Nixon Quotes

In 1969 the Khmer Rouge numbered only about 4,000. By 1975 their numbers were enough to defeat the government forces. Their victory was greatly helped by the American attack on Cambodia, which was carried out as an extension of the Vietnam War. In 1970 a military coup led by Lon Nol, possibly with American support, overthrew the government of Prince Sihanouk, and American and South Vietnamese troops entered Cambodia.

One estimate is that 600,000 people, nearly 10 per cent of the Cambodian population, were killed in this extension of the war. Another estimate puts the deaths from the American bombing at 1000,000 peasants. From 1972 to 1973, the quantity of bombs dropped on Cambodia was well over three times that dropped on Japan in the Second World War.

The decision to bomb was taken by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger and was originally justified on the grounds that North Vietnamese bases had been set up in Cambodia. The intention (according to a later defence by Kissinger's aide, Peter W. Rodman) was to target only places with few Cambodians: 'From the Joint Chiefs' memorandum of April 9, 1969, the White House selected as targets only six base areas minimally populated by civilians. The target areas were given the codenames BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER, SUPPER, SNACK, and DESSERT; the overall programme was given the name MENU.' Rodman makes the point that SUPPER, for instance, had troop concentrations, anti-aircraft, artillery, rocket and mortar positions, ~ Jonathan Glover

Politics would be a helluva good business if it weren't for the goddamned people. ~ Richard M. Nixon

When you look at Kennedy and Nixon, TV played a crucial part in Kennedy's popularity. He was incredibly photogenic, while Nixon was this scowling figure. American viewers judged him on his appearance on TV. ~ Peyton Reed

I have characterized Nixon as a loner, a cold man with great self-confidence and a one-track mind centered on the advancement of Richard Nixon. ~ Barry Goldwater

I didn't do anything wrong and I promise to never do it again. ~ Richard M. Nixon

I am heat obsessed. I crave the heat in my bedroom. ~ Cynthia Nixon

Under the doctrine of separation of powers, the manner in which the president personally exercises his assigned executive powers is not subject to questioning by another branch of government. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Each of us from the seance stood alone. Like so many pillars of salt, we had tried to look back and failed. And in the eyes of the others who shared the pale, flat sky with us, there was sometimes suspicion, sometimes a little fear. ~ Joan Lowery Nixon

The biggest difference between Kennedy and Nixon, as far as the press is concerned, is simply this: Jack Kennedy really liked newspaper people and he really enjoyed sparring with journalists. ~ Ben Bradlee

I live in Wales but spend quite a lot of time in London - I stay with my brother. When I get home after being in Manchester or London for a bit, I forget how dark the sky is, and I won't have seen stars for ages. ~ Kimberley Nixon

There were no jobs created in America from 1945, when the war ended, through 2003. How could there be? Taxes were too high. Preposterously so under Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan (who left office with a 28 percent rate on long-term capital gains) and Bush the Elder. ~ Andrew Tobias

When he (Richard Nixon) took the oath of office, he pledged to be the president for 100% of the people, and I challenge the president to prove that he is being the president for 100% of the people. ~ Jackie Robinson

Your mind must always go, even while you're shaking hands and going through all the maneuvers. I developed the ability long ago to do one thing while thinking about another. ~ Richard M. Nixon

It's not necrophilia if she still has a pulse... ~ Scott Jonathan Nixon

I suspect, for example, that the dishonor that now shrouds Richard Nixon results not from the fact that he lied but that on television he looked like a liar. Which, if true, should bring no comfort to anyone, not even veteran Nixon-haters. For the alternative possibilities are that one may look like a liar but be telling the truth; or even worse, look like a truth-teller but in fact be lying. As ~ Neil Postman

Student today don't mean na', but in a Latin America whipped into a frenzy by the Fall of Arbenz, by the Stoning of Nixon, by the Guerrillas of the Sierra Madre, by the endless cynical maneuverings of the Yankee Pig Dogs - in a Latin America already a year and half into the Decade of the Guerrilla - a student was something else altogether, an agent for change, a vibrating quantum string in the staid Newtonian universe. ~ Junot Diaz

Dates are convenient hooks on which we can hang our memories of events. But history is all about people - people like you and me who did things to change the world. ~ Joan Lowery Nixon

