A brilliant, failed leader

Re “What I learned about myself at the Nixon museum,” Opinion, Jan. 16

I have a personal anecdote to add to Nicholas Goldberg’s column on his reevaluation of President Nixon.

Years ago, I was surfing TV late at night and stumbled on Nixon being introduced to an audience in New York. This was many years after he’d left office in disgrace, and the subject was U.S.-China relations.

He proceeded to give an hour-and-a-half talk that was absolutely brilliant, giving a history of China as well as our interactions with it, with cogent analyses and insightful predictions of potential problems. His answers to questions were of equal depth and insight.

I was stunned, and all I could think of was the sad, sad waste of a mind and experience because of his emotional and psychological failings.

Meg Quinn Coulter Los Angeles

As a Vietnam War veteran, I have two thoughts on Goldberg and his visit to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

First, under Nixon’s watch, more than 21,000 Americans lost their lives, and many more were wounded in Vietnam. I witnessed some of these people die. This happened after he claimed before the 1968 election that he had a secret plan to end the war.

Second, he never publicly and clearly admitted guilt in the Watergate scandal, which tells us everything we need to know about his credibility.

Rudy Estrada Downey

Too bad Goldberg did not mention Title IX, which Nixon signed into law in 1972. That law prohibited sex discrimination in any education programs receiving federal funds, most notably giving women an equal chance at athletic competition in schools.

This changed the lives of countless girls and women.

Terry Kennedy Claremont