beside people who had condemned and deserted him... and became, in many cases, their friends.

He was able to put his values above their treatment of him and treat them better than he was treated.

Regardless of the causes of Watergate and his culpability, his life is a model of how to live successfully in an unkind world.

He probably made more trips overseas to other countries as guests of their government after leaving office. Watergate is not dealt with disproportionately in this book, but it is dealt with fairly, with the government of France saying it was merely a coup, and Russian and Arab and Asian leaders saying that they did not understand the problem... (why didn't he just shoot those who opposed him?!)

I was amazed to see how shrewd his political instincts were in the long rise to the Presidency, after failed attempts to get the Republican nomination, how he seemed to lose a lot of this shrewdness while isolated in the White House, and how this political perception seemed to return after he left the White House.

I have been to his presidential library; even the library did not give me the sense of Nixon that this book gave me.

At first, I thought that Conrad Black might have written this book through the colored lenses of his probably unfair treatment by Revenue Canada in 1992 in assessing him as a resident of Canada for tax purposes when he had moved to the UK in 1992 for several years to run one of his businesses. Or that he might have had more compassion and sensitivity to Nixon because Black, too, was a victim of some questionable legal actions, having the 3 major charges dropped later against him but his original prison term not reduced.

Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in order to become a Baron and, because of his imprisonment in the US, lost many honors given him by both the Canadian government and the UK government, including sitting in the House of Lords, and was not allowed to re-establish residence in Canada as a convicted felon. It is likely that some of this legal attack that put him in prison was overdone by political enemies and he can sympathize with Nixon.

Despite his prison experience and difficult social situations, Black, who has so much money that he does not need to write books, seems unable to quit doing what he was born to do. He does not seem to have a political agenda but an historical mindset, wanting to know the truth.

The book is backed up by many details and footnotes. He does not seem to show any political bias (of course, he is not American, he lost respect for the American legal system during his legal difficulties, and I think is no longer allowed in the US. Black is one of the least politically biased writers about politicians that I have ever read. He does not sugar coat Nixon's mistakes and shows alternative procedures that might have saved his presidency and done less harm to the country. But he also does not minimize Nixon's major political accomplishments after Watergate.

I want to read more of Conrad Black's many books.

Was Watergate wrong? Yes. But Nixon's ultimate punishment was probably more political than legal.

I have a different understanding now of Nixon. He continued to do what he believed in, in order to help the country that he believed in, and may have had more effect on US and world politics after his presidency than during it.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book by way of reading the author's book Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other wherein he made a passing positive comment about the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. Intrigued, I later learned the author had written a biography of President Nixon which I immediately ordered only to learn upon receiving it that it was nearly 1,200 pages long!

Now, after three months, I'm finally finished, and it was worth it.

[Don Reese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming after my read of the two-volume Eisenhower biography by Stephen Ambrose, this was a great comparison of perspectives. Nixon was an under-appreciated and under-utilized Vice President under Eisenhower, and was an under-appreciated and much-maligned President who deserves more credit for his accomplishments.

[Joseph Tully · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tour de force.

[Samantha Sipper · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me three months to wade through this ponderous book, and I must confess, I almost put it down. However, if you can get through some of the drier parts, then it can be a richly rewarding read. My own desire to read it stemmed from Nixon's reputation as the only president to ever resign his position. Not knowing much about the facts, I wondered who this man was as a person. Even today, 43 years after it happened, people who lived through the Watergate scandal still seem ambivalent about the 37th president of the United States. Conrad Black's book starts with Nixon's humble origins in Yorba Linda, California. Born to Quaker parents, many of Nixon's personality traits reflect his upbringing. My own impression of Nixon was that he was very intelligent, hard-working, and ambitious, but like everyone else, encumbered with those things that make us human. In his political career, Nixon seemed to suffer from an image problem at times. Part of it was that he lacked the charisma and magnetism of say a John Kennedy, although in private, he was said to be less awkward and more relaxed. When Watergate broke, Nixon exemplified high levels of determination, perseverance, and tenacity as he never admitted to wrongdoing. In fact, the author states that Nixon felt that he had not done any wrong, although he apologized for any mistakes he'd made and regretted bringing discredit upon the presidency. This book offers many fascinating insights into Nixon's character but also into his relationships with others. Henry Kissinger is one example. Kissinger seemed to know Nixon's mind when it came to foreign policy, and they worked together to make progress in the U.S.'s relationships with other countries. Yet despite their working relationship, they were never close personally, and Kissinger was derogatory about Nixon on numerous occasions. It was also very interesting to read about Nixon's trips abroad as he met with the likes of Nikita Khrushchev and Mao Tse-tung, and essentially played a veritable international relations chess match with each of them. As I read this book, I was also struck by how much the political issues of today mirror the political issues of Nixon's era. Some of the same problems--voter fraud, press leaks, media distortion--have always been a part of our political landscape to a greater or lesser degree. Much has been said about the gift of raw talent, but the author states that Nixon succeeded in an area in which he was the least suited. Nixon's life in full demonstrates the power of qualities like hard work and tenacity, qualities that Richard Nixon had in great supply.

