Witcover's 'The Resurrection of Richard Nixon'
an Intriguing Study of President and Associates
Crucial years in the life of Rich-
between the two during the
ard M. Nixon (1962-69) present a
Presidential campaign, stated:
significant portrait of the Presi-
"Mitchell's concern over Clioti-
dent. The story is told by a man
ner's influence with Nixon con-
who has known the President in-
tinued even after the election"
timately for many years. In "The
. . . It was not until Nixon had
Resurrection of Richard Nixon,"
been in the White House a full
published by Putnam, Jules Wit-
year that he felt he could per-
cover, veteran Washington report-
mit Chotiner to 'merge.' Then
er, introduces Nixon's close
he appointed him as a special
friends and co-workers and tells
counsel to the President, in time
the story of a career that has been
to help with plans for the 1970
cause for many puzzling situa-
Congressional elections."
tions.
There is a conflicting reference
It is a many-sided portrait and to Max M. Fisher in the Witcover
its importance lies as much in the story.
interpretation of the life and char-
Witcover tells why Nixon, after
acter of the man who was so con- losing the presidential election in
troversial and who succeeded in 1960, sought the governorship of
his major aim — to attain the California as a sanctuary from a
Presidency — as the political lead- possible future re-round against
ers, who either supported or bat- Kennedy. The strange, bitter out-
tled him, and his associates.
burst of his "last press confer-
Among the men depicted is ence" was the final action of Nix-
on's
doomed California campaign,
Murray Chotiner, who still re-
and it is here that Witcover's nar-
tains an important role in the rative
begins.
Nixon entourage — about whom
Witcover shows how Nixon be-
Witcover writes: "Chotiner, the gan
his
painstaking — and painful
old political mentor generally
rehabilitation, molding himself
considered to be the architect of —
into
a
man
who would never again
Nixon's slashing anti-Communist
campaign style in the early, bit-
ter California races for Con-
gress against Jerry Voohis and
for the Senate against Helen
Gahagan Douglas."
Witcover's analysis of Nixon is
interesting: "The private Nixon
. . always had the capacity for
being hurt, for bitterness. At times
of great personal crisis he also
had the guts to show it in private,
even- at the risk of damaging his
own political self-interest, which
in the public portrait of the man
always was the paramount con-
sideration . . . Shooting from the
hip in public however was some-
thing Nixon did not often do. He
was too aware of the damage that
could come from blunt, impulsive
talk in front of outsiders . . ."
Nixon's predictions on the
Middle East just prior to the
Six-Day War provide a rather
puzzling, perhaps amusing, note.
Nixon predicted there would not
be a war, that if ft was a war
neither side could win "a quick
victory," then came a short war
and a quick Israeli victory. Nix-
on's comment on the possibility
of a long war was made while
he was flying aboard a Moroc-
can Airlines plane with Pat Bu-
chanan from Paris to Rabat,
and then he learned what was
happening in June of 1967.
lose control, who would never fail
to deliberate over every word,
every movement, every action in
his political life.
"The Resurrection of Richard
Nixon" is intriguing and fascinat-
ing. It is a study of what it takes
to make a President but, as the
author comments, "it may be that
the blueprint of Richard Nixon's
success will not automatically
chart the way for future candi-
dates, simply because the essen-
tial ingredient was not the tech-
nology but the man who made use
of it . . . Only a man of establish.
ed national stature and reputation
could have shunned discourse in
an election year and remained in
contention, and only a man of
iron self-discipline could have
hewed to the isolation imposed
upon him by the strategy that
succeeded so narrowly. Nixon's
self-control was forged in the fires
of his bitter defeats of 1960 and
1962 and tempered in the next six
uncertain years. He learned to
master himself, and when his sec-
ond chance at the presidency
finally came, he was ready."
U.S. Jews Have the Right to Disagree
With Israel Policies, Says Lelyveld
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The right
of American Jews to disagree with
official policies of the Israeli gov-
ernment was upheld Tuesday by
Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld, president
of the American Jewish Congress.
He delivered the opening ad-
dress at the eighth annual Israel-
American dialogue at the Wiez-
mann Institute of Science at Re-
hovot, attended by 40 American
and Israel scholars. Rabbi Lely-
veld maintained that American
Jews have "both the right and the
responsibility to make their views
known and their opinions felt."
He stressed that an American
Jewish leadership that consistent-
ly acted only as an instrument of
Israeli policy would soon be with-
out a following — "and deservedly
As American
Jews, Rabbi
Lelyveld said, "our primary re-
sponsibility is to provide the fi-
nancial and poltical aid that
Israel requires for her very sur-
vival. Only second to that is the
responsibility to be neither un-
critical nor silent on Israel's
domestic as well as foreign af-
fairs.
purpose is to restore the pre-1967
borders that left Israel so vulner-
able."
Dr. Sabin, an American who de-
veloped the oral polio vaccine,
said that the interests of Israel
and the United States are paral-
lel in face of Soviet expansion in
the Middle East. "American help
to Israel must not be given as
charity or even out of friendship
but because America's national
interest requires it," he said.
Dr. Robert Gordis, professor at
the Jewish Theological Seminary
of America, urged Israel to adopt
the American principal of separa-
1 tion of church and state.
Yehuda Blum of the Hebrew
University took the issue with him.
