Saturday, April 16, 2011

Richard Nixon: Unmasked, Unplugged, Unedited

Richard Nixon accomplished a lot during his Presidency, despite the scandal which plagued him and ultimately chased him out of office.

He made overtures to China to normalize relations with a growing Communist power, which destabilized Communist Russia, the United States' greatest ally at the time.

He engineered the Southern Strategy, ushering in Republican dominance of the White House for seven of the last ten Presidential elections.

He was last the last Chief Executive to impound funds appropriated by Congress in an attempt to stop the rising debt which now burdens this country.

Recently, the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA has created a site dedicated to presenting the Watergate Scandal, warts and all. Rather than dismissing the President's role in the government, the exhibit underscores the necessity of promoting a true and complete posterity of the past for the future. This change in museum policy is all the more refreshing, as it comes from scholars deeply invested in preserving the President's legacy.

Watergate was a shameful moment in the history of the United States Government. Yet by exposing the wrongdoing instead of covering it up, the country is better served. No longer having to invest resources in limiting access to compromising knowledge about an influential yet flawed executive, future generations will be able to better appreciated the good which he did accomplish for this country, as well as the effectiveness of the United States Constitutional system to reprimand lawless actions by the government.

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