There's a basic law, Klein's second, or third, or fourth law of politics in the TV age, which is warm always beats cold, with the exception of Richard Nixon. The nicer guy usually wins. ~ Joe Klein

If you make the decision to send your kid to public school don't even look at private schools. Just shut the door. Just turn off the TV. And then you don't even have to worry about preschool. You have to worry about what's good for your kid, but you don't have to worry about how to position yourself. ~ Cynthia Nixon

They were Republicans, Nixon Republicans, and so didn't subscribe to the notion that laws are supposed to apply to all people equally. ~ Bill Bryson

There are no available men in their thirties in New York. Giuliani had them removed along with the homeless. ~ Cynthia Nixon

I'll have to have a room of my own. Nobody could sleep with Dick. He wakes up during the night, switches on the lights, speaks into his tape recorder. ~ Pat Nixon

Publicly, we say one thing ... Actually, we do another. ~ Richard M. Nixon

History will treat me fairly. Historians probably won't, because most historians are on the left. ~ Richard M. Nixon

The government paid the family of Richard Nixon $18 million for papers, tape recordings and other materials seized after Watergate. ~ Dexter Scott King

A couple of hanging glands have nothing to do with making someone a man. ~ Cynthia Nixon

I can remember my sister and me volunteering for Nixon. My parents liked him. I liked my parents. So I figured he was good. ~ Douglas McGrath

The ability to be cool, confident, and decisive in crisis is not an inherited characteristic but is the direct result of how well the individual has prepared himself for the battle. ~ Richard M. Nixon

What a strange creature man is that he fouls his own nest. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Even now, more than 30 years later, I still judge people on the basis of whether they voted for Jack Kennedy in 1960, or for Richard Nixon ... Those bastards are scarred forever, and I'm not. At least not for that. Hell, it was an honor to be able to vote against Richard Nixon - and it will be an honor on November 3 [1992] to vote against George Bush and everything he stands for. ~ Hunter S. Thompson

Nixon urged Clinton to maintain his relationship with Yeltsin but make contact with other democrats in Russia. He warned Clinton away from some ultranationalists and toward those interested in liberty and reform. He pressed Clinton to replace his ambassador in Kiev and concentrate future U.S. economic aid on Ukraine, where it would matter most. ~ Nancy Gibbs

It's so funny that people think I actually ran for President. I am maybe the most un-political person you're ever going to meet. When I put "Elected" out, it was definitely a satire ... "Alice Cooper for President" ... when everybody realized I was running against Nixon, you known, even on a joke level, I think I got a lot of write-in votes. ~ Alice Cooper

Certainly in the next 50 years we shall see a woman president, perhaps sooner than you think. A woman can and should be able to do any political job that a man can do. ~ Richard M. Nixon

I remain convinced that pardoning Nixon was the right thing to do. ~ Gerald R. Ford

I buy DVDs almost every week. I'm more of a film buff, so I usually buy more DVDs than CDs, but if I like someone's album, I will buy the CD of it. ~ Kimberley Nixon

Because of the fact I look a lot younger than I really am, I think, I end up getting these girl-next-door roles. I mean, I'm not a Gemma Arterton type as far as I can tell. ~ Kimberley Nixon

I'm a perfectionist. I won't do a thing without trying to do it well. ~ Pat Nixon

Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honorable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hated Nixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together. ~ Hunter S. Thompson

Baseball without fans is like Jayne Mansfield without a sweater. Hang on, that can be taken two ways. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Is something bothering you, Sam?" Nixon asked with a deep furrow between his concerned chocolate eyes.
"You mean besides the dead body lying in front of us? ~ D.T. Dyllin

While might certainly does not make right, neither does right by itself make might. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Richard Nixon as a 12-year-old was given a portrait of Lincoln that he hung over his bed. Nixon also justified what would later be seen as abuses of power by comparing America in the Vietnam era to the country during the Civil War. ~ Richard Norton Smith

Now I have a third must-do on my list of things to do with cancer, and it's this: follow your gut, ask questions, don't be complacent. ~ Cynthia Nixon

I would have to say that Richard Nixon is probably the most gifted and skilled political practitioner, in his pre-presidential years, of all of the American presidents in the 20th century. ~ Roger Morris

