NationStates Jolt Archive

Thirty years ago this week, August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency of the United States of America. Seen by many as the worst political crisis of the modern era, the Watergate affair and subsequent scandal redefined politics in the United States. Trust and credibility of the office was forever tarnished; the press gained enormous power, and his replacement sat in the Big Chair for two years as the first unelected President.

It's been a generation or more since Watergate hit the news, but the repercussions are still being heard. Nixon never fully recovered, despite his elder statesman status. Despite his failings, he had some good qualities to bring to the Presidency.

He had one of the best grasps of internationalism of any modern president. He successfully united his party and reached across the aisle to the Democrats. Under Nixon, relations to China were opened, Armstrong walked on the moon, and the Vietnam cease fire was signed. He inherited a nasty war and an unfriendly economy and made substantial inroads into turning both around.

Nixon was a strange, angry, forceful man without a lot of 'camera appeal', but he won two elections quite handily. He cursed like a sailor in private but successfully out-debated Nikita Khrushchev in public. He hired brilliant minds like Henry Kissinger and devious bastards like H.R. Haldeman. Like everyone else in the world, he was a complex man who was far different from his public image. Ultimately, he discovered that Americans drew a distinction between President and King.

Look back these last 30 years, and see what might have changed as a result of the fall of Nixon. How have Presidential politics changed? How do we view the Office of the Presidency in this day and age. Do we still say to children, "One day YOU could grow up to be President."? How can the Nixon experience be applied to the Bush / Kerry race?

Discuss.

nixon needed to resign. he was a terrible liar. jerry ford came into office and gave nixon a pardon. it was the only way to get the country moving again as a trial of nixon would have dwelled on the nation mind when it was already depressed after veitnam and an economy in severe recession. he knew the media would hound the former president into his grave and the new administration he was running of the clean start it deserved. President clinton gave him a medal for this act of courage. ford knew the media was irresponsible. it still is today, watching for the slightest mistake, innacuracy, or anything it doesnt like, so that it can drill any small event deep into our skulls. dont kid yourslef it still happens today.

Well each incoming president pardons the outgoing one. The sad thing about Nixon is that he didn't need to have people break into the watergate. He was going to win anyway.

Today is August 6, not 9. Three days from now will be the thirty-year anniversary of his resignation.

Today is August 6, not 9. Three days from now will be the thirty-year anniversary of his resignation.Picky, picky. Thirty years ago this week, August 9, 1974 .... I'm not going to be here on the ninth, but hopefully this topic will still be rolling. It's close enough ...

Picky, picky. I'm not going to be here on the ninth, but hopefully this topic will still be rolling. It's close enough ...

True.

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/COINTELPRO/CELEB/elvis-nixon.gif

Nixon, along with Elvis, was one of the 20th century's greatest recording artist.

http://www.watergate.info/

I would piss on Nixon's grave on August 9, but unfortunately, his grave is probably thousands of miles from where I live. :(

You what's ironic? The fact the Crystal Pepsi was released on the same day.

...
Okay, I'm just bull-shittin' you. I made that up.
But if it was true it would be very, very ironic.

But if it was true it would be very, very ironic.
Er... how would that be ironic? The two have absolutely no connection with each other.

Er... how would that be ironic? The two have absolutely no connection with each other.That information is on my website. Shoo! Shoo!

I will celebrate with Napa- fireworks on a random South East Asian (sp?) country.

To celebrate, I broke into the neighbor's house. I didn't steal anything, I just re-arranged the furniture. ;)

I drew a face on the sole of my right foot.

To celebrate, I broke into the neighbor's house. I didn't steal anything, I just re-arranged the furniture. ;)


That's odd. To celebrate I taped you doing it!



