It was 1994, and Bill Clinton had a problem. His foreign aid program to Russia, which he had inherited from the administration of his predecessor, George H. W. Bush, was faltering and under attack from all sides. According to the Russians, the aid was not enough. According to some Americans, including the rising Republican Party, the aid was being wasted by the Russians and was generally too high. At the same time, his ally and sometimes-friend, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, had just received a flattening in Russia’s legislative elections. Plus, the situation in the former Soviet Union was extremely fluid; after all, none of the newly created post-Soviet countries was more than five years old. No one could predict what would come next.
Well, almost no one. There was one person who America’s 41st president could turn to for advice: its 37th, Richard Nixon. That advice took the form of a seven page memo, the contents of which were, until recently, never revealed. Nixon died just over a month after writing it, and while Clinton has spoken repeatedly about the brilliance of the memo, it had until now remained confidential. However, a FOIA request by this author has allowed it to be released to the public. And its contents are shocking.
Nixon, over 81 years old and a month from death, had written a prescient piece full of warnings and pertinent advice, almost all of which went tragically unheeded. The memo capped a half-decade of Nixon’s attempts to get succeeding presidential administrations to see reason regarding Russia. The story of his crusade is worth telling, not only for its historical importance, but for its future importance as well.
After his presidency’s premature end, Richard Nixon rather quickly adopted the role of an elder statesman, traveling the world and burnishing his credentials as one whom American officials and foreign officials could trust. (He even went so far as to sign away his post-presidential Secret Service protection in order to travel more easily). By the 1980s, he was back in the Top 10 of Gallup’s poll of Most Admired Men. He was even more admired around the world than some incumbent presidents were; during his visit to the United States in 1979, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping reportedly refused to go to the White House to meet with then-incumbent President Jimmy Carter—unless Nixon was likewise invited.