Nixon's First Cover-up : The Religious Life of a Quaker President

Professor of History H Larry Ingle
University of Missouri Press
 9780826220424
0-8262-2042-8

Have you ever thought you completely knew a story, inside and out, only to see some new information that shatters what you had come to accept as unquestioned fact? Well, Richard Nixon is that story, and.

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Nixons First Cover-up is that new information.With few exceptions, the religious ideologies and backgrounds of U.S. presidents is a topic sorely lacking in analysis. H. Larry Ingle seeks to remedy this situation regarding Nixonone of the most controversial and intriguing of the presidents. Ingle delves more deeply into Nixons Quaker background than any previous scholar to observe the role Nixons religion played in his political career.Nixons unique and personally tailored brand of evangelical Quakerism stayed hidden when he wanted it to, but was on display whenever he felt it might help him advance his career in some way. Ingles unparalleled knowledge of Quakerism enables him to deftly point out how Nixon bent the traditional rules of the religion to suit his needs or, in some cases, simply ignored them entirely. This theme of the constant contradiction between Nixons actions and his apparent religious beliefs makes Nixons First Cover-up truly a groundbreaking study both in the field of Nixon research as well as the field of the influence of religion on the U.S. presidency. Forty years after Nixons resignation from office, Ingles work proves there remains much about the thirty-seventh president that the American public does not yet know.