Schieffer: The truth always outs
After all these years and a long dispute, Richard Nixon's friends and the National Archives have reached an agreement that will allow the Nixon Presidential Library to mount an exhibit that tells the real story of Watergate.
That's good - it will give the Library much more credibility. And, that the dispute went on so long is not all that out of the ordinary in historical terms.
As long as there has been history, humans have tried to rewrite it. The pharaohs often defaced the statues of their predecessors, as they sought - literally - to erase them from history. Whoever happened to be in power in the old Soviet Union tried to rewrite that country's history to cast themselves in a better light.
But for all the effort, it has never worked. The truth always outs.
The best public relations, the heaviest spin can never trump bad policy.
And bad PR can never trump good policy.
The Nixon Presidency is a prime example. Nixon's disregard of the law and the Constitution was disgraceful. That is part of his legacy and his apologists cannot change that.
Yet, Nixon was far ahead of his party and American public opinion when he made his courageous opening to China and his arms control agreements with the Soviets.
Those were monumental achievements and will be remembered as such, whatever his critics say.
So I'm glad the Nixon Library did what it did.
Truth, telling it straight, is still the best way.
