MY WASHINGTON Evan Thomas, author and journalist BY KEVIN CHAFFEE
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WHAT WAS THE MOST SURPRISING THING YOU LEARNED WHILE WRITING “BEING NIXON: A MAN DIVIDED”? Nixon is seen by many people as a cartoon figure, “Tricky Dick” or worse, the malevolent architect of Watergate. He had a dark side and did disgrace his office. But I found there was another side to Nixon — a man who wanted to be upbeat, optimistic and do the right thing. Many of his actions were decent. He was an early proponent of civil rights, for example. But he was constantly wrestling with his demons, and when it mattered most, he lost. WHAT WAS THE STRANGEST? Nixon’s chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, called him “the weirdest man I ever met.” He would go on late night walkabouts. During the 1968 campaign, his staff would find him in all night diners, looking haggard and sleepless. Most famously, he went to the Lincoln Memorial at 5 a.m. to talk to anti-war protesters.
his enemies. When he realized that Senator Ed Muskie of Maine was likely to ride the new environmental movement to the Democratic nomination in 1972, Nixon outfoxed him by creating the Environmental Protection Agency. DID ANYONE REALLY KNOW THE MAN? No one knew Nixon, including Nixon. WHAT MIGHT HIS LEGACY HAVE BEEN IF HE HADN’T BEEN CAUGHT UP IN THE WATERGATE AFFAIR? Nixon might have left a strong legacy on foreign policy — detente with the Soviet Union and China and peace in the Middle East. He was also reshaping the Republican Party in a way that anticipated Reagan. WHAT IS YOUR NEXT PROJECT? I’m going to write a book about dropping the atom bomb.
MY TOP SPOTS 1. Walking on the C&O Canal Towpath Trail, especially when the canal is frozen and the skaters are out. It’s like a painting from a Dutch master. 2. Visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial when no one else is there — usually early mornings in the dead of winter. It is severe and ghostly and moving. 3. Going to Washington National Cathedral for a big time funeral — a president or notables like Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee or owner Katharine Graham. A place made for pomp.
NIXON WAS VILIFIED BY THE LEFT, BUT WASN’T HE ACTUALLY A RATHER LIBERAL PRESIDENT? His rhetoric and his core beliefs were conservative, but he was an activist who believed in getting things done. That meant working with a Democratic congress on social welfare legislation. He was also politically expedient and he took delight in outflanking and confounding
4. The 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial on the north side of the Mall is a best-kept secret and surprisingly moving: “We mutually pledge our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” 5. I love the American Luminists in the West Wing of the National Gallery of Art. 6. Ice-skating with a friend at the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden Ice Rink on a winter morning.
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
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E VA N T H O M A S P H OTO BY O S C I E T H O M A S ; C & O C A N A L P H OTO C O U RT E SY N P S ; V I E T N A M V E T E R A N S M E M O R I A L P H OTO F R O M I N T E R N A L A R C H I V E S ; 5 6 S I G N R S O F D EC L A RAT I O N O F I N D E P E N D E N C E P H OTO CO U RT E SY N P S ; N AT I O N A L P O RT RA I T GA L L E RY P H OTO CO U RT E SY W I K I M E D I A CO M M O N S . ;
One of the capital’s most prolific writers, Thomas was a reporter and editor at Newsweek from 1991 to 2015, a teacher at Harvard and Princeton between 2003 and 2014 and a longtime panelist on the “inside Washington” TV show. His many books include biographies of Dwight Eisenhower, Robert F. Kennedy and, most recently, Richard Nixon.