President Thomas Jefferson Packs The East Room

August 19, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Nixon Library, Presidents | Leave a Comment 

America’s third President, Thomas Jefferson, presented the third talk in the Nixon Foundation’s Meet The Presidents program, a series on the lives of great American Presidents.

Nearly 600 youngsters and their parents surrounded President Jefferson in the Foundation’s replica of the White House East Room as he presented a fascinating talk on his role in drafting the Declaration of Independence, his purchase of the Louisiana Territory, and his design and founding of the University of Virginia.

The OC Register covered the program and have made video available on their website:

The free Meet The Presidents includes a talk with the President, a student question and answer period, coloring time, Presidential photo-taking, and punch and cookies.

Next in the series is President Richard Nixon, presented by his younger brother Ed on August 25. The final talk will be with President Harry Truman on September 1. Both events take place from 10:30 am till noon.

Featured Articles — August 19, 2009

August 19, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes From Home And Abroad:

The Heart of the ‘Prince of Darkness’ By Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post
He was an opinionated op-ed man, a combative conservative on television, but through it all, Robert Novak prided himself on being a shoe-leather reporter.

Putin on a show By Michael Petrou, Macleans
No one buffs his image like the Russian PM. Is he planning another run for president?

It Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the Afghan Election By Anne Applebaum, Slate
It’s how he wins that counts—and what the West does after the vote.

Democrats Seem Set to Go It Alone on a Health Bill By Carl Hulse and Jeff Zeleny, The New York Times
Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority’s cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks.

The Ugly Truth of Obamacare By John Stossel, RealClearPolitics
False charges about Obamacare don’t help. Like the end-of-life tempest. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin popularized the term “death panels.” She said: “The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care”.

Nixon Now

August 18, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under China, Republican Party, Richard Nixon, Russia | 1 Comment 

From the 1972 campaign, this commercial showcases RN’s  consecutive diplomatic successes in China and Russia.

RN went on to win 49 states and the votes of 47,168,710 Americans that November.

Someone Has Way Too Much Time On His Hands

August 18, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Domestic issues, Humor, Science | 1 Comment 

The headline in today’s Telegraph is twice-qualified but completely irresistible:

ZOMBIES WOULD MOST LIKELY WIPE OUT HUMANITY IF THEY REALLY EXISTED, CLAIM SCIENTISTS

Even the subhead, which reflects the same wishy-washy approach, has its own fascination: “Civilisation would most likely be finished in the event of a zombie outbreak, claim Canadian mathematicians who have calculated the possible devastation caused by an attack by the fictional monsters.”

The Canadian mathematicians conclude that, unless mankind struck back quickly and aggressively, mankind would be doomed.

The Way We Live Now

August 18, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under American Politics, Domestic issues, Lifestyle, Technology | Leave a Comment 

Is it just me, or is there something vaguely unsettling about two guys with a combined age of 154 arguing over Twitter?

“Specter got it all wrong that I ever used words ‘death boards’. Even liberal press never accused me of that. So change ur last Tweet Arlen” — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), proving he’s not too old to get into a Twitter fight (Wake-Up Call! Twitter-watch).

8.18.71

August 18, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under American Politics, Environmental issues, Nixon Administration, Nixon Foundation, Nixon family, Pat Nixon, Presidents, Richard Nixon | 1 Comment 

President Obama and his family enjoyed and praised the beauty of Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon during their recent whirlwind western tour.  And Douglas Brinkley has written a doorstopper celebrating TR’s role in creating our National Parks.

But it was RN’s Legacy of Parks program —officially announced thirty-eight years ago tomorrow, that gave the Park Service its late 20th Century legs and pioneered the Nixonian concept of bringing parks to places —especially urban places— where all people could enjoy them.

As a result of RN’s program, between 1971 and 1976, more than 80,000 acres of government property were converted to recreational use in 642 new parks.

PN launched the Legacy of Parks thirty-eight years ago today —on 18 August 1971— at the end of a four-day swing through several western states that ended on the US-Mexican border south of San Diego.

PN launches the Legacy of Parks at Imperial Beach, California, on 18 August 1971.  She officiated at the turning over of a 370-acre former naval base as Border Field State Park.

Building on the foundation laid in the 37-point program that I submitted to Congress last year, I will propose a strong new set of initiatives to clean up our air and water, to combat noise, and to preserve and restore our surroundings.

I will propose programs to make better use of our land, to encourage a balanced national growth–growth that will revitalize our rural heartland and enhance the quality of life in America.

And not only to meet today’s needs but to anticipate those of tomorrow, I will put forward the most extensive program ever proposed by a President of the United States to expand the Nation’s parks, recreation areas, open spaces, in a way that truly brings parks to the people where the people are. For only if we leave a legacy of parks will the next generation have parks to enjoy.

On 8 February, in his Special Message to Congress Proposing the 1971 Environmental Program, RN put some appropriations flesh on those legislative words:

Merely acquiring land for open space and recreation is not enough. We must bring parks to where the people are so that everyone has access to nearby recreational areas. In my budget for 1972, I have proposed a new “Legacy of Parks” program which will help States and local government provide parks and recreation areas, not just for today’s Americans but for tomorrow’s as well. Only if we set aside and develop such recreation areas now can we ensure that they will be available for future generations.

