Photographs of President Richard Nixon with Sammy Davis, Jr.

By Jack Brummet, National Affairs Ed.

In honor of RMN's departure 40 years ago, I'm sharing some photos of The Trickster with Sammy Davis, Jr.

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The best Ted Kennedy quote ever

 [image: Andy Warhol Polaroid of Kennedy]

"I don't mind not being President. I just mind that someone else is." - Teddy Kennedy, 1986

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Ruminations on Dick Nixon and his resignation 40 years ago

By Jack Brummet
History Editor

Nixon and Premier Nikita Kruschev in the famous "kitchen debate"

I've been thinking about Richard Nixon a lot (he never strays far from from my thoughts, all these years hence) since I visited his Presidential Library and Birthplace in Orange County, California.  Lately, I have read a couple new (to me) books on him, and one he wrote, and listened to recordings from the Richard M. Nixon Oral History Project.

RMN on the keys

Thanks to the lowered-to-18 voting age, I was able to cast a vote against Richard Nixon in 1972.  Watergate was just becoming a big problem, but he hung on--the last few months by the skin of his teeth--until August, 1974, less than two years into his second term.  He was a smart guy, who accomplished a great deal politically, kept entitlements and social programs fully funded, but then there was The Dark Side (consisting mainly of The War, Watergate, and his misuse of the CIA and FBI to spy on and harass citizens).  He's lucky they didn't send him to prison.  And President Gerald Ford's blanket pardon, a month after Nixon resigned derailed any prosecution and the hydra-headed barrage/industry of various legal actions, a press howling for blood, and subpoenas from literally dozens of Senate and House subcommittees, courts, and panels of inquiry, all aimed at crippling Richard Nixon. . . snapping off the head of the snake.

The Republicans were even more desperate to get him out of office than the Democrats.  Day by day by day friends, allies, old colleagues, people he'd worked with for decades, people for whom he'd done big favors--all drifted away and some of them sent out press releases or talked to reporters.  It was over.

One of a very few instances of RMN in kooky mode

Sammy Davis Jr, hugs his bro' The President

On the beach with Pat and the girls

"I don't give a shit what happens. I want you all to stonewall--plead the Fifth Amendment, cover-up, or anything else. If that will save it, save the plan." (1973 - to his subordinates in the White House during Watergate) - President Richard M. Nixon

"People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook." (1973 - to the press during Watergate) - President Richard M. Nixon

"Well, I screwed up real good, didn't I?" (1974 - to Al Haig just before writing his resignation speech) - President Richard M. Nixon




"When the president does it, that means it is not illegal. But I brought myself down. I gave them a sword and they stuck it in and twisted it with relish. And I guess that if I had been in their position, I'd have done the same thing." (1977) - Ex-President Richard M. Nixon

When I lived in NYC, we used to visit The Ex-President's house (see Visiting Richard Nixon In NYC).

President Nixon was actually the last of the liberal Republican presidents--social spending was at an all-time high under The Nixon Administration. The country, however, seemed to visibly crumble under the domestic spying, break-ins, misinformation campaigns, Kent State, prosecution of the Chicago 7, massive anti-war demonstrations, the bombing of Cambodia, hardhats and Hell's Angels attacking peace marchers. . .and all the other outrages committed and encouraged by Nixon's henchmen, a band of sneaky,  misanthropic thugs. President Nixon's long smoldering resentments, doubts about his own self-worth, and his paranoia about The Kennedys would all contribute to sink his presidency.

One of his resignation/farewell speeches

The war against North Vietnam raged on with increased troop levels, saturation bombing, napalm napalm napalm, and massive body counts. The body count became a feature of every nightly news broadcast. On the plus side of the ledger, President Nixon reached out to both Russia and China, and set the stage for the later upheavals in Russia, up to and including the fall of communism. He opened China up to diplomacy and trade and sat down with Mao Zedong.  And this was the old red-baiter and commie smear artist who labeled one of his early opponents "The Pink Lady."  Helen Gahagan Douglas, who had the temerity to run against RMN in a Senate election, was painted as a Fellow Traveler, and Nixon won the election in a landslide--nearly 60% of the votes.   I recall that HGD was, probably in the late 40's, a girlfriend of LBJ when they were in Congress together.

