Auld Acquaintance — Memories of 1969

December 31, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under History, Nixon Administration, Nixon family, Pat Nixon, Richard Nixon, U.S. History | 2 Comments 

As 2009 comes to an end, here is a brief (and highly selective) look back forty years ago — to 1969.  Many other important and memorable events occurred — but their photos haven’t yet reached the internet.

On 20 January 1969, RN was inaugurated as the thirty-seventh President of the United States.

36 and 37: The Nixon and Johnson families followed the tradition of meeting at the White House and traveling together to the Capitol.  As RN, PN, and Julie and David Eisenhower, and Tricia Nixon with LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson.

For the Inaugural Balls, PN wore a “mimosa silk satin gown with matching embroidered collar and cummerbund. Over the gown she wore a gold and silver embroidered jacket, encrusted with Austrian crystals”  The gown, which was designed by Karen Stark for Harvey Berin, can now be seen at the Nixon Library.

Julie and David Eisenhower with RN and PN at one of the Inaugural Balls.

The Official Presidential photo chosen for use throughout the Federal government.

RN settled in with his Cabinet — pictured here in the West Wing’s Cabinet Room…….

….and in the White House — where David and Julie join RN, PN, and Tricia for a meal in the Family Quarters’ Private Dining Room.

26 January : RN and PN invited Rev. Billy Graham to conduct an ecumenical worship service on their first Sunday in the White House.   RN, PN, and Tricia (who lived in the White House during 1969) posed on the North Portico with Ruth and Billy Graham.

February :  RN was pictured on the 21 February cover of LIFE at the Winter White House in Key Biscayne, relaxing while he prepared for his trip to Europe.  The trip also made the 28 February cover of TIME:

23 February : RN and PN depart for Europe.  As PN talks with Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd, RN shakes hands with Senator Edward Kennedy.

One of the highlights of RN’s first trip to Europe was his meetings with President DeGaulle.  After the official greetings, he introduced members of his official party (left to right, Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman, Domestic adviser John Ehrlichman, National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, and Secretary of State William Rogers.

2 March : RN met with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican.

Only a few weeks later, on 31 March, RN had the unexpected and sad opportunity to meet Charles DeGaulle again when the French President flew to Washington to attend President Eisenhower’s funeral.

31 March : President Eisenhower’s funeral in the Naitonal Cathedral.

7 April : As manager Ted Williams watches, RN throws out the first ball at the Senators-Yankess opener.   The smiling Marine aide at RN’s shoulder is Jack Brennan.

29 April : RN hosted a 70th birthday party at the White House for Duke Ellington.

26 April  :  Wally MacNamee captured RN crowning Tricia Queen of the Azalea Festival in Norfolk, Virginia.

21 May : RN announced the appointment of Warren Burger as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

8 June : RN met in Guam with President Thieu of South Vietnam.  On this trip, RN announced the Nixon Doctrine.

13 June : In the Rose Garden, Tricia and Julie present RN with a miniature surfboard in advance of his trip to the new Western White House in San Clemente, CA.

29 June : Along with DC Mayor Walter Washington, PN greeted Stevie Wonder for the kick off the the Capital’s “Summer in the Park” program.

2 July : Although the Eisenhowers weren’t living in the White House, Julie volunteered as a White House Tour Guide during the summer of ‘69.

8 July : RN welcomed the Lion of Judah — Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie to the White House.

24 July : President Richard Nixon flew to the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to welcome Apollo XI astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin back home from the Moon.

30 July : Dirck Halstead photographed RN’s visit to combat troops at the First Division base at Di An, northest of Saigon.

PN visited with patients at the 24th Evacuation Hospital.  Here she shakes hands with  PFC. Thomas Casimere Jr., 21, of New Orleans, LA.

15 August : RN (complete with surfboard and “Surf’s Up” shirt) was at the Western White House in San Clemente when TIME’s cover pictured some of the issues and personalities that characterized his first half year in the White House.

25 September : RN welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir to the White House.

31 October : On Halloween, Tricia Nixon hosted a mask party at the White House for underprivileged children from the Washington DC area.

14 November RN, PN, and Tricia Nixon returned to Florida to witness Apollo XII launch.

19 November : RN bid farewell to Japanese Prime Minister Sato in the Rose Garden. In the Rose Garden: On Prime Minister Sato’s last day in Washington —21 November 1969— RN announced plans for the return of the Ryukyu Islands —including Okinawa— to Japan.  The reversion took place on 15 May 1972.

