Synopses & Reviews
Richard Nixon's rules of statecraft, illuminated by his former speech-writer, offer insights on the art of negotiation from a leader widely viewed as one of our most skilled foreign policy strategists.
On James Humes's 60th birthday, Tricia Nixon Cox presented him with a note card found tacked in her father's desk drawer after his death. The card contained Richard Nixon's Ten Commandments of Statecraft -- ten cogent rules that the former president believed were essential guidelines for leadership.
In this book, Nixon's speechwriter and longtime friend explains these Ten Commandments, illustrating each with examples from Nixon's own career and from the lives of other celebrated political leaders, such as Prince Metternich, Benjamin Franklin, and Winston Churchill. From the First Commandment, "Always Be Prepared to Negotiate but Never Negotiate Without Being Prepared", to the tenth, "Never Lose Faith -- In a Just Cause Faith Can Move Mountains. Faith Without Strength Is Futile -- but Strength Without Faith Is Sterile", these are the maxims of a man who understood political power at its most sophisticated -- and never hesitated to reach for it.