Tuesdays With Franklin

The sun had just risen over the Pearly Gates when RN threaded his way through the already crowded dining room. As always, the silver was gleaming and the glasses were sparkling and the napery…….everyone wondered how they managed to fold the starched linen napkins,...

Choosing a Veep

Many people are offering John McCain advice about a running mate. Various candidates would purportedly tip swing states into the McCain column, or improve his appeal to women and minorities. Maybe. LBJ did help JFK win Texas in 1960. But aside from that one case, it...

New York Times Endorses Nixon

Those who have not seen the New York Times editorial page today may be interested in the paper’s editorial on Russia’s elections, “Putin’s Mini-Me (Or Not?).” Broadly speaking, the Times editors express concern over Russian democracy and...

Making History by Agreeing to Disagree

My recent summary of last week’s news failed to recognize an important anniversary . It was thirty-six years ago last Tuesday (26 February) that the Shanghai Communique was signed by President Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou En-lai. February 22nd, the anniversary of...

Buckley, Nixon, and Mao – 1972

In February of 1972 three airplanes, two were charter flights, the third was Air Force One, made their way from the United States to China en route to a rendezvous with what historian Margaret McMillan has referred to as “the week that changed the world.” The two...

Richard Milhous Obama

Barack Obama sounds a bit like Richard Nixon. No, he’s not deliberately cribbing from our 37th president. It’s hard to picture him telling his writers: “I need to fire up the liberal Democratic base – so go get me some Nixon language!” But his rhetoric does include...