The Nation: The Private World of Richard Nixon

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...