As part of this legacy, I have requested a $200 million appropriation to begin a new program for the acquisition and development of additional park lands in urban areas. To be administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, this would include provision for facilities such as swimming pools to add to the use and enjoyment of these parks.

Also, I have recommended in my 1972 budget that the appropriation for the Land and Water Conservation Fund be increased to $380 million, permitting the continued acquisition of Federal parks and recreation areas as well as an expanded State grant program. However, because of the way in which these State grant funds were allocated over the past five years, a relatively small percentage has been used for the purchase and development of recreational facilities in and near urban areas. The allocation formula should be changed to ensure that more parks will be developed in and near our urban areas.

And on 19 August, at Grand Teton National Park, he issued a statement announcing the first fruits of his January proposal:

It has been estimated that some 75 percent of all outdoor recreation enjoyed by Americans takes place within a short distance of their homes. That is why I believe so strongly that we should be doing far more to bring our parks to the people. The Congress has thus far appropriated only $100 million for the HUD program.

Finally, I would point to my establishment of the Federal Property Review Board, which evaluates federally owned properties in order to determine whether they can be converted to park use. Close to 100 such properties have already been identified, and 24 of these, containing more than 5,000 acres, are now in the process of being conveyed by the Department of the Interior to local and State agencies. Mrs. Nixon has sought to encourage this important effort during her trip across the country this week.

Many of the properties which have been released under this program are within easy reach of our larger urban areas. To augment these efforts, we are also preparing a number of amendments to the Federal Income Tax Code which would facilitate charitable donations of property for conservation purposes. I hope to present these proposals to the Congress in the near future.

The combined effect of all these activities will be to provide that full range of outdoor experiences which our dynamic population requires. For some, this program will provide neighborhood parks in the city. For others, it will offer a pleasant setting for a weekend retreat, for an afternoon bike ride, or for a family vacation. For still others, it will provide the chance truly to escape into the wilderness.

I believe our Nation can afford to make these opportunities available. In fact, it is my view that we cannot afford not to provide them. For such a program can significantly enhance the quality of our Nation’s life and spirit–both now and for future generations.

It’s significant that the new President of the Nixon Foundation —Ron Walker— is the man RN chose to head the National Park Service in 1973.  The appointment of this valued staff member and long-time friend was an indication of the importance RN continued to place on his parks initiative.  (And it’s ironic that RN’s extensive biography on the National Park Service website doesn’t even mention the Legacy of Parks.)

Becoming Nixon In Tehran?

August 18, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under China, Iran, Richard Nixon | 1 Comment 

At the UAE’s Khaleej Times, Kishore Mahbubani — the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of public policy in Singapore — advocates a Nixon-To-China style rapproachement with Iran:

It is useful to recall President Richard Nixon’s words when, prior to restoring diplomatic relations China, he visited Beijing: “We have at times in the past been enemies. We have great differences today. What brings us together is that we have common interests which transcend those differences. As we discuss our differences, neither of us will compromise our principles. But while we cannot close the gulf between us, we can try to bridge it so that we may be able to talk across it.”

In engaging Iran, the West should ignore the nature of its regime. It is almost impossible for any outsider to understand Iran’s real internal politi-
cal dynamics.

Just when the world reached a consensus that Ahmadinejad was merely an instrument of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, Ahmadinejad appointed a Vice-President against Khamenei’s wishes (though he later retracted the appointment). What we do know with certainty is that the regime is divided.
These divisions will allow new forces to emerge in Iranian society. So all means should be found to reach out to Iranian society at all levels. Iranian students should be encouraged to visit and study in Asian universities, where they would discover how confident young Chinese and Indian students are about the future — which might well cause them to reflect on why young Iranians do not share that optimism.

RN And Decisive Shifts In Party Politics

August 18, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Republican Party, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

In a survey of political parties since 1900,  The Christian Science Monitor notes that RN saved the GOP in 1968 and set an Electoral College record during his re-election in 1972:

Richard Nixon leads a swing back toward the Republicans in 1968 as anger over the Vietnam War mounts. The transformation of the South from solidly Democratic to Republican is well under way.

In 1972, Nixon sets an electoral college record, winning 49 states because of his opening ties to China, his strategic arms talks with the Soviet Union, and his promise to end the Vietnam War.

Robert Novak    1931-2009

August 18, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under In Memoriam, News media | 1 Comment 

Novak pictured at work in the Senate press gallery in 1958. At this point in his career, he was a staff writer for the Associated Press.

The Washington Post, where he hung his hat for so many years, remembers the iconic and influential columnist here.

Featured Articles — August 18, 2009

August 18, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | 1 Comment 

Interesting Takes From Home And Abroad:

Harry Reid’s ‘Evil’ Moment By William McGurn, The Wall Street Journal
Remember when polite society treated a politician’s use of the word “evil” as a sign that the old boy was dangerously lacking upstairs? We saw it in 1983, when Ronald Reagan famously used the word in a speech to describe the Soviet empire. What a rube!

