|
|
|
||||
| 1. The Early Years | 2. The Capitol Years | 3. Vice President | 4. Defeat |
|
|
|
||||
| 1. The Early Years | 2. The Capitol Years | 3. Vice President | 4. Defeat |
|
Link to the author's web review of Richard Nixon |
Where to now for Richard Nixon? Although his death marked a significant reevaluation of his history, there is evidence that the image of Richard Nixon will continue to remake itself long after his passing. The vast reservoir of primary documents - 9 books, interviews, countless hours of audio - ensure that Nixon will be reinterpreted by historians for years to come. Michael Beschloss describes Nixon now as a kind of pop-culture icon, generating debate both among academics, politicians, the media, and non-specialists, on a kind of 'historical stock exchange'. A similar idea is advanced by Haynes Johnson, who recognises that since his death Nixon has become incorporated into a national history, and is now a historical point of comparison for future events. Watergate has "become the standard by which political scandals, real or fancied, have been measured since." Similarly on his domestic record, "from the perspective of a generation later, Nixon can also be seen as a relatively progressive leader." Perhaps the greatest investment by Richard Nixon in his own post-humous historical interpretation was the fact that he became an authority on himself and his times. As James Perry writes of his Post-Watergate years, "tenacious to the end, he created a new, and ultimately a well-regarded, life by becoming a scholar. America's Lazarus became once again a confidant of the great and the mighty. Even Bill Clinton, a Democrat, turned to him for advice." By making himself an indispensable authority on politics - from foreign affairs, wars, political campaigns, party infighting - Nixon ensured that he will continue to be consulted, via his written work, beyond his death. The final location for a continuing reinterpretation of the history of Richard Nixon is on the internet. Many of the obituaries echo the feeling of Beschloss that with Nixon's passing, 'consensus' about the president's 'historical standing' will begin to form. But in cyberspace, the opposite is taking place. Almost the literal realisation of Beschloss's 'historical stock exchange', it will be on the hundreds of websites about Nixon that already exist - and the many more that will be made - that Nixon's legacy will be most actively debated. This will not result in consensus. But as more interpretation is uploaded, and more documents
are released and find their way into digital form, a world wide web of
Richard Nixon will began to take shape, with hypertext links between differing
contexts and primary sources, and between the conflicting reinventions
of Richard Nixon, eventually creating a more complex and interwoven image
of all Nixon's different histories linked together.
|
|
| 5. President | 6. Watergate | 7. Post-Watergate | 8. Death | ||
|
|
|