Frankly, I'm suprised nobody came up with a horribly innapropriate "deep throat" reference...

you remember a few years back they issued NIXON stamps at the US post office?

well they were having a terrible problem with them sticking. (this was just before they had self stick stamps as standard issue)
people kept bringing them back complaining that they wouldnt stick onto the envelope

well one day a local postmaster had had enough. he waited at the front desk until someone returned their nixon stamps

"these stamps just won't stick onto my envelopes"

he grabbed a stamp from the guy, spit on the back, and stuck it to the envelope, where it stuck perfectly

"THERE" he said "they work just fine"

"ohmy" replied the customer, "i was spitting on the other side"

ok this was stolen from a russian joke about kruschev but it does express my undying feelings about nixon.

I'm reminded of this quote: "President Richard M. Nixon was Darth Vader before there was a Darth Vader."

Having a read through some of Hunter S. Thompson's collected journalism seems appropriate. I can't seem to find his earlier quote about how Nixon should be buried upside down in a trash-can, but here we go instead:

Memo from the National Affairs Desk
Date: May 1, 1994
From: Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Subject: The Death of Richard Nixon: Notes on the passing of an American Monster... He was a liar and a quitter, and he should have been buried at sea... But he was, after all, the president.

Richard Nixon is gone now, and I am poorer for it. He was the real thing - a political monster straight out of Grendel and a very dangerous enemy. He could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time. He lied to his friends and betrayed the trust of his family. Not even Gerald Ford, the unhappy ex-president who pardoned Nixon and kept him out of prison, was immune to the evil fallout. Ford, who believes strongly in heaven and hell, has told more than one of his celebrity golf partners that "I know I will go to hell, because I pardoned Richard Nixon."

I have had my own blood relationship with Nixon for many years, but I am not worried about it landing me in hell with him. I have already been there with that bastard, and I am a better person for it. Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honourable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hated Nixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together.

Nixon laughed when I told him this. "Don't worry," he said. "I, too, am a family man, and we feel the same way about you."

It was Richard Nixon who got me into politics, and now that he's gone, I feel lonely. He was a giant in his way. As long as Nixon was politically alive - and he was, all the way to the end - we could always be sure of finding the enemy on the Low Road. There was no need to look anywhere else for the evil bastard. He had the fighting instincts of a badger trapped by hounds. The badger will roll over on its back and emit a smell of death, which confuses the dogs and lures them in for the traditional ripping and tearing action. But it is usually the badger who does the ripping and tearing. It is a beast that fights best on its back: rolling under the throat of the enemy and seizing it by the head with all four claws.

That was Nixon's style - an if you forgot, he would kill you as a lesson to the others. Badgers don't fight fair, Bubba.

OK, now it IS technically Nixon Day. Any other thoughts, or are we just to leave RMN in the dustbin of history?

OK, now it IS technically Nixon Day. Any other thoughts, or are we just to leave RMN in the dustbin of history?
RMN? What's his middle name then?

RMN? What's his middle name then?

Milhouse (or is it Milhous?)

...too apathetic to even google for it...

lets all drink a toast to woodward and bernstein and our oh so wise forebears who insisted on the bill of rights!

way to go freedom of the press!!

Too bad Nixon isn't around anymore...I'd laugh in his face if he was.

Milhouse (or is it Milhous?)

...too apathetic to even google for it...

It's Milhous.

lets all drink a toast to woodward and bernstein and our oh so wise forebears who insisted on the bill of rights!

To Edward and Leonard!!!

To Edward and Leonard!!!

Who? :confused:

Who? :confused:

Edward Woodward - British actor that starred in The Wickerman, amongst other things.

Leonard Bernstein - one of the US's most important 20th century composers, responsible for the score of West Side Story amongst other things.

Edward Woodward - British actor that starred in The Wickerman, amongst other things.

Leonard Bernstein - one of the US's most important 20th century composers, responsible for the score of West Side Story amongst other things.

Thanks! :)

(West Side Story is one hell of a good movie! :D)

First I'm going to break out my original "Nixon's the one" Buttons and pin them to my clothing... Then I'm going to mope about the house because I have a throat infection and I couldn't go to the lake with my friends...

Sigh!

<snip> Then I'm going to mope about the house because I have a throat infection and I couldn't go to the lake with my friends...

Sigh!

Is it deep?