RICHARD NIXON (Bonus Edition) With Foreign Leaders After the Presidency - Anwar Sadat, The Shah of Iran, and Leonid Brezhnev

The Richard Nixon Experience

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In this episode we look back on President Nixon's relationships with three world leaders who were very important to the United States during his administration. No world leader in history was as well traveled as President Richard Nixon and few if any knew the world better. During President Nixon's retirement years Nixon was often called upon to comment upon the passing of several World Leaders and their impact on the world stage.

In one case, it was Nixon who wanted to send a message to the current American President , Jimmy Carter, and the rest of the western world, that we should never forget our friends in their time of need. This was very much true in the case of the Shah of Iran. The Shah was deposed in January of 1979, and the region he had helped stabilize was thrown into chaos. Carter's treatment of the Shah was in a word, shameful , and Richard Nixon held his feet to the fire. It was only after the Shah was diagnosed with cancer that he was allowed to seek refuge here for treatment which led to the Embassy in Tehran being overrun by militant Islamic terrorists and our diplomats being taken as hostages.

It was Nixon that went to Mexico to see the Shah and then went personally to his funeral in Egypt to say to the world that America never forgets a friend. It was Richard Nixon showing the foreign Policy leadership lacking by the current leadership in the White House at the time.

Then after the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat Richard Nixon was called on again by the new President Ronald Reagan to represent the United States to the world. Reagan tapped all three former living Presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter to attend the Sadat funeral but it was clearly Nixon that was the towering figure to the world. It marked Nixon's return to the world stage and he was greeted by grateful world that had always revered him and marveled at just how the United States could have ever deposed such an extraordinary leader.

Finally we will take a look at the man who was on the other side of the Cold War for much of the most important years of the struggle. For two decades the Soviet Union was dominated by Leonid Brezhnev. Here we will look back at him, his leadership, and his impact on the world stage. Then we will hear from President Richard Nixon on Nightline the night the Soviet leader died and listen to his thoughts on this formidable leader who represented the other side of the Cold War for so long.