News
A Look at the TV Ratings for ‘Our Nixon’
This aide to Mr. Nixon would send memos to White House staff regarding audience ratings of the President’s television appearances. Here is the most recent TV rating I have come across. CNN’s “Our Nixon,” broadcast on August 1, 2013 drew 645,000 total viewers in...
Early Groundwork for Entitlement Reforms
By Marshall Garvey As President Obama and congressional Republicans debate how to handle entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, many Americans worry they'll ultimately be unable to come to a bipartisan consensus. In 1969, during his first year in...
Drafting a Presidential Statement on School Desegregation
On March 24, 1970, President Nixon released an extensive statement concerning the administration’s stance on ending school segregation in the South. While the number of African American children that were enrolled in desegregated school systems had increased...
The Long Battle for the ERA and Constitutional Equality
In 1921, Alice Paul of the National Women’s Party drafted the Equal Rights Amendment for constitutional gender equality. The original version read: Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction....
Bine ati venit, President Nixon’s Visit to Romania
As the Cold War continued, President Nixon became the first American President to visit socialist Romania. On August 2, 1969, he delivered an arrival speech in Bucharest on US-Romanian relations, and their shared goals of peace and security. In President Nixon’s...
Keeping Secrets Secret, the Fight Against Espionage
By Marshall Garvey Bradley Manning, in one of the most recent high-profile court cases in America, has been convicted on 20 charges of mishandling data for providing hundreds of thousands of classified government documents to Wikileaks. Violating the Espionage Act of...
Preparing for Crisis; A Leader’s Solemn Duty
New documents released by Britain’s National Archives reveal a speech prepared on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, in 1983, to be delivered if the world have descended into nuclear war. With the Cold War constantly threatening to turn hot, this type of catastrophic event...
It’s the President’s Pleasure to Accept…
One of the most enjoyable duties of the President is accepting gifts from foreign heads of state on behalf of the United States of America. The First Family does not personally retain most of these gifts; in fact, the Constitution (Article I, Section 9) forbids US...
Setting Precedent for Native American Progress
Earlier this week, The White House Council on Native American Affairs, which is composed of members of more than 30 federal departments and agencies, held its first meeting in Washington D.C. The Council, created by President Obama through an executive order on June...
Continuing to Fight; Nixon’s War on Cancer
On December 23, 1971 President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into legislation, consequently launching the national War on Cancer. President Nixon supported cancer research throughout his presidency into his years as elder statesman. Addressing...