Nixon on the Presidency

Richard Nixon, who served eight years as Vice President and ran for President himself in 1960, has had greater proximity to the office than any other practicing politician. Last week he offered his own conception of the presidency and, indirectly, his philosophy of government. Excerpts:

THE days of a passive presidency belong to a simpler past. Let me be very clear about this: the next President must take an activist view of his office. He must articulate the nation's values, define its goals and marshal its will. Under a Nixon Administration, the presidency will be deeply involved in the entire sweep of America's public concerns. The President today cannot stand aside from crisis; he cannot ignore division; he cannot paper over disunity. He must lead.

But he must bear in mind the distinction between forceful leadership and stubborn willfulness. And he should not delude himself into thinking that he can do everything himself. America today cannot afford vest-pocket government, no matter who wears the vest. The President is trusted not to follow the fluctuations of the public-opinion polls but to bring his own best judgment to bear on the best ideas his Administration can muster. There are occasions on which a President must take unpopular measures. But his responsibility does not stop there. The President has a duty to decide, but the people have a right to know why. Only through an open, candid dialogue with the people can a President maintain his trust and leadership.

We should bring dissenters into policy discussions, not freeze them out. We should invite constructive criticism, not only because the critics have a right to be heard, but also because they often have something worth hearing. And this brings me to another, related point: the President cannot isolate himself from the great intellectual ferments of his time. On the contrary, he must consciously and deliberately place himself at their center.

The people are served not only by a President, but by an Administration, and not only by an Administration, but by a Government. The President's chief function is to lead, not to administer; it is not to oversee every detail, but to put the right people in charge, to provide them with basic guidance and direction, and to let them do the job. This requires surrounding the President with men of stature, including young men, and giving them responsibilities commensurate with that stature. Officials of a new Administration will not have to check their consciences at the door or leave their powers of independent judgment at home.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.