Richard Nixon

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The disgrace and resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974 was a profoundly traumatic moment in the history of the American presidency, leaving us the endlessly influential word Watergate and a cynicism about politics which arguably has only now, with Barack Obama, started to heal. His life is thus perhaps a strange one to nominate as "great", but the historian Dominic Sandbrook unhesitatingly selected him for celebration in this programme. Matthew Parris talks to him about his intriguing choice, and calls on Professor Philip Davies of the Eccles Centre for American Studies to round out the picture. Producer: Christine Hall.