Nixon wasn't so bad. In fact, if Watergate hadn't have gone down he would have most likely been remembered rather fondly.

He could have exempted himself from WW2 but opted to join up and fight for his country, and was regarded as an excellent leader and a generally good guy.

He was the first president to come up with a decent(not amazing) strategy for vietnam and forced them to the bargaining table which got us "Peace with Honor" and ensured that Vietnam was not a lost war in a technical sense. In any event he got America out of the war.

And what about his domestic policies? He was very moderate, much more so than Reagan or Bush (not to say he was anywhere near their level.) In 1972 Nixon was re-elected in one of the biggest landslide election victories in history. He carried 49 of the 50 states and 60% of the vote. He must have been doing something right.

Oh and dont forget his China excursion that opened the way for America's more friendly relationship with that power.

As others have said, Nixon's only problem was that he got caught. All presidents are political animals, you have to be to ascend to that position. You're only fooling yourself if you dont believe they dont play their little political games.. all of them.

I find it very ironic that Nixon is set opposite to Kennedy as some kind of dichotomy of good and evil. If Kennedy's boys hadn't beaten Nixon's boys at stuffing the ballot boxes we would have seen a 1960 Nixon administration. (Not too mention all the other games Kennedy played, especially regarding Cuba.)

Even my hero Reagan played games. Although I admire him because he was honest domestically and really created a nice atmosphere with congress and shot straight with the American people most of the time, you would be blind to ignore the geopolitical chess match he played with the soviets.

They all are less than forthright most of the time, and often simply lie. The real measure is whether they play game with the best interests of the American people in mind, or the best interests of themselves. I think Nixon truly did have the best interests of America in his heart, even if his execution was clumsy at best.

We all like to gawk at the speeder getting the ticket on the interstate, but deep down we know it could very well have been any of us in his position.