Reconsider Nixon
... 5 chapters and the third section she just talks about Watergate. In each chapter there are numerous sub sections. The book is divided into three major parts. The first section Hoff reevaluates Nixon¡¯s Domestic Policies, in the second section she reevaluates Nixon¡¯s Foreign Policies and the third she reevaluates Watergate. In each major part, Hoff goes into significant detail of main events, such as women¡¯s rights, civil rights, NATO, and welfare. This transports the reader from Watergate to everything else Nixon had done. Hoff tries hard to allow readers to see other important things Nixon had done, so they may cover up the despicable Watergate incident. ¡°Before Watergate, few of us paid much attention to one reform aspect of the Nixon phenomenon: government reorganization based on his particular administrative style¡± (Hoff 50), tells the reader that people had not paid attention to Nixon¡¯s other accomplishments. Hoff has different ways to make sure everyone knows that Watergate was just a mistake that anybody could have made. Hoff does an excellent job on citing her sources. She provides over 50 pages of bibliography, which allows one to know she is not making up information. The book is an explanation of everything Nixon had done, other than Watergate. Hoff¡¯s objective is for reader¡¯s to know what she thinks. It is her way of getting her voice out to everyone. As a reader, one knows that Nixon Reconsidered is a book, which explains that Watergate was not the only incident Nixon had achieved. While words and data are being inserted into a reader¡¯s mind, one needs to be constantly reminded of what the author is trying to prove. To have a book over 300 pages, it can be easy for one¡¯s mind to stray away and forget what the thesis was. Hoff seems to not go back to her thesis enough. If she does state her thesis, she will not adjoin her arguments to the thesis as often as one would like. Obviously, Hoff will not just leave her arguments just standing there. In chapter four, Hoff mentions at the very end, ¡°Ultimately, these domestic programs may be remembered longer than his currently better-known activities in the realm of foreign policy, and they may even minimize his negative Watergate image.¡± (144) Hoff summarizes everything she stated into one sentence, which can easily be pushed away. The book is hard to understand and leaves on thinking of questions that can not be answered right then and there. Hoff throws numerous information at the reader, but the reader can not catch the information all at once. It needs to be slowly given, so one may soak up everything and consume everything received. Even though many facts are given, it is hard to convince the reader of the thesis, because Hoff does not relate her facts to her thesis. Having facts and correct data is an essential ingredient for a book to satisfy a reader. But to have a complete, satisfying book, it can not have only one component. It must have others accompanying it, such as personal opinions. Readers want to know what Hoff is thinking, and what her intention was of writing the book. If one chooses to read Nixon Reconsidered, they are looking to see what opinions Hoff has. Hoff will send out so many facts, but one barely hears a peep out of her. ¡°When I asked Nixon about this often-quoted statement, he said that he seldom talked with Haldeman about substantive foreign policy matters and certainly did not remember using the term ¡®madman theory¡¯¡±(177), is what Hoff speaks about when she previously stated a quote Nixon supposedly said. Hoff did not add her opinion on what she thought of the quotation. She only got Nixon¡¯s statement on the quotation. Later she remarks that she looked for other documentation on the madman theory, but says that many journalist, historians and political scientists believed in Haldeman¡¯s point of view. There again, she did not say anything from her mind. Without having much opinion coming out from Hoff, it is hard to be convinced on her view on Nixon and Watergate. Nixon Reconsidered is saturated with all the events Nixon had to conquer. Hoff mentions Vietnam War, Civil Rights and Welfare. Each one is gone into tremendous ...