Check your history: Nixon was a better, more popular president than Obama

Richard Nixon is back in the news. Commentators, pundits, and bloggers are comparing the scandal-plagued Obama administration’s record to Tricky Dick’s. Faced with a rising tide of Nixon-themed questions, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney responded, “people who make those kind of comparisons need to check their history.” A quick history check shows one thing: Richard Nixon was a much better president than Barack Obama.

Liberals weaned on stories of Nixon the boogeyman scoff at any comparison between the Trickster and Obama. But strip away Nixon’s scandals and he is clearly the better man. He was elected to the House in 1946 after serving in the Navy in World War Two. He spearheaded the Congressional investigation that broke open the Alger Hiss spy case, which helped propel him to the Senate in 1950. After surviving a small fundraising controversy — the occasion of the famous “checkers” speech — Nixon served eight years as Vice President under Dwight D. Eisenhower. During this period he nurtured a national security expertise and built a network of international contacts that would served him well in his eventual presidency. He was denied the office in 1960, losing by a hair in a controversial race with John F. Kennedy. He then lost his 1962 bid for the California governorship, after which he promised the members of the press they “won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” But after six years in the wilderness Mr. Nixon came roaring back, defeating Vice President Hubert Humphrey and winning the 1968 presidential race.

Nixon entered office a seasoned, experienced, mature leader, and it showed. He was a maestro of foreign affairs, ably assisted by a team including Henry Kissinger, one of the giants in the history of U.S. national security. Nixon spearheaded the historic opening to China, détente and arms control with the Soviet Union, attempted to end the Vietnam War with honor, and took personal responsibility for the air- and sea-lift of supplies that helped save Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Regardless of how one assesses the Nixon foreign policy record, the fact remains that he faced much tougher challenges than Mr. Obama, and did so with knowledge, expertise and vision. He was a serious leader for serious times.

Domestically Mr. Nixon achieved much more than Mr. Obama has while overcoming greater political challenges. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress during his entire tenure in office. But rather than whine incessantly about partisanship like Mr. Obama, Nixon did the hard work of leading and cajoling Congress to get his agenda through. And there is much in Nixon’s record that liberals should approve of. He instituted wage and price controls, a big-government solution to government-caused inflation. He declared the first Earth Day and stood up the Environmental Protection Agency. He pursued health insurance reform almost as extensive (though not as expensive) as Obamacare. He oversaw the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). He helped implement public school integration, started Federal affirmative action programs, and endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment. It is ironic when people reflexively describe Nixon as a conservative just because he was a Republican. He did more for many contemporary liberal causes than Mr. Obama ever could.

Mr. Nixon was also a more popular president than Mr. Obama — much more popular. According to Gallup, over the period up to the fifth month of their respective second terms, Mr. Nixon’s numbers track consistently well above Mr. Obama’s, excepting their first month in office and a few weeks in the summer of their third year when they were basically tied.

Mr. Nixon’s popularity showed on Election Day 1972. His campaign’s slogan was “Nixon now more than ever,” and the public agreed. Nixon was reelected in a 49 state sweep with over 60% of the vote, one of the largest landslides in American history. Compare that to Mr. Obama’s anemic re-up in which he shed both popular and electoral votes from his 2008 total, arguably the weakest return to office ever. And if the public knew last November what they know now about administration misdeeds, odds are Mr. Obama would have been a one-termer.

The scandals that afterward consumed the Nixon presidency cast a pall on his earlier popularity and achievements. And Watergate proved that even a wildly popular and successful president could be undone. If Nixon could be felled, surely a less popular, less accomplished, less experienced and generally weaker president can be. So by all means go back and check the history. The White House may not like what you find.

James S. Robbins is Deputy Editor of Rare. Follow him on Twitter @James_Robbins