Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image

To his conservative supporters in 1940s southern California, Richard Nixon was a populist everyman
to liberal intellectuals of the 1950s, he was "Tricky Dick," a devious manipulator
to 1960s radicals, a shadowy conspirator
to the Washington press corps, a pioneering spin doctor
to his loyal Middle Americans, a victim of liberal hatred
to recent historians, an unlikely liberal. Nixon's Shadow rediscovers these competing images of the protean Nixon, showing how each was created and disseminated in American culture and how Nixon's tinkering with his own image often backfired. During Nixon's long tenure on the national stage and through the succession of "new Nixons" so brilliantly described here Americans came to realize how thoroughly politics relies on manipulation. Since Nixon, it has become impossible to discuss politics without asking: What is the politician's "real" character? How authentic or inauthentic is he? What image is he trying to project? More than what Nixon did, this fascinating book reveals what Nixon meant."