Trapped with LBJ in a funhouse mirror situation

Maybe my favorite Richard Nixon story is about his friend  Jackie Gleason, and a little visit to an air force base where Gleason says they viewed the wreckage of an alien space ship, and the bodies of eight alien astronauts.

Bye

Jackie goes public

The Alien story was carried originally in the National Enquirer. In Florida in 1974, Jackie Gleason was playing golf with his friend President Richard Nixon who had learned of Gleason's deep interest in UFOs. The President allegedly admitted that he also shared Jackie's interest and had a sizable collection of UFO-oriented materials of his own.
 

RMN, lighter than air

You can imagine Gleason's surprise when President Nixon showed up around midnight, completely alone in a car (and probably wildly waving a fifty of Scotch).
When Jackie asked him why he was there, Nixon told him that he wanted to take him somewhere and show him something. He got into the president's car, and they ended up at the gates of Homestead Air Force Base.  Timothy Green Beckley describes it in "UFO Universe Summer 1993": 

 "They passed through security and drove to the far end of the base, to a tightly-guarded building. At this point, I will quote directly from Gleason himself, from an interview he gave to UFO researcher and author Larry Warren:"



Dick and Mao

"We drove to the very far end of the base in a segregated area, finally stopping near a well-guarded building. The security police saw us coming and just sort of moved back as we passed them and entered the structure. There were a number of labs we passed through first before we entered a section where Nixon pointed out what he said was the wreckage from a flying saucer, enclosed in several large cases. Next, we went into an inner chamber and there were six or eight of what looked like glass-topped Coke freezers. Inside them were the mangled remains of what I took to be children. Then - upon closer examination - I saw that some of the other figures looked quite old. Most of them were terribly mangled as if they had been in an accident."



After resigning in disgrace in August, 1974, Nixon hid out in California a couple of years, and then moved to NYC. He went on to write numerous books on foreign policy, and unofficially (with no public fanfare) advise every President that followed him until the day he died.

Selected recent posts on President Nixon:

Visiting Richard Nixon In NYC
Jackie Gleason, Richard Nixon and The Alien
Fun with Richard Nixon's Ghost
Nixon's Back Pocket speech in case of a space disaster
RMN's Comedy of Errors
The photographer who stole Richard Nixon's Soul
Fun With Dick Nixon's Ghost
Lying and Contractions
Nixon's back pocket speech in the event of a moon disaster
POTUS 37, or, the comedy of errors
Presidents it was fun to vote against
Visiting Richard Nixon

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Poem: You Are Here

By Jack Brummet

When I'm not here
I'm often there
Which is anywhere
That's not here.

I'm there
But not all there.

I have to be
A little here
To be there
And a little there
To be here.

Being here
Or being there
Is not being everywhere.

When you go anywhere,
You leave a little bit behind,
Shedding pieces
Here there and everywhere.

If you're not here
And you're not there
You are somewhere
Neither here nor there
And somewhere
Could be anywhere
But can't be
Everywhere.

I saw a bear.
Where? Over there. 

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Painting: The Victor

By Jack Brummet

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Listen to a great song of summer—Paloma Ford's new single "Summer in California," with Snoop Dogg and Iamsu

By Jack Brummet, Music Ed.

Paloma Ford was recently featured on Meek Mill's "I Don't Know". The L.A. singer-songwriter has now released a new single, "Summer In California," featuring Snoop Dogg and Iamsu. Give it a listen!

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Painting: The Visitors

By Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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Dick Nixon resigned 40 years ago this week

By Jack Brummet, Presidents Ed.

On August 8th, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon appeared on television and announced his decision to resign the presidency effective at noon the next day. 

The announcement was the result of the Watergate scandal and investigations involving the President's staff spying, committing burglaries, dirty tricks and other acts targeting the President's "enemies" and political opponents. 

