Event Recap: Nicholas Sarantakes

on Nixon and Sports

Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, Professor of History at the Naval War College, visited the Nixon Library on November 4, 2019 to discuss President Nixon’s intertwined, and relatively unknown, relationship with the spectacle of American sports.

In his in-depth discussion, Sarantakes argued that sports are central to understanding Richard Nixon noting that President Nixon was his most unguarded and articulate when watching sports or attending athletic events. Consequently, Nixon was able to use sports in a way that communicated a recreational pastime, allowing him to effectively express his leadership, values, and policies to the American people.

Watch the complete event below.