I finished reading a very long biography by Walter Isaacson of Henry
Kissinger. It was mostly interesting, though I don’t regret skipping a stretch
of text here and another one there. While of course there was a huge amount
that I had not known, the long section devoted to his role in the Nixon
administration was the most interesting for me: a fair bit of Kissinger’s activities as
Secretary of State was news to me. What struck me more forcefully in the book
was the account it gave of Nixon’s presidency.
Like a lot of liberals, I took it for granted that Nixon was a baddie
from the word “go.” Not so, as I found out. He was smart, knew what he was in
for and did a lot of good and sensible things—though seldom without ulterior
motives. He was not a nice man, in good part for reasons of insecurity. He will
surely be judged to have been a much better president when all of his
contemporaries are gone.
As for Kissinger—with whom I have much more in common than with Nixon—we’re
both German Jewish refugees only couple
of years apart in age—I did not take to him. That’s a statement about
how much I like him and not an assessment of his political importance.
I’m glad I’m done with that scene and have just started a large volume
about Alexander Calder.
No comments:
Post a Comment