If you were to ask any American who their favorite President is, they would probably give you the popular choices of Washington, Jefferson, one of the Roosevelt's, Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton or maybe even Obama, but you would never hear my favorite roll from their tongue.
As a college instructor, my choice is even stranger. Most in my field would pick Roosevelt or Clinton, but I choose Mr. Unpopularity himself, President Richard Nixon.
Why do I choose such an unpopular man as my favorite president, the answer is simple, results. If you look at his successes, Richard Nixon should go down as one of the greatest Presidents in history. There was just that little Watergate thing, a third rate burglary that he should have apologized for and moved on.
But moving past that, we should look at his successes. At home, it was under Nixon that the schools in the south were finally desegrated. Nixon created the EPA and gave us the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. He was truly the environmental president at a time when there were many Republican Environmentalists who didn't only live in New England. He created OSHA. He helped bring about a positive version of Affirmative Action, not quotas, but actualy affirmative action.
His foreign policy successes were even better. Although he had perhaps the finest foreign policy mind of any president of the past 100 years, he also had the greatest mind in foreign policy guiding him. While many hate him, no one can doubt the genius of Henry Kissinger. Kissinger helped Nixon formulate many policies that are just genius. We all remember Nixon opening China to America. What other President could have done that. He had been an active campaigner against communism his whole career. If McGovern had tried it, he would have been seen as soft on communism. He introduced the policy of detente with the Soviet Union and you saw the reduction of nuclear missiles. He was a strong advocate for Israel and helped bring about a solution to the mess between Pakistan and India, for the time being. He helped bring about the end of the quagmire known as the Vietnam War.
One of my favorite pictures of Nixon is doing Laugh In saying "Sock it To Me." He was out of his element, but it was funny. I also love the picture with Elvis, since again he looks so funny.
Nixon's problem was that he didn't think anyone could like him, or at least that is how it appeared. It shouldn't have mattered. The man was a genius. He lied to cover up for others according to Ben Stein, not to protect himself.
I don't pretend he was perfect, but Clinton fans don't admit he was perfect either. Clinton seemed to see the genius of Nixon and even gave a eulogy for him at his funeral.
I hope that history will be m
As a college instructor, my choice is even stranger. Most in my field would pick Roosevelt or Clinton, but I choose Mr. Unpopularity himself, President Richard Nixon.
Why do I choose such an unpopular man as my favorite president, the answer is simple, results. If you look at his successes, Richard Nixon should go down as one of the greatest Presidents in history. There was just that little Watergate thing, a third rate burglary that he should have apologized for and moved on.
But moving past that, we should look at his successes. At home, it was under Nixon that the schools in the south were finally desegrated. Nixon created the EPA and gave us the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. He was truly the environmental president at a time when there were many Republican Environmentalists who didn't only live in New England. He created OSHA. He helped bring about a positive version of Affirmative Action, not quotas, but actualy affirmative action.
His foreign policy successes were even better. Although he had perhaps the finest foreign policy mind of any president of the past 100 years, he also had the greatest mind in foreign policy guiding him. While many hate him, no one can doubt the genius of Henry Kissinger. Kissinger helped Nixon formulate many policies that are just genius. We all remember Nixon opening China to America. What other President could have done that. He had been an active campaigner against communism his whole career. If McGovern had tried it, he would have been seen as soft on communism. He introduced the policy of detente with the Soviet Union and you saw the reduction of nuclear missiles. He was a strong advocate for Israel and helped bring about a solution to the mess between Pakistan and India, for the time being. He helped bring about the end of the quagmire known as the Vietnam War.
One of my favorite pictures of Nixon is doing Laugh In saying "Sock it To Me." He was out of his element, but it was funny. I also love the picture with Elvis, since again he looks so funny.
Nixon's problem was that he didn't think anyone could like him, or at least that is how it appeared. It shouldn't have mattered. The man was a genius. He lied to cover up for others according to Ben Stein, not to protect himself.
I don't pretend he was perfect, but Clinton fans don't admit he was perfect either. Clinton seemed to see the genius of Nixon and even gave a eulogy for him at his funeral.
I hope that history will be m
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