Being Nixon: A Man Divided

by Evan Thomas

While Nixon wanted to take the high road to govern, politics—getting elected—was a different matter. “He had an idealistic view of government,” recalled Jim Schlesinger, whom Nixon appointed to run three different agencies (Atomic Energy Commission, the CIA, and Defense). “But then politics were dog-eat-dog, get-them-before-they-got-you. It was as if there was no connection.”35 Of course, there was a connection—Nixon was perfectly well aware that his ability to govern depended on political skills, his ability to persuade lawmakers that it was in their political interest to back his policies. But Schlesinger’s bafflement is understandable. Nixon’s approach to government is a riddle that needs to be solved with proper attention to Nixon’s political genius and his complex psyche. Nixon liked to rail against “liberal bureaucrats” and suspected, not wrongly in many cases, that they were working against him. He tried from time to time, without much success, to restrain federal spending, which was largely controlled by a free-spending Congress. In the winter of 1970, Schlesinger was assistant director of the Bureau of the Budget and spent “hours and hours” with the president going over spending requests. He vividly recalled the Nixon approach and the inevitable pushback: I’d bring up an agency and invariably he would say, “Not worth a damn. Cut ’em in half.” I’d go back and say this to the budget examiners, and they would go to pieces before your eyes. “Cut in half? Good God, wha...