The Big Read: Richard Nixon’s influence and impact survives in US public life

Richard Nixon had a great influence and his impact is still apparent in much of US public life, says Stanley Kutler.

FORTY YEARS ago, on August 8, Richard M Nixon made unprecedented US constitutional history when he resigned the presidency amid the disgrace and scandal of Watergate. He cannot escape that legacy — for he left an indelible record of his deeds in a treasure trove of tapes and papers that continue to fascinate us with revelations.

Alas! Watergate is Nixon’s spot that will not out. The break-in, the ensuing revelation of what Nixon’s attorney general, John Mitchell, called the “White House Horrors”, the US congressional and prosecutorial investigations that considered those travesties and Nixon’s eventual resignation laid bare unprecedented instances of presidential abuses of power and yes, criminality.