Whose Medical Decisions? By Thomas Sowell, RealClearPolitics
There was a time when rushing a thousand-page bill through Congress so fast that no one has time to read it would have provoked public outrage. But now, this has been attempted twice in the first 6 months of a new administration.

Spy Agency Fiasco By Joseph Finder, The Daily Beast
Director Leon Panetta’s emergency testimony to Congress about an illegal assassination program has set off a crisis at the spy agency. The Daily Beast’s Joseph Finder exclusive reports that.

Why Obama’s Ratings Are Sinking By Arthur Brooks, The Wall Street Journal
Public approval ratings of Barack Obama may be falling quickly right now—but his rating of the American public is probably falling even faster.

Blame the Messenge By Lee Siegel, The Daily Beast
Why does the Obama administration seem so arrogant and self-satisfied? Lee Siegel says blame smug press secretary Robert Gibbs, who should take a page from the courtly style of Tony Snow.

Have Justice For All

August 17, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Civil rights, Richard Nixon | 3 Comments 

RN — campaigning for President in 1960 — discusses the importance of civil rights from both an altruistic and a very unique national security perspective:

Dick Morris Puts RN Center Stage In Healthcare Debate

August 17, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Nixon Library events | Leave a Comment 

Former Clinton adviser Dick Morris spoke before a crowd of hundreds in the Richard Nixon Foundation’s replica of The White House East Room Thursday night. The Fox News contributor also signed copies of his new New York Times bestseller, Catastrophe.

Morris devoted most of his speech to the contentious issue of healthcare reform reminding visitors that RN had among the most effective prescriptions for public health in the 20th Century.

Morris explained that before RN came into office “one-third of the elderly were in enormous poverty.” He solved the problem with the cost of living adjustment for social security, effectively “taking the issue away” from the Democratic Party. Morris contends that the move proved so fruitful that RN did more than Presidents “FDR, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter combined.

“Angry White Males,” Health Care, And Richard Nixon

August 17, 2009 by Jack Pitney | Filed Under Annals of the Obama Administration, Healthcare, Nixon Administration, Public Opinion, Richard Nixon | 4 Comments 

Commentators such as Thomas Edsall, Charles Cooper and Michael Crowley have blamed protests against Obamacare on a GOP effort to stir up “angry white males.”  It all goes back to Richard Nixon’s “Southern Strategy,” they say.  The main problem with such arguments is that they don’t make one bit of sense.

Start with “white males.”  Actually, females make up a lot of the people who are protesting.  Survey data show that a plurality of women oppose health-care schemes before Congress.  And the focus on race is strange.  Of course non-Hispanic whites account for much of the opposition:  they make up 76 percent of the electorate.   In any case, the key variable is age, not race.  Senior citizens are the strongest opponents, and for good reason:  Obamacare would cut hundreds of billions from Medicare.  The president claims that seniors don’t have to worry since all the savings will come from greater efficiency.  But in the entire history of American social policy, has a cut that big ever failed to affect services?  (If you can think of an example, please let me know.)

The references to Nixon are invalid.  A previous post dealt with “The Southern Strategy.”  And the notion that Nixon sought to cut health and welfare programs is jaw-droppingly preposterous.  Forty years ago this month, he proposed a guaranteed income, which he acknowledged would “cost more than welfare.”  As for health care, President Clinton said that his own plan “reflects the pragmatic approach that President Nixon took in 1972 when he asked all American employers to take responsibility for providing health care for their employees.”

Mass Appeal

August 17, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under American Politics, Culture, Leonard Bernstein, Music, Nixon Administration, Nixon Administration figures, Richard Nixon, U.S. History, Vietnam | 2 Comments 

Unguided Missal? Mass composer Leonard Bernstein in 1971.

Last week on The New Yorker’s website, music critic Alex Ross wrote three articles based on newly released Freedom of Information Act-obtained government documents regarding inquiries into composer-conductor-polymath Leonard Bernstein’s politics. They include an 800-page FBI file, memos from the Nixon White House Special Investigation Unit (aka Plumbers), and several taped conversations between RN and Chief of Staff Bob Haldeman regarding the impending premiere of Bernstein’s Mass at the opening of the Kennedy Center in September 1971.

Alex Ross is to music what Pauline Kael was to movies. Both New Yorker critics share a commuunicable enthusiasm for their subject, an unintimidating expertise, and a ravishing prose style. In his New Yorker columns, on his blog, and in The Rest Is Noise, his recent best selling history of modern music, Mr. Ross renders the uncompromisingly unlistenable relentlessly readable.

And the Bernstein material he has uncovered is fascinating enough in itself.

