That leads me to something I don't get...
Richard Nixon was, for most of his public life, even while President, considered a Conservative. Liberals in his time hated him, and he hated them. Why is he now considered a Liberal, and even a Communist, by the right?
First off, it was under Nixon we abandoned the gold standard once and for all.
Secondly, not only did he do nothing to rollback LBJ's Great Society programs, he added more government agencies such as the EPA.
Thirdly, he interfered with the economy with his attempt at wage and price controls.
Lastly, his conservative image was to a large extent based on his anti-Communist stance and yet he was responsible for detente with the Soviets and the abandonment of Taiwan in favor of Mainland China.
I once read that, at least during his presidency, he cultivated the anti-communist image because he thought it proved useful. He took advantage of that image by using it as a shield in order to be able to visit China. From what I know, he knew that if a Democrat were to try to visit China, they'd be torn apart, but Nixon believed that with his anti-communist reputation he could get away with it. From what I've heard, it was part of "tri-angular diplomacy" in which he played China and the USSR against each other in order to come out with better deals from both.
