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End of an era for Nixon biographer
See book review on page E-6
By SUSAN LARSON Book editor
In a curious way New Orleans has Richard Nixon to thank for the fact that the well-known historian and Nixon biographer Stephen Ambrose has chosen to make his home here. In 1970, when Ambrose occupied the prestigious high-profile position of Eisenhower Professor of History at Kansas State University and Nixon came to the campus to talk about Vietnam, Ambrose heckled him. The resulting firestorm of faculty protest resulted in Ambrose?s quick and voluntary departure.
?He was talking about Vietnam and we were yelling things like ?Napalm! Free fire zone!? and other such obscenities,? Ambrose recalled in a recent interview. ?I wouldn?t do that now, of course. But the age I was then, there was no way in the world I wouldn?t have done it.?
Despite Ambrose?s early Nixon-bashing days, his
Stephen Ambrose	staff photo by biii Bowden
4 You know, working on Nixon, I guess I have become, in some superficial ways, like him... I?m going to stop working so hard. J
obsession with the man led to grudging and heartfelt admiration after years of work on a three-volume biography. The final volume, ?Nixon: Ruin and Recovery, 1973-1990,? has just been published. The first two volumes, ?Education of a Politician? and ?Triumph of a Politician? were critically acclaimed, and Ambrose?s work is regarded by many as the definitive study.
Ambrose is well-known for his adoption of the personae of his subjects (he had long hair and wore cowboy boots non-stop while writing ?Crazy Horse and Custer?) and his work on Nixon has been a somewhat subdued continuation of that pattern, right down to Ambrose?s frequent dreams about the man.
At 55, Ambrose is working at the height of his powers and he admits he may actually share some o: his subject?s traits. ?Moira (his wife) said to me the other day, ?Isn?t it amazing, when we were younger and poorer and you were working your tail off on
See AMBROSE, D-5