I’ve been thinking the last few months how we judge people without knowing all the facts. How we judge people by what others say or on a God-level scale rather than a human-level scale.

We judge the rich for being too rich and the poor for being too poor.  There’s judgement of the homeless and even our neighbors.  We judge people by body weight either thin or fat and judge people by their word choices.  We judge people on their religion, where they live and who they voted for. And way too often we jump to judgement because the news media tells us to.

For me I judged this man on one word – Watergate

I have to confess for about 45 years I’ve judged President Nixon from the media circus that surrounded him.  Granted, for his terms as President, I was in high school and only lived within that bubble.  He was in politics before I was born (1955) and I had no idea.  Visiting his Library last week, after living here for 6 years, made me step back and review the judging I had done.

I’ve taken a little poll on first impressions when hearing the words “President Nixon” from a few people I know, ages 28-70.

• His nose or caricature of face
• Egotistical meatball
• Failed war on drugs
• “Let me make myself perfectly clear”
• 37^th President
• Watergate
• Tricky Dicky

Is that all President Nixon should be known for?  He was a House Representative and Senator in California, Vice President, and eight years later President.  In the 1972 election he carried 49 states with 520 electoral votes – during – the Vietnam War.  Only Reagan has carried 49 states and Monroe 50 in 1820.  Think that could ever happen in this day and age?

Sadly the last office Nixon held, finally swallowed up his honesty, as it has to so many. The “beast” we call politics replaced his original beliefs and basic common sense with malevolence.

At the worst time of his life, he ordered wiretaps and targeted people who didn’t agree with him by finding damaging information on them.  He ordered the CIA to convince the FBI to stay out of it.  Fifty years later, it sadly appears that politics haven’t changed at all.   

After his fall from grace, President Nixon still ended up advising the five U.S. Presidents that followed him, upon their request. 

It’s a shame I never cared enough to look through my judgement to find out what good things he actually did for this country. In the years before he resigned, Nixon implemented the following domestic and foreign policies (not all are listed). 

Domestic Policy

• 1970 founded the EPA
• 1970 oversaw the peaceful desegregation of southern schools
• 1971 Dedicated $100 million to begin war on Cancer
• 1972 Signed Title IX – opening the doors for women in collegiate sports
• 1973 ended the draft
• 1970-1973 the first President to give Native Americans the right to tribal self-determination by ending the policy of forced assimilation and returning their sacred lands plus other federal Indian policies

Foreign Policy

• 1970 avoided a second Cuban Missile Crisis by adhering to his policy of hard-headed détente, an active rather than passive form of diplomacy
• 1972 participated in the SALT Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with Soviet Secretary General Breshnev to temper the Cold War through diplomatic détente
• 1972 signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty helping to calm U.S.-Soviet tensions by curtailing the threat of nuclear weapons
• 1972 First President to visit China, issuing the Shanghai Communique announcing a desire for open, normalized relations
• 1973 established a new relationship with the Middle East eliminating Soviet dominance in the region
• In reaction to the 1973 oil embargo, initiated Project Independence which set a timetable to end reliance on foreign oil by 1980
• 1973 Yom Kippur War, supported Israel with massive aid which Prime Minister Golda Meir later said saved her country
• 1973 signed the Paris Peace Accords ending U.S. involvement in Vietnam

Here are the remarks given by President Clinton at Richard Nixon’s funeral, April 27, 1994.

 “He made mistakes; and, they, like his accomplishments, are part of his life and record…  Today is a day for his family, his friends and his nation to remember President Nixon’s life in totality. To them, let us say, may the day of judging President Nixon on anything less than his entire life and career come to a close. May we heed his call to maintain the will and the wisdom to build on America’s greatest gift — its freedom; to lead a world full of difficulty to the just and lasting peace he dreamed of.”

In our “get it now immediate gratification society” can we step back and look at both the positive and negative that come with a person or a situation without judging?  Can we filter out what is being spoon fed to us on social media and delay our jump-on-the-band-wagon mentality of judgement?  Can we wait for all the facts to actually be produced?  It costs us nothing but – time and maybe gives us a little dignity back.

Grateful for you,

Sheree