Monday 11 March Lockdown Lecture: RICHARD NIXON

I shall not be taking the usual chronological approach to Nixon but rather concentrating on his Presidency (1969-74); and again unusually start with the end of The Presidency rather than the beginning. His time in Office ended in his disgrace and subsequent resignation over The Watergate Scandal.

But, I shall go on to argue that that alone should not define his Presidency, dreadful though it was, as I look to analyse in a positive way both Nixon's Home Policies and Foreign Policy.

He defies one word descriptions of his time in The White House as either 'bad' or 'good'; a crude technique to describe other Presidents. His problem was himself- his hubris, arrogance ,narcissism, recourse to lying, and many more descriptions which have been given to him by his political contemporaries, by journalists, and by historians.

Put simply, Nixon remains an interesting but ultimately flawed holder of America's highest Office.

King Richard Michael Dobbs

Richard Nixon: The Life John Farrell

Nixon: A Life Jonathan Aitken

Nixonland Rick Perlstein