Drawing: Faces 1978-82 — The Jared Kushner legal defense team

by Jack Brummet

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Special Counsel is authorized in the Russian government's efforts to interfere in 2016 election

by Jack Brummet

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Brain Trust dinner at the White House last night (Palin, Trump, Kid Rock, Ted Nugent)

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White House Battle Fatigue

Outrage Outage by John McNamee. A name for the battle fatigue many are now experiencing.

 

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The President greets the first tour group to visit the WH since the inauguration. Who's that over his shoulder?

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Another rough day at the White House

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BHO and Lin-Manuel Miranda freestyling at the White House, Subterranean Homesick Blues style

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President's Nixon's Enemies List

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

President Nixon's enemies list was part of a bizarre plan known as the “Political Enemies Project.” The list became public knowledge when John Dean mentioned it during his testimony before the the Senate Watergate Committee.  Journalist Daniel Schorr, who was on the list, managed to obtain copies of it later that day.

The White House Counsel's Office (John Dean), said the list was kept was to use tax audits from the Internal Revenue Service, and by manipulating "grant availability, federal contracts, litigation, prosecution, etc."  In a memorandum from John Dean to Lawrence Higby (August 16, 1971), Dean explained the purpose of the list:

“This memorandum addresses the matter of how we can maximize the fact of our incumbency in dealing with persons known to be active in their opposition to our Administration; stated a bit more bluntly—how we can use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies."

IRS commissioner Donald C. Alexander refused to launch audits of the people on the list. In fact, John Dean later said that no real action was ever taken against any of the "enemies."
Senators

• Birch Bayh
• J. W. Fulbright
• Fred R. Harris
• Harold Hughes 
• Edward M. Kennedy
• George McGovern
• Walter Mondale 
• Edmund Muskie
• Gaylord Nelson
• William Proxmire

Members of the House of Representatives

• Bella Abzug
• William R. Anderson 
• John Brademas
• Father Robert Drinan 
• Robert Kastenmeier
• Wright Patman

Black Congressmen and Congresswomen

• Shirley Chisholm
• William Clay
• George Collins
• John Conyers 
• Ronald Dellums
• Charles Diggs
• Augustus Hawkins
• Ralph Metcalfe 
• Robert N.C. Nix
• Parren Mitchell
• Charles Rangel
• Louis Stokes

Other politicians

• John Lindsay, Mayor of New York City 
• Eugene McCarthy, former U.S senator 
• George Wallace, Governor of Alabama
• Sargent Shriver, former director of the Peace Corps and 1972 Democratic Party Vice Presidential candidate

Organizations

• Black Panthers, Hughie Newton [sic]
• Brookings Institution, Lesley Gelb [sic] and others
• Business Executives Move for VN Peace. Henry Niles, national chairman, Vincent McGee. executive director
• Committee for an Effective Congress. Russell Hemenway
• Common Cause, John Gardner, Morton Halperin,Charles Goodell, Walter Hickel
• Congressional Black Caucus 
• COPE, Alexander E Barkan
• Council for a Livable World, Bernard T. Feld, pr idem: professor of physics. MIT
• Farmers Union, NFO
• Institute of Policy study Richard Barnet, Marcus Raskin
• National Economic Council, Inc.
• National Education Association, Sam M. Lambertpresident 
• National Student Association, Charles Palmer[disambiguation needed] president
• National Welfare Rights Organization, George Wiley
• Potomac Associates, William Watts
• SANE, Sanford Gottlieb
• Southern Christian Leadership, Ralph Abernathy;
• Third National Convocation on the Challenge of Building Peace, Robert V Roosa, chairman
• Businessmen's Educational Fund.

Labor

• Karl Feller president, International Union United Brewery. Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers, Cincinnati
• Harold J. Gibbons, international vice president,Teamsters
• A F Grospiron, president, Oil, Chemical Atomic Workers International Union, Denver
• Matthew Guinan, president, Transport Work. Union of America, New York City 
• Paul Jennings, president, International Union Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers, Washington D.C.
• Herman D. Kenin, vice president, AFL-CIO. D
• Lane Kirkland, secretary-treasurer. AFL-CIO (we must deal with him)
• Frederick O'Neal. president. Actors and Artists America, New York City
• William Pollock, president, Textile Workers Union of America, New York City 
• Jacob Potofsky general president, Amalgam. Clothing Workers of America, New York City
• Leonard Woodcock, president, United Auto Workers,Detroit
• Jerry Wurf, international president, American Federal, State, County and Municipal Employ Washington D.C.
• Nathaniel Goldfinger, AFL-CIO
• I. W. Abel, Steelworkers

