Paraphrasing Eisenhower, Richard Nixon warned against "the Media Élitist Complex"; "Sullivan vs New York Times is in effect a license to lie"

On this, the 30th anniversary of the death of Richard Nixon, we get an excerpt from the oral history collections of the University of Georgia (thanks to Vincent Bourdonneau — as well as to Sarah Hoyt), a number of which seem to have started circulating recently.

Notice notably the 37th president's take on the élites, without seemingly realizing to what extent they were united across country boundaries and borders and to what extent they pose a danger to America and to the world…

The élite class is the same all over the world: they go to the same parties and they drink the [same] cocktails, etc, they have the same snobbish characteristics… 

Then we have Nixon Warning of the Media's UNLIMITED Power: 

The problem is, that [the media in this country] have a sense of self-righteousness, a double standard on issue after issue after issue. They can find everything wrong with somebody else, but they will not look inside, and ever admit they could be wrong themselves. And — what was involved here, in the Watergate thing, was the unfairness of it. Oh, there was a legitimate thing to investigate, but they refused to balance it. They allowed their advocacy to get ahead of their reporting — which is their job to do. 

You know, President Eisenhower, in his farewell address, wrote about, and warned against, the power of the military-industrial complex. … When I get old enough, and decide to retire … I think I would warn against the media-élitist complex. You know, the media is always talking about the imperial presidency — the power of the imperial presidency — I think we oughta hear a little bit of discussion of the imperial media, and its power. … The media's power is unlimited. And some would say, "Well, what about libel suits?" Forget it. After the Supreme Court's decision in Sullivan vs New York Times a few years ago. … I wouldn't like to leave the fate of this country to the editors of the Washington Post. …

Let's face it, Sullivan vs New York Times is in effect a license to lie. … I believe in a free press. I do not want government control under any circumstances, or government censorship, of either radio, television, or newspapers. But I am simply suggesting here that all of the media should look within themselves, look through that microscope at themselves, look in the mirror now and then, rather than looking out there to others.

At the same time, we cannot ignore the outstanding book by Evelyne Joslain, a bona fide French conservative who laments that neither Nixon nor Reagan (no "Reagan revolution", alas, on the cultural front), for all their (undeniable) virtues, seemed to show true awareness of the takeover of the culture by the left and their march through the institutions.

Nixon was … the first Republican president confronted with the [Left's] culture war and viciously harassed by the opposition [while] Reagan did nothing about the persecution of political correctness. He let it happen.

In the perspective of all the above, let us jump 25 to 30 years forward, to see the treatment of Richard Milhous Nixon compared with that of Donald John Trump (who, according to La Révolution Culturelle, is the only presidential candidate to see the true nature of the Left):

• The Troubling Parallels Between Today and the Watergate Era: The media was determined to "reverse the verdict of the election by non-constitutional means"; Trump 2016? Trump 2020? Trump 2024? No, Nixon 1972

• Watergate—Trump learned from President Nixon's mishandling of the press: "it is not paranoia when they really are out to kill you"

• Nixon and Watergate: What Do the MSM and History Books Fail to Tell Us About the 1970s Scandal? 

 • Evidence of Fraud in 2008 Election? A Surprising Number of Parallels with JFK's 1960 Campaign