 First edition cover | |
| Author | Richard M. Nixon Charles Lichenstein and others (ghostwriters) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date | 1962 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Hardback |
| ISBN | 9780671706197 |
| Followed by | RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon |
Six Crises is the first book written byRichard Nixon, who later became the37thpresident of the United States. It was published in 1962, and it recounts his role in six major political situations. Nixon wrote the book in response toJohn F. Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize–winningProfiles in Courage, which had greatly improved Kennedy's public image.[1][2][3]
Six Crises was Nixon's response to theJohn F. Kennedy book,Profiles in Courage (1955), which described the courage of eightUS Senators.[2][3] Kennedy sent Nixon a copy of his book, for which Nixon thanked him the next day.[1] In 1961, followinghis 1960 presidential loss to Kennedy, Nixon was encouraged byMamie Eisenhower to write a book about his experiences. On April 20, he visited Kennedy in the White House where Kennedy urged him to write a book; he said that doing so would raise the public image of any public man. Nixon met with aDoubleday book editor the same month.[4]
Like Kennedy, Nixon used aghostwriter for much of his book. The primary such writer was reportedlyCharles Lichenstein.[5] Years later, Nixon's editor at Doubleday, Kenneth McCormick, recounted: "I enjoyed working with him on 'Six Crises.' He had the concept for the book. He had the whole thing in his head, but he said, 'I'm not much of a writer,' and I said, 'I know.' So Nixon talked the book into a tape recorder and another writer came in to help. Then Nixon said, 'Why don't I try the chapter on defeat? In the course of doing this I think I've learned to write.' Well, he wrote that chapter himself, and it was fine. He really was an example of someone who could learn."[6]
The book is organized around the titular six stressful circumstances.
In 1948, Nixon was a member of theUnited States House of Representatives serving on theHouse Un-American Activities Committee, which was investigatingcommunism in the United States. He first rose to national prominence when the committee considered accusations thatAlger Hiss, a high-rankingUnited States Department of State official, was a communist spy for theSoviet Union, allegations that remain a source of controversy.
A factual error in the book regarding this matter was used by opponents to criticize Nixon during theprimary election of the1962 California gubernatorial election.[7]
In 1952, as a member of theUnited States Senate, Nixon was the vice presidential running mate ofRepublican presidential nomineeDwight D. Eisenhower. After he was accused during the campaign of having an improper political fund, he saved his political career and his spot on Eisenhower's ticket by making a nationally broadcast speech, commonly known as theCheckers speech. In the speech, he denied the charges and famously stated he would not be giving back one gift his family had received: a dog named Checkers.
In 1955, while Nixon was vice president, President Eisenhower suffered a serious heart attack whilevisiting his in-laws in Colorado; during the next several weeks, Nixon was effectively an informal "acting president".
In 1958, Nixon and his wife embarked on a goodwill tour of South America; while inVenezuela,their limousine was attacked by a pipe-wielding mob.
In 1959, while still vice president, Nixon traveled to Moscow to engage in an impromptu debate with Soviet leaderNikita Khrushchev. The debate took place in a mock kitchen that was intended to show Soviet citizens how ordinary American families lived, and came to be known as theKitchen Debate.
While finishing his second term as vice president, Nixon became the Republican presidential nominee; in the1960 United States presidential election, he lost an extremely close race to SenatorJohn F. Kennedy.
Six Crises was a best seller at the time.[8] Sales were of over 300,000 copies and it was excerpted at length inLIFE magazine.[9][10]
