Drawing on thousands of pages of archival material and on interviews with surviving associates, presidential biographer Reeves paints a complex, sometimes disturbing portrait of the man forever enshrined as Tricky Dick.

"I have decided my major role is moral leadership," Nixon wrote in 1972 in one of his myriad memos to himself. (As Reeves writes, "Whatever else he accomplished, Richard Nixon produced more paper and tape than any president before or since.") That resolution quickly collapsed; instead, as the Vietnam War shaded into defeat and protests at home mounted, Nixon sank into a siege mentality, seeing himself as a lone crusader at war with the rest of the world. Reeves examines the cat-and-mouse quality of Nixon's relations with his inner circle and family, as well as the excruciating collapse of national leadership in the wake of missteps, miscalculations, and sheer crimes. Rigorous and thoughtful, Reeves's book adds much to our understanding of Nixon's troubled presidency--and of his troubled soul. --Gregory McNamee


From Publishers Weekly
Syndicated columnist and biographer Reeves (President Kennedy: Profile of Power) presents an authoritative worm's-eye view of Nixon's insular presidency, wherein even secretaries of state and defense were out of the loop on foreign policy, and Nixon himself couldn't be bothered with domestic policy except as a chess match for power. A tightly chronological abundance of details reveals how secrets, lies and isolation pervaded Nixon's administration. He lied even about things as trivial as his work habits; wrote memos to his family instructing them on how to portray him as a warm family man; preferred dealing only with Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Kissinger, while hiding from and distrusting most of his staff long before Watergate; and extended his enmity for "the establishment" to include business leaders, congressional Republicans and the Pentagon, even accusing the latter of conspiring against his desire to crush North Vietnam. Reeves impressively demonstrates that Watergate grew directly and naturally out of the fundamental characteristics of Nixon's administration. Unfortunately, dogged adherence to his avowed aim "to reconstruct the Nixon presidency as it looked from the center" obliterates much-needed context and reflection. For example, Reeves never critically questions Nixon's evidently cynical exploitations of racism, often recast in neutral terms, nor considers the subsequent historical consequences. He alludes to Nixon's fascination with Disraeli, but never explores how this affected his outlook. This richly detailed miniature, crabbed and claustrophobic, leaves undone the task of placing its subject in perspective. (Oct. 1)Forecast: Reeves is highly respected, as evidenced by the sale of first serial rights to Newsweek (on sale Aug. 27) and a booking on the Today Show (Sept. 24). He will do an eight-city tour. Despite its flaws, this inside look at Nixon will fascinate many and, with a first printing of 65,000, should do very well sales-wise. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
"This would be an easy job if you didn't have to deal with people," President Nixon noted on more than one occasion. Reeves (President Kennedy: Profile in Power, LJ 9/15/93) dissects the Nixon presidency by investigating selected, important dates of his administration, which reveal him to be more of a crises fomenter than manager. Nixon, according to Reeves, isolated himself like no other president and used his gatekeepers H.R. Haldeman, John Erlichman, and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger to circumvent the Cabinet, Congress, and the public. The author makes effective use of Nixon's memos and diary, newly declassified records, and entries from the Haldeman Diary, some of which appear here for the first time, to present an unflattering portrait of a short-tempered, foul-mouthed president obsessed with his reelection and blaming others, often Jews, for problems of his own making. The book concludes when he stopped keeping a diary, in April 1973. Among the most fascinating matters are Nixon's triumphant 1972 opening of China, including meeting with a dying Chairman Mao, and the diplomatic infighting between Secretary of State William Rogers and the tantrum-throwing Kissinger. Reeves skillfully employees the same day-to-day approach that worked so well in his study of Kennedy. Highly recommended for most public libraries.- Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
*Starred Review* Syndicated columnist Reeves plunges into the mountains of written material and tapes generated by "a presidency . . . documented with a compulsion that will probably never be repeated," adds interviews and oral histories, and emerges with a nuanced, immensely sad portrait of Richard Nixon at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Alone is the title's key word: unlike most politicians, before or after him, Nixon was a loner, as introverted as the shyest wallflower at a high-school dance. Nixon believed his allies and adversaries on the national and international scene operated as he did: trusting no one, seeking always to manipulate. It was this approach, Reeves suggests, that produced "a chaos of lies" at the White House. Reeves' narrative is chronological, from Nixon's inauguration in January 1969 to April 1973, when he realized that he had lost control over the Watergate scandals. (A prologue describes the process of packing up Nixon's Oval Office desk in August 1974, as he prepared to leave the White House.) In between are Vietnam and crime in the streets, affirmative action and the end of the gold standard, Chile and the antiballistic missile treaty, the opening to China and, of course, Watergate. A fascinating study of the brilliant, profoundly flawed man elected to lead the nation through a troubled time. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
David Maraniss Author of When Pride Still Mattered [Places] the reader inside the lonely world of President Nixon, day after day, like no one has before....There are hundreds of surprises here for even the most obsessed Nixon watchers.