The inquiries into the young conductor’s politics began with the Truman White House’s request to the FBI for an ideological vetting:

Although Hoover’s operatives began tracking Bernstein’s left-wing activities as early as the mid-nineteen-forties, the first serious inquiry came in March, 1949, when David Niles, President Truman’s administrative assistant, asked the Bureau to look into the young musician’s background. Niles wanted the information because Truman and Chaim Weizmann, the first President of Israel, were scheduled to attend an event at which Bernstein was slated to perform. A memo from D. M. Ladd to Hoover states that Bernstein was “connected, affiliated, or in some manner associated” with various organizations described as Communist fronts…

Director Hoover found the file’s contents insufficient to merit his endorsement (“This phraseology means nothing + most certainly I can’t send to W. H. [the White House] such ambiguous + sweeping statements.”), so Mr. Niles was back at square one.  In the event, Bernstein conducted and Truman sent his regrets.

In 1951, Bernstein’s name turned up on the Prominent Individuals Section of the Security Index — apparently a list of people who would be rounded up in the event of war with the USSR. In 1953, in order for the State Department to renew his passport, Bernstein had to submit an 11-page affidavit swearing that he had never been a member of the Communist Party or knowingly engaged in any communist-friendly activities.

From the Ross Bernstein documents: Leonard Bernstein’s Truman era Security Index Card.

A thorough FBI investigation, in 1954-55, yielded no hard evidence to contradict Bernstein’s affidavit—only “hearsay,” according to a memo dated August, 1955. Yet the FBI continued to collect accusations and insinuations. In 1958, one informant stated: “I know that Bernstein is a card-carrying Communist but I have no proof of it but I can tell by the way he talks.”

The thin record —ranging from soulless bureaucratese to squirrely handwritten denunciations— was typical of the times; today it makes dispiriting, albeit fascinating, reading. Looking back at his long life, nineteen years after the Maestro’s death, it’s easy to see that the prodigiously talented Bernstein, when it came to politics, was an enthusiastic idealist; and, for all his great sophistication, an idealistic naïf.

After flying under the FBI’s radar for several years, Bernstein re-emerged in 1968 —with LBJ now in the White House— as a result of his ardent flirtation with the Black Panthers.

Although at first only those on the FBI’s need-to-know distribution list were kept abreast of the Bernsteins’ Panthermania, before long —on 8 June 1970 to be exact— the world would read about it in Tom Wolfe’s devastating New York Magazine piece “Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny’s.”  Thanks to Wolfe’s kandy-kolored prose, the Bernsteins’ unironic earnestness was soon common knowledge and the subject of national mockery.

The Kennedy Center: The Wall Street Journal’s review of its 1971 opening said: “Unfortunately, a perfect opening may be one of the few things the Kennedy Center will have going for it.  Its monumental building which has been described by one well-known critic as “gemutlich Speer,” is, not to put too fine a point on it, awesome but cold.  It is in the style of the Soviet palaces of science and culture, and the dizzying halls of states and nations convey a distinct feeling of the Moscow underground.”

After the assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy decided that the only monument in Washington to her late husband’s memory would be the cultural center —the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts— to be built on the banks of the Potomac.

She commissioned Bernstein —a longtime Kennedy friend and unquestionably the nation’s preeminent conductor and composer— to write a major original work, to be paid for by the late President’s family, for the opening of the Center.   His initial idea was to compose a traditional Requiem mass in the tradition of Mozart, Verdi, and Faure.

But, being Bernstein, he soon fastened on a less conventional approach. The result, very accurately titled Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers, was a hybrid of the concert hall and the Broadway stage, with a thick gloss of ‘60s Greening of America schmalz.

As the Alex Ross New Yorker articles show, there was some concern in the Nixon White House about the advisability of RN’s attending the Kennedy Center’s opening.

The press and TV, not surprisingly, were obsessed with the long-anticipated event.   Although Mrs. Kennedy had become Mrs. Onassis in the meantime, this would represent the refurling of Camelot’s flag in the heart of Nixonian Washington.  There was serious speculation devoted to whether Mrs. Onassis and/or President Nixon would attend; and, if they both did, about how that would be choreographed. There was also considerable grousing in the predictable circles that RN, by attending, would be intruding where he certainly wasn’t wanted and arguably didn’t belong.

Further, Bernstein and “sources close to Mass” had been hinting and leaking stories about the work in progress (which continued to be in progress right up to the premiere) that the event would be as much political as artistic.  There was speculation that the composer would use this Mass —with its likely captive audience of national leaders— as his means of speaking antiwar truth to power.

“Nixon + Jackie and Joe Blow”:  Bernstein made notes about Mass at the McDowell Colony in 1970.  Regarding The Communion (the Kiss of Peace) he wrote: “Something should happen that turns the militancy to love.  For me the Communion and the Kiss of Peace are not two things, but one: the kiss is the communion and should pass through the whole company in a ritual way, + be somehow transmitted on through the house, to Nixon + Jackie and Joe Blow — What music?  Quiet chorale, or big gay sound?”

The upshot was an FBI memo —dated 16 August 1971, roughly three weeks before opening night— on the subject: “PROPOSED PLANS OF ANTIWAR ELEMENTS TO EMBARRASS THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.”  The memo’s purpose was set out in the first paragraph:

To advise that information regarding a previously reported plot by Leonard Bernstein, conductor and composer, to embarrass the President and other Government official through an antiwar and anti-Government musical composition to be played at the dedication of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has been reported by the press.

