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dlssmith · #2 03-03-2007, 12:09 PM

What a fascinating time it was. A lot of debate has taken place on the what-ifs? What if Nixon had not resigned, what if he had been impeached and removed from office? Would congress have had the resolve to actually remove the President?

Nixon has been much maligned, I believe, but removing himself from office probably did save much anguish, and perhaps even the office itself. Who knows if a frustrated electorate would have produced an amendment to the constitution altering the powers of the President?

There was a perception, in the wake of the 60's and Viet Nam, and the killing of a President, of a weakened US. The glory of American resolve was tested from within. The unity of the Federalist experiment was tested, and continues to be tested. And the Nixon episode is part of it. The US is perceived as being weakened by the current President for his resolve to take preemptive action in the middle east. I use the word, perceived, because I don't know it to be true, and no one can, in the present moment. When viewed as history, we'll know for sure. But it will take 50 or 100 years, not 10 or 15. After all, we're just coming around to an understanding of the civil war, reconstruction, and the new deal, and their impacts on Federalism. So how can we view, honestly, events that happened yesterday?