Nixon Reconsidered

by Joan Hoff

An eye-opening look at the man whose notoriety over Watergate and whose accomplishments in foreign policy have made us foget that he was one of our most innovative modern presidents on matters of domestic policy. Hoff shows that Nixon's reforms in welfare, civil rights, economic and environmental policy, and reorganization of the federal bureaucracy all greatly outweigh those things for which we tend to remember him.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Politics

496 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 1994

About the author

Joan Hoff is currently a research professor of history at Montana State University. She is a former president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, a former executive director of the Organization of American Historians, and a former director of the Contemporary History Institute at Ohio University.

Reviews

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never an apologist for Nixon, Hoff dug through the archives to find, surprisingly, that Nixon’s domestic achievements are more memorable than his foreign policy gaffs or Watergate. Nixon was actually “more liberal than conservative in economic matters, confounding both his friends and enemies, as he also did on other issues of domestic reform, especially civil rights and welfare. As a Republican, he was willing to move beyond the twin boundaries of the New Deal and the Great Society.” (144) Nixon spent more on social welfare programs than LBJ. Under Nixon, for the 1st time, social spending exceeded defense spending since since before WWII.
Ohio University's Alonzo Hamby rips Hoff a new one, especially regarding the Vietnam issue. At length, he ponders “if historians writing fifty or a hundred years from now will view Nixon’s Vietnam policy as the needless continuation of a war. Or will they see a president who inherited a conflict in which 550,000 American troops were embroiled, weighed domestic political imperatives agasint the national interest, wound the American commitment down by 500,000 troops, ended the military draft, preserved American credibility, and negotiated a peace agreement that gave a U.S. client state a chance to survive?”

In short:
- Nixon was liberal by today’s standards
- Kissinger is to blame for many foreign policy failures. Nixon readily ignored him up until 1973.
- Nixon’s domestic achievements deserve more merit than his foreign policy “failures” or Watergate.

[Alex Hope · Rating 1 out of 5]

As someone said: “because of such gullible scholars we cannot understand the situation better.”
It is impossible to read a book when the author literally forges Nixon’s and Kissinger’s attitude toward foreign policy as “Nixinger.” They both had different views and different attitudes, no “very much alikes.”
The domestic part is good enough, although I hate the fact of constant reference to the future. Focus on the subject.
Hoff’s foreword mentions that she was “Anti Nixon,” yet when she opens the archives for the first time she transcends to a completely different 180 degree opinion. I have read this book as if it were made by a journalist: not a historian.
Tough, especially considering the fact that the books is somewhat labyrinthine: all the events come up really unstructured, which results into a mess of a thesis.
I promised myself I would never be harsh towards a book or its author after RFK memoirs, although I cannot withstand not doing it.

[Crissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the author has written a very detailed and well researched book. It is important to consider everyone and everything in context otherwise we become distracted by whatever hits the headlines. I was looking for a biography of Nixon as I seemed to know very little beyond Watergate and this book has helped greatly. Unfortunately I did find the amount of political detail difficult, but this is not a criticism of the book. Much more to do with my lack of understanding of USA politics.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Professor Hoff, late of Indiana University, tries to rise above the Watergate mania that tends to totally overshadow all the other accomplishments that occurred during the Nixon administration. Let there be no doubt that Nixon was NOT a doctrinaire conservative, if he was even one to begin with. Nixon's early cabinet and advisers included some liberal minds. It is now known that many economic policies that were implemented during this time were very injurious to the US economy (wage and price controls come to mind) and contributed to the awful economic times of the late 70's and early 80's.

[Antonio Yaniz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This view of Nixon was written by someone very close to him in his later years - so it offers a new glimpse into his "Statesman" era, as compared to his presidential years. Excellent expose.