密歇根新闻广播 记住我们国家的第二大古怪总统

Probably few are thinking about him today, on what would have been his 105th birthday, but there was a time when everybody thought about him all the time.

For a while, he was one of the most divisive figures in this nation's history. I never met him, but I was in a room with him more than once. The last time was nearly thirty years ago before a packed crowd at the Detroit Economic Club.

Then-Governor Blanchard later spent an hour with him, something Blanchard told me it was one of the most fascinating and strangest hours of his life.

But though I never met him, I once did get a letter and a package from him. I was on vacation when it came, and when the secretary told me about it on the phone, I thought it was a gag played by one of my more scurrilous¹ friends.

But it wasn't. He had written my name in longhand. "Dear Mr. Lessenberry: In view of the current national debate on foreign policy issues, I thought you might like to have a copy of the page proofs of a book … which I have just completed."

The rest was typed, except for his signature: Richard M. Nixon. It was no gag, however, it was real.

That was thirty-four years ago, and I was writing about foreign policy and arms control issues at the time. The letter went on to indicate that I was one of a "selected number of opinion leaders," by which I no means was. At best, I was a bright young reporter.

But a year or so before, I had given a good review to another book Nixon had written, Leaders, a collection of fascinating vignettes of some of the great men he had met, like Churchill, DeGaulle, and Khrushchev. This evidently made me an opinion leader.

Alas², I had little good to say about his new book, which was one of a series of seemingly³ endless volumes Nixon cranked out justifying⁴ the Cold War.

That evidently lost me my opinion leader status. I later tried to get on the waiting list for a series of dinners Nixon had for reporters too young to have covered Watergate. But before that could happen, he had a stroke and died, in April 1994.

He is, and was, a fascinatingly paradoxical man, by nature solitary⁵, sadly twisted, who unlike most politicians was uncomfortable with people.

Today, he is remembered mostly for his strangely awkward⁶ gestures, for saying "I am not a crook," when he in fact was, for being so paranoid he bugged⁷ himself. Yet we have lived to see him become only the second-most bizarre⁸ president in the history of this nation.

But though he never called himself a genius, he was often brilliant, especially in foreign policy, and you might be astonished to know, his administration created the EPA.

We might also do well to remember what he said to the White House staff the morning he resigned the presidency⁹:

"Never get discouraged, never be petty¹⁰; always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself."

That was advice Nixon failed to take, and not doing so destroyed him.

But it was very good advice, just the same.

Jack¹¹ Lessenberry is Michigan Radio's Senior Political Analyst¹². Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 scurrilous   

adj.下流的，恶意诽谤的

参考例句：

• Scurrilous and untrue stories were being invented.有人正在捏造虚假诽谤的故事。
• She was often quite scurrilous in her references to me.她一提起我,常常骂骂咧咧的。

2 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

3 seemingly   

adv.从表面上看起来，似乎是

参考例句：

• Seemingly,we can do nothing to prevent this from happening.我们似乎没有什么办法阻止这件事发生。
• For several seemingly interminable seconds no one spoke.有几秒钟没有人讲话，这几秒钟似乎十分漫长。

4 justifying   

证明…有理( justify的现在分词 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护）

参考例句：

• He admitted it without justifying it. 他不加辩解地承认这个想法。
• The fellow-travellers'service usually consisted of justifying all the tergiversations of Soviet intenal and foreign policy. 同路人的服务通常包括对苏联国内外政策中一切互相矛盾之处进行辩护。

5 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

6 awkward   

adj.笨拙的，尴尬的，使用不便的，难处理的

参考例句：

• John is so shy and awkward that everyone notices him.约翰如此害羞狼狈，以至于大家都注意到了他。
• I was the only man among the guests and felt rather awkward.作为客人中的唯一男性，我有些窘迫。

7 bugged   

vt.在…装窃听器（bug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The police have bugged his office. 警察在他的办公室装了窃听器。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had bugged off before I had a chance to get a word in. 我还没来得及讲话，他已经走了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 bizarre   

adj.奇形怪状的，怪诞的

参考例句：

• They saw a bizarre animal in the lake.他们在湖中看见一个奇怪的动物。
• The building was of bizarre construction.这建筑构造奇异。

9 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

10 petty   

adj.小的，琐碎的，不重要的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• The removal of petty restrictions has made life easier.对一些琐碎规定的取消使生活更自在了。
• It was petty of her not to accept the apology.她气量太小，连道歉也不接受。

11 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

12 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。