The report in question was from Human Events that “rumors are sweeping Washington” that Bernstein would embarrass RN with an anti-administration bombshell.  It was noted that he had met in jail with the anti-war Jesuit Daniel Berrigan, who was serving a three year sentence for destroying draft files, and who was rumored to be a collaborator on the Mass’s Latin libretto.

As Bernstein’s working notes show, he had, indeed, received advice from Fr. Berrigan, and had originally considered writing “4 Lullabies for Martyrs” (JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X).  The “Epistle” —the produced Mass’s most explicitly political section— intersperses quotations from Second Timothy with letters from an imprisoned draft resister.

So the fact that this highly public and potentially politically sensitive event was the subject of discussion among RN and his staff isn’t surprising.

Robert Mardian, then head of the DOJ’s Internal Security Division, wrote a memo summarizing the situation as the premiere approached.  He paid particular attention to the Bernstein-Berrigan visit at the Danbury Correctional Institution on 25 May 1971.

One could surmise that this visit by Bernstein was in connection with his “Mass,” particularly when considered in the light of information circulation within the pro-Berrigan camp to the effect that Bernstein has requested Father Berrigan to compose words for the “Mass” in Latin and it would follow an antiwar theme.  If this is true, consider the implications and the publicity which would accrue to the antiwar movement if this “Mass” were to be politely applauded by high ranking Government officials who undoubtedly will attend the dedication ceremonies at the Kennedy Center and who probably are not conversant in Latin.

Mardian concluded:

The fact that two such controversial figures as Bernstein and Father Berrigan are collaborating on the dedication program should appear to offer sufficient reason for inquiries as to just what mischief they are up to.  It would also be interesting to know just how Father Berrigan’s contribution to this “Mass” is to be furnished to Bernstein — openly through regular channels, or clandestinely.

The Mardian memo reached Pat Buchanan, who sent it to the Domestic Council’s Bud Krogh.  Buchanan wrote: “My view is that we ought to find someone who can definitely translate that Latin Mass Bernstein is working on — to make sure this is accurate.”  And he had someone in mind: “”get us a good Jesuit to translate, maybe Father McLaughlin…”  This was John McLaughlin, a friend of Buchanan’s, who had recently joined the White House speechwriting staff.

Coincidentally, two weeks before, Krogh had been tasked with tracking down information regarding the leak of the Pentagon Papers (which had first appeared on the front page of The New York Times on 13 June).  Mr. Ross, understandably but incorrectly, assumes that this was common knowledge and explains why Krogh was given this assignment — an assumption supported by the fact that Krogh in turn tasked his new aide G. Gordon Liddy with obtaining a copy of the Mass’s libretto.  What Buchanan more likely had in mind when he wrote “we should be able to get a copy of what he is preparing — there will have to be rehearsals,” was Krogh’s Domestic Council responsibility for matters involving the District of Columbia.

Mr. Ross writes —correctly— that “Several personalities involved in this exchange of memos had ties to the White House’s Special Investigations Unit, better known as the Plumbers, and later to the Committee to Re-Elect the President, or CREEP, which” —incorrectly— “organized the Watergate break-in of 1972.”  (The break-in emerged full-blown from the pervervid brain of G. Gordon Liddy, under the patronage of John Dean, and with the acquiescence of Jeb Magruder and, alas at least temporarily, John Mitchell; its only —tangential— CREEP connection was the presence of CRP employee James McCord among the burglars.)

Liddy, on 6 August, reported that he had met with White House Counsel John Dean —the spider at the center of so many webs—who “stated that his office had had the matter for more than a week and obtained a copy of the Mass.  Dean stated that it is definitely anti-war and anti-establishment, etc.”

On 9 August Haldeman told RN that Fr. McLaughlin’s opinion, rather than reflecting Dean’s dire judgment, was simply that Mass would be “very depressing.”   Reporting on a preview performance of Mass on 7 September, Haldeman answered RN’s question “Is it an opera?” by simply saying that it was “weird.”  The next day Haldeman reported that, while some passages were spectacular, others were “atonal-type music.”

As is clear from the several tapes Mr. Ross excerpts in his third post (“Bernstein in the Nixon Tapes“), RN’s conversations with Haldeman have mostly to do with the media minefields involved in attending —and thereby imposing Presidential protocol on— what would clearly otherwise be a Kennedy celebration.  (As it turned out to be.  Following the performance, Rose Kennedy presented Bernstein with a commemorative medal.)

The Solomonic solution they worked out was that RN would give the Presidential Box to Mrs. Onassis for Wednesday night’s opening of the Opera House with the Mass she had commissioned for the occasion.

And on the following, Thursday, night, RN would attend the National Symphony’s opening of the Center’s Concert Hall.

On 9 September, Haldeman informed RN that The New York Times’ review of Mass, by the paper’s chief music critic Harold Schonberg, would apparently “kick it around,” calling the work superficial and overplayed.  In fact, Schoenberg —who had been no friend of Bernstein’s for some time— pulled out all the stops when it came to Mass.  In the Sunday paper he called it “A combination of superficiality and pretentiousness, and the greatest mélange of styles since the ladies’ magazine recipe for steak fried in peanut butter and marshmallow sauce.”