Book Description
Who was Richard Nixon? The most amazing thing about the man was not what he did as president, but that he became president at all. Using thousands of new interviews and recently discovered or declassified documents and tapes, Richard Reeves's President Nixon offers a surprising portrait of a brilliant and contradictory man. Even as he dreamed of presidential greatness, Nixon could trust no one. His closest aides spied on him as he spied on them, while cabinet members, generals, and admirals spied on all of them -- rifling briefcases and desks, tapping each other's phones in a house where no one knew what was true anymore. Reeves shows a presidency doomed from the start by paranoia and corruption, beginning with Nixon and Kissinger using the CIA to cover up a murder by American soldiers in Vietnam that led to the theft and publication of the Pentagon Papers, then to secret counterintelligence units within the White House itself, and finally to the burglaries and cover-up that came to be known as Watergate. President Nixon is the astonishing story of a complex political animal who was as praised as he was reviled and who remains a subject of controversy to this day.


Download Description
Who was Richard Nixon? The most amazing thing about the man was not what he did as president, but that he became president. In President Nixon, Richard Reeves has used thousands of new interviews and recently discovered or declassified documents and tapes -- including Nixon's tortured memos to himself and unpublished sections of H. R. Haldeman's diaries -- to offer a nuanced and surprising portrait of the brilliant and contradictory man alone in the White House. President Nixon is a startling narrative of a desperately introverted man who dreamed of becoming the architect of his times. Late at night, he sat upstairs in the White House writing notes to himself on his yellow pads, struggling to define himself and his goals: "Compassionate, Bold, New, Courageous...Zest for the job (not lonely but awesome). Goals -- reorganized govt...Each day a chance to do something memorable for someone. Need to be good to do good...Need for joy, serenity, confidence, inspiration." But downstairs he was building a house of deception. He could trust no one because in his isolation he thought other people were like him. He governed by secret orders and false records, memorizing scripts for public appearances and even for one-on-one meetings with his own staff and cabinet. His principal assistants, Haldeman and Henry Kissinger, spied on him as he spied on them, while cabinet members, generals, and admirals spied on all of them -- rifling briefcases and desks, tapping each other's phones in a house where no one knew what was true anymore. Nixon's first aim was to restore order in an America at war with itself over Vietnam. But in fact he prolonged the fighting there, lying systematically about what was happening both in the field and in the peace negotiations. He startled the world by going to communist China and seeking détente with the Soviet Union -- and then secretly persuaded Mao and Brezhnev to lie for him to protect petty White House secrets.


About the Author
Richard Reeves is the author of President Kennedy: Profile of Power, acclaimed as the authoritative volume on that presidency and named Non-Fiction Book of the Year by Time in 1993. He is a syndicated columnist and winner of the 1998 American Political Science Association's Carey McWilliams Prize. His documentary films have won Emmy, Columbia DuPont, and Peabody awards.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Has there ever been a more controversial -- or complex -- president than Richard Nixon? Richard Reeves, who gave us President Kennedy: Profile of Power (chosen by Time magazine as the best nonfiction book of 1993), is back with a piercing look at this enigmatic man, who squandered his intelligence on bigotry and hate and ultimately destroyed his presidency. There's no one better than the gifted Reeves to shed new light on the man about whom Bob Dole said, "The most extraordinary thing about his presidency was not the way it ended, but that it happened at all."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Who was Richard Nixon? The most amazing thing about the man was not what he did as president, but that he became president at all. Using thousands of new interviews and recently discovered or declassified documents and tapes. Richard Reeves's President Nixon offers a surprising portrait of a brilliant and contradictory man.

Even as he dreamed of presidential greatness. Nixon could trust no one. His closest aides spied on him as he spied on them, while cabinet members, generals, and admirals spied on all of them -- rifling briefcases and desks, tapping each other's phones in a house where no one knew what was true anymore. Reeves shows a presidency doomed from the start by paranoia and corruption, beginning with Nixon and Kissinger using the CIA to cover up a murder by American soldiers in Vietnam that led to the theft and publication of the Pentagon Papers, then to secret counterintelligence units within the White House itself, and finally to the burglaries and cover-up that came to be known as Watergate. President Nixon is the astonishing story of a complex political animal who was as praised as he was reviled and who remains a subject of controversy to this day.

