Tragic Obsession

I finally finished The Final Days by Woodward and Bernstein last night. And yes, Nixon still resigned and the country went on a little more cynical and a little more broken.

I know my political obsession is at an all time high, but bear with me.

Why did I find Nixon and Watergate so interesting these past few months? It started out with...well, The West Wing (but that's another post) but it grew with the fact that I had absolutely no idea what the Watergate scandal really was. I could pretend enough to carry a conversation, but I had no idea what happened. I knew there was a hotel. There was robbery. There was a cover up. And...then
Nixon resigned.

I read All the President's Men last summer and finished late fall. I could have left it at that, feel like rest of the country (in the late 70's) and feel duped by my government and my nation's leader.

But anyone who knows me knew that I couldn't leave it like that.

The Final Days is about the last days of the Nixon Administration. And the central tragic figure is Nixon. I actually felt for the broken man who also had to lead this country. He was a horrible politician...meaning he wasn't a very good one. He was attempting to unite the world in peace amid a botched war, the threat of communism, and a failing foreign policy. Was he a good man? Was he a bad man? According to the book, no one knew--especially Nixon. This man, this tragic figure forever blotched in our nation's history, was overcome by his circumstances, from which he could never recover.

The first book--the more famous one of the two--made me untrusting of the man who was the President. The second book made me see him as the man struggling to be a President.

One more note about Nixon. I don't think people realize how close we could have come to a coup d'etat. I won't question as to why it never happened, but the end of the Nixon Administration was a demonstration of our government's system. And I'm not sure if we are better or worse because of it.
Currently reading : The White House Tapes: Eavesdropping on the President: A Book-and-CD Set By John Prados