The Nixon Memo

This is a case study of Richard Nixon's relentless quest for political rehabilitation. At issue is the key role he played during his final years in the post-Cold War debate about aiding Russia. The story begins on March 10, 1992. Nixon had written a private memo critical of George Bush's policy toward Russia. The memo leaked and exploded on the front page of The New York Times. Why would Nixon attack Bush, a fellow Republican fighting for re-election? Why on an issue of foreign affairs, which was Bush's strength? Journalist and media scholar, Malvin Kalb, offers an account of how conventional wisdom on foreign policy is shaped by the insider's game of press/politics. The author read the documents behind the Nixon memo and interviewed journalists, scholars and officials in and from Washington and Moscow. Drawing on his years of experience as a diplomatic correspondent, he identifies and illuminates the intersection of press and politics in the fashioning of public policy.