Nixon’s insecurity his downfall — Kissinger

Press, 2 March 1982, Page 8

Nixon’s insecurity his downfall — Kissinger

NZPA-Reuter New York The former American Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, says of the disgraced Richard Nixon in the second volume of his memoirs that “no modern President could have been less equipped by nature for political life.” ' In excerpts from “Years of Upheaval”' published in the latest issue of “Time” magazine, Dr Kissinger also says: “The greatest tribute Nixon received was the quiescence of the nations of the world while he lay mortally wounded.” “When every minor-league American bureaucrat dared to challenge him with impunity, foreign leaders almost without exception remained respectful,” Dr Kissinger said, referring to the period of the Watergate bugging scandal which forced Mr Nixon to resign in 1974.

.“The majority did so because they - . . thought that they were better off with the international system as it existed ' than with any alternative that they could imagine.” Dr Kissinger poured praise on his former chief for his accomplishments in foreign affairs, but wrote that in the end Mr Nixon “paid the price of congenital insecurity.” “Few men so needed to be loved and were so shy about the grammar of love.” he said. Dr Kissinger wrote: “Painfully shy, Nixon?-dreaded meeting new people. Fearful of rejection he constructed his relationships so that a rebuff, if it came . would seem to have originated with him. “Deeply insecure he first acted as if fate had singled him out for rejection and then he contrived to make

sure that his premonition came to pass. None of us really knew the inner man.” Recalling the climax of the Watergate scandal, Dr Kissinger said: “Only those who lived through the fervid atmosphere of those months can fully appreciate the debt the nation owes Al Haig (now the American Secretary of State)." “By sheer willpower, dedication and self-discipline he succeeded in conveying the impression of a functioning White House. “To be sure only a man of - ’ Colossal self-confidence could have ’ sustained such a role. His methods were sometimes rough, his insistence on formal status could be grating. But the role assigned to ■ Haig’was not 'one that'-could ■ be filled by choirboys., Without him, I doubt that a' catastrophe could have been avoided.”