'Frost/Nixon' is illuminating

Today, most people know something about Richard Nixon, a Republican and an American president disgraced by the almost unparalleled corruption of Watergate in the 1970s. But few remember the British journalist David Frost, who recorded 28 hours of interviews with Nixon in 1977 after his resignation.

In fact, the acceptance by Nixon of Frost's overtures indicated to some that Nixon did not understand what he was getting into. (How about Walter Cronkite or David Brinkley? Why Frost? He was known for fluff interviews with mostly celebrities — and how much study would it take to get him well-enough versed in American politics?)

Nixon knew all right. He was one of the most wily politicians ever to be elected to national office.

James Reston Jr., son of famed New York Times journalist James (Scotty) Reston, and now a historian, was Frost's historical adviser on the interviews, the one who supervised the gathering of information and tried to frame questions that would force the former president to admit his guilt.

Reston wrote a book about the interviews in 1977, "The Conviction of Richard Nixon," but then he sat on it until this year, when it was published for the first time. He also passed the manuscript on to playwright Peter Morgan so he could write his hit play "Frost/Nixon" which is enjoying a run on Broadway and was recently awarded several Tonys.

It was Reston's assumption that the interviews might either exonerate Nixon of wrongdoing or convict him in the eyes of the public. In spite of the author's firm belief that the interviews convicted him, (he quotes Nixon saying at one point, "I have impeached myself"), Nixon went on to become a respected elder statesman, well-utilized by his successors on foreign-policy missions — and he published several best-selling books.

Nixon's funeral was nationally televised and attended by all living former presidents and the sitting president, Bill Clinton, who praised him certainly much more than he deserved — even if it were possible to forget about Watergate.