Media

• Jack Anderson, columnist, "Washington Merry-Go-Round"
• Jim Bishop, author, columnist, King Features Syndicate
• Thomas Braden, columnist, Los Angeles Times Syndicate
• D. J. R. Bruckner, Los Angeles Times Syndicate
• Marquis Childs, chief Washington correspondent, St. Louis Post Dispatch
• James Deakin, White House correspondent, St. Louis Post Dispatch
• James Doyle, Washington Star
• Richard Dudman, St. Louis Post Dispatch
• Jules Duscha [sic], Washingtonian
• William Eaton, Chicago Daily News
• Rowland Evans Jr., syndicated columnist, Publishers Hall
• Saul Friedmann, Knight Newspapers, syndicated columnist
• Clayton Fritchey, syndicated columnist Washington correspondent. Harpers
• George Frazier, Boston Globe
• Lou Gordon, The Detroit News columnist and television talk show host
• Katharine Graham, editor, The Washington Post
• Pete Hamill, New York Post
• Michael Harrington, author and journal member, executive committee Socialist party
• Sydney J. Harris, columnist, drama critic and writer of 'Strictly Personal,' syndicated Publishers Hall 
• Robert Healy, Boston Globe
• William Hines, Jr., journalist. science education,Chicago Sun Times
• Stanley Karnow, foreign correspondent, Washington Post
• Ted Knap, syndicated columnist, New York Daily News
• Erwin Knoll, Progressive
• Morton Kondracke, Chicago Sun Times
• Joseph Kraft, syndicated columnist, Publishers Hall
• James Laird, Philadelphia Inquirer
• Max Lerner, syndicated columnist, New York Post: author, lecturer, professor (Brandeis University)
• Stanley Levey, Scripps Howard
• Flora Lewis syndicated columnist on economics
• Stuart Loory, Los Angeles Times
• Mary McGrory, syndicated columnist on New Left
• Frank Mankiewicz, syndicated columnist Los Angeles Times
• James Millstone, St. Louis Post Dispatch
• Martin Nolan, Boston Globe
• Ed Guthman, Los Angeles Times
• Thomas O'Neill, Baltimore Sun
• John Pierson, Wall Street Journal
• William Prochnau, Seattle Times 
• James Reston, New York Times
• Carl Rowan, syndicated columnist, Publishers Hall
• Warren Unna, Washington Post, NET
• Harriet Van Horne, columnist, New York Post
• Milton Viorst, reporter, author, writer
• James Wechsler, New York Post
• Tom Wicker, New York Times
• Garry Wills, syndicated columnist, author of Nixon Agonistes
• New York Times
• Washington Post
• St Louis Post Dispatch
• Robert Manning, editor, Atlantic
• John Osborne, New Republic
• Richard Rovere, New Yorker
• Robert Sherrill, Nation
• Paul Samuelson, Newsweek
• Julian Goodman, chief executive officer, NBC
• John Macy, Jr, president, Public Broadcasting Corp, former Civil Service Commission
• Marvin Kalb, CBS
• Daniel Schorr, CBS
• Lem Tucker, NBC
• Sander Vanocur, NBC

Celebrities

• Carol Channing, actress
• Bill Cosby, comedian
• Jane Fonda, actress and political activist 
• Dick Gregory, comedian and civil rights and peace activist.
• Steve McQueen, actor
• Joe Namath, former New York Jets Quarterback
• Paul Newman, actor 
• Gregory Peck, actor
• Tony Randall, actor
• Barbra Streisand, actress and singer