December : PN welcomes children to a White House Christmas party.

December : RN, PN, and Tricia in front of the White House Tree on their first Christmas in the White House.   PN chose a “National Flower Tree,” and arranged for disabled workers in Florida to make the ornaments of velvet and satin balls, each featuring a different state’s flower.

29 December : Tricia Nixon and her escort Edward Cox arrive at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

All in the Family: Tricia’s 2 year old Yorkshire terrier Pasha, Julie’s 7 year old miniature poodle Vicki, and RN’s year old Irish setter King Timahoe had their own decorations, stockings, and Christmas tree in the Family Quarters in December 1969.

The First Family in 1969: The Nixon family posed for a portrait on 15 June  in the Yellow Oval Room of the Family Quarters.

12.31.09

December 31, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Nixon Administration, Richard Nixon, U.S. History | Leave a Comment 

In A Life in Full, his biography of RN, Conrad Black surveys the situation at the end of the Nixon Administration’s first year, on New Year’s Eve 1969:

Nixon had withdrawn another 50,000 men from Vietnam by year’s end, bringing U.S. force levels down 115,000 to 435,000, easily beating Clark Clifford’s target of 100,000 fewer by the end of 1970, the level of mid-1967.  He had driven the anti-war movement to the political fringe, and no one could say that he was not pursuing a coherent policy in Vietnam, solidly supported in the country.

The first family went to California for the holidays.  Nixon had been innovative and effective in many areas and was the undisputed master political tactician of recent American history.  His popularity surged after his December 8 press conference to an astounding 81 percent.  This was a levitation, certainly, but was more genuine than Newsweek’s jubilant banner in October of “Nixon in Trouble.”

The silent majority had spoken, and the nation was much quieter than when Richard Nixon was preparing to be inducted into the presidency he had won by a wafer-0thin margin a year before.  A terrible decade for America, which had started with the sun setting on the tranquil complacency of the Eisenhower era, ended in slowly reviving serenity.  The United States had its president to thank for that.

Preparation

December 31, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under China, Cold War, Richard Nixon | 1 Comment 

In his documentary based on his book War of the World, historian Niall Ferguson shows how fastidious attention to detail paid off for RN during his historic trip to China in 1972:

RN’s Domestic Council Is Coming To Yorba Linda

December 30, 2009 by Geoff Shepard | Filed Under Domestic issues, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

The creation of the Domestic Council in 1970, roughly patterned after the National Security Council NSC), consolidated policy making on domestic issues into the Executive Office of the President.  Coupled with the transformation of the former Bureau of the Budget into the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), this formed the basis for the modern presidency.   Henceforth, policy making on all major issues would be done within the White House itself, with Cabinet Departments—while still having input—would be cast largely in the role of policy implementation.

The role of the Domestic Council staff, like that of the NSC, would be to assure the President himself was provided with appropriate background and analysis of major issues before being called upon to make any actual policy decisions—and before any implementation steps were taken.

How and why this came about during the Nixon Administration is the subject of the introductory panel on President Nixon’s Domestic Policy Initiatives, being held at the Nixon Library on Friday, January 8th from 1:30-3:30pm.  The program is a part of the oral history project undertaken by the Nixon Library and funded by the Nixon Foundation.

The program features four former Associate Directors of the Domestic Council (Jim Cavanaugh, Richard Fairbanks, myself and John Whitaker).  They will discuss the early organization of President Nixon’s Cabinet and White House staff, origins of OMB and the Domestic Council—along with early examples of policy making in the areas of Healthcare, Energy and the Environment.

These are excellent examples of the significance of the work of the Domestic Council and OMB, since the nation’s first energy crisis occurred in that era, as well as its awakening to a whole series of environmental challenges.  It also is generally conceded today that President Nixon’s proposals on healthcare, if implemented, would have resulted in far more timely and appropriate reform.

Subsequent panels will explore a range of President Nixon’s domestic initiatives in far greater detail.  These programs are designed as overviews for future researchers coming to the Nixon Library to take advantage of the forty-two million pages of Nixon Administration’s Presidential Papers that will be housed there this June.

