Thursday Afternoon 9/23/21

1:00pm I should be reading my book Years of Upheaval by Henry Kissinger. This chapter is about the end of the Nixon Administration. It seems to be an interesting chapter. The trouble is this is the last chapter and I hate to see it end. I enjoyed this book so much I hate to finish it. I want to see it end but I don’t want it to end. I am torn.

i get like that with a lot of books I read. I get really involved with the characters and they become a big part of my life. They are like my friends. I start caring about them and their ultimate fate.  When I’m finished with a book the relationship I develop is also finished. This makes me sad.

I sort of developed a love/hate relationship with Richard Nixon in this book. I learned a lot of things about the man. Nixon was vilified by the left while in office. Although he inherited the war from Democratic presidents, he was accused of being a war monger and needlessly extending the Vietnam War. Kissinger writes about how deligently Nixon worked to get us out of that conflict and bring peace to Southeast Asia.

I didn’t like the man at first. But as I read Years of upheaval I developed a different point of view. I had strong opinions about Nixon but they changed from hate to admiration. Except for Watergate, I now believe he would have gone down in history as one of our greatest Presidents.

I guess I went through an emotional upheaval in reading about that era. It was a sad time in American history. I enjoyed reading about it though and I hate to be ffinished with it. But I’ll stick with it until the bitter end.