Haldeman reported Len Garment’s opinion that it is “quite spectacular theater” but, as a combination of West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Hair, “it’s got a lot of lousy stuff in it.”

Most of Mass’s reviews ranged from lukewarm to underwhelmed; many were downright hostile.  Among the major national publications, the only glowing review appeared in The Wall Street Journal. And that review was written by, of all people, a new member of the Nixon White House staff —only on board since 2 August— who was working in the small room he shared with Dick Cheney in Don Rumsfeld’s second floor West Wing suite.

On the night of Wednesday, 8 September, this newly-minted aide was in the Kennedy Center’s Opera House for the premiere of Mass.  And on the 10th, his fulsome review appeared in the Journal.

And that fellow was…..me.

I had been reviewing books for the Journal for a couple of years, and had contributed a few theater reviews before moving to Washington to begin a White House Fellowship.  I had suggested the Mass reviewing gig, and the paper, which hadn’t planned to  note the occasion, had been able to make last minute arrangements for a single ticket.

I opened my review noting that Mrs. Onassis, by deciding not to turn up for the opening, had succeeded in making herself the center of attention.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts should have achieved its apotheosis at its opening on Wednesday night.

Everything was right for a unique and moving moment in American history.  The opening piece was Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass,” which was commissioned by Mrs. Kennedy soon after the President’s death.  It was the right choice of music from the right composer.

So for the opening of this center, the late President’s memorial in Washington, the sole, but crucial, missing element was Mrs. Onassis herself.  By suddenly deciding not to attend, she did exactly what she said she was trying to avoid, and for many people turned the opening night into yet another Jackie-watch.  Would she or wouldn’t she?  She didn’t, and “Mass” was thus robbed of the real presence it needed to consecrate the hall.

Because for all its musical interest and worth, “Mass” was of necessity a piece d’occasion.  This center is the memorial by which John F. Kennedy will be remembered.  Now, short years later, when historians are already placing him in a troubled and critical perspective is the time to recall and commemorate that vision and spirit which he represented and embodied.

Then I plunged right in praising Mass:

Mr. Bernstein’s work…is a complex, convoluted, striking, rollicking, stunning work of art.  It is also very beautiful, both to hear and to look at.  The concept itself is not perhaps as original as it must have been when he first began work on it.  Indeed, it is now almost a genre piece, and as such it will undoubtedly be weighed and found wanting by many.  Hard rockers will find it inferior to the Electric Prune’s “Mass in F Minor”; the general public will find it less appealing and catchy than “Jesus Christ Superstar”; and theater-goers will find it far less stimulating than “Hair.”

And yet it is the mixed-media masterpiece toward which Mr. Bernstein’s theatrical and musical careers have been pointing.  Echoes of all the best that have gone before are here fulfilled; his broad and deep theological vision, already indicated in his first (Jeremiah) and third (Kaddish) symphonies; his exquisite solo settings in the lamentation and kaddish of the symphonies and in the stunning “Chichester Psalms”; his popular melodic and rhythmic command in “West Side Story.”

Mass opens simply, with the Celebrant strumming a guitar and singing “A Simple Song.”  This clip is from a staged concert performance in August 2007 in Riga, Latvia.  The Celebrant is Douglas Webster; the conductor is Maris Sirmais.

At least to my ears, the Latin text turned out to be mostly in Broadway ballad-friendly English.

The texts of the “Mass” are from the Roman liturgy with additions by the composer and the young author of “Godspell,” Stephen Schwartz.  But Mr. Bernstein’s hand is the most heavily present; the same kind of almost embarrassingly naïve and obvious lyrics which marked his opera “Trouble in Tahiti” are here, but here they are serving a vision so grand and towering that they seem to give it both an impetus of sincerity and a comforting human touch.

Gordon Davidson impressively and theatrically marshaled the cast of two hundred — including Alvin Ailey’s dancers, a brass band, and a massed choir — and kept the almost two hour intermissionless production from ever being “depressing.”  But there was no doubt that it was —as befits a requiem— serious bordering on sombre.

This “Mass” is in fact an anguished cry about our loss of faith.  The Gloria is a quiet little song regretting that the girl doesn’t ever seem to say Gloria any more; and the Credo is a driving lament that the man can no longer say “I believe.”  The Agnus Dei becomes a fierce, almost revolutionary red-lit surging, stopping demand for the peace promised: dona nobis pacem.  At the end a Mahleresque flute birdsong and the plainsung voice of a child restore the hope if not the faith for the final whispered Pax Tecum and the moving choral communion.  The text is full of word-plays in Latin, English, Greek and Hebrew.  “Accidents Do Happen,” sung during the consecration after the host and wine have been dropped, is perhaps the most obvious if not the best.

There are, to be sure, moments of excess and even a few of pure hoke, but in a work of this size and scale these are inevitable and piddling.  The insight Mr. Bernstein has shown into the mass and our times is uncanny and overwhelming; it is also very sophisticated and can hardly be justly judged on the basis of one viewing of this really razzmatazz theater show.

