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Book Review: Nixon's Memoirs

Highlights from 37

Before reading his memoirs, my basic cartoon of Nixon was “guy who always felt on the outs no matter how much power/prestige he accumulated.” His famous press meltdown and debate performance, the Watergate scandal, and his tendency to appeal to a “silent majority” all supported this thesis. From a recent visit to Texas, I suppose radio ads may beg to differ, but on the whole it’s hard to imagine anyone getting so worked up over purely ideological questions these days, except maybe infighting leftists. Funny to imagine that happening today; “you should smile more” is so poisoned in gender discourse that any instance of it seems fraught, but one man saying it to another in the halls of power feels extra silly.

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