The Complex Tragedy of Richard Nixon
The never-ending quest for approval at the heart of his life
Perhaps the most fascinating President of the 20th century is Richard M. Nixon. I’ve been intrigued by him almost since I could read. Born four years after he resigned from office, I did one of my first “oral reports” at school on Watergate. In my private Christian school, we had to give four such reports a year. The topic had to be approved and presented with some visual aids, for a minimum of four minutes and a maximum of ten minutes. We had to have notes on 3x5 cards, which also had to be approved.
I learned a trick early on. This was before the age of the Internet (weep, my dear Gen Z readers, for a time before Google), so research had to be done with books. My parents had one of the early color printers that could spit out rudimentary graphics off a pixel monitor, but largely you were left to creative handwriting on posters with markers, etc. My trick was to pick a topic current enough to be researched in periodicals at the library. Plus, early on, I loved history, politics, and current events.
So my mom or dad would drop me off at the library and I’d go to work in the stacks of Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report. This was the height of the era when magazines and newspapers ruled. I researched Watergate and made color copies of maps and diagrams and figures. I read every article I could. Then I delivered my report. I did similar reports on The Berlin Wall (which fell when I was in Jr. High, World War II, and a myriad of other 20th-century topics.
Back to Nixon. Since that report delivered over three decades ago, I’ve read quite a few books on the 37th President. I’ve visited his Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California. I’ve watched documentaries and films about him. He’s often caricatured, but when you look at his life, you a brilliant, complex, almost tortured American life. President Bill Clinton, who sought out Nixon on foreign policy questions, said of him, “To them, let us say, may the day of judging President Nixon on anything less than his entire life and career come to a close.”
There is no sugar-coating the damage Watergate did to our national life. I believe it was the beginning of a widening distrust between Americans and their government, a breach that has never fully healed. I believe it also created an incentive structure in both the media and the political parties to seek the next Watergate, a feeding frenzy for scandal both real and imagined. It also touched off a series of events that lead to the election of Ronald Reagan, whom I think was one of the 20th century’s greatest American leaders.
Nixon is responsible for Watergate. But underneath this dark shadow was a tremendously accomplished public servant, a brilliant leader who understood the world stage, and a presidency that accomplished quite a bit for the American people.
What drove Nixon? Most biographies touch on the paranoia, the self-doubt, and the insecurities that both fueled his ambition and motivated his worst instincts. But a new religious biography digs deeper into the works-based semi-Christianity at the heart of this complicated figure. One Lost Soul by Daniel Sillman works from primary sources, including letters, biographies, and White House tapes to paint a portrait of a man who desperately sought affirmation and approval and never seemed to find it.
Rooted in a Quaker upbringing, Nixon grew up with a works-based religion where approval from his father and, by extension, his Heavenly Father, was only dished out when the job was satisfactory. This is why he drove himself, almost maniacally, to just work harder, try harder, and be better.
Nixon also suffered from a deep sense of rejection and self-doubt his entire life. He came from a working-class family with very little wealth and worked his way through college and law school and into Congress. He never felt as if he was accepted. He felt this when Dwight Eisenhower, the celebrated hero of WWII and beloved American figure, chose him as his Vice-President. Ike was sparing in his praise of Nixon, even, famously telling a journalist asking about major Nixon accomplishments, that he’d “get back to them.” In the race for President against John F. Kennedy, it was the self-made Nixon against the heir of a family fortune and the embodiment of Camelot.
After losing this race and a subsequent race for CA governor, he made an incredible comeback in 1968 and became the 37th President. He had reached the pinnacle of power. He even won re-election in a massive landslide. Yet, the White House tapes, the memoirs of those who worked for him, and his own letters and books reveal someone constantly searching for affirmation. One Lost Soul bears this out in great detail.
It was this insecurity that became his downfall. He installed the White House taping system so that history would record the real story of his presidency, not the one the media—whom he felt would distort history—would tell. And yet it was this system that captured Nixon at his most insecure, scheming self, trying to cover up Watergate. His paranoia led him to suspect everyone, fear no one, and live, essentially, with little peace.
In the end, a tragedy. What has always struck me about Watergate was just how unnecessary it all was. Nixon won both of his Presidential elections handily, but never stopped scheming, trying to get an edge over his enemies, real and perceived. It’s not an exaggeration to say that without Watergate (a big caveat, to be sure), he might be seen as one of the great Presidents in American history. But alas.
There are lessons to be learned from Richard Nixon’s life. First, we should appreciate his intellect, his drive, and his passion for his country. But secondly, and most importantly, we should see his insecurity as a cautionary tale. Leaders lead out of their deepest insecurities. If these are not satiated, they’ll grow and become the driving force of our lives.
For a Christian, there is a pathway out of paranoia. It is to understand the real gospel, the one that both tells us how deeply broken we are and also how loved we are by a God who “proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).” In Christ, we can both know God and be known by him. We don’t have to scratch and claw for approval from a father who never gave it to us, a society that never seems to see our worth, or a mirror that reminds us of our imperfections.
This matters, not just for presidents, but for all of us. Deeply insecure people look for security in the wrong places. In relationships. In power. In control. In money. In fame. Secure people—who find their affirmation and approval in the loving embrace of God—are free to be life-giving, creative, and peaceful.
Henry Kissinger once said of President Nixon, “Can you imagine what this man would have been like if somebody had loved him?" Imagine if he had come to the place where he understood that somebody did love him. God loved him, enough to send Jesus to the cross to die for his sins.
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