After being sworn in as president, Richard Nixon told the assembled crowd that government will listen. Those who have been left out, we will try to bring in.
But that same day, he obliterated those pledges of greater citizen control of government by signing National Security Decision Memorandum 2, a document that made sweeping changes to the national security power structure. Nixon’s signature erased the influence that the departments of State and Defense, as well as the CIA, had over Vietnam and the course of the Cold War. The new structure put Nixon at the center, surrounded by loyal aides and a new national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, who coordinated policy through the National Security Council under Nixon’s command. Using years of research and revelations from newly released documents, USA Today reporter Ray Locker upends much of the conventional wisdom about the Nixon administration and its impact and shows how the creation of this secret, unprecedented, extra-constitutional government undermined U.S. policy and values. In doing so, Nixon sowed the seeds of his own destruction by creating a climate of secrecy, paranoia, and reprisal that still affects Washington today.
Author Bio: I'm a longtime journalist and author in Washington. Before I turned to writing full time, I was the Washington enterprise editor at USA TODAY, where I supervised our coverage of the White House, military, money in politics and health care. I worked with a team working on investigative reporting throughout our Washington bureau. Nixon's Gamble is my first book and is the result of years of interest in Nixon and current events. Haig's Coup is the follow-up volume, which digs more deeply into how Alexander Haig, Nixon's chief of staff, forced Nixon from office.
Author: Ray Locker
Narrator: Kevin Stillwell
Publisher: ListenUp Production LLC
ISBN Number: 9781942248774
Total Runtime: 14:50:12