History Quotes / RichardNixon

->There is an old Vulcan proverb: 'Only Nixon could go to China.'

-->-- '''George Romney''', Governor of Michigan and Cabinet member

->''Do you remember\

->It is worth reminding yourself once in a while just how deeply weird Nixon was. [[ParodyDisplacement He’s been rendered so silly by a lifetime of cartoonish impressions]], [[UncannyValley it’s genuinely unsettling to watch him make unyielding eye contact]] while saying [[ValuesDissonance "I believe that forced integration of the suburbs is not in the national interest"]] like a cold robot powered by racism. All I’m saying is, it really says something that the most human version of Nixon is [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} the one where he’s a cartoon head in a jar]].

-->-- '''Garry Wills'''

->If the right people had been in charge of Nixon's funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin.
-->-- from '''Hunter S. Thompson'''[='s=] [[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/ obituary]] of Nixon.

-->-- '''Henry Kissinger'''

-->-- from '''Creator/HunterSThompson''''s [[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/ obituary]] of Nixon.

-->-- Quoted by William Safire, ''Before The Fall'', prologue (1975).

-> "I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don't know. They're outside my ken. But sometimes when I'm in a theater I can feel them"

-> ''Oh, he's just like all of us. A mass of neuroses. Insecure, frightened, arrogant...terribly paranoid, which for an actor is really easy to play. You don't have to research that at all...And in the end, someone who could — I've said this before but I think it's appropriate — someone who could only climb up so many rungs of the ladder, and then when he would get to a certain level on that ladder, it would begin to be what I would call 'the winds of terror.' It would be too much for him...And I think he actually passed them once, been on the top rung, became the president of the United States, and whatever the voices in his head were that ruled his life, they said: "You know, Dick, you don't belong up here..."''

-> ''As for support, we may recall the last major program for helping families at the level of survival was under Richard Nixon. In many respects Nixon was the last liberal president.''

-->-- '''George Romney''', Governor of Michigan and Cabinet member.

-->-- '''Creator/HunterSThompson''''s [[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/ obituary]] of Nixon.

->''"Do you remember\

For even yesterday?!"''

->''"Nixon was a sweating, filthy liar..."''

->''"The love of Richard Nixon\\

Yeah and your country too"''

->''"Oh here's to the land you've torn out the heart of\\
Richard Nixon, [[GetOut find yourself another country]] to be part of"''
-->-- '''Music/PhilOchs''', "Here's To the State of Richard Nixon"


->''"And Richard Nixon’s on his knees he’s sent so many overseas''\\
''He’d like to know if you and me could help him in some way''\\
''[[VillainWithGoodPublicity A little camouflage and glue]] to mask the evil that men do''\\
''A small diversion caused by two''\\
''Pale kids come to play''\\
''And we heard Richard Nixon say, 'Welcome to the USA'"''
-->-- '''Music/EltonJohn''', "Postcards From Richard Nixon'", about Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin first arriving in L.A. and providing escapism for American music listeners during the Nixon administration.

->''"We are amazed but not amused''\\
''By all the things you say that you'll do''\\
''Though much concerned but not involved''\\
''With decisions that are made by you''\\
''But we are sick and tired of hearing your song''\\
''Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong''\\
'''Cause if you really want to hear our views''\\
''You haven't done nothin'"''

->It is worth reminding yourself once in a while just how deeply weird Nixon was. [[WeirdAlEffect He’s been rendered so silly by a lifetime of cartoonish impressions]], [[UncannyValley it’s genuinely unsettling to watch him make unyielding eye contact]] while saying [[ValuesDissonance "I believe that forced integration of the suburbs is not in the national interest"]] like a cold robot powered by racism. All I’m saying is, it really says something that the most human version of Nixon is [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} the one where he’s a cartoon head in a jar]].

'''Nixon:''' But, I'm not dead yet! Uh, in fact I just wrote an article for Redbook!\\

-->-- '''George Romney''', Governor of Michigan and Cabniet member.

-->-- '''Creator/HunterSThompson''''s [[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/ obituary]]

>Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. [[RevengeBeforeReason And then you destroy yourself.]]

-->-- '''Creator/FrankLangella,''' ''who played Nixon in the movie Film/FrostNixon''

-->-- '''Frank Langella,''' ''who played Nixon in the movie Frost/Nixon

-> ''Oh, he's just like all of us. A massive neuroses. Insecure, frightened, arrogant...terribly paranoid, which for an actor is really easy to play. You don't have to research that at all...And in the end, someone who could — I've said this before but I think it's appropriate — someone who could only climb up so many rungs of the ladder, and then when he would get to a certain level on that ladder, it would begin to be what I would call 'the winds of terror.' It would be too much for him...And I think he actually passed them once, been on the top rung, became the president of the United States, and whatever the voices in his head were that ruled his life, they said: "You know, Dick, you don't belong up here..."''

