Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America

 The America of the 1960s occupies the core of my historical interest. Settling into a book or documentary that covers the era is like slathering butter on a warm piece of bread: I melt into the subject matter and know I will find it tasty! I believe many people appreciate the subject matter because there are some “feel good”elements to it that while difficult, make us proud of our society and the civil liberties we enjoy. If you watch Aaron Sorkin’s Trial of the Chicago Seven, you’ll understand what I mean. However, the story of the 60s is not just an idealized Sorkin tale of brave Americans who stood up against their government when it happened to, at least in their minds, act wrongly. There are certainly elements of that, but distilling the decade down to just those ideas misses why I find it so interesting. The 1960s was tumultuous, full of grand ideals, societal battles, and governmental failures that make it a microcosm of our country’s history as a whole. In short, the elements of
the 1960s that make for great Hollywood fodder are only part of what makes the period an interesting subject to tackle. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America presents the other side of the story in granular detail, making it a masterclass on the “darker side” of the 60s. 

Rick Perlstein wrote this book as the second in his four part series on the modern conservative movement, a subject that has gotten much less attention from historians than it probably deserves. Nixonland stands on its own, despite my trepidation in picking it up before reading the technical start of the series on the Goldwater Revolution. The subtitle of the book is rather reflective of the subject material Perlstein covers, detailing Nixon’s improbable political comeback which happened alongside the deepening of divisions between the American people over civil rights, poverty, and the War in Vietnam. Perlstein splits the book into four sections, each one ending with an election: 1966, 1968, 1970, and 1972. He is a master at zooming in and out on different storylines throughout the chapters, giving historical context while also examining what Richard Nixon was engaged in at each point along the timeline. If you are at all interested in the man or the period, Perlsetin will bombard you with vignettes that are full of rich detail, sometimes admittedly more detail that one needs, but that in no way distract from his work. His writing style must simply compel him to dive so deep into a subject that no stone is left unturned. The pages contain so much knowledge on the nature of American society contained within these pages that I felt like I knew my country better than ever before, and was also a bit fearful of it. The sheer number of domestic bombings that occurred in this era was something I was entirely unaware of, and each description of them scattered throughout the book hammers home the point of just how divisive this period was. This is just one aspect of the era that he covers, alongside very detailed descriptions of racial politics, Cold War ideology, and general distrust of authority that is the hallmark of this time. Perlsetin makes the point that as all of this began to infect American society, Nixon had his finger on the pulse of the country, studying how he could take advantage of these developments and propel himself into the White House. If a certain former president was known to actually read books (other than the few he claims to have written), I would think this book to be a part of his library based on the similarities between the 1968 and 2016 elections. The parallels between then and now are eerie to say the least. 

One of my favorite sections of the book describes the impact Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination had on the city of Chicago, which was a hearth of the conservative movement. While rioting commenced for days across the country in major American cities, April 4th was the beginning of a tense number of months in the Windy City. Perlsetin uses an editorial from the Chicago Tribune the next day to frame the mood of many white Chicago residents, who were being swept up in the growing white backlash that would be a major force in the 1968 election. The paper was uncomfortably direct by today’s standards, stating that the assassination was simply the work of a rogue individual and that whites need not feel a greater responsibility for the action, despite the large-scale unrest that had settled over the country in the preceding fifteen years. The article goes on to lament that the liberal youth were running amok in society and the black individuals were being excused for their riotous behavior. Thousands of police and citizens engaged in violent clashes over the next few days, which served as a prologue for the infamous events of the Democratic National Convention on the streets of the city that August. 

Nixonland  is a dense read, the paperback edition clocking in at just under 750 pages. I am not a particularly fast reader, but I somehow finished it within a month, albeit during a summer break where I am fortunate to spend chunks of my day leisurely reading. I think that fact speaks to just how well written and interesting this book is, and if you have any interest in the subject, I think you will devour it as well. In a politically tense moment like we are experiencing today, it is somewhat comforting to know that Americans have been here before and weathered the storm, even if we did come out of it bruised and battered.