Business people

• Charles B. Beneson, president, Beneson Realty Co.
• Nelson Bengston, president, Bengston & Co.
• Holmes Brown, vice president, public relations,Continental Can Co.
• Benjamin Buttenweiser, limited partner, Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
• Lawrence G. Chait, chairman Lawrence G. Chait & Co., Inc.
• Ernest R. Chanes, president, Consolidated Water Conditioning Co.
• Maxwell Dane, chairman, executive committee, Doyle, Dane & Bernbach, Inc.
• Charles H. Dyson, chairman, the Dyson-Kissner Corp.
• Norman Eisner, president, Lincoln Graphic Arts. 
• Charles B. Finch, vice president, Alleghany Power System, Inc.
• Katharine Graham, editor and publisher, The Washington Post
• Frank Heineman, president, Men's Wear International.
• George Hillman, president, Ellery Products Manufacturing Co.
• Bertram Lichtenstein, president, Delton Ltd.
• William Manealoff, president, Concord Steel Corp.
• Gerald McKee, president, McKee, Berger, Mansueto. 
• Paul Milstein, president, Circle Industries Corp.
• Stewart R. Mott, Stewart R. Mott, Associates.
• Lawrence S. Phillips, president, Phillips-Van Heusen Corp.
• David Rose chairman, Rose Associates.
• Julian Roth senior partner, Emery Roth & Sons.
• William Ruder, president, Ruder & Finn, Inc.
• Si Scharer, president, Scharer Associates, Inc.
• Alfred P. Slaner, president, Kayser-Roth Corp.
• Roger Sonnabend, chairman, Sonesta International Hotels.

Business additions

• Business Executives Move for Vietnam Peace and New National Priorities
• Morton Sweig, president. National Cleaning Contractors 
• Alan V. Tishman, executive vice president, Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Inc.
• Ira D. Wallach, president, Gottesman & Co., Inc. 
• George Weissman,, president, Philip Morris Corp.
• Ralph Weller, president, Otis Elevator Company

Business

• Clifford Alexander, Jr., member, Equal Opportunity Commission; LBJ's special assistant
• Hugh Calkins, Cleveland lawyer, member, Harvard Corp
• Ramsey Clark, partner, Weiss, Goldberg, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; former attorney general
• Lloyd Cutler, lawyer, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Washington, D.C.
• Henry L. Kimelman, chief fund raiser for McGovern. president, Overview Group
• Raymond Lapin, former president, FNMA; corporation executive
• Hans F. Loeser, chairman, Boston Lawyers' Vietnam Committee
• Robert McNamara, president, World Bank; former Secretary of Defense 
• Hans Morgenthau, a pioneer in the field of international relations theory.
• Victor Palmieri, lawyer, business consultant, real estate executive, Los Angeles.
• Arnold Picker, Muskie's chief fund raiser; chairman executive committee, United Artists
• Robert S. Pirie, Harold Hughes' chief fund raiser: Boston lawyer.
• Joseph Rosenfield, Harold Hughes' money man; retired Des Moines lawyer.
• Henry Rowen, president, Rand Corp., former assistant director of budget (LBJ)
• R Sargent Shriver, Jr., former US. ambassador to France; lawyer, Strasser, Spiefelberg, Fried, Frank & Kempelman, Washington, D.C. [1972 Democratic vice presidential candidate] 
• Theodore Sorensen, lawyer, Weiss, Goldberg, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, New York.
• Ray Stark, Broadway producer.
• Howard Stein, president and director, Dreyfus Corporation.
• Milton Semer, chairman, Muskie Election Committee; lawyer, Semer and Jacobsen
• George H. Talbot, president, Charlotte Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. ; headed anti-Vietnam ad
• Arthur Taylor, vice president, International Paper Company [presently CBS president]
• Jack Valenti, president, Motion Picture Association.
• Paul Warnke, Muskie financial supporter, former assistant secretary of defense
• Thomas J. Watson, Jr., Muskie financial supporter; chairman, IBM

Academics

• Michael Ellis DeBakey, chairman, department of surgery, Baylor College of Medicine; surgeon-in-chief,Ben Taub General Hospital. Texas
• Derek Curtis Bok, dean, Harvard Law School
• Kingman Brewster, Jr., president, Yale University.
• McGeorge Bundy, president, Ford Foundation.
• Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics, MIT
• Carl Djerassi, professor of chemistry, and co-inventor of the first oral contraceptive pill Stanford University
• Daniel Ellsberg, professor, MIT.
• George Drennen Fischer, member, executive committee. National Education Association 
• J. Kenneth Galbraith, professor of economics, Harvard
• Patricia Harris, educator, lawyer, former US. ambassador; chairman welfare committee Urban League
• Walter Heller, regents professor of economics,University of Minnesota
• Edwin Land, inventor of instant photography.
• Herbert Ley, Jr., former FDA commissioner; professor of epidemiology, Harvard.
• Matthew Stanley Meselson, professor of biology,Harvard
• Lloyd N. Morrisett, professor and associate director, education program, University of California 
• Joseph Rhodes, Jr., fellow, Harvard; member,Scranton commission on Campus Unrest
• Bayard Rustin, civil rights activist; director, A. Philip Randolph Institute, New York.
• David Selden, president, American Federation of Teachers.
• Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., professor of humanities, City University of New York
• Jeremy Stone, director, Federation of American Scientists
• Jerome Wiesner, president, MIT.
• Samuel M. Lambert, president, National Education Association