->Our teachers, preachers, and politicians have gone too far in advocating the idea that each individual should determine what laws are good and what laws are bad, and that he then should obey the law he likes and disobey the law he dislikes.
-->-- "What Has Happened to America?" (1967)

->You look a man in the eye and you know he's got it--brains. This guy has got it If he doesn't, Nixon has made a bum choice.
-->--Speaking to reporters after his nomination of Agnew for VP, 1968

->This is'' not ''an [[NewSpeak invasion of Cambodia]].[[note]]It's an "incursion", instead.[[/note]]
-->-- Address to the Nation on the Situation in Southeast Asia

->Let's look at the strong societies. [[ArsonMurderAndAdmiration The Russians.]] Goddamn, they root 'em out... You think the Russians allow dope? Homosexuality, dope, immorality, are the enemies of strong societies.
-->-- Transcripts from White House tapes, 1971

->[[HobbesWasRight People react to fear]], not love. They don't teach that in Sunday school, but it's true.
-->-- Quoted by William Safire, ''Before The Fall'', prologue (1975).

->1 in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile...[[KnightTemplar Make the economy scream.]]
-->-- Plan of attack against the Socialist government of Chile, transcripted by CIA director Richard Helms

->We gotta [[NukeEm nuke 'em]], Henry.
-->-- During a phone call from Sec. State Kissenger reporting a lack of progress on Vietnamese [[GunboatDiplomacy peace talks]] (attributed by David Young)

->(to Kennedy's portrait) When they [the American people] look at you, [[TheAce they see what they want to be]]. When they look at me, they see what they are.
-->-- Attributed, ''Final Days'', p. 303

->Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. [[RevengeBeforeReason And then you destroy yourself.]]
-->-- Farewell speech following his resignation from the Presidency, White House East Room (8.9.74)

->I was not lying. I said things [[DistinctionWithoutADifference that later on seemed to be untrue.]]
-->-- On Watergate

->I played by [[InherentInTheSystem the rules of politics]] as I found them.
-->-- ''In the Arena'' (memoir)

->...the weirdest man ever to sit in the Oval Office.
-->-- '''White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman'''.

->My God, if I had done everything Richard Nixon told me to do, I'd probably be in Leavenworth today!
-->-- '''Gen. Alexander Haig'''

->We were going after an espionage ring, not just Daniel Ellsberg... We didn't know if there were [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness spies all over this country ]]at that point...
-->-- '''Egil Krough''', Watergate "plumber'

->The President wants me to argue that he is as powerful a monarch as UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, only four years at a time, and is not subject to the processes of any court in the land except the court of impeachment.
-->-- '''James D. St. Clair''', defense counsel in ''United States v. Nixon''

->In America, the President is the emperor in addition to being the prime minister. He is, no matter that his term as such is limited, the sovereign. When it is contemplated to execute the king, it is necessary to think first about the consequences on the people, rather than on the judicial poetry of the sentence... If Nixon were impeached, the punishment [[ShameIfSomethingHappened would be visited primarily on the state]]... it is necessary to remind oneself that the sovereign is unique: that the punishment of the whole of the state is never justified.
-->-- '''William F. Buckley''', ''New York Post'', 4.28.1973

->(weeping) 'I don't think any president has been more wrongly persecuted than Nixon, [[WorstWhateverEver ever]]. I just think he was a saint.
-->-- '''Ben Stein''', ''All the Presidents Men: Revisited'' (2013)

->Do you realize the responsibility I carry? [[OnlyICanKillHim I'm the only person]] standing between Richard Nixon and the White House.
-->-- '''UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy''' (attributed)

->He’s like a Spanish horse who runs faster than anyone for the first nine lengths [[EpicFail and then turns around and runs backwards]]. You’ll see; he’ll do something wrong in the end. He always does.
-->-- '''UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson'''

->Nixon is not to be explained, he is not to be rationalized at all.
-->--'''Creator/SammyDavisJr''' expresses buyer's remorse

->It struck me from time to time that Nixon, as a character, would have been so easy to fix, in the sense of removing these rather [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex petty flaws]]. And yet, I think it's also true that if you did this, you would probably have removed that very inner core of insecurity that led to his drive. A secure Nixon almost surely, in my view, would never have been president of the United States at all.
-->-- Cabinet member '''Elliot Richardson'''

->When Nixon took office, [he] tried to persuade the public that protest would not affect him. But he almost went berserk when [[FauxHorrific one lone pacifist]] picketed the White House.
-->-- '''Howard Zinn''', ''A People's History of the United States''

->He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears but by diligent hard work, [[BaitAndSwitchComment he overcame them.]]
-->-- '''James Reston'''

->It was Kissinger who inaugurated the second front or [[StateSec home front]] of the war; illegally wiretapping the telephones even of his own staff and of his journalistic clientele... Incredibly, he contrived to argue in public with some success that if it were not for democratic distempers like the impeachment process [[BastardlySpeech his own selfless, necessary statesmanship]] would have been easier to carry out.
-->-- '''Creator/ChristopherHitchens'''

