Time Essay: Richard Nixon: An American Disraeli?

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NOW more than ever, Americans may wonder exactly what Richard Nixon stands for. He won a unique victory because of his demonstrated political skills and the weakness of his opponent. But he said little in the course of the campaign to give anyone an idea of what to expect in the next four years. Shortly before his reelection, however, he did drop a suggestive hint. He told an interviewer that he would like to be thought of as a "Disraeli conservative" with a "strong foreign policy, strong adherence to basic values that the nation believes in, combined with reform, reform that will work, not reform that destroys."

It is an ambitious notion that is worth examining. At first glance, the comparison seems farfetched. The 19th century Prime Minister of Great Britain would appear to be an odd sort of fellow to find favor at the White House. Amid the close-cropped sobriety of the Haldemans and the Ehrlichmans, he would stand out like the dazzling Victorian dandy he was. His long hair coiling around his shoulders, his blue trousers paired with black and red stockings, his fingers festooned with rings, he enjoyed the reaction of people on the street as they fell back to let him by. To him this was like the "parting of the Red Sea, which I now believe from experience." His comments on the work ethic would make a welfare loafer blush. "I have passed the whole of this year in uninterrupted lounging and pleasure," he once noted. His wit was irrepressible. Trapped in a drafty room at a party, he remarked when the champagne was served: "Thank God for something warm."

But the frivolity masked an inner earnestness. As Tory Party leader and Prime Minister from 1874 to 1880, Disraeli reshaped British conservatism, which had been divided and defensive, giving it durability and a future. He laid the foundation for Tory democracy, a form of government with appeal to all classes. If Nixon sees something of himself in Disraeli, it is not mere gimmickry. Presented by Pat Moynihan with a copy of Robert Blake's massive biography of Disraeli, the President liked what he read so well that he has been drawing on the book for appropriate quotes ever since.