The Party Of Nixon

December 30, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Republican Party, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

A Chicago Tribune reader laments:

In “Dems of yore” (Voice of the People, Dec. 13), letter writer Gary Ziolkowskitraced the evolution of today’s Democrats. Some of his criticisms have grains of truth. In the same spirit, I’d point out that today’s Republicans aren’t your father’s Republican Party either. During the ’50s and ’60s, the Republicans stood for balanced budgets. In many states, progressive Republican governors made lasting improvements in education and transportation. The GOP was the party of Dwight Eisenhower, who resisted dubious foreign interventions and wasteful military spending, and signed the first civil rights laws in nearly a century.

It was the party of Richard Nixon, who reached out to longtime adversaries abroad, proposed a guaranteed annual income and established the Environmental Protection Agency.

But something happened in the last 40 years. Instead of cherishing its tradition of supporting civil rights, the party extended the red carpet to Democrats dismayed by their party’s embrace of equality. Instead of continuing a tradition of wise environmental stewardship, Republicans embraced last-ditch, bitter-end polluters.

For The Good Of The Country

December 29, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

Circa 1972, Mamie Esienhower on RN:

RN Known For Working With Democrats

December 29, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Democratic Party, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

David Hershenzohrn writes in The New York Times:

Nixon, the 37th president, was known for working with Democrats on health care policy, including legislation in 1971 that opened a major government effort to fight cancer.

Presenting The Richard Nixon Legacy Forums

December 28, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Domestic issues, Nixon Foundation, Richard Nixon | 3 Comments 

Obama’s China Two-Step

December 28, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Barack Obama, China, Nixon Center, Richard Nixon, The National Interest | Leave a Comment 

At The Nixon Center’s National Interest magazine, Ted Galen Carpenter writes that President Obama’s decision to send arms to Taipei indicates that he wants to strengthen a beleaguered leader cooperative with Washington, and signal to China that their recent deployment of missiles across the straight is unacceptable:

There appear to be multiple motives for announcing an arms package now, including the mundane desire to give portions of the U.S. defense and aerospace industries a boost during tough economic times. But the primary motives seem to be diplomatic. An arms sale would be a reward to Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou for pursuing policies designed to reduce tensions in the Taiwan Strait and, equally important, for keeping Washington in the loop regarding any initiatives Taipei might take. That behavior comes as a great relief to U.S. officials, since it is in marked contrast to the conduct of Ma’s predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, who seemed to delight in provoking Beijing and blind-siding Washington in the process.

But Ma is now under fire at home for being too soft toward China, and his political popularity has sagged badly over the past year for numerous reasons. Responding favorably to Taipei’s long-standing request for additional weapon systems would help de-fuse the domestic opposition to Ma and strengthen the political standing of a cooperative leader Washington would like to see remain in power after Taiwan’s next presidential election.

Even more important, the arms sale would convey a message to Beijing of Washington’s growing annoyance regarding various issues. One grievance is China’s failure to halt the deployment of missiles across the strait from Taiwan, despite Ma Ying-jeou’s more conciliatory posture. Beijing’s conduct could be seen as a deliberate challenge to Washington, since the missile deployments have long been the primary justification for previous U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. The Obama administration might well conclude that Chinese leaders would view Washington’s continued inaction on Taipei’s request as a sign of weakness.

Rudy Giuliani’s Decision

December 26, 2009 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under American Politics, Politics, Republican Party | 1 Comment 

This week, former New York City mayor and unsuccessful 2008 presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani made it official: he has no plans to run for either New York governor or the U.S. Senate, but for now will concentrate on developing his security firm and maintaining his law practice. An article by Ron Scherer of the Christian Science Monitor quotes one leading pollster who thinks that this effectively eliminates Rudy as a contender in the 2012 race and perhaps beyond:

Of course, in politics, anything is possible. Politicians considered “yesterday’s news” have managed to get elected.

“Richard Nixon rewrote the book about comebacks,” says John Zogby, head of the polling firm Zogby International, which is based in Utica, N.Y. “But it is more likely that this is it.”

Taps For An American Hero

December 26, 2009 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under In Memoriam, Military, Presidents, Richard Nixon, Vietnam | 2 Comments 

On Wednesday, Colonel Robert L. Howard, the most decorated American soldier living, passed away at the age of 70. He served five tours of duty in Vietnam and the extraordinary list of honors and unit citations he received in those years is itemized in his Wikipedia entry. But one honor stands out among them, and how he came to receive it is described by Richard Goldstein in Col. Howard’s New York Times obituary:

In December 1968, Sergeant First Class Howard, his rank at the time, was in a platoon of American and South Vietnamese troops who came under fire while trying to land in their helicopters on a mission to find a missing Green Beret. As the men set out after a prolonged firefight to clear the landing zone, they were attacked by some 250 North Vietnamese troops.

