News
The New Realpolititik?
Ever since President Obama's took the oath of office twice last January, he's been compared by pundits to every previous Chief Executive since Millard Fillmore or at least Chester Alan Arthur. For the last week the Nixon comparisons have flown hot and heavy; next week...
“The Fugitive,” Guest Starring Carl Bernstein?
Late last week Alexander Cockburn, one of the elder statesmen of unreconstructed radical journalism, posted an article on his CounterPunch.com site in which he discussed President Obama's prospects of prevailing in his feud with Fox News. Unlike many more mainstream...
Living The Nixon Legacy
(Photo credit, Gary Byron Photography): Murals of President and Mrs. Nixon's landmark voyage of peace to the People's Republic of China are on display at South Coast Plaza. I had always assumed that ping-pong was a relatively easy game –the activity that one plays at...
Laughing Matters
From a recent Onion: Report: Majority Of Newspapers Now Purchased By Kidnappers To Prove Date NEW YORK—According to a report published this week in American Journalism Review, 93 percent of all newspaper sales can now be attributed to kidnappers seeking to prove the...
Jerry Brown, Bill Clinton, and RN
Forty-seven years after his own run for the office, RN is making a cameo in the race for California governor. The Sacramento Bee reports: More than a decade before Jerry Brown's current incarnation as undeclared gubernatorial front-runner, he hit the airwaves of...
The Muse of the Obama White House
In their attacks on Fox News and tea-party protesters, White House officials are cribbing from a speech given 40 years ago next month. [W]e should ask what is the end value--to enlighten or to profit? What is the end result--to inform or to confuse? How does the...
RN, Sammy, And The Highlight Of The 1972 Convention
Singer and performer Sammy Davis Jr. famously embraced RN at a youth rally at Marine Memorial Stadium. The structure, located in Key Biscayne, largely neglected by city officials, is at the center of a preservation effort. The Associated Press is reporting that the...
“Let Me Be (Imperfectly?) Clear”
No American presidency is complete without the emergence of one, or two, or more catchphrases as thoroughly associated with the incumbent as "Would you believe?" or "You really know how to hurt a guy" are with the late Don Adams. John F. Kennedy, in the early years of...
Nixon (Masks) In The News
Last week, as the Los Angeles Angels entered the American League playoffs, I wrote about the team's first foray into the postseason thirty years ago, when former President Nixon was a regular at what was then Anaheim Stadium, and spectators were not allowed to wear...
“Seeing The Writing On The Wall”
Tony Panaccio at postchronicle.com has an article about Ed Nixon, the last of the five brothers that included the 37th President. and author of The Nixons: A Family Portrait. In the article Ed speaks of RN's visionary health-care plan: "My brother's offer to address...