From: MaxPlumm@aol.com
Date: Thu Mar 13 2003 - 07:28:05 MST
Alex wrote:
"The worrying thing is that on casual observation. If a complete loon is
elected, you cant get rid of them until they step way-way over the line. As
in Nixon."
I often stress the need for historical perspective during my replies on this
forum, and I dare say that has never been more appropriate than in regard to
this post. There's nothing I enjoy better than hit and run "Evil Nixon the
mad tyrant loon harbinger of global destruction makes Hitler look like Little
Mary Sunshine" discussions. I do not mean to suggest that Alex implies all of
those descriptions, but he obviously subscribes to a few.
Before fully getting into this subject, perhaps Alex would be kind enough to
fully elaborate on his position on the 37th President. Perhaps it is fully
thought out, but I tend to think the influence of thirty years of "impartial"
sources such as Walter Cronkite have played a role in his description of
Nixon as a "loon."
Let me say that the record of Richard Nixon is a complex one and cannot be
summed up in a cute MTV style one sentence quip. It can be successfully
argued that no post- WWII president had a more lasting and important positive
impact on the United States than President Nixon. This is the same man who
initiated rapprochement with the Chinese, a move that not only altered Soviet
defense expenditures and strategy, but helped to make them the isolated
spreader of "worldwide revolution".
This is the same "loon" that helped save Israel from certain catastrophic
defeat at the hands of the Arabs during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973,
prompting then Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir to declare, "God Bless
President Nixon."
This aforementioned "loon" also finally saw to it that the widespread
desegregation of southern schools, 15 years after the practice had been
formally outlawed, was finally tossed into the dustbin of history.
I could go on and on regarding the merits and accomplishments of this "loon"
(and believe me, I have), but perhaps it best to wait for Alex to author his
rebuttal. President Nixon is certainly not without his faults, but I dare say
that not one of his subsequent successors come close to matching his
achievements, and even fewer have any accomplishments that will be discussed
many decades from now, as Nixon's rapprochement with the Chinese is and will
continue to be.
Regards,
Max Plumm
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