An absorbing example of political journalism, The Nixon Memo is the story of Richard Nixon's relentless quest for political rehabilitation. At issue is the key role he played during his final years in the post-Cold War debate about aiding Russia in its uncertain revolution. A thousand ironies and insights emerge in this book: Nixon, who made his reputation crusading against communism, argues that support for Russia is the most important foreign policy issue facing the United States. Nixon, who in the early 1950s raised the politically devastating question "Who lost China?" holds the question "Who lost Russia?" over Bill Clinton's fortunes in the early nineties. Nixon, who mistrusted and despised the press, turns to the press and particularly the op-ed page of the nation's most influential newspaper as a vehicle for influencing public opinion. This story of Nixon's Machiavellian efforts to pressure the White House, by way of the press, into helping Boris Yeltsin and Russia sheds new light on the inner workings of the world inside the Washington beltway. Though Nixon is the central character in this story, other politicians will easily recognize the everyday characteristics of governance, and news people will also recognize the important issue of what makes a story "news." Marvin Kalb read the documents behind the Nixon memo and interviewed scores of journalists, scholars, and officials in Washington and Moscow. Drawing on his years of experience as a diplomatic correspondent, he powerfully illuminates the intersection of press and politics in the fashioning of public policy.

This volume examines how voters and politicians influence each other, and how these interactions affect the outcome of elections and the making of policy. This work looks at how political parties and candidates form platforms and make their political stands and to what degree do politicians take policy stands that are close to the midpoint of public opinion. The author investigates the nature and magnitude of the differences between the policy stands of opposing candidates and he accesses how specific or vague candidates are in advocating policy alternatives, identifies the forums they use for policy statements, and suggests ways they camouflage vagueness. This book also examines the rhetoric and reality of problems, past performance, and general goals for the future and also considers what sorts of candidates, with what personal characteristics, are offered to the voters, and what techniques are used in personal image making.