News

RN & Manson, Obama & Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

From AP: President Barack Obama appeared to be taking a page from Richard Nixon's playbook Wednesday when he seemed to declare the suspected Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed guilty and deserving of the death penalty.  In Nixon's case, he pronounced cult...

RN, China, and Bowing

The Politico has a clip of RN appearing to bow to Mao.  Jim Pinkerton comments: “This footage, at 1:24, of Nixon's bow was not at all a bow, as Obama bowed. Nixon clearly just shook his hand, and then bowed as someone was obviously paying him a compliment. Much...

Communicating In Shanghai

On the shoulders of giants: President Obama at his town meeting in Shanghai.* In his speech today, at his town meeting at Shanghai's Fudan University, President Obama acknowledged the role ---if not the name--- of his Pacific Rim presidential predecessor who, after...

Marvin Minoff, RIP

Ron Howard's acclaimed film Frost/Nixon, based on Peter Morgan's play which was a hit in London's West End and on Broadway, depicts two men as the architects of the famous set of TV interviews with President Nixon: the future Sir David Frost and the future Baron John...

The First Pacific President?

In Tokyo today, President Obama said: "As America’s first Pacific president, I promise you that this Pacific nation will strengthen and sustain our leadership in this vitally important part of the world." The president was in error.  Though he was apparently referring...

Nixon’s New Jersey Friend Looks Back

Last week I wrote about a retired Atlantic City firefighter named Richard Nixon, whom the New York Times's website had profiled in a series about everyday Americans with Presidential names. Today's post is about the Richard Nixon who lived on the opposite side of the...