As related in “Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty,” by Peter Collier, Sergeant Howard was knocked unconscious by an exploding mine. When he came to, his eyes were bloodied and his hands injured by shrapnel that had also destroyed his rifle. He heard his lieutenant groaning in pain a few yards away. He then saw an enemy soldier with a flamethrower burning the bodies of American and South Vietnamese soldiers who had just been killed.

Sergeant Howard was unable to walk, but he threw a grenade toward the soldier with the flamethrower and managed to grab the lieutenant. As he was crawling with him toward shelter, a bullet struck his ammunition pouch, blowing him several feet down a hill. Clutching a pistol given to him by a fellow soldier, Sergeant Howard shot several North Vietnamese soldiers and got the lieutenant down to a ravine.

Taking command of the surviving and encircled Green Berets, Sergeant Howard administered first aid, encouraged them to return fire and called in air strikes. The Green Berets held off the North Vietnamese until they were evacuated by helicopters.

Having gained an officer’s commission after that exploit, he received the Medal of Honor from President Richard M. Nixon on March 2, 1971. The citation credited him for his “complete devotion to the welfare of his men at the risk of his life.”

Presenting an award to so valiant a warrior was, indeed, one of the proudest moments of the Nixon White House. May the Colonel rest in the eternal peace that he so very much has earned.

The First Nixon-Kennedy Debate

December 26, 2009 by Jack Pitney | Filed Under American Politics, News media, Presidents, Public Opinion, Richard Nixon, TV, U.S. History | Leave a Comment 

With the prospect of debates among British party leaders, an article in The Australian opines:

Appearances do not only matter in television debating: they are, in some ways, the only things that matter. The first TV debate in 1960 pitted a sweaty, unshaven Richard Nixon recovering from flu, against a tanned, youthful John F. Kennedy who had spent much of the previous week on the golf course. Those who heard the debate on radio reckoned Nixon the winner. But more than 80 million Americans watched it on television, and in that medium the victor was clear. It was not so much a measure of JFK’s abilities as a resounding tribute to the power of television.

Some corrections are in order.  RN was not recovering from the flu, but from an infected knee.  He was clean-shaven, though his complexion tended to give the impression of a five o’clock shadow.   While the recently-hospitalized RN did not look his best, he hardly had the death’s-door appearance of legend.  (When I show video of the debate to students, they wonder what the big deal was about.)  JFK was youthful, but so was RN, who was only four years older.  One poll did show that radio listeners scored Nixon as the winner, but that result has limited significance, since those who listened on radio were demographically very different from those who watched on TV.  The radio audience was predisposed to support RN to begin with.  To the extent that the first debate did affect the election, substance counted more than cosmetics. Trying to shake his attack-dog image, RN erred by being too deferential and defensive.

Even the leading lines of the article are misleading:  “On October 15, 1992, the first president Bush glanced at his watch, and lost the presidential election. At almost the same moment, Bill Clinton took three paces forward, and won it. 2 election.”   No, Bush’s watch glances looked bad but did not cost him the election.  Clinton was leading Bush before the debates.  Afterward, in fact, his lead narrowed.

12.25.09

December 25, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Holidays | Leave a Comment 

12.25.52

December 25, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Holidays, Nixon family, Pat Nixon, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

‘Twas the night before Christmas: this photograph of PN (holding Checkers), six-year-old Tricia, four-year-old Julie, and the thirty-eight year old Vice President- Elect was actually taken on 20 December at their home in Washington.

Christmas Coming In From The Cold

December 24, 2009 by David R. Stokes | Filed Under Afghanistan, Cold War, History, Intelligence, International Affairs, North Korea, Russia, U.S. History, Vietnam | 1 Comment 

On Christmas day 20 years ago, Nicolae Ceausescu – long time dictator of Romania – was, along with his wife Elena, executed by firing squad just days after fleeing Bucharest, while his tyrannical regime unraveled before the eyes of a watching world. His demise and the surrounding events are etched in the memory of those of us who watched it all unfold via various news reports.

The look on the once strong-man’s face as a massive crowd began to boo during a speech on December 21st, was one of the defining moments of the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. The scene of his helicopter flying him out of the city and his preoccupation during the interim with looking at his watch (which had been equipped with a tracking device for his security people, the gadget – unbeknownst to him – having been disabled by his captors) – these events moved with breakneck speed two decades ago this week.

