Did Frost – And Reston – Publicly Convict Nixon?
Clearly, Chesen’s was one of the more important ideas about how to deal with Nixon, for Nixon was more forthcoming than he no doubt wished to be. Reston describes these interviews as the “conviction” of Richard Nixon. My American Heritage dictionary defines conviction as “the act or process of finding or proving guilt.” Under this definition, Reston is correct. My Black’s Law Dictionary, however, defines conviction as the result of a criminal proceeding “which ends in a judgment or sentence that the accused is guilty as charged.” In this meaning of the word, Nixon was not convicted of anything, for the former president went to his grave claiming he had never committed any crime or crimes – just as he did throughout the Frost interviews. Nonetheless, the Frost/Nixon film, which I look forward to viewing, embodies the historical consensus: Nixon was, in fact, guilty and only he, and his apologists, are able to deny this reality.