In the end, it was the White House-orchestrated cover-up, and the sworn testimony of Nixon staff members before a televised Senate investigative committee, that led to the impeachment and downfall of The President. 

After his actual resignation on August 9th, Nixon's staff met in the White House for a tearful farewell to a man they had served for many years.

Nixon actually made a pretty coherent speech to his people, considering the insanity, scandal, and chaos that savaged the White House even before his reelection in 1972.  

Richard Nixon's final speech to his staff, August 9, 1974:

   I think the record should show that this is one of those spontaneous things that we always arrange whenever the President comes in to speak, and it will be so reported in the press, and we don't mind, because they have to call it as they see it. But on our part, believe me, it is spontaneous. You are here to say goodbye to us, and we don't have a good word for it in English -- the best is au revoir. We'll see you again.

   I just met with the members of the White House staff, you know, those who serve here in the White House day in and day out, and I asked them to do what I ask all of you to do to the extent that you can and, of course, are requested to do so: to serve our next President as you have served me and previous Presidents -- because many of you have been here for many years -- with devotion and dedication, because this office, great as it is, can only be as great as the men and women who work for and with the President.   This house, for example -- I was thinking of it as we walked down this hall, and I was comparing it to some of the great houses of the world that I have been in. This isn't the biggest house. Many, and most, in even smaller countries, are much bigger. This isn't the finest house. Many in Europe, particularly, and in China, Asia, have paintings of great, great value, things that we just don't have here and, probably, will never have until we are 1,000 years old or older.   But this is the best house. It is the best house, because it has something far more important than numbers of people who serve, far more important than numbers of rooms or how big it is, far more important than numbers of magnificent pieces of art.   This house has a great heart, and that heart comes from those who serve. I was rather sorry they didn't come down.      We said goodbye to them upstairs. But they are really great. And I recall after so many times I have made speeches, and some of them pretty tough, yet, I always come back, or after a hard day -- and my days usually have run rather long -- I would always get a lift from them, because I might be a little down but they always smiled.    And so it is with you. I look around here, and I see so many on this staff that, you know, I should have been by your offices and shaken hands, and I would love to have talked to you and found out how to run the world -- everybody wants to tell the President what to do, and boy, he needs to be told many times -- but I just haven't had the time. But I want you to know that each and every one of you, I know, is indispensable to this Government.    I am proud of this Cabinet. I am proud of all the members who have served in our Cabinet. I am proud of our sub-Cabinet. I am proud of our White House Staff. As I pointed out last night, sure, we have done some things wrong in this Administration, and the top man always takes the responsibility, and I have never ducked it. But I want to say one thing: We can be proud of it -- five and a half years. No man or no woman came into this Administration and left it with more of this world's goods than when he came in. No man or no woman ever profited at the public expense or the public till. That tells something about you.    Mistakes, yes. But for personal gain, never. You did what you believed in. Sometimes right, sometimes wrong. And I only wish that I were a wealthy man -- at the present time, I have got to find a way to pay my taxes -- and if I were, I would like to recompense you for the sacrifices that all of you have made to serve in government. 

   But you are getting something in government -- and I want you to tell this to your children, and I hope the Nation's children will hear it, too -- something in government service that is far more important than money. It is a cause bigger than yourself. It is the cause of making this the greatest nation in the world, the leader of the world, because without our leadership, the world will know nothing but war, possibly starvation or worse, in the years ahead. With our leadership it will know peace, it will know plenty.    We have been generous, and we will be more generous in the future as we are able to. But most important, we must be strong here, strong in our hearts, strong in our souls, strong in our belief, and strong in our willingness to sacrifice, as you have been willing to sacrifice, in a pecuniary way, to serve in government.    There is something else I would like for you to tell your young people. You know, people often come in and say, "What will I tell my kids?" They look at government and say, sort of a rugged life, and they see the mistakes that are made. They get the impression that everybody is here for the purpose of feathering his nest. That is why I made this earlier point -- not in this Administration, not one single man or woman.    And I say to them, there are many fine careers. This country needs good farmers, good businessmen, good plumbers, good carpenters.    I remember my old man. I think that they would have called him sort of a little man, common man. He didn't consider himself that way. You know what he was? He was a streetcar motorman first, and then he was a farmer, and then he had a lemon ranch. It was the poorest lemon ranch in California, I can assure you. He sold it before they found oil on it. [Laughter] And then he was a grocer. But he was a great man, because he did his job, and every job counts up to the hilt, regardless of what happens. 