He claimed that Dr. Gordis "mis-
interpreted" the image of religion
in Israel. Some participants in the the partnership with the Nazis
dialogue noted the absence of
entered into by former grand
youth representative on both the
mufti of Jerusalem, Ilaj Amin
American and Israeli sides. One
el Husseini, and other Arab
sneaker remarked, "Scrnewhere on
leaders early in World War II
the way we lost the New Left."
has continued between contem-
Dr. Albert Sabin, president of porary Arab rulers and surviv-
the Weizmann Institute, warned ing Nazis who found a haven in
that "the acceptance by Jordan
Arab countries.
and Egypt of the Rogers plan for
They charge that "The number of
a Middle East settlement is, in my
German
and Austrian Nazis who
opinion, merely a tactic whose
work directly for the Egyptian
government is estimated at sever-
al hundred" including former SS
and SA members, ex-Gestapo offi-
cers, members of Hitler's propa-
The Tuberculosis and Health So ganda ministry, and former Nazi
scientists.
ciety of Wayne County announced
In addition, they charge that
it will provide free "NO SMOK-
ING" signs to all physicians, den- certain Nazi war criminals high
tists, businesses, hospitals and on the wanted list were given
other institutions that do not allow material aid by Arab governments
smoking on their premises. Re- enabling them to escape and hide
quests for the signs may be made out in South America for the past
by writing to the TB and Health 25 years.
One of them, Treblinka death
Society, 153 E. Elizabeth, Detroit,
camp commandant Fritz Stengle,
48201, or by calling 961-3712.
was recently extradited from Bra-
GAULT GALLERIES, 325 S. zil to stand trial for war crimes in
Woodward, Birmingham, is pre- Austria. For years Stengle was
senting a one-man showing of oils "holed up in Damascus," the
and watercolors of David Staves British report said.
It claimed that "These Nazis
of Lincolnshire, England. Staves
will appear today from 7 p.m., are deeply involved in a propa-
President Nixon, feuded. Wit- and Saturday and Monday, from ganda machine aimed at Israel and
world Jewry."
cover, describing the differences noon to 6 p.m.
Describing the strengths and
weaknesses of Nixon's logic and
commenting on his interpretation
of the Middle East situation, Wit-
cover appended this footnote:
"Some time after Nixon's twin
errors of judgment on this war, I
referred to them in an article
about his reputation as a prognos-
ticator. The reference generated
a friendly letter from Pat Buchan-
and that said: " I think it would
he fair to say that Mr. Nixon was
right about the Syrians and Egyp-
tians lacking the power to wage
war, that he was right that the
Israelis had the power to wage
war, that he was right . . that
the Israelis did not want a war.
The error came, I think, in the
underlying assumption that the
Israelis could or would tolerate
the new status quo imposed by
Mr. Nasser. Mr. Nixon held the
assumption that there was still a
chance that it could be worked
out peacefully — but about that
time the Israelis had obviously
concluded otherwise. So much for
the record; the prediction was
wrong . . . For my own part I
don't know the origin of Mr. Nix-
on's prediction that it would be
a 'long war' once started, and, in-
deed, this would seem inconsistent
with his statement about the bel-
ligerent parties 'lacking the power'
to wage war.' "
Apparently Chotiner and John
M. Mitchell, who was to be-
come Attorney General under
Brevities
In-Group to Step Out
Kahn's 'Passionate
People' Out as a
Fawcett Paperback
A cocktail party-dance to the
JC Orchestra will be held by "25
and Up, the In-Group," 9 p.m. Aug.
21 at the Rascal House. For in-
When "The Passionate People" formation, call Henrietta Lewis,
by Roger Kahn first appeared as LI 6-0903.
a William Morrow hard cover .1n
1968, it created somewhat of a sen-
DICK STEIN
sation. Its popular appeal, the
Pre.ke?,t,
aim to weed out some hidden fac-
tors in American Jewish experi-
THE DICK STEIN ORCHESTRA
ences, gave it some status.
AND
Now it is available as a Fawcett
THE JEEP SMITH ORCHESTRA
paperback. It will no doubt again
LI 7-2770
draw a large buying public — pri-
marily because it delves into many
intimacies of American Jews.
It must not be viewed as note-
worthy American Jewish history.
With every invitation order of
It has many appeals for many peo-
Wedding, Bar-Mitava, Shower etc.
ple, but it must be judged as pos-
sessing many shortcomings.
The Detroit section, for instance,
gives a couple of pages to Max
Fisher; and it speaks of Henry
Ford's and Coughlin's anti-Semi-
28631 SOUTKFIELD also
tism, but Detroit, like other com-
NORTHLAND SHOPPING CENTER
munities with historical appeals,
is shortchanged in the presenta-
352-4114
352-6780
tion of the story of a community
For Further Information
with great contributions.
For its sensational angles, the
Kahn book is appealing. As a his-
Ara You Looking For
tory or an evaluative study of
That Quick Pick Up?
American Jews, it falls short of
the mark as a book of very great
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She told me to pray every day,
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It warn't any good to me without
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or four times, but somehow I
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Twain
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Sylvia's Fashions
the latest in
• Sportswear
Report Discloses
`Several Hundred' .
Nazis in Egypt
NEW YORK (JTA)—A pro-Israel
group in London has issued a dos-
sier of former German Nazis which
it claims are still in the employ
of President Gamal Abdel Nasser
and the Egyptian government and
would have been in charge of liquid-
ating the Jews of Israel had the
Arabs won the 1967 war.
The list and background material
was prepared by the Labor Friends
of Israel, an organization of Brit-
ish Labor Party MPs and other
Laborites.
It was reprinted in the April
issue of Shalom, a publication of
the American Trade Union Coun-
cil for Histadrut, Israel's labor
federation.
According to the British group,
Friday, August 7, 1970-31
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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