And while much of the world rekindled almost forgotten traditions of faith and family, due to fresh-found freedom that Christmas of 1989, many Americans celebrated with televisions left on (volume muted), so as not to miss a story that was so compelling.

The Cold War was, in fact, ending.

It was a fitting season of the year for yet another piece of compelling evidence that the schemes of Marx, Lenin, and so many others, were indeed bankrupt and bore the fruit not of promised utopia, but rather tyrannical horror. One reason for this calendar-driven appropriateness was the irony that so many important Cold War stories had Christmas season components.

The French, following a World War II exile from their imperial hegemony in Indochina, landed there once again just before Christmas in 1945. That didn’t work out so well for them in the long run. Come to think of it, it didn’t help us much either.

Just in time for Christmas in 1968, and as astronauts prepared to send a Biblical message of peace to all of us on “the good earth,” 82 Americans were rejoicing in their freedom, though with bodies still racked by torture-produced pain. They had been “guests” of the “Democratic” People’s Republic of Korea for about 11 months. The men of the USS Pueblo had been taken captive that previous January and were hostages to Cold War politics and diplomacy. I had a conversation a while back with Harry Iredale, whose cover on the Pueblo (an intelligence gathering vessel) was his work as an oceanographer. He talked to me in great detail about the seizure of the ship and their brutal treatment.

On Christmas Eve, 1979, the Soviets invaded a place called Afghanistan, to prop up a faltering Communist regime in that neighboring nation. That didn’t work out for them, either – or again for that matter – for us. Paraphrasing Mark Twain’s quote, history may not repeat itself, but it surely rhymes.

A couple of Christmases later, in 1981, the Polish government was enforcing martial law, trying to break the back of something called Solidarity. That movement was reminiscent of what had happened in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968, and with the same result – a Soviet inspired crackdown. But there was something different about what was going on in Poland. Maybe, many thought, this was the beginning of something bigger, something that might morph into real freedom.

Eight years later, the Romanian despot was dead, the Berlin Wall was becoming a lengthy pile of stone-pocked dust, and the Soviet system was on the ropes, first trying to reinvent itself; then conceding defeat with barely a whimper. And on Christmas Day in 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the USSR, and the hammer and sickle flag was lowered over the Kremlin for the last time.

Yes, there are a lot of Cold War stories that coincide with the season that speaks of peace on earth and good will toward men.

This Christmas there is another such story. Though the Cold War is now a too-distant memory in light of all that has transpired since in our ever-dangerous world, there is a vital effort underway to ensure that the period from 1945-1991 is never ignominiously relegated to the ash heap of history.

The Cold War Museum began many years ago with the vision of Gary Powers. You might recognize him through his full name: Francis Gary Powers, Jr. Of course, students of the Cold War, and certainly anyone who lived through it, remember that Gary’s father, Francis Gary Powers, was flying one of our U-2 Spy planes on May 1, 1960, only to be shot down over Soviet territory. He became a prisoner, sometimes pawn, and an iconic and brave figure from that era.

In a day and age when most Americans would think of U-2 as referring to an Irish rock band, there was a time when the men who piloted those magnificent planes played a vital role in national and international security. For example, we would have found out far too late in the game about missiles in Cuba in 1962, without the reconnaissance photos taken from a U-2 aircraft.

Founded in 1996, the Cold War Museum is a very real memorial to honor Cold War Veterans and preserve the period’s history. For years, a mobile exhibit has traveled around the country and world displaying historical artifacts (more than $3,000,000 worth), including some from the Berlin Airlift, U-2 Incident, Cuban Missile Crisis, USS Liberty, USS Pueblo, and Space Race. In addition, the museum has over $500,000 worth of Soviet, East German, and former Eastern Bloc flags, banners, and uniforms.

After many years of tireless effort and various offers and negotiations, Powers recently announced the acquisition of a permanent home for the Cold War Museum at Vint Hill in Northern Virginia. The significance of this site selection was highlighted by Mr. Edwin “Ike” Broaddus, Chairman for Vint Hill Economic Development Authority:

We are pleased to offer The Cold War Museum a home. It is highly appropriate for the museum to locate at Vint Hill, the former Vint Hill Farms Station used during the Cold War, by the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the US Army to safeguard the United States against a surprise nuclear attack.

