When President Nixon Met the Press

[Commentary] The national press corps loved former President Richard Nixon, and then they hated him. Understand that, and President Nixon’s implosion makes sense. It’s a media story, in more ways than one.

First there’s the largely forgotten opening chapter: President Nixon’s spectacular rise -- he went from House freshman to the vice presidency in just six years -- was built on exceptionally favorable notices in the press.

In both fueling President Nixon’s early career -- and then destroying him later -- members of the press abandoned professed standards of objectivity. And President Nixon’s innate wariness, in turn, evolved into arrant hatred. In the end, this dysfunctional relationship helped fuel a national tragedy. It put the country on the road to Watergate. Just because President Nixon was paranoid didn’t mean his enemies weren’t conspiring to get him.

[Farrell is an author of a forthcoming book on the life of Richard Nixon]