Yet for a brief moment at Nixon's passing, when historians, politicians, commentators, and the public paused to reassess the entirety of Nixon's life, the succession of reworked images, of one "new" Nixon after another, were pieced together - to form a number of coherent pictures - in the eulogies that followed his death. This does not mean that any one of these images of Nixon is right. Nor is there a possibility for finding "consensus", as one historian calls it, on the historical significance of Richard Nixon. 

In fact, the opposite is more likely. By comparing the different interpretations of the nine distinct lives of Richard Nixon that appear in each of these eulogies, it is hoped that the conventional views of his life will be 'broken open' and pieced together in new and more complicated ways.

Cyberspace is the perfect arena for this simultaneous unstitching and interweaving of the different historical images of Richard Nixon, as hypertext makes it possible to link previously separate lives and eulogies together, and to link text within each of these documents.

There are three distinct sections to this site: The "nine lives" of Richard Nixon and the "nine commentators" who spoke and wrote about Nixon on his death provide context for each of the nine obituaries in full text. There is no wrong place to begin, because where the text of one part of Nixon's life refers to another, or when one obituary refers to another, the words have been linked. In this heavily linked environment, the analysis of the commentators and nine lives provide context for the obituaries. On the other hand, the obituaries, read in this hypertextual way, add new meaning to Richard Nixon and his commentators. External links, particularly to other primary sources, have been provided for further depth and to allow users to draw their own conclusions. 

Simply choose one of the three paths into the site and follow the links.