George Putnam
Friday, July 12, 2002

I've said it before, I'll say it again: Our 37th president, Richard Milhouse Nixon, was the best prepared and best qualified to serve us in his time. I knew him as a very sensitive, intelligent human being – paranoid, yes; physically awkward, yes; self-conscious, yes; always struggling for money, but always the fighter, with determination no matter what the circumstances.

They accused Nixon of smearing Jerry Voorhis in his first race for Congress; of attacking Helen Gahagan Douglas; of undermining Earl Warren's presidential chances at the 1952 Republican National Convention ... and then came Watergate. Nixon swore he had no personal involvement in the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters; but the courts forced him to yield the tape recordings, which proved to be his undoing.

But what a comeback! Looking back on those days, I have come to the conclusion that more than anything else, his loyalty to friends brought him down. Most of them, in their own zealousness, did not serve him well. Here and now I say that had he relied upon Herb Klein, Bruce Hirschenson, Richard Moore, Robert Finch, H.R. Haldeman and a few others, there never would have been a Watergate.

Perhaps we can judge Nixon best by the praise from strange sources that has survived him. Jimmy Carter praises his foreign policy accomplishments. Bill Clinton had many kind words. And Alger Hiss, of all people, speaks of Nixon's major accomplishments, including opening the road to China.

Many of those who set out to write critical books on the subject end up praising Nixon as a great statesman. Henry Kissinger, his secretary of state, praises Nixon for a combination of idealism and realism. Kissinger says Nixon believed idealism does not prohibit, and indeed requires, an understanding of the world as it is. That enabled him to be consistent and resilient.

Nixon was the way he was because of his humble beginnings from a very unprivileged Quaker family. He had nothing and therefore, throughout his life, he was obsessed with gaining acceptance and success, money was always a problem and a challenge, and he was obsessed with the Kennedys. The last time I met with him, he had the most recent book written about the Kennedy family on his desk, with certain pages book-marked. The Kennedys had it all and he felt he had so little.

His parents were quiet and unassuming – a stark contrast to the social position of the aristocratic Kennedys. Nixon's parents came to my studio when he had been chosen to run as vice president with Dwight Eisenhower. They said very little, sat very quietly, almost swallowed up by their newfound public persona. They were certainly out of their element.

I judge Richard Nixon best by his own words. Although most of his nine books dealt with foreign policy and his view of the world, I prefer his quiet, thoughtful moments. He said, "2,000 years ago the poet Sophocles wrote, 'One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been.' There is still some time before the sun goes down, but even now I can look back and say that the day has indeed been splendid."

Nixon concluded, "In the end, what matters is that you have always lived life to the hilt. I have been on the highest mountains and in the deepest valleys, but I have never lost sight of my destination – a world in which peace and freedom can live together. I have won some great victories and suffered some devastating defeats; but win or lose, I feel fortunate to have come to that time in life when I can finally enjoy what my Quaker grandmother would have called 'peace at the center.'"

May our 37th president now know "peace at the center."

This week the legendary George Putnam is 88 years young and a veteran of 68 years as a reporter, broadcaster and commentator ... and is still going strong. George is part of the all-star line-up of Southern California's KPLS Radio – Hot Talk AM 830.

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