McGill University lecturer Adam Daifallah didn’t want just anyone to teach his students about Richard Nixon, he wanted someone with a connection to a man. And he found someone – thousands of kilometres away in a Florida prison.
On Jan. 27, 20 undergraduate students at McGill were the first people to hear the voice of Conrad Black in more than two years.
“Lord Black was invited to speak because he is Canada’s only serious Nixon scholar that I am aware of,” Daifallah said. “Black is one of the finest intellectuals this country has ever produced and the students should hear from someone who knew Nixon personally.”
Black had a 1,000-page bibliography on Nixon published in 2007. Daifallah played a small research role in this bibliography and said he continued to keep in touch with Black via e-mail.
The political science class listened to Black deliver a 15-minute lecture through a BlackBerry speaker phone from within the walls of Florida Prison where he is currently serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence for diverting funds for personal benefit.
Daifallah said the lecture was arranged as a surprise for the students. Students were asked to submit questions relating to Nixon but were not told who would be answering those questions.
“Some of them figured out that the guest was Lord Black before I announced it but most were quite surprised,” Daifallah said.
In his brief talk, Black described Nixon’s challenges and how he felt the man had success with Vietnam***, bettering relations with China and Russia, improving peace in the Middle East and lowering the United States’ crime rate.
“He has the most successful four-year term as president of anyone in history of the country, except [Abraham] Lincoln and [Theodore] Roosevelt’s first and third year terms,” Black said.
Black also commented on the 1972 Watergate Scandal and Nixon’s suspected cover-up of the burglary of the Democratic National Committees headquarters.
“It was a terribly thin thread on which to remove a president from office,” he said.
This is likely what would have happened if Nixon had not resigned in 1974.
Tom Velk, a professor of economics and chair McGill’s North American studies, was present during Black’s lecture.
Velk, who had guest lectured the class the previous week, nodded his head as he listened to Black answer the student’s questions and defend Nixon.
“[Black] didn’t behave completely properly, but on the other hand, he certainly doesn’t deserve what has happened to him. And I think it’s similar for Nixon,” Velk said.
The class listened intently as Black struggled to get his message across in the last minute of the call.
“The message was that Nixon had many interesting accomplishments as president, despite his flaws,” Daifallah said.