Opinion writers on both sides reject efforts to rehabilitate Richard Nixon's legacy

Mixed · 2Two opinion columns published on 11 October 2026 take aim at efforts to improve Richard Nixon's historical reputation, more than 50 years after Watergate. 1 2 Left · 1In Raw Story, Sabrina Haake, a political analyst and federal trial attorney, writes that Donald Trump's Department of Justice "has begun rehabilitating the reputation of former President Richard Nixon". The claim appears in her opinion piece, and the excerpt provided does not cite a specific DOJ action. 1 Left · 1Haake says the new line among Trump defenders is that Nixon was a victim of "lawfare", like Trump. She cites Republican Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia, who she says called Nixon "framed" and wants an aircraft carrier named after him. 1

Left · 1She also quotes Vice President JD Vance, who she says told an audience at the Richard Nixon library in June that "the deep state took down Richard Nixon" and that Watergate would be "a 12-hour news story" if it happened now. Haake adds that Trump has asked several times why Nixon resigned. 1 Left · 1Haake argues the revisionism is meant to soften views of Trump and to justify rolling back post-Watergate DOJ limits on presidential authority. She links this to Trump's firing of inspectors general and his assertion of the right to fire over two million career civil servants, and she also lists allegations of Trump family enrichment. These are her characterisations and are not established in the piece itself. 1 Right · 1In the Washington Examiner, author Michael Levin says Nixon's reputation "has lain rightfully in tatters" because of his cover-up of the Watergate investigation. He says "Nixon's apologists" are working to clean up the former president's image, and he does not name the Justice Department among them. 2

Right · 1Levin gives his own account of Watergate. He says Nixon had no advance knowledge of the break-in but chose "the hangout route" of denial, and that more than two dozen White House operatives, and even the attorney general, went to prison over the cover-up. Nixon resigned on 8 August 1974. 2 Right · 1Levin says Nixon deserves credit for his opening to China, détente with the Soviet Union, his support for Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, his environmentalism and his economic decisions. He argues, though, that this should not erase the damage to public trust in the presidency. He attributes the revival of Nixon's image partly to a younger generation of conservatives who lack first-hand memories of Watergate. 2 Mixed · 2Both pieces are opinion. Neither reports a specific Justice Department filing or announcement, and no news report in the coverage confirms the DOJ's role. 1 2