I go for my completely routine mammogram and then I get a call from my gynecologist. And she says, 'Well, I have some - it's not such great news, but here it is, but it's very small and we're just going to get in there and take it right out, right away, and then you'll probably have radiation.' ~ Cynthia Nixon

It's a robust time, probably the most fertile time for the underground and for revolution since Nixon. I'm not talking about political overthrow; I'm talking about just general cultural revolution. Bush has polarised the country and is creating this breeding ground for an opposition. In the next couple of months, they'll probably make it unpatriotic to be Democrat. It's pretty crazy. ~ Neil Young

If you truly believe, then what you desire becomes achievable. ~ Robin Nixon

Kennedy was a lot of fun, always. He had something going on. But not Nixon. ~ George Smathers

Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative appointed by Richard Nixon, described the new interpretation of the Second Amendment in an interview after his tenure as 'one of the greatest pieces of fraud-I repeat the word FRAUD-on the American public by special-interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime. ~ Fareed Zakaria

We're wild horses. We're going to eat your food, knock down your tent and poop on your shoes. We're protected by federal law, just like Richard Nixon. ~ Dave Barry

The press is the enemy. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Nixon wasn't really considered the president by the youth of America. He was considered to be a fraud and which he proved himself to be. ~ George Jung

Even before Watergate and his resignation, Nixon had inspired conflicting and passionate emotions. ~ Stephen Ambrose

I cast my first vote on my father's lap in 1960, for Richard Nixon, in the voting booth. I was 8. ~ Christopher Buckley

I only know what I read in the papers. ~ Pat Nixon

The classical example of multiple inheritance conflict is called the 'Nixon Diamond.' It arises from the observation that Nixon was both a Quaker (and hence a pacifist) and a Republican (and hence not a pacifist). ~ Stuart Russell

The student who invades an administration building, roughs up a dean, rifles the files and issues 'non-negotiable demands' may have some of his demands met by a permissive university administration. But the greater his 'victory' the more he will have undermined the security of his own rights. ~ Richard M. Nixon

[On Richard M. Nixon:] The Republican nominee would be far worse than another Eisenhower - he is Tricky Dicky of the first magnitude. His entire record is one of opportunism. I cannot feel that there is the remotest sincerity in him, and that clearly he would be the tool of the highest bidder, which is always 'big business. ~ Marguerite Rawalt

Here's a guy [Richard Nixon] who had no gift for small talk, never liked to be around strangers, was physically awkward, and he goes into the one business that calls for ease with strangers and a gift for small talk. ~ Harry Shearer

Once you get into this great stream of history, you can't get out. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Lyndon Johnson rose above the doubt and fear to hold this Nation on course until we rediscovered our faith in ourselves. ~ Richard M. Nixon

I never actually got around to taping conversations with my guests, but there are a lot of things you can learn from a man like Nixon. ~ Pierre Trudeau

The police are there to do the job, not to think about it,' was the line used by critics, the harshest of which were often other police. But police officers see and hear at first hand the things that ail a society, and along the way they gain trememdous insight into how to fix problems or processes, even if they can't change people's behaviours or attitudes. With the right systems and resources, their personal capacity for creating a safer society is far more powerful than the guns they carry. This would be the thinking driving my direction when I later came to Victoria to take charge of its police force. ~ Christine Nixon

Idealism without realism is impotent. Realism without idealism is immoral. ~ Richard M. Nixon

The 1970s must be the years when America pays its debt to the past by reclaiming the purity of its air, its waters, and our living environment. It is literally now or never. ~ Richard M. Nixon

What I want is a beautiful and sophisticated piece of ass that happens to be 'bi. ~ Scott Jonathan Nixon

America experienced its first oil shock. Within days of the cutoff, oil prices rose from $2.90 to $11.65 a barrel; gasoline prices soared from 20 cents to $1.20 a gallon, an all-time high. Across America, fuel shortages forced factories to close early and airlines to cancel flights. Filling stations posted signs: 'Sorry, No Gas Today.' If a station did have gasoline, motorists lined up before sunrise to buy a few gallons; owners limited the amount sold to each customer. Motorists grew impatient. Fistfights broke out, and occasionally, gunfire. President Nixon called for America to end its dependence on foreign oil. 'Let us set as our national goal ... that by the end of this decade we will have developed the potential to meet our own energy needs without depending on any foreign energy source,' he said. We have still not met this goal. ~ Albert Marrin

