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Nixon Agonistes
🕑 Added 2022-11-06 17:35:03 +0000 UTC"What is best and weakest in America goes out to reciprocating strength and deficiencies in Richard Nixon." It's difficult to think of a more electric meeting of author and subject than Garry Wills and Richard Nixon, a meeting that produced what might be the best book ever written about American politics, Wills's Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-Made Man. What begins as reporting from the campaign trail during the 1968 presidential contest—where Wills introduces us to Nixon, George Wallace, Nelson Rockefeller, and more—eventually becomes a profound meditation on the fate of liberalism in the United States. Wills found in Nixon the key to unlocking the reigning—but by then faltering—myths of their country's history and self-understanding, and what they reveal about each other.
Along the way he discusses the complex psychological dance between Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower; takes us on a tour of Nixon's hometown, Whittier, California; describes the Republicans' "southern strategy"; examines the roiling anger and protests over the Vietnam War; and offers on-the-ground reportage from the 1968 conventions (the GOP's in Miami, the Democrats', infamously, in Chicago). Matt and Sam try to make sense of it all and ponder what Nixon Agonistes might say about how we got here and where we're going.
Sources:
Garry Wills, Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-Made Man (1970)
Confessions of a Conservative (1979)
Outsider Looking In: Adventures of an Observer (2010)
Kevin Phillips, The Emerging Republican Majority (1968)
Tom Wolfe, The New Journalism (1973)
KYE, "Joan Didion, Conservative, (w/ Sam Tanenhaus)" Jan 13, 2022
Comments
Joseph Welch
Very good episode, but I'd respectfully disagree with the position that Nixon didn't need to cheat to win in 1972, because he beat McGovern in 49 states. McGovern only got the nomination in 1972 after Muskie was sabotaged by Nixon's cheating apparatus! You can't fully understand the psychology of Nixon's cheating in the 1972 general election without taking into account his cheating in in the 1972 primary.
Kit Loekle
After listening to this episode I dug out my old unread copy of "Six Crises" and read it, ordered "Nixon Agonistes" (which I'm reading now), subscribed to the podcast, and collected some of my Nixon memorabilia: https://i.imgur.com/k8knpcL.jpg
Kathy Anderson
This episode was the one that finally got me to subscribe to KYE on Patreon! I love the enthusiasm and erudition of this podcast.
Jonathan Cope
Great ep. Random aside: My introduction to Kevin Phillips was as a critic of George W. Bush and his turn to the religious right in American Theocracy in the aughts.
Tristan K. Husby
There doesn't appear to be an audio book edition of Nixon Agonistes. Maybe the KYE boys can co-narrate it?
Know Your Enemy
It's interesting—Wills never seemed loved that much by Commonweal editors over the years, so when I came to the magazine interested in his work, I definitely drifted toward his political writing because I heard a lot of "eh..." about his Catholic books. I'm catching up now—Bare Ruined Choirs and Why Jesus Matters are both ones I like, but I admit I have more to read.
pixlaw
Love this episode. I've been a Wills fan for the better part of 30 years. One thing I'd really like to hear is Matt's take on Wills' writings on christianity and the Catholic church. Frankly, I found my ability to take the Catholic church and the mainline churches (much less the evangelical/fundamentalist churches ) seriously was greatly damaged by Wills' book Why Priests? It's just a stunning rebuttal to the claims of authority held by Christian priests, of any denomination.
cole cecchetto
I'm looking forward to reading this book; you've done a good job hyping it up. I made myself to read Lasch's book on Progress and his book on the self and was somewhat disappointed, but this text seems to be better positioned to really make people reflect on what America is. Do you think Wills's critique of 'liberal' social mechanisms, a relatively free market and constitutional government for instance, in terms of having a false self-conception as self-regulating instances of freedom comes packaged with a prescription for what taking interdependency seriously would mean? Or is he rather silent on what a better America would look like?
Bill Sallak
Remarkably good episode, easily top 5, up there with (IMHO) everything you've done with Patrick Blanchfield, etc. One request: if you indeed do a Nixon-centric episode, please consider having Justin Sherin (@wychstreet on Twitter), as your guest. He runs the Nixon parody account on Twitter and really has a bead on his tone and stance. Thanks again for everything!
Know Your Enemy
As to the first part of your question, Wills's not only is religious, but has a PhD in Classics—I think he brought a very well-stocked mind, and heart, to these matters. (Matt)
Dan
Great ep guys. Seems like there are some good comparisons to the Lasch episode. Lasch brings his depth from the psychological perspective, while Wills is more religious. It shows in the language they use to illustrate their perspectives. Both are great examples of depth that you just don’t see anymore. Is it the lack of reading today? I don’t know but it’s disappeared in different ways on both sides. The depth of the religiousness on the right-liberal is overtaken by the id and the depth of the psychological left-liberal by the superego. Personally I think we don’t have depth because of the lack of intimacy people experience in their lives— not just romantic, but intimate knowledge and experience of other people who we let challenge us to be better, and actually need us in the face of real circumstances. Too much of that is cut off by the over obsession with the core of this liberal idea of competition in all things— we make up shit to compete in just to live up to this ideal and end up alienating ourselves from each other: grades, sports, the efficient market hypothesis, most “meritocracy”, corporate and academic politics— we let fundamentally dictate our relations from the beginning. The alternative is morality that is something that has integrity outside of measuring yourself in terms of these kinds of competition.
Fritz Edler
Just beginning this episode. But it appears a missed opportunity (maybe basis for another episode) to not deal with the fact of the '70s counterculture as so completely focused on the importance of the individual and the conservatives reaction against their own.
Know Your Enemy
Yay! We had so much fun recording it. <3
natesicles
One of my all-time favorite episodes. So great
Know Your Enemy
Thanks Dan, that means a lot—especially with this book and episode! (Matt)
Dan Anderson
As KYE's resident small town construction worker fan boy, I just want to say thank you guys again for shedding light on US political history and trends in a way that is understandable and accessible. Loved this episode!
