To be fair there are at least two things he did that were good and positive for all the world. It's not like he did NOTHING GOOD.
I know there are always books biased towards a subject, there's got to be a Nixon lover out there who wrote about him. Even if its Nixon himself
I wan't his reasons for everything, because most of his actions, such as the Cambodian fiasco, he did have reasons for. Maybe wrong reasons, maybe ill judged, but he had real tangiable reasons for his actions.
What I get from popular commentary is 'he did it cuz hes evil'. It's not good enough really. To understand anything, you've got to ask the question, why did he doit? and have a serious look from the mans point of view.
Also, theres no defending watergate at all. But thats one action of many, and he did many things in his time.
I guess i've really answered my own question, I want to hear his side so I should read his memoirs.
Hate to say it but any good biographies of Nixon will probably be written in about 50 years. He's so polarizing that serious scholarly work won't be written about it until everyone who can remember his presidency is dead.
I do see this, and I know sometimes I press buttons with Americans that I'm not used to discussing with. Being a Briton, no one really gets worked up if I question JFK's morality, but here there are swarms of Americans ready to raise the pitchforks. The same applies for Nixon in literature like you said i'd imagine.
For now though I think I should really read his words and compare it to the evidence myself, rather than waiting 50 years for a historian to do it for me
Think Futurama will still be doing re-runs in 50 years?
I hope not.