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Nixon is an interesting case. Today, we associate his name primarily with Watergate. In his first term, his approval ratings were high, averaging 56%. (For comparison Obama is currently around 44%, Bush averaged 49%, Clinton 55%. So Nixon was considered as good as Obama is bad, and slightly better than Clinton.)
Surveys of historians suggest that Nixon was one of the brighter and more capable presidents but Watergate has completely overshadowed that. I suppose it goes to show it doesn't matter how smart you are or how well you do, if you can't be trusted that's all that matters. Nixon was probably smarter and more capable than 99% of us, but that didn't matter after he was dishonest. We could learn from his mistakes.
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