On Nixon's Madness by Zachary Jacobson

On Nixon's Madness by Zachary Jacobson

Was Richard Nixon actually a madman, or did he just play one? When Richard Nixon battled for the presidency in 1968, he did so with the knowledge that, should he win, he would face the looming question of how to extract the United States from its disastrous war in Vietnam. It was on a beach that summer that Nixon disclosed to his chief aide, H. R. Haldeman, one of his most notorious, risky gambits: the madman theory. In On Nixon's Madness, Zachary Jonathan Jacobson examines the enigmatic president through this theory of Nixon's own invention. With strategic force and nuclear bluffing, Nixon attempted to coerce his foreign adversaries through sheer unpredictability. As his national security advisor Henry Kissinger noted, Nixon's strategy resembled a poker game in which he "push[ed] so many chips into the pot" that the United States' foes would think the president had gone "crazy." From Vietnam, Pakistan, and India to the greater Middle East, Nixon applied this madman theory. Foreign relations were not a steady march toward peaceful coexistence but rather an ongoing test of mettle. Nixon saw the Cold War as he saw his life, as a series of ordeals that demanded great risk and grand gestures. For decades, journalists, critics, and scholars have searched for the real Nixon behind these acts. Was he a Red-baiter, a worldly statesman, a war criminal or, in the end, a punchline? Jacobson combines biography and intellectual and cultural history to understand the emotional life of Richard Nixon, exploring how the former president struggled between great effusions of feeling and great inhibition, how he winced at the notion of his reputation for rage, and how he used that ill repute to his advantage.

Brilliant, insightful, beautifully written. . the audacious originality of On Nixon's Madness is a truly impressive feat.
—Times Literary Supplement
Jacobson is an astute observer and a graceful writer. This brings one of America's most enigmatic presidents into sharper focus.
—Publishers Weekly
[Jacobson] writes beautifully. . . . a methodologically audacious reinvention.
—Society for US Intellectual History

Zachary Jonathan Jacobson (CAMBRIDGE, MA) received his doctorate in Cold War history from Northwestern University. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, USA Today, New York Daily News, Vox, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

SKU	Non disponible
ISBN 13	9781421445533
ISBN 10	1421445530
Titre	On Nixon's Madness
Auteur	Zachary Jacobson
État	Non disponible
Type de reliure	Hardback
Éditeur	Johns Hopkins University Press
Année de publication	2023-03-28
Nombre de pages	448
Note de couverture	La photo du livre est présentée à titre d'illustration uniquement. La reliure, la couverture ou l'édition réelle peuvent varier.
Note	Non disponible