“Nixon’s Ten Commandments of Statecraft: His Guiding Principles of Leadership and Negotiation”, by James C. Humes

192 pages, Scribner, ISBN-13: 978-0684837956

Alright, you, stop giggling: 37^th President of the United States Richard Milhous Nixon did in fact have principles, you commie pinko bleeding heart piece of…okay, I’ve calmed down. I shall now start my review of James C. Humes’ Nixon’s Ten Commandments of Statecraft: His Guiding Principles of Leadership and Negotiation forthwith. Nixon never lost sight of his major goal to be remembered as the one who “turned the era of confrontation into the era of negotiation”. His work for détente with Russia, his leadership to guide negotiations to open up China and his successful negotiation of anti-ballistic missile treaties are just a sampling the prowess of one who many might regard as one of the premier statesman of our time. Yeah, I said it. Ten Commandments outline his guiding principles as a statesman, and James Hume, a former Nixon Presidential speech writer, noted that Nixon kept these commandments in his center desk drawer in the Oval Office on a laminated sheet of paper; with these commandments readily available, he daily reviewed and reflected on the various issues of his day using these principles to guide him in his measured responses to the vicissitudes of leadership. So, then, what are these Ten Commandments? I knew you’d ask:

Always be prepared to negotiate, but never negotiate without being prepared: Nixon’s view was that preparation was always essential, as “fact finding is the mother’s milk of negotiation”.

Never be belligerent, but always be firm: Nixon, who was raised as a Quaker, recalled the teaching in Proverbs: “A soft answer turneth away wrath”, but he also understood that “weakness often invites belligerency from exploitative aggressors, while firmness deters them”. As Humes says, “Nixon knew the difference between being firm and belligerent, and in his negotiations he manifested resolve and avoided empty threats of retaliation”.

Always remember that covenants should be openly agreed to but privately negotiated: Negotiation and getting things done is often a process of sending out a series of calibrated hints, gestures and signals to which China could publicly respond; such “flirting”, Nixon discovered, is often necessary to create the necessary groundwork for trust, openness, and negotiation. “Public tactics tend to harden the opposition. Successful diplomatic or business negotiators resist the temptation to grandstand or make public demands that can be interpreted as threats”.

Never seek publicity that would destroy the ability to get results: Nixon noted that “publicity is a double-edged sword”; it can be used to mobilize support yet, if done prematurely, it may alert adversaries and jeopardize a plan’s success.

Never give up unilaterally what could be used as a bargaining chip: Make your adversaries give something for everything they get, or as Nixon said. Expanding on Franklin: “Give something for every concession. Don’t think you have to give tit-for-tat. Don’t feel you have to split fifty-fifty. If he gives sixty, give him forty”.

Never let your adversary underestimate what you would do in response to a challenge: Never tell Him what you would not do; Nixon called an opponent’s “unpredictability” their “unvoiced threat”, and in response to the USSR’s unvoiced threats, Nixon responded in kind. The threat was effective, Nixon noted, as long as the power to carry it out is readily apparent. “Such a weapon in statecraft should not be forsworn without a compensatory concessions from the adversary”.

Always leave your adversary a face-saving line of retreat: Magnanimity, Nixon believed, was not just a gesture: it’s a virtue. How do you deal with your enemies? Can you be magnanimous, even when you win? In victory, can you build them a “golden bridge of escape”, or like this other Nixon maxim: “those whose self-respect is destroyed will, given a chance, retaliate”.

Always carefully distinguish between friends who provide some human rights and enemies who deny all human rights: Every leader must distinguish between those who are friendly, but in disagreement, and those who are really the opposition. Punishing our friends because of legalistic perfectionistic demands for conformity to our ways never pays dividends. When we so punish our friends, the result is a loss of influence that our own prestige and influence. Nixon said, “To take a magnifying glass to the faults of our friends and turn a blind eye to the record of our foes is not only wrong but stupid”; or, perhaps better: “I know he's a son-of-a-bitch, but he's our son-of-a-bitch”.

Always do at least a much for our friends as our adversaries do for our enemies: Leaders can’t afford to diminished credibility with their allies and supporters; they must know they can trust and rely on you, even when others don't support them (or you). “The reputation of loyalty, whether to a political ally, a friend, or a business client, is credit in the bank. The failure to sustain that loyalty diminishes the credibility of [a leader], a country or a company”.

Never lose faith.  In just cause faith can move mountains. Faith without strength is futile; but strength without faith is sterile: In Nixon's dealings with the USSR, he always believed that “it was not enough for America to be just anti-Communist. He believed that America had to prove the superiority of its democratic ideal”. Nixon believed the reason the USSR crumbled was because of the sterility of its faith. No matter how strong a people might be, if their faith is sterile, they will collapse.

Plus Two...

Sometimes leaders are hesitant about executing strong and controversial measures in the belief that a less than full-hearted operation mutes criticism. When you once decide, go with all your might: Don’t do anything half-heartedly; either go for it or not. To do neither is to guarantee failure (or, to quote another great man…er, creature: “Do. Or do not. There is no try”.

When saying “always” and “never”, always keep a mental reservation; never foreclose the unique exception; always leave room for maneuver. A president always has yet to be prepared for what he thought he would never do: Leaders know that there’s always the potential for an exception, a surprise, or unexpected development; and so, never say never.  Leadership is, as Nixon noted, not a predictable paint by number proposition in which one just needs to follow the lines.