European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 24, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday april 24, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 15 at once the weakest William f. Buckley Clare Boothe Luce once re marked that All Public figures will be associated with a single achievement never mind How Complex their career. And True we can say about Abraham Lincoln that he won the civil War about Thomas Edison that he discovered electricity about Francisco Franco that he rescued Spain. But with what achievement will Richard Nixon be associated a Genera Tion from now Only a negative achieve ment he is the Only american president in history to be kicked out of office. Even so in America and in much of the world he was the dominant political figure. It can be said Only of men who take very Large strides in history that in one year he could win re election. With a runaway majority and inless than two years leave the White House in greater Ignominy than was Ever be fore suffered by a departing Ameri can president. His excommunication from Public life was so decisive his subsequent return has to be interpreted As a personal Victory the most spectacular reopening in contemporary political history. Remarkable not Only because he came Back so to speak into Power but that he did so notwithstanding the in playability of those hostile to him. In the darkest Days of August 1974, it would have seemed unlikely thata single member of the Washington press corps could be persuaded to be civil to Richard Nixon. Ten years later address ing the Washington press club he was Given a standing ovation. It is an important part of his singular Story to remind oneself that he had really no spectacular personal Talent. He was not a great orator nor a great writer. The one professional skill he had he was for Mally disbarred from using. He had Only the Force of his Peculiar personality and his Mastery of the political Craft. He competed during his career in 40 state Politi Cal primaries. He lost one. Donald Rumsfeld was his chief of staff when Nixon left the White House. As you d have guessed he reminisced a few years ago in conversation when Nixon got to Casa Pacifica in California late that afternoon in August the White House line was still connected. He was in a Daze president of the United states until noon one minute later nothing. He was master of a Villa which without a president to preside Over it was simply a big House on the Pacific Ocean. But when Nixon got there he used the strongest of Ronen Telephone to the White House exactly As he d been doing for six years. He must have called 10,15 times a Day and of course the White House operators did t want to be responsible for breaking the trance so they d put him straight through to me although i were still his chief of  How did he get the message that twas All Over i asked. On the fifth Day i recognized that reality had to get to him. So when he called the next morning i told the operator to. Put him on hold. It had the magical effect. Suddenly he realized he was t president and that he would henceforth be treated in Calls through the White House As anyone else might be but Nixon did t abandon his sense of priorities. A Day or so later he reached in Geneva the late Irving Lazar. The Exchange was Given to me As follows or. Lazar you Are known As the no. 1 agent in  Well thank you very much or. Presi Dent. Yes i suppose id have to own unto having that  Well i d like to see you tomorrow morning Here in  or president i have five Days appointments backed up Here in Europe appointments made weeks and month Sago ,.- a. .,.a. I take it you do not want to handle my memoirs i have been told by some one who knows his Way about in the pub Lishing world that my memoirs May be Worth As much As a million  of course i d be glad to handle you memoirs but there simply is no Way 1 can get to you by  Well then make it the Day after to  ". ,.-. Irving Lazar finally succeeded so to speak in putting president Nixon on hold but by the time he got to Casa Pacific a week later he brought Richard Nixon contracts for his memoirs worth$2.5 million. He had begun the return journey. Retirement suited Nixon singularly Well. Henry Kissinger in his own memoirs had remarked on How Little Nixon actually enjoyed the life he had struggled so hard to achieve inthe White House he hated meeting with the press and state functions and engaged in much that chiefs of state engage in with a visible detestation of ceremony and Light  now was All gone and he had Only his tiny staff his yellow pads and the publishers waiting for Book after Book. He resumed those travels he did enjoy briefing foreigners being briefed by them renewing the company of men and women he had met when he was Sun King. Gradually the agents of Power every where in the world acknowledged that Richard Nixon s prestige did t derive exclusively from the office of president. He had a sense for the feeling of the Ameri can political scene invaluable to those who needed to feel that they had a confident grasp of it. During the Goldwater upheaval Nixon was the loyalist but he had Learned in 1962, in California the lesson he never forgot. We were driving through Centra Park in 1967 after a television program. I Learned in 1962," he told me that you can t do without the support of conservatives. But i Learned also that you can t win with just the conservatives a year later he won the presidency. During those ill fated years he lost the Vietnam War pulled out of the bretto Woods Alliance declared wage and Price controls and travelled to China. Not exactly a Majestic Roll for a right Wing american president. For All the talk about the triumphant scr sumption of diplomatic relations with China it has never been Clear just what was achieved by going to Beijing in 1972, in Stead of waiting another few years until map and the cultural revolution had run their course. Indeed one More remarkable achievement of Richard Nixon was How he earned the special affection and Admira Tion of . Conservatives without Ever significantly advancing their cause. In the final analysis he was a he Roic personal figure whose life was lived on the Public stage he was at once the weakest of men and the strongest a Mas Ter of self abuse and of self recovery. He was stained by worldliness and was driven by the hunger to serve. For americans under 70, there never was a world without Richard Nixon. No Many people can pitch whole generations into loneliness As he did. , c Universal Pross. A president who left a mixed clouded legacy Richard m. Nixon came from the right went this left and defied every Label but the last the presi Dent who resigned. Until then each time the old Nixon seemed to fit a pattern a new Nixon  was the free Market Republican who imposed wage and Price controls the ardent foe of communism who opened doors to Beijing and arms deals in mos cow the pragmatic president who wanted to undo the democrats great society with a version of his  years ago Nixon proposed a National health insurance plan with employer mandates to help pay for it. It would have been done through private insurers with the government setting minimum Stan Dards for working americans. He proposed Federal insurance for the  critics said it was t Good enough and the proposal got  Nixon reorganization plan created the Environ mental Protection Agency he signed the Bill that set up the consumer product safety commission saying it was High time that the government provided for comprehensive  sought welfare Reform with help for the working poor and requirements that recipients take jobs or Job training but could t get it through the Senate. An idea ahead of its time Nixon called it in his memoirs. This was a real War on poverty but the liberals could not accept it he wrote especially from a conservative Republican president. Not that conservatives saw him that Way especially Nyhen the Nixon administration began requiring that Federal construction contractors take affirmative action to meet minority hiring goals. That began in 1970, the year after he took office and Nixon said conserva Tives considered it heresy. His Vietnam War policy was another matter. He was elected promising to end the War and win the peace i never said i had a plan much less a secret plan he wrote but it took him four years to gain a tenuous settlement. Walter r. Mears under Nixon policy american troops were gradually withdrawn the last of them leaving in March 1973, while the administration tried to negotiate peace and kept up the air War against North Vietnam and secretly until it leaked in Cambodia. The anti War protests were constant sometimes at his White House Doorstep. But that did not deter his opening to China re China during two decades of enmity without Contact a policy the Young Nixon embraced in Congress As an ardent conservative foe of communists. The new Chin policy was an undertaking no democratic president could have risked. It is a mixed legacy clouded now like the rest of the Nixon Story by the disgrace of watergate. Nixon said that in his later years he had come to accept the scan dal and the resignation simply As one major defeat Ina career that involved both victories and losses both peaks and  c the associated press the weekly Roundup of excerpts from stateside editorials will run tomorrow