This year proved to be one of the wilder presidential election years in our nation’s history. As I followed the constant ups and downs, I found, as always, that the most soothing balms in tumultuous times are good books. Fortunately, 2024 gave me many choices.
Presidential history is my bread and butter, and there was a strong slate of books worth reading in this category this year. One of my favorites was Behind Closed Doors, by former Nixon and Reagan aide Ken Khachigian. Khachigian’s closeness to both men gave him some superior access — and insights. In a lengthy appendix that is worth reading as we are about to see the start of a new presidential administration, Khachigian provides an eleven-page memo from Nixon to Reagan in which Nixon advised Reagan to make sure his political appointees are loyal. Nixon gave two interesting examples of non-loyalists joining his administration, to its detriment. First was Leon Panetta, who “opposed everything we stood for and eventually resigned and now is a liberal Democratic member of Congress.” He also noted Henry Kissinger’s hiring of liberals “like Morton Halperin, Tony Lake, etc., into the National Security Council staff.” According to Nixon, Kissinger assured him that “they were ‘professionals’ and were honorable men” and yet, Nixon wrote, “they have to a man turned on him and on me.”
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