Years later Nixon aide John Ehrlichman seemed to offer up a smoking gun when he told a reporter: The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did. ~ Chris Hayes

Many people in Nixon's camp had genuine faith in affirmative action. It wasn't designed to fail, but it wasn't designed to succeed, either; the intent behind it was not rooted in a desire to help black people attain equal standing in society. It was riot insurance. It was a financial incentive for blacks to stay in their own communities and out of the suburbs. (183) ~ Tanner Colby

I met this woman, I fell in love with her, and I'm a public figure. ~ Cynthia Nixon

This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation, because as a result of what happened in this week, the world is bigger, infinitely. ~ Richard M. Nixon

I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. ~ Barack Obama

Me and Don Henley are fast acquaintances now, or something. He actually got on stage and sang with me. ~ Mojo Nixon

To write a novel, you need an iron butt. ~ Richard M. Nixon

I think TV is the only place left where you can have a midsize something. ~ Cynthia Nixon

I'm a very big public school advocate. ~ Cynthia Nixon

Americans
must recognize that a highly sophisticated, highly advanced po
litical system, which required many centuries to develop in the
West, may not be best for other nations which have far different
traditions and are still in an earlier stage of development. What
matters is that these governments are consciously, deliberately and programmatically developing in the direction of greater
liberty, greater abundance, broader choice and increased popular involvement in the process of government. ~ Richard M. Nixon

A public man must never forget that he loses his usefulness when he as an individual, rather than his policy, becomes the issue. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Things have gotten so bad in this country, you look back at Richard Nixon with nostalgia. ~ Ralph Nader

Together they [President Nixon and Secretary Kissinger] pursued ends that frequently had a tenuous link with reality, using means that were not merely disproportionate but counterproductive and untrue to those values they were meant to defend. In fact neither man demonstrated much faith in those values. ~ William Shawcross

Bill Clinton was impeached primarily for criminal conduct: lying under oath and misleading a federal grand jury about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Nixon would have been impeached for a wide array of criminal acts, as well as abuses of power. ~ Jonathan Turley

Some friends of mine who are actors feel directing shuts them down and kills all their impulses, but the worst thing for me is if I feel a director hasn't noticed. ~ Cynthia Nixon

We have to judge presidents not only by the long-term consequences of their actions but also by how they make citizens in their own day feel. One reason that Nixon never succeeded in his comeback campaign is that he had such a negative impact on public trust at the time of his presidency. ~ David Greenberg

The greatest honor history can bestow is that of peacemaker. ~ Richard M. Nixon

John Kennedy won the first televised presidential debate among those watching it, while Richard Nixon won among those listening on the radio. ~ Susan Estrich

As President Nixon says, presidents can do almost anything, and President Nixon has done many things that nobody would have thought of doing. ~ Golda Meir

Tell them to send everything that can fly. ~ Richard M. Nixon

I hereby resign this office of president of the United States. ~ Richard M. Nixon

I brought myself down. I impeached myself by resigning. ~ Richard M. Nixon

It is necessary for me to establish a winner image. Therefore, I have to beat somebody. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Nothing could be more personal than a tape. ~ Julie Nixon Eisenhower

I have made my own decisions ever since my father died. ~ Pat Nixon

I contend that, in spite of all that might be said about Watergate, Richard Nixon was good for the poor people of America. ~ Tony Campolo

The Congress, the Administration and the public all share a profound commitment to the rescue of our natural environment, and the preservation of the Earth as a place both habitable by and hospitable to man. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House. ~ John F. Kennedy

I went at one stage to turn on the radio, but he glared
at me so ferociously that I hurriedly lean't back in my
seat and looked out the window instead.
- heller 1 ~ J.D. Nixon

For years politicians have promised the Moon. I'm the first one to be able to deliver it. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974. ~ Gerald R. Ford

Honesty may not be the best policy, but it is worth trying once in a while. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Nixon was becoming a discombobulated president, politically on the run. His interior secretary, Walter Hickel, posted a letter to the president that leaked to the Washington Star: "Youth in its protest must be heard." Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe were all young people in their day, Hickel argued; their "protests fell on deaf ears and finally led to war." (The president's response was to bulldoze the White House tennis court, beloved of Hickel.) ~ Rick Perlstein