   Nobody will ever write a book, probably, about my mother. Well, I guess all of you would say this about your mother -- my mother was a saint. And I think of her, two boys dying of tuberculosis, nursing four others in order that she could take care of my older brother for three years in Arizona, and seeing each of them die, and when they died, it was like one of her own.    Yes, she will have no books written about her. But she was a saint.    Now, however, we look to the future. I had a little quote in the speech last night from T.R. [Theodore Roosevelt]. As you know, I kind of like to read books. I am not educated, but I do read books -- and the T.R. quote was a pretty good one. Here is another one I found as I was reading, my last night in the White House, and this quote is about a young man. He was a young lawyer in New York. He had married a beautiful girl, and they had a lovely daughter, and then suddenly she died, and this is what he wrote. This was in his diary.    He said, "She was beautiful in face and form and lovelier still in spirit. As a flower she grew and as a fair young flower she died. Her life had been always in the sunshine. There had never come to her a single great sorrow. None ever knew her who did not love and revere her for her bright and sunny temper and her saintly unselfishness. Fair, pure and joyous as a maiden, loving, tender and happy as a young wife. When she had just become a mother, when her life seemed to be just begun and when the years seemed so bright before her, then by a strange and terrible fate death came to her. And when my heart's dearest died, the light went from my life forever." 

   That was T.R. in his twenties. He thought the light had gone from his life forever -- but he went on. And he not only became President but, as an ex-President, he served his country, always in the arena, tempestuous, strong, sometimes wrong, sometimes right, but he was a man.     And as I leave, let me say, that is an example I think all of us should remember. We think sometimes when things happen that don't go the right way; we think that when you don't pass the bar exam the first time -- I happened to, but I was just lucky; I mean, my writing was so poor the bar examiner said, "We have just got to let the guy through." We think that when someone dear to us dies, we think that when we lose an election, we think that when we suffer a defeat that all is ended. We think, as T.R. said, that the light had left his life forever. Not true.     It is only a beginning, always. The young must know it; the old must know it. It must always sustain us, because the greatness comes not when things go always good for you, but the greatness comes and you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes, because only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.     And so I say to you on this occasion, as we leave, we leave proud of the people who have stood by us and worked for us and served this country. We want you to be proud of what you have done. We want you to continue to serve in government, if that is your wish.     Always give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty; always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.     And so, we leave with high hopes, in good spirit, and with deep humility, and with very much gratefulness in our hearts. I can only say to each and every one of you, we come from many faiths, we pray perhaps to different gods -- but really the same God in a sense -- but I want to say for each and every one of you, not only will we always remember you, not only will we always be grateful to you but always you will be in our hearts and you will be in our prayers.    Thank you very much.

Former President Richard M. Nixon on the morning of August 9, 1974.

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Future President LBJ a/k/a "Landslide Lyndon" campaigning for the Senate by helicopter in 1948

By Jack Brummet, National Affairs Ed.

LBJ won the 1948 Senate primary by 87 votes, which led to his nickname "Landslide Lyndon."  His rented helicopter, "The Johnson City Windmill," drew crowds to fairs across the state,

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Painting: Instructions

By Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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Poem: Counter-insurgency

By Jack Brummet

You think one thing,

Say another,

And do a third.

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Poem: Presidential Autopsy

by Jack Brummet

Weak character coupled with an honored place,
Half-baked knowledge with big plans

And limited reason with heavy responsibility
Will not escape disaster.

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