Vint Hill is part of The Journey Through Hallowed Ground national heritage area and in close proximity to the Manassas National Battlefield Park, the National Museum of the Marine Corps and the historic towns of Leesburg, Manassas and Warrenton, Virginia, existing major tourist destinations.

The Cold War Museum is a 501c3 charity, a Smithsonian affiliate, and worthy recipient of any support the public may be inclined to offer during this season of giving. This new home for the museum is, indeed, a Christmas gift to our nation’s efforts to remind and remember.

The museum’s board of directors includes some storied names reminiscent of that period in history, for example: Sergei Khrushchev (son of Nikita Krushchev), David Eisenhower (grandson of the 34th President of the United States and son in law of the 37th President), and Thomas C. Reed (Former Secretary of the Air Force).

As for Gary, he has interesting plans for 2010, involving a trip to Russia marking the 50th anniversary of the shooting down of his father’s plane. In fact, he is organizing a tour for those who might be interested (May 1-9, 2010), complete with a visit to the prison where his father (who died in 1977) was held for 21 months until his release in exchange for Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel.

As for the end of 2009, it is worthy of note that this has also been the 60th anniversary of the writing of 1984, by George Orwell, as well as the 25th anniversary of the year in the once-ominous title, one that was supposed to be synonymous with totalitarian, “Big-Brother-is-watching” government.

Merry Christmas

December 23, 2009 by Anne Walker | Filed Under Pat Nixon, Richard Nixon | 4 Comments 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERY ONE!

If you are watching your mail box or front door for our cards and gifts this year, we respectfully request that you enjoy the realization that a donation has been made, in lieu of our annual cards, to the Docent Guild at the Richard Nixon Presidential Foundation. They are an amazing, dedicated and knowledgeable group of volunteers that make the RN Library and Birthplace a very special place.

MAY YOUR HOLIDAY BE FULL OF LOVE, LAUGHTER

and all the

SPECIAL BLESSINGS OF THE SEASON

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, all around Coyote Base. We’ve decorated our tree, it’s red white and blue. Full of flags, some that I quilted, and patriotic ornaments all about the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace. The “Birthplace Ornament” holds a special place of honor.

Tricia Nixon Cox, her husband Ed and son Christoper sent us, Christmas at the White House by Jennifer B. Pickens. It’s a beautiful coffee table book with reflections from the Kennedy to the Bush 43 White House Christmases. Mrs. Nixon adored Christmas and was known for the beautiful decorations during the Christmases she was in the White House.

Writing in 1969, a Time magazine reporter observed: “Few presidential couples . . . have gone at the Christmastime merrymaking with quite the gusto of Richard and Pat Nixon. For the holidays they have peopled the place with choirs, Bob Hope, the Apollo 12 astronauts and more than 6,000 other Americans, renowned and unknown.”

The Walker family proudly numbered 5 unknowns among the 6,000 invited guests. In anticipation of this memorable party, I made our three little girls, then 8,7,and 6, blue velvet dresses with white, lace trimmed collars. Their outfits were complemented by white tights and brand new, shiny maryjane patent leather shoes. When we were about ready to drive to the White House, they looked so adorable, that Ron insisted they have their pictures taken outside with the pine trees as a festive backdrop. During the process of posing, Marja took time out to climb an inviting tree limb, cut herself, and then proceeded to bleed all over her white collar. So much for a motherly vision of precious, angelic little girls going to a White House Christmas party.

Mrs. Nixon is credited with introducing more holiday customs than any of the first ladies preceding her. In 1969 she started the holiday tradition of candlelight evening tours. She said she wanted sightseers to see the mansions beautiful public rooms, “so filled with history, and now aglow with the magic and spirit of Christmas.” White House candlelight tours are still very popular. Another anticipated event is the unveiling of the gingerbread house in the State Dining Room. The White House chef creates a new, completely edible one each year.

Another of Mrs. Nixon’s holiday innovations was to showcase Christmas cards and artifacts from past presidencies. A 1866 edition of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” that President Franklin Roosevelt always read aloud to his family on Christmas eve. Another was a small fire engine that President Hoover gave to his secretary’s son, as a memento of a fire in the West Wing the year before. Another artifact on display was a large dollhouse, made for ten year old Fanny Hays, daughter of President Rutherford Hays, by the White House carpenter in 1877. Mrs. Nixon liked it so much that it was on display all year and today it can be seen at the Hays Presidential Center.

