There is a long tradition, on the American political right, of taking potshots at academics, professors, and other assorted “eggheads.” In fact, mistrust of the academic elite is practically gospel amongst conservative opinion leaders, and former U.S. president Richard Nixon was no exception. Nixon was famous for his conviction that the “so-called intellectuals” were plotting against him. But Nixon had a decidedly intellectual side himself, as it turns out. Always resentful of the second-class education he had received, Nixon was a voracious reader throughout his life, and even struck up friendships with some of the “eggheads” he so publicly reviled.