[Markotwain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first of my efforts to read a biography of each U.S. President who served during my lifetime. I don’t know from where this ambition arose. As with most things in my noggin, it just popped in there one day.

So I thought I would begin the mission not chronologically, but with the most complex, bewildering, and brooding member of the group – Tricky Dick. It was interesting for a number of reasons – one being that I don’t remember any of the pre-1967 events myself, but very much recall those after. So I read of Nixon’s early life and rise (to the California Bar, Congress, the Vice Presidency, and his failed campaigns for prez and governor), as well as his 1968 election as president, Watergate participant, and fall from grace.

Before I talk more about the book I need to talk about the author. I selected this author because his work was a relatively recent bio among several about Nixon. It was an interesting choice. Before reading Richard M. Nixon: A Life In Full, I learned that Conrad Black (a gazillionaire publisher and author) might be a more sympathetic biographer than most – one reason is that he himself ran afoul of the U.S. government and considers himself a victim of its overreach (Black served time for mail fraud and obstruction of justice before being released from prison in 2012). The book jacket also mentioned that Black is (or at least was) a trustee of the Center for the National Interest; a Washington think tank that was founded by Nixon. So it was no surprise that Black took it easy on his subject throughout (one online source even accused him of trying to “rehabilitate Nixon’s image”).

I found the book interesting overall while bogging down in a few places. I learned of R.N.’s participation in the anti-communist Red Scare of the 1950s (a section of the book where the biggest bog-down took place). I also learned much about his relationship with Eisenhower-the author insists it was the one of the most complicated in American political history. It is true; the author went easy on Nixon, insisting the president had no prior knowledge of the Watergate mess that led to his downfall. Black blamed Nixon’s henchmen, charging the president only with fostering the environment that created the scandal. On the flip side, Black also covered Nixon’s legendary brooding, awkward, and standoffish personality quite well and frequently underscored the irony of his ill-suited gravitation toward politics.

I would give this book three stars out of five for those who enjoy biographies, politics, or history…and additional stars the more you are curious about such a complex persona. At 1,059 pages, there is certainly a lot to satisfy your curiosity.

I think I ordered it from Barnes and Noble, but maybe it is on the discount rack by now (if you don’t mind bricking instead of clicking). Whatever you do, don’t try to sneak out with a copy. Remember, just like Richard Nixon…..you are NOT A CROOK!

Mark Owens
2014

[Matt Diller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black's biography is a thorough, well-researched, and extremely well-written biography of Nixon. Black paints an informative and comprehensive look at Nixon's life and career, and provides interesting explanations for what exactly made Nixon tick. In particular, Black focuses heavily on Nixon's expertise and capability as a politician, his great ability in foreign policy, and the complicated relationships he had with Eisenhower and Kissinger in particular. Black also provides an explanation of the Watergate scandal, tying Nixon's behavior to earlier incidents in his career.

Where the book is somewhat disappointing is in its failure to explain the shift in Nixon's abilities and personality in the 1971-1973 range that ultimately led to his downfall. Prior to 1972, Nixon was an effective politician, skilled at seeing the forest for the trees and able to sense danger coming from a mile away. In 1972 and 1973, as Watergate was heating up, Nixon's personality changed. This era is the origin for the descriptions of Nixon's paranoia, the "imperial presidency" (although Black makes a strong case that Nixon's grabs for power were never as large or comprehensive as Johnson's, Kennedy's, or even Eisenhower's), and the image of Nixon as a sweating recluse in the West Wing. None of this was true of Nixon prior to this era, and Black never even attempts to explain this shift other than by repeating the gossipy allegations of Nixon's alleged instability and mental illness. Black implies that these gossipy rumors are incorrect, but never takes a stab at trying to explain what was really happening with Nixon in this period.

An annoying Black tic: Black's previous biography was of FDR, and it shows. The amount of FDR comparisons he makes in this book are overwhelming, appearing every few pages whether justified or not.

A brief comment on the irony of Conrad Black writing a biography of Richard Nixon, which is hard to ignore: I don't think it's necessarily a coincidence that this book was written at the time Black was involved in his own trial. He makes the case that Nixon was largely wrongly persecuted for his role in Watergate, and while Nixon may have been guilty of creating a culture of corruption in the White House and ignoring more obvious signs of wrongdoing by his subordinates until it was too late, he did not commit any crimes and would have been vindicated in a fair trial. Black has made a similar case for himself (i.e. arguing that he was persecuted and prosecuted by overzealous enemies, and that in a fair trial he would have been found not guilty), and undoubtedly drew comparisons between Nixon's experience and his own.