The Nixon Centennial, not that anybody gives a f#¢k

[Little_Nemo]

@ralph124c

He was the first to realize that the “Cold War” was over, and made effective overtures to both the USSR and China. he laso recognized that LBJ’s insane war in Vietnam had caused a serious weakening of US power-he tooke effective steps to end that war.

I don’t see how you can say the Cold War was over during Nixon’s time. Nixon’s strategy wasn’t based on the idea that the struggle was over. His idea (and Kissinger’s) was that the United States could work on dividing the two big Communist powers rather than pushing them together. They also realized that they could negotiate with countries they were hostile to.

As for Vietnam, Johnson recognized as well as anyone it was a bad war. But Nixon ended up with the same problem Johnson had had - what was the best way to get out of it? Or more like, what was the least bad way to get out of it? Nixon did get America out of the Vietnam War but there was nothing especially brilliant about it. We basically dragged our feet for a while and then left.

[Sailboat]

@Little_Nemo

Are you sure? I always thought Ronald Wilson Reagan was his birth name.

Uh…maybe I’m wrong about the timing and responsibility for the change. IMDB says:

RFeagan [typo in the original] was of Irish descent. His grandfather Micheal Regan emigrated to the US from Ballyporeen, Ireland, in the 1860s. Ballyporeen, a tiny rural farming town in County Tipperary, is located in the south-central part of the country and its inhabitants are frequently referred to as “Midlanders”. The Regans were one of three primary families, or “clans”, that populated St. Mary’s Parish in the village of Ballyporeen. The Ronald Reagan Visitors Centre was built down the street from St. Mary’s Church following his visit to his ancestral home in the mid-1980s. Ironically, the spelling of the family name Regan was changed to Reagan after they arrived in the US.

The date of the change is not given.

[Chefguy]

@ralph124c

Nixon was a very intelligent man..far ahead of Kennedy and Johnson, IMO. He was the first to realize that the “Cold War” was over, and made effective overtures to both the USSR and China. he laso recognized that LBJ’s insane war in Vietnam had caused a serious weakening of US power-he tooke effective steps to end that war. He was a serious thinker, and genuinely loved his country-he even forsaw the need for the USA to become independent of foreign energy sources. The accusation of his scatalogical private conversations is absurd-Johnson was totally foul-mouthed, and Kennedy had terrible things to say about Black people and Jews. Nixon did have one big flaw though-he3 was unable to admit his failings. Had he come clean immediately about Watergate, the world would likely be a far better place today.

The Cold War was over in 1972? That’s going to be news to a lot of historians.

Vietnam was not LBJ’s war. He inherited the war, but was responsible for continuing Kennedy’s policies and escalating it. I give Nixon props for ending what was indeed an insane conflict (although he allowed it to continue through his first term), mainly because I would have ended up with another tour there in 1974 if he hadn’t.

I don’t know about him being smarter than JFK. Nixon graduated from Duke Law; Kennedy graduated cum laude with a political science degree from Harvard. Both were accomplished statesmen, but I think JFK had the edge when it came to his vision for America. We can only guess what a second term may have accomplished, whereas we know only too well what Nixon’s second term brought.

[Red_Wiggler]

It would be interesting to watch the internet melt into a hot steaming puddle if someone tried to freeze wages and prices today like Mr. Nixon did in 1971.

[ralph124c]

@Chefguy

The Cold War was over in 1972? That’s going to be news to a lot of historians.

Vietnam was not LBJ’s war. He inherited the war, but was responsible for continuing Kennedy’s policies and escalating it. I give Nixon props for ending what was indeed an insane conflict (although he allowed it to continue through his first term), mainly because I would have ended up with another tour there in 1974 if he hadn’t.

I don’t know about him being smarter than JFK. Nixon graduated from Duke Law; Kennedy graduated cum laude with a political science degree from Harvard. Both were accomplished statesmen, but I think JFK had the edge when it came to his vision for America. We can only guess what a second term may have accomplished, whereas we know only too well what Nixon’s second term brought.

Nixon realized that there was never any point to a conflict between the USSR and the USA-he sought ways to engage the Russians, instead of isolating them. Vietnam wasn’t Johnson’s war? Then how to explain:
-the enormous escalation in ground forces sent there? As I recall, at one point Johnson wanted over 800,000 troops there.
-the enormous and sustained bombing of North Vitenam? We dropped more bombs than were dropped in WWII.
Johnson did inherit a small war from JFK-but instead of realizing that it was a no-win situation, he wound up throwing billions of $$ into it-and when he realized that he couldn’t bully the North Vietnamese (the way he bullied political opponents), he resigned and left the disaster for his successor.

[Chefguy]

@ralph124c

Nixon realized that there was never any point to a conflict between the USSR and the USA-he sought ways to engage the Russians, instead of isolating them.

That doesn’t mean that the Cold War was over. Detente is why we fought proxy wars right up until 1989. Rather than have a direct conflict, we squandered our treasure on others’ armies. We funded the Afghans when the Soviets invaded in 1979, and the war lasted for ten years. I already gave props to Nixon for his statesmanship (SALT talks, China visit, Soviet visit, etc.), but the Cold War was far from over.

While Johnson owned the Vietnam War while in office, his plan was “Vietnamization”, not victory, which resulted in a stalemate situation. Nixon continued the Vietnamization notion with his “Peace with honor” idea (which didn’t exactly pan out) and started drawing down troops, while at the same time escalating in Cambodia and Laos. I’d say he owned the war (and its outcome) as much as Johnson did.

Oh, and Johnson most definitely did NOT resign from office.

[joebuck20]

It turns out, there was a commemoration:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/post/richard-nixon-turns-100-friends-gather-for-centennial-gala/2013/01/10/516e563c-5b41-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_blog.html?hpid=z9

Thirty-nine years after the scandal that ended his presidency, Nixon’s family, staffers, and friends gathered for what would have been his 100th birthday at the Mayflower Hotel — site of his inaugural balls in 1969 and 1973. The night was a curious mix of family reunion (with birdhouse replicas of his Yorba Linda birthplace as decor), defiant pep rally and time capsule (old campaign posters and old campaign staffers). “There’s a wax museum in there,” teased one former staffer walking into the party.