The president who both opened China and destroyed presidential trust. Cunningham examines Nixon's strategic brilliance, his paranoia, Watergate, and how his resignation permanently changed the relationship between the American public and the presidency.
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Highlights
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Nixon's greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses were the same traits
Nixon's strategic brilliance (China opening) and his paranoid self-destruction (Watergate) both came from the same psychological root: a conviction that the world was hostile and only cunning could survive.
Watergate proved that no one is above the law — but the lesson must be relearned every generation
Nixon's resignation established that even the president must obey the law. But the lesson was specific to its moment, and subsequent presidents have tested its boundaries repeatedly.