In the Arena by Richard Nixon

Author:Richard Nixon [Nixon, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

21

POWER

When we met with Mao Tse-tung in Beijing in 1972, Henry Kissinger remarked that he had assigned Mao’s writings to his classes at Harvard. With typical self-deprecation, Mao said, “These writings of mine aren’t anything. There is nothing instructive in what I wrote.”

I said, “The chairman’s writings moved a nation and changed the world.”

He replied, “I haven’t been able to change it. I’ve only been able to change a few places in the vicinity of Peking.”

I could have responded that this was far more than I had been able to do in the vicinity of the White House.

One of the first orders I issued as President in 1969 was to tear down the World War I-era “temporary” buildings on the Mall, which were an eyesore in the very heart of the nation’s capital. Even though they now had the world’s largest office building, the Pentagon, to house all their services and agencies, officials at the Navy Department dragged their feet. No bureaucrat ever voluntarily gives up office space, no matter how ugly. Nevertheless, I followed up with oral and written orders to the White House staff and other agencies. Virtually every time I flew in to the White House by helicopter and saw the buildings still standing, I would mention my interest in getting them removed, each time with no results.

I soon found that even an order to the military from the commander-in-chief would not be carried out if military bureaucrats could find a way to avoid doing so. Several years passed before the buildings were finally torn down and the Mall restored to its pristine, pre-World War I beauty. So far as I have been able to determine, our military readiness did not suffer.

Not even White House aides are immune from letting self-interest get in the way of following orders. I do not play tennis, and besides, I felt that the tennis court on the White House grounds marred the original simplicity and elegance of the South Lawn. I ordered it removed, thus sparking a crisis among my aides, many of whom did play tennis and enjoyed using the White House court. Each time I would mention tearing it up, they would resolve to study the matter for a few months and then see whether I mentioned it again. When I did, there would be yet another study. Eventually, I realized that the only way to get rid of the White House tennis court would be if I rented a bulldozer one night and did it myself. President Bush, who enjoys playing tennis, can thank my staff for not carrying out my order!

These examples may seem picayune compared to the big issues a President deals with. But they illustrate a point many self-proclaimed experts on the Presidency overlook. The President of the United States is said to be the most powerful man in the world. This is true only in the sense that he leads the most powerful nation in the world. In fact, the President’s power is far more circumscribed than that of most other world leaders.

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