Nixon

The book covers the entire Nixon presidency, not just Watergate and Nixon's resignation. It analyzes his domestic programs during his first term and partial second term and his conduct of foreign affairs, including his surprising opening to the Communist Chinese, a strategically brilliant diplomatic move because it reinforced China's split from Moscow. It also explores his highly controversial handling of the Vietnam War he inherited from Lyndon Johnson. Particularly criticized are the long-drawn-out secret peace negotiations that cost the United States and South Vietnam many thousands of casualties because of Nixon's determination not to be seen as losing the war, an effort that subsequently failed.