Nixon: A Life (review)

Review Essay Nixon: A Life. Jonathan Aitken. Lanham, Md.: Regnery, 1993. xiv + 635 pp. Bibliographical references and index. $28.00 Charles E. Fager* Early in Jonathan Aitken's work on this extremely sympathetic biography, Richard Nixon wrote to him that "The impact of my Quaker heritage on my personality has been underestimated"(Aitken, 46). Nixon was right: his religious background did have a crucial influence on him, though—as was the case with so much about the man—not exactly in the ways one might think, or Nixon might acknowledge. Among its underestimated effects, one could count the following: It provided the initial conceptual frame for his public career; it offered a model for his political style; and it produced a seeming validation ofboth in Nixon's first and formative major "crisis," the Alger Hiss spy case. In the end, in Watergate, it was a major factor in bringing him down. All these connections deserve a closer examination than they have received in previous biographies. Unfortunately, they don't get it in Aitken's book either. After quoting Nixon's comment, Aitken follows it up in only the most superficial fashion. In his portrayal, the Quakerism ofNixon's parents, Frank and Hannah, was not much more than a humdrum cult ofsmall-town respectability and routine: attendance at four services on Sunday, prayers and Bible-reading throughout the week, and strict commandments against such worldly perils as dancing, drinking, gambling and swearing. Aitken (18) quotes a waggish summary of their creed as "No pomp in any circumstance." This cursory treatment of Nixon's religious background is the more puzzling because Aitken, a Conservative British Member of Parliament, sees himself as working, here as elsewhere, to redress the balance of biographical opinion about Nixon. Yet his four-page, small-type bibliography lists no titles relating to Quaker history or beliefs. Likewise, among the 135 persons he personally interviewed, none were Quaker scholars or leaders, local or national (Aitken, 613-616; 579). All Aitken knows ofthis phenomenon, which he agrees shaped the Nixonian character, is what the late president told him, supplemented by a review of some fascinating but sketchy oral history interviews with old-time residents ofNixon's hometown of Whittier, California (Oral History, 1978). Which is to say, he doesn't know much. That the Nixons were pietistic and puritanical is true enough, but by itselfthis doesn't tell us a lot. Nor can Aitken get much from the sect's one distinctive he can't avoid mentioning, the tradition of Quaker pacifism. With the coming ofWorld War Two, this tradition ought to have confronted the young Nixon with a major moral choice, either to become a conscientious objector or to join the military. But the divergent reports of Nixon's response offer a microcosm ofthe difficulty with truth-telling which was a hallmark of his public statements. Consider these varying reports: Biographer Henry Spalding confidently asserted that Nixon's 1942 enlistment in the Navy came only after "many months of *Charles E. Fager is a Quaker writer andjournalist. He is currently on the staffof Pendle Hill in Wallingford, Pa. 66Quaker History agonized soul-searching" (Spalding, 132); this version was confirmed by Pat Nixon in Bela Kornitzer's The Real Nixon (139^0), where she says that "Because ofRichard's upbringing, he did much soul-searchingbefore he made his decision." On the other hand, Stephen Ambrose in Nixon: The Education ofa Politician (104), speaks of"some soul-searching" but "no crisis of conscience." And Nixon himself told Life magazine in 1970 (November 6, 64) that becoming a conscientious objector "never crossed my mind." Further, in his 1978 Memoirs (26) he declared flatly that "I never considered doing this." Perhaps Aitken can't be blamed ifhe fails to brings new light to this clutter of conflicting accounts. He notes tentatively (Aitken, 96) that joining the Navy was "not a straightforward decision," since, as a Quaker, Nixon was "entitled to a complete exemption." He adds that his "parents hoped he would take this route," but concludes that Nixon "felt strongly that it was his duty to volunteer...." What is the truth? Who knows? Not me; certainly not Aitken; and for that matter, maybe...