Richard M. Nixon

May 28, 2007
Drew, a long-time political journalist who covered the Watergate scandal, reminds readers in her excellent addition to the American Presidents series that Nixon was more than the scandal that forced him from office. Nixon's forays into domestic policy matters like welfare and economic reform were eclipsed by his focus on the foreign policy issues he savored. His doggedness produced the twin triumphs of his presidency: the diplomatic openings to the Soviet Union and China. But he failed to end the war in Vietnam, and his strategic miscues (such as the bombing of Cambodia) brought about public unrest and sowed the seeds of the Watergate debacle. Though details of Nixon's personal life are sparse, Drew does a commendable job of conveying his personal quirks, and the chapter on Watergate deftly conveys the angst over White House skullduggery that gripped Washington as the nation began to grasp the enormity of the scandal. The author's account of Nixon's inglorious departure from public life and his largely successful attempts to reinvent himself, are tinged with both amazement and disdain, and in a stinging rebuke to her subject, she concludes that there are "large doubts" that Nixon was "fit to occupy the most powerful office in the nation." Readers who lived through the tumult and those new to the period will find much to commend in this crisp biography.

May 15, 2007
The Richard Nixon portrayed by Drew (former Washington correspondent, The New Yorker; Washington Journal: The Events of 197374 ) is not the progressive but flawed leader of Joan Hoff'sNixon Reconsidered and Stephen Ambrose's three-volume Nixon biography. Instead, Nixon is an "improbable" president, introverted and paranoid. Concise, informative, and clearly written, this brief political biography shares qualities with the other volumes in the "American Presidents" series. Drew pays little attention to Nixon's traumatic childhood and his fast, ruthless rise from House member to senator to vice president. Most of the book describes Nixon's foreign policies and his political death in Watergate. Drew credits Nixon for the U.S. détente with the former Soviet Union, the opening of China, and his environmental policies. However, his failure to end the Vietnam War in 1969, which would have spared the lives of 20,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asians, and his need to destroy his enemies made him an unfit president, claims Drew. A discussion of Operation Wizard, Nixon's successful attempt to rehabilitate his post-Watergate reputation, concludes this excellent Nixon overview. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/07.]Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

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