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Stone makes clear that Nixon was guilty of some immoral tactics regarding the Vietnam War. By 1969 it was clear that American was in a military quagmire in South East Asia and that the US could no longer achieve its strategic goals. The Stone movie shows that Nixon refused to do the right thing and seek to end the war. The movie makes clear that Nixon wanted to carry on the war for purely selfish politic reasons and to placate the ring-wing of the Republican Party who were his main backers <ref> Safire, p. 211</ref>. Nixon was committed to continuing the Vietnam War to stay in power. This led him to order the massive bombing of North Vietnam and to conduct covert wars in Laos and Cambodia. There are those who argued against Stone’s view, including Kissinger. They argue that Nixon inherited a war that had once been popular and that had not gone as planned. He could not disengage from Vietnam because it would give World Communism a boost during the Cold War<ref> Gaddis, John Lewis (1982). Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Post-war American National Security Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press), p. 178</ref>. Many have backed Stone’s version and that Nixon was reluctant to disengage from Vietnam for political reasons. They point to the fact that Nixon contacted North Vietnam when it seemed that Lyndon B Johnson was going to enter peace negotiations<ref> Drew, p. 119</ref>. He told the communists that he would persecute the war with the utmost zeal and with the full-force of American power. This helped to undermine a peace process that could have ended the war much earlier and would have saved countless of lives. Stone’s movie showing Nixon putting his own political ambitions before peace in Vietnam are largely accurate.

Pat Nixon the wife of the 37th President is shown as a tortured woman in the motion picture. She is played with real sympathy by Joan Allen, whose performance is in stark contrast to the over the top portrayal of Nixon by Hopkins. Pat Nixon was indeed a tortured woman and she had much to put up with. Nixon was a very difficult man to live with he was consumed by politics and this was his first love. Furthermore, he was a depressive and a heavy drinker and this meant that he could be difficult to be around. It seems that by the time that Pat Nixon was First Lady, she and the President had separate lives. In real life, Pat Nixon was a very nice person and well-respected by those who met her and she was described by all as ‘warm and caring’<ref> Frick, Daniel (2008). Reinventing Richard Nixon. Lawrence, Kans.: University of Kansas Press), p. 145</ref>. There are even reports of anti-Vietnam war protestors remarking how nice she was. The film depicts her as a heavy drinker and an alcoholic. This was not the case and, she and the President did not spend much time together and she disapproved of his drinking <ref>Drew, p. 345</ref>. The portrayal of Pat Nixon was in this regard not really accurate.