# Nixon going to China moments **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 31, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-going-to-china-moments/504866 "2009-07-31T14:21:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-going-to-china-moments/504866/21 "2009-08-02T16:56:02Z")
For someone whose father had been murdered in a robbery attempt, and who as governor of California held people in internment camps due to their ethnicity, Earl Warren as Chief Justice had an unexpected career supporting criminal and civil rights. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-going-to-china-moments/504866/22 "2009-08-02T20:59:35Z")
How about Sir Robert Peel? He was a dedicated opponent of Catholic Emancipation in the United Kingdom (at one point he challenged the leading figure in the movement to a duel). However, as Home Secretary, he took the lead in drafting and pushing through Parlaiment the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, allowing Catholics to sit in Parlaiment. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-going-to-china-moments/504866/23 "2009-08-03T04:25:24Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > > [@Koxinga](#): > > > > > [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > > > > > and I shudder to think what his personal history was > > > > I find that statement to be grossly unfair. Lyndon Johnson was a lot of things – a _hell_ of a lot of things – but racist wasn’t one of them. > > Agreed. Johnson was surprisingly progressive (at least as far as Southern Democrats of that era) on civil rights. But I’d argue that his Texas wheeler-dealer opportunist personna gave him the same sort of street cred on Civil Rights issues that Nixon had on anti-Communist issues. My statement was not only unfair it was utterly uninformed. Thank you both! LBJ was reported to be so, um, forceful sometimes with his subordinates that it was too easy for me to believe he treated people of different races poorly as well. It’s always nice to hear something positive about a politician! I tend to notice the negatives. With what little I know about LBJ, he had plenty of positives and negatives - often in extreme range and often at the same time. Another “Nixon goes to China” kind of guy [King Hussein of Jordan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Hussein). ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-going-to-china-moments/504866/24 "2009-08-03T04:38:46Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > With what little I know about LBJ, he had plenty of positives and negatives - often in extreme range and often at the same time. Figures like him and Nixon: there’s a lot to dislike if you’re inclined that way, but you gotta admit, you won’t find their likes around much in national politics today. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-going-to-china-moments/504866/25 "2009-08-03T15:20:30Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > For someone whose father had been murdered in a robbery attempt, and who as governor of California held people in internment camps due to their ethnicity, Earl Warren as Chief Justice had an unexpected career supporting criminal and civil rights. So did Justice Hugo Black, a former Klansman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixon-going-to-china-moments/504866.md?page=1)