The Nation: The Private World of Richard Nixon

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More than any other modern occupant of the White House, Richard Nixon has guarded his privacy. He does not see the presidency as a platform to provide his constituency with psychic gratification, nor does he feel that trivia like what he has for breakfast are worthy of being trumpeted to the four corners of the earth. He revealed his introspective side in this rare and illuminating tour of the Executive Mansion with TIME's White House Correspondent Jerrold Schecter:

WE begin in the Oval Office, a room, the President observes, that "has a mystical effect on people. When visitors come in I have to remind myself that I have to draw them out. I've seen important men, the biggest men in the country, walk into this room and become tongue-tied. It has to do with the majesty and power of the presidency. I don't use this office to make decisions. When I get here, the decision has been made."

Nixon points out that "the way a man uses the room says something about him. When I came to the White House there were three television sets in the Oval Office. I could not work with TV sets in the office. I have no TV sets in my bedroom in the White House or in the bedrooms of any of the places where I live."

How is he kept informed? "I organize my day in a way in which I probably get a more balanced view of the news than anybody who has been in this office. I don't get bogged down in any part of the news. My much maligned and praised news summary covers all aspects of it: the newspapers, TV news, radio, the newsmagazines and the monthly magazines. I can scan the report in as little as ten minutes and know more than if I had read the New York Times all the way through. I tell the staff to leave out the puff pieces and the personal criticism. I am an issue man.

"I don't worry about the press. For a Congressman or even the Vice President, it is different. My political critics don't get under my skin at all. I care about the substance, but criticism doesn't bother me personally. Somebody may say 'that s.o.b. wrote this and that,' but the President must remain somewhat distant and not personally involved; if he did not, it would erode his ability to make a decision.

"So I never start the morning by reading through the Washington Post or the New York Times. I wouldn't start by looking at Herblock. I know that when I have to make a decision I must be disciplined. I have learned a lot from experience, from great victories and great defeats. They teach discipline. I have my moments when I'm not as disciplined as I might be, but I try to overcome them.

"Great decisions, if they are to be good decisions, must be made coolly; and if you respond in hot blood, you cannot make good decisions. And I like a clean room. This desk is always clean. Of course, if I'm writing a speech, I'm surrounded by a pile of papers as I sit stiffly thinking and concentrating. But whoever is in this office cannot afford to be undisciplined. He must live like a Spartan. You have to save yourself, be at your best, be physically and mentally disciplined to make decisions in a balanced way. I would not think of making a decision by going around the table and then deciding on the basis of how everyone felt. Of course, I like to hear everyone, but then I go off alone and decide. The decisions that are important must be made alone.