In 1971 it was Mrs. Nixon’s request that disabled workers be given the opportunity to make the Christmas ornaments. “State balls” were made for each of the 50 states. First ladies have continued the tradition of the state balls, and Laura Bush took the tradition a wonderful step further, by highlighting each of our National Parks as part of the state balls collection. Even in years when the state balls were left packed away, the First Lady will often commission new ornaments to represent all fifty states, continuing the tradition inspired by Mrs. Nixon. In 1971 she told an interviewer, “I suppose of all the places we’ve spent Christmas, the White House must be our favorite.”

Thank you Tricia, Ed and Christoper for a thoughtful and beautiful gift.

When President Nixon appointed Ron to be the Eighth Director of the National Park Service, I made a special request. It had bothered me to see that the National Christmas Tree on the mall was one that was cut down and trucked to Washington each year. I thought it would be a grand idea to plant one on the mall. A permanent National Christmas tree. Secretary of the Interior, Rogers C. B. Morton thought it was such a good idea that he took full credit for the innovation. I’m OK with that, because our permanent National Christmas Tree came to be. I’m proud of “my beautiful Christmas tree” on the National mall and delight in watching the “Pageant of Peace” tree lighting ceremony each year on live television. The Walker family attended the event one year when Ron was Director. It was a freezing, but festive ceremony. Another year I was on hand when First Lady Barbara Bush rode a cherry picker basket to put the finishing decorations on the top of the tree. One great and gutsy girl, that “Bar.”

In 1972, Mrs. Nixon chose the theme “Nature’s Bounty” and the White House decorations were done in Della Robbia style. She told reporters that she had always liked Della Robbia wreaths, in which real fruits are mixed with greenery and pine cones, and for years had given them to friends as Christmas gifts. My mother did the very same thing. We always had Della Robbia wreaths in our home at Christmas, and we gave them as gifts, perhaps it was originally a California thing.

As 2009 comes to an end, we pray for our country. We pray for the current President and his family as they prepare for their first White House Christmas. Carved in the mantel of the State Dining Room fireplace, surely decked in festive holiday tradition as I write this, is the inscription written by John Adams: “I pray Heaven to Bestow the Best of Blessings on THIS HOUSE and on All that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but honest and Wise Men rule under this roof.”

Let us all add an AMEN to the prayer of President John Adams.

12.22.1968

December 22, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Nixon family, Pat Nixon | 2 Comments 

On December 22, 1968, the President’s youngest daughter Julie Nixon married David Eisenhower.

RN in his own words:

My daughter Julie first met David Eisenhower at his grandfather’s second inauguration in 1957, when they were both eight years old. They did not see each other at all during the early 1960’s; it was a geographical coincidence that brought them together again. In 1966 David began his freshman year at Amherst College and Julie began her Freshman year at Smith College, only a few miles away. One day he called her on an impulse and asked if he could come over to see her. They met, they fell in love, and just before the start of their sophomore year they told Pat and me that they planned to marry.

Julie pictured with husband David Eisenhower.

On the night their engagement was announced I wrote a note for Julie and left it on her bed table.

RN then discussed the big day:

The Church was beautifully decorated for Christmas with fresh pine boughs and red bow draped over the balconies and a large wreath behind the altar. Red and white poinsettias banked the entire front of the church and surrounded the small white prie-dieu on which David and Julie knelt during the ceremony.

The most memorable moment for me was when I gave Julie away at the altar. She suddenly turned and kissed me. This impulsive, spontaneous gesture brought tears to the eyes of many in the church — including mine.

Preserving La Casa Pacifica

December 22, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Pat Nixon, Richard Nixon | 4 Comments 

According to the OC Register, the San Clemente City Council voted 5-0 last week to enter into an agreement with La Casa Pacifica owner Gavin Herbert to refurbish the home that formerly served as the Western White House for RN and PN. The preservation effort might also include a study of a mature Magnolia tree on the property, which PN originally planted as a seedling from a tree that President Andrew Jackson brought to the White House:

One of the curiosities that could be explored in the survey, officials said, is a mature magnolia tree at Casa Pacifica that first lady Pat Nixon planted there, using a seedling she had brought from the White House in Washington.

Herbert knew of that tree. As owner of Roger’s Gardens, a home and garden center in Corona del Mar, he took charge of the landscaping at Casa Pacifica shortly after the Nixons arrived in 1969.

“The history of the tree was more than Pat Nixon bringing a seedling,” Herbert said. “Andrew Jackson brought that tree to the White House. And if you look on a $20 bill (which bears President Jackson’s likeness) there’s a picture of it.”

