Staff Reports
Recent reports that the Justice Department is re-examining the conduct of the special prosecutor who probed Watergate have stirred up a strange new nostalgia for Richard Nixon among parts of the New Right. The idea that Nixon can be cleaned up and repackaged as a conservative role model is making the rounds — and it deserves a clear, unsentimental look.
DOJ probe and the Nixon revival: what’s really happening
Last week’s reporting that the DOJ is reviewing whether the Watergate special prosecutor acted improperly has given Nixon fans fresh oxygen. That review is not a verdict of innocence for the 37th president, but it does give political actors a chance to recast history. Some on the New Right are eager: they see Nixon as a hard-nosed partisan who outwitted the coastal elite and the liberal press. Fine — but parsing prosecutors’ actions is not the same as erasing a resignation and a record of serious mistakes.
Don’t mistake ruthlessness for a conservative blueprint
Nixon was smart, strategic and tough. He also bequeathed mistakes that conservatives should not copy. His price controls and accommodative monetary stance helped set the stage for the stagflation decade. He expanded the regulatory state with agencies like the EPA and OSHA. He pushed affirmative action beyond what many on the right expected. Those are policy choices, not mere baggage, and they cut against the small-government, pro-growth agenda conservatives claim to champion.
Lessons for the GOP: learn from Nixon, don’t worship him
There is a lot to admire in Nixon’s hard work on foreign policy and his political skill. Still, admiration should come with a warning label. If the goal is to win and then govern in a pro-free-market, limited-government way, copying Nixon’s playbook would be a misfire. And if the goal is to fight like Nixon — scorched-earth partisanship without ethical guardrails — expect scandals to follow. The party should pursue strength and toughness, not the romanticized notion that ends justify any means.
Bottom line: history is being reargued — choose your models wisely
History gets reexamined; politics recycles figures for new causes. The DOJ’s look at the special prosecutor gives Nixon’s defenders a talking point. But conservatives should not fall for a tidy rewrite that ignores policy failures and constitutional costs. Use what was smart about Nixon — his grasp of power and international strategy — but reject the parts that enlarged government, harmed the economy, or led to disgrace. If the GOP wants revival, it needs models who deliver wins without handing the other side a moral advantage.
