Richard Nixon 
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5/7/2023
Carolyn Woods Eisenberg on Nixon's War Deceptions
by James Thornton Harris
A new history of Nixon and Kissinger's Vietnam policy shows a president driven by the abstract goal of credibility instead of concrete steps to conclude the conflict, at the cost of tens of thousands of American and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese lives.
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4/30/2023
We Pay the Price for Failing to Treat Ex-Presidents as Ordinary Citizens
by James D. Robenalt
Deferential treatment given to Richard Nixon after his resignation, including not only his pardon but also lenient treatment by the Watergate grand jury, set precedents for impunity that the nation suffers from today.
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SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
4/10/2023
There's a Precedent for Trump's Indictment: Spiro Agnew
by Zach Messitte, Charles Holden and Jerald Podair
Nixon's VP pioneered the right-wing politics of grievance against coastal elites and higher education familiar today. He also had a tendency to accept bribes that is familiar. But in 1973 the Republican Party was willing to cut him loose.
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3/26/2023
The "Madman Theory" Was Quintessential Nixon
by Zachary Jonathan Jacobson
Richard Nixon's famed foreign policy ruse—encouraging adversaries to think him capable of seemingly insane decisions—had one essential component: Nixon himself, and his commitment to the tightrope-walking performance.
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3/19/2023
The Nixon Library's Vietnam Exhibition Obscures the Truth about the War's End
by Brian Robertson
The exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords chooses its sources selectively to present the negotiations as the product of Nixon's grand strategy, ignoring the role of domestic political machination.
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SOURCE: New York Times
2/20/2023
Ford's Pardon of Nixon and Leads Americans to Doubt Accountability, Democracy
by Garrett M. Graff
Democracy won't be secure unless those who hold positions of power can be assured of being held to account if they break the law or abuse the public's trust.
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1/29/2023
"Cut His Head Off if Necessary"—The Flimsy, Politically-Driven "Peace" Nixon Made in Vietnam
by James D. Robenalt
Months after inflicting a brutal bombing campaign on North Vietnam to push them to the negotiating table in Paris, Richard Nixon pressed the South to accept a deal that doomed their survival, in order to claim the mantle of peacemaker for himself.
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SOURCE: Washington Post
12/17/2022
Frank Shakespeare, 97, Helped Nixon Campaign Redefine Campaign Ads
Influential ads produced by Shakespeare helped Nixon to associate crime and disorder with opponents and overcome suspicion of Nixon's character and personality.
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10/30/2022
Understanding the Political Power of Nixon's "Silent Majority"
by George Case
Nixon's comment, arguably a throwaway line at the time, has become prophetic as the public across the political spectrum fears they are being manipulated and deceived.
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10/23/2022
After 50 Years, the Truth About the Vietnam Peace Agreement Remains Elusive
by Arnold Isaacs
In October 1972, Henry Kissinger declared "peace is at hand" in Vietnam. Why, then, did the United States continue bombing North Vietnam? Official deception still colors American foreign policy and military strategy today.
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SOURCE: NPR
9/25/2022
How Richard Nixon Alienated Allies after Watergate (and Lessons for Trump)
"Along the way, when it mattered most, Nixon and his crew found that people who might have been political allies in the past were not especially sympathetic to his case."
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SOURCE: National Security Archive
9/12/2022
49 Years Later, Nixon's Knowledge of Pinochet Coup Remains Secret
It is beyond time for the Biden Administration to declassify presidential records related to American operations in Chile around the overthrow of democratically elected President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973.
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SOURCE: Politico
7/22/2022
Is Trump the New Nixon? The Young Custodian of the Nixon Library Would Rather Not Say
Jim Byron, the CEO of the Richard Nixon Foundation, is the unofficial guardian of the former president's legacy, having worked his way up in the organization after starting as a teenaged summer intern.
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6/19/2022
Watergate at 50: Did Kennedy Loyalists Squelch a 1968 "October Surprise" that Could Have Beaten Nixon?
by James H. Barron
Did Democratic party insiders bury the story of Richard Nixon receiving campaign funds from the Greek military junta because they disliked the Greek exile journalist who broke the news?
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SOURCE: Democracy Now!
6/15/2022
Garrett Graff: A "Conspiratorial Mindset" Links Trump and Nixon Actions
Garrett Graff, author of "Watergate: A New History" argues that both January 6 and Watergate were the logical culminations of the broader politics of the Trump and Nixon administrations and the movements that sustained them.
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SOURCE: Washington Post
6/12/2022
From Trust in Institutions to Partisan Polarization: The Legacy of Watergate at 50
Garrett M. Graff calls the events set in motion by the 1972 burglary a dividing line in history that changed the political culture forever.
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4/12/2022
On "Smoking Guns"—Yesterday and Today (and Tomorrow?)
by Jim Zirin
As text messages between Donald Jr. and Mark Meadows surface, it seems the last roadblock to a prosecution of Donald Trump over January 6 is a lack of will, not a lack of evidence.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
4/6/2022
Trump Can't Just Erase History the Way Nixon Tried to Do
by Tim Naftali
"The newly reported Trumpian gap may actually be easier to fill in, and therefore less of a threat to the historical record than Nixon’s."
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SOURCE: The Watergate Story
4/4/2022
Watergate at 50: The Consequences of Impunity
by Barry Sussman
The Washington Post's City Editor at the time of the Watergate breakin launches a series of posts on the ongoing legacy of the scandal. This one discusses the legacy of elite impunity that resulted from the failure to prosecute Richard Nixon.
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3/13/2022
Richard Nixon Made one of the Most Successful Political Comebacks in History. Trump Ignores His Playbook
by Donne Levy
Donald Trump is departing in multiple ways from the comeback strategy of Richard Nixon. Is this a political mistake, or a reflection of a different Republican Party and a different age of politics?