FROM THE CRITICS

Book Magazine

Reeves' biography of Nixon portrays the former president as a complex and brilliant man, a visionary ultimately destroyed by his own insecurities and self-imposed isolation. Reeves discusses Nixon's personal weaknesses and the demise of his Presidency by Watergate, but he also highlights Nixon's leadership capabilities. The book offers a superb account of the notorious American president who will forever remain a subject of fascination and debate. ￯﾿ﾽGlenn Speer

Publishers Weekly

Syndicated columnist and biographer Reeves (President Kennedy: Profile of Power) presents an authoritative worm's-eye view of Nixon's insular presidency, wherein even secretaries of state and defense were out of the loop on foreign policy, and Nixon himself couldn't be bothered with domestic policy except as a chess match for power. A tightly chronological abundance of details reveals how secrets, lies and isolation pervaded Nixon's administration. He lied even about things as trivial as his work habits; wrote memos to his family instructing them on how to portray him as a warm family man; preferred dealing only with Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Kissinger, while hiding from and distrusting most of his staff long before Watergate; and extended his enmity for "the establishment" to include business leaders, congressional Republicans and the Pentagon, even accusing the latter of conspiring against his desire to crush North Vietnam. Reeves impressively demonstrates that Watergate grew directly and naturally out of the fundamental characteristics of Nixon's administration. Unfortunately, dogged adherence to his avowed aim "to reconstruct the Nixon presidency as it looked from the center" obliterates much-needed context and reflection. For example, Reeves never critically questions Nixon's evidently cynical exploitations of racism, often recast in neutral terms, nor considers the subsequent historical consequences. He alludes to Nixon's fascination with Disraeli, but never explores how this affected his outlook. This richly detailed miniature, crabbed and claustrophobic, leaves undone the task of placing its subject in perspective. (Oct. 1) Forecast: Reeves is highly respected, as evidenced by thesale of first serial rights to Newsweek (on sale Aug. 27) and a booking on the Today Show (Sept. 24). He will do an eight-city tour. Despite its flaws, this inside look at Nixon will fascinate many and, with a first printing of 65,000, should do very well sales-wise. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

"This would be an easy job if you didn't have to deal with people," President Nixon noted on more than one occasion. Reeves (President Kennedy: Profile in Power, LJ 9/15/93) dissects the Nixon presidency by investigating selected, important dates of his administration, which reveal him to be more of a crises fomenter than manager. Nixon, according to Reeves, isolated himself like no other president and used his gatekeepers H.R. Haldeman, John Erlichman, and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger to circumvent the Cabinet, Congress, and the public. The author makes effective use of Nixon's memos and diary, newly declassified records, and entries from the Haldeman Diary, some of which appear here for the first time, to present an unflattering portrait of a short-tempered, foul-mouthed president obsessed with his reelection and blaming others, often Jews, for problems of his own making. The book concludes when he stopped keeping a diary, in April 1973. Among the most fascinating matters are Nixon's triumphant 1972 opening of China, including meeting with a dying Chairman Mao, and the diplomatic infighting between Secretary of State William Rogers and the tantrum-throwing Kissinger. Reeves skillfully employees the same day-to-day approach that worked so well in his study of Kennedy. Highly recommended for most public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/01.] Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A useful account of Richard Nixon's tumultuous tenure as chief executive. Presidential chronicler and journalist Reeves (Running in Place: How Bill Clinton Disappointed America, 1996, etc.) has done his homework well for this study of Nixon's years as president, consulting mountains of recently declassified documents and interviewing Nixon cohorts and confidants such as John Dean, Richard Helms, William Safire, Pat Buchanan, John Ehrlichman, and Egil "Bud" Krogh. For all his hard work, Reeves doesn't give us much that other biographers and analysts haven't already provided, including evidence of Nixon's raging anti-Semitism, his near-pathological paranoia and propensity for lying, and his dislike of the eminently dislikable Henry Kissinger. Still, it's good to have that evidence in one volume, especially one as well-written as Reeves's, and even more so given the curious tendency of pundits and historians in the last decade to sign off on Nixon's own post-presidential efforts to depict himself as one of America's great statesmen, never mind the unfortunate tactical errors in such matters as Watergate and Vietnam. Reeves gives appropriate nods to Nixon's very real accomplishments in foreign policy, including his rapprochement with China-which, Reeves documents, occupied Nixon in the earliest days of his first term, though it would not come to pass for several years. Kissinger, who was in the habit of dismissing antiwar protestors as a pack of spoiled children, and who did not brook criticism even from his nominal superiors ("He's a devious bastard," Nixon remarked of his primary foreign-policy adviser), comes in for a well-deserved drubbing. Reeves treats others in the Nixon WhiteHouse with a kind of detached respect, even as he recounts their escapades in selling ambassadorships and subverting the Constitution. Those who survived the Nixon era will shudder anew; younger readers will find this a lucid survey of a strange time.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

A wealth of information that makes the absolute convincing case that Nixon was not just alone, but isolated, walled-off, and even lonely. May we never again have a president so cut off from the rest of humanity. It is a haunting story that no reader will ever forget. — (Bob Woodward, author of Maestro)

Dick Reeves has found new lodes of information to mine in the endlessly fascinating character and behavior of Richard Nixon. New information, newly interpreted with great insight. — (Ben Bradlee, author of A Good Life)

Reeves has once again succeeded in making a presidency come alive. By unearthing Nixon's notes to himself and other treasures in the archives, he is able to capture his brooding and lonely personality as well as his subtle mind. With a wealth of color about key days and decisions, the book shows what it is really like to be president. — (Walter Isaacson, author of Kissinger: A Biography)