My review appeared on Friday, so I was able to include the Thursday night Concert Hall opening (which I hadn’t attended):

In the concert hall, which opened last night, President and Mrs. Nixon were treated to a program that would have been solid midweek subscription concert series fare for a good municipal orchestra.  Like “La Grande Scene,” the center’s expensive restaurant, whose menu is entirely in French, the National Symphony under Antal Dorati chose a wholly non-American program.  Is it parochial or foolish patriotic to have preferred hearing Leontyne Price singing Samuel Barber, Gershwin’s “Concerto in F”, and, say, and Ives symphony, to hearing “the Rite of Spring” for the Nth time, however well played?  Some of the center’s future fare is similarly prosaic or unaccountably exotic, and whether the center will be a viable economic proposition at the box-office will remain, anxiously, to be seen.  Be that as it may, it is now well and truly opened.

Before the kissing had to start: Leonard Bernstein, flanked (left) by director Gordon Davidson and co-lyricist Stephen Schwartz, takes a curtain call following the premiere of Mass at the Kennedy Center on 8 September 1971.

Bernstein’s notes for Mass reflect some of the advice given by Daniel Berrigan: “Father Dan said today: Leave them with the militant mood. You yell at them and turn off the lights.”  In fact, the ending Bernstein chose for Mass was exactly the opposite: a serenely moving, all but unaccompanied, choral hymn.

Almighty Father, incline thine ear.
Bless us and all those who have gathered here.
They angels send us,
Who shall defend us all:
And fill with grace
All who dwell in this place.
Amen.

A dozen years later —in 1984— the overture had already begun at a preview of a Broadway musical when three people arrived, late, to take the adjacent seats.  As I stood to let them pass I summoned up my best “if looks could kill” look — and found that I was bestowing it upon Adolph Comden, Betty Green, and Leonard Bernstein, who took the seat next to me.

At the intermission I introduced myself to him as a long-time admirer.  To set myself apart in that vast category, I said that, although I doubted he would remember it, I had written The Wall Street Journal’s review of Mass.  He smiled warmly, claimed to remember it, and said “Let me buy you a drink.”  (Reading my review last week, a friend said, “For that review he should have bought you a car.”)

Despite its critical drubbing —with the one noted notable exception— Mass found an immediate popular audience; in fact, it remains the best-selling multi-disc classical recording of all time.  Of the three currently available recordings, my favorite is the contemporaneous studio recording conducted by the composer and featuring the original cast. In 2004 Kent Nagano, and earlier this year Kristjan Jarvi released their versions.  On 25 August, Marin Alsop’s much-awaited Baltimore Symphony recording will be available; she prepared it as part of her 2008 Bernstein season celebrating what would have been her mentor’s 90th birthday.

There is also a DVD of a 1999 performance at Vatican City.

Featured Articles — August 17, 2009

August 17, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes From Home And Abroad:

More Crises Needed? By Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post
We’ve seen in recent weeks the twin personalities of the U.S. government. One is impressive, the other deeply worrying.

“Too Big to Fail” Must Die By Nicole Gelinas, City Journal
If we continue to subsidize irresponsible risk-taking, we’ll just get more of it.

Obama Misread His Mandate By Jay Cost, RealClearPolitics
After a rough week for health care reform, Democratic leaders appear to be pulling back on their demand for a public option. It remains to be seen whether liberal Democrats, especially in the House where they are more numerous, will go along with this. But this is still a step in the right direction to get something passed this year.

George W. Bush-by-Proxy Syndrome By Andrew Breitbart, Big Hollywood
There is an extensive body of writing from both sides of the political aisle that has analyzed the extraordinary depths of hatred leveled at former President George W. Bush.

Palin Called a Spade a Spade By David Warren, Ottawa Citizen
Just three weeks ago, I was writing in the Ottawa Citizen against niceness. I have pursued the theme recently with praise (sometimes backhanded) not only for the politics, but for the tone, of such as Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin in the United States.

The Holy Grail

August 16, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Richard Nixon, Sports | Leave a Comment 

The New York Times‘ sports section has a story up about arguably sports’ greatest feat: the hole-in-one.

The Times’ notes that RN was the only President other than the one he served as Vice President for (Dwight Eisenhower, pictured with RN above), and the Vice President (Gerald Ford) who would succeed him, as the only three Oval Office occupants to ever have one.

The Fruits Of The Shanghai Communiqué

August 16, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under China, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

Writing in the Wall Street Journal today, Richard V. Allen — a top foreign foreign policy adviser to RN — describes 37’s genius in normalizing diplomatic relations and offering recognition to “one” China (while not abandoning Taiwan’s security):

When Richard Nixon conceived the strategy in 1967 to open a door to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), he had only a vague notion of how “success” could actually be measured. One major consideration: to take advantage of the raging Sino-Soviet feud to create an “offset” to the Soviet Union. His Foreign Affairs article on the subject—”Asia After Vietnam”—appeared in October 1967 and was largely ignored, dismissed by some as campaign rhetoric. In January 1968, 10 months before his election, he sent me to Japan and Korea to advise leaders of his long-range intentions.

