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
P
OTUS 37, or, the comedy of errors
Presidents it was fun to vote against
Visiting Richard Nixon
---o0o---
As unconventional as he was, he drew it back in the end by saying the only trick that counted was getting up on that cross; the rest was just razzle dazzle. Wow.
