Nixon : the education of a politician, 1913-1962 / Stephen E. Ambrose.
By: Ambrose, Stephen E.
Material type: BookPublisher: New York : Simon and Schuster, 1988Description: 768 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.ISBN: 0671657224.Subject(s): Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994 | Presidents -- United States -- Biography | United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989DDC classification: 973.924Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
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General Lending | MTU Bishopstown Library Lending | 973.924 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 00030393 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
From acclaimed biographer Stephen E. Ambrose comes the life of one of the most elusive and intriguing American political figures, Richard M. Nixon. From his difficult boyhood and earnest youth to bis ruthless political campaigns for Congress and Senate to his defeats in '60 and '62, Nixon emerges li
Includes bibliographical references (pages 675-715) and index.
Bibliography: (pages 717-721).
Frank and Hannah, 1878-1912 -- Yorba Linda, 1913-1922 -- Whittier, 1922-1930 -- Whittier College, 1930-1934 -- Duke Law School, 1934-1937 -- Whittier: Law and Marriage, 1937-1941 -- U.S. Navy, 1942-1945 -- The First Campaign, 1946 -- Freshman Congressman, 1947-1948 -- The Hiss Case, August-December 1948 -- The second campaign, 1949-1950 -- U.S. Senator, 1951 -- The Drive to the Vice-Presidential Nomination, January-August 1952 -- The third campaign, August-November 1952 -- Vice-President, 1953 -- The Fourth Campaign, 1954 -- "The President has had a Coronary," 1955 -- Holding on to the Vice-Presidency, January-August 1956 -- The fifth campaign, September-December 1956 -- Searching for a role, 1957 -- A Continent for a Theater, South America 1958 -- The sixth campaign, 1958 -- The man who stood up to Khrushchev, 1959 -- Politics, 1959-1960 -- The seventh campaign, Part One, 1960 -- The seventh campaign, Part Two, 1960 -- Nixon as Vice-President: An assessment, 195301961 -- "It was not an easy time", 1961 -- The eighth campaign, 1962.
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Library Journal Review
Ambrose, noted for his books on Eisenhower, reconsiders Nixon's career objectively in light of the passage of time and puts him into a useful historical context. Primarily, Ambrose examines Nixon's performance as a politician. No prior work has been based upon the amount of primary documentation cited here, and with the exception of Nixon's own writing ( Six Crises and The Memoirs of Richard Nixon ), there is no more thorough treatment of his pre-presidential years. There is altogether new material on Nixon's vice presidency and his relationship with Eisenhower. Until all relevant documents are available, this and a projected second volume should stand as the definitive political biography. BOMC and Quality Paperback Book Club alternates.. Susan E. Parker, Harvard Law Sch. Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
This auspicious opener in a projected two-volume life of Richard Nixon carries the California grocer's son from his school days to the vice-presidency and his subsequent failure to win the governorship of his home state. Ambrose, a professor of history at the University of New Orleans and biographer (Eisenhower, etc.) has written a readable, balanced biography of an unusually complex figure. From early on, he shows, the man who became ``the most successful vice-president'' of this century was an ambitious go-getter, also a cynical and nearly humorless loner whose inability to trust others (and heed their advice) cost him the 1960 presidential election. With emphasis, Ambrose attributes Nixon's unusual private reserve and public confidence to his Quaker heritage. The author is especially interesting whenhe charts how, as a young lawyer, Nixon created a national political base out of the Hiss case and the Korean War, then became for nearly three decades the most distrusted, even hated, politician in the U.S. because he ``seemed utterly insincere.'' Photos not seen by PW. BOMC and QPBC alternates. (April) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reservedCHOICE Review
Ambrose demonstrated his enviable talents as a biographer in his two-volume study of Dwight D. Eisenhower (Eisenhower, v.1: CH, Jan '84; v.2: CH, Feb '85). Perhaps even greater skill is required to achieve a balanced portrait of Richard M. Nixon, a man who still evokes strong emotions from detractors and partisans alike, and whose politics were indeed the ``politics of division.'' In this first volume on Nixon, Ambrose seems to have achieved this elusive balance. The author creates a fascinating and highly readable account of Nixon's complex personality, his early development, his political rise through Congress, the vice-presidency, and, finally, the 1962 California gubernatorial defeat. Nixon appears in many roles: as ``playwright, leading actor, and director'' of several political dramas; as ``no demagogue,'' yet cold and manipulative, both politically and personally. More balanced and comprehensive than either Fawn Brodie's Richard Nixon: The Shaping of His Character (CH, Jan '82) or Garry Wills's Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-Made Man (CH, Feb '71), this work deserves inclusion in academic as well as public libraries. Essential reading for anyone studying the development of Nixon's political character.-R.C. Smoot, University of KentuckyBooklist Review
In the first volume of a planned two-volume biography, Ambrose fathoms the indistinctness, the contradictions, and the depth of Richard Nixon and renders them in splendid, meaningful detail. (F 15 87 Upfront)Kirkus Book Review
Early in this massive biography, Ambrose makes the ironic statement that, at 25, Nixon was considered to be so honest, scrupulous, and upright that had he opened a used-car lot, his peers would have flocked to buy cars from him. The statement captures the tone of this, the definitive biography of an enigma. Ambrose, whose career as a historian has seemed to gel in recent years as the primary biographer of Eisenhower, captures Nixon as a prisoner of ironies in this first of two volumes that takes us up to the ""last press conference"" after Nixon's 1962 California gubernatorial defeat. Nixon's rise was meteoric. (Consider the equivalent: a freshman representative entering Congress this year would be elected Vice-President in 1992!) But, as Ambrose shows, this was only typical. Within months of joining any organization, from grade school on, Nixon would so shine that he would be granted the presidency. It was only natural that he should consider the Vice-Presidency and Presidency as plausible career steps. But it wasn't just a matter of brutal ambition. Friends and enemies alike conceded that the man possessed a brilliant political mind. And this, in turn, was fed by a remarkable memory and sheer hard work (Nixon could go days without sleep in preparing for important trips or events). It was unfortunate for him that he had to ride the coattails of Eisenhower, whose feelings for Nixon were fatherly in the best and worst sense of the word. While grooming Nixon to take on the burdens of the Presidency, he never quite considered him mature enough. Nixon's tireless and great service to the Republican Party often irked Eisenhower, who cared not a whit for party affiliation. Ambrose brings out other ironies'. The supposed campaign of vilification against Helen Gahagan Douglas in 1950, for instance, was actually begun by Douglas, who first tried to besmirch Nixon's voting record! And the conception of Nixon as an extreme right-winger depended too heavily on Nixon's partisan lambasting of Democrats who were ""soft on Communism."" Ambrose convincingly demonstrates that in domestic policies, Nixon was actually one of the more progressive Republicans of the 1950's, but he had to quell that spirit because of Eisenhower. Nixon's progressivism was particularly apparent in his promotion of black rights. In this regard, Martin Luther King, Jr., actually voted for the Eisenhower ticket in 1956 because of Nixon. Most previous biographies of Nixon have either been admiring political studies or hatchet jobs by obvious enemies. Ambrose rights both of their wrongs and gives us a wonderful preliminary to the final volume, which will chronicle Nixon's resurrection, triumph, and fall. Masterful biography. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.Author notes provided by Syndetics
Historian Stephen E. Ambrose grew up in Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin and the University of Louisiana.Ambrose is considered to be one of the foremost historical scholars of recent times and has been a professor for over three decades. He is also the founder and president of the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans.
His works include D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II, Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945, Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest and Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West. Abrose served historical consultant on the motion picture Saving Private Ryan.
(Bowker Author Biography)