->He is ours in a way that the queen is not England's, because she was invented by history, while Nixon [[MixAndMatchMan made himself up]], with [[AbstractApotheosis a lot of help from all of us]]... In Nixon we are able to observe our faults larger than life. But we can also, if we try, see in this huge, dusty mirror our virtues as well.
-->-- '''Creator/GoreVidal'''

->''Film/DirtyHarry'', in 1971, was the first formation of the Nixonian hero. Or, no, let's be even more accurate, he was the second. Nixon was the first. The avatar of our own internal darkness, Nixon was brought out of the most needed retirement in human history to serve as the electoral knight of the forces of inertia. No. Not inertia. Nixon was not merely a force of non-change, but a force of [[GrumpyOldMan rolling back change]]. He is our id turned to the task of undoing human progress...''Dirty Harry'' is merely what happens when one undertakes the insane task of turning Richard Nixon into an action hero.
-->-- '''[[http://projectnes.blogspot.com/2011/01/walter-pretending-dirty-harry.html Phil Sandifer]]'''

->''One by one they topple, as the President becomes so short-handed that some have to [[DiggingYourselfDeeper double up on jobs]]. One thing is certain: it couldn’t have happened to [[LaserGuidedKarma a nicer or more deserving bunch of guys, or to a more deserving institution]].
-->-- '''[[http://bastiat.mises.org/2014/07/princetonhistorianjustgetoverwatergatealready/ Ryan McMaken]]'''

->''"Everybody smoke\\
Use the pill and the dope\\
Educated fools\\
From uneducated schools\\
Pimping people is the rule\\
Polluted water in the pool\\
And Nixon talkin' 'bout '[[HeadInTheSandManagement don't worry]]'\\
He says 'don't worry[='=]\\
[...] If there's hell below\\
We're all gonna go"''
-->-- '''Music/CurtisMayfield''', "If There's Hell Below, We're All Going to Go"

->Forget the myths the media's created about the White House. The truth is, [[HanlonsRazor these are not very bright guys]], and things got out of hand.
-->-- '''Deep Throat''', ''Film/AllThePresidentsMen''

->How could [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong a simple burglary]] turn into all this?
-->-- '''The Final Days''' (1989 film)

->No matter how many awards or column inches are written about you, or how high the elected office is, [[DudeWheresMyRespect it's still not enough.]] We still feel like the little man. The loser. They told us we were a hundred times, the smart asses in college, the high ups. The well-born. The people who's respect we really wanted. Really craved. And isn't that why we work so hard now, why we fight for every inch?
-->-- ''Film/FrostNixon''

->You don't understand. They're playing for keeps, buddy. The press, the kids, the liberals--they're out there, trying to figure out how to tear me down...This is about ''[[ItsAllAboutMe me]]''. Why can't you understand that, you of all people? It's not the war--It's '''[[ThirdPersonPerson Nixon!]]''' They want to destroy Nixon!
-->-- ''{{Film/Nixon}}'' (1995 film)

->'''Nixon''': Bold moves, Henry. That's what's needed right now. We can't let these fuckers think we're weak.\\
'''Kissinger''': ''([[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent semi-intelligible]])'' Yes. They must fear [[TheCaligula the madman Richard Nixon.]]
-->-- ''{{Film/Watchmen}}''

->'''Captain America''': All right, Mister! End of the line! Now let's [[DramaticUnmask have a look underneath your cowl]] before--Good lord! [[YouExclamation YOU!!]]\\
'''Nixon:''' Exactly! But high political office didn't satisfy me! My power was still too constrained by legalities!
-->-- ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' #175

->'''Pat Nixon:''' What are all those thousands of people doing down on the field, Dick?\\
'''Dick:''' It's the Half Time entertainment, Pat.\\
'''Pat:''' What are they holding up signs saying 'Withdraw Our Troops', Dick?\\
'''Dick:''' GET MITCHELL! We have to [[AllCrimesAreEqual outlaw football.]]
-->-- '''Jules Fieffer''', [[http://www.adambaumgoldgallery.com/feiffer_jules/dick_n_pat_outlaw_footballWB.jpg political cartoon]]

->The political lesson of Watergate is this: Never again must America allow an arrogant, elite guard of [[CorruptPolitican political adolescents]] to by-pass the regular party organization and dictate the terms of a national election.

->In your own mind you have nothing to lose, so you take plenty of chances. It is then you understand, for the first time, that you have the advantage—because your competitors can’t risk what they have already. It’s a piece of cake until you get to the top. You find you can’t stop playing the game the way you’ve always played it, because it is a part of you and you need it as much as an arm and a leg. You continue to walk on the edge of the precipice, because over the years you have become fascinated by how close to the edge you can walk without losing your balance.
-->--Attributed by Ken W. Clawson, former aide

-->-- '''Frank Langella,''' ''who played Nixon in Film/Frost/Nixon