Herbert said it would be fun to do a historic survey. Having lived through the Nixon years and having purchased the home from the Nixons when they moved to the East Coast in 1980, he suggested he probably knows as much as whoever might be hired to do a historic survey.

“We had 17 heads of state there during the Nixon era,” Herbert said. “We’ve had five different presidents on the property over a period of 40 years.”

The Day The King Met The President

December 21, 2009 by Dwight Chapin | Filed Under Entertainment, Music, Richard Nixon, White House | 1 Comment 

RN pictured with Elvis and Bud Krogh.

Working with HR (Bob) Haldeman and Bud Krogh, I was part of the team that made Elvis Presley’s visit to the White House on December 21, 1970 happen. The letter Elvis left at the front gate was delivered to my office very early in the morning. My secretary Nell Yates immediately brought it to my attention. I contacted Bud Krogh who was the staff person on Drug Policy and began the process of “staffing out” the letter. The memos and actual details of the visit are a part of Bud’s book, The Day Elvis Met Nixon.

The Nixon/Elvis meeting turned out to be one of the most historic visits by any personality to the White House. As many know the picture of the President and the King meeting in the Oval Office is the single most requested image ever from the Nationa Archives!

Recently, Bud Krogh and I did an extensive radio interview with the UK’s Radio One. The program will air on the 75^th birthday of Elvis in January and will document the story of the historic visit.

One of the most interesting points about the visit is the confidentiality that surrounded the it. Elvis did not want the meeting publicized because he thought he could be more effective in helping to stop drug use if he did not look like a White House agent. Elvis kept it confidential and so did the White House. No word leaked out for two years. As I recall, it was ultimately journalist Jack Anderson who printed the story and no one knows who was the ultimate leaker.

Imagine this, Elvis entered the White House through the Executive Office Building, went to lunch in the White House mess, was introduced to several secretaries in the West Wing and no one ever mentioned it to the press. That would never happen in today’s White House.

Time’s Man (Whoops, Person) Of All Time

December 21, 2009 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under American Politics, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, News media, Nixon in the News, Presidents, Richard Nixon, Secretary Clinton | 1 Comment 

Tonight, Diane Sawyer, former aide in the Nixon White House who also was an editorial assistant for RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, made her debut as anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight. She did not get around to mentioning her old boss.

But over at NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams found some time for the thirty-seventh President. He reported on a blog called Teqnolog, which this weekend examined the thousands of images at Time magazine’s site to determine whose face had appeared on that venerable newsmagazine’s cover more often than any other.

The winner was not a complete surprise. I recall reading in Time once or twice in the last fifteen years that Richard Nixon had been on the cover more often than anyone else. But Technoloq did a breakdown on the 15 others who had appeared on the cover ten times or more. Here they are:

RN – 48 covers
Ronald Reagan – 45
Bill Clinton – 33
George W. Bush – 31
Jimmy Carter – 27
Barack Obama – 24
Gerald R. Ford – 20
Lyndon B. Johnson – 19
George H.W. Bush – 18
Dwight D. Eisenhower – 18
Hillary Clinton – 16
John F. Kennedy – 14
Saddam Hussein – 12
Franklin D. Roosevelt – 11
Al Gore – 10
John McCain – 10

It should be mentioned that these figures include covers in which the sixteen mentioned appear with other people, such as Henry Kissinger, or Leonid Brezhnev, or each other. (In fact, in 1976 Reagan, Carter and Ford were on the same cover.) In Nixon’s case, he appeared by himself on 24 of his 48 covers, while FDR and Hussein were solo on almost all of their covers.

It may not be much of a surprise that the Secretary of State was the only woman on this list (though the former Governor of Alaska may catch up by 2012), but to have Saddam Hussein appear on more covers than, say, Stalin or Castro or Gorbachev or even Churchill is somewhat startling.

The blog pointed out that President Obama, in less than two years, or about 100 weeks, since he scored his first Time cover, has risen to sixth place on this list, while it took RN until the early Seventies, nearly two decades after his first appearance, to get to 24 covers. Teqnolog remarked that at this pace, it would take Obama only another two years to surpass RN, by which time he’d still be in his first term, and that if he were re-elected and featured as frequently as he is now, he could perhaps have his face on as many as 150 covers.

And even if the President failed to be re-elected, he’d still stand a good chance of building on such a number – FDR, JFK, Reagan, and of course RN were on the cover more than once after leaving office.

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