Richard Nixon: Rise and Fall of a President

Larsen, Rebecca

ISBN 10: 0531109976 ISBN 13: 9780531109977

Publisher: Franklin Watts, 1897

Synopsis

Traces the life and political career of the thirty-seventh president, from his student days, through the Watergate scandal which cost him the presidency, to his retirement and new career as a writer

About this title

Reviews

Grade 6-9-- Since Nixon's resignation in 1974, virtually all biographies for young people have made Watergate the central focus of his story. This book, following a trend in adult biographies of him, offers a better historical perspective, depicting him as an ambitious man who had, like most political leaders, a mixed record. Larsen mostly emphasizes the public Nixon, but also includes information about his private life. She describes his early career in considerable detail, including the Hiss case, his vice-presidency, the election of 1960, and the 1962 California gubernatorial race, but does not use those events (as others have done) to laboriously prove points about his character or lack of it. She treats Watergate as a serious event, but as only one part of an administration that was successful in many ways. Larsen writes well and is quite objective about her subject, admiring his dedication and hard work, but also examining his willingness to overpower opponents and his well-known secrecy and paranoia. Black-and-white photographs illustrate both the personal and public aspects of his life. Providing more background and detail than Sallie Randolph's Richard M. Nixon, President (Walker, 1989), this is interesting enough to recommend to students for both general reading and reports. --Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Franklin Watts
• Publication date: 1897
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0531109976
• ISBN 13: 9780531109977
• Binding: Library Binding