De l'Amérique ordinaire à l'État secret

This work is an analysis of the American democratic system throughout the course of the 20th century, as illuminated by the Nixon presidency, wherein the ends jusitifed the means, whether in sucess or failure.

taking off from the example of its 37th president, Richard Nixon, this book is a reflexion on American demacracy as a whole. The author deconstructs the "state secret" mysteries and takes inventory of the political violence phenomenon at the heart of the res publica, the way in which it is shrouded, and that which initiates it, as well as its consequences. In exploring Nixon's social origins, his electoral posts and his institutional practices, the author details the character of an extraordinary man, whose rise to power was not meteoric like Kennedy's but laborious and obsitnate, a man exemplified by his capacity to put himself at the center of the workings of Amrican democracy, for better or worse.

Romain Huret, an Historian on the United States, is master of Conferences at the University Lumière-Lyon-2 and  a member of the Institut universiatire de France.

KEY WORDS: AMERICAN PRESIDENT - RICHARD NIXON - REPUBLICANS - AMERICAN DEMOCRACY - WATERGATE - VIETNAM - POLITICAL VIOLENCE