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President Nixon and Bob Haldeman attempt to neutralize Johnny Cash & Johnny Cash's sweet revenge a couple years later

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

In 1970, President Richard Nixon and Bob Haldeman hoped to politically neutralize Johnny Cash, and convince him not to campaign for Tex Ritter in a a Tennessee U.S. Senate race.  Here is the White House memo, now housed at The Nixon Library.



Mental Floss, in a post March 5, 2012, [ed's note:  I don't think Mental Floss knew about this letter, or the earlier meeting referred to by Haldeman] reported that two years after this memo, "In July 1972, Cash sat down with Richard Nixon in the White House’s Blue Room. The country music superstar had come to discuss prison reform, and the media was present, eager to report the results. Nixon thought he’d break the ice, and asked, “Johnny, would you be willing to play a few songs for us?”   “I like Merle Haggard’s 'Okie From Muskogee' and Guy Drake’s 'Welfare Cadillac.'" Both songs were satirical expressions of right-wing disdain for Vietnam protesters and hippies, and one for for poor people who cheat the welfare system."

Cash said he didn't know those songs, but had some of his own.   Cash started with “What Is Truth?” a great anti-war song that celebrated the protesting, long haired youth of America. 

From Metal Floss again:  "Nixon sat listening with a frozen smile.   Cash continued the assault with “The Man in Black,” a song that explained how his fashion preference represented his solidarity with the oppressed, the sick, the lonely, and the soldiers (“Each week we lose a hundred fine young men”).  Cash then capped off his mini-concert with “The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” about the plight of Native Americans, in particular one of the soldiers who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Hayes returned home to be decorated, but couldn’t deal with the guilt he felt over surviving the war when so many of his friends didn’t. He drank himself to death."

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Another rough day at The White House

By Jack Brummet 

They're having a lot of them of late.

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Middle finger of the day: The White House

Selected by Mona Goldwater, Symbols, Signs, and Gestures Editor

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1846 daguerreotype of The White House by John Plumbe

courtesy of the Library of Congress Digital Collections & Services - your tax dollars at work

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Tata, Rahm...Godspeed on the road to the Chicago Mayor's office

By Pablo Fanque
National Affairs Editor

Well, it hasn't been a secret--for six months or so (and, really, longer), the rumors have been out there. Obviously BHO knew about it too.  Rahm has never kept it a secret--even when he was a congressman.  This is the job he really wanted.  And I have to admit, I think he'll be a pretty damned good big city mayor.

Other chiefs of staff have gone on to "bigger" things--Dick Cheney, James Baker, Gen, Haig, Rumsfeld, Donald Regan...

Two years is about the norm, really. It's just about as much as anyone in their right mind can take.  And he's not exactly well-loved, even around the white house.  Yeah, it does make it look like people are abandoning ship...what are you going to do? The ship is definitely taking on water, but it's fundamentally sound.  And it's probably time to re-energize the place with fresh meat.
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She's rested, tanned, rich, and ready to rock following Tuesday's wins. The half-term Governor may just be running for the White House

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

After all the butt-scratching, dissembling, and aw-shucksing about her Presidential plans, Ex-Governor Sarah Palin now says, sure, "I would give it a shot."  But, only if we think she's "the one."

The half-term former Governor made this pronouncement during an interview with Fox News (her sometime employer).  There were, of course, a couple of contingencies:

"If the American people were to be ready for someone who is willing to shake it up, and willing to get back to time-tested truths, and help lead our country towards a more prosperous and safe future and if they happen to think I was the one, if it were best for my family and for our country, of course I would give it a shot."

As you all know, she is highly skilled at getting on TV and energizing the base, but her team's organizational skills run the gamut from pathetic to non-existent.  If she IS going to make an even half-serious run, she needs to get on the ground in the primary states...just as her potential adversaries like Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, Newt Gingrich, and others are doing.  She found it difficult to study for the VP debates; it's not clear if she has the stomach for the massive operational efforts required to mount a Presidential primary campaign.
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