It is important to understand first off that Nixon was the best U.S. statesmen president of the 20th Century. And yet, he almost went to jail for committing crimes and almost directly had people killed in the process.
So, in Nixon and Kissenger, the two men that almost single handedly prevented a war with China in the 20th Century to a criminal who brought our government to it's knees in a way no other president has since the Declaration of Independence was first written.
So, we should be thankful for the economic relationship with China that we have now. However, that doesn't mean other problems with China couldn't arise in the future. And also, we had a president in Nixon so paranoid that he also destroyed his presidency. So, Nixon was an incredibly brilliant paradox as a president.
I was watching on CNN tonight "Our Nixon" a 2013 documentary based upon home movies taken by his aides brought back all these memories once again. I was 20 years old in 1968 and since my Dad was a Republican I voted for Nixon too at that time because I thought he was the best choice at the time.
What most people don't realize now is that JFK actually started the Viet Nam War, Johnson made it larger and Nixon ended it. So, it is hard to understand in hindsight unless you are a historian or lived through it like I did as a young man. By the time Nixon left office I had become an independent and leaning towards being a Democrat. This was a similar experience to what Hillary Clinton had who is near my age who was also raised a Republican by her family. Many of us young Republicans felt betrayed by Nixon to such a degree that we could no longer have our ethics intact and still be Republicans anymore ever again. So, we could be independents, we could maybe even be Democrats but no longer could we ever be Republicans again. This didn't mean that we never voted for a Republican for anything it just meant we no longer felt in good conscience that we ever could ever call ourselves Republicans ever again.
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