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From Privacy to People, Power and Peace
What Nixon seems not inclined to tamper with is the staff of his palace guard, whose pettiness and unswerving zealotry, many would argue, do not serve the President well. More than ever, Nixon lives in isolation, avoiding the press as much as possible as he moves from Camp David to Key Biscayne to San Clemente, reveling in the privacy that those retreats provide him. He treats Congress as an entity to be ignored or an obstacle to be surmounted, often to the distress of its members even in his own party. Although the Administration during the campaign observed a moratorium in its vendetta with the press, it has now begun a calculated drive to frighten the TV networks into more "balanced" coverage (see TELEVISION).
His critics call him remote and heartless, but Nixon believes that he is linked in a mysterious way to the great American majority—the silent American, the middle American, the middle class, the middleaged. He believes a majority of Americans share his vision of a traditionalist revival, of trying to make less government work better, of encouraging local remedies and local responsibilities for local problems. It is his version of power to the people, and it is a power he thinks can be harnessed to change the direction and spirit of the country for good. Observes TIME's Hugh Sidey: "He is out to lay claim to a whole counter-counterculture, this one the culture of Middle America."
Abroad, Nixon will now concentrate on making his Realpolitik an ongoing reality through SALT II, world trade and money agreements, the slow, patient task of redefining ties with old allies. By visiting China and Russia, Nixon and Kissinger have constructed a triangular world order with Japan and the major European powers also invited to play new roles in his "generation of peace." All this could, of course, be undone if President and Adviser cannot end the war in Southeast Asia. It remains, as it was, incredibly, four long years ago, Nixon's and Kissinger's first and most vital priority, a possible destroyer of the best of presidencies and policies. Together the Men of the Year accomplished much in 1972, but the essential achievement continued to elude them.