Nixon did not expect an immediate breakthrough and knew he had to operate cautiously. Indeed, once in office, his basic instruction to the National Security Council staff was to “find a way to get in touch with China.”

At the time, National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, new to the Nixon circle, thought the idea “crazy.” But Nixon was also keenly aware of the importance of not abandoning Taiwan, with which the U.S. maintained full diplomatic relations, and which had a seat on the five-member United Nations Security Council.

While Nixon knew that success in his efforts would bring important change, he could not have imagined the scope of change in the past 40 years. Nor would he have dreamed that the PRC would become America’s main creditor. While adjusting Taiwan’s status, including using Ronald Reagan as the messenger in gently dislodging it from its seat on the U.N. Security Council in favor of the PRC, he took great care to guard Taiwan’s security, continuing a token troop presence and the sale of defensive weapons.

And why the policy continues to bear fruits for latter day statesmen:

In recent years—until the 2008 election of President Ma Ying-jeou—Taiwan had become problematic in terms of U.S. policy and goals by toying with the notion of “independence” from the PRC. Such a move would run directly counter to the U.S. policy of the past 40 years, begun by Nixon, that there is but one China, and Taiwan is part of China; and that the U.S. remains legally committed to the preservation of Taiwan’s freedom from forcible absorption by the PRC.

An extraordinary shift in Taiwan’s policies has taken place under President Ma, including mass two-way tourism with the mainland, direct flights and shipping, dramatically increased investment by both sides, and consideration of a cross-strait free-trade arrangement. There is no more talk of Taiwanese independence and no campaign for U.N. membership.

Recently the respective presidents exchanged the first-ever direct communication. This level of realism bodes well for stability in the region. Although Beijing will not abandon its desire to “reunite” Taiwan with the mainland, it tacitly acknowledges the significance of this new era of cooperation. However, the PRC has not ruled out the use of force to accomplish reunification.

8.16.77

August 16, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Entertainment, In Memoriam, Music, Richard Nixon, White House | Leave a Comment 

Over at the very popular Powerline blog, Scott Johnson honors the life of Elvis Presley — who died thirty-two years ago today — with the wonderful narrative of his  December 1970 visit to The White House:

Upon his arrival in Washington on the morning of December 21, Elvis dropped the letter off at the White House and went off to a meeting (arranged by Murphy) with the director of the BNDD to seek a badge. He instead met with BNDD deputy director John Finlator, who refused Elvis’s request for a badge. Back in the hotel room, however, Schilling received a call inviting Elvis to the White House for a meeting with the president.

Elvis’s letter had prompted internal deliberations over the wisdom of a presidential meeting. Dwight Chapin’s memo to Bob Haldeman summarizing Elvis’s request is a bit clueless. The second page of the memo has Chapin’s earnest advice and Haldeman’s somewhat more astute response. Chapin writes: “[I]f the President wants to meet some bright young people outside of the Government, Presley might be a perfect one to start with.” Haldeman responds: “You must be kidding.” The meeting was nevertheless promptly approved and arranged. Elvis, Schilling, and West met up with White House aide Bud Krogh for Elvis’s 12:30 meeting with the president in the Oval Office.

The rest his history. Read Scott’s post here.

Next Time You Think You’ve Had A Bad Day

August 16, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Next Time You Think You've Had A Bad Day | Leave a Comment 

Skydiver Paul Lewis: Jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet — what could go wrong?

As reported in today’s Telegraph:

Paul Lewis, 40, jumped from a plane and plummeted through the air before crashing on to the roof of a hangar at Tilstock Airfield in Whitchurch, Shropshire.

He was rescued by firefighters and treated for head and neck injuries, before being airlifted to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, in Stoke-on-Trent.

The accident happened at around 3pm on Friday when Mr Lewis, a freelance cameraman, was filming tandem jumps for the Parachute Centre, a skydiving firm based at the airfield.

Witnesses said that his main parachute failed to open, and then his reserve parachute failed to work properly.

A spokesman for the West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “The man is reported to have fallen approximately 1,000 feet (3,000 metres), spiralling to the ground following a 10,000-foot skydive.”

Colin Fitzmorris, owner of the Parachute Centre, described the accident he witnessed:

He had a malfunction on his main parachute, which he cut away normally, but had some kind of control problem on his reserve which continued to spiral until he hit the hangar roof.

The roof of the hangar broke his fall and flexed sufficiently to reduce the impact. He has no fractures but some neck injury, and we are sure that he will make a full recovery. He is very lucky.

John Hughes    1950-2009

August 16, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under In Memoriam | Leave a Comment 

Director-writer-producer John Hughes died on 6 August while taking a walk in New York City.  He was 59.

Ben Stein calls John Hughes “the poet of human exaltation, the poet of human happiness” — and it’s impossible to imagine a more infectiously joyous cinematic moment than the parade Ferris crashes at the end of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  Impressively choreographed —literally and figuratively— it is the ultimate crowd scene filled with striking and telling and endearingly human personal details.

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