#Richard and Pat Nixon

[politicalrpf]

Collection of Richard Nixon political pin PNGs.

[dick-nixon]

in hospital, 1960

[gorillaxyz]

a young john and a no reference nixon who was so fun

[oldguardleatherdog]

We Don't Have Nixon To Kick Around Anymore

50 years on from The Resignation, a glancing elegy

On the night of August 8, 1974, as I sat on the big couch in our livingroom with one eye on the TV and the other on the cast on my left arm (another fractured wrist, this time from being last kid standing in a game of Bombardment at 6th grade recess - dodgeball with three balls - I made a heroic dive, felt the sproinggg! as I landed hard, and I knew another trip to Dr. MacFarland was in my near future), I saw the familiar jowls of President Nixon fill the screen on the Zenith, knowing that what Gerald Ford would soon call "our long national nightmare" was about to come to its once unlikely, suddenly imminent end.

For most of 1973 and all of 1974, the Watergate scandal had consumed the nation, crowding out the summer daytime programming (what? no Jeopardy or Concentration or that wild guy from Canada with the 'fro and the stache on a lame game called The Wizard of Odds named Alex Trebek? We had to go outside and play?), making unlikely household names of obscurocrats like John Dean and G. Gordon Liddy and Jeb Stuart Magruder, spawning what we would call memes today featuring Tricky Dick caricatures with endless snorts on Hollywood Squares and Laugh-In, and getting 12-year-old factory town kids engaged with politics in surprising ways (for two years, our Social Studies classes were a hotbed of partisan debate, and I lost ten cents betting on McGovern over Nixon in '72).

We all knew the end was close - the local headlines in giant type screaming "Nixon Resignation is Near" were belaboring the obvious by then - and as the President droned on, I listened for the cue to look at the screen...

"Therefore," - my family and I swiveled our heads in unison - "I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office."

And just like that, it was over.

The next day, I watched as the Nixons took their final walk across the White House lawn towards the helicopter that would carry them away from Washington and into history, Julie and Tricia and their husbands bearing them up, then the long-suffering Pat who God only knows how she held it together at that scorching, searing moment -

and last, the old crook himself, turning to face the Fords and the gathered staff and America and the world one last time, extending both arms out and up "stiff as a board" as the NBC News anchor remarked, his hands making the peace sign (peace! Jesus Christ, I learned in that instant where irony ended and satire began) in the posture we knew so well, and then just like that, they were gone.

And here we are, half a century hence, my wrist long since healed, wondering how the hell I got old, casting my baleful eye across our miserable mise-en-scène, trying to figure out just where we lost the thread and took the turn that got us back into the same damn jam squared - hell, cubed - and yearning for such a clear-cut, uncomplicated, and decisive ending to our long national nightmare once again.

[Excerpt from the "Checkers Speech", UVA's Miller Center via Vimeo]

[deadpresidents]

Was there any sort of real love between Nixon and his wife because in photos it looks like they don't want to get near each other?

Richard Nixon was a complicated man and probably not the greatest husband at times, but I'll never forget seeing him absolutely broken at his wife's funeral. I don't think this is the reaction of a man who didn't still love his wife.

[angelkeitai]

i am not getting over this image ever again

[nixonyaoi]

23rd of december 1952

[wexhappyxfew]

CHAPTER 7 - A DEADLY CALM INSIDE

August 29th, 1945 - 0600 Camp Toccoa, Georgia, United States War Correspondent Esther Armstrong

I remember when Marty had gotten into a fight at school; busted lip, black eye, bloody knuckles. Daddy wasn't happy about it by any stretch and even Ma, who had taken him into the kitchen and sat him on the counter to clean him up, was beyond displeased. I had watched from the other room, through the open doorway and silently listened, pretending like I was actually interested in the book in front of me. They made Marty apologize to the kid the next day. I had not seen the fight, but when Ma was done lecturing him on why we don't do that in this house, I remember finding him outside on the back porch crying. He told me why he did it, he told me why he had to; he was the shortest, the smallest of the grade, he had to fight back! Whether that provided a legitimate reason for the fight, I was just glad to see that he stood up for himself, even if our parents didn't necessarily see that. Being able to stand up for yourself seemed more important in that moment.

- Esther Armstrong, from Stroke of Luck

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[oldshowbiz]

1962.

Nat King Cole Week in Los Angeles.

[pretty-little-fools]

[politicalrpf]

Richard Nixon in 1950’s MAD.

[dick-nixon]

delivering a radio speech at krkd radio in los angeles, 1950

[kennedy-family-library]

JFK's Inauguration Ceremony, January 20, 1961.

[bargainsleuthbooks]

Book Reviews ARCReviews: The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon; A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy; Death in a Scottish Castle; Dancing with Diana: A Memoir #NetGalley #Edelweiss

I'm cruising along and getting through all my Advanced Reader's Copies from #NetGalley and #Edelweiss. #ThemysteriousMrsnixon #AWelltrainedwife #Deathinascottishcastle #Dancingwithdiana #Princessdiana #USPresidents #bookreviews #ARCreview #CharlesIII

I’m cruising along and getting through all my Advanced Reader’s Copies from NetGalley and Edelweiss. In order to keep up with blogging about them all, I’ve decided to do more roundups like this. Most books can be found at the affiliate links below or try your local library when they are released! (Amazon US) (Amazon CA) (Amazon UK)  (AbeBooks) (Barnes & Noble) (Booksamillion)  (Audible.com)…

[deadpresidents]

Did Richard Nixon ever meet Jerry Brown?

I'm not 100% sure and a quick, half-assed Google image search didn't turn up any photos of them together. But my guess is that they probably met. Jerry Brown's father, Pat Brown was Governor of California from 1959-1967, and defeated Nixon in the 1962 Gubernatorial election (two years after Nixon had lost the 1960 Presidential election to John F. Kennedy and which led to Nixon's infamously bitter "You won't have Nixon kick to around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference" concession speech). Nixon was also Vice President during part of Pat Brown's time as Governor, so I imagine they must have crossed paths at some point even if it was just in a reception line.

Nixon's Presidency just missed overlapping with Jerry Brown's first term as Governor (Nixon resigned in August 1974, Brown was inaugurated in January 1975), but Nixon lived in California during most of Jerry Brown's first two terms as Governor, so I'd also be surprised if they didn't meet at some point during Nixon's retirement. I can't find anything to confirm that they definitively met, but I can't imagine two of the major California political figures of the 20th Century like that wouldn't have had some sort of interaction at some point over the years.

[linusjf]

Pat Nixon: Sacrifice

Photo of First Lady Pat Nixon (Photo credit: Wikipedia) “I have sacrificed everything in my life that I consider precious in order to advance the political career of my husband. “ —Pat Nixon.